Page 58 of Her Alien Neighbor

Willa gives me a sideways glance. “You sure you want to do this?”

“I mean, no,” I tell her honestly, “but I can’t be the second person to bail on you, so…”

Willa drops her fork. “Yay! Oh, this is such a relief.”

Ethan, still chewing, adds, “Wonderful! Glad you’ll be helping her, Vanessa. That way I don’t have to.”

I swirl the wine around in my glass. “Kinda seems like you owe me one, dear brother-in-law.”

He smiles. “Hey, I’m fine with that.”

“Van, I know it’s not Hollywood,” Willa says, her tone placating, “but this is your area of expertise. Use that talent.”

I wouldn’t say directing a group of kids in a school play is the best use of my talents, but it isn’t a waste of my talents either. It’sacting-adjacent, I guess.

After dinner, and a scoop of mint-chocolate ice cream––one for each of us, so it’s fair––Willa drives me home. She grabs my arm unexpectedly as I go to get out and pulls me in for a hug. “I love having you home,” she says quietly.

“Yeah,” I tell her as she releases me. “I’m glad I’m here. I think.”

She laughs. “G’night, kid.”

As soon as I get inside, I start turning lights off and shutting the place down. It’s only eight-thirty, but those kids wore me out. I go to lock the back door, but a flash of pink on the cement step catches my eye. When I open the door, I find a plastic bag filled with pink Starbursts with a note attached.

I believe these are yours. Enjoy.

Sweetest dreams,

Axil

Ugh, why does he have to be so damn cute? Can’t he just be terrible so that I can forget about him? It would certainly make my life easier.

I quickly eat three, then four more before brushing my teeth and climbing into bed. I tell myself not to think about him anymore tonight, and even though I do fall asleep rather quickly, Axil follows me into my dreams.

CHAPTER 15

AXIL

Two days. Forty-eight whole hours have gone by since I last spoke to Vanessa. Since I last saw her bewitching smile. I have had no contact with my mate aside from leaving her the pink candies she seems to covet. I am trying to give her the space to think. It is what she asked for, and I am powerless to deny her wishes.

Yet, my brothers have seen her, and it makes my blood boil with jealousy that they have spent time in her presence when I cannot. Mylo visited yesterday to spread Lady Norton’s ashes, and to read his letter to her. He said that all seemed well, and Vanessa was willing to continue assisting with spreading Lady Norton’s ashes despite the awkward tension that remains between us and her, now that she knows what we are.

“She was curt, at first, but she seemed to warm up by the end,” Mylo said of Vanessa once he returned home.

“Did she say anything about me?” I ask. I know I sound like a desperate, lovesick fool, but I do not care.

She is not ours,my draxilio reminds me for the fourth time today.She has not accepted us.

He seems to think that because Vanessa has not yet agreed to be my mate that I should forget about her. An idea I continue to disagree with him on. I thought spending more time in my draxilio form would improve his mood, so I have spent each night flying all over the state of New Hampshire. Still, he is restless, agitated, and stubborn as ever. He is seeking something more. What, I am not sure.

“No,” Mylo says with a pitying sigh. “But it felt like you were off-limits, in terms of topics for discussion. I did not ask, and neither did she.”

How can she not wonder how I have been? Is she not thinking about me at all? Because I am certainly thinking about her. I cannot sleep. I cannot eat. I cannot even breathe without attempting to suck the scant remains of Vanessa’s floral scent into my lungs and keep it there.

What information does she not have? She knows everything there is to know about me now. What else does she need to determine before agreeing to spend the rest of her life with me? I need no further proof. I am certain she is the one for me. My eyes have not turned red, but I no longer care about that. Vanessa is mine. I feel it in my bones.

My draxilio grumbles,Not yet.

“Kyan is there now?” Mylo asks, watching me stare out the window at Vanessa’s back door.

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