Page 6 of Unexpected Alien Prince

He shakes his head.

“When was it the right time?” he asks. “Ads, I’m not from here.”

“The blue blood gave me a clue as to that. Are you some kind of mutant or something?”

“I’m from another world,” he says.

I blink. Then blink again. Then I laugh.

“Right,” I say, still laughing though I don’t feel amused in the slightest.

“Ads, it’s true. I am a mutant, actually, that’s why I am able to look so much like your people, but my race is called the Alva.”

“Alva, right,” I say, shaking my head. “Good story. Tell me another one.”

I’m denying his words but the scary thing is I actually think he’s telling me the truth. What else could explain what I’ve seen with my own eyes?

“Adella, it’s true,” he says. “And I think you know it.”

I blink, denial on the tip of my tongue, but the words won’t come out. I take a deep breath, hold it in, then let it out slowly.

“Right,” I nod. “So…” I trail off staring at him as pieces that never made sense fit together. His white hair. His accent that I could never quite place, subtle but definitive. The way he just showed up. “You’re an alien.”

“Yes,” he nods, glancing over at the door. “And I’m sorry this is happening this way, but we have to hurry. They have marked you.”

“What?” I exclaim. “Me? Why?”

“Because they figured out you are my pari,” he says.

“So what? You think I’m beautiful,” I say, shaking my head. “Or you did. Years ago. What of it? I’m not who I was, clearly. Look at me.”

He does and my body reacts as it always did before. Flushing with heat and desire but overlaying that is embarrassment. I’m a lot heavier than I was back then and I’ve been okay with it, until now. Yet the way he looks at me is no different. His tongue darts out and moistens his lips, the fire burns in his eyes, and I know him well enough still to know he’s feeling desire. Burning with it.

“I am,” he says, his throat husky. “And believe me, I want nothing more than to have time with you, but it’s not safe. You’re not safe.”

“You’re being ridiculous,” I counter.

“If only I was,” he says. “Pari is more than beautiful, in my language it means closer to what you would call soulmate. You are my one. The only female who I resonate with.”

“Soulmates?” I scoff, but no matter the words there is no denying the way it echoes in my heart.

“Yes,” he says, seriously. “And now they know. They will stop at nothing to take you from me.”

“Why? Who is this they?”

“We call them the Darkness,” he says. “They are another race, but Ads they’re evil. Truly, deeply, evil.”

“Why though? Why me? Why do you matter so much?”

He smiles so tightly there is no mirth to it.

“Unfortunately, I am a Prince of my people.”

“A what?” I ask, blinking.

This has to be a fantasy. I must have fallen asleep at work or I’m still in my bed. Now he’s not only an alien but also a prince? This cannot possibly be real.

“A Prince,” he says. “I’m forty-third in line for succession to the throne. Or I was, when I first met you. My galaxy is at war, has been for a long time, and my people are losing. When I left, I did so to protect you. When I became tenth in line I became a target.”

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