I knew the Changelings better than most.
The Changeling siblings were up to something.
I just couldn’t figure out what.
I shifted to thinking about Maddy recovering from her injuries. Soon, she would be heading back to her homeworld. I pictured her reuniting with her friends, living happily, and finding someone worthy of her love, someone who could give her the life she deserved.
Not me.
I didn’t deserve her.
Not after I betrayed her.
I insisted on receiving regular updates on how she was doing. She took the news of my death as well as could be expected. I couldn’t imagine how painful it must feel to lose the one I loved most in the entire galaxy.
According to the reports, Maddy stayed in her room for the first couple of days. When she came out, she was ready to undertake her mission—a crucial one the Yayora had risked everything for.
It pleased me to know she was doing something to help them. If she succeeded, she could give the Yayora the chance they needed to overthrow their conquerors and destroy them.
Then they could begin the long, hard process of rebuilding their civilization. I hoped they wouldn’t forget the lessons they learned during their fifty painful years of incarceration within their own planet.
Right now, somewhere up on the surface, Maddy’s plan would be going into effect. I was only glad she wouldn’t be the one put at risk.
Did the Yayora have the firepower to overthrow their oppressors? I didn’t know. But they would try.
The door at the end of the hall opened and my stomach grumbled. It was lunchtime. I was starving. Healing fast required a great deal of energy. I smiled as Stari entered. But she didn’t carry trays of food.
She was probably bringing news about Maddy, I thought. She’d tell me whether or not their mission had been a success.
My smile faded when a second figure came marching into the room.
She’d lost a little weight and her eyes were red-rimmed and sore. She glided on long strides and her chin was high.
Klang wolf-whistled and made loud kissing noises.
“Well, hello beautiful,” he said to Maddy. “How about you come over here and give me that pert ass?”
“I wouldn’t mind a piece myself,” Trang said.
Their comments went ignored.
My mouth felt dry. I never thought I would see her again. In fact, I engineered the situation so I would never have to see her again.
It was hard doing that to myself—to refuse to lay eyes on the most beautiful creature in the galaxy, to refuse to let myself touch and be with her…
It was for the best. Much better for her to think I was dead than to learn the truth.
She drew to a stop in front of my cell.
I couldn’t meet her eyes. I longed to gaze upon her but I couldn’t do it. I scanned her body out the corner of my eye, never daring to look at her directly.
She shouldn’t be here.
I turned my body away from her, keeping the worst of my injuries facing the back wall. I even kept the worst of the facial scars on my left cheek from her.
Was it just me or did my cell feel like it’d shrunk to half its regular size?
“Is there anything you need?” Stari said.
“Take her away from here,” I said. “She doesn’t need to see me like this.”
Stari ignored me and remained looking at Maddy.
“Open the cell door,” Maddy said.
I stepped forward and stabbed a finger at Stari.
“Don’t you dare!” I said. “We made a deal!”
“Yes, well, I made a new one with Maddy,” Stari said. “Computer. Open the cell door.”
The door hissed open. I backed away from it, so far my back met the wall.
“Looks like the big man is afraid of the little girl,” Klang hissed to his sister.
“Is there a way to block the other cell out?” Maddy said.
“Only the sound,” Stari said.
“Do it.”
“Computer, mute the next cell.”
The Changeling siblings yelled and shouted. They would still hear the noises they made but we couldn’t. They banged on the partition wall with their fists. That sound was blocked too.
“Do you want me to stay?” Stari said.
I don’t know why she asked her if she wanted her to stay. I was the one that needed protection.
“No,” Maddy said. “You can go. I’m safe with him.”
Stari frowned at me. She’d never been very warm with me but now she was downright frosty. She marched out of the room.
The door hissed shut.
It seemed very quiet in that space.
Too quiet.
Even with the Changelings waving their arms, morphing into our body shapes, and trying to distract us and get our attention, I felt like we were alone.
And I was terrified to face this woman alone.
I had lied to her. Several times. Even before we met, I came fully stocked with lies.
“Look at me,” Maddy said.
I refused.
“I said look at me!” Maddy repeated.
It wasn’t a yell or a scream. It was a command. That, combined with my own selfish desire to look upon her, overcame my will. I couldn’t fight it any longer.
I had to look at her.
I shifted my eyes up slowly. I looked her over in one piece at a time.
I began with her feet. How small they were, and yet how strong. When we ran from Iron Hoof at the farm, she kept pace with me every step of the way.
Then her long luscious legs. I recalled them vividly wrapped tightly around me. So soft, and yet so firm.
Her torso with those perfectly-sized breasts that I’d nibbled on for hours. And still, I knew I would never get enough of them.
And her long lithe arms that hung at her sides, her hands balled into fists that might launch at me within the next few minutes.
Then came the hardest part.
Her beautiful face and the expression it harbored.
Her face was pale and drawn. Her luscious plump lips should have been vibrant and alive with passion
