Page 66 of The Alien Warrior's Mate

Enthara flew into motion on his mind’s command. Korben no longer needed his interface to control the zapten as Rune had updated his machine to understand more commands from their shared neural connector.

In no time, he found the waterfall and set Enthara down in the sand. After helping Sah-ah dismount, Korben studied his mate. She was still quiet, but it was a more contemplative mood than an angry one.

“This place is beautiful,” Sah-ah whispered, her gaze taking it all in. Water trickled softly against hard blue stones. As promised, a large hammock was strung in the shade.

Sah-ah moved closer to the dama and touched the water with her fingertips. He approached her carefully and sat on the rocks beside her. Though Korben’s body ached to throw her on the hammock, he sensed that his mate had a lot on her mind.

“Would you tell me about earth?” Korben asked.

Sah-ah looked surprised. “Why?”

“I want to know. Did you have a family?” He leaned forward. “Did you leave something behind to make you so sad today?”

“No.” She turned her face to the sky and spoke flatly. “I had nothing.”

“Not even a mother?”

“My mom died when I was a teenager.”

“Sah-ah…”

“It was fine. She wasn’t much of a mother anyway.” She flicked her fingers. “My sister was the one who raised me and protected me from…”

“From what?”

“My mother had a lot of… mates.” Sara licked her lips. “Not all of them wantedher. Sometimes… they wanted her daughters.”

Anger flamed in Korben’s chest. “You were hurt?”

“Not me.” She shook her head. “My sister. She would take that for me.”

Wetness seeped into Sah-ah’s eyes. Korben knew what they were this time.

Tears.

Sad tears.

He wrapped his arms around Sah-ah. “How terrible that must have been for her.”

“I didn't know until I was older, but by then Janet was already so messed up. She had depression and a drug problem. I tried to help, but I didn’t know how to reach her.” Sah-ah lifted her gaze to his. “Then she met this guy. Theperfectguy. Or so he seemed. We found out later that he had a whole other family, but he’d sought Janet out because she'd seemed easy to manipulate.”

He gritted his teeth. “Did you kill him?”

“No.” Sah-ah hung her head. He could feel the heaviness of her heras weigh her shoulders down. “No. My sister killed herself instead.”

Twenty-Seven

Sara

Sadness creptinto Korben’s eyes. He rubbed her back and crooned soothing words. Sharp wrinkles formed between his brows as he shared her sorrow.

She felt it.

Felthim.

His concern for her.

His gratefulness to Janet.

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