Odin (Alien Adoption Agency #5) - Tasha Black Page 0,42

smart and brave and kind. He had so much promise.”

Liberty nodded again.

“His name was Adyxx,” Odin said.

He let the name hang in the air. He hadn’t said it out loud in so long. He had expected it to tear out his heart along with it.

But it felt good to say Adyxx’s name.

“Because of his gifts, his first mission came too soon,” Odin continued. “I petitioned my commanding officer for more time. But he refused.”

Liberty bit her lip and nodded.

“When the day came, we waited in ambush for the enemy,” Odin said softly. “But they must have gotten wind of our mission. They came from the opposite direction and took us by surprise. My seasoned men scrambled into action, but Adyxx just froze.”

Liberty met his eyes. Hers were sad and serious, but there was no judgement.

“I called them to retreat and still he stood. The enemy was overwhelming our position. I couldn’t get to him fast enough,” Odin continued. “The only thing to do was shift.”

Liberty’s eyes widened.

“I set my dragon free, even roared out a fireball into the sky to warn them off,” he said. “Instead, they doubled down. Their commander screamed for them to engage the dusters.”

Liberty sucked in a breath.

“The rest of my guys had cleared the area, but Adyxx was still frozen in place. He wouldn’t even shift,” he said. “They vaporized him in an instant, with a weapon designed for shooting down aircraft.”

“I’m so sorry,” Liberty murmured.

“I destroyed them all,” Odin said with grim satisfaction. “Every last one, even when they tried to retreat. But that wouldn’t bring him back. Nothing ever will.”

She nodded like she understood.

And he realized that in a way, she did. The cosmic lax mutation had taken her husband before her eyes, more slowly, but no less inevitably. And there was nothing she could do about it.

“I was responsible for that boy,” he said. “And when he needed me most, I made things worse.”

“That’s a very odd way of looking at it,” Liberty said.

“The same thing almost happened tonight,” Odin said. “You were in trouble, I shifted, and the rustler pulled out a gun. All because I escalated the situation.”

“Do you really think he wouldn’t have done that anyway?” Liberty asked.

“We have no way of knowing,” Odin admitted.

“And Adyxx sounds like he was a really great kid, but not ready for action,” Liberty said. “You told your commanding officer, you kept an eye on the boy, and when he got into trouble, you took swift action to protect him.”

Odin nodded.

“You weren’t in control of what the enemy did,” she went on. “And you’re not in control of anyone else now. Something could happen to me, or to Colton, or to both of us. Terrible things that are out of our control happen every day, sometimes to the people we love.”

He turned away, busying himself testing the temp of the milk cell as her words landed.

“But you are in control of you,” Liberty went on. “You are in control of who you love and how you treat them. You’re in control of how you treat yourself.”

He put the milk cell down and turned back to her.

“And I think you’ve been treating yourself very poorly,” Liberty said with conviction. “I think you’ve been trying to tell yourself that you don’t deserve love or happiness, that you’re going to make it up to Adyxx by being miserable. Is that the idea?”

Odin didn’t answer. It sounded colossally stupid when she said it out loud like that.

“Well, he’s not here, and we are,” Liberty said, holding Colton tightly to her chest. “We’re here, and we need you. And we think you deserve it all, every last drop of happiness you can drain from your life. Do you understand?”

Suddenly she was haloed in soft light.

Her face went blank, then she scrambled off her stool and ran for the front door.

“Liberty?” he said, trailing after her.

But she was already outside, and by the time he reached her, she was on the grassy lawn.

A shaft of sunlight had pierced the clouds and shone on her like a spotlight, shimmering in her hair, lighting up her radiant skin as if the light were coming from within her instead of from above.

Tears streamed down her face and she clung to Colton like he was the only thing anchoring her to the ground.

“Thank you,” she whispered, her eyes squeezed shut. “Thank you.”

Odin stayed back, watching her. The tears had scared him, but he could see now that they were tears of happiness, tears