Chapter 23
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Once we were left alone and the door slid shut behind us with a quiet swish, I gave my full attention to Aster. He was fidgeting and restless, and he couldn’t meet my eyes.
“Did you know?” I asked again. I was pretty sure I knew the answer already, but I wanted to hear it from him.
“Since the beginning,” he admitted quietly, his eyes on the floor. “We discover the connection by touch.”
And within two minutes of us interacting, he grabbed me to subdue me. So he literally knew from the beginning.
“Why didn’t you say anything?”
He winced. “I… I didn’t want to frighten you.
You were already going through something difficult.
You didn’t know me, and your only knowledge of our people you told me right away was tainted by our poorly executed introductions.
I thought it was best to wait. To give you a chance to settle.
To know me. I would have explained eventually, but… ”
But he wanted to take care of me. Like he always did.
Aster was constantly putting me and my needs first, even when it came to something as important as a mate.
He didn’t want to overwhelm me with that information.
I appreciated the hell out of that. Knowing him, he wouldn’t have told me until we had a solid foundation and were already seeing each other like a normal couple.
Still, I didn’t know what to do with that information. Technically, Aster abducted me. I mean, it wasn’t him directly, but it was his people. I still wasn’t allowed to go home. I understood why and what they’d hoped to accomplish, but it still tainted things a little.
I couldn’t deny my feelings for him, though.
I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about him since the day we met.
He had been a steady source of comfort and support since day one.
The more time I spent with him, the more I wanted to stay by his side.
I’d been avoiding facing that, but no matter how hard I tried to pretend it wasn’t real, I still ended up back in his orbit.
I wasn’t sure I could walk away from him.
Not when it felt like I was losing a piece of my soul just considering it.
“You don’t need to do anything now,” he was quick to reassure me.
“We have time. While I might not always be stationed so close to Earth’s surface, I will continue to work with the humans while we are here.
” His voice went quiet and pained. “And you do not have to choose me. I’ll understand if you wish not to speak with me anymore.
We made a mistake showing up as we did. You are right to be angry with me for that. ”
No, I wasn’t. He didn’t make that choice. It wasn’t his idea. He followed an order. Had he not, we never would have met. I wasn’t really upset about that anymore. I was just…
“I’m really confused,” I admitted. “I don't even know what being your mate means. We don’t have mates on Earth. I mean, it comes up in like fantasy novels and stuff, but it’s not real.
I have no idea what it means for either of us.
And with everything going on with Earth and all the people stuck on the ships, it’s really hard to wrap my head around. ”
He nodded slowly, his face a mask of heartache. The guilt made my stomach clench, and I quickly reached for him, squeezing his hand gently. “That doesn’t mean I don’t want you. I just need time to think. Maybe get some information about what it all means, you know?”
Glancing at me again, a small amount of hope appeared in his eyes. Shyly, he said, “There is a human expression I read recently. One day at a time. Can we do that?”
My breath exploded from me in a rush, and I nodded, stepping closer to rest my forehead against his. “Yeah. I can do that. You’ll explain it all to me, right?”
“Not all at once. But yes. Anything you ask of me, I will give you. Even if you asked to walk away.”
For a little while, we both just took a minute to breathe.
Aster reminded me that a lot had been thrown at me in the matter of a week, and it was important to take time to process.
He sat me down on one of the chairs in front of the circular window of Crow’s office, sitting on the arm of it like he couldn’t stand to sit as far as the one opposite me.
I didn’t mind the closeness. It felt a little necessary as I worked through everything in my head.
“I still don’t think I’m the best choice for whoever speaks to the world leaders,” I finally said, breaking the silence.
“There are way more qualified people for that, you know. I was going to suggest gathering the military leaders, since they’re probably on the ships.
Once they had the full picture, they could pass it on to their government leaders to try to move things along. ”
Aster shook his head, looking down at me from his perch.
“As you have explained it to us, your human governments are ineffective. You have starving children and terrible crime rates, and your governments are beholden to those with the most money instead of their people. We no longer believe it is possible for us to convince your governments to work with us. That is why the delegation is here. They will be more effective in forcing the issue. We will re-establish a new government and ensure equality for all.”
“That sounds like… a terrible idea. Like worse than invading and snatching up the military. You can’t do that. You’ll only make things worse.”
Tipping his head, he gave me a questioning look.
“What other option do we have? There are only so many planets that can support life, Enzo. Not all of them can survive. Some are old, their star dying, and we have no choice but to evacuate the planet and the galaxy as a whole. That was our original purpose.”
When I frowned, he explained, “The Krezikian people lost their own planet over one thousand Earth years ago. We were displaced and lived solely on our ships with nowhere to go. The alliance stepped in and offered us sanctuary on a planet still early in its development, supporting us as we built our new homes. After that, we dedicated our lives to ensuring that others who are facing the same heartache will have somewhere warm to rest their heads. We would go to planets that are struggling, evacuate the people there, and bring them somewhere safe to start fresh. Our new planet became a haven for other displaced species and still is to this day. We joined the Intergalactic Alliance for the Ecological Protection of Planets to support this mission and were asked to come to Earth when we realized how dangerous the situation had gotten for your planet.”
It made me sad to think that the Krezikians lost their home.
But that was our future, wasn’t it? And we didn’t have the technology to get ourselves somewhere safe.
Space travel was nowhere near ready enough for us to get off the planet and sustain life until we found somewhere safer to be. Not without help. We needed help.
Letting out a long breath, I nodded. “Alright. Let’s go back and talk with the others. We need to figure out a plan that won’t end up with humans losing their shit and waging wars. That won’t help matters.”
He pursed his lips, and I got the feeling there was something he wasn’t telling me. I narrowed my eyes at him.
“What?”
“Well… Now that the Intergalactic Delegation of Interspecies Communication has arrived, that really isn’t something we need to worry about.
Human weapons are dangerous, but not really comparable to Rilphaer’s security teams. They have been the protectors of the galaxies since they first left their planets.
If the humans did decide to wage a war, it wouldn’t last very long. ”
That didn’t make me feel better. If anything, it made me want to step in before something like that happened.
Right now, they all seemed willing to work alongside humans.
If we didn’t get the leaders to work with us, I didn’t even want to think about what would happen to the human race so that they could keep the future of the planet safe.
The delegation and the leaders of the Krezikians were seated at the long table in the meeting room, discussions already in progress. I almost regretted the need to step out, since I probably missed a great deal, and when I came into the conversation, things were already heated.
“As I said,” Crow said to the group. “I don’t believe humans were ready for our interference, and it will cause many troubles to introduce more species too quickly. We must take things slowly.”
“But if Enzo is correct and those truly in power are those who control the wealth of the planet, we may not have a choice,” Mezar pointed out.
“The mission is of utmost importance. We must save all life-sustaining planets. There is no telling how many we will lose over time. This galaxy is young. The planet will live for many eons. We cannot let it die.”
“Yes, and of course that is our priority, but we don’t want to traumatize an entire species either,” Shae pointed out with a frown.
“I still think a sweep of the planet is necessary,” Chaerin argued. “If you make examples of a few, the rest will fall in line.”
Oh no. That sounded like the worst thing I could ever come up with. Seriously.
Putting my hands up, I spoke over them. “Let’s not immediately turn to violence. I’m sure we can come up with another plan.”
Chaerin raised a furry eyebrow at me. “Why not? That was what your people did. The Krezikians are a peaceful people, and still you humans tried to shoot them out of the air.”
“Yeah, because aliens showed up without warning and started abducting people,” I snapped, irritation swelling.
“There are millions of military personnel on Earth. Millions of people were taken from their families and loved ones without a word about what was happening or why. Not to mention government officials. We may have reacted with violence but try to put yourself in their shoes. What would you have done if the same thing was happening with you?”
He opened his mouth to argue, but I cut him off, adding, “Without the knowledge and technology you have now.”
His mouth snapped shut, and while he glared at me, he couldn’t come up with an answer.
I pointed a finger at him. “Exactly. Mistakes are being made on both sides. Communication is a major issue here. If we want the human race to listen, things have to change.” I thought about it for a second.
I understood why they did it, and the risk it would be to bring everyone back, but if they wanted to open the lines of communication, it had to be on equal ground.
“Starting with returning the military members to their families.”