Page 33 of Forbidden Desires

“You’re a dreamer, Mrs. Astor.”

“Mrs.?”

“We are mated. It’s more binding than any marriage vow.”

“So, you’re taking my last name on Earth?”

“Of course. I’d be honored if you would take my house name on Diza.”

“Of course.”

Zylar took the shuttle down through the clouds to expose the darkening sky.

***

SaKura and Jenna had a spot cleared out for the shuttle that was far enough away not to disturb them but not too far to walk. Or they could take the golf cart that was left there for them.

“It looks like they are making themselves at home.” Amelia got into the driver’s side of the gulf cart. She might trust Zylar with thousands of pounds of shuttle or spaceship, but she didn’t trust his driving on the ground.

“I can drive.”

“Right,” she grinned at him.

He gave her the evil eye and shook his head. He was better at that than she thought.

“Do you have a problem with SaKura and Jenna making Earth their home for the time being?”

Did she? In the beginning, she did, but that’s because she didn’t trust anyone who wasn’t born on Earth. Truthfully, those born on Earth weren’t always trustworthy.

“No, I might have in the beginning, but now I know better.”

“It’s called growth, and you shouldn’t be ashamed of it.”

How had he known that there was an ache in her chest telling her that she should cling to her bigoted ways and that seeing things differently was wrong, even though she wanted to see them through fresh eyes? Was that why people lived and died with the same outdated worldview? She left that line of questioning alone. Here lies death. The only person she could deal with was herself, and she could see where she’d been bigoted. Was it her own bias or one that had been planted deep inside of her? That didn’t matter, that hatred spewed out of her mouth and that’s what mattered to her.

“I couldn’t look at myself in the mirror after I talked to my cousins and walked out. What I said felt vile, but I couldn’t force myself to take the words back, even though I knew I was wrong. What kind of cousin am I?”

“One who is fighting an internal battle and is still fighting.”

She choked back a sob because she knew what had to happen, but had no idea who would win the war.

“One of us has to die.” It was simple when she thought of it. This Tan-ge had gotten his metaphorical claws into her soul. This wasn’t a soul bond established through sex or a blood bond established through the trading of blood. Yes, those bonds existed, but she hadn’t realized until she thought about them. No, this bond was one way. She could try forever to get his claws out of her, but since she never invited him in, it wouldn’t be easy.Maybe it would be impossible. The one surefire way to break the bond was death. His or hers.

There was a line wrapped around SaKura’s and Jenna’s home. That was something Amelia hadn’t expected. It got worse from there. There were some people holding signs telling them to go home. Some signs weren’t that polite, calling SaKura a rutting animal that should be shot on sight. Other signs called Jenna an abomination for having sex with an animal and they went downhill from there.

Those were just the protestors. The line seemed to be made up of women of all colors, sizes, and ages. Were they doing interviews here? Whose bright idea was that? Maybe, just maybe, they were thinking of protecting Bella and her unborn child. She had to give them props for their way of thinking, but this was the wrong way to carry it out.

“We need to get inside the house.” Amelia wasn’t sure she wanted to cross the line of protestors and it would look bad if she skipped the woman in the line, right?

“On it.” Zylar looked around, a frown marring his beautiful face until he broke out in a smile. “Do you see the male standing by himself next to the oak tree? He’s wearing a hoodie. Follow him.”

Umm, weren’t they all oak trees? Nope, a few were pines, but come on botany wasn’t her thing. Okay, oak tree, a man standing by himself. Holy hell, on a half-stick. That man was gorgeous, and she meant G to the O… okay, no lusting. She was a mated woman.

She was so used to big purple that it was hard to tell if the male standing by the tree was an alien. Amelia made a U-turn and drove to the male, who waved and got into the back of the gulf cart. He gave her directions, and they were silent as they made their way around what was happening. They ended up in the forest a good five miles away from the protestors.

“Perfect, park here,” the male, who hadn’t introduced himself, said.Now that she was closer, she couldn’t see what made him alien, but she sensed something wasn’t right. It didn’t take away from his dark skin and his looks. He had to be human and… There was something about him that made her think he was human at one point in his life.

There was no telling what he was hiding under that hoodie. Amelia was sure it wouldn’t phase the right woman. She shook her head. There was no way he could be alien and human. That didn’t compute.

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