32. Terra
TERRA
The ride home was silent. Terra didn’t know what to say and Taurex didn’t seem to be in the mood to talk at all. If she’d thought he was a male of few words before, now he seemed to be a male of no words at all.
The trip back to Earth was nothing like the journey to the Monstrum Mother Ship had been.
On the way out, Terra had been practically glued to the viewscreen, exclaiming over the moon and Mars and the vast golden Mother Ship while Taurex patiently answered every question she threw at him.
Now she sat quietly in the passenger seat with her hands folded tightly in her lap, watching the stars streak past without really seeing them.
Taurex didn’t try to make conversation either. He piloted the shuttle with his golden eyes fixed on the controls, his broad shoulders rigid beneath the dark shirt he had changed into.
Terra found herself glancing at him when she thought he wouldn’t notice. He still looked exhausted. If anything, he looked worse now than he had at breakfast—as though every mile they traveled toward Earth was taking something out of him.
She had expected him to explain himself again once they were alone in the shuttle. In fact, she had almost expected him to try to convince her that she had misunderstood what being his fated mate meant, or to tell her that the strange Bond he wanted wasn’t as invasive as she thought.
Instead, Taurex said nothing about it. He asked once if the temperature in the shuttle was comfortable for her and once if she wanted anything to drink, and when she declined both offers, he simply nodded and went back to flying.
The silence should have made Terra feel relieved, but instead it left her increasingly uncomfortable with her own thoughts.
The night before she had been so certain that she had finally seen a dangerous side of him—the side he had hidden beneath all that gentleness and courtesy—but the more she replayed everything that had happened, the less certain she became.
He hadn’t shouted when she rejected him.
He hadn’t threatened her. He hadn’t tried to touch her after she told him to stop.
When she had begged him to leave her alone, he had left, and this morning when she had asked to go home, he had agreed immediately and even offered to find someone else to fly her because he was afraid she might be uncomfortable with him.
None of that sounded like Viktor Orlov.
None of it sounded like Jackson, either or any other man she’d ever dated.
Terra shifted restlessly in her seat and looked out at the blackness of space again, unwilling to follow the thought any further. Maybe Taurex was simply good at hiding his anger. Maybe all of his patience was some elaborate act that would eventually disappear if she let herself get too close.
Hadn’t she thought Jackson loved her once? Hadn’t she believed all his promises when she was young, only to find herself years later doing every bit of cooking, cleaning and child-rearing while he complained that she was too fat and then left to sleep around with other women?
People could fool you. Men, especially, could fool you, and Terra had two children depending on her. She couldn’t afford to be stupid just because an enormous alien with beautiful golden eyes had made her feel safe for a little while.
The argument sounded completely reasonable inside her head, yet by the time the golden shuttle descended through the Florida sky and Tampa spread out beneath them, Terra felt sick with something that seemed suspiciously like regret.
Taurex landed in front of her mother’s little bungalow as gently as he had when he picked her up, converting the shuttle back into its terrestrial configuration before settling onto the driveway.
Almost immediately, the front door burst open and two small figures came racing out.
“Mom!” Lisa shrieked, her little legs pumping as she flew down the front steps. Cody was right behind her, moving with slightly more dignity until Terra opened the shuttle door, at which point he abandoned dignity entirely and ran the rest of the way.
Terra barely had time to step onto the driveway before both children slammed into her.
“Oh, my babies!” she cried, wrapping both arms around them and squeezing so hard that Lisa squealed.
Terra buried her face in her daughter’s hair and breathed in the familiar scent of strawberry shampoo while Cody’s arms wrapped around her waist from the other side. Her eyes burned suddenly, and she had to blink hard to keep from crying.
“God, I missed you. I missed you both so much.”
“You were only gone one night,” Cody pointed out, though he didn’t let go.
“I know.” Terra kissed the top of his head anyway. “It felt longer.”
Lisa squirmed backward and looked past her toward the shuttle.
“Did you bring me something from space?”
“Lisa!” Terra exclaimed, laughing despite herself. “Hello to you too.”
“Well, did you?”
“Yes, you little heathen. I brought you something.” Terra finally released the children and turned toward Taurex, who had already opened the rear compartment of the shuttle and was taking out her bags along with the gifts they had bought at the Market.
He carried everything over without speaking and put it all gently down at her feet.
Lisa’s face lit up when she saw the tiny living bracelet nestled inside its protective leaf wrapping. “Is that mine?”
“It is,” Taurex said quietly, crouching so he was closer to her height. “The flowers change color according to your mood.”
“Oh my gosh!” Lisa breathed as Terra fastened the delicate vine around her wrist. Almost immediately, several tiny blossoms opened in brilliant yellow.
“That means excited,” Terra told her, remembering what the vendor had said.
“They know I’m excited?” Lisa demanded.
“Yup.” Terra nodded.
“That is so cool!” she exclaimed.
Cody was trying very hard not to look jealous, so Taurex reached into another bundle and handed him the small silver seed.
“This is for you.”
Cody squeezed it, and the little object unfolded in midair into a complicated floating geometric puzzle.
“Whoa!” His entire face transformed. “How do I solve it?”
“You will have to discover that on your own,” Taurex told him, and Terra remembered with painful clarity how he had chosen the gift because Cody asked so many questions and liked puzzles.
Then Taurex lifted Lucy’s glowing plant from the shuttle.
“Oh, now what in the world is that?” Terra’s mother asked as she came down the porch steps, one hand resting over her heart.
“It is for you,” Taurex told her. “It helps purify the air and requires very little care.”
Lucy gave Terra an accusing look.
“Did you tell him I kill plants?”
Terra tried to smile.
“I might have mentioned it.”
“I do not kill all plants,” her mom protested.
Terra rolled her eyes.
“Mom, you killed a cactus.”
Her mom made a shooing motion.
“It was temperamental.”
Taurex’s mouth twitched, and for one brief second Terra saw the man he had been yesterday—the Taurex who laughed with her in the Market and bought gifts for her family because he wanted to.
The sight hurt her heart more than she wanted to admit.
Lucy accepted the glowing plant with obvious delight, but Terra couldn’t look at Taurex anymore.
Every gift reminded her of him. Lisa’s bracelet hadn’t been Terra’s purchase—Taurex had insisted on paying for it because he wanted to give her daughter something.
Cody’s puzzle had been chosen because Taurex had remembered what kind of child he was after meeting him only once. Even Lucy’s plant had been his idea.
He had paid attention to the people Terra loved because they mattered to her, and now she was standing in her mother’s driveway wondering whether she had completely misunderstood everything about him.
Taurex carried Terra’s luggage to the porch and set it carefully beside the door. For a moment she thought he might say something about work or about when he would see her again, but he only looked at her with that same bleak expression he had worn all morning.
“I believe you have everything,” he said.
“Yes.” Terra nodded and tightened her arms around herself. “I think so.”
“Good.”
There was an awkward silence between them. Lucy was occupied with the children and their gifts, but Terra could feel her mother watching from the corner of her eye.
“Thank you for bringing me home,” she said at last. “And for the trip. I really did enjoy seeing the Mother Ship.”
“I am glad.” Taurex’s voice was quiet and formal. “I am sorry the experience ended as it did.”
Terra’s throat tightened.
“Taurex…”
He raised one hand slightly.
“You do not have to say anything. I understand.”
Did he? Terra wasn’t sure she understood anymore.
Taurex looked at her for another moment, and for one heartbeat she thought he might reach for her. Instead, he inclined his head.
“Have a beautiful life, Terra.”
The words struck her much harder than they should have and her stomach fisted unhappily in her midsection.
“Wait—what?” she asked, staring at him. Was he saying they were never going to see each other again? As in, ever?
But Taurex had already stepped back.
“Take care of yourself and your family,” he said quietly. “I wish you every happiness.”
Then he turned and walked toward the shuttle.
Terra stood frozen beside her luggage as he climbed inside. A moment later, the golden vehicle lifted silently from the driveway, gliding toward the street before accelerating away.
She watched until it disappeared.
“Mommy, look!” Lisa cried, pulling on Terra’s hand. “My flowers turned blue!”
Terra looked down.
The little blossoms around Lisa’s wrist had changed from excited yellow to a soft, peaceful blue.
“They’re beautiful, baby,” she whispered.
And because the bracelet made her think of Taurex, her eyes suddenly filled with tears.
Terra blinked them away quickly and pasted on a smile, but when she looked up, her mother was watching her.
Lucy waited until the children had carried their treasures into the house before saying anything. She set the glowing plant carefully on the porch table and folded her arms.
“What happened?”
“Nothing.”