Squaring her shoulders, she grabbed a knife from the butcher’s block—a long, sharp one—and held it out in front of her. Once upon a time she’d taken a few self defense courses. Of course, all of it had flown out of her head at the moment, but she hoped it would come rushing back when the first attacker came at her. She wasn’t going down without a fight. She—
And then her would-be attacker came round the corner and it wasn’t an attacker at all—it was Chief Commander Rarev of the Monstrum Kindred.
3
“Minister Oxley?” Rarev stopped in the middle of the room, which appeared to be some sort of food prep area.
The British Minister was as lovely as he remembered her—even lovelier, actually, because her long, silky gray mane was down around her shoulders. Rarev had longed to see her like this, with her hair—which had been bound in a severe bun at her nape when he met her—free and loose. But there was a wild look in her lovely dark blue eyes—such an unusual color!—and she was gripping a knife as though she meant to use it on him. Also, her enticing scent was tinged sharply with fear. She didn’t really think he’d attack her, did she?
“Minister?” he repeated carefully. He raised his hands to show he didn’t mean her any harm. “I’m afraid I took the liberty of letting myself in.”
“You certainly did! How dare you invade my flat without so much as a by-your-leave?” she demanded, glaring up at him.
Rarev was taken aback by her anger, but he thought he understood its source. She felt under attack and he had startled her badly.
“Forgive me for coming into your domicile without your permission,” he said. “But there is a crowd of extremely agitated humans outside the front so I cloaked my ship and landed in the back. I asked for admittance but you must not have heard me.”
Emilia Oxley sighed and ran the hand that wasn’t clutching a butcher’s knife through her long hair.
“I suppose I didn’t hear you over the picketers.”
“And I suppose the picketers are here because of me and my kind?” Rarev raised his eyebrows at her.
“You suppose correctly,” she said in short, clipped tones. “They are most unhappy at the idea of Monstrum Kindred calling human brides and I am the one they blame for it.”
She seemed to realize she was still gripping the knife in front of her. With a quick, flustered movement she put it back in the butcher’s block, though it took her several attempts to get it back in. The blade chattered all around the block until it finally found its slit and slipped inside.
Her hands were trembling, Rarev realized. And her heart was still pounding—he could hear it from where he stood across the room from her. Was she frightened of him or just nervous? Or maybe she was still angry. He had to admit, her show of defiance made his blood quicken. But he knew he had to hold himself in check and deescalate the situation.
“Minister Oxley…” Impulsively, he stepped forward and took her trembling hands in his own. Her small, soft fingers were cold to the touch. Rarev warmed them gently with his own much larger ones and ducked his head to look down into her eyes. “Are you well, Emilia?” he asked, using her first name though she hadn’t given him permission to do so.
“I…I’m fine. Just fine.” For a moment she held his gaze, then she looked away and pulled her hands out of his abruptly. “You shouldn’t have come into a private residence without permission, though—no matter what your excuse. I thought you were one of the mob out there.”
“My apologies,” Rarev said, frowning. “But I urgently needed to talk to you and I didn’t see any other way.”
“You could have called me,” she said sharply. “Your people do possess advanced technology, do they not?”
“We do,” Rarev acknowledged. “But my news is best delivered face-to-face.”
“All right, well…” She took a deep breath and drew herself up to her full height—which wasn’t very tall, since the top of her head didn’t even come to his shoulder, he thought. “Tell me.” She looked up at him bravely, meeting his eyes of her own volition this time and arched one silver eyebrow at him. “What is this news that simply must be delivered face-to-face?”
Rarev took a deep breath of his own. He hated to tell her his dire news, but he couldn’t leave the people of Earth in the dark either.
“I have come to tell you that the Monstrum Kindred may not be able to protect Earth from the Darklings much longer,” he said, watching her face to see how she reacted.
Her dark blue eyes widened in alarm and surprise.
“What? But why? Are you leaving? Moving on to another universe? Another galaxy?”