Chapter Four
Elaina
I was still angry.
The realization came as I shoved my glasses up my nose and glared at the reflection staring back from the bathroom mirror. Usually a night's sleep dulled whatever irritation I carried prior to bed, but every time I thought about the past few days, a fresh wave of frustration rolled through me.
At my uncle.
At the aliens.
At the entire absurd situation that had been nothing more than a waste of my time.
I'd spent hours being paraded around like a prize animal while strangers discussed things I had no interest in. Every smile I'd forced had grown stiffer until I worried my face had frozen.
And the worst part was that none of them seemed to find anything unusual about me being dragged around by my uncle while not participating in the conversations.
I was a decoration. Proof that my uncle had done his duty and submitted the DNA of someone related, who happened to meet the requirements to be used as leverage.
I wasn’t a fool. It had been clear that was what the entire Morraki-Human pairing was meant to be.
I brushed my teeth harder than necessary before yanking the brush through my hair hard enough to make my scalp sting as I ripped strands free.
At least it was over. I had attended the gala, humored my uncle, and now I could go back to work and pretend the entire experience had never happened.
The thought eased some of the tension coiled around my chest. Translating made sense. Languages followed rules, and discrepancies were clues that led to discoveries.
Massive alien warriors selecting Human wives at political networking events disguised as galas absolutely did not.
By the time I headed to my car, I'd almost convinced myself the previous evening had been nothing more than an irritating interruption I could forget, along with my connection to Councilor Hans Richter.
I stepped into the office and moved to pour the tar they called coffee into my cup to prepare for the work I needed to catch up on just as the Major walked through his door and drowned out the quiet murmurs of morning greetings.
“Progress reviews. Conference room. Oh-seven hundred.”
A collective groan moved through the analysts as I glanced at the clock. I had six minutes to make my cup and get to the table, but while mutters of complaint followed the Major from the room, my mood improved. Progress reviews were normal routine.
Familiar.
Exactly what I needed to get past the disruption of the previous night.
The conference room filled as we took seats around the long table before the Major worked through assignments one by one. Reports on suspicious communications, translations of suspected intelligence from other countries, were just a normal part of what we did.
I gave my update when called upon, ignoring his frown over it being incomplete, and returned to reviewing the newest packet he'd assigned me. The discussion was moving toward someone else's project when a faint mechanical hum interrupted the room.
Everyone looked up at the silver courier drone hovering outside the glass door. Drones meant something important had to be delivered quickly, without the chance of being blocked or delivered to the wrong person.
My stomach tightened, my heart starting to flutter. We all wanted to be the one to crack something important, and while I was usually someone the major overlooked unless reminded, I seemed to be on his bad side due to my uncle’s interference.
The Major opened the door, but the drone passed by him. Instead of delivering its message to the highest ranked person in the room, it headed straight for me.
The quiet buzz of excitement around me faded into confused silence as the drone hovered in front of my face. A white envelope slid from its compartment, Elaina Voss printed across the front large enough for those around me to read.
Nobody spoke as I reached for the paper, and heat flooded my face. The envelope felt heavier than it should have, the thick paper not something that would have been used for a simple assignment or delivery of information.
My breath caught, and a chill worked down my spine as I pulled out the card stuffed inside.
Elaina Voss,
You have been selected by Torvashek Drazien Korval. You are hereby ordered to report to the North American Alliance Building at 1400 hours for Omega Serum administration.
Further instructions will be provided upon arrival.
For a moment I couldn't breathe. The words blurred, and my pulse roared in my ears, drowning out everything else.
I stared at the card, shaking my head. It couldn’t be right. I hadn’t spoken to any of the Morraki last night, so he couldn’t have chosen me. There had been nine other women there. Important women. Women attached to powerful figures who actually belonged in those circles.
Not me.
The Major’s voice broke through the shock and my eyes snapped up.
“Care to share?”
His irritation was clear in his voice, and I was still so stunned that I answered without thinking.
“I was chosen.”
Confusion passed over his face before he made the connection. His expression smoothed into cold indifference once more, and he reached across the table to take the packet he’d given me moments before the drone interrupted.
“Sir.”
The word was half strangled as I tried to snatch the paperwork back, but I couldn’t reach without leaning over the person next to me.
“I—”
The Major held up a hand, cutting off the protest trying to form on my tongue.
“Congratulations on your upcoming… bonding. I’m sure you have packing and things to take care of. You’re dismissed.”
I shivered as he looked down at his datapad, trying to process what he’d said. He clearly knew enough to use the proper term for the Morraki equivalent to marriage, which meant he should have known the part that had made it safe to attend.
I had the right to refuse.
“Lieutenant Harris, you'll take over the remaining linguistic analysis on Project Orion. Donaldson, you’ll take this.”
He passed the packet he’d taken from me to the next person down the table as I blinked.
“Wait.”
He ignored me, continuing to tap on his tablet.
“Harris, you will also assume responsibility for the trade decryption package.”
My chair scraped against the floor as I stood, panic flooding my veins.
“Sir, those projects are mine.”
Cold eyes lifted to stare at me with the same emotion as if he were staring at the wall.
“Were yours.”
The correction hit hard enough to steal the air from my lungs, and the room seemed to tilt as I gasped the only word I could manage.
“Were?”
A flicker of something moved over his face before the blank facade solidified again.
“As of tomorrow, if the injection works, you’ll no longer be on Earth. You’ll be tied to the Morrak, and no longer have the clearance to work here, even if you remain.”
He paused but my brain was still scrambling to catch up.
“Which is why, you are dismissed.”
He delivered the last statement slowly, emphasizing each word. It wasn’t a suggestion, it was an order to leave, and my fingers tightened around the card still clutched in my hand.
“I plan to refuse the selection.”
His expression didn’t change, just a tiny huff and the slight shake of his head showed his disbelief.
“Do what you must, but your clearance is still revoked.”
The anger that had simmered since the gala surged, burning the back of my throat. I clenched my jaw to keep more words from spilling that would only cause additional harm, my body trembling as I fought to remain professional.
It wasn’t fair. Nobody had asked me if I wanted this.
Not my uncle.
Not my command chain.
Not the Morraki who had supposedly chosen me.
Nobody had asked if I was willing or wanted any of this, and yet my life was being yanked away.
“I have a contract. You can’t just kick me out.”
The silence in the room was deafening, the others watching as if we were the most interesting spectacle they had ever seen. I’d have been embarrassed if I wasn’t on the verge of losing everything.
I watched the Major's eyebrows raise as he straightened. I wasn’t one to challenge authority, I’d never made waves, but I couldn’t just bow my head and walk away.
“I can, but it doesn’t matter, because it came from above me. It’s already been processed.”
His tone remained calm as he flipped his datapad and showed me his screen. Where my clearance was listed, it said None, and where my contract term dates should have been, it was blank.
I’d already been erased.
I had to swallow twice to get the lump out of my throat to whisper one last protest.
“I haven't agreed.”
The Major stared for a long moment before he sighed, breaking eye contact and looking down at his tablet as he delivered the worst blow of all.
“That doesn’t matter.”
The bluntness stole the rest of the air in the room. Not because I agreed, but because I knew he believed it. The decision had already been made, and my protests didn’t matter. This was bigger than me, and even if the paperwork said I had a choice, I didn’t.
My hands shook as anger and humiliation fought inside me. The conversation was over, and I had no choice but to leave or further humiliate myself.
I left the room and walked to my desk in a daze. Nobody followed me or said anything as I passed. Most avoided eye contact, but I didn’t blame them.
I stared at the desk where I’d spent most of the past few years. I had sat in that chair more than I’d sat on my own couch, and yet there was nothing to show I’d been there. Nothing that would change once I was gone.
I gathered my jacket and keys and left the building. The ride home passed in a blur, and I stepped into my apartment with my mind still blank. Still frozen over the fact that my life had changed with nothing more than a slip of paper.
Looking down at it, I smoothed the crumpled side where I’d clenched it in my fist. There was a shuttle schedule at the bottom to get me to the North American Alliance building, and there wasn’t much time before I needed to be at the platform, but for a moment I wondered what would happen if I simply didn’t go.
Would they move on and choose another?
“No.”