Alien Love Read Online Free PDF

couldn’t control. Again. Melissa hugged her, awkward in the confines of the shoulder strap. It felt good to lean on someone else, even for a minute. Her aunt had believed in self-sufficiency, and open affection was never a part of Anji’s life growing up. She knew that need for affection, and Kiele giving it freely, was part of the reason she fell so hard for him, so fast.
    But most of the reason was him.
    I just found him—please, I can’t lose him. Not now.
    The transport jerked to a halt. Anji wiped her eyes, fumbling at the buckle. By the time Nathan opened the door she was on her feet.
    “Kiele—”
    “The other T’An are taking him inside. We already have water for him, from the source under the lab. Since the T’An live in the city they built there, we figured it would be safe for him.”
    She followed Nathan into a small house, indistinguishable from the other houses lining the quiet street. Until she stepped inside, and walked into what looked like a war room. Orlen stood at the far end, and her heart skipped when she saw the tall, rectangular glass tank. She ran across the room, dodging around anyone who didn’t move out of her way fast enough.
    Orlen caught her arm when she skidded to a halt. “He is alive, Anji.”
    Her knees threatened to buckle. She locked them, and pressed one hand against the thick glass. Kiele floated in the water, his body stripped down, his blood tinting the water blue.
    “He’s still bleeding—”
    “He will, until his gills are clear of it. Then we will change the water, let him immerse as long as we can.” Orlen took her hands, and the care of his movements told her that she didn’t want to hear what he was about to say. “Kiele stopped breathing before we arrived. No,” he held her tight when she tried to jerk free. “The water revived him, but I am afraid it will take longer than we have for him to recover enough to leave it.”
    “What do you mean, leave it?” she whispered. Her throat felt raw, like she’d vocalized all the screaming she’d been doing in her head.
    “Please, sit with me.” He led her to a small sofa that had been pushed against the wall, obviously to make room for the tank. “When a T’An is as close to death as Kiele, the recovery is not a simple immersion cycle. Were we on the ship, he would be sealed in a water chamber until we returned home. This is the closest we can manage, and he must remain, for as long as possible, to have a chance of recovering fully.”
    “Thank you, for being honest with me.”
    “I see his love for you. That you return his love has been made obvious, by not leaving him, even when you had the chance to do so, to save yourself.”
    “You sure have a low opinion of humans.”
    He raised an eyebrow. “I have met few humans worthy of high opinion.” To her shock, he leaned in and kissed her forehead. “You are part of a select group, Anji Suun Pearce.”
    Before she could say anything, Orlen stood and moved over to the kitchen table, where another one of the people crowding the house worked over Pern’s shoulder. He looked like he needed some time in immersion himself, and she didn’t know where Orlen was in his…
    Her breath caught as the realization struck her, like an unseen blow.
    They had become important to her.
    These gruff, often rude aliens had become her family. Anji blinked back more tears and pushed to her feet, moving to the tank. More blood darkened the water, almost obscuring Kiele. Behind him, she saw several men hauling in buckets of water. Strangers, treating him like he mattered.
    She pressed her hand to the cold glass. “We got lucky, Kiele.”
     
    ***
     
    The next twenty four hours felt like days.
    Anji wandered the living room, wearing a borrowed, too big dress, her hand closed around the screwdriver in her pocket as she watched the people who took them in plan and replan the best way to infiltrate the lab. Melissa had returned Anji’s screwdriver, after holding it for her while