Page 4 of Bride for the Space Cowboy

I resist the powerful urge to look over toward Nadine. She’s standing beside Jane, our people’s new princess. Jane smiles while she talks to her. Nadine brushes her hair back from her shoulder, turning to look around. The light briefly illuminates the bruising around her eye. Anger slices through me like a blade, the heat of the emotion cooling to an intense protectiveness.

When I watched Asher, my best friend since childhood, fall for Jane, I’d mentally scoffed. Not because I don’t believe the infinity pulse is real, but because I thought he and I were too cynical for it.

Both of us have parents who were deeply in love. Even though the infinity pulse exists for our people, not everyone finds it. I assume I won’t. Maybe because I’m bitter. Even though my parents had it, it had all fallen apart when my mother died in a raid. My father still pines for her, and I don’t want to lose a love like that.

Asher stops beside me, cuffing me lightly on the shoulder. When I slide my gaze sideways to meet his, his eyes are twinkling.

“What?” I prompt.

“Jane thinks you are meant for Nadine.”

“I like Nadine,” I reply, striving to keep my tone dry.

“Helena saw you kiss her,” Asher adds, waggling his brows.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” I mutter as I lift a hand and run it through my hair.

“She thinks there is a pulse,” he adds.

“Of course, there’s a pulse,” I counter. “My heart is beating, just like yours.”

My old friend studies me for a moment as his gaze sobers. I’m hedging, and he knows it.

Infinity pulse is what our people call the connection, the very bond that links true mates. I never expected to feel it and even hoped I wouldn’t be one of those who did.

I know Asher once thought the same. We’d joked for years about not worrying about being foolish.

“You don’t always get to choose, my friend,” he finally says.

I’m sworn to protect Asher. My family has served his family for generations, and loyalty is part of our nature. We are a protective people. That is how our planet has stayed strong, and we have taken care of each other. I’m Asher’s primary bodyguard, just as my father has done so for Asher’s father.

“I know I can’t control everything,” I finally say. “It’s just—” I glance away and run my hand through my hair again. “My father still mourns my mother.”

“Do you think your father would choose otherwise, after what he shared with your mother?” Asher asks, his tone almost soothing.

I finally glance back at him as I take a slow breath. “You know he wouldn’t.” Although I want to lie, I can’t. Asher knows me too well.

“I can’t change my infinity pulse with Jane and wouldn’t choose to. I will fight for her again if I must.” Our leadership has been facing an uprising from a town on the other side of our planet, a group of purists resistant to mating with humans even though we descend from them. They kidnapped Jane recently, and Asher fought with our elite fighters to rescue her.

“We’ll see,” I finally say. “It could be lust. It might not be a true pulse.”

My friend’s gaze turns knowing as he studies me for a few beats. “Fair enough. Maybe not. It’s worth it if it is.”

I let out a sharp breath, rolling my eyes slightly. “Point taken.”

Just as Asher opens his mouth to say something else, Jane approaches, his princess, the very woman who’d stolen his heart in a matter of minutes. He holds her gaze. “My love,” he murmurs.

Jane stops beside him, smiling between us before he catches her hand in his and laces his fingers with hers. “Yes?” he prompts.

“I was coming over to tell Kayden that we have an event this evening,” she replies, her gaze shifting toward me.

“For what?” I ask.

“Matches,” she says. “Nadine will be there if you are considering something.”

I bite back a frustrated sigh. “Considering something?”

Jane, who I’ve only known for a short time, waggles her brows. “I may be new to Aphroditea, but I know about things.”

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