the vial to Kyro.
The dark-green fluid inside it swished as he took the vial in his hand.
“I must take this,” Kyro said, popping the sealant from the top of the vial as he spoke.
“What is it?” Evren asked.
“Healing serum,” Rokan answered. “I made it myself.”
“Ah.” It was clear she wanted to ask more but she didn’t. Instead, she just watched as Kyro moved the vial toward his lips.
Pausing there, Kyro met her gaze. “I have to drink this.”
She glanced from him to Rokan.
“Okay...I get it. You need it for your wound.” Her gaze still bounced between them both. “What is it?”
“It will put me to sleep.”
She still looked nonplussed.
“Promise me you will be here when I wake.”
“Of course.” Her hands found his and she squeezed his hand between hers lightly. “I’ll be here.” Her gaze moved from him to Rokan, the confusion replaced with sincerity.
“You two don’t have to worry. Your secret is safe with me.”
25
Evren sat in the chair she’d pulled up beside where Kyro lay.
He was sleeping now, his eyes closed, his breathing steady.
As she stared at him, she couldn’t help but feel a heavy sense of sadness at what he had been through. She couldn’t imagine how deeply she’d have been affected watching her mother get raped by those unforgiving toads, the Tasqals, and to watch her father kill her sibling and then himself...it would have completely broken her.
Getting taken from Earth had almost broken her. She’d only found the will to continue, to adapt, from her sheer need to rediscover her purpose in life.
But Kyro...he had kept on going when everything had been ripped away from him.
Everything.
And he had been just a baby.
As she looked at him, sleeping peacefully, she couldn’t help that her respect for him was growing.
So much made sense now.
The way he always seemed apart from his other brothers...how he hadn’t contacted her...it all made sense.
Taking a fresh piece of wet floofy material, Evren placed it on Kyro’s forehead and patted it lightly, her gaze drifting down to his closed eyes.
To think that this wasn’t even his real face—that idea took some getting used to.
She didn’t care what he really looked like.
It was his soul that mattered, and the more she got to know him, the more she fell in love with what he was inside.
Her hand stilled on his forehead at that thought.
Love?
Was she falling in love with him?
Had she fallen in love with him?
No. She just liked his friendship. His lame jokes that pulled her from her deep, sad thoughts and made her remember to laugh again. His awkwardness that made her giggle. The way he took things she said literally. The way he stared at her when he thought she wasn’t looking...
Oh God...she loved him.
That realization felt like a weight lifted from her shoulders, as if her subconscious had known all along.
She loved him.
God, she was such an idiot.
So much time wasted.
How had she not realized the skunkat that had been with her every day at the shuttle yard had been him?
Thinking about it now, it had been so obvious. The eyes.
Those gray eyes were undoubtedly Kyro’s eyes.
He’d been staring at her just as intently as when he was in his usual form. It was no wonder the animal had reminded her of him.
But she couldn’t have known. Never in a million years would she have imagined such a being like him existed. It had taken enough to believe in Yce’s psychic powers and she knew Crex had some strange powers as well, but Kyro...she never would have guessed.
He was just the strange nerdy one that she liked.
The nerdy one that liked to stare at her, with such deep looks that made her feel special.
It wasn’t like the stares she got from Shive. Even the thought of Shive made her shudder. Thinking about it, Kyro’s stares made her tingle inside. His stares reminded her that she was a woman.
Even now, the thought brought a smile to her lips that made her freeze again, her eyes widening.
Fuck.
She had fallen really deep.
If he could hear her thoughts right now...
Now, that thought made her jerk her gaze to his only to find him staring right back at her.
Shit, can he read thoughts too? Thought he said he wasn’t psychic. Evren stared at him. Can you hear this?
“You really stayed.” Kyro blinked.
What about this? Can you hear this? I am totally freaking out right now.
“Is something the matter?” Kyro’s head tilted as he regarded her.
“Did you hear that?”
“Hear what?”
Whew.
“Nothing.”
She wasn’t ready to discuss with