18. Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Eighteen

A melia reluctantly pulled away from Zylar. She wished they could stay that way forever. It was unrealistic, but their future held too much uncertainty for her to walk casually into it. Someone was going to have to pull her kicking and screaming into the great unknown.

"Meowrrr."

"What the heck?" She looked at Zylar hoping her eyes were saying tell me that's not who I think it is."

"Helee?" Zylar barked. Despite that, Amelia could feel the love he had for that five-pound menace.

Helee prowled out of the back of the shuttle like he owned the damn thing, and they should be taking orders from him. He stopped to look at Zylar and then Amelia. He sniffed loud enough for them to hear and then sat on Amelia's lap like it was nothing.

Amelia's eyes cut to Zylar to find him restraining himself from laughing.

"Really?" She pointed at Helee.

"Pet him. He likes you."

He does not like me. "This is called tormenting the human because she might be slightly scared of me. On Earth, cats know who likes and who doesn't like them. Then they torment anyone who isn't fond of them. It's part of their predatory nature."

Against her better judgment, she petted Helee, who meowed for her. Maybe he wasn't that bad. At least she wasn't allergic to him since she had a feeling Zylar wasn't going to get rid of him.

"How long have you had Helee?"

"My mother gave him to me when I was five of your earth years. I don't remember a lot of what happened when I was that young, but I remember Helee. He listened to all my problems and protected me whether I needed it or not."

She grinned but refused to say anything. It wouldn't do to ask what protection a five-pound sky-blue cat-like animal could offer. Did he meow them to death? That was possible. He was a talkative little thing. Oops, cat-like animal, not a thing.

"I guess he's going with us?"

"He is. I've left him on the ship too long. Haven't I?" Zylar reached over and picked up Helee, holding him to his chest petting him, and stroking down his back.

"He's mine. Don't get too many ideas," Amelia told Helee, groaning before she got up. "I'm too old to be on the floor." She stretched, trying to get the kinks out before she went back to the chair next to Zylar's.

"Not compared to me," Zylar said.

"I know you're an old man. Want to tell me how old?" She used the word man deliberately and laughed when he ignored her.

He thought about it for a while and then shook his head no. "We'll talk about age later. I am, as we both know, older than you. I think that's enough."

Amelia thought it over and decided he was right. It didn't matter his age or the conversion of Diza years to Earth years. She wasn't going anywhere. Her relationship with Zylar and whatever it brought with it was something she had to navigate because she was tired of running.

Zylar brought Helee with him to the controls and dropped him into Amelia's lap before he sat his fingers dancing over the controls. She loved his fingers, not just for the way they looked. He played her body like a magic flute using them.

"Are you ready?" Zylar asked her.

"No, but do I have a choice?" It was time to confront her cousins. Either they forgave her, real forgiveness, and just not saying the words and then staying away. If they didn't forgive her well in a way, it was all over.

"You worry too much," Zylar said.

Amelia huffed. "You don't worry enough. Even when we were attacked on the ship or when the Tan-ge tried to kill us just minutes ago." More than a few minutes passed, but he knew what she was talking about.

"Those aren't times to worry. I strategize and figure out the best solution to gain the outcome needed. As you can see, we are still here."

He had a point they were still here and worrying hadn't gotten her anything or anywhere in her life. "You might have a point." She gave in, but it wasn't graceful.

"My grumpy mate." He winked at her.

"Helee, did he just call me grumpy?" Her breath caught in her throat as they made their descent. Being in space hadn't affected her until now. It was suddenly real when she left the darkness of space to be greeted by the eternal daylight that was above the clouds. She never understood how above the clouds it was daylight and below them, it could be night. It always made her think she missed something. No one taught it in school. It was like this big secret unless you were someone who flew a lot or you took off or descended during the night.

The shift from darkness to light was amazing. Maybe after seeing it a hundred times, she'd become used to it, but she didn't think so.

"This is amazing," she whispered.

"You're beautiful," Zylar said, watching her face as the different emotions crossed it.

She threw him a quick smile before going back to staring at the sky outside. "I wish we could all see our world from here. Maybe we'd stop fighting long enough to talk. If not, then we should just hang out up here unable to move or do anything because the clouds wouldn't hold us until we put petty pet peeves aside and acknowledge that we are all people. No one is better than the next."

"You're a dreamer, Mrs. Astor."

"Mrs.?"

"We are mated. It's more binding than any marriage vow."

"So, you're taking my last name on Earth?"

"Of course. I'd be honored if you would take my house name on Diza."

"Of course."

Zylar took the shuttle down through the clouds to expose the darkening sky.

***

SaKura and Jenna had a spot cleared out for the shuttle that was far enough away not to disturb them but not too far to walk. Or they could take the golf cart that was left there for them.

"It looks like they are making themselves at home." Amelia got into the driver's side of the gulf cart. She might trust Zylar with thousands of pounds of shuttle or spaceship, but she didn't trust his driving on the ground.

"I can drive."

"Right," she grinned at him.

He gave her the evil eye and shook his head. He was better at that than she thought.

"Do you have a problem with SaKura and Jenna making Earth their home for the time being?"

Did she? In the beginning, she did, but that's because she didn't trust anyone who wasn't born on Earth. Truthfully, those born on Earth weren't always trustworthy.

"No, I might have in the beginning, but now I know better."

"It's called growth, and you shouldn't be ashamed of it."

How had he known that there was an ache in her chest telling her that she should cling to her bigoted ways and that seeing things differently was wrong, even though she wanted to see them through fresh eyes? Was that why people lived and died with the same outdated worldview? She left that line of questioning alone. Here lies death. The only person she could deal with was herself, and she could see where she'd been bigoted. Was it her own bias or one that had been planted deep inside of her? That didn't matter, that hatred spewed out of her mouth and that's what mattered to her.

"I couldn't look at myself in the mirror after I talked to my cousins and walked out. What I said felt vile, but I couldn't force myself to take the words back, even though I knew I was wrong. What kind of cousin am I?"

"One who is fighting an internal battle and is still fighting."

She choked back a sob because she knew what had to happen, but had no idea who would win the war.

"One of us has to die." It was simple when she thought of it. This Tan-ge had gotten his metaphorical claws into her soul. This wasn't a soul bond established through sex or a blood bond established through the trading of blood. Yes, those bonds existed, but she hadn't realized until she thought about them. No, this bond was one way. She could try forever to get his claws out of her, but since she never invited him in, it wouldn't be easy. Maybe it would be impossible. The one surefire way to break the bond was death. His or hers.

There was a line wrapped around SaKura's and Jenna's home. That was something Amelia hadn't expected. It got worse from there. There were some people holding signs telling them to go home. Some signs weren't that polite, calling SaKura a rutting animal that should be shot on sight. Other signs called Jenna an abomination for having sex with an animal and they went downhill from there.

Those were just the protestors. The line seemed to be made up of women of all colors, sizes, and ages. Were they doing interviews here? Whose bright idea was that? Maybe, just maybe, they were thinking of protecting Bella and her unborn child. She had to give them props for their way of thinking, but this was the wrong way to carry it out.

"We need to get inside the house." Amelia wasn't sure she wanted to cross the line of protestors and it would look bad if she skipped the woman in the line, right?

"On it." Zylar looked around, a frown marring his beautiful face until he broke out in a smile. "Do you see the male standing by himself next to the oak tree? He's wearing a hoodie. Follow him."

Umm, weren't they all oak trees? Nope, a few were pines, but come on botany wasn't her thing. Okay, oak tree, a man standing by himself. Holy hell, on a half-stick. That man was gorgeous, and she meant G to the O… okay, no lusting. She was a mated woman.

She was so used to big purple that it was hard to tell if the male standing by the tree was an alien. Amelia made a U-turn and drove to the male, who waved and got into the back of the gulf cart. He gave her directions, and they were silent as they made their way around what was happening. They ended up in the forest a good five miles away from the protestors.

"Perfect, park here," the male, who hadn't introduced himself, said.Now that she was closer, she couldn't see what made him alien, but she sensed something wasn't right. It didn't take away from his dark skin and his looks. He had to be human and… There was something about him that made her think he was human at one point in his life.

There was no telling what he was hiding under that hoodie. Amelia was sure it wouldn't phase the right woman. She shook her head. There was no way he could be alien and human. That didn't compute.

Amelia wasn't worried about the male because it seemed like Zylar knew him if the bro hug they just exchanged meant anything.

The male was tall, well over six feet, maybe six-two. She was never good at estimating heights. He was simply much taller than she was. Amelia took one more peek at the male and decided he was hiding. She wasn't sure how she knew it, but someone else who could see through his glamor was going to have to describe him. She had enough on her hands with big purple.

He winked at her. That male was going to break someone's heart one day if he hadn't already.

Zylar made a hand movement, and she saw a portal that would transport them to the house. She liked the Diza a lot. They were sneaky and kept most things to themselves.

She eyed the male with them and then looked at her mate.

"Don't mind him," Zylar said. "He's just another monster in hiding."

Oh, hell.