Sentinel - Cyndi Friberg Page 0,9
person. Still, he couldn’t help but ask, “Do you know the overlord well?”
She responded with another shrug. “As well as any of his people.”
Surprised by the inference, he tilted his head and wished that he could see her better. “You consider yourself an Outcast?”
A flash of white revealed her smile. “I consider myself human, a strong American woman who values honesty, people I can trust, and freedom.”
He wasn’t sure if it was a list of prerequisites or a subtle warning, so he wasn’t sure how to respond.
She made a bland gesture toward the apartment behind them. “You seem to live comfortably, and your abilities prevent you from being at the mercy of the Ayrontu. What drew you to the rebellion?”
He tensed, annoyed by her casual inference. She knew Malik and presumed that because they were brothers their life paths had been similar. Not wanting to delve into all the unpleasantness in his past, he moved closer, resting his hand on the railing beside her. “I’d rather talk about you.”
Her eyes narrowed, but the rest of her expression was lost in shadow. “We’ve been talking about me. Besides, there is not much to tell. My life has been ordinary, humiliatingly average. Happy childhood, lots of brothers and sisters, parents that love and took care of me. I guess their one fault was being too busy to give me as much attention as I wanted, but I think every child feels that way. There are no deep dark secrets in my past, or present for that matter.”
“Then why did you volunteer to mate with an alien?” He hadn’t meant for the question to sound quite so accusatory, but the thought of her with anyone else inspired emotions he wasn’t accustomed to feeling. Silence lengthened and tension mounted as he waited for her answer. He hadn’t meant to insult her, but he obviously had. He was about to apologize when she finally spoke.
The breeze tugged at her perpetually messy hair, sending a curl swinging across her face. She brushed it out of her eyes, but the stubborn lock resisted her efforts to tame it. “I love my family, enjoy spending time with them, but I’ve never had anything entirely my own. I have four brothers and I’m the oldest of five sisters. If I wasn’t chasing after my younger siblings, I was working long hours at the family restaurant. Every decision was made for me, every activity planned without my input.”
Unable to resist the temptation, he lightly stroked the side of her face, tucking the errant strand of hair behind her sweetly rounded ear. “You figured the only way to have a life of your own was to leave the planet?”
She looked up at him and smiled. “Basically.”
“And there were no human males trying to convince you to stay?”
Her shoulders lifted in a casual shrug, but sadness darkened her expressive gaze. “Working in a restaurant exposed me to all sorts of people. Guys hit on me all the time, but very few made a positive impression. My sisters insisted that I had unrealistic expectations, so I started giving out my phone number when they asked.” She shuddered and looked out into the night. “What followed was a string of frustrating attempts at a serious relationship. Most only wanted sex and I had no interest in a casual hook up. I finally found one that seemed perfect, he was everything I thought I was looking for.”
“You are not his mate, so I presume it ended badly.”
“You could say that.” Her voice grew tight and she blinked away unshed tears. He didn’t know when the events took place, but undoubtedly the memory still stung. “One of my sisters had dinner on the other side of town and spotted him with another woman. I thought she’d caught him cheating, but it was even worse.”
“What is worse than betrayal?”
She looked at him and the pain in her gaze broke his heart. “The son of a bitch was already married.”
He reached for her but she shied away, not yet ready for comfort. “I’m sorry he hurt you, but I am not sorry you found out. Obviously, he was not worthy of you.”
“Oh, I agree wholeheartedly. I was angry and felt like a fool. I needed a change of scenery, something completely different than I’d ever done before. That’s when I looked into the transformation project and eventually volunteered.”
He nodded, giving her a moment to process the memories before moving on to more recent events.
She seemed lost in the