Page 50 of Galaxy Between Us

“You guys have fun,” I bail, but they both ignore me anyway. They continue chatting and Jaimie’s giggle tortures my ears until the door is closed behind me.

In the hallway, I’m not terribly surprised to bump into Knox’s parents on the way out.

“Hey, it’s been so long!” I greet them with far more energy than I had for Chet.

“Arius? My goodness, I didn’t expect to see you here!”

His mom hugs me, though her words sting a little.

From day one, my dreams of coming here were brushed to the side by everyone, even though they knew I wanted it as badly as Knox, if not more. They shouldn’t be surprised to see me here at all. Especially after my involvement with the transfer bed. I went to fucking space and that still isn’t enough for people to realize that I’m serious about pursuing space science.

“Good to see you, Omega. Still not settling down I see,” Knox’s dad teases with a side hug, adding a knife to my heart. I hug him back and smile through the pain.

“Haha, yeah. Um, I can walk with you guys to visit him if you’d like.”

“Oh, we just finished up. We brought him some things to help jog his memory, but…” his mom becomes choked up.

“He didn’t remember,” Knox’s dad finishes for her in a whisper, wrapping an arm around his mate.

“Hey, it’s okay. It’ll take time. He’s so strong, I’m sure he’ll be back to us soon.”

I’m not even sure if I believe my own words.

Instinctively, my hand drifts to my stomach but I yank it back down. I’ve been so focused on how I’m going to tell Knox that I’m pregnant that I hadn’t considered how I’m going to break the news to his parents. Knocked up before mating is never an easy thing to explain. I don’t know if they saw our recent scandal which makes my face heat with further embarrassment.

Would they even accept me as their son’s mate?

“Um, is he still in his office? I should go make sure he knows where all his important papers are,” I lie, trying to get out of this interaction.

“Yeah, he was headed there when we left. Take care, Arius. Call us if there are any updates on his condition,” his mom grasps my hands in hers before breaking away.

“Of course. You guys take care,” I wave as they head for the elevator in which Knox and I had…done stuff in.

Letting the politeness fall from my expression, I trudge to Knox’s office with a shameful grimace. I was hoping he’d find the tabloids of our scandal on his own and put two and two together, but it looks like I’ll need to bend the rules a little and just tell him. Now that Jaimie is fixated with Chet, Knox has to believe me that he’s mine, not his.

I knock on his door, listening for any sounds from the other side. A moment of silence stretches, and I become fidgety where I stand. It’s possible that he’s in his observatory and didn’t hear me. That’s where he was hiding yesterday too. As per his request, I didn’t bother him.

It’s also possible that he wandered off and is completely lost somewhere in this giant building. I glance down the hall, wondering if I should begin searching, but then I see light stream in from under the door. As I try to make sense of it, the whir of a machine can be heard from within his office. Someone is definitely in there messing with something.

I twist the knob and help myself inside. The lights are dim and it’s empty aside from the strong scent of Alpha.

“Knox?” I whisper his name, walking in aimlessly.

My foot crunches something near the sofas making my shoulders jump. Glancing down, I lift my shoe to find scattered pieces of plastic that look like someone smashed something on the ground. My heart races, pumping loudly in my ears as I assess the scene.

Once more, my attention is pulled elsewhere as more light streams through the observatory. Carefully, I approach the door, scanning my badge for it to open. I step into the gray mechanical wonderland of high-end technology and yellow striped tape forming a walk path.

“Knox?” I try again, greeted by silence.

Another machine begins to sing with a series of beeping noises. I follow the sound as if I’m in a haunted house attraction, cautious of what lurks around each corner. I enter a threshold, stepping through until I’m faced with the mechanics of Knox’s prized possession. A telescope worth more than every car in the executive parking ramp combined. It’s pointing up at the sky through a circular test window as big as the sun. It casts a shadow on me as evening approaches.

In front of it, Knox is moving around like a mad scientist, fumbling with buttons and tools.

“Knox,” I say his name softly, trying not to startle him as I enter the space.

He whips his head toward me.

“Hey, come look at this.”