Page 13 of Alien Wants A Wife

And then I’ve got to break his heart.

Hisalienheart.

Chapter Five

Roan

Ican feel Harlee watching me, and I lift my upper right arm to wiggle my fingers at her, as I have seen the Humans do several times.

She does not repeat the gesture, glancing down at her own hands, hidden below the tabletop.

“Is this not right?” I ask, wiggling my fingers again. When she does not immediately respond, I lower my hand in case I am breaking some taboo Human custom I do not yet understand.

“That’s called waving,” Lydia says, glancing between me and Harlee. “It’s for when you first meet somebody.”

Harlee has not spoken a word in many minutes. I worry.

“Have I done something to insult you? I am eager to learn what I should do to make you more comfortable in our—I mean, in Killan’s home.”

“It’s not you.” Again, Lydia is the one to answer, even though I directed my question to Harlee.

“Akh. It is Killan.” I nod in understanding, causing my eldest brother to deepen his scowl.

“No,” Lydia denies with a shaky laugh, sounding anything but joyful. “Not Killan. We’ve… Well… You see, we’ve had a long day and a bit of a shock, and I guess we’re both feeling tired.”

“You have travelled far to be here.”

“That’s the understatement of the century,” Lydia agrees.

I search her face for signs of tiredness, wishing to memorize them so that I can recognize tiredness in Human Females next time and act appropriately. Her shoulders are rounded forward as she tries to make herself appear smaller, and the top of her spine is curved slightly. The curtain of her pink hairs swings forward, partially shielding her face, and she tucks a few stands behind one ear with an impatient and well-practiced gesture.

I look at Harlee, trying to correlate my data. My results will be more reliable if I can identify the same tiredness traits in both Humans.

Still, Harlee is looking down at her hands, almost as if she is holding something out of my sight. I bend over, pushing my chair back, so I can peer under the table. With a rustling of paper, she presses both hands into the pockets of her dress, hiding whatever she has from my sight.

At Killan’s nudge, I straighten. There is a third Female standing on the landing of the stairs. I do not know how long she has been there, watching us… Watching Sorin. Her hairs are much redder than Harlee’s and Lydia’s. And there are spots across her nose and over her cheeks. Mayhaps they mean she is sickening for something. Before I can ask, however, she hurries down the last stretch of the stairs, tripping over the hem of her green dress.

In an instant, Killan is on his feet, catching her neatly and setting her upright.

“Thanks.” She pats one of his arms, as if it is an everyday occurrence for her to be touched by a Male. Then she waves at Sorin. “Hi, again.”

Again?

“Cut!” John Smith stomps his way down the stairs, his Human assistant following closely behind.

Why cannot you leave us alone?I want to demand of the director.This is not how filming is supposed to work. This is not the experience I imagined.But I feel traitorous for thinking such thoughts. Without LOVE GALAXY and John Smith, there would not be three eligible Females sitting in our family kitchen. And so I grit my teeth to remain silent.

John Smith must know what he is doing. I should trust that he has our best interests in mind.

“You two haven’t met yet,” he reminds the new Female. “Remember?”

Again.My insides lurch. I look between Sorin and Briar. “Have you already met?” The words fall out of my mouth before I can stop them.

The transport ship the Humans arrived on only landed yesterday afternoon, and John Smith kept us from meeting them before the cameras had been set up, claiming he wanted to capture our first impressions on film. That is exactly what this moment is supposed to be—our first meeting.

The moment when all our lives change forever.

Apparently not for Sorin.

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