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And it was.
Looking at it took me right back to that moment. I could feel the sun on my face and the crunch of leaves beneath my feet. I could hear my friends’ giggles and the taste of that luscious fruit on my tongue.
A powerful emotion overtook me. I was no longer the tough fighter I was now, I was a five-year-old boy who didn’t know he was about to lose his family, friends, and everyone he had ever known.
His species was wiped off the map for reasons he couldn’t understand. He was the last of his kind and had been held in a prison because he had nowhere else to go. And now he was full-grown, he was too afraid of what awaited him outside those walls.
Because out there, he would be absolutely and utterly alone. At least inside, he had fellow fighters. They might wish him dead but at least there was some camaraderie.
Now, he had the most beautiful woman in the entire galaxy on his arm.
I couldn’t look at that painting any longer. I just couldn’t.
“What’s wrong?” Ivy said. “Did I do it wrong? Whatever it is, I can fix it.”
She got up from her chair and followed me.
“Kren? I’m sorry. I’m sure I can do better—”
I turned and felt the sharp tears in my eyes. I was embarrassed and didn’t want her to see.
“Kren?” she said.
“You didn’t do anything wrong. You did a terrific job. An amazing job. It just looks so real…. You should be proud of yourself.”
“Then why are you upset?”
“I’m not upset. I’m happy. I can remember everything now. Because of you. It’s like I found a breadcrumb and it led to all these other memories that I forgot a long time ago. Maybe I forgot them on purpose, I don’t know. But I do know I’m happier now than I have ever been. Even back then in those fields and on that planet.”
Ivy ran her arm up mine. It tingled where she touched me.
“It must be so hard for you. To remember those things. Your family… Your species…”
“Don’t.”
She placed her hand on my cheek.
“I’m your family now. I’m yours. Nobody can ever take me away from you.”
They were the words I needed to hear. Everything had been stripped from me, and now that I had Ivy, I felt I could do anything. She was mine and I feared she would be stripped from me too.
I pressed my hand to her face and kissed her full on the lips. She responded in kind and we hugged each other.
I held on tight and promised I would never let her go.
13
IVY
We lay in bed, him spooning me, his arms wrapped around me, our hands interwoven.
Painting was a stimulating experience for me. I kept looking over at him and smiled. Sometimes he full-blown turned me on and I needed to taste him right then and there. I’d never been that attracted to anyone.
I thought about the underhanded mission I was there to carry out—to get him to impregnate me and turn me into a surrogate for a child he would never even know he had.
It was different when it was to save a species, when it was with a male alien I didn’t know. Even if it was for me to return home, could I honestly put my hand on my heart and say I no longer felt the same way about the whole deal?
No. I couldn’t. We’d grown closer and I wasn’t sure I could undo those emotions.
