Page 46 of Alien Mine

The next morning, Rachel woke tangled together with Dyuvad’s much larger body. He was warm beside her, somehow safe and steady in a topsy-turvy world. Her rock.

She was leaning on him too much. What guarantee did she have that he’d stand beside her beyond the autumn, or even want to? What promise had he made to her other than to protect her and the girls for the undefined future? And here he was, ensconced in her bed like he belonged beside her forever, and she’d done nothing to stop him from being there.

His breath fanned across her nape, stirring heat among the doubts growing in her mind. It was time to get up. Past time, really, to take control of her own life again and figure out how to handle Miguel Ramirez’ little reign of terror.

She eased away from Dyuvad, hoping not to wake him, and was drawn back into the curve of his body by the arm tightening around her waist.

He nuzzled the side of her neck and spoke softly in a sleep-roughened voice. “Stay.”

Rachel’s mind emptied, and for the life of her, she couldn’t summon a single reason why she shouldn’t do exactly what he wanted her to. She blinked, stared blankly at the slowly brightening wall across from her, and finally seized on a response. “Sun’s up.”

“It’s early yet.”

He pressed a kiss against her skin and rocked his hips into hers, gently grinding his erection into her bottom, and her resolve melted like a snowball rolling along the burning desert sand. She relaxed against him and opened her thighs under the insistent pressure of his fingers, and he laughed softly and took what he wanted, and gave her so much more in return.

Later, Dyuvad fried bacon while Rachel stood beside himflipping pancakes on a large, flat skillet. Their arms brushed occasionally, and every time they did, she glanced up and smiled shyly at him.

He was beginning to treasure that smile, her touch, her husky laugh and earthy manner.

Earlier, he’d made love to her, slowly bringing her to a scorching release while rocking his way to one of his own, and as he burst over the edge of pleasure, his mind had focused on a single thought: Being inside her, loving her that way, was the first place he’d ever truly belonged. He never wanted to give that up.

His heart thudded once, hard, then flipped over in his chest. Was this what love felt like, this all consuming need to be with a woman, to please her as no one else had, to be everything she needed and, more, everything she wanted, a man she would always be proud to call her own?

He frowned at the sizzling bacon, jiggled the pan on the stove’s eye, and cut the heat under it down a notch. How could they be together, though, when she lived here on Earth and might never want to leave? He’d considered stealing her away and presenting her as a candidate for the Choosing, but now he wasn’t so sure that was the right thing to do. Rachel’s life was here with her children and Fate and her goats, not light years across the galaxy on a planet she didn’t even know existed.

And his home was, where? On Abyw among a family who loved him but saw him more as a perpetual juvenile than a grown man capable of leading his own family?

It was the only home he’d ever known, until meeting Rachel.

The song playing on the radio faded out, replaced by music announcing the hourly news. An announcer began reciting the national news and, just as Rachel was easing the last pancake onto a plate, said, “Yesterday evening, a mysterious volley of fire-like hail rained down on a private home in the Gainesville area.”

Rachel stiffened beside him, her gaze seemingly focused on the plate, and sick dread pooled in the pit of Dyuvad’s stomach.

“Authorities are baffled by the phenomenon,” the announcer continued. “NASA spokeswoman Blanche Turner said the eventwas being investigated. Military activity has been ruled out, and though a natural cause is still being considered, efforts to understand what happened have turned toward understanding the phenomenon’s origins…”

Rachel’s gaze slowly lifted to his. Her face had hardened into a taut mask, hiding her thoughts from him, and her hand tightened into a white-knuckled grip on the spatula.

“Rachel,” he said, breathing the word in a silent plea through the thick knot clogging his throat.

“I’ve let a lot go,” she said in a thin, strained voice. “I let it go when you showed up here with a wad of cash and that fancy watch and barely a stitch more to your name. I let it go when you took over stuff I should’ve rightly been doing on my own, and I let it go when you rescued me from Miguel Ramirez’ thugs.”

“Rachel, please.”

She interrupted him with a sharp slash of the spatula through the air between them. “How much longer do you think I can keep letting stuff go, Dyuvad? I’ve got my girls to think about and Fate and my business. I’ve got real problems here, and I know you’re helping. God knows, you’ve been more help to me than any other man I’ve ever known, but you’re keeping secrets from me and I just can’t…”

Her words broke off as a tear streaked down her face and her expression melted into tremulous worry. It stabbed into Dyuvad, ripping through the emotions he’d been wrestling with. He balled his hands into fists at his side, holding them there as bacon hissed and popped on the stove. What could he say that wouldn’t ruin everything? His mission here to save Tiny and, because of her, Rachel, Kelly, and even Fate and Yasmin; the feelings working their way into his heart for this tiny, resilient family; and the unspoken vow of space-faring civilizations to respect the slower development of other cultures. All could be lost because of his carelessness.

But as another tear trickled down Rachel’s wan face, an epiphany struck, washing away all his doubts, replacing them with an absolute certainty: He couldn’t let her suffer in ignorance anymore. She deserved to know what was going on, all of it. If he ever wanted to hold a meaningful place in her life, he had to tell her, and damn the kraden consequences.

He flicked the stove off, slid the pan of bacon off the eye, and fortified his resolve with a deep breath. “Get the girls, Rachel. Get Fate, too.”

She sniffed and dropped her hands to the counter. “What for?”

“I have something to show you.” Something, he was beginning to realize, he should’ve shown her from the outset instead of clinging to the false notion that he could protect them without them ever knowing who and what he was.

“What about breakfast?”

He glanced at the freshly cooked pancakes and the bacon already piled high on a waiting plate, and prioritized. “It can wait. Get your family.”

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