Page 42 of An Alien for Her Heart

“No.”

My eyebrows shoot up, my gaze finally meeting his. “No?”

Varek takes a step closer, close enough that he eats up all the space, and all I can see, all I can smell is him. That sweet scent that makes me want to lean in and inhale deep, pressing my noseinto his scales. The thought has my eyes widening slightly. The intensity of it making a feeling buzz between my legs.

I go still. I stop breathing.

“You must get ready,” he says simply.

“Get ready?” My voice is almost breathless, but somehow I keep it steady. “Get ready for what?”

“The festival, sura.” His gaze is hot. Intense. “We have a date, remember?”

The audacity of this man! He’s grinning at me, fangs peeking through and his eyes sparkling with mischief and something else, something heated and provocative that sends a shiver down my spine.

I shake my head, trying to gather my scattered thoughts. “I’m not sure about the festival. I have so much to do and I’m behind.”

Varek takes another step closer, and now there’s no space left between us. His proximity sends a wave of heat through my body, and I have to fight the urge to lean into him.

“Just one dark cycle,” he says softly, his voice a low rumble that sends a shiver down my spine. When no other words of protest spill from my lips, he makes a sound in his throat that sends a delicious tingle up my spine. “I’ll take care of the oogas. I will knock when it’s time.”

I’m…speechless.

With that, he turns and heads toward the outbuilding, his movements sure and confident. I watch him go, my heart pounding in my chest, my mind a whirlwind of emotions I can’t seem to control.

13

VAREK

I’m the most nervous that I’ve ever been since my existence began.

Not even when faced with the hordes of Hedgeruds that descended on my planet did I entertain such nerves. Yet, when faced with the lone female human, I quake deep in my lifeblood.

If she knew how much I fall into this madness sol by sol, she would be even more terrified of me. It has snowballed enough that I don’t know what I’m doing anymore. But I know one thing. I want her. I want her more than I’ve ever wanted anything in my life.

I manage to do the work. To muck out the stalls and reinforce them with fresh barriers. I move the umus and bring in the entire herd of oogas, all while barely focusing on what I’m doing.

I can only think of her.

Her image dances through my mind, my entire being warming with a vision of her that takes my breath away.

I long to run my claw through those silken strands of her mane, to feel them slip through my digits like water. I long to just look into her eyes; long to see deep into her soul.

When she laughs,trulylaughs, it’s a melody I know I could listen to forever.

She is a mystery, a puzzle I long to solve and Iwantto. Never has any female affected me like this. Given me thisurgeto catch them and never let them go. My promise to not touch her unless she asks me to has been torture in itself.

I want to learn everything there is to know about her. I want to listen to her stories, to hear her hopes and dreams, to be the one she turns to in moments of joy and sorrow alike. I must be truly nearing madness because…I think…I think Ineedher.

I pause, staring at the animals as they settle in their new enclosures, my core-beat hard and unsteady.

I need her.

She is mine. Shehasto be.

Catherine is mykahl. I’m sure of it. There can be no one else. But as I grip my chest, searching deep inside me for that rhythm that’s supposed to rise, I’m disappointed once again. It feels like a part of me breaks in two at the fact there’s nothing there. That should mean I haven’t found mykahl, but how can that be? Catherine is it. I just need to convince my body that’s the truth. Because I’m sure of it.

I am hers. Completely and utterly. My core-organ, my soul, my very being…they all belong to her now.

---