Page 29 of Ravenous Alien Mate

She lowered her head as he approached, too ashamed to look him in the eye.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I guess you’ve discovered what I’ve done. I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you, Jav.”

He grabbed her by her shoulders, his touch gentler than she expected. Hurt reflected in his gaze. He opened his mouth and closed it a few times, as if at a loss for words. After all the kindness he’d shown her, she would never forgive herself for hurting him.

A lone tear trickled down her cheek. To her surprise, he caught it with his thumb.

“Tell me it’s not true, sweet Leah,” he finally said. “Tell me you’re innocent in this.”

“I wanted to tell you, I-I thought about confessing to you about my past many times, but I always froze up and decided against it. I worried you would think I’m a threat to the king or something, since you lived in the palace, so I kept quiet.”

“Of course I would think you’re a threat to the king,” he said slowly, shaking his head. He still appeared lost and hurt and she hated herself even more in this moment. “After all, you came to Mars with orders to assassinate King Vaath and Queen Esmay.”

What?

Her gaze flew up to his. “Assassinate?” she asked, completely bewildered. What in the hell was he talking about?

“Miranda confessed to her mate, a palace guard named Pettak, that you told her you were part of the resistance. She told us you confided in her several days ago while you had a private discussion in an alcove. Our security footage confirmed you were in the alcove with her for quite some time.” He drew in a deep breath, a shudder running through him.

“Wait a second, Jav. None of that is true,” she answered, her mind racing. “Well, I did speak with Miranda in an alcove, but that’s not what we talked about. She was crying and said she’d gotten into an argument with Pettak, so I talked to her for a while and tried to help her. That’s all. I-I’m not planning to hurt anyone. I can’t imagine why she would say such a thing.”

Jav studied her, staring at her for long minutes. She stared back at him, unable to look away. “Do you swear to me you are innocent in this?” His grip on her shoulders tightened, but only a little. He still wasn’t hurting her and she didn’t think he would. But she couldn’t bear the thought of him sending her away. That would be the worst pain imaginable.

“Yes,” she said, lifting her chin. “I mean, at least in this. I had no plans to harm the king or queen or anyone else.”

A look of immense relief filled his dark eyes, though after he blinked twice, he once again appeared angry and suspicious. A shiver ran through her.

“Then what were you referring to earlier when you said you thought I’d believe you were a threat to the king? What did you think I was talking about when I first started questioning you? Don’t you dare lie to me,” he said. “You are my mate, Leah, and I expect the truth. The full truth with nothing held back.”

She swallowed hard. What choice did she have? She had to confess, she had to tell him about her conviction and her time in prison. How would he feel about her when he learned the terms of her early release? That she’d agreed to become his mate only in order to secure her freedom? Her heart fell to the floor.

“When I was eighteen, I served as a lookout while my boyfriend and his friends broke into a Martian Affairs building in Zone 12,” she began, as a deep sadness gripped her. Soon he would know her secrets. Soon he would send her away. “They’d heard the building contained a shipment of galactic credit coins that were bound for Mars. They didn’t find any galactic credits, but they stole some pricey equipment from the building, and then they set fire to it. I was tracked down and arrested by Martian enforcers two days later.” She shuddered, recalling her terror at being chased through the park where she’d been hiding, certain the enforcers would kill her on the spot once they caught her.

“Tell me what happened next,” Jav said in an encouraging tone. She didn’t understand how he could look so angry, yet touch her with such gentleness and not scream at her while he questioned her.

“Steven, my boyfriend, was also captured, along with all his friends. Even though I only served as a lookout, I was convicted of robbery and arson and sentenced to twenty-five years in prison. A guard once told me that Steven was sentenced to death.”

Jav’s eyes widened. “Steven?” He released his hold on her and backed away, then pressed on his wrist comm. A second later, an image of Steven, though looking noticeably older than when she’d last seen him, appeared in the air as a three-dimensional hologram. “Is this the human named Steven you are talking about?”

Leah felt faint. “Yes, but I-I thought he was dead.”

“Our investigation has revealed he was wanted by Martian authorities. He escaped from prison after his sentencing and before his punishment could be carried out.”

“Oh my God.” Panic gripped Leah. “Why do you have a picture of him?”

“He’s in the dungeons.”

Chapter 25

Jav stared at Leah, processing her responses to his questions. If she was telling the truth, which he prayed to the Gods she was, that still left him with the difficulty of proving her innocence. He’d hurried to find her without taking the time to read over her records first, but he’d asked Orrsa to transmit all information pertaining to Leah directly to his wrist comm, including her mail order bride application.

“Why is Steven in the dungeons?” she asked.

“He’s part of a resistance group that is challenging Martian rule on Earth. He has attacked several Martian Affairs buildings and caused the death of three human females who were inside those buildings at the time.”

“And you were sent to Earth to find him?”

“My unit of Vash’arr warriors was sent to locate as many members of the resistance as we could round up within Zone 12, where the Martian Affairs buildings have been set ablaze. We killed dozens of human males and took six resistance members alive. Steven was among them.”

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