Page 79 of Seeded By Two

As I raced down the aisle, I yelled Beth’s name:

“Beth! Beth!”

I tried to peer at each female face I passed but there were just too many.

After seeing a few hundred, they became a blur and I wouldn’t have recognized Beth even if I was staring her right in the face.

I glanced over at Aslas and saw he was still moving down his aisle too.

He was further back than I was, as befitting his usual slower pace.

Then I heard a sweet, sweet voice—

“Feon?”

I spun around and saw Beth sitting there, alone, in an open sea of empty seats.

The other females, taken by surprise, awoke from their daydream fantasies and turned to watch the scene unfold.

“Beth,” I said, relieved we had found her. “Why did you leave like that?”

Beth didn’t look at the other female faces and focused her attention on me. “Because I had to.”

I fell to one knee before her, not as a sign of respect or bowing but so I would appear less threatening than I otherwise might.

I took her hand in mine and gently kissed it. “Please. Tell me. What’s wrong?”

Beth’s eyes shimmered with tears and she placed her hand over her mouth before looking away from me.

“You found her?” Aslas said, jogging over. “Why didn’t you tell me? I caught the security staff’s attention and they’re threatening to have me thrown off the ship!”

“Good,” I said.

Aslas blinked and frowned with confusion.

Despite appearances, that was good.

It meant they wouldn’t take off anytime soon, not with a crazed alien male running about the place.

And that meant we had a chance of getting Beth off the ship before she went through with what I thought could turn out to be a terrible, terrible mistake.

I reached up and gently stroked her cheek, turning her face towards me. “Whatever the problem is, I promise you we will resolve it. I know we haven’t treated you well. At least, I haven’t. None of it was done on purpose, I can assure you. We would never harm you. We could never bring ourselves to do that. We love you. It’s an undying love that can never be torn away or replaced. So if you can bring yourself to trust us — even just a little — I’m sure we can make it up to you. You don’t need to mate with us, not if you don’t want to. In fact, you never need to do anything you don’t want. Ever. Even if the bond between us should fade, the love I feel for you never will.”

Tears spilled down Beth’s smooth cheeks.

Aslas, lost in thought at coming up with something more heartfelt than I had said, but failing to, mumbled:

“Ditto.”

“Excuse me,” a thickly set Krev wearing a security uniform and bushy mustache said, “this ship is for females only. And I may be wrong but you sure don’t look like females to me.”

Aslas turned to him and lowered his voice.

Although I couldn’t hear his words, he spoke in a soft and soothing — and even more surprising, mature — tone of voice.

I turned back to Beth and focused my attention on her.

She is all that matters.

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