Page 40 of Alien Healer’s Mate

“It doesn’t matter what I feel.” He turned his glass in slow circles on the tablecloth. “I didn’t have a say in what I am. I’ve made my peace with it.”

He said it calmly, like he was describing the weather. But his hands weren’t calm. His fingers were tight on the glass, his knuckles pale.

“You loved her,” she said softly. “The first one. The other warlady.”

Rhav’s gaze sliced to hers.

“I did,” he said, and his voice cracked before he cleared his throat and spoke again. “She was kind. She laughed at my jokes. She used to sit with me in the evenings. We’d watch the sunsets together, and she’d tell me about her day.”

“What happened to her?”

“She lost a challenge. To my lady.” The words came out flat and empty.

“Rhav—“

“It’s fine.” He looked up, and the mask was back. “It was seven years ago. I’ve accepted it.”

No, you haven’t. Your hands are shaking, and you’re not fine at all.

“I’m sorry,” she said instead, and put her hand over his.

His skin was warm under hers, warmer than a human’s, and the faint tremor in his fingers stilled before he turned his hand over and squeezed hers once. Briefly.

“Thank you,” he said. “That’s more kindness than I expected tonight.”

She pulled her hand back and turned her head before she could stop herself, her gaze finding Kellat across the room.

The warlady was laughing at something he’d said, her head tipped back. Her hand was still on his arm. Kellat was smiling. A real smile, warm and open, not the dry lip-quirk she got. And it was aimed at a woman who wasn’t her.

Her stomach lurched, and she yanked her gaze away.

“She likes him,” Rhav said quietly. “I haven’t seen her look at a male like that in a long time.”

Delilah’s fingers tightened on the stem of her glass. “Yeah. I noticed. None of my business, though. I’m just the ‘guest’.”

10

The door slid shut behind them, and Delilah barely had time to register the darkness of the room before Kellat’s hands were on her.

He hadn’t said a word. Not when he’d appeared at her table at the reception, the warlady’s laughter still ringing across the reception hall, and not in the corridors all the long walk back. She hadn’t either. For once in her life she’d had nothing to say, and he’d walked beside her with that granite look on his face, and she’d braced herself all the way to the door for a conversation she didn’t want to have.

But he didn’t speak. Instead, he yanked her into his arms, and his mouth crashed down over hers. His kiss was hot and demanding, and she made a sound against his lips she didn’t recognize. Relief. That was relief, because he was touching her… that he was here with her and not somewhere with the beautiful alien warlady.

Stop thinking. She needed to stop thinking and just feel.

Surging upward, she kissed him back, her fingers digging into the leather of his shoulders. She let herself drown in him. He tasted like the wine from dinner, all honey sweetness with the sharp under-note.

He pulled back just enough to look at her, his eyes dark in the low light. His breathing was ragged, braids falling forward over one shoulder, and the expression on his face was the one he’d worn in the shower when he’d looked at her like she was the only woman in the galaxy.

“Delilah.” His voice was rough, rougher than she’d ever heard it. “I⁠—“

“Don’t.” She pressed her fingers over his lips. “Don’t talk. Just… Don’t.”

She didn’t want to hear it. Words didn’t belong here, in the darkness between them. She didn’t want to hear excuses about his flirting with another woman. She didn’t want sorry, or politics, or it didn’t mean anything. And she definitely didn’t want to hear him say mine again. Not when it wasn’t true.

He nodded and didn’t say a word. Catching her wrist instead, he pulled her hand away from his mouth, and pulled her closer to kiss her again. His lips were softer this time, gentle. She shivered in his arms. It was the kind of kiss that took her apart at the seams.

So she kissed him back with everything she had, and the heat built fast and fierce between them. His hand found the strap at her shoulder and tugged once, and the dress gave way, unraveling down her body and pooling at her feet.