Page 37 of Loved By the Alien King
“I once saw you devour two plates of bacon,” I said, my voice scolding, uncapping one of the cold waters and handing it to her. “You won’t eat even a little?”
Nera took a deep drink of her water, the long, smooth column of her neck on perfect display as she did. When she finished, she rubbed the back of her hand over her lips, set the water down next to her, and returned her hand to mine.
My chest warmed and swelled, my emotions both expanding and coalescing at the smallest loving gestures from this woman. Goddess, I was lost to her. Completely spellbound. I was envious of the time I hadn’t known her and of the time I’d wasted while trying to resist her.
“Smitha and Oreo fed me earlier.” She shrugged. “They had cupcakes.”
“So, you had a sugar crash, then.” Bling nodded. “That might explain the dizziness.”
“I’m all good now. Promise.” She looked over at me, squeezing my hand. “Help me up?”
If she was “all good” as she’d said, why did she need my help standing up? But of course I obliged her, taking both of her hands in mine, rising, and making sure she was steady on her feet.
“Okay?” I asked her.
She nodded, unable to meet my eyes for more than a second.
“Ready to head on back?”
Another nod.
“Why don’t the two of you go on, and we’ll catch up,” I told the Killian and Bling.
Bling reached out and squeezed Nera’s shoulder comfortingly. “Maybe Pete’s surprise will involve a nap for you.”
“Well, me drooling and snoringwillmake for some quality TV,” Nera said with a smile.
Chuckling, the two of them sauntered off, finally leaving us all alone.
As she watched them go, I traced my fingers under her chin and gently forced her to look at me.
“What happened?” I demanded, my voice soft but stern.
“I’m not sure yet,” she said, wrapping her arms around my back, “but thank you for loving me enough to care.”
“Always.”
Her use of “yet” drew my face into a frown, even as I inhaled her sweet scent and held her closer.
But before I could question her, she threw me for another loop.
“You said that the Bishops are helping you find out who killed your wife, so shouldn’t you have known that the Killians didn’t do it? If the Bishops have truly been helping you all this time, why haven’t they figured it out?”
Because they trulyweren’thelping me. I’d lied to Nera to give an excuse about why I wanted Earth Space Fleet’s Faid-detecting weapon. I’d refused the Bishops’ offer to draw out the Faid War as a double agent—help the humansandhelp them. In exchange, they would use their advanced technology to help figure out who killed Bexx and nearly killed me at the embassy.
I’d refused because my loyalty was to the Xenoxx. And the humans too, since they provided the Xenoxx with wives in exchange for aiding their war against the Faid.
“Yes,” I said with a sigh, “I should’ve known the Killians didn’t kill my wife. They’ve told me this repeatedly, but because of our past, I’m sure you can understand why I have a hard time believing them. They poisoned our water supplies with a genetic defect to ensure the Xenoxx race didn’t survive. Why wouldn’t they kill my wife too?”
She brought her hand up to my face and smoothed it gently across my scaled jaw. “And your dad and brother too? Are all their deaths related?”
“Why are you asking this?” I took her hand from my face and pressed a kiss into her palm. “You should be focusing on feeling better, not this.”
“It’s just…” She shook her head, her bottomless eyes pinched and tortured. “The more I think about who the bad guy really is, the less I think we’re going to like the answer.”
“Meaning what?”
Heaving a deep breath, she traced the curve of my shoulder with her fingertips, avoiding my gaze. “Meaning I want to go talk to Rain again right after the show.”
