Page 43 of Secret Twins for the Alien Dad

“What happened?” he asks. “Are you and the babies okay?”

My heart flutters at his concern, and the stupid heart monitor picks up on it again. “Ignore that,” I say, blushing.

He leans in closer, the worry even more palpable. It’s touching, but I force myself to believe that it’s just for the babies. If I let myself hope that it's concern for me too…

He’s waiting for me to answer him and is probably pretty scared, so I take his hand. “I’m fine. We’re both fine. I started having early contractions, but they managed to stop it. Now, I’m just on bedrest until they think it’s safe for me to go home.”

The tension melts from his shoulders as he lets out a weak laugh. “Next time you want to kill me with a heart attack, remember that shooting me would be a lot easier and more painless for the both of us.”

“Noted,” I reply, my good mood souring as unease slips in. Was he able to find the comm-pad? I search his face, looking for signs of bad news, but all the tension is gone from him as he gazes softly at me.

“So… did you find it?”

His eyes widen. “Right. Shit. Sorry, didn’t mean to keep you in suspense.” He grins. “Everything’s taken care of. You’ll never have to worry about Brev again.”

“What?” My world tilts on its axis, like the ground has fallen out from beneath my feet, and I can’t tell if I’m falling or taking off in flight. Is he saying what I think he’s saying?

He explains to me how he found the comm-pad, who took it, and why. And then he tells me that he bought out my contract from Brev. I’ll admit, I’m only half listening. The same thought keeps echoing in my head.

Free? I’m actually free?

My nails from my left hand dig into the flesh of my right arm, the pain telling me that this is real. That I’m not dreaming. That Zair has freed me from Brev.

“Myra,” Zair says, taking my left hand so that I stop pinching myself. “Myra, are you okay?”

My breath catches as the dam of tears I’ve barely held up through years with tape and chewing gum threatens to burst. “Is-is this real? Am I free?”

Zair smiles at me softly. “It is. You’re free to do what you want with whoever you want.”

I don’t think. I just surge up and press my lips to his, wrapping my arms around him. He stiffens, and suddenly, I remember that he probably doesn’t feel the same way that I do. Now I want to cry for completely different reasons, and traitorous tears are already leaking down my cheeks.

“S-sorry. I’m sorry,” I gasp, angrily wiping my tears away.

“Hey,” Zair says, sitting on the bed beside me and wiping a tear from my cheeks. “What are you apologizing for?”

The tenderness only makes me cry even harder. Why is he so kind? Doesn’t he realize what he’s doing to me?

“I’m sorry,” I say again between hiccupping sobs. “I know you don’t feel the same way, and I…”

“What?” Zair blinks, looking utterly confused. “You think I don’t love you?”

When you’re pregnant, people have an annoying habit of just treating you as the vessel for the baby rather than a person in your own right. I know I’m not the most trusting person, but Zair is so kind, so intent on proving himself to be a good father. It all has to be for the babies, right?

I can’t bring myself to respond, instead sniffling as I look down at my hands, too cowardly to meet his eyes and see the expression on his face.

“Can you look at me?” he says softly, gently tipping my chin to look up at him. His eyes are so full of love. “Don’t get me wrong, I love our babies. I love them now, and I’ll love them even more when they are born, but I love you, too.”

He sighs, worrying his lip in thought. “Do you remember the music box I gave you? The one that plays Nerei’s song?”

How could I forget? I play it every night before going to sleep so that it feels like he is there with me. “The one with the story about the warrior rescuing her jalshagar, right?”

He gives me a flickering smile. “Yeah, that’s the one. I’ve been trying to find the right way to say this, because honestly, I’ve been worried that if I did, I would scare you off.”

I swallow, my throat dry. “Say what?”

“Myra, you’re my Jalshagar, my fated mate. I’ve known it from the moment that I met you. I know your pain and your likes and your dislikes, and I feel what you feel. But I know that humans don’t really believe in fated mates, so I’ve been trying to prove to you that I can take care of you in the way that you deserve.”

Jalshagar. Fated mate. There was a time when I dreamed of finding someone I was destined to be with, like a princess in an old Earth fairytale. But soulmates aren’t born, they’re made. Soulmates are created through the choice to love the other person every day, to work together towards a common goal, to better one another.

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