Page 33 of An Alien for Her Heart

It winds a path down her cheek before Catherine sniffles and wipes it away.

“You don’t have to be so sweet. It must be so boring for you listening to me yap about my life.”

I lean in again, perplexed by her loss of fluids. I’ve seen it before, with Eleanor. Back then, she’d been stressed by the factthat Zynar was in danger. Right now, I’m not sure exactly why Catherine is leaking.

“On the contrary, I find it…I findyoufascinating.”

She sniffles again, wiping the other eye. “You find me talking about my kids fascinating?”

“They are part of you.”

She inhales deeply, before breathing out through her lips but she doesn’t continue.

“Even your lifemate…I…” It’s strange. I don’t know how to put it into words. The fact that she’s already found her lifemate is a sure sign that she isn’t mine. Right? So why don’t I back down?

“He wasn’t my lifemate.”

I pause. No, I freeze, waiting for her to continue.

“If he was my lifemate, he’d still be here, wouldn’t he?Lifematesuggests they’re with you for life.” She sniffles and wipes away another eye leak before it has the chance to reach her cheek. “We humans, we don’t…” She stops talking and I realize she’s thinking about what she’s about to say. “We don’t mate for life. It’s not like that, though I realize that for some alien cultures, that’s the way it’s done. Only a few species on Earth do such a thing. And humans,” she scoffs, “humans are not it. To find someone to spend the entirety of your life with, only a few humans are lucky enough to find such a soul.”

I’m intrigued. Intrigued enough to lean in. “So this married…”

“Marriage,” she corrects. “Is like a vow you take to love and care for each other. But vows can be broken. Not everyone stays married. Sometimes it lasts only a week. Sometimes it lasts years.” A sadness transcends over her so much that I want to reach out and touch her despite my oath not to without her consent. “Everything always ends,” she whispers. One of her hands moves up to her chest, gripping where her life organ mustbe. “It always does and then you’re left with the wounds. Then you’re left to pick up the pieces and start again.”

My claw itches to reach for her. To pull her into me and take away all this pain. So much pain.

“It isn’t the same with Kari.” The words tumble from my throat and Catherine lifts her gaze to mine. Her eyes are filled with water and she wipes it away, sniffling underneath her hands.

“What?”

“It isn’t the same with Kari,” I repeat. “When a Kari finds their true mate, theirkahl, it is for life. Our core rhythms sync and become one. We live only for our mates, devoted fully to them in every way.”

My claw twitches again with the urge to reach for Catherine’s claw, but I resist. She’s listening to me. Completely focused on my words. “A mated Kari cherishes hiskahlabove all else. He lives to protect her, provide for her, and keep her happy and safe. His greatest joy comes from pleasing her.”

I meet Catherine’s gaze, hoping she can see the truth of my words reflected there. “He would never intentionally hurt or abandon her. And if she were ever taken from him…” I trail off, old grief rising. Images of the war on Karicek. Of my mor feeling the pain of losing our por. I force it down before continuing. “He would search the universe to find her again. Because for a Kari, the mate bond is eternal. It cannot be broken, not even by death.” Our gazes are locked. Our focus completely on each other. “We cannot live without our kahls. We do not take it lightly when we say ‘forever mate’.”

Catherine is quiet for a moment. When she speaks, her voice is hushed. “That sounds beautiful. But also so sad, if you lose them. I’ve been through it.”

“If you found another mate…” I don’t even hide the hope in my voice now. “Would that make you happy?”

She’s quiet for a long moment before her eyes meet mine. She shakes her head and my world fades into shadow. “I’ve been a widow…I know how it feels. What it does to you. Where I am now in life, chances are, I’d cause my partner to become awidower. I wouldn’t…I can’t do that to someone else when I know how it feels.”

Her words feel like they echo around me. I don’t know why I press. My core-rhythm is silent. There’s a good chance I don’t have a mate. A good chance Zynar finding his kahl has just been what we first thought it was: pure luck. A once-in-a-lifetime twist of fate. And yet, I can’t let go. There is something that makes me not want to give up.

I want her.

I want Catherine.

“Do you know the fates?” I ask.

Catherine’s face is devoid of all emotion once more. Whatever she’s feeling has been locked behind a screen I cannot see.

I lean forward, my gaze intense as I try to convey the depth of my conviction. “The fates are not set in stone. They are ever-changing, molding to the choices we make and the paths we take.”

The weight of my words dawns on me. Perhaps, that’s the same for me too.

Catherine’s eyes are on me, guarded now but not entirely closed off. I can’t stop now. I have to continue.

---