Page 69 of An Alien for the Future

“Stop!” I cry out, but my voice is lost in the chaos.

Arnak grabs my arm, trying to pull me towards the back of the platform. “We need to get you out of here,” he insists. “In this state, he could hurt you without meaning to.”

But I resist, my eyes locked on Tovan as he fights his way through the crowd. Despite the madness in his eyes, despite the raw, animalistic nature of his movements, I’m not afraid. Something deep inside me recognizes him, calls out to him.

“No.” I pull my arm from Arnak’s grasp. “I’m not running.”

I take a step forward and even in the chaos the movement catches Tovan’s attention. His head snaps up, our eyes meeting across the room. For a moment, everything else seems to fade away. It’s just him and me, locked in a gaze that feels like it could burn the world down around us.

“Tovan,” I speak with every ounce of mental strength I can muster. “I’m here. I’m right here, baby.”

He freezes, his whole body going still as a statue. The Kari he was grappling with takes advantage of the moment to scramble away, but Tovan doesn’t seem to notice. His focus is entirely on me.

Slowly, deliberately, I start to walk toward him. I can hear Arnak and Xarion protesting behind me, can see the other Kari tensing, ready to intervene, but I keep my eyes on Tovan, willing him to see me, to recognize me beyond the haze of his rut.

“It’s okay,” I say softly, taking another step. “I’m not going anywhere. And I don’t want them.” I gesture blindly to the room and I swear a male whimpers. “I want you. I’m right here, Tovan.”

He’s breathing heavily, his chest rising and falling with each ragged breath. His hands clench and unclench at his sides, and I can see the struggle playing out on his face. The rut is pushing him to claim, to take, but the Tovan I know is fighting it, fighting to remain in control.

I take another step, and another, slowly closing the distance between us. The room is so quiet now that I can hear the pounding of my own heart, the soft shuffle of my feet on the floor.

When I’m just a foot away from him, I stop. This close, I can actually smell the musky, wild scent of him. It stirs something in me. Something that makes my heart beat harder and my blood grow warmer.

“Tovan,” I say again, softer this time. “It’s me. It’s Donna.”

I see a flicker of recognition, a moment of clarity amidst the storm in his eyes.

“Donna,” he growls, his voice rough and strained. “You…you need to run. You need more time. I can’t…I can’t control it.”

But I stand my ground, shaking my head. “I’m not running, Tovan. Not from you. Not anymore.”

I take a deep breath, gathering my courage. Then, slowly, I reach out and place my hand on his chest. There, in the center, is a wild vibration that feels like it thrums right through my arm and straight into me.

The touch seems to shock him. He inhales sharply, his entire body trembling. For a moment, I worry that I’ve made a mistake, that this small contact will be enough to shatter his control completely.

But with a gentleness that belies the storm I know is raging inside him, he leans down and presses his forehead to mine. I can feel the heat of his scales, can hear the soft rumble in his chest that’s almost like a purr.

For a long moment, we stand like that, foreheads touching, my hand on his chest and his covering it. I’m dimly aware of the room around us, of the shocked silence from the gathered Kari, but none of it matters. All that matters is this moment, this connection.

But then he sniffs.Loudly. Tovan dips his head to my arm and he inhales before a snarl makes his lips pull back. His gaze snaps to Arnak immediately and I realize the moment we made a mistake. The exact moment Arnak had gripped me and tried to pull me away.

Tovan snarls, the scent of his friend on my arm making that wildness flood his gaze immediately.

“Oh, frakk,” I hear Arnak whisper.

Tovan growls, the sound reverberating through the room, shaking the very walls.

“Go, Arnak!” I shout, my voice barely a whisper against Tovan’s rising growl. I wrap my arms around him, holding him tight, just like I’d done when he’d protected me from that stranger.

For a heartbeat, he’s frozen, his body a coiled spring, his muscles trembling with restrained power. Then, with a suddenness that makes me gasp, he scoops me up into his arms, holding me close, my body pressed against the hard planes of his chest.

“Donna!” Xarion cries out, his voice laced with alarm.

“I’ll be alright!” I shout back, my voice surprisingly firm because my heart is pounding a frantic rhythm against my ribs. “I’ll ping you later!”

But even as the words leave my lips, I know, with a certainty that chills me to my core, that I won’t be pinging anyone later. The scent of another male on my skin is a betrayal Tovan can’t ignore. Tovan is no longer in control.

He carries me swiftly from the stunned room, his gaze fixed on some unseen point ahead. Out on the road, he heads in a direction I don’t know when I spot the building Xarion prepared for me.

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