Page 24

CHAPTER 24

VANESSA

M y mind can't process what I'm seeing. The creature before me has Jack's voice, but everything else is alien—deep red skin that seems to shimmer under the harsh lights, black eyes that hold galaxies in their depths, and those horns... My stomach lurches.

"Vanessa." He takes a step toward me.

I stumble backward, my heel catching on the platform's edge. My body remembers every kiss, every touch, every moment we shared—but it was all with someone who didn't exist. A lie. A mask.

"Don't." My voice cracks. The auction house chaos swirls around us—screaming, fighting, the sound of weapons I've never heard before. But all I can see is him.

"We need to move." His voice is still Jack's, still has that same intensity that made my knees weak at the coffee shop. But now it comes from between sharp teeth, from lips that aren't human.

He reaches for my arm and I jerk away, my breath coming in short gasps. The touch that once set my skin on fire now sends ice through my veins.

"Vanessa, please." His black eyes lock onto mine. "I love you. I will get you out of here. Please trust me."

The words collide like a physical blow. Love. Trust. How can he say those words after everything? After lying about who—what—he is? After putting me in danger? After...

But then I see it. Behind the alien features, behind the horrifying truth of what he is, I see how he looks at me. It's the same look he gave me on that rooftop under the stars. The same look he had when he taught me to make pasta. The same look that made me feel safe, seen, understood.

I want to run. I want to scream. I want to wake up from this nightmare.

But I don't do any of those things. I stand frozen, torn between my fear and something else—something that feels terrifyingly like love.

My heart pounds in my chest as I make my choice. I grab his hand—his skin feels different now, warmer, almost electric—but there's no time to process it. We run.

"Left," he barks, pulling me down a corridor that looks like something out of a sci-fi nightmare. Metal walls pulse with strange blue light. The floor vibrates beneath my feet.

A guard appears—at least I think it's a guard. The creature towers over us, its skin translucent enough that I can see its organs shifting. Jack moves faster than I can track, taking it down with a series of precise strikes.

"Hold still." His fingers work at the collar around my neck. The metal burns cold against my skin before clicking open. I gasp as it falls away, rubbing my throat.

"Arms." He breaks the cuffs with bare hands, the metal crumpling like paper. I flex my wrists, wincing at the raw skin underneath.

More shouts echo behind us. The walls flash red now, and something that sounds like an alarm but feels like it's inside my skull starts blaring.

"Through here." Jack kicks open a door that shouldn't exist—it simply appears in the wall as we approach. The sight makes my head spin, but I follow him through.

We emerge into what looks like a hangar. Strange vehicles hover silently, their shapes defying physics. Jack leads me toward one that's smaller than the rest, sleek and predatory.

"I know this is insane," he says, helping me climb inside. "But right now we need to?—"

A blast of energy scorches the wall beside us. I scream, ducking into the ship's interior.

The ship hums to life around me, lights blinking in patterns that make my eyes hurt.

Jack's fingers move across what must be controls, though they look more like floating crystals than any dashboard I've ever seen. His movements are precise, practiced. How many times has he done this? How many other humans has he...

The ship lurches. My stomach rolls as we shoot upward, the force pressing me deeper into the seat. Through the curved window (is it even glass?), I watch the alien city shrink beneath us. Buildings twist impossibly, their architecture defying gravity.

"They're following." Jack's voice is tight. The ship banks hard right, and I bite back a scream as three sleek shapes appear behind us, trailing streams of blue light.

Energy blasts streak past us, close enough that I feel their heat through the hull. Jack weaves between them, his movements fluid and deadly. The alien city disappears completely as we punch through clouds that look like liquid metal.

My ears pop. The sky darkens. And then—stars. More stars than I've ever seen, so bright and close they hurt to look at.

I'm in space. Actually in space. With an alien who I thought was the first man I could trust in years.

"Vanessa." Jack's voice is soft, careful. Like he's talking to a spooked animal. "I know you have questions?—"

I turn away from him, pressing my forehead against the warm window. Tears float away from my eyes in perfect spheres, catching the starlight like tiny diamonds.

The ship's gentle hum fills the silence between us. I watch unfamiliar constellations drift past, trying to process everything that's happened. My throat still burns from where that collar sat.

"I should take you home." Jack's voice breaks through my thoughts.

The word 'home' hits me like a slap. I whirl around to face him, no longer caring about his alien appearance. "Home? You mean back to Earth? Back to my little coffee shop and my tiny apartment like none of this ever happened?"

"It's the safest?—"

"Don't." My voice cracks. "Don't you dare tell me what's safe. You lied to me for weeks. You let me fall for you while studying me like some lab rat. And now that everything's blown up, you want to just... dump me back where you found me?"

His black eyes widen. "Vanessa, that's not?—"

"I trusted you." The words tear from my throat. "Do you know how hard that was for me? To finally let someone in? And now you're doing exactly what everyone else has done—deciding what's best for me and walking away."

"I'm trying to protect you."

"I don't need your protection!" Hot tears spill down my cheeks. "I need you to stop making decisions for me. I need you to actually see me as a person, not just some human subject or someone you need to save."

Jack's red hands grip the controls tighter, his alien features impossible to read. But I see the way his shoulders slump, the way he won't quite meet my eyes.

"You're right," he says quietly. "I'm still treating you like a subject. Like something to be studied and protected rather than..." He trails off.

"Rather than what?"

"Rather than the woman I fell in love with."

The words hang between us like stars, bright and dangerous and impossible to ignore.