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She grinned at him. “We like to make things simple at My Single Alien. We make sure the path to finding your true love is an easy one.”

“It’s been simple so far,” Talyn said. “How shall we celebrate joining?”

She leaned back in her seat, a shiver of unease running down her spine. What did he mean by joining? “Everyone likes celebrating, but it’s a bit premature.” She looked at the port screen he held and licked her lips. “Is it okay if I have a copy of that document, so I have everything on hand?”

“Of course you can have a copy. It’s our binding contract. It’s the contract all mates sign when they join.”

Sinead’s heart leaped into her throat. “Say that again.”

Talyn tapped the screen. “This is the life mate contract. You just signed it.”

The room felt too warm. “I’ve just signed a contract that joined us together?”

Talyn nodded. “That’s what we came together for tonight. I signed the agreement with My Single Alien to accept you as my mate, and you signed the Lillip contract to join with me. We’re now together.”

Sinead swallowed as a wave of dizziness hit her. What had she just done?

Chapter 6

Talyn jumped back in his seat as Sinead leaped to her feet and stared at him.

“This is a mistake! I didn’t know what I was signing. We aren’t married.”

“No, not married as such. We don’t have marriage in our culture, but I understand your meaning. Essentially, it’s the same thing.”

“No, no, you don’t understand.” Sinead paced the room in bare feet and returned to stand by the table, her hands on her hips. “I didn’t know that’s what I was signing.”

“Wait, you didn’t think we were joining as mates?” Talyn rubbed his forehead. “What did you think we were doing?”

“Not getting married! I was signing you to My Single Alien, so you can find somebody. Not me. I didn’t expect to join with you. I’m here to induct you. I’m here to help you find true love.” Sinead groaned and thumped a hand against her forehead. “I’m not your true love.”

Talyn sucked in a breath as he saw the panic on her face. “No, you’re not my true love, at least not yet. But we have things in common, and we feed off each other.”

“Feed off each other? What does that mean?”

“It means you calm each other,” Booby said. “Life with Talyn isn’t a terrible choice. Talyn takes care of me. He treats me like an equal, even though I’m much smarter than him.”

“Not now, Booby,” Talyn said. “Sinead, sit down. I don’t understand the problem. You were happy to sign.”

“Not your marriage contract or whatever you call it. We’ve got things wrong.” She groaned before pacing backward and forward again.

“Please, calm yourself.” Despite Talyn having his defenses up, her frantic emotions were overwhelming. Every time she paced and muttered, his defenses slid down an inch and more of her thoughts filled his head.

Sinead was terrified and berating herself. There was also anger and confusion.

As her powerful emotions damaged Talyn’s barriers, other feelings snuck through. He pressed his palms over his eyes to try to shut things out. He couldn’t let his blocks fall. He couldn’t allow the energy from people nearby to fill him. It would damage his mind. And, as always, his mom’s voice was there. And it was getting stronger.

A hand touched his shoulder. “What’s wrong?”

He looked up to see Sinead’s eyes full of concern. “It’s you. You’re so full of life. So full of feeling. It impacts me.”

“Oh, I’m sorry.” Sinead let out a shaky breath. “This is a big deal. I’m in shock.”

“Take a moment to process this,” Booby said quietly. “Sinead, take a seat. It appears there’s been confusion over what you signed.”

“No kidding.” Sinead sat and grasped Talyn’s hand. “I know my thoughts can be panicky at times. I don’t mean to cause you pain. I’m calming down. I’m taking deep breaths.”

Talyn tried to speak, but he was still overwhelmed as he struggled to get his barriers into place.