Page 32 of Alien Prince's Fated Mate

“This should work.” Tharon set about building a new fire while I settled the villart. “The wind won’t reach us here.”

I busied myself with unpacking what supplies we had left, trying to gather my courage. The words sat heavy on my tongue, demanding to be spoken.

“I saw you too.”

Tharon’s hands stilled on the kindling. “What?”

“In the Temple. When they... when I was connected to the systems.” I swallowed hard. “I thought it wasn’t real. That my mind created something safe to cling to during the worst moments.”

He crossed the space between us in two long strides, dropping to his knees beside me. “Tell me.”

“Just pieces at first. The color of your hair. The way you moved - like a predator, but not one I needed to fear.” I hugged my middle for comfort. “Then more. Your voice, though I couldn’t understand the words. The way you smelled of spices and winter air.”

His breath caught. “That’s why you weren’t afraid of me in the Temple. You already knew me.”

“I think so.” I met his gaze. “Though I didn’t realize until now.”

The fire crackled between us, casting warmth against the deepening cold. Outside, the storm raged on, but here in this hidden place, something else built between us - fragile as spider silk, strong as steel cable.

“I dreamed of finding you in a garden of crystal flowers.” His voice dropped lower. “You wore a dress of starlight and danced among the blooms. But when I tried to reach you, you always faded away.”

“I saw you in a forest of blue-leafed trees.” The memory rose up, clear now that I let myself examine it. “You were hunting something, moving like smoke through the shadows. I called out, but you couldn’t hear me.”

The cold seeped deeper into my bones, but it couldn’t compete with the warmth spreading through my chest at Tharon’s words. He’d dreamed of me, just as I’d seen him. NotTemple tricks or desperate imagination - real visions connecting us across the distance.

“When did they start?” I asked. “The dreams?”

“Half a year ago.” Tharon added another piece of wood to the fire. “During the season of storms. I thought I was going mad.”

“The season of storms...” The timing clicked into place. “That’s when the lightning struck the Temple. When everything changed.”

When the integration protocols had faltered, letting my own mind surface from beneath layers of Temple programming. When I’d first recognized the visions as more than system glitches.

The fire crackled between us, throwing shadows that danced across Tharon’s face. I tracked the subtle shifts of his expression - the tightness around his eyes, the way his jaw clenched and unclenched.

“You’re trembling.” I reached toward him without thinking.

He caught my wrist before I could touch him. “Don’t.”

“Are you cold?”

A harsh laugh. “No. The suppressants were in my saddlebags. Lost in the rockslide.” His grip tightened, then deliberately loosened. “Being near you... it makes control harder.”

“Oh.” I should pull away. Should put distance between us. Instead, I turned my hand in his grasp until our palms pressed together. “Then why stay so close?”

“Because having you here also gives me something to focus on. To fight for.” His thumb brushed across my knuckles. “The beast wants to protect you, claim you. The man wants to earn your trust.”

The sincere intensity in his words stole my breath. Here sat a warrior prince, a man who blew through his enemies like a storm, and he chose gentleness with me. Not from weakness, but from strength.

“The visions,” I said, desperate to distract us both. “Tell me more about what you saw.”

“Sometimes you danced.” His voice dropped lower. “But not like the court dancers. You moved like water, like starlight. Free.”

Memory stirred - fragments of dreams where I’d spun through crystal gardens, unfettered by Temple protocols or physical limitations. “I remember that place. The flowers chimed when the wind blew.”

“Yes.” His fingers twined with mine. “And overhead, three moons hung in a purple sky.”

“I used to think the Temple created those visions to torment me. To show me everything I could never have.” I shifted closer, drawn by his warmth. “But they were real. You were real.”

---