The Price of Discovery (29 page)

They landed next to the house and Drakor didn't even wait for Brundor to get up before racing inside. He didn't care to hear his brother's excuses. And, honestly, Brundor probably didn't do anything wrong and just got suckered by the wrong female.

None of it mattered now. What was most important was packing up as much as they could as soon as possible. Drakor had to forget about Erin, he had to take care of his family, before he'd completely failed that too.

The house was quiet and dark, indicating that his sisters were sleeping. Well, he'd have to wake them up, they couldn't waste any more time.

Drakor knocked on their door and then opened it.
 

Ankra sat up startled and then yawned. “You home already?”

“Yes, we need to get moving immediately.”

“Why? What's happened?”

“Erin knows the truth and Brundor went too far with a female at the club. It's too dangerous to stay here any longer. We leave as soon as possible.”

“But Greg—”

Drakor shook his head and went over to Sitora's bed. “I hope you said your good-byes to him already.” He reached out to shake his little sister awake but the bed was empty. He turned to face Ankra. “Where's Sitora?”

She leapt from the bed and ran over to him. “What do you mean? She was sleeping here. We went to bed at the same time, early in the night.”

Drakor went from room to room calling for her while Ankra and Brundor searched outside. But Sitora hated the dark alone, none of them could imagine her leaving here on her own.

Finally, when their search turned up nothing, they collapsed on the front porch. Ankra was crying and Brundor curled in a ball at the far end.

Where could she have gone? Who would have taken her?

Drakor had to find her. They couldn't leave Earth without her. And he wouldn't want to. Sitora was family and it was his job to look after them. A job he failed at just like he did with the mission.

He stood up and slowly went down the stairs. “You two continue packing, but be aware of any approaching vehicles. If you don't recognize it, Transfer out of the house.”

Ankra nodded and Brundor mumbled an agreement.

“I'm going to find Sitora.”

 

 

Pink. The damned line was pink.

Erin blinked, shook the stick, then chanced another peek at it. Nope, still pink.

Her throat closed in, choking her. Oh, shit. How could this have happened? How could she have been so stupid?

Erin sank down to the bathroom floor. She knew how this happened. That mind control Drakor used, the one that rendered her common sense and thought process completely useless when he touched her. That's how she let herself be this stupid. That's how she ended up pregnant.

She dropped her head into her hands and pressed her palms against her eyes, hoping it would stop the surge of tears.

Had Drakor planned this? Was she a backup plan in case something went wrong with Ankra? Was that why he resisted using the condom so much?

But that didn't make sense. He told her that they didn't want to bring a human back with them and unless they were going to wait for her baby to be born, they'd have to bring her along.

Her baby…

Oh God, this couldn't be happening. Not now. Not with Drakor as the father.

She sniffled.

Now what? Rita suspected something about Drakor and his family. Erin really believed that. Plus, if Erin printed her story of them, told the world that aliens lived in Virginia, what would they think when she gave birth? Rita would tell the world that her child was an alien baby. They'd be fodder for those weekly newsrags.

And the worst thing was that she did know what happened to Drakor's friend. Her connection told her that several people in black suits, with FBI badges, had come to take him away.

No way could she do this story now. She'd be virtually slitting her own throat, not to mention that of her child.
 

She couldn't find something compelling enough in two days. Hell, she could barely think past right now. Erin would have nothing to turn in on Monday. Not only would she not get the front page spread she deserved, she'd lose her chance at redemption. She'd also be allowing the story on Greg to go forward. She'd screwed up everywhere.
 

The dam broke loose and a sob tore from her throat.
 

A hard knock startled her.

“Hey, Erin, you in there?”

Greg. She forgot that she had called him in a panic on the way home from Mickey's.

Erin scrambled to her feet and tore toilet paper from the roll, wiping at her nose and eyes. She tried to splash cold water on her face to even out the mottled skin tone, but it wasn't working. He'd know she was crying. Greg would know something was very, very wrong.

“Erin, you're worrying me,” he called. “Open the door.”

She cleared her throat. “Com–coming.”

She sucked in a deep breath and opened the door. Greg stormed in and looked around, as if to find a burglar hiding behind her couch.

“It's alright. Nobody's here.”

He went into the kitchen. “You were really freaked out on the phone. You could barely talk.”

Erin had called him because she couldn't handle the anxiety and inconceivable information. She wanted to tell him everything. That Drakor and Ankra were aliens, that they were here on a mission to get a human gene, that Greg's child was to provide that gene.

But now that she was pregnant, now that she couldn't write the story anymore, everything had changed.

Greg came up before her, arms folded across his chest. “So, what's going on? And why do you look like you've been crying?”

Damn, she knew she couldn't hide it from him. “I-I wanted to tell you that Ankra is leaving.”

“What? That made you cry?”

“No.” She hurried over to the couch and curled up in a ball on the far end. “That's not why I'm crying, but she is leaving. Forever.”

His eyes widened. “How do you know this?”

“I saw Drakor tonight at
Mickey's
. He told me that all of them are going home.”

Greg's face paled. “When? Where are they from anyway? Ankra wouldn't tell me.”

Erin squirmed. She knew where they were from but she didn't want to tell him. Not anymore. Not when she would be raising a child by herself. No one could know that Drakor and his family were aliens. Not even Greg.

“I don't know where they're from,” she lied. “But I know they're going soon. Real soon.”

Her brother thrust his hand through his hair. “Oh, man, I've got to get over there. I've got to see her.”

Erin felt her throat tighten. “She really means something to you, doesn't she?”

“More than I ever realized.” He sat down on the loveseat but then bounced back up again. “I can't just let her go, Erin. Not after these weeks we've had.”

So there it was. Greg had finally fallen in love again. Not since Sarah in college had he allowed himself to really feel again. And out of all the women in the world, he chooses one from another planet.

“So why were you crying? Drakor?”

Yes and no. She was crying because she lost everything. Her story. Her future. Her freedom. And Drakor. She was losing him too.

Erin dropped her head on her knees. “Just go, Greg.”

“Why don't you come with me? Maybe together we can convince them to stay.”

She didn't want them to stay. Even without her story, someone would eventually notice their oddities. And since the FBI had taken Alaziri…no, they had to go. They had to go soon.

“No.” She pulled her legs tighter against her chest. “I'm not going.”

Erin heard the door open. “Suit yourself. I'll tell Drakor you send your love.”

Before she could stop him, the door slammed shut.

 

 

Drakor pounded on Erin's door, his heart slamming inside his chest to the same hard beat. He couldn't find Sitora. She disappeared, just as Brundor had done. But Drakor knew that Sitora didn't turn herself invisible and venture in to town on purpose. Still, there was always the chance that she somehow ended up here.

“Go away, Greg!” Erin shouted from inside. “I'm not going.”

Drakor swallowed and knocked again, this time softer. “It's not Greg. It's me. I need to talk to you.”

“Go…go away. I don't want to see you either.”

This discord between he and Erin made him feel as if he had spent a week under the Elliacian sun. And yet, the sound of her voice eased the pain in his head.

Drakor leaned against the door. “Erin, I'm looking for Sitora. She's missing.”

There was a shuffling noise and then the door swung open.
 

“She's missing?”

If she looked bad the last time he had come here, Erin looked far worse now. Besides untidy hair, her unusually pale face had blotches of pink all over it. The make-up she put on her eyes had smeared and her nose looked bright red.

And still he wanted to hold her against him. But he didn't.

“We can't find her.” He jammed his hands in his pockets. “And we need to leave here immediately.”

Erin shoved some hair behind her ear and moved away from him until she reached the couch. “Why-why do you have to go right away?”

Drakor sighed and leaned against the wall. “Brundor got a little too friendly with Rita and she is threatening to call your law enforcement. I'm sure they will be at my house very soon.”

A flicker of panic rose in her eyes. “And you can't find Sitora?”

“No. I was hoping that she was here.”

She shook her head. “I haven't seen her for a long time. Not since that day you asked me to watch her for you.”

The burn, which threatened at the back of his eyes earlier, returned in full force. He couldn't leave without his little sister, but how he could stay? Rita would come with the law and all of them would pay the price.

Erin slipped on her shoes. “We have to find her.”

Drakor swallowed the lump in his throat. “You'll help me look for her?”

She grabbed her big bag from the floor and dug out her keys. “I don't know how you got here but we're leaving in my car. Hopefully, we'll get lucky and find her either on the way to your house or back there safe and sound.”

Drakor steeled himself for the ride in her vehicle. He hoped he could stop himself from touching her, from healing her ills, from easing his own pain.

And she'd better be right about Sitora.
 

Chapter Twenty-Five

If Drakor's presence hadn't unexpectedly calmed her, Erin might have lost both her dinner and lunch.

Little Sitora was missing!

Erin bit her lip. Tears filled her eyes and ran down her cheeks but she kept the sob in check. If she let that go she might not be able to stop. Not after realizing the shamble her life had become. How could it possibly get any worse?

She drove up to Drakor's house and pulled in behind Greg's SUV. The three of them came running out of the house before she and Drakor could get out of the car.

Ankra looked a mess. She had probably been crying for hours. Obviously, Sitora was not back at home.

“Did you find her?” Greg asked, the only one of them able to speak apparently.

Erin shook her head. They had driven many of the streets in the city and several of the back roads, but she could be anywhere. The only option was to call the police and report her missing, but Drakor refused. He was trying to escape from the law not ask their help.

Drakor got out of her car and walked past all of them. His hands balled and shoulders tense, he went to the front of the house, near the bay window and pounded on it.

Erin fought the compulsion to run over and comfort him. She knew he bore the brunt of the blame. Or that he felt responsible. It was his job to look after the family. But from what she had learned everything had failed. Ankra wasn't pregnant, Brundor couldn't control his urges, and Sitora was missing. He'd even lost the chance to retrieve his friend's body to take home.

Oh God, it would really send him over the edge to learn his genes had mixed with a human, spawning a half-breed child. There was no way she could tell him, no way she could add that burden to everything else.

She felt a tug on her arm and looked up to see her brother standing by her side. He looked pale and his eyes glittered wildly.

Erin followed him to the front porch.

“Why didn't you ever tell me?” he asked, leaning on the top rails.

“Tell you?”

His arm swept outward, motioning to the house. “About them. About who they are and where they came from.”

Erin locked her arm around one of the poles. “For all sorts of reasons. You knew I suspected it from the beginning. Hell, you were the one that saw the spaceship first.”

His eyes widened. “First? You've seen it?”

She sighed. “I came here one day unexpected and saw it in their backyard. I saw them put the bodies of their parents inside. After that, I knew for certain.”

“Why didn't you tell me then?”

She sucked in a deep breath and turned to watch Ankra bury her head in her hands on the roof of her car. “I had a story to write and I didn't want you in the way. I didn't want you forbidding me to come see them or ruining it for me somehow.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I didn't want you looking out for me. I needed to do this on my own.”

Greg took a step closer. “But I've always looked out for you. Ever since we were kids. It's been my job. I beat up all those kids that made fun of you in school, I—”

Erin felt her throat closing in. “That's just it. I'm grown up now. I don't need you to do that anymore.”

“Are you sure? You came back here, to me, after the fallout with Evan.”

She glanced up at him. “Yes, that's true. But I needed to prove I could turn myself around, that I could use better judgment. Though I'm in a worse mess now than I was before.”