Page 86 of The Alien Warrior's Heart

It was a hollow life, but it kept her from thinking about the scars on her soul.

Zar did the same thing and she chewed him out for it.

He’d needed her love and she gave him her bitterness and insecurities instead.

Regret pounded through her, raging with the force of a storm. Simone wouldn’t be able to live with herself if she lost the chance to tell Zar that she was sorry. To tell him that he was the first person who made her feel protected and loved.

That she would never leave him.

Never.

“I see something!” Korben yelled, pointing the zapten down and nose-diving toward a grove of blue, leafy trees.

Simone’s heart jumped to her throat when she saw Garbas. His usually gleaming silver panels were dirty and scratched. In some places, they were completely dented in.

Zar was an excellent rider. She’d spent hours on his zapten and he’d never lost control to the point that he would crash.

Earlier, Sara had told her that all Plutonian males treasured their zaptens as they were handed down from father to son. If Zar’s zapten looked like that then Zar was probably worse off.

But where was he?

The moment Korben landed, she ran to Zar’s dented machine. Her eyes swept the trees as Simone searched desperately for her mate.

A disturbance in the bush to her right caught her attention.

A second later, Zar appeared.

He saw her and his eyes widened. “Si-Moon.”

“Zar.” The word escaped on a whisper.

He’s okay.

Her eyes ran down his long hair and dark blue skin. The violet eyes that could hold her spellbound. The straight nose. The plump lips that could suck and caress. The broad shoulders that carried the world. The tattoos. The strong legs. The tail.

He’s fine.

There wasn’t a scratch on him.

“Zar!” Simone ran to her mate, arms pumping at her sides and throat pulsing from a lump of emotions. She slammed into him, throwing her arms around his neck and hanging on tight.

Her heart was turning over with relief, turmoil and confusion. Eclipsing all those feelings was a love so fierce and bright that it shook her like a rag doll.

Simone didn’t care that Zar was an alien.

She didn’t care that his skin was blue or that he had a tail.

She didn’t care that she needed a neural implant just to understand what he was speaking to her.

She loved him.

She loved him so much that it took her breath away.

She loved him because he protected her.

Because he was the first person to get her to talk about her past.

Because he was the first to make her feel like someone special.