Page 31 of Secretly Mated To My Monster Alien Boss
When he was shown to her private wing, Leyra had been in the middle of training. Deryg had found himself at the sharp end of her spear before he’d explained what he was doing there. Then Leyra had lowered her weapon and had transformed into the calm, shy being he was looking at again now. Only this time they were alone in a nondescript Alien Inc. office, not in the training halls of the esteemed Ga’Haar warriors, standingon opposite sides of the room, evaluating each other in short, precise glimpses.
“I must apologize for my brother’s actions,” Deryg began, raging and uncomfortable from the tips of his horns, down to the soles of his tight human shoes. He didn’t want to have this conversation, but it was necessary. Leyra had passed an intergalactic portal to come here.
The least Deryg could do was tell her, again, why they were the worst match in the known universe.
He’d thought he’d made it clear the first time. It seemed he had been mistaken.
“Which action are you referring to?” Leyra asked in that perfectly controlled Deruzian lilt Deryg now found repetitive. He’d been living among humans for too long.
“The one where he asked you to come here.”
“He didn’t ask. He informed me he was coming here to discuss the issue of our ill-fated mating arrangement. I insisted my presence might help the cause.”
Deryg winced inside. Leyra had insisted she come here? And whatcause?
Rexan had decided Leyra and Deryg would make a great match. Not because they got along particularly well or because they craved each other. The Ka’Nar and Ga’Haar families were both prestigious and renowned.
Rexan had met Leyra during his academy years and had seen her at whatever events the two of them were obligated to attend as the representatives of their families.
Deryg still didn’t know why Rexan had decided he would make a good pair with Leyra–withoutinforming Deryg of it–but it wasn't happening.
And that’s exactly what he’d told Leyra when he’d found out about the contract. They hadn’t known each other and neither was in a hurry to mate. The contract would be nullified.
Had he not explained their situation well enough? She’d seemed relieved back then.
“Perhaps I didn’t make myself clear when we last spoke,” Deryg said, as calm as he could with the fury at his brother still raging inside him. “Rexan signed the mating contract in my name. I had no prior knowledge of it before the day I came to talk to you and annulled it.”
“I am aware,” was all Leyra said.
Her eyes didn’t stray from Deryg once. She must have learned that from Rexan.
“Then I find myself in the impossible situation of repeating myself,” Deryg said.
“It’s not impossible if you can do it.”
Deryg clenched his jaw. He shouldn’t have done it, but his mind instantly flashed to Kiara and how easy and natural talking to her was. They just understood each other on a deep, intimate level. Even before they’d kissed and he’d felt her heat around him. From the moment they’d met, they’dclicked, as Kiara loved to say.
He would have given his left arm to be secluded in this room with her instead of Leyra. But Leyra had not wronged him in any way, it was his responsibility and duty to resolve this issue, once and for all.
“You are correct. It is not impossible, it is difficult,” he went on, slipping into that same Deruzian intonation. “When we met, I told you I did not want to offend you or your family, but I wanted no part in our arranged mating.”
“Correct,” Leyra said.
“I still do not want it.”
“I understand.”
Deryg’s mouth hung open. If she understood… “Then what in the Nines are you doing here?”
A laugh passed Leyra’s lips. It was the first natural sound Deryg had heard from her. She was so wound up, but with that small sound, she seemed to loosen up. Her eyes no longer held the same hesitant determination, but humor. It suited her much better.
“Probably the same thing you are, trying to appease my family’s wishes while not completely abandoning my own,” she said. “We both come from well-known families, it would be a grave slight if we didn’t discuss the matter of our annulled mating contract.”
“I thought we already did that.”
“So did I,” she said and Deryg exhaled in relief. So he didn’t have to reject her as gently as possible once again. They were both rejecting each other. Fantastic. “But my family doesn’t seem to understand. Neither does your brother. He has been finding the most ridiculous reasons to contact me every day and find out if I have found another mate.”
“That’s…unusual.” Almost rude. Rexan, not respecting the rules? What was this madness.
