Lost in Starlight (Starlight Saga) (17 page)

We trample over the sand and find a shady spot near some thick bushes that block the stiff winds rolling off the water. A few clouds clump together, encroaching on the sun.

Hayden lays out the blanket and sets down the cooler. He goes about removing food from the ice chest and placing the items on the blanket. A plastic bowl of fruit, a plate of croissants and strawberry crepes, and a bag of chocolate donuts. As far as breakfasts go, this is pretty dang yummy looking. He sits down and his lips quirk into an uneven grin. Can this guy be any sexier?

He opens the thermos and pours hot black liquid into two plastic cups. “Cream or sugar?”

I push away a stray lock of hair from my face. “Both, please.”

He hands me a tiny vanilla creamer and a packet of sugar. His thigh brushes mine, and even through my jeans, the warmth of his body seeps through the fabric. Being near this guy is definitely hazardous to the barely manageable control I’m trying to maintain. That tiny shred of self-respect I’ve built to block the humiliation over seeing him with that boney skank wrapped around him like a pipe cleaner is threatening to collapse.

Hayden briefly closes his eyes, and I glimpse a twinge of relief sweeping across his face. “I’m glad you came, Sloane.”

“Why’s that?” I ask, sipping my coffee. “I am beginning to think that I’m just some kinky experiment to you. Like let’s see how far we can push the human?” I grit my teeth. I’m being such a bitch. But I can’t get the picture of him and Tama out of my head.

“No. I swear, it’s just...” He sighs and glances at me. And then I feel it rippling in the air between us, that sizzling electricity. So palpable, it’s pulsing between us, drawing us closer together. He grips my hand and caresses my knuckles with his thumb. Every one of my muscles clenches tightly. “I
really
like you.”

Doesn’t get much more transparent than that. Hayden’s fingers nudge mine, coaxing me. A shudder runs through me. Damn him.

“I like you, too.” Feeling suddenly shy, I pull my hand away, and grab a piece of buttery croissant to nibble on
.
Because stuffing your face is just
sooo
sexy.

He props his hands behind him and gazes out at the ocean. “I know I said that we can’t be more than friends, but for some reason...” Hayden’s jaw clenches as if trying to contain his emotions. “God help me, I think about you all the time lately. Like I can’t stop it or something. We haven’t known each other very long, but somehow you’ve gotten under my skin.”

“Must be my snarky wit and sparkling personality,” I joke.

His gaze warms and softens. “That must be it.”

I look away at the calm and continuous motion of the water. The briny sea air thrashes our hair and kisses our cheeks.

“Seriously, Hayden.” I turn back to him. “Maybe you’re right and we should just be friends. That way no one gets hurt—”

“You still don’t get it, do you?” He leans forward and faces me. “It’s too late for that. You’ve done something to me, Sloane. Like I said, I can’t seem to stop thinking about you.” He takes a deep breath. “Maybe it’s because we shouldn’t get involved. It kind of makes our relationship more exciting, you know what I mean?”

Yeah. Makes total sense.

“Uh-huh. The whole forbidden fruit thing.” I put down the coffee to dust stray crumbs from my lap.

“But that’s not the only reason I want to keep seeing you. I meant it when I said that I liked you. You’re so different from other girls.”

“And you swear this isn’t some weird research you’re doing?” I squint at him. “Dating the human?”

He laughs. “No. Although, I’ve never dated anyone outside of my species before.”

Boy, that just sounds bizarre on too many levels.

“Why not?” I ask.

Hayden takes a bite of a doughnut, then wipes his mouth with a napkin. “Truthfully?”

“Lay it on me.”

He shreds the napkin and doesn’t look at me. “My mom told my brother and me that we could never have a
real
relationship with humans or have any children with them. It was too dangerous. Some, um, hybrids can get special permission to have human lovers, but our laws state that we’re basically only allowed to marry hybrid girls from the other families.”

“Why?”

“Because if a male has unprotected sex with a human and they get pregnant, the pregnancy duration of a hybrid baby is only about four months. The rapid growth means the mother will die.”

Okayyy. So
not
what I was expecting to hear.

“That’s why we have birth control, right?” I joke.

But as I say those words, a shudder rakes my limbs. Not only do I have to worry about getting my memory wiped by evil government agents, I have to give serious thought about ever having sex with this guy. I mean, getting pregnant and exploding like a too-f tick gives new meaning to Just Say No. And if, by some crazy chance, Hayden is “the one,” it’d mean we’d never have a real family. Not that I’m even remotely ready at seventeen to have kids, but I still want that option. Being with Hayden just gets more and more complicated.

“But it is kind of a big deal.” He stares at me, and I watch his internal struggle played out in those expressive eyes. “On the outside, we may look and act human, Sloane, but never forget that we are an evolved race of
Homo
-sapiens. And the Galactic Brotherhood often takes drastic measures to safeguard our secret.”

“Like the memory erasing.” My heart turns over heavily. “Are you trying to scare the crap outta me?”

“No. Just being honest.” He cocks his head to the side and the intensity in his gaze is unnerving. “But that’s only
one
reason Zeta hybrids are forbidden from marrying outsiders. It’s more about ensuring sub-human genes don’t dilute the bloodline. And I guess so we can further develop our special paranormal abilities.”

Oh. My. Zombies. That’s a helluva lot to take in. Information overload.

It suddenly hits me. This is the reason Hayden didn’t want to get involved at first. Why he warned me away. The strange things he’d said. No children combined with the whole nasty mind-erasing crap.

“Then why do this? Why take the risk?” My reasons are discernible. Because I want him
that
badly, and that is reason enough in my book. But what are his?

“Isn’t it obvious?”

“No.”

“Because I’m crazy about you, Sloane.”

Oh—wow.
Just wow. I need a minute to assemble my thoughts and control my emotions. I pull my knees up under my chin, hugging my shins as I look out at the choppy water. The waves swell, starting to splash their way up the beach.

“Is it worth it to you?” he whispers. “I’d understand if you’re scared of the consequences of having a relationship with me.”

“You mean, the mind-wiping threat? Yeah, that’s kind of freaking me out, but perhaps we can change things. Prove to the other hybrids that not all humans are untrustworthy.”

He looks away. “Maybe…”

Further down the shoreline, near some dense shrubbery, a man dressed in a black suit wearing dark sunglasses steps into view. Even though his eyes are hidden, I can sense him watching us like a hawk, his gaze trained on me.

The guy stands out worse than a Goth at a pep rally!

“Hayden, do you see that guy over there? The one dressed like a tax attorney?”

He squints at where I’m pointing. “Sonofa—” he exhales and hastily puts the lid back on the thermos.

A nag of unease stirs. My scalp prickles. “You know him? Who
is
he?”

Hayden’s face pales and he throws the food back into the cooler. Sweat beads his brow. “Help me pack. We need to go.
Now
.”

In one hand Hayden holds the cooler and blanket, and with the other, he jerks me by the wrist back toward his Range Rover. Behind us, the surf pounds the sand and wispy clouds pepper the sky. The cool ocean breeze whips my hair, sending a shiver down my back.

“Hayden, slow down.” I try to free myself from his firm grasp, but his hold tightens. “What’s wrong with you?”

Impatience flickers across his icy expression. “We need to go. It isn’t safe.”

“You’re scaring me. Just tell me what’s going on.”

“We’re being watched.”

My breath catches. “Yeah, I know. By Mr. Dark Sunglasses.”

The stern look on his face says he really doesn’t have time to explain the
why
behind our sudden departure from Haven Beach.

Digging in my heels, I’m finally able to wrench my arm loose. “Stop!
Who
is that guy?”

Hayden turns back to me, his lips pressed together. “His name is Agent Dixon, and he’s probably going to report this to Sector Thirteen, and then my parents are going to freak. My family is
very
conservative, Sloane, and they abide the rules.”

“Rules? You mean the no hybrids-dating-humans crap?”

“I’ll tell you everything, if you just get into the car. Please.” His voice is low and urgent.

“Fine.” I follow him back to the Range Rover. Once we’re safely inside with the doors locked, I face him again. “Start talking.”

“Dixon works in Sector Thirteen, that top-secret branch of the government I told you about. But it’s our leaders, the Galactic Brotherhood, who created the three simple rules that all hybrids are supposed to live by.” He shifts in his seat to check off each one with his fingers. “One, never trust full-blooded humans with our secrets. Two, human relations are strictly off limits. And three, don’t ever fall in love with one.”

“That’s...awfully discriminative,” I mumble.

“I suppose it is.”

“And how do
you
feel about humans?”

“Sloane,
I
am basically human, so I like ’em. Especially, feisty purple-haired ones.”

“Get serious.” I roll my eyes. “Actually, I think Agent Dixon’s been following
me
.”

Hayden nods, but he doesn’t seem surprised. “He closely monitors our activity, and he won’t care if we’re simply friends. But it’s the members of the Galactic Brotherhood that we need to worry about. They won’t like us dating. You being human and me—a hybrid.”

This is all becoming a little too much like an intergalactic version of
Romeo and Juliet
. We can’t be together because of their stupid laws and so that they can keep the hybrid bloodline pure. What a load of bull crappy.

“Can you stop Agent Dixon from telling the Brotherhood about us?” I ask.

“I can try. But you also might be in danger now.”

“What do you mean by
danger
?”

“If they don’t already suspect that you know what I am by now,” he says in a low, intimidating voice, “it won’t be long until they know for sure. Then they might take extreme measures to ensure that you never tell anyone by wiping your memories. Especially, if we continue to see each other.”

My heart skips a beat or two. “Do you still want that? To keep seeing me?”

A sexy smile touches his lips. “More than the air I breathe, Sloane. Haven’t you been listening to what I’ve been saying all morning?” He looks at me intently. “But is it
worth
it to you? You have more at stake than I do…”

“You already know how I feel about you.” I sigh, and a thrill shoots through my veins. “So does this mean we’re, like, dating?”

“More like we’re
secretly
dating. I need to find a way to break it to my parents and my brother first, and then we can figure out a way to go public.”

He’s right. I don’t want to hurt anyone or get my memories sucked out by evil hybrids, but fighting my feelings for him and no PDA in school will be hard.

“You never explained how they actually do it,” I say. “Wipe people’s memories.”

“Usually it is classified info, but I overheard my dad talking to one of our leaders at the last family reunion about how they had to kidnap this guy that knew about Zeta hybrids. Using this memory-wiper gizmo called
Electroconvulsive Therapy
that somehow interferes with the connections between the brain cells, they were able to erase all of his memories. And I guess the government even uses it on Navy Seal Special Forces’ assassins, so that they can be brain wiped after a mission, and have no memory of the target they executed. Then using hypnosis, false memories are planted into the brain, so the gap left by the real memory is glossed over...” His voice falls away and his stare fastens on something thirty feet ahead near the trees.

I peer through the windshield just as an older guy steps between the shrubs into view. He’s sporting a windbreaker and jeans, with spiked hair, thick and dark. Pale skin and lips that curve into a sinister half-smile as his steely gaze flickers from Hayden to me. An Asian dude, about our age, dressed in khakis and a polo shirt stands beside him. Then a third person emerges.

Crappity crap. It’s freakin’ Tama.

Her flaxen curls bounce off slim shoulders, and today she’s wearing an indigo knit sweater with rayon slacks. Her cheeks burn red, her eyes sharp, and her over-tweezed brows point up like two little tents. Each of them has the same unusual eye color as Hayden. And who has rare heterochromia?

Well, it doesn’t take an alien expert to figure out that they’re all Zeta hybrids. Duh.

“Shit.” He rests his head on the steering wheel.

“Hayden?”

“My day can’t possibly get any worse,” he mutters.

A fourth person steps out from behind Tama. Tense and buffed and scowling.

I squint. “Is that Zach?”

Hayden lifts his head and his body goes taut like he’s preparing to break out a can of kickass. “It just got worse.” He groans. “I’m going to
kill
Zach for this.”

“What’s wrong?”

“I’ll explain later.” Hayden jams the key into the ignition and the engine rumbles to life, singing a baritone hello. “Right now, I need to get you home. I’ll drop you off and go talk to Agent Dixon and the others.”

“Who are they?”

“You could call them my
cousins
. The Asian guy is Darion, and next to him is our main liaison with the Galactic Brotherhood, Arcane. And you already know who Tama is.”

Yeah, the bitch trying to move in on the guy who just confessed that he
like
likes me.

“How old are they? Darion and Tama?” I ask.

“Darion’s twenty and Tama just turned nineteen.”

“Oh? You were dating an older woman?”

“Sloane…you sound jealous.”

“Who—
me?
Nah,” I say, with a little cough. “What’re you going to tell your ‘relatives’?” I ask, making air quotes with my fingers.

“I have no idea…but you’re like my best friend and
nothing’s
going to change that.” He takes out his cell, his fingers flying over the mini-keyboard. “I’ll text my brother and tell him to wait here while I take you home, so I can talk to them before this gets outta hand. It’ll be fine, I promise.”

And here I considered Tama my biggest problem. My life isn’t in my hands anymore. Now, it’s at risk. Or at least my memories are in danger of being sucked out of my brain. All because I know about alien crossbreeds. Turns out, the hybrids are controlling and don’t like mingling with humans. But some of it, I can’t seem to wrap my head around. Like...

Creepy government agents.

Evil mind-erasing gadgets.

Snobbish hybrid relatives.

And interstellar dating rules.

I can barely process it, let alone the full-scale implications of what all of this means. Not to mention, the serious crush I have on the alien hybrid sitting next to me. Letting out a breath, I work at getting the gulp of emotion down my throat.

“This is all my fault. I’m really sorry, Sloane,” he says fiercely. “I never should’ve let my feelings cloud my judgment.” His fist slams against the dashboard. “Dammit. My impulsiveness keeps getting me into trouble…and the fact that I can’t seem to stay away from you.”

“It’s okay. Chill. This isn’t your fault. And I can keep a secret.”

“I just wish you didn’t have to,” he says quietly. “Sector Thirteen hopes to one day officially integrate us with other humans. Let the truth be known of our true origins, but I’m not sure that’ll work. Hate groups might crop up everywhere.”

“I hadn’t thought of that, but you’re probably right.”

“On one hand it would make our lives a helluva lot easier…” He stares at his cousins and his body tenses. “But my relatives don’t typically care to socialize with humans. You could say that most of them have a superiority complex, and don’t date outsiders.”

Can this relationship get any more complicated?

The drive back to my house is excruciatingly long and uneasy. I should be more concerned with his ex-girlfriend, the menacing hybrids, and the government agent stalking me, but I’m unable to focus on anything other than the smooth planes of Hayden’s profile and his strong hands gripping the steering wheel.

We don’t speak—not with words, anyway. His hand reaches for mine and our fingers entwine, but instead of being reassuring, his touch feels like I’m toppling over the edge of a cliff. He’s breaking the Galactic Brotherhood rules to be with me and I hope that doesn’t change, because I’m in deep. I trust Hayden. He’ll keep me safe and fix this interstellar dating mess.

I didn’t want to like him so much, but the way my heart surges and my blood rushes whenever we’re together, I’m already developing deeper feelings for him than mere friendship. He’s not just a story for the newspaper anymore. He’s become one of my best friends. All the time we’ve spent together, something has been growing inside my heart, becoming more than mutual attraction and red-hot chemistry. Something much more sentimental. And despite that he’s not entirely human, part of me can’t imagine us not being together now.

Which means, I can’t—I
won’t
—give him up just because his hybrid buddies don’t approve. Or the fact that we’re a completely different species.

Now I just need to convince Hayden’s über snobby relatives that dating humans
isn’t
considered a felony…or give them a reason to erase him from my mind.