Page 41 of Alien Prince's Claim

He could barely bring himself to look at me. “I need to get you away from me,” he said.

“Get away from you?” I said. “I don’t understand. Why?”

He ran his hand through his thick, luxurious hair.

He was pained and angered and he clearly didn’t want to let me go from his sight.

An explosion rocked the foundations and made the building shudder beneath our feet.

But it was nothing compared to the shock at the idea of losing him and not having him protect me from these invaders.

Unable to meet my eyes, he had turned away, lost in his own deep, dark thoughts.

I took him by the hand and my touch seemed to calm him a little, the lines of worry and concern melting from his forehead.

I reached up and placed a hand to his cheek. “It’s all right,” I said in as confident a voice I could muster. “Everything’s going to be okay. You’ll see. But we have to stick together.”

I need us to stick together.

Just the thought of being away from him, beyond arm’s reach, felt painful.

Then he spoke in a small, barely audible voice:

“They’re here for me.”

His words might have been a ten-megaton bomb.

My hand froze on his cheek and I searched his eyes, hoping he was mistaken, that what he was saying wasn’t true.

But I could tell he wasn’t lying to me.

He took my hand from his cheek and held my hands between his own. “There’s something I need to tell you, something I didn't think I would need to tell my mate during Steyatt. It was safer for you not to know the truth. And for me, too. There are creatures that would wish to harm me… or those close to me.”

“What?” I said. “What is it?”

His golden eyes shifted up and away from me again and he lost his nerve… but only for a moment.

He took a deep breath, let it out, and spoke evenly:

“I am… I’m…” He shook his head, planted his feet, and looked like he was about to deliver a devastating blow — and he did, only it was verbal and not physical.

“I’m a prince,” he said.

He opened his eyes and just looked at me.

I was stunned. “A prince? A prince of what?”

It was a dumb question and I knew full well that there was only one kind of prince in the galaxy, but I was dumbfounded with shock.

He had to spell it out for me.

“I’m the crown prince of the Krev empire.”

“The Krev empire?”

He nodded and actually managed a smile.

I supposed it came from his being able to relieve himself of the heavy weight he’d been carrying.

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