Page 28 of Alien Protector's Mate

“Yes,” he said simply. “You’re underweight for a human male in his teen years. It’s not healthy.”

She bit her lip, guilt churning in her gut. She focused on her plate, eating to avoid meeting his concerned gaze. The food was incredible, flavors exploding on her tongue in a way she’d never experienced before. The bacon was crisp and salty, the fat melting on her tongue in a burst of richness, and the eggs were creamy and perfectly seasoned.

She forced herself to slow down and not wolf it all down at once, savoring each mouthful as if it might be her last.

She looked up as they ate, noticing a dark bruise on S’aad’s left shoulder. The purple-blue discoloration stood out against his warm skin tone and looked painful.

“How did you get that?” she asked, gesturing with her fork.

He glanced down and shrugged. “It’s from training this morning. Nothing to worry about.”

She blinked in surprise, her fork pausing halfway to her mouth. “This morning? You’ve already been out before I woke up?”

He nodded, a small smile quirking the corners of his lips. “Of course. A warrior trains daily, even during peacetime.”

Her gaze dropped to the network of scars that covered his torso. This close she could see that some were thin and faded, barely visible against his golden skin, while others looked angrier, more recent, raised and pink as if still healing.

“And those?” she asked hesitantly. “Are they from training too?”

Hise expression shifted… softened as he lifted a hand to trace one of the more prominent scars. The movement was absent, as if he’d done it unconsciously.

“They are not,” he said in a low voice. “They mark me as a healer, even though I don’t practice as one.”

“A healer?” She dropped her fork in surprise, the metal clattering against her plate. “What… like a doctor?”

“Similar, yes,” he replied, his green eyes twinkling with something that might have been amusement. “Although our methods and practices differ quite a lot from human medicine.”

She nodded, processing the new information as she finished the last bites of her breakfast. Then the question that had been nagging at her since the previous evening bubbled to the surface.

“Did your, um, date go well last night?” she asked, immediately regretting it. Heat washed up her neck and flooded her cheeks as soon as the words were out of her mouth.

He turned his head to look at her, his brow arched. “Date?”

“I mean, you left with a present, so I assumed…” She trailed off, feeling her face grow even hotter. So hot he could have used it to cook the eggs for their breakfast. “I thought maybe you were meeting a woman. Or a man,” she added quickly. “I don’t knowwhat Lathar cultural norms are like. You could be into guys, not girls.”

To her surprise, rather than being offended, he chuckled, the sound rich and genuine. “Ah, I see… No, it wasn’t a date. I had dinner with my cousin and his mate. The pastries were a gift for her.”

Relief flooded through her, catching her off guard. What the hell was that about? Why should she care if he was dating someone? It wasn’t as if… She cut off that train of thought abruptly. Nope, not going there. No way, no how. Dropping her gaze, she focused on clearing her plate. The scrape of her fork against the ceramic was loud in the sudden silence, and she winced at the sound.

As she set down her fork, S’aad rose from his seat and held out his hand for her empty plate.

“We should get ready,” he said. “We need to leave for work in a few minutes. Use the facilities if you need to.”

She nodded as she slid off her stool.

Work. At the mate program. Thelastplace she wanted to be. But she squared her shoulders as she headed for her bedroom. She could do this. She had to.

10

S’aad watched Jay out of the corner of his eye as they walked through the corridors toward the mate program sector. The human moved like a ghost, his entire body contained in a way that made S’aad’s warrior instincts sit up and take notice. Several warriors coming the other way almost walked into Jay, oblivious to his presence until S’aad stepped between them.

“Draanth,” he muttered, shooting a sidelong glance at Jay. “You’re quieter than adeearinon the hunt.”

Jay’s lips quirked up at the corners. “What’s adeearin? And is that a good thing or a bad thing?”

“Depends on whether you’re the hunter or the prey,” S’aad replied, his tone light as he glared at a couple of warriors who were paying far too much attention to Jay for his liking. “Adeearinis a large feline predator… something like your earth tigers, I believe?”

As they approached the entrance to the Latharian Mate Program offices, he slid a sideways glance at Jay, noticing the boy’s wide-eyed curiosity as they neared the ornate doors. He didn’t know anything about the small human’s life, but hesuspected this was Jay’s first real job, and he wanted it to go smoothly.

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