Page 31 of Claimed By the Alien Barbarian

“Why?”

“We weren’t true mates.”

“I’m not sure what that means.”

“When the gods bestow a mark on the couple, it shows their favor. Those who are marked like this will know a love that will last beyond this lifetime. True devotion and caring, a love no one else can tear apart.”

“It sounds amazing,” she said wistfully. “Humans don’t have anything like that. I mean, I guess we do. We call them soulmates, but there’s no mark to show us that one particular person is the one we’re fated to love forever.”

“Would you ever want a love like that?”

Her gaze met mine, and I could see so much longing there, it ripped through me like an attacker’s claws. “I would.”

Chapter 15

Kerry

Maybe I was a fool for telling him something like that.

“I was lonely on Earth.” I explained about my mom, how I grew up with few friends, how, once I was an adult, I escaped into dreams of finding one person who’d love me like no other. “I kept hoping I’d find someone special, but I didn’t.”

“I’ve been lonely too,” he said solemnly. There was something profoundly sad about this male, as if every bit of hope and joy had been sucked from his life. He’d lost everything. His mate. His clan. His whole way of life.

Who did this to him?

“My mom loved my dad like what you describe as true mates,” I said. “He died when I was little, and I don’t remember him. He and Mom worked together. I remember her telling me that. It wasn’t until she died that I realized he must’ve been an agent like her and that he was probably killed on duty. I only know his name, Robert, and that he loved me as much as she did. I imagine it was like you and . . .” I barely knew him but the thought of him mourning someone else for the rest of his days strangely gutted me.

“She was incredibly special.” His sad smile rose before smoothing. “As I said, I didn’t love her. I tried but it’s not something that can be forced. My grandfather, our clan traedor, and her parents told us we were mating, and we agreed. It wasn’t a matter of choice,” he said with a wistful smile. “I was young. Too young to mate, though that didn’t matter. She was pretty and sweet, and I assumed we’d do well together.”

“How old were you when you mated?”

“We were both twenty-three.”

“You didn’t have younglings?”

“It never happened.”

So much sadness in his voice.

“How old are you now?”

“Twenty-six.”

Four years younger than me. Age didn’t matter, however. Only the heart.

We continued walking.

The forest slowly thinned, and a wide-open expanse of purple waited ahead, but he must’ve been joking when he talked of his former clan living on islands floating above the ocean. They’d fall and sink.

Our footwear crunched on fallen leaves the size of my head, and small, fluffy purple creatures scurried away when they saw us. Most scampered up trees and perched on low limbs, chattering at us when we passed.

Molly looked up from where she rode on Nevarn’s shoulder and growled.

“My little watchdog,” I said. “Funny how I adopted a pet so soon after I arrived when I’d never had one before. Mom wouldn’t let me have a cat or a dog or even a fish, though now I know why. We had to be ready to flee our home at any moment, and that would be a challenge with a pet.”

He patted her back. “Molly’s special.”

We continued, the ground becoming sandy and the vegetation thinning. Light glowed ahead, touched with purple. Could that be the sea?

---