Page 41 of Matched to the Alien King
“I had two daggers pressed against his balls. He had a knife to my face and then said something to make me—”
“Hehurtyou, Nera. Why are you making excuses for him?”
“I’m…” I pulled away from him and stopped, my eyes stinging something awful.
Damn it all to hell. He was right.
Maxx stopped too and gazed down at me, the picture of blood-coated patience and kindness the longer he stared.
“You can’t kill the father of my child,” I finally said, my voice cracking in two.
“But he gets to hurt the mother ofhischild?” He slowly shook his head and palmed my hip to draw me closer to him. Then his scaled fingers caressed my back as he untucked my Space Fleet shirt, ripped off the bottom hem of it, and pressed the fabric gently to the cut on my cheek.
I took a deep, shaky breath and then released it. “I stole his spaceship and half his crew. I would be mad at me too. He’s never laid a hand, or a knife, on me before.”
“The ship was Earth Space Fleet’s,nothis,” he corrected. “His actions aren’t excused, nor will they ever be. You deserve a thousand times better, Nera. A million times better.”
My heart overflowed then, and so did my tears. I couldn’t stop them, but Maxx did, gently wiping them away with a clean corner of someone else’s shirt.
“Thank you, Maxx.” I gave him a teary smile, one I hoped could convey to him what him being here meant to me.
He smiled too, so warm and perfect. “You’re welcome.”
We lost ourselves for a moment in each other, at peace in our silence and our closeness. I breathed in his leather and spice scent, so much better than freshly signed divorce papers could ever be. I could live the rest of my life right here, rooted to this spot, and be completely happy.
Minus all the blood.
I blinked down at my hands, smeared red from touching him. “So, are you going to tell me what happened to you, or are you going to make me guess?”
“Right. That.” He heaved a long breath. “Would you believe me if I said I found myself in someone’s snack hole?”
Chapter fifteen
Maxx
(Fifteen Minutes Earlier)
“Anyupdates?”IaskedAxxel via my communicator.
While I watched Nera open Earth Space Fleet’s trapdoor in the sand, I stood near the edge of the jungle, mostly hidden by the overgrown flora.
“You mean other than being locked inside your girlfriend’s brig?” He shook his head on the holographic viewscreen, biting back a barely contained grin. “Not…really? I did get a visit from Nera’s cat though. It came in during the middle of the night through the air vent and nearly gave me a hearts attack when the metal vent cover fell to the ground. No idea how he undid the screws on the outside. Anyway, he just wanted a quick snuggle.”
I lifted my eyebrow at him, my attention shifting between him and Nera who was beginning her climb down into the bunker. “I didn’t peg you for a snuggler.”
“Yeah, well, lock me up in a brig for too long with anything cute and soft and purring, and you never know what’s going to happen.”
“Good to know. I’ll alert all the females in the universe about this,” I told him, only paying him a quarter of my attention now.
Nera closed the trapdoor behind her, and then moments later, the sand around the metal square rolled and sifted to cover it back up. Neat trick.
With her back in her world, and me in this one, my chest cleaved apart. It wasn’t just that she was no longer by my side. It was like she’d once again joined the other side of the Faid War, even though she’d never left that side.
It was also that I didn’t trust Earth Space Fleet. What would they do to her if they found out her association to me and what I really was?
“Anyone try to kill you today?” Axxel asked casually.
“No. The day is still young though.”
