She was so tired of being strong.
Maybe it was the sub drop talking. Maybe exhaustion was making her reckless, but right that moment Bralix’s arms were strong, comforting and safe, and she just prayed he wouldn’t push her away again.
He murmured softly to her with his cheek resting on her head, his words incomprehensible to her, although she recognized a fewVeine groonesand his mangled version of her name among the gibberish, but the droning of his voice reverberated in his chest under her cheek.
Eventually his voice trailed off, and they were wrapped in a cocoon of silence. She listened to the air moving in and out of his chest, the rhythm hypnotic and relaxing. He still smelled fresh like a forest after it rained, but his scent had grown a little stronger, with an undertone of rich soil, probably because neither of them had had access to a shower in two days; it wasn’t unpleasant. She could imagine what she smelled like after two days without a shower or deodorant.
She pressed her nose to his chest and inhaled his scent deep into her lungs, held it for a moment, then let it out in a long, slow sigh. She could feel herself melting into his embrace. “I’m so tired of being scared,” she whispered.
She could feel a twitch in his arms, but he didn’t say anything; probably a reaction to her breaking the silence. A moment later his hand slowly stroked her arm.
“I don’t have a mom. Dad never wanted anything to do with me. After last Friday I have no boyfriend, no job. Hell, after this, I probably have no apartment. I’ve barely started to pay back my student debt. God, no-one ever tells you that adulting is so hard.”
She laid her hand over her lower belly, and squeezed her eyes against the burn of tears. “I feel so alone. I’m so tired of resisting. I’m so tired of being strong.” She took a ragged breath. “I’m just tired.”
She sniffed noisily. “Just look at me; blubbering into a handsome alien’s chest, talking his ear off when he probably doesn’t even have any idea what I’m saying.”
He shifted against her. He lifted his head and pressed his lips to the top of her head in a long, chaste kiss, before he cuddled her closer.
Safe.Cherished.She could almost imagine she was in the arms of a man who loved her. She closed her eyes to savour the feeling. She didn’t care if it was true.
She could lie to herself for a few more minutes.
Bralix felt the moment Samulin went from relaxed to asleep in his arms. Even in relaxation, there was an underlying tension in her body while she was awake that bled away when she crossed over into sleep.
Bralixshouldput her back in her own bed—but he couldn’t. He needed her in his arms. He needed her to needhim. He needed her to know that he…
It pained him that if he spoke, she couldn’t understand him. Learning a few commands like a mimic would never be enough; he needed her to know his thoughts and feelings and emotions.
He needed to?—
Phegch.
Phyrax was right.
Bralix had never felt this way for a human before—or for any female of any other species.
And for the first time it was not enough for Bralix to know what others said or thought. He needed Samulin to know whathethought. He needed her to know she was not alone. He needed her to know she didn’t have to be afraid. She didn’t have to be strong. She didn’t have to be any of those things, because he wanted to be all of those things for her, and wanted her to know it. He needed her to understand.
He needed to be able to share his heart with her, and it wasn’t until that moment that Bralix realized that he was lonely too.
Samulin was never meant to be a pet.
She was meant to be his mate.
With that realization, the world opened in his mind. He could imagine sharing his life with another being. He could imagine one day applying for an egg from one of the emperor’s breeders, implanting it in Samulin, and raising young together.
But then Bralix remembered the sight of Emery crying when Phyrax implanted the translator symbiote in her brain without her consent. Her rejection of Phyrax because of it had nearly gutted his brother.
He had done enough to Samulin against her will. He had already stolen her from her life and her home on earth. Implanting a symbiote in her brain was the point of no return. Up to this point, he could still return her to earth, and even if she told the human authorities about her abduction, it was likely she would be written off as yet another mentally ill human who’d hallucinated an alien abduction. But if she were returned to earth with a symbiote in her brain, she would have physical evidence. Yet he couldn’t bear it if he implanted a symbiote in her brain and she rejected him for it.
He hugged her a little tighter, kissed her once more on her head, then carefully stood and placed her back on the bed. He picked up the bed covering from the floor and covered her, then moved to stand by the door and tapped the comm on his wrist. “Phyrax,” he said softly. “Are you there?”
A moment later, the comm crackled. “Bralix, don’t even ask, brother.”
“Phyrax, you were right, and I need your help,” Bralix said softly. “Actually, I think I may need Emery’s help.”
“What do you need, Bralix,” Emery asked.
