Page 70 of Claimed By her Alien Prince

A proud smile played around Seth's lips. Osiris had grown into a fine man. He grew up like a regular kid, besides having pointed ears, red eyes, fangs, and drinking blood… until he was twenty-six, when he just stopped and hadn't changed since, at least not physically. Our son was a man to be proud of, and he and Azazel would be in charge while Seth and I were gone, and in case we never returned.

Since the plan was for Seth and me to go where all the other surviving sons had gone before him, to the top of the tallest mountain on Tartarus, as demanded by the Nayphyllym, we hoped to make contact with them there.

Which sounded good in theory, but now that we were here and there was no sign of life, doubt was growing.

He pulled me into his arms. "We don't know if we will be able to return."

I held back the tears threatening to break through. They would only give Seth more ammunition to try to persuade me to stay.

The only reason I wavered was because of Osiris, so I said, to convince him and myself, "I know that. But Osiris is strong, he doesn't need me."

Seth's eyes probed mine, they still made my heart flutter like a hummingbird's wings, even after all this time. I put my hand on his chiseled cheek. "Seth. It's done, I am going with you."

He sighed deeply and turned toward his brother, Azazel, who had accompanied us, having said our goodbyes to Osiris earlier.

"Ready?" Azazel asked.

"It's now or never," I joked, even though my throat was tight with fear.

Both look at me uncomprehendingly, two hundred years was obviously not enough time to teach aliens about Earthly sayings or jokes.

"I'll see you soon, brother." Azazel put his hand out.

Seth pulled him into a tight embrace instead. "Soon."

I took my turn and hugged him, asking him one more time, "Keep an eye on Osiris?"

"You know I will," he promised, and I knew he meant it. Osiris was like a son to him, just like his daughter was to us. Despite everything, or because of it, we had become a tight-knit family.

And then Azazel added, "You can do that yourself when you come back." He kissed my cheeks before pushing me toward the platform that led to the shuttle. I gave him a tight smile and waved one more time before taking Seth's hand and walking inside.

Seth and I were the only passengers on the shuttle meant to house four hundred, besides the pilot, whom we didn't even see.

We took our seats up front, and Seth placed his arm around my shoulder. Together, we watched through the large window as we left the humongous spaceship and flew closer toward Tartarus.

"I feel so selfish taking you with me," Seth said.

"Don't." I put my hand on his arm. "No more. We are in this together, remember? I'm your mate. Where you go, I go."

He nodded, resigning himself to the fact that he wouldn't be able to change my mind. He had over two hundred years to find out how stubborn I could be underneath my sweet demeanor. I grinned to myself; he probably wouldn't call my demeanor sweet.

The transporter moved fast, making my stomach swoop just like another had done so many years ago, taking me to Seth and into an unknown future. Again, I felt as if my hair stood up from the drop. Contrary to me, Seth didn't seem fazed,must be a vampire thing, I decided, even though he still didn't like it when I called him that.

As we were getting closer to the surface, I started to make out trees and other plants, unfortunately, their brownish, withered leaves indicated that they were all slowly dying.

Any kind of water I saw also looked brown and ugly. Whatever life was surviving on this planet, was hanging on by a thread. The dying sun was taking everything else with it to its grave.

I squinted my eyes, "Over there, is that…"

"Yes," Seth agreed, allowing himself a tiny smile. "That does look like a city."

No matter how hard I strained my eyes, I couldn't make out if there was any life in that city or not, we passed it by way too fast anyway. Soon I made out a large mountain. It was taller than anything I had ever seen, and I imagined it would have even dwarfed Mount Everest on Earth.

The pilot banked, pushing me against Seth, who grinned. "Maybe we should have given you some flying lessons."

"Maybe," I agreed, feeling as if my face was turning green.

With another turn, the pilot brought the transporter down and Seth helped me up. I saw the question in his eyes and shook my head. "Not another word."

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