Page 46 of Beauty and the Alien Beast
And he attempted to understand me, despite the communication issues.
I want—no, need—to spend more time getting to know him, not leave him.
Shit. Now, I’m torn between the life I left behind on Earth and the new one that I’m creating with him. Fuck. I’m falling in love with an… alien. And he seems to be falling in love with me.
But what if I’m wrong about his feelings for me? What if there’s no chance in hell of our staying together because the slavers will chase me if I remain?
It infuriated me that the Omers still had more women captive back at their facility that they were priming to sell. There was no way in hell I could just tuck tail and run back to Earth without saving every female the Omers had in their clutches.
I didn’t know how, but I was going to rescue all of the hostesses and shut down the Omers.Would Teken and his people be willing to help me?
I bit my bottom lip. I didn’t know anything about the Gladiators as a race.I only know Teken, and he’s a good man.But is he an anomaly among the Gladiators?
Just because Teken had integrity and a good heart didn’t mean his people did. Maybe he didn’t condone the atrocities of slavery, and his people did. This new notion seemed to fit why Teken rescued me and was now protecting me from the slavers. But this was all conjecture. I didn’t have all the facts about the Wulfaen Gladiators or Teken. And I didn’t have a chance in hell of figuring out any of this crap until we could communicate properly.
I hoped that things turned out okay between us when we finally had a real conversation. But I feared the worst. That my alien lover belonged to his world and I to mine. That there was no future for us together.
I didn’t want to dwell on the elephant in the room—that once I got a translator, the cocoon that surrounded our budding romantic relationship would burst and we’d realize all we had was phenomenal sexual chemistry and nothing else.
But I didn’t want to think about that looming heartbreak. I wanted to stay in the honeymoon phase. Maybe after we got safely to his home, we could go somewhere together for a couple weeks. Someplace beautiful, like the scenes from the screens back at that terrible place. Teken could fuck my brains out, and we could relax for a while before dealing with the world and reality.
Could we do that? Probably not.
“Teken,” I said quietly.
He unfolded himself from around me, holding up a broad palm first to make sure the hail had stopped falling, and then moved around in front of me.
“Yes?” he replied huskily.
“We go to Battle City,” I said slowly in English. He nodded. Then I spread my hands. “What then?”
He touched his ear and then mine, indicating where the translator device had been removed. “You… me. Talk.”
“We talk,” I repeated. He nodded, and my heart sank a little. He didn’t look entirely comfortable with the idea either.
I spoke up again. “What then?”
He frowned, then switched to his own language. I could only understand a few words. “You… Free… Choice.”
“You say… I choose what’s next. Me.” I laid a hand against my sternum, and he nodded enthusiastically, spreading a hand toward me.
“You my mate. You my world,” he said with sudden, strange clarity and then repeated it in his own language, from what I could tell. “But you choose.”
I looked up at him, then cupped his face and kissed him. I didn’t have the words to tell him that I wanted to sort out a way for us to stay together. I just didn’t know if it was possible or if he felt the same. But he stared at me tenderly when our kiss broke, so maybe he did.
“We’ll figure this out.” I reassured him, not certain if he fully understood me.
He opened his mouth to answer when the earpiece he had taken squawked suddenly. He clapped a hand to his ear, and his eyes widened.
“Ella!” he snapped quietly.
I stiffened and reached for the energy pistol stuck through my belt.Not now, dammit!
But too late. Now that the storm was clearing, I heard the whine of the hoverbikes cycling up. One or two sounded like they were getting nearer.
He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me deeper into the bower, away from the stacked belongings, gently laying two fingers across my lips. I nodded, letting him draw me back into the shadows.
Moments later, a dark shape flashed past the tree line, and a familiar throbbing light passed over us.The scanners. Shit.I froze—and heard a faint beep.
