DangerouslyForever (18 page)

“That’s understandable.”

Ally shook her head and used the back of her hand to wipe
the rest of the tears away. “No it’s not. She’s going to hate me. I know it.”

“Why? You’ve done nothing wrong.”

“That’s right. I’ve done
nothing
. In all these years,
I’ve done nothing,” she choked out.

“Did I miss something? Didn’t you take me prisoner and
escape the brothel?”

“I was doing it to save Yoshi and Max. Otherwise I probably
would’ve stayed, whoring for Alharad.”

“No, you wouldn’t have. Ship got a lock on you and he wasn’t
going to let you slip away again.”

“Eva was always persistent.”

“She’s probably the same female you remember.”

“She’s probably changed. We’ve both changed.”

“Eva is strong-willed, very independent. She doesn’t mince
words or hold her tongue. She will pick up a weapon before she picks up a
cooking pot. She is one of the very few females on Drazlan or Sonis who is
regularly seen in training pants rather than the traditional female gown. She
is fair and devoted.”

Ally’s heart clenched. “Sounds like she didn’t change a
bit.”

Kiehle stood and held out a hand to her. “Can we go now? I
think it’s time for you and Eva to finally reunite.

“Can I have my blaster back?”

“You mean
my
blaster?”

“Yours, mine…I like to think of it as
ours
.”

Kiehle laughed. “I’ll tell you what. If you can be good,
I’ll get you your very own blaster. Do you think you can do that?”

She chewed on her bottom lip. She really didn’t need it. She
would be with Eva, plus Kiehle wouldn’t let anything happen to her. “Yes.”

“Stop pacing. You are going to make me lose my mind,” Taio
grumbled.

Eva stopped to face him. “I think she’s mad at me for not
finding her sooner. She doesn’t like me anymore.” She clenched her clammy hands
together. They shook, but so did her legs. “She hates me.”
I know it. Why
else would she act so distant?

I left her.

With that thought, Eva began pacing again, nothing else on
her mind but Ally and all the reasons why Ally hated her.

They had spent three years together as best of friends…sisters.
They shared everything. Now Ally couldn’t even stay on the com-link with her
for more than five minutes before signing off.

She can’t even stand to talk to me.

She punched a fist into her palm. She should’ve tried
harder. She should’ve offered a bigger reward. She should’ve searched every
brothel in this galaxy—and the next. She should have—

Taio closed the gap between them and grabbed her into a
strong embrace. “She does not hate you,” he promised.

Eva looked up at him to find his gaze intently on hers. “But
she acts like she does,” she whispered.

Taio’s features softened. “No one could ever hate you.” Then
he tilted his head in thought. “Well, except for maybe the Tresdonians, the
Mindari, the Liapo—”

Eva punched him on the arm. “Stop that. I’m serious. I
concentrated so hard on finding her. I didn’t think about anything else. Like
maybe she held some resentment toward me for leaving her on Xenaris.”

“You did not leave her. You were unconscious when I saved
you from getting beaten to death by the Tresdonians.”

She clenched her fists, thinking back on that day.
I hate
the Tresdonians.
“I was weak from lack of food. Otherwise they would’ve
never gotten the best of me.”

He ran his hands up and down her arms reassuringly. “Of
course not. My little warrior would have won.”

She narrowed her eyes. “Maybe I should go back there and—”

He stopped her with a kiss on the forehead. “You can’t
return to Xenaris, remember? They banned you.”

It had something to do with her going there in a fit. She
and Ship had lost track of Ally. She had decided that a “girl’s trip” would be
the perfect diversion to get her mind off failing yet again. She went on a
rampage in one of the slave markets on Xenaris. It had ended with her having to
pay for damages and promising to never return.

“Served them right,” Eva muttered, remembering the
destruction she had caused and the bones she’d broken.

“Yes indeed, and you were just the person to do it,” he
said, right before a transporter entered the bay. “I’m still receiving
complaints to this day.”

At seeing the transporter, she pulled away from him, her
heart thumping out of control. She couldn’t catch her breath. “Is that them?”

“It is,” he said as the transporter docked.

She’s here.

Eva’s already clammy hands were now slippery with sweat. She
wiped them on her training pants and still couldn’t get them dry enough. Shit,
she was nervous. “I want to hug her, but what if she doesn’t want to hug
me
?”
She turned to Taio, seeking his comfort. “Or what if she gives me one of those
limp hugs? You know, like the kind you give someone you
really
don’t
want to touch?”

“Eva, stop your worrying. She wouldn’t have come all this
way if she didn’t want to see you. She could have stayed where she was.”

“Oh my God. What if she thought I was
making
her come
here? Maybe she felt obligated?” Her stomach twisted into an uncomfortable
knot. She put her hand there, trying to somehow calm it. “I think I’m going to
throw up.”

“If I wasn’t witnessing it with my own eyes, I would never
have thought I’d see you scared.”

She chewed on her lip, waiting for the engines to turn off.

“Should I announce my presence or will you do the honors?”
Ship asked. “She has children with her. I don’t want to scare them.”

She hadn’t seen Ship enter but she had expected him. He was
an entity as old as time, from a place he couldn’t explain to her. And
according to him, there was only a handful of his kind in existence. He was
invisible to most species, but to the human eye he appeared as a purplish haze.

She saw him next to Taio. Ally and the kids would see him
also, but wouldn’t know what he was. His appearance sometimes unnerved humans,
especially those who had not fared well in alien captivity. But she hoped Ally
would come to love him just as much as she did. He had been the one to find her.
She couldn’t have found Ally without Ship’s help.

“I’ll do it. After everything they’ve been through, I’m sure
they’re probably skittish.”

The door clicked. She turned back to face the transporter,
waiting.
This is it.

Her heart seemed to still. She held her breath, watching the
door ease open at an alarmingly slow pace.

A skinny woman exited, shuffling down the ramp. She stopped
and turned in a semicircle, looking, searching…

Her gaze locked on Eva.

Ally.

Eva’s eyes misted over. She couldn’t believe it. She wanted
to scream but stifled it by covering her mouth with her hands.

It’s her. It’s really Ally.

She was beautiful. Just like Eva remembered her—tall, legs
for days. She was thinner, but beautiful just the same. She wore her
pale-blonde hair in a braid. She had on brown leather pants that were too big
for her and a white t-shirt that hung off her small frame.

“That’s Ally. That’s my best friend,” she whispered, almost
unable to believe what her eyes were seeing.

Taio nudged her shoulder. “Go to her.”

Eva tore her eyes from Ally to look at Taio. “What if she
doesn’t want me to—”

Her sentence was cut off by a scream. Startled, Eva jerked
toward the noise. It was from Ally.

“Eva!” Ally yelled with such force that her voice echoed off
the walls and every transporters in the bay. Ally pointed in her direction and
laughed hysterically, all while talking animatedly to someone still inside the
transporter. All Eva could make out was, “That’s Eva. It’s really her!”

She’s happy to see me.

A weight seemed to lift from her shoulders as her body
shook. Any self-doubt that remained quickly dissipated. She took off at a run.
“Ally!”

Ally sprinted toward her with open arms. “Eva!”

Eva reached her with quick strides, slamming into her. Their
arms wrapped tightly around each other, and Eva didn’t know when she had begun
to cry, but she had, and it was a lot. They held each other, rocking and
shaking.

Ally buried her face in Eva’s hair. “I missed you so much.”

Eva couldn’t form the words for all the emotions in her
heart. “I looked for you everywhere. I never stopped.”

“Kiehle told me,” Ally sniffled.

“I’m so sorry that I left you behind on Xenaris. I’m so
sorry that I couldn’t find you sooner.”

Ally shook her head, crying. “It doesn’t matter. I’m here.
We’re together.”

Over Ally’s shoulder, Eva watched as Kiehle walked toward
them with two children holding on to his hands. One was an adorable
African-American boy with bright brown eyes and the other was a petite Asian
girl with black hair and matching dark eyes.

Eva pulled away, hating to let go of Ally for even a second.
“Yoshi. Max.” She wiped her face with her sleeve.

Ally turned, wiping her own face. “Guys, can you say hi?”

Eva glanced at Ally and she nodded. With Ally’s permission,
Eva eased forward. She approached them and crouched. “It’s so very nice to
finally meet you both.”

Max looked from her to Ally and then back to her again. “You
didn’t change your mind about wanting us to live with you, did you?” he asked.

Eva wanted to grab him and squeeze him in her arms. “Of
course not. How could I not want you two?” She reached out to hold his hand. “I
mean, look at how handsome you are.” She took Yoshi’s hand with her other one.
“And how beautiful
you
are.”

Yoshi grinned and lowered her head.

“But you made Ally cry,” he said softly.

“She made me cry too, but they’re tears of joy. I’ve been
waiting for her for a very long time. I’ve been waiting for you too. And you
all just got here; I’m not letting you go that easily.”

“I’m glad we get to stay,” he said.

This time she didn’t resist the urge to pull him and Yoshi
into her arms. “I’m glad you’re staying too. Now come on and let’s see your new
apartment.”

“I’m the man of our family,” he declared. “You should show
me the apartment first, to let me approve it.”

Eva raised a brow and looked up at Kiehle. “Filling his head
with that nonsense already?”

“It’s not nonsense,” Kiehle stated simply.

Eva shook her head and rose. “I wanted to pick him up, but
thanks to you, I suppose I can scratch that off my list.”

“I’m a man,” Max said, squaring his shoulders and confirming
her suspicion.

Ally smiled down at him. “And he’s been a very good little
man.”

Eva raised a brow. “Well then, we should get going if you’re
going to approve the apartment, but may I suggest that you allow Ally and Yoshi
to come with us?”

He flicked his gaze to Kiehle for direction. “I think that
would be acceptable,” he said to Max.

The boy nodded. “They can come.”

“I like him already,” Taio said, approaching the group.

Eva rolled her eyes. “Of course you would.” She reached out
for Taio and pulled him closer. “This is my mate, Taio.” She pointed to each of
them in introduction. “This is Ally and her children, Yoshi and Max.”

Ally extended a hand, which Taio took and shook vigorously.
When Ally mouthed “ouch”, Eva put a hand on his arm, stopping him. “Baby, not
so hard.” And then to Ally she said, “Taio is still working on getting the hang
of handshakes. His grip is a bit too strong.”

“Sorry,” he said. Then he looked down at the kids. “Welcome
to my home. Consider this your home as well.”

He extended a hand but Eva pulled it back down to his side.
“They don’t need to start off with broken bones,” she chuckled.

He turned to her with a confused look on his face. “Then how
do I properly greet human children?”

“With candy,” Eva said.

“Candy?” Yoshi asked, any shyness quickly fading away.

Eva sheepishly pulled out the treats she had in her pockets
and handed them to the kids. They took the treats and ripped into them with
abandon. She looked at Ally. “I’m sorry I didn’t ask if they could have them
first. It was a last-minute decision in case I needed to bribe them to like
me.”

Ally put a hand on her heart. “That was so sweet of you.”

Eva pulled another treat from her pocket. “And I got this
one for you.”

Ally’s lip quivered. “This is my bribe?”

Eva raised a shoulder and smiled. “You know, just in case…”

Ally rushed forward and grabbed her in a bear hug. “I don’t
need a bribe. But I’ll take it anyway,” she said, snatching the candy away.

“Is that all I had to do to make you compliant?” Kiehle
asked. “If I had known, I would have given you pockets full of treats,” he
mumbled.

Ally released Eva and went to him. “I’m sorry, but yes, it
would’ve helped,” she said, snacking on the chewy cocoa bar.

“Shall we get going?” Eva asked.

“Sure, but…” Ally rubbed her eyes, blinked and then rubbed
them again.

Eva stepped to her and moved tendrils of hair out of her
face. “Is something the matter?”

“I think there’s something wrong with my eyes,” Ally said.
“I’m seeing spots of purple.”

“Oh! I’m so sorry. That’s Ship, my friend.”

Ally looked from Ship to Ally then back to Ship again. “
That’s
Ship? I was expecting something…?”

“With a body?”

“Ship doesn’t like appendages. He thinks they’re ‘gross’,”
Taio said.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be rude. I know I owe him big
for helping to look for me.”

Eva chuckled. “It’s me who owes him the favor. I suppose one
day he’ll want to cash in.” She grabbed Ally’s arm, entangling it with hers and
leading her closer to Ship. “But it’ll be worth it.”

“Hello, Allysan, Max and Yoshi,” Ship said as they
approached.

The kids took a step closer to Ally and held on to her legs.

“It’s all right,” Kiehle said. “Ship is a true friend. You
can trust him.”

“Kiehle’s right,” Eva said, trying to soothe the kids,
knowing that hearing Ship’s voice coming from all different directions was a
little scary at first. “He helped me find you.”

“Thank you so much for finding me,” Ally said. “I don’t know
how I’ll ever repay you.”

“Don’t think of it further,” Ship said. “I was at Eva’s mercy.
She was relentless in her pursuit of you.”

Ally squeezed Eva’s arm. “So I’ve heard.”

“I think the little humans are afraid of me,” he said.

Ally looked down at the kids. “Max? Yoshi? He’s a friend.
It’s okay.”

Neither of them moved.

“Maybe after they’ve adjusted they’ll be more receptive to
you,” Kiehle said.

“I can take some getting used to. My knowledge and
brilliance can be overwhelming at first.”

Eva choked. “Is that how you’re describing yourself now?”

“Lo’Ren described me as such and I happen to agree with
her.”

“She didn’t by chance need a favor from you, did she?” Taio
asked.

“That’s irrelevant,” Ship said.

“Who is Lo’Ren?” Ally asked.

Eva tugged on her arm, leading her out of the transporter
bay. “Wait until you meet her. She’s a hoot. She’ll be coming back from
visiting with her sister in a couple of days.”

“She’s an alien?”

“Think pink—a lot of pink,” Eva said, waving a hand through
the air. “With a flair for silver.”