Page 33 of Her Alien Mercenaries
“Stop it. Humans aren’t supposed to hug cyborgs. At least, not this one.”
“Why not?” Jenna asked.
Kade stood between Torren and Edge, his hands locked on Torren’s shoulders to keep him in the chair while Shadow held down Zanyr.
“For starters,” Kade drawled, “you should remember that your mates are still in the thrall of the mating fever. Touching other males isnota good idea.”
“Oops.” Jenna let go of Edge and hurried back to Torren. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize. I just… Edge was right. I was so happy that all our secrets are out in the open now.” She laid a hand on his cheek, and he immediately began to calm down.
“I’m yours. I always will be. You and Zan are my family now.”
“Damn right we are.” Zanyr glared at Edge for another moment and then exhaled. He looked at the cyborg still gripping his shoulders. “Thanks for the help, Shadow. I lost my head for a second there.”
“No problem.” The cyborg female walked over to Kade and the two retreated back to their chairs.
To Torren’s relief, the meeting broke up not long after. They all agreed not to talk about anything they’d learned today, though Zanyr and Edge were already having a side conversation about how long until the rest of the council was informed.
Jenna didn’t leave her chair. She sat quietly, her small hand wrapped around several of his fingers. They wouldn’t have long before thesharhalflared again, but for the moment, they were all thinking clearly. That was a good thing because they had some more talking to do.
“You ready to go?” he asked her.
“Yes.” She turned her head his way. “But I think we should walk back. Together.”
“I agree.” It would give them the time they needed.
Zan returned as they rose from their seats. He nuzzled Jenna’s cheek for several seconds in silence and then straightened up. “Home?”
“Home,” Torren agreed.
“Which one?” Jenna asked.
“Yours first. Then ours. If that’s still okay with you?” Zanyr asked.
She actually sighed with relief. “So the plan hasn’t changed?”
“Not unless you want it to,” Torren said. He wanted to make it clear that she could change her mind at any time.
“There’s no reason to change anything. We’re still mated. And I am looking forward to seeing your home.”
Zanyr kissed the crown of her hair. “It’sourhome now.”
14
It wassurprising how quickly the others vanished. Kade picked up Shadow and launched himself into the air. Skye and Edge went in separate directions, sprinting away so fast Jenna’s eyes only saw blurs of movement that were gone before she could blink.
“Well, that was fun. Let’s never do it again,” Zanyr muttered.
Jenna looked up and gave him a wry smile. “You brought this on yourself. If you’d waited a few hours, I would have told you everything. I only wanted Shadow’s confirmation that I could… what did Edge call it? Read you in.”
“And we planned on telling you the truth about our past. We thought it wouldn’t hurt to give you more time to get to know us before we told you who we used to be,” Torren said.
“I get it. We had a lot going on in a very short amount of time.” She took a step forward and her mates followed suit. “And before you say anything, I know it wasn’t fair of me to ask for honesty when I wasn’t telling you everything.”
They walked down the tree-lined road that would take them home. Dappled sunlight played across the hard-packed dirt, and a chorus of birdsong and insect noise made a kind of music in the background.
They talked the whole way back. At first, they answered each other’s questions about the past and then switched to talk of the future as they neared the bridge and other beings.
Jenna still had a thousand questions, but those could wait. She didn’t care about who they’d been because she’d seen who they were now. Her mates. Two males who wanted to live in peace in a place that welcomed them. They had that in common.
