Page 36 of Married to the Alien Mountain Man

Sure, he had his cousin nearby, and Magnolia, and Killian. But they weren’t with him now. They weren’there. They were all asleep, a little family unit together in their home.

And Oaken was alone.

I swear, if he doesn’t get the kindest, hottest, most loyal human wife in existence after I leave, then I am going to fucking cut a bitch.

“How far do we have left to go?”

Oaken turned his head this way and that to get his bearings.

“I would say that we are not quite halfway there.”

I swallowed a groan. We’d been at this for at least an hour, and we weren’t even halfway?! The journey wasn’t going to get any easier from here on out, either. Already, my tired muscles were cramping, and blisters were screaming on my heels. I hadn’t bothered stopping to use my knitter on them, because I knew they’d just start rubbing and then open up again as we walked.

“I didn’t think it was that far,” I said, dismayed. “The journey on the slicer was so fast!”

“The distance is not truly very great,” Oaken explained. “Your ship is located only a few spans from my property. The uneven footing and rocks are what slow us down. If this were flat ground, we would have reached your ship by now.”

“For fuck’s sake.” I scrubbed my hands up and down my face. Exhaustion was creeping through me, winding along my limbs like the serpent we’d just seen. I’d been awake for way too many hours already before I’d landed here in the morning planet-time. And it had been at least another ten or twelve hours since then.

“What is it?”

“Sorry, Oaken,” I said. “I shouldn’t have dragged you all the way out here.”

“You did not drag me,” he said, so kindly that it broke my fucking heart. “I volunteered.”

“I know but… Still. This isn’t working. Damn.” I took in the hostile darkness of the valley ahead and felt the weight of my weariness triple. “I don’t think we should keep going tonight. Especially if you’re going to be sleeping outside in your tent when we get there.”

The tent thing had seemed fine back in the relative safety of his idyllic, fenced-in ranch. But out here, faced with the uncaring reality of the mountains and their shadows…

I wouldn’t hear of it.

“What do you want to do, Jaya?” Oaken asked. There was such a deep sense of patience in the question. He didn’t sound frustrated with me, despite the fact I’d just brought him on a fruitless hour-long hike when he probably would have liked nothing more than to be in bed by now. He asked the question as if he really, truly wanted to know the answer. Like he was prepared to wait as long as it took, and would not once complain.

What I wanted…

What I wanted was to already be at theLavariya. I wanted a cup of chai in my hand and my butt in my own bed.

But…

I also wanted Oaken not to be alone. Or maybeIwanted not to be alone.

And I knew I didn’t want to go any further on foot in the dark tonight. I made my decision and silently promised theLavariyathat I would see her tomorrow.

“I want to go back to your place.”

I was too frustrated with how this night had gone, and too tired, to get embarrassed about how dirty that sounded. I doubted Oaken was experienced enough with human ladies to pick up on the connotation of that phrase, either. He just looked at me with those bright, patient eyes, and said, “If you want it, then it is done.”

Apparently, “it is done,” meant I was no longer responsible for walking any longer. I yelped, nearly dropping Oaken’s blanket, as he easily hoisted me up into his arms.

“What are you doing?” I cried, wriggling.

He tightened his hold on me. “Careful,” he warned.

“Shit. Sorry. Please don’t drop me…”

“I’d never drop you.”

“But if you tripped-”

---