Page 5 of Two Aliens Are Better Than One (Bodyguards in Space #1)

Chapter 4

Vaelu

T he trip should have been a welcome break from Lucky’s antics, but I found myself wondering how she was doing. She’d left me food of all things, and my mother would be appalled to know I’d eaten it. Speaking of my mother, I rubbed my temples and tried to focus on what she was saying. Her face took up far too much of the viewscreen, as if she thought she had to lean right up against the camera to be heard while lecturing me over the call.

My mother, in high definition across my bedroom wall, was disconcerting to say the least.

“You cannot let life’s little hassles interfere with your duties as a velasu,” she said. The tone in her voice made my finger itch to close the viewscreen and throw my communicator across the room. “Your performance at this week’s Interplanetary Unity Council general session was lacking.”

“I apologize.”

“Has this woman who has thrown off your routine been dealt with? We can have her removed from her research position if necessary.”

“It’s taken care of,” I said, gritting my teeth. I’d had to come clean about Lucky during the council meeting, because my family had known something was wrong. It had been a mistake — most of my mother’s suggestions for dealing with the situation involved ruining Lucky’s career. Despite everything she’d done that was inappropriate I felt oddly protective of the pretty little scientist, though, and needed to make sure that no one in my family butted in more than they already had. And I definitely needed to make sure no one in my family found out that she was physically attracted to me. “Please let me handle this. I’m well into adulthood, and having my mother step in to manage personal matters reflects poorly on my competence as the station’s velasu.”

“Fine. Your behavior at the council meeting was alarming. That’s all I’m trying to say.” The tone of her voice made my teeth clench.

“They did not need me there,” I said. “You were there, and so was Father. Nothing ever happens in those meetings.”

“Your abilities are the strongest in generations, and yet you fail to make good use of them,” she muttered. What she didn’t understand was that my strong abilities were exactly what made everything so difficult. And I knew she couldn’t empathize, because her own telepathic skills were far weaker than she made them out to be.

“If you can’t control your powers, perhaps you need to return to Chokri and go to the retreat. Complete a shedil and center yourself.”

That would be a “fuck, no”, because the shedil , like everything my mother had mentioned, was different for someone with my abilities. For her it was like a slightly dull meditation. For me it was pure torture, complete with physical and emotional pain. But I couldn’t tell that to my mother. The shedil was a complete isolation from all sensation that focused and centered a velasu’s powers. At first it felt amazing to be freed from the voices in my head, but in that isolation it didn’t take long for the trauma I pulled out of my clients to resurface.

Instead of arguing with her, I nodded and said all the things she wanted to hear so I could get off the call quickly. I couldn’t explain anything to my overbearing mother, not really. She didn’t understand how precarious my mental state was, or why I was the way I was. And I definitely couldn’t tell her that it had unraveled so much because the human scientist she wanted banned from my life had touched me. And it had unsettled me more than it should have.

My cabin door beeped and I swiped a hand over the panel that permitted entrance, smiling as my assistant walked in. Avila had been with me for five years and understood me better than most. She had a calming presence that made me think she had a little velasu in her, though I was sure she was unaware of it. The Council of Elite was quite adamant about keeping a separation between those with talent and those without it, refusing to acknowledge the wide range of abilities.

Because she wasn’t born into one of the core families a woman like Avila would have never been tested, though that she was drawn to service with me meant she was interested. She bustled around my room, laying out clothing for arrival and placing a dish of food on my table.

“We will be back at the space station in three hours, Vele,” Avila said, bowing her head and avoiding eye contact, as was customary, which made me think about the way Lucky refused to bend to those customs. I knew that human culture was more open and tactile, and that eye contact was part of their communication, but that didn’t stop her actions from unsettling me. I wondered if my feisty neighbor had gotten some sleep in my absence. Probably not. Blaming me for all of her sleep problems was absurd.

“I’m going to rest for a while,” I murmured. “I’m quite exhausted.”

“Yes, Vele,” she said. “Would you like me to draw you a bath to calm your nerves? I have the herbal mixture you enjoy in your water.”

“Perhaps you could leave me with the herbs,” I said.

“Yes, Vele,” she murmured, blushing. The disappointment echoed off of her in waves, but I ignored it. I knew she wanted me, and she was beautiful, but sex was a minefield for me, so it would never happen. With a quick bow she backed out of the room, returning a moment later with a sachet of herbs, smiling before she closed the door behind her for the final time. I ran the hot water. The private room and luxurious bath were expensive on a passenger cruiser, but necessary in times of stress. Water was the only thing that shut out the world. And I was in the bath with my eyes closed when the ship shook, an ominous groan of metal startling me out of my meditation.

Water sloshed from the tub onto the floor, and my feet slipped as I scrambled to stand and grab a towel, cursing quietly. I wrapped the towel around my waist and made my way out to my cabin just as a huge man with green skin came barreling into the room, doing some damage to the door on his way.

I’d never met a Zangrel, but I’d heard of his kind and seen pictures, and he was a stunning example of the species — tall and thickly muscled, with massive shoulders supporting four big arms. He should have been terrifying, but because I could see inside his mind, he wasn’t. Usually, that happened the other way around. His eyes widened as he saw I was mostly naked.

“You’re the vele guy?” he asked in Chokreini.

I didn’t answer, but he nodded as if I had.

“There are some bad guys on the ship. They want you, and I think it’s best they don’t get you.” He looked over his shoulder as a volley of blaster fire buckled the wall beside the door, and he cursed in Zangrel and returned fire, slapping his hand against the control panel that closed my door. We both watched as it inched shut, sparks flying.

“Well, that closes painfully slowly,” he muttered.

“It’s possible you damaged it.”

He fired a few more shots out the door as it slid into place. “Nah, all the doors are like that. I suppose it’s so no kids pinch their fingers, huh? Shit for self-defense.”

“What are you doing in my room?” I had so many more questions, but best to start with the basics.

“I thought you vele assholes were psychic. Can’t you just vele it out of me?” He fiddled with the keypad on my door, plugging something into it that made it let out an ear-splitting beep, then explode. Outside, more blaster fire shook the wall, and he looked around the room for a moment before he started pushing a heavy dresser in front of the door.

“Vele is an honorific. I’m a Velasu. And it’s not a verb.”

As he shoved another chair in front of the door, he smirked. “I care greatly about that, I swear, but there are some guys out there who’d very much like to kidnap you and make use of your psychic abilities for crime.”

“Telepathic.”

“What?”

“I’m a telepath, not a psychic,” I said. “You keep saying psychic.”

There was an explosion in the hall, and part of the wall bent inward. “Do you feel like maybe you’re focused on the wrong things here? Because that’s what I’m feeling.”

“Words are important.” I took a step back, wondering why I had just stood there arguing with him instead of getting pants, but with whatever was going on outside my mind was a mess and I was barely holding on to my sanity. I tried to focus on him, on his mind, which had an interesting, nimble quality to it. He was accustomed to tense situations and was working on a solution. And being inside his mind was so much better than the voices that were threatening at the edges. A rush of intense fear that wasn’t coming from my mind pinned me in place, as if my feet were glued to the floor. I pushed it back out, trying to focus on him again. He was competent and confident in his abilities, and that calmed me.

“Fine. Lieutenant Relzo Ossean, IUC Security Commission. Lovely to meet you.”

“Cherai Vaelu,” I said.

“Good. Now, can you telepath your way onto your escape pod?” he asked, pulling a thick metallic disc out of his pocket.

“The escape pod is only for dire emergencies.” My voice sounded distant and not completely attached to my body. A big square dent stretched the metal of the wall next to me, like someone had hit it with machinery, and I flinched.

The Zangrel sighed and sprinted at me, bending at the last moment and slamming his upper left arm into my stomach then standing so I was flopped over his shoulder, braced there by both of his left arms. The way the muscles of his shoulder bit into my stomach was uncomfortable, but it was nothing compared to the searing pain of the sudden skin-to-skin contact. I let out a whimper as I was bombarded by his mind.

“I don’t have my walls up,” I whispered. “You can’t touch me.” I had been inside his head when he’d picked me up, and it was too much.

“I’ll set you down once you’re safe,” he said.

“This isn’t safe. Not for either of us.” I tried to fight it as my mind latched onto his thoughts, but I could feel the process starting already. The skin-to-skin contact was too much and I struggled to get away, knowing he didn’t mean any harm. Because at the core of him, I could feel him — his desire to help, which overwhelmed everything. He was worried about my safety first, and whatever was on the other side of that wall was too dangerous for him to bother with my cry of pain. He simply didn’t understand.

It was over in an instant. He was only touching me long enough to carry me into the escape pod, pressing the strange metal disc to the outside of the pod before he closed the door. But his shirt hadn’t had sleeves, and I hadn’t had a shirt at all, meaning his hands and arms had all been bare against my skin. With my mind open to him, the damage had been done in a matter of seconds. And when he set me on a small cushioned bench on one side of the escape pod, I tried to get control of my abilities, wrapping my towel tightly around my legs and folding up into a ball.

He moved efficiently around the space, checking the emergency airlock, initiating the launch sequence, and ejecting the pod with the practiced movements of someone who knew exactly what he was doing. My mind reeled, reaching out for him, trying to complete the half-formed bond, and I whimpered, wrapping my arms around my knees and closing my eyes, barely holding on to my self-control.