Page 40 of Alien's Eternal Mate

I flinched as if I’d been slapped.

“No! No, Arael. You can’t love me. I was part of a group who only wanted to destroy or subjugate everyone different from us.”

She cocked an eyebrow.

“You told me you never killed anyone before.”

“Not with my own hands, no. But I was there when it happened.”

I turned away from her, holding my head in my hands.

“The walls of my lab were thin. Next door was the biology center. They experimented on aliens, and if the experiment required pain, so much the better. You could hear them crying out for mercy.”

“But you didn’t do anything to them.”

“I didn’t help them, either. I just plugged my fingers in my ears and sobbed, because I couldn’t stand to hear their screams…”

Tears slid down my cheeks freely now, but I no longer cared.

“I was weak. Everyone else was so much stronger. The screams never bothered them. I was always weak. Weak physically, weak mentally. You deserve a real man.”

I felt her hand on my shoulder. She insistently pulled until I turned around to face her.

She stood on her tip toes and kissed the tears on my cheek.

“What was that for?”

“I love your tears.”

I sniffled and shook my head, confused.

“What do you mean by that?”

“I love your tears, because they are proof that you are a good man. A bad man would not shed tears for the pain of others. You were misguided, your anger and hatred turned to the ends of people you never even liked, let alone truly agreed with.”

She held me tighter, pressing her cheek against my face.

“The Architects must have known you did not belong in your old world. That's why they sent you here.”

“I…”

My gut twisted into knots as conflicting emotions battled within.

“I have to go home.”

“Gro, or Kar-tur, or whatever name you want to be called, don’t you see? You are home.”

I held her tight against me, burying my face in her hair. It had grown past her shoulders, long enough I sometimes braided it for her.

“Yes. I am.”

Our lips met in a kiss. No more words needed to be said, though our house was far from quiet.

TEN

CARTER

Lo and I braced the long metal cylinder between us as we made our way toward the security door.

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