Page 56 of Beauty and the Alien Beast
Oh. My. God. He’s sad because he thinks he’s lacking because he can’t bake for me?
I pushed away from the table, striding over to him. “Teken?” I stroked his hair. “You make me happy. I don’t care if you can’t bake or cook.”
He stood, gathering me into his arms. “And you, sheleki, are more female than I deserve.”
I curled my fingers and fisted the fabric of his tunic.
He gently nudged me back, giving me a look so full of longing. “I will strive every day to prove that I am worthy of you.”
Damn. Damn. Damn.He said the sweetest and most sincere things.
He didn’t give me a warning before his hands spanned my waist and he hoisted me high enough to slant his lips across mine. His tongue slid along the seam of my mouth, and I opened to him. His tongue slid over mine, around, seeking every inch of me. A fist in my hair angled my head back, granting him deeper access. His growl vibrated through me, and I clenched my thighs.
He broke off our kiss and said, “Come. We talk more.”
I squeaked when he swept me off my feet, striding into the front room. We settled together on a low couch covered in unfamiliar bluish furs. Roughly two seconds later, Brax trotted in from the other room and jumped up with us, panting happily.
I stared at Teken. “So tell me. How did you become the alpha of your pack?”
“The position was given to me when my father died. Only Wulfaen from a royal bloodline are given such an honor. And you, my sheleki, will now be my pack’s alpha female.”
“But I’m human.” I bit my bottom lip.
“A human who is a brave warrior.” He smiled. “You are strong. You wouldn’t have survived the trek back to my sector if that were not true.”
I touched his arm. “Thank you for the compliment.”
“It is only the truth,” he replied simply. “You have been through so much ill-treatment at the hands of the Omers. And I pledge that they will pay for everything they’ve done to you.”
“I’m not going to lie. It was hell being at their facility, locked up and treated like an animal.”
“Ella.” He had worry lines between his brows. “I’m not going to ask you about your experiences at the slavers’ compound… yet. We can talk about that when you are ready. For now, tell me what you are comfortable revealing.”
I sat back against the dog, sighing and pressing my lips together. “Okay. I don’t know where to start,” I admitted as I looked into his eyes. “When you showed up and offered me a way out, I had to trust you. Not just because I think you’re sexy, but because you were the only alien to treat me like a person.”
I choked up a little at the end, and he stroked a hand down my hair.
“I live in a big city on Earth. I was visiting my mom in my hometown for the weekend. She must be terrified right now.” I rubbed the side of my face, feeling a sudden, stabbing pain in my temple.
Poor Mom. She might have been waiting for word from me for months.“I need to find a way to reach out to her soon.”
“This will be difficult, Ella. My people do not have the technology to communicate with or travel to Earth. The truth of the matter is the Reticulans and Omers are the only ones who have transport to Earth.”
My heart plummeted. His words confirmed what I’d suspected.
I’ll never see or talk to Mom again.
I swallowed hard before saying, “There is no way that I’d trust either of them—even if they were willing—to help me get in contact with my mother.”
Knowing the bastards, they would target my mother for retaliation just because she was my family. No. I couldn’t risk that.
“Nor would I trust them to provide any transportation to visit her before I give birth to our youngling. The Reticulans and Omers are slavers, and if they ever got their hands on me again, all they would do is either kill me for escaping or sell me on another planet.”
“Exactly.” Teken nodded with a grim expression. “Both are a greedy race. They care nothing about anyone but themselves and amassing lots of coins. You’ve already borne witness to how they treat the females they abduct.”
I shivered when I thought about the women kept in cages for hours at a time and only let out to use the bathroom and clean their body.
“So,” I replied. “There is no way for me to communicate with my mom.” It was a statement, not a question.
