Page 48 of Alien in the Depths
The thought of it sent a shudder through him, and judging from the tension in Sofia’s body, the thought had a similar effect on her.
“Lucky for you, your girlfriend’s pretty sneaky then, huh?” Her wary smile told Zaraq she was trying her best to lighten the mood, but the word girlfriend made his heart beat erratically.
Arccoo had stepped back again and was busying himself inspecting Vexis’s body. At that moment, Zaraq knew he couldn’t wait another second to tell Sofia how he felt.
“Sofia,” he told her solemnly. “I need you to know—”
“Wait! Don’t touch anything!” Sofia cried out, her eyes shooting over Zaraq’s shoulder.
Zaraq followed her gaze to where Arccoo was frozen, his purple eyes looking up at them questioningly. His hand was outstretched, just inches from the sigma blaster.
“Right now only Vexis’s prints are on the gun. Right?” Sofia continued, stepping forward and looking between Arccoo, Zaraq, and Vexis’s body.
Arccoo straightened up and looked at Zaraq for clarity. He nodded, realizing where Sofia was going with this.
“Right,” he added, grateful once again that he had such an intelligent and capable woman on his side. “We can finally proveVexis was responsible for Ryka’s death and for—” He gestured around the kitchen. “All of this.”
Sofia turned to him again with a smile. “You’re finally free.” The look in her eyes was the purest relief, and Zaraq felt it, too. Almost.
“We have to call the planetary authorities first,” Zaraq told her, but his heart was beginning to slow, for what felt like the first time in years.
“You should do the honors,” Sofia told him, stepping a little closer and sliding her hands inside his jacket. “You’ve been running from them long enough.”
In the cold white light of the kitchen, Zaraq smiled down at Sofia and then at Arccoo.
“Thank you, both of you.” He felt like a weight was finally dropping off him, and the immense wave of gratitude that replaced it made his heart swell. “You had no reason to help me.”
“We’re family now,” Arccoo said with a wink. “We had every reason to help you.”
Sofia nodded, grinning up at him and letting her fingers play affectionately on his lower back.
“Now stop stalling and get on your comm. The police are gonna love this.”
The mischief in her bright green eyes made him want to kiss her and tell her he loved her, but she was right. They needed to clean this up first. Besides, another idea was forming in Zaraq’s mind.
Chapter 19
Sofia
“And how exactly did you fend him off?”
“Do you have sigma blasters on Earth?”
“What about Zaraq? Weren’t you scared of him at first?”
The reporters’ questions washed over Sofia like a flood as the police ushered her away from Vexis’s house. A throng had gathered in the early hours of the dawn but after what she had been through, Sofia was only vaguely aware of the commotion. What really mattered to her was that everything would be okay now.
The morning sun warmed her toes, still shoeless, as she was led to the paramedics who were already tending to Zaraq. In the chaos that had unfolded after Zaraq called the cops, the three of them had been separated, and Sofia felt a rush of life course through her again as she rushed forward to meet him.
“Careful!” Zaraq told her, holding out his arm to embrace her.
The other hand was being bandaged by a yellow alien that reminded her of a crustacean. It was using several spindly appendages to deftly wrap the strip of cloth around Zaraq’s injured finger. The sight of his blue blood soaking through the bandage made Sofia wince.
Zaraq caught her staring. “It’s fine. Don’t worry. It was only a graze.”
Sofia nodded, tearing her eyes away and instead gazing into Zaraq’s deep purple eyes. “I don’t know what I would have done if anything happened to you,” she breathed, pressing her forehead to Zaraq’s.
“Likewise.” His warm breath tickled Sofia’s lips, and she leaned into him, kissing him softly.