Page 66 of Tempted By the Alien Warrior

When we reach the outer chamber, I kneel and lower her onto the fur. I start to rise, ready to keep watch during the night, but her arms tighten around me, refusing to let go.

“No,” she whispers groggily. “Stay with me.”

Her cheek nuzzles into my shoulder, and her hand loosely grips my arm like she’s afraid I’ll leave the moment she lets go.

So, I don’t leave. I lie down beside her and pull one of the furs over us. She sighs again, and shifts until her soft curves mold to my body, her head tucked under my chin like she belongs there.

Within heartbeats, she’s asleep, her breath soft and even as it warms the hollow of my throat. Her legs tangle with mine like she’s trying to erase every bit of space between us.

I hold her close, letting her warmth seep into me, and I tell myself I’ll only stay a moment. Just long enough to be sure she’s truly asleep, deep enough that I won’t wake her when I slip away.

But I don’t move. I let myself enjoy the way she fits against me. I let myself pretend, just for tonight, that this is something I can have. That there’s a place in the world where she and I could exist together. For now, there is only her and the quiet peace she brings with her, and I cling to it like a drowning male clings to air.

But peace is a lie.

We’re in Tussoll territory, and every instinct in my body is screaming at me to move. To get her out. To take her back toAnuriix territory where she will be safe. I won’t be at peace until I know she is back in the village and guarded by warriors, even if I can’t be one of them.

I listen, straining for any sound beyond the cave’s natural noises. I wait for the sound of a footstep, a breath, a whisper of movement. Anything that might mean we’re not alone, but the night remains silent.

Even then, I don’t close my eyes. I stay alert, every sense sharpened, even as I keep holding her. As if my arms alone could shield her from the world. As if I could keep her just a little longer.

Emily is more than a fleeting moment of comfort. More than just a human lost on my world. Somewhere along the way, she became mine.

I don’t know when it happened. Maybe it was that first day in the village. She was pale and trembling, clearly in pain, but still holding herself upright, still pretending she didn’t need help. I was drawn to her even then, though I didn’t understand it. Even with my father’s bitter warnings echoing in my mind, telling me to distrust her kind, I couldn’t look away.

Or maybe it was later, when I realized she didn’t see a traitor when she looked at me. She looked at me like I was something good.

And I’ve done nothing to deserve that, but sard help me, I want her. Not just for tonight. I want all of it. Her mornings and her laughter, her stubborn determination, and her quiet strength. I want the fire she hides and the softness she doesn’t. I want to be the one she reaches for in the dark, the one who stands beside her when the storms come, and the one she chooses.

My fingers find a lock of her hair and gently slide it back from her cheek. Her skin is warm against my knuckles. I lowermy head, unable to help myself, and breathe in her comforting scent.

Perhaps it was always meant to be this way.

My second heart remains frustratingly still. Which means she isn’t my amoris. She’s not the one whose spirit would bind with my own. And yet, it doesn’t matter. Fate hasn’t chosen her. I have. She is mine, and I am hers. Not by sacred bond, but by something just as strong. And I don’t want to let her go.

But I will have to.

My plan was simple. Once we found her cousin, I would sneak them both back into the Anuriix village without being seen. After that, I’d vanish into the jungle before anyone realized I’ve returned. I would live out my days as an outcast, never allowed to return to my tribe or else face the threat of my punishment. I’d be free, and she would be safe. That’s the deal I made.

If I stay, my freedom will end. I’ll be dragged before Daggir. I’ll have to answer for what I’ve done, and I don’t expect mercy.

But the thought of leaving her behind, of never hearing her soft voice again, never seeing her smile, never waking to her warmth feels unbearable.

I curl my arms tighter around her, and she mumbles something in her sleep, pressing her face closer against my neck.

What if I stayed?The thought strikes hard and sudden, like a spear to the chest. Once it’s there, I can’t dislodge it. It takes root, digging in deep, choking out every other thought that dares to rise.

What if, instead of disappearing into the jungle like a fugitive, I walked into the village at her side? Not as a traitor returning in shame, but as a male choosing the only thing that’s ever truly mattered to him. Her.

Daggir would still punish me, and I would be confined for however long he sentenced me to. And even after my release from confinement, the tribe could still vote to cast me out.

But if I stayed, if I endured it all, I would be near her. I’d wake every day in the same village as her, knowingshe was safe.

I could survivejail, as Emily calls it. I could endure all of it if it meant having even the smallest hope of being near her, of seeing her.

Tomorrow, we’ll head deeper into Tussoll territory. I’ll find her cousin, and I’ll take them both back to the village, safe, whole, and alive. Even if it costs me everything I have left.

Because in the end, what I want isn’t freedom. It’s her.

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