Page 2 of Loving the Alien Spy

“Who?”

“My brother.”

A moment of silence passes before Ivik sighs. “Carrik, what did you do?”

“I need to get both of us out of the city unseen.”

“Carrik…”

“Are you going to help me, or am I going to have to figure it out myself?” Never before have I been impulsive. For some unknown reason, as soon as I saw Bannik, I knew I needed to keep him safe and out of the way.If he remains in the city, I can’t protect him or find out what’s going on.

Once more, Ivik sighs. “Tell me where you are.”

I give him my coordinates.

While I wait, I withdraw a small syringe from my trou and remove the cap. I hesitate for only a beat before I jab the needle into his neck and press the activator button on the end. It hisses and dispenses the sleeping agent that will ensure Bannik remains out of commission until Ivik can get him back to my estate and entrapped in the containment cube I had installed beneath it in a secured room. It’s the only way I can think to keep him hidden while I discover what happened today and under whose authority the city was bombed.

Once things are settled, I’ll make sure my brother is released, and I will continue doing what I have been for the past ten anums since our father passed on to join our gods. Bannik will still hate me as he has since we were teens, and no one will be any the wiser to what role I’ve been playing for Alik. Nothing will change.

Chapter 2

Lindsey

A person never forgets seeing their first dead body.

“Did you guys know I’ve seen another dead body once before? Although that one hadn’t been quite as recently dead as those over there. I mean, it doesn’t make any of them more or less dead just because the one I saw had been dead longer than those over there.” I’m babbling and panicking, but I can’t stop.

Warm hands clasp the sides of my head and turn it away from the bodies—Bohnari and a few various other alien species—strewn across the street in the center of Preska. Dark brown eyes meet mine.

“Look at me,” Devon demands in a gentle tone. “Nowhere else, okay? Just look at me and breathe. Nice and slow. In and out.”

I match the rhythm of her breathing—never looking away—until finally mine syncs with hers and slows, eventually evening out. Somehow, I manage not to break down but still shudder.

“Okay now?” Devon asks.

I nod, and I have never been more grateful for my friend than when she steps between me and the dead bodies, blocking them from my view.

No one was supposed to die. That’s what we—the twenty winners chosen in a bridal lottery back on Earth—were told when we learned about the rebellion brewing on this planet. After we’d already arrived, of course.

The alarm that had been blaring when the attack began is silent now, but my ears still ring slightly. When the rebels came and dragged us all from the housing complex where we live, they divided us into two groups of ten, and each group went in a separate direction. We have no idea where the others are now.

Three of our group still huddle together against the nearby wall—crying—but the other three join Devon and me, who’ve already moved next to Quinn and Olivia. The latter is pressed hard against the side of her new mate, Janik. A mate who not only kidnapped her a short time ago, but who we also thought was the rebel leader. Although, that doesn’t appear to be the case anymore, considering all we’ve found out about his mother and how she manipulated him and so many others.

Standing guard at Olivia’s other side is Janik’s massive alien wolf dog, Mak. I shudder once more at the blood coating the phinnek’s muzzle and the fact that she mauled more than one rebel to death.

“Do you think the others are okay?” Cadence asks.

“The guards will find them,” Quinn replies, although it’s not really an answer.

It must satisfy Cadence enough, because she nods.

“One of Horek’s guards was the one who helped me get out of the rebel camp after you took me,” Olivia tells Janik. “The one who brought me back to Preska. I’m just not sure if he’s Team Alik or Team Janik.”

Her mate stiffens. “Who was it?”

“Bannik.”

Janik curses. “He is part of the rebellion.”