Invaded (Alienated, #2)(33)

“Marcus,” Sharon said, “you were the last person to see Cara Sweeney before she disappeared. Tell us what happened.”

Marcus pressed his lips together and raked a hand through his shaggy brown hair as if traumatized. “I was patrolling the woods with my girlfriend and my buddy Eric. We saw the alien dragging Cara toward his ship. She tried fighting him off, but then he stunned her with this laser thing, and she just kind of froze up, like this.” He grimaced, tongue lolling aside, looking every bit like the imbecile he was. “Then we jumped in to help her.”

“And that’s when Aelyx attacked you?” Sharon asked.

Marcus hung his head and nodded. “He grabbed my shotgun and used it to bust my knee. The doctors say I’ll never get full use back. I lost my lacrosse scholarship—that’s why I’m suing the L’eihrs. They should have to pay for what he did.” Marcus seemed to remember the other characters in his lie. “He shot Eric. Brandi got away, but she’s real shook up. She might need therapy.”

Brandi needed therapy, all right. Anyone who would mate with Marcus Johnson was certifiably insane. Aelyx spoke while he still had the chance. “Ask Marcus why he was patrolling the woods with a firearm. He and his fellow Patriots were hunting me.” Eric had tried saving Cara, but he would never swear to it and face the Patriots’ retribution.

“So you admit to attacking Marcus?” Sharon said.

That’s when the head of PR stepped in, literally pulling the plug on the interview. His nostrils flared as he jerked each power cord from the main extension. “Check your footage at the door and get out,” the man said to Sharon. “This isn’t what we agreed to. I don’t know what you were thinking, but your career is over.”

Sharon ordered her crew to obey, and in twenty minutes they were gone without another word. Aelyx sat back and drew a deep breath, puzzling at how quickly the interview had spiraled out of control. Thank the gods it hadn’t aired live.


He was still thinking about it later that night as he plotted ways to keep Stepha from finding out. But in order to do that, he’d have to avoid using Silent Speech with the ambassador, which alone would be suspicious. Aelyx was tired of politics, public relations, and lies.

He just wanted to go home to Cara.

“You’re thinking about Cah-ra, aren’t you?” Syrine peered through his open doorway to where he lay, stretched out on his bed. “I can tell by the moronic look in your eyes.”

Aelyx turned his head. “Oh? Like the way you looked at our bodyguard tonight at supper?” He used a high-pitched voice to mimic her hilarious attempts at flirty banter. “I made iced tea, David, sweetened just the way you like it. Shall I pour you a glass, or would you rather lick each drop from my naked flesh?”

She gasped, whipping her head to check over both shoulders. Not that David spoke L’eihr. “Shut up, you fasher!”

Aelyx smiled. This was fun. He twirled a lock of hair around one finger and batted his lashes. “Oh, David, you took that bomb right into your hands. Is there anything else you’d like to get your hands on?”

She rushed inside and proceeded to beat him with an extra pillow. He couldn’t help laughing. “Guard my body, David,” he squeaked. “It’s all yours!”

“You idiot!” She pummeled him until feathers floated in the air, but she didn’t deny her attraction to the boy. There was no point. Aelyx had sensed it during Silent Speech the morning after the bomb scare.

“I told you,” Aelyx chortled, scooting aside to dodge a knee to his ribs, “he feels the same way. You should talk to him.” A tryst could be a good distraction for Syrine. “Maybe you can lure him to the colony.” He was joking, though. He knew she’d never take it that far.

Syrine made a disgusted noise from the back of her throat. “I’m not one of your hedonistic humans. Perhaps I can’t help my body’s reaction to him, but I can control whether I act on it—which I won’t!”

Aelyx used his pillow to whack her midsection. “Why fight it? You know you want him.” All teasing halted when Aelyx’s com-sphere summoned him for his nightly call with Cara. He made a reach for his bedside table. “Okay, enough,” he told Syrine.

Understanding flashed in Syrine’s eyes and a maniacal smile uncurled across her lips. She made a lightning grab at his sphere, beating him to it. “Is this what you want?” With an evil sneer, she dangled the sphere within his reach, then jerked it back. “To talk to your l’ihan?” Now it was her turn to mock him in a low, breathy voice. “Oh, Elire, I love you so! I want to make a thousand half-breed babies with you, my fiery-haired goddess!”

“Give it here,” he ordered, trying to take it by force. “This is the only time she can talk.”

Syrine hit the mattress, giggling and making kissing noises. “When can we start practicing, Caaaah-ra?”

When he couldn’t pry the sphere from Syrine’s fingers, he shouted his password and untangled himself from her limbs so Cara didn’t get the wrong idea. Cara’s image appeared upside-down on the ceiling, the far wall, the floor, as she jerked across the room with each of Syrine’s movements.

“What the hell?” Cara asked.

Syrine finally surrendered the sphere. “Hello, Cah-ra. Aelyx is simply dying to talk with you.”