Page 78 of Alien Wants A Wife

“Yes, I made that deal with Chloe,” she speeds on, “but it was before I met you. Before I fully understood what LOVE GALAXY was. Then, afterwards, I did meet you and?—”

“Of course, Harlee agreed,” Chloe scoffs, interrupting. “She wanted to be guaranteed the best edit of everyone on the show, so she made a secret deal with me to screw you all over. Harlee’s been a traitor from the very beginning.”

“Shut the fuck up!” Lydia glares at Chloe, before I can say anything. “If anyone in this room is a traitor, it’s you.”

“You literally just tried to kill me,” comes Briar’s voice.

Surprised, I glance around the room, but Briar is not here in person. Killan is holding up his datapad, on which he has opened a communication link with Sorin’s datapad. Both Sorin and Briar’s faces fill the screen.

“You evenadmittedto wanting to kill me!” Briar says.

“Kill you?” Lydia asks, at the same time Harlee says, “What do you mean, kill you?”

“We did not want to unnecessarily worry you—” Killan begins, but of course Lydia interrupts.

“You can’t not tell us stuff as serious as attempted murder, dude!”

“It wasn’t a big deal,” Briar says.

“Yes,” Sorin says, grimly. “It was.”

“Is that bruising on your wrist?” Lydia points to Briar.

“We were just calling to see if everything is going okay with you,” Briar says, in lieu of an answer, quickly hiding her hands beyond the camera frame and out of our sight. “It’s been a textbook case of a hectic morning.”

“Well, it’s an absolute crapfest here.” Lydia flashes her blunt teeth in a smile that does not make her appear happy. “But I’m willing to bet we’re still having a better day than you. Smithreallytried to kill you?!”

“Yeah. Him and Chloe,” Briar finally agrees. “I guess they wanted to drum up some drama or something. This is honestly turning out to be the least real reality show ever. And now Chloe is going full drama queen on Harlee because Harlee had the audacity to fall in love. Real pathetic, Chloe.” And Briar fake gags as she says Chloe’s name. “I vote we lock them both up until filming has finished. We can’t risk them trying to escape in the middle of the night before they’ve taken Lydia home.”

“No fucking way.” Chloe shakes her head. “You’re not locking me up!”

“Good idea,” Killan agrees. “I have many rooms empty of furniture that would suit them well.”

“Smith is being awfully quiet.” Lydia stares at Mr. Smith.

He says nothing, burying his chin deeper into the tough folds of skin around his throat. We’ve defeated the bully.

Briar, I think, answers Lydia, but I do not hear what she says, for Harlee takes a deep breath. Such a small movement, yet it catches my attention, as if there is a rope around my neck, tying me to her.

She loves me?

“Roan,” she says softly, only for me to hear. “I wish there was something I could do to make everything right between us again.”

I clear my throat. I need to hear those words again. I need to be absolutely positive I did not imagine them. “You want to stay?”

“Yes. I mean, if you’ll have me.”

“You really…love me?” It takes everything in me to ask. If I misheard— If I was mistaken?—

“Yes! I do. I doloveyou, Roan. So, so much.”

“Really?”

“Really, really. I thought I’d been in love before, but it never felt like this. Being with you is easy. And real. And amazing. Even when everything else was going wrong— Even when I was scared and panicked and cowardly— Even when I thought I should want to return to Earth and all my thoughts were a jumbled mess in my head—I’ve never once regretted you.”

I release a shuddering breath as the tension and the worry dissipate from my body so quickly they might never have existed.

“I want to be your Mate.” I say the first words that fall out of my mouth, the lump in my throat miraculously dissolved. “I want to spend the rest of my life with you, Harlee. And to have younglings with you—if that is even possible. I want—” I feel as if I am about to explode with all the happiness inside of me. “I wantyou.”

---