Chapter Six

PRIYA

The truth was out. Allex was one of the five Auxem princes and one of the hottest bachelors in the galaxy. Three of his brothers were already married and off the market. He had shared a lot of information about his brothers while we were picking vegetables in the greenhouse. They seemed important to him.

I had flirted with Allex without knowing who he was. I didn’t want to remember where my dirty mind had gone while thinking about him. But I knew it involved him putting his hands all over my body.

I shifted in the dark, lying on a futon and feeling hot at the thought of him touching me.

I had to stop thinking about him like that. It hadn’t seemed like a big deal before because he was just another guy to me. Now that I knew he was a prince, it felt a little inappropriate.

He had been so kind while showing the greenhouse to me that it was changing how I thought about him. He seemed like less of an asshole now and more like a nice person. Unfortunately, it seemed more likely he would turn me in now because he was such a high-profile person.

A person of importance had more credibility than a nobody like me. If he said he had found me as a stowaway, they were going to charge me. I was on a starship without a ticket. They didn’t need much more evidence than that.

I needed to stop thinking about Allex and get some sleep. I didn’t know what would happen tomorrow. Allex was supposed to do some more reconnaissance, and perhaps if I got lucky, he would let me come with him. I wanted to do something to help.

I nodded off imagining Allex snuggling with me and holding me tightly.

Something woke me in the middle of the night and I didn’t know what it was. I listened to the evening sounds, wondering if a pirate had made their way into our quarters.

I didn’t hear anything more. I wrapped myself tightly in a blanket and noticed a peculiar silence. I could no longer hear the pirates, and there was no noise coming from anything but me. I couldn’t even hear Allex breathing. I hadn’t realized how comforting the sound was; it was a reminder I wasn’t alone anymore.

I must have awakened when I heard Allex leave. Where was he going? What was he doing? And why was it happening in the middle of the night?

I felt betrayed. I had thought we made progress today in becoming friends.

I crept out of the maintenance door into a brighter area near the pipes. Allex had only been gone for a minute. I should still be able to see him.

A shadow moved far away in the space between the two largest pipes. If it was Allex, I would have to move quickly or I would risk losing him in the darkness.

I felt a fleeting fear of getting lost; all the pipes looked about the same. But I needed to know what Allex was doing. Before long, I was so close that I didn’t have to worry about losing him. My biggest concern was him hearing me. I slipped off my shoes, carried them in my hands, and stayed as far back as I dared as I walked softly on my bare feet.

He stopped and paused, then moved off in a new direction. An enormous shaft appeared in front of me. It extended from the floor to the ceiling high above our heads. It looked like an old elevator shaft, but there was no elevator.

I don’t know what I thought Allex was doing. Perhaps he was having a meeting with the police or pirates. I would never have imagined the truth.

As I peeked into the empty shaft extending hundreds of feet above my head, I saw him bent over, every muscle taut as if he was in terrible pain.

His face cleared and he stood up, removing a stick from between his clenched teeth. The agony was completely erased from his features, and I wondered if I had imagined it.

I didn’t have a chance to wonder much longer. Allex was standing in front of me shirtless, and I couldn’t help noticing his broad chest and well-defined six-pack. His arms were well-muscled. But what stood out to me most was a set of huge white wings that extended from above his head to below his knees.

He gave them an experimental flutter, and a look of sheer joy came over his face. He jumped into the air, pumped his huge wings, and flew straight up into the empty shaft.

Allex was an angel.

I watched in awe as he flew for about fifteen minutes. Each time he moved his beautiful wings I imagined I could feel a breeze. In the small space, he was only flying up and down, but I could imagine him swooping and diving across a clear blue sky. I had never seen anything like it before.

When he landed, his attitude completely changed. He pulled out the stick he had spit out earlier and put it back into his mouth. He bit down hard, and a resolute expression appeared on his face. He flinched when his wings retracted.

For Allex, everything changed. He groaned and bent over, holding himself as if he were trying to contain the pain. Tears came to his eyes, but he didn’t let them fall.

His turmoil seemed like it would never end. I wanted to go to his side, but I didn’t want him to know I had followed him. After a few minutes, he stood up and discarded the piece of wood. There was no trace of the suffering which had been etched on his face only moments earlier. I wondered how he could be in such pain one moment and completely normal the next.

He was leaving. I slipped away into the shadows, heading toward our sleeping area. I had to get back into bed before he returned and discovered I was missing.

I moved quickly, but not quickly enough. Allex’s legs were longer than mine and he was catching up to me. I would have taken another route, but I was afraid of getting lost, and if I started to run, he would hear me. What could I do?

I thought of a plan in a flash. I turned around and walked straight back at him. He was closer than I expected and I ran right into him.

“Allex?” I gasped when I felt his body. He grabbed me, and I wrapped my arms around his waist. He held me a moment before gently pushing me away.

“Priya?” He peered at me in the dim light. “What are you doing out here?”

“I might ask the same of you. Are you running somewhere in the middle of the night?”

“It’s none of your business.” The Allex who didn’t like me had returned, and he was keeping his true nature a secret. If he couldn’t tell me about his wings and was willing to lie to me about his true nature, why should I trust him? How could I believe a word he said?

Turning away, I didn’t bother replying to his rude statement. I was behaving like an idiot. Even though I was attracted to him, it didn’t mean I should be with him. There were a lot of reasons why we shouldn’t and couldn’t be together.

The biggest one was that he didn’t want me, and the attraction between us was one-sided. A prince would have no interest in a stowaway, and lest I forget, he had even called me a criminal at one point.

“Wait, that didn’t come out right. Priya!” I heard him calling after me, but I didn’t turn around. The worst thing we could do was be nice to each other. We needed to get through a few days together before going our separate ways. There was no way anything else could happen between us.

ALLEX

Priya had been spying on me. She was a criminal, so I didn’t know what I had expected. I was dumb and naive. I couldn’t trust her even when she was sleeping.

What would have happened if she had seen my wings?

I needed to stop grabbing her when she ran into me. I had done it out of necessity back at the testing center. If I hadn’t caught her, she would have fallen, but she wasn’t in danger this time.

Was I already becoming attached to a thief? I knew I was lusting after her breasts and hips, but she was annoying. And she had treated me differently since learning I was a prince.

On the other hand, she had given me one of her blankets on a cold night and shared her meager food supply. Her face when she had felt the sun lights and eaten the fresh vegetables had been absolutely gorgeous.

I had to get her out of my head. We couldn’t possibly be together. I was a prince, and she was a stowaway. We didn’t have a chance.

And she wasn’t into me. I had no reason to think she was.

I was fighting a battle in my head. I kept imagining her nude at inappropriate times. I was never going to be with her, so I needed to stop thinking about her.

When I returned to the room, I crawled through the door. Priya was angrily cleaning again. I wondered if she tidied when she was upset.

“Priya, don’t follow me anymore.”

“I’m an adult. I can tail you and I will if I think it’s necessary.” She turned and glared at me. “We’re on the same side, for now. You shouldn’t go on a midnight excursion without me. Take me with you next time.”

I stared at her. She couldn’t be serious, could she? Everyone was always telling me what to do. I was sick of it.

“I won’t do it.” I walked over to her and noticed her chest was rising and falling quickly in her anger. I towered over her and tried to use my height to intimidate her.

“Sneak off without me again and see what happens.” She wasn’t intimidated by me at all.

“People think I don’t know how to make the right decisions, but I do. I won’t have a thief like you giving me orders.”

“You’re a bastard. You know nothing about me.”

“I know enough.”

“Fuck you, Allex.” She pushed my chest.

Her cursing was what finally pushed me over the edge. I was wound up from flying and full of adrenaline from nearly being caught with my wings. I was angry at Priya. The energy between us was running high. She was too close to me.

I pulled her into my arms and pressed my lips against hers. It was the craziest thing I had ever done, and she didn’t pull away from me. She wrapped her arms around my neck and leaned against me, melting around my body. I kissed her like I hadn’t kissed anyone before. Our lips merged, our tongues tangled, and our bodies touched along their entire length. I was so hard that I thought I would explode from her touch.

Her soft body rubbed against me. It felt like we were meant to be together. Priya made a noise in her throat, and I groaned. I moved my hands from her hips, sliding them under her shirt. The touch of her soft skin made me want more. My hands moved higher. I was finally about to feel her breasts when we both heard voices.

We froze, and I pulled my lips away from her. I squeezed her against me again before letting her go, making her gasp.

“Allex, what are we going to do?”

“We have to get rid of them. They can’t find out about this place.”

It was important for both of us to keep our location a secret. If the site became public knowledge, Priya would have to find another place to stay.

I didn’t want her to get caught, and I didn’t know what I was doing. I only knew I wanted to kiss her again, and soon.