CHAPTER 2
Alexa
“We know there’s an old mine on your property, Alexa.”
I crossed my arms over my chest, refusing to deny or confirm Tray Staton’s statement.
My neighbor had always been nosy, but with the Sanctarians’ arrival, an alien species, he’d become predatory on his weekly visits.
“Whatever is on my grandfather’s property is none of your concern, Tray. This conversation is old.”
“Come on, Alexa,” he groveled, using the voice that used to entice me. I couldn’t believe I’d ever dated this man.
“Come on, what?”
“The Sanctarians are offering anything for turquoise, and I know you have an old mine just waiting for extraction. Let me help you, and we’ll split it.”
“There’s nothing to split. Go home.”
“Don’t make me do this the hard way, Alexa. Your parents are gone, your grandfather is sick, and you have no siblings. I could be your protector or your enemy.”
“Are you threatening me?”
“Just making an observation.”
I leaned against the doorframe with a smirk. If Tray saw what happened in the turquoise mine, he’d run in fear. “Observe all you want. It changes nothing.”
“I wonder what blood type you are, Alexa? You’re the right age, and you even resemble them.”
A fake chuckle tumbled from my mouth. “Are you a scientist now? Because I have blonde hair, I’m an alien. Go on and report me.”
He scowled at my laughter.
“If there’s anything here, which I highly doubt, I’d rather the Sanctarians have it than you.”
“You can’t mean that, Alexa.”
“I mean it. Now leave and don’t come back.”
Tray placed his ballcap on his head with a devilish grin. “People go missing all the time. Just last week, the aliens abducted a woman from Arizona.”
“Is that supposed to scare me because it wasn’t an abduction, and you know it?”
“If you married me, you’d be safe.”
“You’re the last man on Earth I’d marry, Tray.”
“Come on, baby. You know we were good together.”
Tray was always greedy and self-centered. It just took me a few months to realize the person he was. If I hadn’t walked in on him questioning my grandpa about the turquoise mine’s whereabouts, I wouldn’t have known. “So good that I ended our relationship?”
“All I’d have to do is put the word out about your hidden mine and similar features.”
“And my birth certificate would prove you a liar.”
“Fear and paranoia can work wonders, Alexa.”
“Even if people believed you, you forgot one important point.”
“What’s that?”
“Everything is in my grandfather’s name. How would people feel about your attack on a sick man and his granddaughter?”
“I’m willing to take that chance. Are you?”
I backed away from the screen door with a lopsided grin. “Do it then. I dare you. I’m tired of your empty threats.”
The smile on Tray’s face unnerved me as I slammed the door and rested my back against it.
The time had come to leave, to be tested, and accept my fate because I’d rather be claimed by an alien than allow Tray access to my family’s mine…
a mine untouched, concealed, and never opened other than to walk through part of it.
My grandfather found me in it, and the family kept it a secret until now because of me.
With Tray’s threats, and several others from the community, I had no choice left.
Lights in the hills at night proved Tray was already searching for the mine without our permission.
It was only a matter of time before they stumbled upon it.
I contacted the police, but they couldn’t spare anyone from the current paranoid mess the world was in.
My gaze drifted to the television, and the footage of Naraq, the Sanctarian leader.
He seemed annoyed by the lack of females arriving for testing.
His frustration mimicked my own. I’d already decided to be tested, knowing my blood type was exactly what Sanctarians wanted, but I thought I’d have more time.
Since that ship entered our atmosphere, it had been nothing but chaos.
The Sanctarians held an invisible knife to the world’s throat, and there was nothing anyone could do.
After infiltrating every government body, my world was at their mercy, but they’d also brought advanced technology, had been more than patient with us, and seemed concerned about our species’ survival.
Naraq looked directly into the camera as he spoke with authority and compassion. With their arrival, he’d captivated me, drawing me to the television every time I knew he’d be on. Gray skin and dark eyes only provoked my curiosity. I found him handsome, interesting, and a complete mystery.
White hair trailed down his back in a complicated braid I’d never seen before, hair like mine, contrasting starkly with the black uniform molded to his muscular frame. No patches or pins decorated his clothing, but I could tell this man was not one to mess with by the way he moved and spoke.
My grandmother always said there were strange lights in the skies over New Mexico, that my mother loved one of them, and it looked like she was right.
I was blood type O negative, and that’s what they needed.
Females between eighteen and thirty-five years of age, single, with O negative blood, or the universal donor, were the requirements for a peaceful coexistence, a possible companion pairing with one of them, and eventual departure to their world.
My gaze drifted around the modern home and the many Southwestern decorations covering the walls. I couldn’t let my family home fall into Tray’s hands. He’d destroy everything while milking the mine of every piece of turquoise before leaving it a pile of dust, and he’d do it for pure greed.
It was true that I needed a protector, but I’d rather take my chances with a Sanctarian than with Tray. Even if I didn’t have a match, they’d want the turquoise. It was a win for me either way.
“Was that Tray again?” my grandfather grumbled, entering the back door.
“Yes.”
He tossed his dusty hat onto the kitchen table and grabbed the back of a chair with a deep sigh. “You’ve got to go, Alexa. I’m sick, and I can’t protect you anymore.”
A defeated sigh left my lips as the sun set over the endless desert and hills, inhaling the familiar scent of my home deep into my lungs before pushing away from the front door. “I know, but I’m not leaving you.”
“I’m so sorry,” he breathed out as another coughing spasm began.
“It’s okay, Grandpa. The closest testing center is in Sante Fe, and I will be there when it opens first thing tomorrow morning if you come with me.”
He wiped his mouth with a napkin and shook his head. “I’m dying, Alexa. Those machines can fix a lot, but not this.”
“People say they cure cancer.”
Kind eyes lifted to me, full of unshed tears. “I’ve lived my life, and I’m ready to be with your grandmother.”
“I can’t lose you, too. Please come with me,” I begged.
“No, Alexa. We knew you were meant for something bigger from the moment you were born, but this house and this world are all I’ve ever known. What would a bunch of aliens do with me?”
He attempted to chuckle, when I knew the strain it caused him. “They’d be lucky to know you, Grandpa.”
“Nah, you go. Don’t think these tired eyes don’t notice the way you watch their leader. You belong to them, Alexa. Your grandmother may have been eccentric, but she wasn’t crazy.”
When he began coughing again, I led him to his favorite recliner and helped him sit. “Rest. Don’t worry about me.”
“Promise me, Alexa,” he rasped. “Promise me you’ll go tomorrow.”
“I promise.”
He nodded once as his eyes closed. “Let me rest.”
With a sigh, I backed away and headed to my bedroom to pack an overnight bag and prepare myself for an unknown future. Just as dawn’s sunlight touched the desert, I snuck out the front door, leaving my grandpa resting comfortably in his recliner.
I paused before I closed the door, listening to him struggle to breathe, and mentally promised to get him the help he needed. “I’ll be back soon, Grandpa.”