Page 27 of Married to the Alien Rogue

Streaks of purple raced across the sky as night truly began to fall. The hideaway waited nearby, but the path leading to it would be a tricky scramble over mountainous terrain. From everything I knew, humans had worse night sight than Zaarn. “If you can’t see well enough to walk safely, let me know. I’ll carry you.” Having her in my arms would be no burden.

“Okay.” And there it was again—a common sense practicality I admired.

After checking my comp, I set off, cutting down the side of the mountain at a diagonal. A faint trail ran before me, made by some kind of animal. A hunting lizard about the size of the kreecat populated these mountains, along with smaller prey species. Nothing to be too worried about.

Cool wind whipped by, carrying the scent of water. We were close.

Rock scattered under my mate’s feet, and I halted, throwing my arms wide. I’d gone first to put my body between hers and the drop, but the angle wasn’t perfect.

“I’m okay!”

The kreecat gave a little growl.

“Okay, okay.” Zo-Fee huffed out a breath. “I’m having a little trouble seeing.”

“It is nothing to be ashamed of. The path is steep and lined with gravel.” I turned and scooped her into my arms, loving the way her hands looped around my neck.

The touch of her bare skin like a promise on mine.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Sofie

Even standing on the steep side of a mountain, Raxnor held me with an assured strength and ease. It should have felt precarious with my weight making his balance less sure, but instead I felt safer than I had on my own two feet.

“Me walk good! See well in dark,”Lila said.“You not walk good.”

I chuckled. It seemed my furry new friend liked being honest to a fault. She wasn’t wrong.

Raxnor strode along, his dark eyes searching the ground before him. His boots never hit a single patch of gravel.

I curled into his chest, enjoying the feel of his muscles firm against me. His tail slid down my back, vibrating against my skin, and I wanted it to keep moving, to touch me everywhere. Desire hit in a burst of tingling warmth.

I want him.

How to act on it? No one had ever called me shy, but Raxnor was alien—what if I read the signals wrong? Plus, my enthusiasm had always put off human guys, especially when I feel for them quickly—or “too quickly,” as they’d always said.

“We’re here.” He stepped around a last rocky outcrop to expose an opening like a bowl scooped out of the side of the mountain.

The sound of running water came from…

I craned my neck and gasped, “Is that a waterfall?”

“Yes.” He sounded pleased. And he didn’t set me down yet.

Water flowed from a crack in the back wall, cascading down to create a pool.

Lila darted forward, running for the small stream that cut across the edge of the glen to run on down the mountainside below us. She crouched and drank, and I could somehow see it, even though the sky overhead had gone the deep purple of night.

That’s when I realized that the flat ground in front of the pool glowed faintly pink.

Raxnor let me slip down the front of his body, and I hurried forward to bend down and check. My hands patted at the soft, springy surface. “What is this?”

“It’s a kind of moss found only in these mountains.”

“It’s amazing!”

He grunted, but I knew him a little better now—it was his pleased grunt. Raxnor settled onto a flat spot and opened the pack, pulling out water cans. “Drink.”

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