Page 69 of The Alien Warrior's Heart

“Distracted from what?” she asked, scrambling to hold on to her desire so she didn’t have to face these strong feelings. Licking her lips, she kept staring at his pants. “Take them off.”

Zar tilted her chin up and she saw that his pupils had dilated, overshadowing the purple of his eyes with black. He was struggling against the temptation, but he wanted her.

“Why are you fighting it?” she whispered.

“Because I can take your body any time.” He gently scraped his thumb over her bottom lip. “But right now, Si-Moon, I want your heras.”

She swallowed hard. “Zar.”

“Give me the parts of you that are broken and shattered.” He pulled his hand away. “Let me care for them, heal them and protect them.” His voice dropped lower. “Let me show you how much I value you, my mate.”

Simone turned quickly away before Zar could see the tears welling in her eyes again. Damn it. She wasn’t some pansy cry-baby. What on earth was wrong with her?

Digging her fingers into fists, Simone peeled away the layers of her soul until her heart was as exposed as her body.

“My mother remarried when I was young and the man I grew up with was the only ‘father’ I knew.” She shuddered. “But when my mother died, he started drinking a lot and he would come home sometimes… and he would hit me. For one dirty plate in the sink. For bad grades. For ‘having attitude’.”

Zar growled. “Is this despicable human male still alive?”

“No,” Simone whispered. “No, he’s not.”

“What happened?” Zar asked. She could feel his gaze heavy on her shoulders. Could feel his fingers pause in her hair.

Simone sucked in a deep breath. Memories flashed through her mind, tumbling one after the other. Her fingers shaking on the trigger. The weight of the cold steel in her palm. The creak of the front door as it opened. The thump of heavy, booted feet that marched closer. She remembered the buck of the weapon. The cries of pain. The blood that splattered all over the floor and kitchen table.

Unlocking these memories from the vault where she kept them was costing her. It was more than she had prepared to pay.

“Si-Moon,” Zar said gently. Urgently.

She blew a shaky breath through her mouth.

Coward.

Simone saw her younger self standing in that kitchen, afraid and alone, trying to be brave despite the fear that crippled her.

“Si-Moon,” Zar called again, his voice sounding panicked and far away.

Simone let the words burst free for the first time in her life. “I shot him.”

Twenty-Six

Zar

Si-Moon’s eyeshad become distant and lonely. He struggled to reach her there. Struggled to tether her so she did not delve into that place of pain and bitterness alone.

Zar had not meant to push her right back into the arms of her darkness. His intentions were to bring light. To bring warmth. To give to her all the beautiful, sacred things she had given to him.

Si-Moon doubted his intentions toward her. She thought he had only mated her to save her from the fate Korben and the others had planned.

This was true.

He had not wanted this beautiful human to fall into the Heronas’s hands. From the moment he met her, Zar’s heras had opened up and taken her in. She had become someone he could not live without.

So how could she, for one moment, believe that he did not care for her? How could she doubt him?

Neh. Even if she knelt on the ground with eyes that begged to suckle and please him, Zar would hold his peace. Because he understood her language. Because he saw her heart. Because his fingers plunging in and out of her heat was not what his mate needed right now.

Zar wrapped his arms around Si-Moon. She was stiff in his embrace, and he held on even tighter until she responded. Her hands grazed his back and her head buried in his shoulder.

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