Page 48 of Alien's Challenge
“That is not relevant,” he said.
“It puts a target on your back, so it is.”
The feathers on top of his head went flat. “Would not explaining mundane details be condescending?”
Fair point.
“Normally, yes,” she agreed, “but nothing is mundane for me. I’m a librarian. I like knowing stuff. If I don’t know it, I can find out. Being a know-it-all is annoying, but it’s my vocation. My calling. Not knowing is…” She gave an anguished cry of exasperation.
“Librarian. That is a scholar?”
“More like I look after the books for students.”
His tail did a thing, a twitching thump, that looked happy.
Faris had a happy tail. If they weren’t in jail, she’d be cooing over how adorable it was.
“We have time. Tell me what you wish to know,” he said.
So much. Alice ran through her list. New questions were added so quickly that she forgot the older ones.
“Okay, what does ‘bonded mate’ mean to you?” she asked. Jasmina’s words echoed in her mind. “Are you going to ditch me when your fever is over?”
He drew back, growling. “No. I will not.”
“The hormones are making you say that now.” Her ex-husband made all sorts of pretty promises too, but he left.
Faris grabbed her hand and placed it over his auxiliary heart. Layers of fabric prevented her from feeling the beat, but she remembered how it thumped under her touch.
“This is because of you. Only you. Know that I am yours for as long as you will have me. My hearts belong to you.”
She wanted to believe him; she really did. “Travis said the same thing. Well, with only one heart, but he made promises about forever too. Then he left.”
“Travis.” He ground out the word.
“My ex-husband. Former mate.” She took a shaky breath, suddenly aware of tears rolling down her face. Things had been over with her ex for two years. Honestly, they had been distant for a while before they split. She didn’t miss him, but seeing him every day at work kept the pain fresh, like worrying a bad tooth with her tongue.
She felt like an injured animal when it came to love, optimistic and wary at the same time.
“We were married for eight years. I didn’t even know anything was wrong. Well, I knew he didn’t like that I put on weight, but metabolisms change. I’ve always struggled with my weight, and once I hit thirty, boom. I hope they think he murdered me and buried me in the woods.” She was babbling. This was embarrassing.
Faris leaned forward, resting his forehead against hers. “My words are not promises. They are fact.”
“You’re just saying that because your hormones are out of whack. They’ll wear off, and you’ll wonder what you ever saw in me.” She didn’t think she could endure it if Faris broke her heart.
“I see now that I must uncover Earth’s location and make this Travis suffer for causing you such self-doubt.”
Alice laughed, which sounded more like a sob. She could totally picture the surprise on her ex’s face when confronted with a giant red lizardman who nursed grudges like they were his children.
“It is not the fever,” he said. His hand gripped the back of her neck, holding her in place.
“You don’t know that. Humans are like super breeders. You have magic pheromones and stuff.”
Now he laughed. “I have encountered human females before. None had magic pheromones. I admired the way you hit Rand with his blaster.”
“Seriously? Violence did it for you?”
“Stealing his blaster from his hands? Yes, that did it for me.”
