Page 8 of Two Aliens Are Better Than One (Bodyguards in Space #1)
Chapter 7
Lucky
M y younger sister was nothing if not impulsive, so it shouldn’t have surprised me that she showed up on my doorstep with no warning and very little luggage, announcing that she was ready to see the galaxy.
Her upbringing had been very sheltered and happy — so different from mine. My adoptive parents were her birth parents, and she’d never lived anywhere but Merax 9, while I’d faced tragedy after tragedy before finally finding my home. I loved her, but sometimes she seemed too happy and good for this world. She always assumed everything would go her way, including, apparently, rooming with her older sister on a space station without asking.
Our mother was a human, while our father was a big blue Tholkon. Even though I was adopted I liked to think I had a lot of Huno in me. He was a doctor, and our shared focus on science and finding answers had forged the bond between us. He was socially awkward and funny as hell, and I loved him more than just about anyone.
Nela, on the other hand, was adventurous and bold — like our warrior mother. Nela’s mixed race gave her an otherworldly beauty — she had our mother’s pale pink skin and our father’s cat eyes and pointy ears. Her hair was naturally a bright blue that was neither Tholkon nor human, but something in between, and she had stripes of gold across her shoulders and down her arms that resembled our father’s markings. She looked like an elf from the old human stories, and she had a mischievous, wild spirit that fit the creatures in those stories. I never quite knew what to do with her.
She was a force of nature, and fighting it was futile, so I sat back and let the insanity that was Nela take over my life. She’d been there for all of an hour, but my tiny studio apartment looked like she’d been living there for days. And I watched as she paced my room, talking animatedly with her arms about how lost she had felt since graduating college, and her plans to solve that by traveling the galaxy.
“I just need to see everything, to know what’s out there,” she said. “You know what I mean? You’re a scientist. Surely you have the desire to explore.”
“Um. Sure?” I didn’t want to ruin her excitement by telling her how tough it had been for me to leave home and go to school. Truthfully, I liked to explore science problems in the familiar comfort of a lab. The thought of exploring a world full of strangers with no plan made me want to throw up.
“Life is an adventure, Lucky! You have to seize it by the horns and make it yours!” She was definitely mixing metaphors there, but I nodded along, pretending to understand.
“Don’t you think you could find yourself while working? Perhaps you could work in the hospitality industry.” And preferably not in my tiny studio apartment aboard a space station. I loved my sister, but I wasn’t sure I loved her in a sharing a studio apartment sort of way.
“That’s a thought for after my travel is done. Can I stay? It’ll just be for a little while, Lucky! Please?”
“Couldn’t you have at least called ahead? What if I had a boyfriend or something?” At that, she started laughing so hard that tears streamed down her cheeks.
I glared at her. “Don’t be an asshole. I have men pursuing me.”
“Oh, come on. You’re beautiful but you have sex, not boyfriends. I don’t think you’ve looked seriously at a man since you-know-who moved away and took your heart with him.”
I sighed, flopping down onto the apartment’s little sofa next to her. “I’m trying to get over him. Really.”
“Or, what if you tell him you’re crazy about him?” Nela said.
“Seize life by the horns?” I asked, smirking at her.
“Exactly! You never know how it might go!”
“Not everyone is as bold as you, little sister.” I closed my eyes, my imagination bringing up an image of my best friend as we’d boarded separate shuttles after graduating from college together on Zangrelli. We’d done everything together as kids, right until that moment. I’d chosen to study biology in college, while he’d picked criminal law, but we’d gone to the same school, refusing to think about what would happen after graduation.
Then I’d gotten a prestigious scholarship to a master’s program, and he’d gotten a job offer with the IUC. Neither of us had wanted to step away from our dreams. And what were best friends supposed to do if not to encourage each other to succeed?
There was no chance he wanted to be more than friends — in college he’d dated a lot, mostly Zangrel girls, confirming my suspicion that he didn’t find me attractive in that way. I’d tried to push him out of his mind by hooking up with my share of hot guys, but I’d never had relationships the way he did. It was only late at night, when we were both a little drunk, walking back from the bars, or from our favorite 24-hour-diner after a long night of studying, that I suspected he might think anything else.
But as the ships departed from the campus, taking students to their new lives, I’d cast one last desperate look at him, looking for a sign, any kind of sign that it was killing him to leave me. He’d stared forward resolutely, talking with the attendant who had taken his ticket. Not even a glance back at me.
Now, after five years of sporadic messages and occasional phone calls that tapered down to almost nothing as he took dangerous, deep-cover assignments, I couldn’t seem to shake him. He broke my heart a little every time we talked, because it was always before an assignment and he always warned me that he might not come back. But I’d never felt about any other man the way I felt when I was around him. I knew well that pining for a guy who wasn’t even attracted to human women was beyond ridiculous, but I couldn’t shut off that part of my brain.
“Do the Chokreini have any good junk food?” Nela asked, clearly sensing my nosedive into melancholy. Nela solved all problems with chocolate. I smiled, happy for the distraction. Maybe having her around wouldn’t be so bad after all. It was even possible I might finally get some sleep. Vaelu had been out of town, leaving my apartment blissfully quiet, and Nela was here to take my mind off my other worries.
I grabbed my shoes and slipped them on then led her out into the hallway, and was typing the security lock into the door when she let out a loud, happy squeal. I turned to see Nela sprinting, throwing herself into the arms of a big, laughing Zangrel. And when his turquoise eyes darted over to me, my heart stopped. Had we somehow summoned him by talking about him?
“Relzo! We were just talking about you!” my sister exclaimed. “Have you come to visit? Or are you on another undercover assignment?”
“If he was, you probably shouldn’t have shouted it down the hall,” I muttered.
Relzo chuckled, glancing at the man behind him as he set my sister back on her feet. “This is a coincidence, actually. I’m exploring other job opportunities.”
Vaelu stepped forward, studying my sister as if she was something foreign and slightly baffling. Then he looked at me.
“I didn’t realize you knew each other.” He blew out a breath. “Did the sounds end? The admiral promised me he had the room below yours soundproofed thoroughly.”
“The room below mine was the problem?”
“Yes, the loud sounds were coming from someone below you.”
“Why did you let me think it was your room?” Had I made a complete ass of myself? My eyes darted towards Relzo, who had stopped talking to my sister and was watching me and Vaelu as we interacted. My heart jolted painfully in my chest. His expression gave away nothing, but a muscle in his jaw ticked. Was he jealous of Vaelu? The Chokreini man was gorgeous, but Relzo was… my Relzo. He was a big, green, brawny kind of sexy, and those four arms were perfection at hugs.
Vaelu cleared his throat, drawing my attention back to him. “At first, I thought the sounds could have been coming from my room. I was with clients the first few times we spoke, and I was in too deep, not aware of my surroundings.” He paused and glanced back at Relzo. “How do you know my new bodyguard?”
Bodyguard? That seemed like a drop in pay grade. I shot Relzo a look, but he was still wearing that stony expression, still so good at concealing his emotions. “We grew up together. It’s been forever since I’ve seen him, though.” I held eye contact with Relzo for another minute, trying to force something out of him. “I wonder why he didn’t tell me he would be here.”
“His trip here was unplanned. He was on my ship when it was attacked and rescued me, so I decided to… hire him.” The beat of hesitation there was strange, and I wondered what the deal was with it. “Because he makes me feel safe.”
“We were going to eat. Dessert first, as always. Do you want to join us?” Nela asked, pulling away from Relzo.
“Oh no, we wouldn’t want to disturb Vaelu. He doesn’t eat with the commoners,” I said. Relzo’s square jaw ticked again. His iridescent skin was bright under the artificial lights, and I realized he was moving, in a subtle way, shifting closer to Vaelu. His fingers were a little shaky as he reached out his hand to brush his fingers against Vaelu’s. “Are you okay?” I asked.
“I’m fine,” Relzo said tightly as his fingers closed around Vaelu’s, which was… odd. “Just tired. We’ll leave you and Nela to your Chokreini desserts. I’ll catch up with you later, Lucky.”
“I missed you,” I whispered, and he nodded. Behind him Vaelu had lifted his right hand to the biometric sensor on his door, still holding Relzo’s hand in his left.
“Me, too.”
He turned and followed Vaelu into the apartment, not looking back over his shoulder as the door slid closed behind them, taking my heart with it.
“Why wasn’t he happy to see me?” I asked.
“Aw, he was, sis. He’s just in a weird place right now. You know how he gets.”
“Cold and distant?”
She snorted. “I suppose so. You might know something about that.”
“I’m not cold and distant!” I yelped.
“You could have hugged him. Hell, I hugged him, and I’m just the annoying little sister.”
“He didn’t hug me, either,” I muttered.
She sighed, that long-suffering one she used when she thought I was completely wrong about everything in my life. “Come on, let’s see what kinds of sweets these silver bastards make.”