Page 40 of Fated for the Alien Fighter

It was useless.

Behind her, she heard the tiles whizz as they shifted against each other.

She startled. She yanked the sheet off, and looked behind her, only to see the divide between her bed and Taryn’s melt away in a flurry of tiles shifting sideways.

Then she saw his surprised, hungry eyes trained on her.

Leah was screwed.

14

TARYN

It couldn’t be.

But it was.

Even as his mind rebelled against the idea, his eyes told him the two beds were stitching together, to create one large mattress.

This only meant one thing–Leah wanted to lie close to him as well. There was no other explanation for this.

Still, he wanted to be certain. “These beds don’t meld together unless both parties want them to.”

Leah remained painfully silent. She kept staring at him, breathing heavily. Her breasts pushed against the flimsy fabric she had worn to sleep; it covered her torso and was strapped to her shoulders by very tiny strings. Taryn could snap them with one flick of his talon.

“Did you want them to?” he tried again, the urge to reach out to her almost unbearable.

But until he heard the words from her mouth, he was not budging.

The silence in the room grew heavier. Tenser. Even the sound of the rain smacking against the window couldn’t seem to penetrate the stillness.

“Yes,” she whispered after what felt like infinity. “But I shouldn’t want that.”

Relief. Joy. Confusion. All these emotions swirled around in Taryn’s energy, coated by a heavy layer of desire.

He pushed all of them down.

“Why not?” he asked.

Leah’s breathing turned heavier. “Because I’m afraid this will end badly.”

No, some ancient, primal part of him roared. Once Leah was his, nothing would turn bad for her again. She would have everything and anything her frantic human heart wanted.

“It won’t,” he said with all the conviction he had. “I promise.”

Her teeth nipped at her lower lip. “I–I want to believe in Quillon promises, but I already trusted them once. With Earth. My mind understands the reasons for the delay, but my heart…”

Was this the reason she was hiding? That she resented Quillon for not coming to Terra’s help sooner?

It couldn’t be. Then again, human emotions were so vastly different from Taryn’s.

“Yet. That’s why you’re here,” he said.

Leah averted her gaze. Her energy turned frantic, jittery with feelings that changed so fast, Taryn couldn’t grasp one.

Finally, her eyes slashed to his. “Do you promise you won’t hurt me?”

“On my life.” Literally, because without her, the Blaze would take him.

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