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“I wished on the first star on the midsummer’s night just like daddy always said,” Lily replied. “The best and most sincere wishes are sure to be granted that night.”

“And you wished for two aliens?”

“No,” Lily admitted. “But I did wish that we would not be alone… and now here they are.”

Delilah’s brow furrowed. There seemed to be to it that Lily wasn’t saying but the innocent smile that her daughter directed at her, but she wasn’t overly concerned. If wishes did anything, then her husband would never have died in the woods, abandoning them. Without even a burial to grieve over, there had been nothing but pain and loss, and a big, ugly wound that never healed right since he disappeared. And then the gossip of more terrible possibilities that he hadn’t died but had chosen to abandon everyone, including his wife and daughter, to escape the burden of his life there. And unfortunately, that rang truer than the story she comforted herself with.

That gossip still haunted her—imagining the possibility that he was still out there, living well while she struggled alone with their daughter. She made sure that Lily never heard the ugly rumors, but her own heart ached from the possibility. There were times that she wished that his body had turned up mangled and half-rotten so that she could put it in the ground and be done with it.

But just as she wasn’t about to destroy her daughter’s faith and love in her father, she wasn’t going to ruin her belief in wishing stars.

“Well then, if time shows that your star sent them to us, then we will have to thank the stars, won’t we?” she replied, and Lily nodded earnestly.

She smiled outwardly as she turned her mind toward preparing the meal and pretended like her heart wasn’t aching all the more now. It became an easier charade to pull off as her daughter’s questions and observations filled the space between them. Delilah kept the smile on her face as she replied, but deep inside, she wondered about the aliens and about the fate of her missing husband.

Chapter

Five

Agrel watched for the female as he went about his day. He sometimes caught glimpses of her as the days passed since their first meeting, but he made no further attempts to approach her. But he certainly watched her. He longed for the moments he caught a glimpse of her. He recognized that his guarding instinct was already engaged. That was what made him want to hover attentively nearby whenever she was walking through the town or in the overgrown fields. He was as careful as possible to reduce his chances of being seen, but there were many times when she suddenly straightened, and her head turned his way, that he was almost certain that she knew he was there.

He did not care what Gehj said, he was certain that there was no male. He had seen no signs of a male in the village or around her, not even from a distance. There was certainly no one to stop him from perching on the roof and admiring the way the sunlight poured through her clothes, revealing the beautiful shadow of her female body beneath.

The roof briefly vibrated as Gehj dropped down and lowered himself into a crouch. Agrel watched him from the cornerof his eye and smirked as he observed the way his ahaku’s eyes narrowed with interest on the female. The male’s wings trembled for but a moment before he wrenched his gaze away to pierce Agrel with an annoyed look.

“When you said that you were going hunting, this is not what I had in mind,” Gehj observed drily.

Agrel shrugged, unconcerned. “I did that, too. The meat is currently smoking. But I must admit that this hunt is far more interesting.”

Gehj sighed and sank down onto the roof beside him. “This is foolish. If she has a mate?—”

A derisive snort escaped Agrel. As much as he respected his ahaku, this was getting tiring. “What male? Have you seen any male since we arrived?”

“He could be in the woods,” Gehj protested, but he said it weakly, clearly not even believing it himself.

Agrel shook his head. “If he was in the woods hunting, he would have returned by now. He would not be absent so long that there is no trace of his presence. No male would be gone for so long unless he was?—”

“Dead. Or willingly abandoned them,” Gehj finished with a sigh.

Agrel gave a curt nod, his gaze sliding back to the female. She was all alone with her nestling, and that was aggressively triggering his instincts. He recognized that fact and made no effort to fight against it.

“Do you think a human male would truly abandon his mate and nestling?” he asked as he returned to studying her. “Would it not be more logical to assume that he is dead, and that is why he has not returned?”

He would prefer to believe that. The idea of an unknown male abandoning the female that captivated him oddly rankled,even though it still provided an opening for their claim. It pained him to think of them being hurt in such a way.

“They are not Atlavan,” Gehj unnecessarily reminded him. “We do not know how their males treat their mates. Even among our own species, it is not unheard of for a deviant male to abandon his nest. We cannot discount the possibility.”

Agrel’s heart sank, but he inclined his head in agreement. It was a possibility that they could not ignore. Not that it would change the outcome. If the male attempted to interfere, he would be dealt with in the harshest terms possible. And he was nothing if not an inventive male.

“It does not matter. We are here now,” he replied, pointedly ignoring his ahaku’s sigh.

“And if she does not want us?”

They would broach that problem when they arrived at it. He was not going to think so pessimistically. They still had time. His gaze drifted over the female and the field lazily, imagining what it might be like to gather food at her side. Of course, the mountains would be far safer than the wretched village. There would be no forest hiding murderous wildlife and plenty of space for a male to stretch out his wings. His sharp gaze shifted as the tall, overgrown grass just behind her seemed to shift unnaturally. The movement was slight, but not insignificant. Something other than himself was hunting her. Without a word, he stretched out his wings and launched himself from the roof, ignoring Gehj’s questioning coo.

The grass shifted again, and a hint of fur very briefly became visible before it was concealed once more. Blood going cold, Agrel beat his wings faster, his entire body growing taut as he aligned his position with it. He did not recognize the predator as one they had encountered, but it was a predator, nonetheless. Folding his wings, he dropped silently from the sky, his claws lengthening into talons in preparation for the kill. The stalks ofgrain whipped as he crashed down into them, his talons going for the creature stalking his female.

A shout rose from behind him, and he rose his wings defensively, reeling, as a woven basket came down on his head and back repeatedly.