Kevanne squeezed his hand. “Why not tell the ’Topians what was happening?”
“I regret not doing that every day of my life. The consortium has spies everywhere. At the time, I feared the information would get back to the council and they would have destroyed ’Topia immediately—and executed everyone in the opposition. For sure they would have noticed a mass exodus, and the consortium would have tracked them down and destroyed any planet that provided them refuge. I believed I had more time—that the bombardment was years away. But I’d been fed misinformation. The council had set a trap.
“When I discovered the bombardment was imminent, I rushed to ’Topia to meet with their leaders and to evacuate as many people as I could. As soon as I landed, the bombardment began. I’d managed to airlift one large group of refugees when I encountered Tigre, Wingman, Psy, Inferno—and Shadow. I led them to my ship. They didn’t trust me at first. I would have gone back to try to save more people, but Wingman decided they’d have a better chance of survival if they had a Xeno hostage. He didn’t know I was on their side.”
He clenched and released his fists. “The situation was hopeless anyway. The Castaway launched. The view of the planet’s surface was horrific. It didn’t look like a planet, but a star, a ball of flaming gas. A Xeno ship monitoring the bombardment spotted us. We had no choice but to flee. They fired on the Castaway and damaged critical systems. We entered jump space on reduced power, sustained further damage, and ended up here on Earth.”
“You’re Xeno, but you’ve always referred to the Xenos as them, rather than us, and you voted against the destruction. What made you different from the other Xenos?”
“The consortium asserts that since they created the other worlds, they own them, and therefore have the right to destroy them.” Chameleon shook his head. “It felt wrong to me. A few other Xenos share my belief in individual sovereignty, and the concept is growing but not fast enough. I was the highest ranking official who held that belief. Living beings have the potential to achieve and accomplish amazing things. If they are created to evolve, then let them evolve! What gives anyone the right to decide the fate of another?
“The council never stated it as such, but the deciding factor to destroy the ’Topians was that they didn’t pay homage. As they advanced, they began to lose their awe of their creators and started to view themselves as equals. On other planets, the Xenos are revered as gods. People pray to them, build churches in their name. Not on ’Topia.
“All beings are of equal worth. Is a child less than the parent who created him or her?” He’d held those concepts for a long time but had never spoken them aloud. He raked a hand through his hair. “To voice such a concept would be considered an act of sedition, and I could have been put to death.” He flexed his shoulders. “I was a seditionist, an insurrectionist, a saboteur of sorts. In monitoring communications, I happened upon Earth, became enthralled with your quaint customs, so I chose to erase the planet’s existence from the database. Now it has become our refuge.”
“You protected us. It’s only fair we protect you.”
“There were so many planets I couldn’t protect. I couldn’t hide them all. And someone will take my place on the council.”
“You need to let go of your guilt. You can only do what you can do.” She scooted closer to him and linked her arm through his. “I love you.”
He pressed his lips to hers in an intimate, healing kiss. How had he gotten so lucky? He’d never dared to hope he’d find a mate. To find Kevanne.
“I love you, too. So much. I believe you’re my genmate,” he said. “We were meant to be together.” It made him wonder if Earth had only been a donor world…or if the Xenos had planted some seeds.
“If you love me, then will you do something for me?”
“Anything within my power,” he said.
“Stop blaming yourself. Let go of the guilt. Let yourself heal.”
“I’ll try.” He tucked her under his arm and leaned against the sofa. “If you’ll do something for me.”
“What?”
“Love me forever. Be my mate. Let us have children and grow old together. We’ll plant and sell lavender. Live, love, and laugh together.”
She pulled away and gaped at him. “It sounds like you’re asking me to marry you.”
He nodded. “The Earth mating ceremony. Yes, let’s do it.”
“But...but…aren’t you leaving—I mean, yes! Yes, I’ll marry you! You’re not leaving?”
He laughed and grabbed her in a hug. “No, I’m not leaving. I’m staying. That’s the next part, the best part of the long story.
“We had two situations forcing us to leave. First, with the consortium hunting for us, we didn’t want to jeopardize the people here. While I was searching for potential haven planets, I’d changed Earth’s coordinates in the database, swapping it out with a barren moon in the Andromeda galaxy. But trust me when I say that the consortium does not leave loose ends. They would never stop hunting for us. The other impetus for leaving was to assist the last group of refugees. There hadn’t been time to secure a safe haven for them. With so few ’Topians left in the galaxy, we had to do everything we could to ensure their survival, so we needed to locate them and lead them to asylum.” He could still hardly believe what had happened.
“We’d wondered why Mysk had been so eager to help us, so accepting of our story. He is a ’Topian refugee from that last ship. They did escape, and they went through the jump. But they got caught in the ripple in time. Mysk and his shipmates landed on Earth fifty years ago.”
“Time travelers?” Her eyes were wide.
“That wasn’t their intention, but yes.”
“Then why didn’t anybody know about them? Other than the extraterrestrials who have arrived through the Intergalactic Dating Agency, I haven’t heard of other aliens visiting Earth,” she said.
“They knew as we did, that if the consortium heard chatter about ’Topians, they would investigate, so they kept their presence a secret. Those who could pass for human, like Mysk, who is a Verital or the shifters who can personify like me, assimilated into Earth society. The others formed communities in remote locations. One of the refugees founded the Intergalactic Dating Agency. She started it to bring aliens to Earth. She figured if people got used to seeing aliens, the ’Topians could better integrate.”
Kevanne frowned. “But isn’t the consortium looking for the ’Topian refugees? If they come out of hiding, won’t that present a greater risk?”
“That’s where the paradox comes in,” he said. “The ’Topians have been here for half a century. Since they went back in time, they weren’t on ’Topia during the bombardment, so the consortium never saw them leave. The consortium isn’t looking for them at all.”
He could feel himself grinning like an idiot as relief and joy ballooned. Now that he had his mate, he could appreciate the incredible change in circumstances. He still hadn’t told her the most important part. “The refugees weren’t the only ones who got caught in the ripple—we did, too.”