Page 43 of The Alien Warrior's Mate

“Only mates can read each other’s thoughts, Korben. And to be frank, it is rather clear what you are thinking. It is exactly what any Plutonian with a mate is thinking.” Rune pulled more wires out of Enthara. “Have you claimed Sah-ah yet?”

“I’m waiting to speak with her first,” Korben admitted.

“And then?”

“We will see.”

“Humans are delicate creatures.”

“I’m aware.”

“You cannot be rough the first time.”

Korben squirmed. “I am perfectly capable of providing pleasure to my female without your advice.”

Rune studied him up and down. “You will break her. Your eagerness is obvious.”

“Should I break your skull, Rune?”

“You can try, but then your zapten will remain powerless.”

Korben gritted his teeth.

Rune laughed. “Self-restraint is the right path, but sun cycles of repression does not allow for a gentle introduction to our mating. It is simply a caution. Mating with a human is… very different. Simply touching Ga Eun charges my body and makes it hard to control myself.”

“I know that feeling well.” Korben thought back to the moments when Sara fearlessly groped him on the sand. “I am not waiting because I want to. If I had my way I would…” He cleared his throat. “I want her. Very much. But it is our way to make sure we’ve chosen the right mate first.”

“This is prudent. Forever is a long time,” Rune agreed.

“I want to give Sah-ah the chance to choose me. All of me. As I’ve chosen her.”

Rune turned back to Enthara. “You would protect her with your life.”

“I would.”

“She will accept you,” Rune said as if it were a foregone conclusion.

Korben hoped so. He sensed that Sah-ah would agree to take his length. She had seemed quite eager as he’d used his tongue to stroke her, yet still he could not be sure. Humans were so complex. He feared that she would reject him, and it bothered him immensely as he was finding it harder and harder to live without her.

Even now, Korben’s chest ached being away from Sah-ah. He’d been with the human every moment since stealing her from the beluda. Having her out of sight made him feel like something was deeply missing.

A hand clamped over his shoulder. “Thatdoes not get easier.”

“What?” He glanced over at Rune.

“Missing her. Give it time. She will take up even more space in your heras. My Ga Eun,” Rune hooked Enthara up to a large machine that began to whirr and blink, “has become my entire world. She amazes me every moment I draw breath. I had heard the stories the elders spoke of a time before the Red Death, but I never imagined it could be this way in my life.”

Korben sighed. Would he get to speak so confidently and dearly about Sah-ah? Would she still be as receptive to him when they spoke for the first time? Would their passion still burn as it had when he parted her thighs?

Korben wanted to give her a home of her own.

A home with him.

But if she ever found out the true reason he was in the beluda, it would destroy everything.

“I am glad that you have decided to protect the humans,” Rune said. “It makes this next question easier to ask.”

“What question?”