Nalea had done her best to avoid Roden after signing the treaty. He’d never made anything easy for her, and she didn’t expect him to start now. Even though he was right, his actions infuriated her, outing her in such a public fashion. Begrudgingly, she saw his point: if she hadn’t come forward, not all Draeken would support the treaty, leading to infighting and violence. Suvaste, there’d been too much of that already.

With her capitulation, she’d effectively united the Draeken under the same peace treaty as the Sephians while branding Otas an outlaw if his core ship did not surrender to Roden’s rule.

But, damn, Roden didn’t have to be so obvious. He’d tattooed her soullare onto his wings, for gods’ sake.

She stood near her bunk, packing her small duffle. She’d heard her friend enter before Sienna spoke.

“I always knew you were hiding something, but this is a doozy.” She placed a hand on Nalea’s bag. “Do you have to go?”

Nalea frowned. “Yes. I committed myself to the Draeken back there. If I don’t live on their side of the base, then signing my name back there meant nothing.”

Sienna took a seat on the bed. “It feels like I just got you back, and now I’m losing you again.”

Nalea turned to face her. “You’re not losing me. I’ll still be over here whenever I can.”

“You’d better,” Sienna said. “After all, I’m still expecting you to be the maid of honor at my wedding.”

Nalea stared at Sienna and then grinned. “Nothing would make me happier.”

Then Sienna sobered. “Whatever you need, I’m here. You know that, right?”

Nalea nodded shakily. “I know,” she said, sounding unconvincing to even herself. She shrugged. “I’m doing the right thing. And Roden, well, he’s my tahren, after all. It’s time I came to terms with that.”

Sienna put a hand on her shoulder. “If you don’t want to be with him, then don’t. When it comes to Roden, no one would be surprised.”

“Roden needs me. He tries to do the right thing, even if he goes about it all wrong.”

Her friend didn’t respond, and so she turned around to find Sienna staring at the doorway and at Roden standing in the doorway, his eyebrow raised.

“I think I’ll go check on… something,” Sienna said. She limped out of the room, glaring at Roden on her way out.

Roden pulled the door closed behind him and strolled into the room, looking nonchalant. But she knew better. She could feel intense emotions radiating from him. Happiness? Pride? Even though he wore no smile, emotions didn’t lie.

“I don’t have time for this,” she said, stuffing a tank top into the duffle.

He wrapped his hand around hers, his wings forming a semicircle around their bodies. “Make the time.”

“You won. I’m moving to the Draeken side, but it’s going to take hells longer to trust you.”

He smiled. “Challenge accepted.”

“I need to know something.” She turned to face him with her shoulders squared. “Why did you risk your life to save me back at the base?”

“You are the last surviving Puftan.”

She watched him for a long moment. While his features betrayed no emotion, she focused on feeling what he was feeling. It was difficult. The emotions felt muted because he wasn’t a Sephian, but she could still sense them. “That’s not why you saved me,” she said as a matter of fact.

“It’s true. We make a good team.”

She smirked. “That’s not why.”

He lifted a brow. “Oh?”

“You care for me. I can feel it.”

He gave the slightest wince before regaining his composure. “Yes, I do. You make me feel…” He frowned, clamping his jaw shut.

Nalea’s brow furrowed as she felt his turmoil. “How do I make you feel?”

He swallowed. For the first time, she saw honesty in his eyes. “You make me feel… redeemable.”

She stood frozen for a second. One simple word, yet it cost him so much to say. She opened her mouth to speak, only to have Major Sommers rush into her room.

“There you are,” Sommers said, coming to stop before Roden and Nalea. “Someone leaked this base to the press. It looks like everyone on this planet now knows we’re no longer alone in the universe. We’ll need to do a PR briefing. Are you up to representing your people as peaceful guests in an interview?”

“We will be a shining star for our people as peaceful citizens,” Roden said, taking her hand in his.

Sommers gave a tight nod. “Okay then, meet in the officer’s room in ten minutes.” Without waiting for a response, Sommers took off at a brisk walk back the way he came.

“The military has less control over the media than they’d anticipated,” Nalea said.

“Or, the military is quite efficient at leaking news that leads to their benefit and ties our hands,” Roden replied in a low voice.

A shudder brushed through Nalea as she suspected his words rang with a bit too much truth.

The military’s PR effort turned into a fiasco, with canned news articles and prerecorded interviews only raising human suspicion and unrest. And so, three weeks later, the time came to introduce Earth’s latest additions to its populace via a live press conference.

Nalea and Roden stood off the stage, ready to make their first public appearance to a new world. The general stood at the podium, with Sienna and Legian at his side, announcing that the United Nations was setting up an “extraterrestrial zone” for all Sephians and Draeken to live in peace on Earth. Flashes barraged the stage as photos were taken. Legian and Nalea both wore dark glasses against the light, though Sommers would’ve preferred them not to from a public relations perspective.

Someone had spent significant time on Sienna, adding makeup to hide scars. Nalea hoped Sienna’s and Legian’s optimism would show through in the media. She looked up at Roden. As though feeling her gaze, he glanced down.

“I think your friend Sienna’s wedding is about to be postponed,” he said, then added, “As well as the hunt for Otas. But we’ll take him down. And we’ll ensure our people—the Draeken and the Sephians—find peace here. Together.”

Even now doubt nagged at her, questioning whether his race deserved redemption, let alone a comingled peace with her people. “You really think that’s possible?” she asked.

“If you can give us a second chance, then humans can give us a first chance,” he said and held out his hand. “Ready, my dear?” he asked, and she glanced toward the stage.

She swallowed, then slowly, tentatively, reached out and took his hand. “Let’s create the future.”

The general was just finishing up his bit on how the United Nations was working hard to ensure all three races could live in peace.

Loud applause rang out, and Nalea swallowed. Still holding Roden’s hand, they stepped onto the stage as the others stood to the side. Human soldiers stood behind them. Whether they were there for protection or to guard them, Nalea didn’t know and didn’t want to think too deeply about it.

Beforehand, she’d agreed to let Roden do the speech. After all, he’d had a lot more practice and was a natural in front of large groups. She only hoped that she looked half as confident as he appeared to be. As Roden spoke, even when he raised a tablet computer that detailed early human-Draeken encounters, he never once let go of her hand, and she realized she’d lied to him earlier.

She trusted him. It had nothing to do with the tahren bond and everything to do with the bond they’d formed through blood, pain, and sacrifice.

She smiled, facing the onslaught of camera flashes.

In time, she’d let him know.

But not today.

Message from the author:

Thank you for reading Implosion. I hope you enjoyed it. If you would take two minutes to post a review, I would be very grateful. Reviews don’t just help others decide whether to spend their quality time and money on a book; as an author—they help me improve my stories. I take reader feedback very seriously, as it helps me create better and more enjoyable books.

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