Page 33 of Alien's Eternal Mate

What have I done now? I was trying to make her feel better, not worse! I am so bad at dealing with this sort of thing.

“Arael, I am sorry. I wish I could tell you that Gro is coming back, but I don’t think he is, ever.”

She looked up and laughed through a glaze of tears.

“No, you misunderstand. I am not crying because I mourn my lifemate. I am crying because I am relieved he will not be coming back. I hated him. I hated him so much!”

Her fearsome glower soon broke into misery. Her eyes squeezed shut and a renewed deluge of tears glistened on her cheeks.

“I hated him,” she said over and over again. “I hated him, I hated him…”

“He’s gone. I’m sorry he hurt you, but he’s gone. You don’t have to be afraid anymore.”

She sobbed even harder.

What can I do? I feel like a man trying to douse a fire, but every bucket full of water makes it flare into an even greater blaze.

When words fail, deeds are required. That was the mantra of Earth First. I knelt down beside her, and then put my arms around her quivering body.

After a moment, Arael leaned into me, still weeping. I pulled her in close and rocked her like a child.

“It’s going to be alright, Arael. It’s going to be alright.”

I squeezed my eyes shut against the agony assailing my breast. I did not want to care. I did not want to feel her pain. I just wanted to go home.

If that’s true, then why am I holding her?

Her weeping subsided. I held her as the fire crackled in the hearth. I ignored the hunger gnawing at my belly. But when a rumble sounded through the still air, Arael gently pushed away from me.

“You’re starving. I have distracted you from your dinner with my woman’s tears.”

“It’s all right. I’m just glad you’re feeling better.”

She sighed as she set the plate closer to me.

“I do not know what to feel, or to think. My lifemate having lost his memories was one matter. It is not unheard of during a Backlash. But to have my lifemate completely replaced by another person? A person with incredible knowledge of Precursor artifacts? It’s more than I am equipped to handle.”

I pursed my lips and regarded her.

“I don’t know how this culture works, but is there a way to, um, sever the lifemate bond?”

Her eyes widened.

“You mean, a Division?”

“Um, yes, but I would call it a divorce.”

She shook her head.

“A Division is only allowed when one of the spouses has committed an evil deed so heinous, they are exiled. Otherwise, death is the only way to end the lifemate bond.”

I had a bad feeling it would be that way.

“So, we cannot separate, and are stuck with each other.”

I sighed.

“I’m sorry, Arael. I would spare you this if I could.”

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