Page 161 of Alien God

I had one more world to visit before I could finally go home.

CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR

Torrance

Wylfrael was gone so long I started to panic. I tried not to show it, and threw myself into readying bedrooms for my human friends with Aiko. But soon enough, all that work was done. The sun had set hours ago, my friends were tired, and they collapsed into their new cushy beds in various rooms in the castle.

I wanted to stay with them. It had been so long since I’d seen any of them, and I knew we had so much more to talk about. But every minute that passed without Wylfrael made me feel like crawling out of my own skin. With a weakly uttered, “Goodnight,” I headed back for the room I shared with Wylf in the Eve Tower, hoping that I’d maybe find him there.

I didn’t.

I paced the room, digging my fingernails into my palms, trying not to imagine what might have happened to him. Skalla had nearly killed him twice before. Why had I let him go? What if Suvi was gone, and now Wylf was, too? What if I’d sent him into a deathtrap, and I’d never see him again?

Would I even know? Would I feel something, if he died? Or would I be forever left wondering if he was out there, somewhere, hurt, bleeding? Dead, with no one to mourn him but me?

I was on the verge of full-blown hysteria when the door to the room opened. I jumped like a frightened cat, my heart skittering and making my chest ache the way it still often did.

“Wylf!”

If my husband hadn’t been a stone sky god with a body akin to a brick wall, I would have toppled him. I leaped onto him, wrapping my legs around his waist, my arms around his neck, and kissed him all over his face, planting my lips messily in between shaky breaths.

“Hello, beloved,” he murmured. The next time my mouth passed near his, he captured it, sliding his tongue inside until I moaned. I tugged at his vest, his hair, desperately drawing him closer, reminding myself that he was here, strong, safe, alive.

But was Suvi?

I drew back from the kiss.

“What happened? What did you find?”

Wylfrael placed one more soft kiss on my mouth before answering.

“She is well. She is healthy and with child. Skalla’s child.”

My brows shot upward.

“Holy shit. So he’s...”

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