Page 9 of Unexpected Alien Prince

All of it happens in minutes. Jax is watching a screen that rises out of the console. He frowns, does a bunch more things, then he leans back in the chair and exhales heavily.

“Okay,” he says. “Now we have time.”

“Okay,” I agree as if I know whether we do or not.

I have probably two million questions but all I do is say okay. Lovely. I’m so good at this. I’ve been kidnapped by an alien. What’s next? Am I going to be probed?

I have missed his probing… if he uses the right tool.

Of course my brain goes there. Yet it has been a really, really long time since I’ve gotten laid. Exactly as long as its been since he disappeared. Which makes me angry. I cross my arms over my chest and fix him in my glare.

“Explain,” I demand. “All of it.”

He looks remorseful as he nods. He touches something on the side of his chair that lets it spin freely and he turns to face me. I arch an eyebrow and he knows me so well that he knows I want to do that too. He reaches over and my chair releases then turns easily. I shift until it clicks into place when I’m facing him.

“Ads, I’m sorry,” he says, raising his hands and dropping them.

“I got that,” I say, shaking my head. “And it doesn’t explain a damn thing. Jax, I need to understand. You disappeared. And I’ll be honest, it broke my heart.”

I’m proud that I manage to contain the sob that tries to slip out as I admit the last.

“Me too,” he says, hanging his head and staring at the floor. “More than you can know right now, but me too.”

“Good!” I exclaim. “I want you to hurt too. I don’t want to be alone in this. I want to know that you cared, like I thought you did. I thought we’d be together, damn it. Then you’re gone, without even a word. Not even a fucking note Jax!”

The hurt that I thought I’d gotten over is as fresh in this moment as it was when I realized he wasn’t coming back. Apparently it was just scabbed over and all this has done is rip that scab off and left the raw, festering wound exposed with all the pain exploding from it.

“I couldn’t,” he says, his voice low and tight. “It was too dangerous.”

“You’ve said that, but…” I trail off unsure what but there is to put there.

“Yeah,” he says heavily. “Let me explain.”

“Right, you’re a Prince… or something,” I say.

“Yes,” he nods, lifting his eyes up at last. “I am but I was never supposed to be in contention for the throne. I thought… I came to your planet, I was drawn here, looking for myParitella,looking for you.”

“Your what?” I ask.

He flashes a smile, it’s gone as fast as it comes but damn if it doesn’t make my heart beat faster.

“It’s a word from my language,” he says. “In your tongue the best translation, though it’s not exact, would be soulmate.”

My heart is in my throat and my body is physically betraying my need to be angry at him. I’m wet. Really, really wet and so damn turned on. This is what I’d thought we had, but I’d never said it to him before. I couldn’t because that was crazy. A fantasy from reading too many romance novels.

“Soulmate,” I whisper.

“Close, yes, but more,” he says and he reaches over to take my hands. “This is not my natural form. Not entirely. Can I show you the real me?”

“Are you going to be all gross with pustules or like… I don’t know, a gray alien or something?”

He chuckles and shakes his head.

“No, I am not that race,” he says.

“You mean they are real?”

“I do,” he says. “How do you feel about blue?”

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