Saved by the Alien Crime Boss (Aliens Among Us #4)

Chapter 21

TWENTY-ONE

Night had turned the world outside the bedroom window into one of contrasts. Pale snow, glittering with ice crystals, against the deep, consuming shadows beneath the trees. The vast, overcast sky, the gateway to the boundless universe, over a dense fir forest that barely had enough space between the boughs for air to flow.

The cabin held its share of contrasts.

Mina’s soft, lithe body tucked against Sevik’s hard, rough form as they lay in his bed. Her innocence and passion against his remorseless savagery. Human against korasi.

His mate slept with her head upon his shoulder and her warm breath fanning across his skin.

Sevik smiled. She’d crawled right into bed with him, cuddled close, and had fallen asleep within moments of closing her eyes. No hesitation. Only trust.

Ornyr valaas duun , that felt good.

Holding her a little tighter, Sevik looked up at the ceiling. Firelight from downstairs danced along the log beams, deepening the shadows between them and highlighting the imperfections in the wood. Highlighting the natural features.

Natural…

That’s what this is.

Lying here with Mina after a long day together, languid and vulnerable, felt natural. This ease, this serenity, this rightness, all came so naturally with her. Money and power had never gained him any of those things. Only at his lowest point had he found them, had he discovered what he’d been missing.

What he hadn’t known he needed.

He brushed his fingers along her upper arm, just beneath the cuff of her T-shirt sleeve. Nothing could compare to the softness of her skin beneath his fingertips.

When Sevik had first come to Earth, the calm and quiet had been a welcome change from Hestryn’s noise and bustling activity. But over the months, restlessness had unfurled within him. The once soothing calm and quiet had seemed increasingly vast and empty, and he’d felt powerless to change it. He’d felt…trapped. Stuck.

And then Mina had fallen into his life.

She’d shattered the monotony, the silence, the solitude. She’d been like the sun breaking through bleak gray clouds after a long storm, bathing the warmth-starved land in its radiance.

Years of struggle for survival, success, and status had formed an icy barrier around Sevik’s heart. A shield against life’s pains and regrets; a prison for all his emotions. Nothing penetrated that wall, whether in or out. And no aspect of his life had been left unscathed by its frigid touch.

Because it had been best to show nothing. To feel nothing.

No pain, no sorrow, no weakness.

No love.

The first cracks in that shield had formed when Brekker murdered Enthi and attempted to kill Sevik. But they’d allowed only fury to escape.

It was the female beside Sevik now who’d truly penetrated his defenses. She’d pierced him more deeply than any bolt or blade ever could have. The great icy barrier that had been thickening around his heart for twenty years had been melted into a puddle by Mina in a week.

He turned his head toward her, brushed his cheek against her hair, and breathed her in. Her scent, forever altered by their mating bond, poured heat into his veins.

Sevik gritted his teeth against the resurging ache in his groin. He’d resisted since this morning; he would resist now. His mate was sore, and she needed to recover. He would not cause her more discomfort.

No matter how much discomfort it caused him.

She moaned softly, stretching her arm more securely across his chest. Her voice was thick with weariness when she asked, “You’re still awake?”

“Mmhmm.”

She let out a long, sleepy sigh as she rubbed her thumb over his skin. Such a simple touch, but its tenderness and affection soothed him, easing that pervading ache, lulling that ravenous need.

“Sevik?”

“Hmm?”

“What if you couldn’t go back to your home planet?” she murmured against him. “What if…you couldn’t take back your empire from Brekker? What would you do instead?”

He glanced down at her. Those dark curls were another contrast, this time against his pale skin. Her eyes were closed, and her cheek was smushed against his shoulder in the most endearing fashion, but her lips were downturned in a little frown.

Sevik shut his eyes and ran his tongue over his fangs. He tasted a hint of sweetness from his venom. Despite the grogginess with which she’d asked it, the question had weight, and he felt every bit of it settling over him, pressing down.

He hadn’t lied to her earlier; he believed a mate represented possibility. His circumstances on Vabos hadn’t been ideal for taking a mate, not that he’d cared about such things. All that had been important to him was power—the power to ensure he was never helpless again.

Mina had awoken him to a universe of possibilities. He understood now that he could have something different, that he could make something new. Something with her.

“Not sure,” he said softly. “My old life was all I knew. Didn’t realize there could be anything else. Not until you.”

Her breath, slow and steady, caressed Sevik’s skin as he awaited her response. Time crept along, second by second, falling away to the past.

He opened his eyes and looked at his mate.

Mina’s features were relaxed, lips slightly parted, and her hand was motionless upon his chest.

She’d fallen asleep.

Sevik’s mouth curled into a smile as warmth wrapped around his heart and squeezed. His val’syra looked so peaceful, so beautiful. Protectiveness swelled alongside possessiveness in his chest, making his heart flutter and compelling him to hold her just a little more closely.

She is mine. All mine, only mine.

My always. My everything.

Settling his head on the pillow, he closed his eyes and slowed his own breathing. With Mina snuggled against him, sleep should’ve come easily. Nowhere in the universe could’ve been more comfortable.

But sleep eluded him, chased away by a question echoing in his head, no louder than a whisper yet nearly deafening in the otherwise quiet cabin.

What would you do instead?

What would he do if he couldn’t take his revenge and reclaim his place?

What would he do, if given a choice?

His eyes opened, staring unfocused toward the ceiling.

If given a choice?

Since when had he ever waited to be given something? The choice had always been his—he only had to make it.

Sevik clenched his jaw and exhaled slowly through his nostrils. Carefully as he could, he slid Mina’s arm off his chest. With even greater care, he withdrew from her, not lowering her head until he’d shifted a pillow beneath to cradle it.

She stirred as he did so, reaching for him in a reflexive way that made his heart ache anew, but she eased when he draped the blanket over her.

Before he could think further about what he was doing, he rose from the bed and strode to the stairs. Without looking back, he descended into the living room, retrieved the aetherkey from its hiding place under the floorboards, and set it on the coffee table.

He paced before the fire, and its heat skittered across his skin. The aetherkey was his only true link to Vabos, to his old life, and it was a necessity. It was his only means of remaining informed. One of his only lines of defense.

And his urge to break the ice on the lake and drop the damned thing into the dark, frigid water was absolutely fucking foolish.

But part of him longed for the severance of this last connection, longed for the final tether to be cut, longed for him to be truly unbound from the past.

He glanced at the aetherkey. Such a simple, unassuming thing. He knew it wasn’t truly holding him back, but it was always easier to have something to blame, wasn’t it? Because he refused to be held back anymore.

He’d told Mina that he had spent his life taking what he wanted. Living the way he chose, on his terms, until death inevitably came for him. Why stop that now?

Since arriving on Earth a year ago, he’d wanted to go back to kill Brekker and reclaim his life. But that had changed.

Sevik halted and faced the fire, watching the low flames dance around blackened logs and white-hot ash. What had he read during his time here? That some humans saw fire as a cleansing force? He understood the desire to burn everything down and start over.

Because in this moment, with absolute, unflinching certainty, he knew what he wanted.

Mina.

What would he do instead of seeking revenge? Have her. Protect her. Hold her. Fuck her. Worship her. Be with her. Live with her, live for her. Zekt’al , the rest didn’t fucking matter.

Fuck Vabos. Fuck the Syndicate, fuck his old life, fuck Brekker. Nothing on Vabos—nothing in the entire universe—was more precious than Mina. Money, power, revenge…he didn’t need any of it. All he needed was his mate, safe and happy.

The only choice to make was Mina. The only choice he would ever make was her.

And he would sooner see the universe collapse upon itself than bring her anywhere near his homeworld.

He leaned forward and snatched the aetherkey off the table, curling his fingers around it. His arm trembled.

It would’ve been so easy to crush the thing in his hand and be done with it. But reason prevailed. For now, he needed the aetherkey. To protect himself—and to protect his mate.

He returned the device to its hiding place. As he walked back toward the stairs, he glanced at the window overlooking the lake. The snow was piled high on the deck, but he could see all the way to the far shore. The storm had dwindled to a flurry. Big, slow flakes tumbled lazily on the breeze, and the clouds had broken on the horizon, revealing a sliver of the starry night sky.

He’d not stopped to think about it before, but the stars looked lovely from this planet. Why hadn’t he taken the time to appreciate them?

Sevik returned to the loft, taking the steps carefully to avoid making them creak. The answer to his question was lying in his bed, visible only as a mess of dark, curly hair poking out from the top of the blanket.

Life before had been about the tangible, the material. But Mina was teaching him just how much he’d missed. Just how much else there was to experience, to enjoy, to appreciate, to dream.

Just how much beauty was in the universe, and how fulfilling it was to admire it.

But the beauty in his bed was just for him.

He chose to have Mina’s smiles, her voice, her laughter, her bright eyes and bouncy curls in his life every day. Chose to have her—here, on Earth, where they had a chance at peace and quiet. Where they could be themselves and enjoy one another for who they were. No hiding, no pretending. Just being.

Because he wanted her, and he would not be denied what he wanted.

Rounding the bed, he slipped back into it and joined Mina beneath the covers. When he slipped his arm under her head and drew her close, she murmured an unintelligible question, clutching at him in confusion.

“I’m here, val’syra . Sleep,” he soothed.

She settled, melting against him with a sigh. He kissed the top of her head and held her tight, burying his nose in her hair and filling his lungs with her sweet, thrilling scent again and again.

With no regrets, no hesitation, Mina was his choice. His only, his always.

And anyone who tried to get in his way would pay very fucking dearly for it.