Page 36 of Errik

Oh, my God.

With a trembling hand, she pressed the answer button.

Shock washed over her as her brother’s face filled the screen.

She covered her mouth to stifle a gasp, but she couldn’t hold back the tears that immediately spilled from her eyes. Her vision blurred, and a sob caught in her throat.

“You’re alive,” she whispered. “Oh, dear God, you’re alive.”

She couldn’t believe it. For two years, she’d wondered whether Arnold was dead, whether he’d been caught in the fighting that had torn their country apart, whether she would ever see him again.

How he’d obtained Errik’s contact information, she wasn’t sure. Her old phone was useless on New Vaxx, and though she’d been checking her email daily in case Arnold somehow managed to contact her, she’d received nothing from him.

“Holly,” he said, his voice strained. “It’s good to see you. I’m glad it was you who answered my call instead of your… mate.”

She wiped at her cheeks and tried to compose herself. She had so many questions to ask him. So much to tell him. Then a dark thought struck her.

Did he know about their parents?

“What happened to you?” she asked. “I haven’t heard from you in over two years. Two years! Where have you been? Are you all right?”

“I promise I’m fine.” His expression softened with concern. “I’ll tell you about what happened to me later. Right now, I need to know if you’re okay. Is Errik treating you well? Has he hurt you yet?”

“Hurt me yet?” she repeated, astonished. “What do you mean? He’s as gentle as a lamb. He would never hurt me. How did you get this number?”

He gave her a pitying look that she didn’t appreciate.

“Errik is a murderer, Holly. He has a reputation for violence. After I finally received your messages, I used one of my Interstellar Alliance contacts to compel the Intergalactic Dating Agency to reveal his full identity and address. My contact uncovered some shocking information. Errik killed more than a hundred aliens in cage fights. Illegal cage fights, I might add. The Interstellar Alliance doesn’t sanction that sort of thing. He’s a criminal, and I cannot allow you to stay on New Vaxx with him.”

Shock rippled through Holly as she digested all Arnold had just said. She’d known about the cage fights, of course, but she hadn’t realized just how many aliens Errik had killed. Nor had she understood that the fights were forbidden by the Interstellar Alliance. Technically, that made Errik a criminal in the IA’s eyes.

“But the Vaxxlians haven’t joined the Interstellar Alliance,” she argued. “So Errik isn’t really a criminal. I knew about the cage fights. He told me about them himself. I will admit I didn’t know how many aliens he’d killed, but I promise you that Errik has shown me nothing but kindness. He’s sweet and gentle, and I truly care about him. He cares about me, too. Please try to understand.”

“If you’d waited just a little longer, Holly, I could’ve paid for the surgery you needed.”

“I haven’t heard from you for two years! I thought you were dead!”

He glanced over his shoulder and said something to someone off-screen in an alien language she didn’t recognize. Then he returned his gaze to her.

“I was part of a top-secret mission that required my translation services. It lasted far longer than any of us expected, but the mission is finally over. I can’t talk about it, not even now, so please don’t ask. Just trust me when I tell you that Errik is bad news. He’ll hurt you. He might even kill you. Did you know that he once cut the heart out of a nine-foot-tall Puraliallan male and held it up as the crowd roared? He’s depraved.”

A chill swept down Holly’s back, and her stomach clenched. Yes, she’d known about the cage fights, but she hadn’t stopped to consider the brutal acts that Errik must’ve taken part in just to appease the crowds at seedy outposts filled with smugglers, outlaws, and exiles.

She closed her eyes and reminded herself of how safe she felt with him and how happy he made her. He might’ve committed terrible deeds in the past, but surely they didn’t define him.

“You don’t know him,” she said quietly. “You’re judging him based on things he did before we met. He’s not the same male he was back then. He’s been through a terrible war, Arnold. And before the war… well, he had no family and didn’t quite belong among his people. He was just trying to survive.”

“And how many people had to die for him to survive?”

“Don’t do that,” she said sharply. “Don’t sit there and act as though you know everything about him. You weren’t there. You don’t know what he’s been through, and you certainly don’t know what he’s like with me.”

“I’m trying to protect you!”

“By demanding that I leave the male I love?”

Her brother’s expression hardened.

“You love him? Holly, don’t be stupid. You’ve known him for barely two weeks.”