Page 59 of Her Alien Neighbor

“Yes,” I say, my voice thick with frustration. “He left forty minutes ago. What is he doing over there?”

“Maybe he is fucking your mate,” Zev says, coming down the stairs from his wing of the house.

I launch myself at him before he makes it to the final step. My hands are wrapped around his throat, and I am quite enjoying the panicked look on his face.

“Kidding,” he chokes out, holding up his hands.

I release him and pull him to his feet. “Not funny.”

“I respectfully disagree,” Mylo says from his stool at the kitchen island, munching on dry cereal straight out of the box and reading a book.

Kyan walks through the door, his face a blank slate.

“Well?” I ask, following on his heels as he grabs a bottle of water from the fridge.

“Well, what?” he replies, not looking up.

I knock the unopened bottle out of his hands. “You know what. How was Vanessa? Is she well?”

He groans as he picks up the bottle from the floor and twists the cap off slowly, intentionally trying to get under my skin. “She is fine.” He takes a sip, then notices I am still staring at him, waiting for more. “She seems a bit sad,” he continues, “and anxious, though I did not ask why. Other than that, she was perfectly pleasant as I said my final farewell to Lady Norton.”

“You were there forty minutes. You must have talked about other things,” I point out.

He tilts his head from side to side, cracking the bones in his neck. “You asked a human female to marry you after how many days of knowing her?”

Without looking up from his book, Mylo answers, “Four.”

“Four days,” Kyan says, feigning shock. “You have only known her four days. Outside of reality television, that does not seem common practice among their kind.”

“What was I supposed to do?” I shout, throwing my hands up. “Let her run off with our family’s secret without letting her know how much she means to me?”

He sighs. “She has your number. She knows where you live. When she is ready to speak to you, she will,” he adds, running a hand through his hair and grabbing his brown tweed blazer off the back of the couch. “Now, I must return to work.” He does not say good-bye, just walks out the front door, letting it slam behind him.

I am tempted to spend the rest of the day destroying his closet full of suits with neon pink spray paint, but my phone rings, and Luka’s name flashes across the screen.

“Finally,” I say when I pick up. “Why has it taken you this long to get back to me?”

“Perhaps because you fools bring nothing but trouble with you,” he replies instantly. “I got your text; I just did not want to involve myself with your messy pursuits. So, what is it? What is so pressing? You found your mate?”

“Well,” I say, swallowing the lump in my throat. If he thought we caused trouble before, he will not be happy with what I am about to tell him. “I am not certain, but I also am certain, in other ways.”

“Huh?”

I stomp toward my room, seeking silence to find the best way to articulate this. “You see, my eyes have not turned. Not yet anyway.”

“Okay,” Luka says, drawing out the “ay” as if waiting for me to explain.

“Vanessa, her name is Vanessa. She is Lady Norton’s niece.”

“Ah, your elderly neighbor who passed away?” he asks.

“Yes, and Vanessa is in town to settle her aunt’s affairs. She plans to sell the house, and I was originally determined to stop her, to keep her here, because I know Lady Norton did not want her house to be immediately sold off to a stranger. But then, we started spending more time together, Vanessa and I.” I pause as the memories of the last several days come flooding in. “She has the most beautiful laugh, brother, and her smile stops my heart. And…and this bold spirit. She is magnificent.”

“I fail to see the problem here,” Luka says in a bored tone. “She is your mate; make it so.”

“I started to think she returned my affections, but then we had a disagreement of sorts. She snuck into my room that night, to apologize, I think, but she caught me…in my natural form. I have not seen her since that night.”

I wince as I know Luka will unleash his wrath over my carelessness. His continued silence makes every muscle in my body clench. He is the eldest brother, and for some reason, I struggle with the idea of disappointing him.

---