Page 121 of Dancing for the Minotaur

The ride home was silent. Terra didn’t know what to say and Taurex didn’t seem to be in the mood to talk at all. If she’d thought he was a male of few words before, now he seemed to be a male of no words at all.

The trip back to Earth was nothing like the journey to the Monstrum Mother Ship had been.

On the way out, Terra had been practically glued to the viewscreen, exclaiming over the moon and Mars and the vast golden Mother Ship while Taurex patiently answered every question she threw at him. Now she sat quietly in the passenger seat with her hands folded tightly in her lap, watching the stars streak past without really seeing them.

Taurex didn’t try to make conversation either. He piloted the shuttle with his golden eyes fixed on the controls, his broad shoulders rigid beneath the dark shirt he had changed into.

Terra found herself glancing at him when she thought he wouldn’t notice. He still looked exhausted. If anything, he looked worse now than he had at breakfast—as though every mile they traveled toward Earth was taking something out of him.

She had expected him to explain himself again once they were alone in the shuttle. In fact, she had almost expected him to try to convince her that she had misunderstood what being his fated mate meant, or to tell her that the strange Bond he wanted wasn’t as invasive as she thought.

Instead, Taurex said nothing about it. He asked once if the temperature in the shuttle was comfortable for her and once if she wanted anything to drink, and when she declined both offers, he simply nodded and went back to flying.

The silence should have made Terra feel relieved, but instead it left her increasingly uncomfortable with her own thoughts. The night before she had been so certain that she had finally seen a dangerous side of him—the side he had hidden beneath all that gentleness and courtesy—but the more she replayed everything that had happened, the less certain she became.

He hadn’t shouted when she rejected him. He hadn’t threatened her. He hadn’t tried to touch her after she told him to stop. When she had begged him to leave her alone, he had left, and this morning when she had asked to go home, he had agreed immediately and even offered to find someone else to fly her because he was afraid she might be uncomfortable with him.

None of that sounded like Viktor Orlov.

None of it sounded like Jackson, either or any other man she’d ever dated.

Terra shifted restlessly in her seat and looked out at the blackness of space again, unwilling to follow the thought any further. Maybe Taurex was simply good at hiding his anger. Maybe all of his patience was some elaborate act that would eventually disappear if she let herself get too close.

Hadn’t she thought Jackson loved her once? Hadn’t she believed all his promises when she was young, only to find herself years later doing every bit of cooking, cleaning and child-rearing while he complained that she was too fat and then left to sleep around with other women?

People could fool you. Men, especially, could fool you, and Terra had two children depending on her. She couldn’t afford to be stupid just because an enormous alien with beautiful golden eyes had made her feel safe for a little while.

The argument sounded completely reasonable inside her head, yet by the time the golden shuttle descended through the Florida sky and Tampa spread out beneath them, Terra felt sick with something that seemed suspiciously like regret.

Taurex landed in front of her mother’s little bungalow as gently as he had when he picked her up, converting the shuttle back into its terrestrial configuration before settling onto the driveway.

Almost immediately, the front door burst open and two small figures came racing out.

“Mom!” Lisa shrieked, her little legs pumping as she flew down the front steps. Cody was right behind her, moving with slightly more dignity until Terra opened the shuttle door, at which point he abandoned dignity entirely and ran the rest of the way.

Terra barely had time to step onto the driveway before both children slammed into her.

“Oh, my babies!” she cried, wrapping both arms around them and squeezing so hard that Lisa squealed.

Terra buried her face in her daughter’s hair and breathed in the familiar scent of strawberry shampoo while Cody’s arms wrapped around her waist from the other side. Her eyes burned suddenly, and she had to blink hard to keep from crying.

“God, I missed you. I missed you both so much.”

“You were only gone one night,” Cody pointed out, though he didn’t let go.

“I know.” Terra kissed the top of his head anyway. “It felt longer.”

Lisa squirmed backward and looked past her toward the shuttle.

“Did you bring me something from space?”

“Lisa!” Terra exclaimed, laughing despite herself. “Hello to you too.”

“Well, did you?”

“Yes, you little heathen. I brought you something.” Terra finally released the children and turned toward Taurex, who had already opened the rear compartment of the shuttle and was taking out her bags along with the gifts they had bought at the Market.

He carried everything over without speaking and put it all gently down at her feet.