United: An Alienated Novel (34 page)

“Considering what circum—” David cut off, his gaze flying wide as realization set in. He rolled onto his back and began frantically patting his chest.

“It’s all right,” Aelyx said, and held him still. “You were shot, but a lot has happened since then.” He didn’t mention that David had died. It was probably best to dole out the information in bite-size pieces. “If you calm down, I’ll tell you everything.”

Cara smoothed a comforting hand over David’s head. “You’ve been in cryogenic storage for about four months. You’re on the L’eihr colony now, fully healed.” As if to confirm her statement, David glanced beneath the blanket. “Your genetic disease, too,” she added. “At least that’s what Zane said.”

“Zane?” David asked.

While Cara fetched David a cup of water, Aelyx explained what happened after the shootout last winter, including the fact that David had died. David seemed to take the news well, or at least to conceal his anxiety as he listened to the story of the Aribol threat and their subsequent defeat. Aelyx had just begun to describe the elixir when a knock sounded at the door, and a voice called, “Aelyx? Let me in.”

David’s face lifted in a hopeful grin. “Is that Syrine?”

Aelyx made a shushing motion. He hadn’t reached the part of the story where they’d decided to use the elixir without Syrine’s knowledge. He wanted to give David a full medical checkup before telling her the news, and then break it to her gently, not slide open the door and jar her with the sudden resurrection of her
l’ihan
.

Maybe if they were quiet, she would go away.

She pounded her fist harder. “I know you’re in there, Aelyx. I tracked your sphere.”

Fasha
. “I’m busy,” he called to her. “Go back to the center. I’ll meet you there later.”

“The technician told me you’re preparing David for burial.” A new heaviness in her voice tugged at Aelyx’s heartstrings. “I deserve to be with him. If you don’t open the door, I’ll have the technician do it.”

David blinked in surprise and looked back and forth between Aelyx and Cara. “She doesn’t know?”

Cara caught Aelyx’s eye and whispered, “Go talk to her.”

Aelyx nodded; there was no avoiding it any longer. He positioned himself to block the view of the examination table when he answered the door. On the other side, Syrine gripped her hips, looking equal parts furious and hurt.

He moved forward half a step to force her to back up, but she refused. She tried to dart around him on either side, and he blocked her with his body. “Wait,” he said. “There’s something I have to tell you.”

Before he could say anything more, David called Syrine’s name, and her hands slipped from her hips. The color in her face drained away, and she went stone-still. Not even her eyes moved from their position fixed on a point behind Aelyx’s shoulder.

“Let me explain.”

She moved to push him aside. This time he let her. As she drifted forward, he shadowed her every step, prepared to support her when shock set in. And it did. The moment she found David, very much alive, sitting on the exam table with a blanket twisted around his torso, she lost her breath and swayed on her feet.

Aelyx caught her by the elbow and held her steady. “I didn’t want you to find out this way,” he told her, but she didn’t seem to be listening. Her glassy gaze never left David’s face.

Beside the table, Cara wrung her hands. “We didn’t know if it would work. That’s why we didn’t tell you. But I swear we were going to as soon as …” She trailed off when it became clear Syrine wasn’t listening to her either.

When Syrine began to tremble, even David showed signs of concern, opening and closing his mouth as if afraid to speak and push her over the edge into actual, medical shock. Her eyes flooded with tears, but not necessarily the happy kind. Aelyx traded a nervous glance with Cara. Maybe they’d done more harm than good in hiding the elixir from Syrine. He often forgot how fragile her gift made her.

But then, still staring ahead, she drew a shaky breath and exhaled in a barely audible whisper, “I love you.”

David lifted a blond brow.

“I love you,” she said, the words louder this time but broken in half by the thickness in her throat. She wriggled away from Aelyx and strode toward the table, chanting through her tears, “I love you.”

Overcome by emotion, David didn’t speak. His eyes glittered with moisture that welled over and spilled down his cheeks. He lifted one corner of the blanket when Syrine reached him. She crawled beneath it, and they embraced each other with so much passion Aelyx was forced to avert his gaze.

There was no more talking after that, only the sounds of sniffles and quiet sobs. He glanced at Cara to find her smiling at him with tears streaming down her face. He offered her his hand, and when she took it, they walked out of the room and closed the door behind them.

The checkup could wait.

They strode outside, where the sun hung low over the ocean, signaling the end of the longest day Aelyx could remember. Activity bustled on the front lawn of the living center where a group of humans appeared to be teaching several L’eihrs how to play soccer using a ball made from rubber bands wrapped around old uniforms. The “ball” wobbled in a wayward path when kicked, but the group played on, laughing and cheering.

“It’s funny.” Cara watched the game as she led him along the sidelines. “Not
ha-ha
funny, but strange, how it took an intergalactic war to make everyone put aside their differences. Two months ago, none of these people would talk to each other.”

Aelyx made a noise of agreement. The threat of extinction had forced both their worlds to unite against a common enemy. In doing so, they’d also discovered a new planet populated with their kind, although the Earth Council and The Way had decided not to initiate contact. Aelyx was glad for it. A few years of stability might be nice for a change.

He was so deep in thought he didn’t notice where Cara had led him until sand shifted beneath his boots and ocean mist dusted his face. His stomach grumbled. He’d thought they were walking to the dining hall. “Where are we going?”

The breeze tossed Cara’s braid over her shoulder as she towed him past the dunes. “You made me a promise, and now it’s time to deliver.”

Aelyx pursed his lips. He didn’t recall making any promises, but he hoped it involved skinny-dipping. “Give me a hint?”

“Nope. I want you to remember it on your own.”

As it turned out, their destination was the secluded northern tip of the beach, where sand gave way to stone. Cara indicated a spot and motioned for him to sit down. He did, and after he settled on a comfortable drift of sand, she sat between his legs, facing away, and reclined with her back against his chest. He wrapped his arms around her and looked out at the white-capped waves. The view was pleasant, but he still didn’t know what they were doing here.

At least not until the sun slipped over the horizon and a trio of moons arose to take its place. The darkness allowed the stars to shine, and there, high in the heavens beyond the third moon, stretched the angel nebula he had described to her last year. He tipped back his head to admire the swirling clouds of pink and violet. Then he recited the words he’d said to her so many months ago.

“Every time you see it, I want you to think of me. Soon we’ll stand together and watch the L’eihr sky from our colony.” He gave her a teasing squeeze. “Though sitting is nice, too.”

She gazed dreamily upward. “You know, the whole time we were apart I kept looking for this in the sky, but I couldn’t see it from the Aegis. It’s like the nebula wanted us to see it together.”

“We have,” he reminded her. The nebula had once been visible from their apartment window.

“But not like this. Not like I imagined we would.” She pondered for a moment. “Why didn’t we take the time to really appreciate it?”

Aelyx didn’t say so, but he imagined that was because they’d spent all their free time in their bedroom during those first few weeks on the colony. Not that he was complaining. “We were distracted by other things, I guess.”

She snuggled closer and rested the back of her head on his shoulder. “Well, let’s make time from now on. I don’t want to forget how hard we fought for this or how close we came to losing it.”

He hugged her tightly and pressed a kiss to her temple. The truth was he had never taken Cara for granted, and he didn’t need a nebula to make him appreciate how fortunate he was to have her with him. But he kept that thought to himself. “I promise.”

“So beautiful,” she said to the sky.

Aelyx was watching the freckled outline of her nose. He agreed.
So beautiful
. Eventually he joined her in turning his gaze skyward. He didn’t look to the constellations as humans often did, seeking glimpses of his destiny or predictions of the future. Instead, he propped his chin atop Cara’s head and let the pace of their breathing fall into sync.
She
was his future.

He didn’t need the stars to tell him that.

Acknowledgments

Many thanks to my editor, Susan Barnes, for guiding me through the revision process with thoughtful, in-depth suggestions that took my story to the next level. Additional thanks to Gene Mollica for a beautiful cover and Maria McGrath for stellar copyedits. It was a pleasure working with all of you. Endless gratitude to my agent, Nicole Resciniti, for finding a loving home for this book. Speaking of which, big hugs to Mary Cummings and the entire team at EverAfter Romance for helping me deliver a seamless conclusion to this trilogy.

Much love to authors Lorie Langdon and Lea Nolan for manuscript critiques, support, and friendship. I’m so glad to have you in my life. As always, I’m grateful for my family and friends, whose support has never wavered.

Completing this trilogy is bittersweet. Part of me is delighted for my characters and all they’ve overcome, but I would be lying if I said I was happy to see the journey end. Aelyx and Cara have lived inside my head for so long they’ve become a part of me. I hope they’ve become a part of you, too. For that reason, I’m grateful to
you
: the readers, librarians, bloggers, booktubers, and reviewers who’ve made this series a success by talking about it. You’re the ones who’ll give life to my characters for years to come. Thank you!

Other Books by Melissa Landers

Alienated Series

Alienated

Two years ago, the aliens made contact. Now Cara Sweeney is going to be sharing a bathroom with one of them. Handpicked to host the first-ever L’eihr exchange student, Cara thinks her future is set. Not only does she get a free ride to her dream college, she’ll have inside information about the mysterious L’eihrs that every journalist would kill for. Cara’s blog following is about to skyrocket.

Still, Cara isn’t sure what to think when she meets Aelyx. Humans and L’eihrs have nearly identical DNA, but cold, infuriatingly brilliant Aelyx couldn’t seem more alien. She’s certain about one thing, though: no human boy is this good-looking. But when Cara’s classmates get swept up by anti-L’eihr paranoia, Midtown High School suddenly isn’t safe anymore. Threatening notes appear in Cara’s locker, and a police officer has to escort her and Aelyx to class.

Cara finds support in the last person she expected. She realizes that Aelyx isn’t just her only friend; she’s fallen hard for him. But Aelyx has been hiding the truth about the purpose of his exchange, and its potentially deadly consequences. Soon Cara will be in for the fight of her life—not just for herself and the boy she loves, but for the future of her planet.

More Information...

Until Midnight

FREE! DON’T MISS THE ROMANTIC HOLIDAY STORY THAT CONNECTS ALIENATED AND INVADED.

Cara and Aelyx only have one day to spend together before he returns to earth and she travels to Aelyx’s home planet, L’eihr. Homesick and worried about the upcoming year apart, Cara is desperate to make these final hours count. Worst of all, Cara is missing Christmas, stuck on board an alien spaceship. When Aelyx learns that Cara is forgoing her favorite holiday, he tries to recreate Christmas in space by researching traditional earth customs…but a few things get lost in translation. Includes bonus chapters from ALIENATED and a sneak peek at the sequel, INVADED.

More Information...

Invaded

The romantic sequel to Alienated takes long-distance relationships to a new level as Cara and Aelyx long for each other from opposite ends of the universe…until a threat to both their worlds reunites them.

Cara always knew life on planet L’eihr would be an adjustment. With Aelyx, her L’eihr boyfriend, back on Earth, working to mend the broken alliance between their two planets, Cara is left to fend for herself at a new school, surrounded by hostile alien clones. Even the weird dorm pet hates her.

Things look up when Cara is appointed as human representative to a panel preparing for a human colony on L’eihr. A society melding their two cultures is a place where Cara and Aelyx could one day make a life together. But with L’eihr leaders balking at granting even the most basic freedoms, Cara begins to wonder if she could ever be happy on this planet, even with Aelyx by her side.

Meanwhile, on Earth, Aelyx, finds himself thrown into a full-scale PR campaign to improve human-L’eihr relations. Humans don’t know that their very survival depends on this alliance: only Aelyx’s people have the technology to fix the deadly contamination in the global water supply that human governments are hiding. Yet despite their upper hand, the leaders of his world suddenly seem desperate to get humans on their side, and hardly bat an eye at extremists’ multiple attempts on Aelyx’s life.

The Way clearly needs humans’ help . . . but with what? And what will they ask for in return?

More Information...

Starflight Series

Starflight

Life in the outer realm is a lawless, dirty, hard existence, and Solara Brooks is hungry for it. Just out of the orphanage, she needs a fresh start in a place where nobody cares about the engine grease beneath her fingernails or the felony tattoos across her knuckles. She’s so desperate to reach the realm that she’s willing to indenture herself to Doran Spaulding, the rich and popular quarterback who made her life miserable all through high school, in exchange for passage aboard the spaceliner Zenith.