Page 68 of Saved By the Alien Hybrid (Hybrids of Yulaira #1)

Cordelia frowned at Rentir, crossing her arms over her chest at the strange shift in his energy over the last few days.

He’d been so giddy at first to be free of the Aurillon, but slowly, he’d sunk into a kind of depression.

She’d figured it was the result of losing his arm and Thalen’s sacrifice, but he kept shooting her pitiful, furtive looks when he thought she wasn’t paying attention.

Now, he dragged her out to the Gidalan in the early hours of the morning to… look mournfully at it?

“What is this?” she asked, turning away from the ship, gleaming blinding gold in the light of the rising sun.

He looked even sadder at the question. She walked over and pinched him in the side, making him jump and turn incredulous.

“What was that for?” he demanded, hiking his chin up.

“For being weird. What are we doing here, and why are you pouting at the stupid ship?”

He shifted on his feet, rubbing at the scarred shoulder of his missing arm—his new nervous habit.

“Fendar has been working on sifting through the readout of the Gidalan for the past few days,” he said to her boots. “I asked him to tell me if he believed it might be salvageable, and… it is.” He looked up at that, wincing a little as though he was bracing for a slap.

She shrugged. “Okay?”

His brows knitted together. “Well, it… it’s a long-distance ship. Fitted with a jump drive? And you are… standing on a planet filled with the fuel needed for any distance imaginable.”

She scratched the back of her head. “And?”

He huffed in frustration, throwing up his hand. “You could go home!” he half shouted. “We need only recover your ship and glean the coordinates from the black box. We… we can send you all home, Cordelia.”

Her eyes widened as a wave of cold shock rolled through her.

She could go home… to Earth? For a moment, she couldn’t help but consider it.

Two centuries had passed while they drifted.

Maybe they’d rebuilt and the planet was a utopia…

or maybe it was a barren crater plagued by radioactive storms. Tellefan’s comment during the final battle hadn’t inspired confidence that her people were thriving.

Even if she’d known for sure, one way or the other, would it have changed her decision?

She looked up at Rentir, who regarded her with perfect, stoic stillness, braced to hear the worst news of his life.

“Do I look like a liar to you?”

He blinked. “What?”

She stepped toe to toe with him, pinning him with a glare. “You think I’m not serious, is that it? My word doesn’t hold weight among the Lidaron?”

“I-I don’t…”

She jabbed him in the chest with one finger.

“Because if you believed me when I said that you’re stuck with me forever, you wouldn’t have that thunderstruck look on your face like I’m about to say, ‘Gosh, I’m so glad you found me a ride out of here.

It was getting so tiresome pretending to be wildly into you. I’m out!’”

He blinked again, and he looked so bewildered she couldn’t help but laugh.

Her arms threaded around his neck, and she dragged him down for a kiss.

He softened into it, parting his lips for her when her tongue begged entry.

His hand slid to the small of her back and fisted in her shirt, trembling in a way that made her heart ache.

“You’re so stupid,” she murmured against his lips.

“You don’t want to go?”

She pinched him again, and he yelped, drawing away from her. “Tell me what I told you.” Her fingers hovered in the air in an open threat. “Word for word. Right now.”

“I-I’m stuck with you,” he stammered, holding up his hand in a gesture of surrender.

“For…”

When she lunged at him, he sidestepped, his tail lashing out for balance.

“Forever!” he added quickly.

She feinted left and tackled him when he tried to dodge to the right, sending them both sprawling in the soft, silvery grass. Draping herself over him, she found his lips again, kissing him lazily until they were both hungry for air.

He gazed up at her with that achingly loving look that seemed plastered to his face at all times these days, pushing her hair back behind the curve of her ear.

“I’ll tell the others,” she said softly, nuzzling the tip of her nose against his. “They deserve to make their own choice, but I’m not going anywhere. I’m already home, Ren. It doesn’t get any better than this.”

Tears welled in his eyes, and though he blinked fast to clear them, one still spilled over.

Sweeping it away with her thumb, she pressed another kiss to his lips. “Why are you crying?” she murmured. “I’m staying.”

“I don’t know,” he said in a breathy voice. “I’ve never felt such a suffocating feeling of happiness. It’s very strange.”

She smiled broadly down at him. “I guess that’s what it’s like,” she mused, rolling to lie beside him, her head propped in her hand.

“What?”

“Love.”

His brows furrowed as his green eyes darted back and forth between hers.

“I love you, Rentir,” she said, wanting to say it clearly for him.

His eyes widened at the declaration, and he rolled over her, cradled between her thighs as he peppered kisses all over her face while she squirmed and laughed.

“I love you, too,” he said emphatically, chasing her with more ticklish kisses as she tried to cringe away. “I am yours, Cordelia.”

She planted her boot and bucked her hips to throw off his balance, rolling back on top of him and straddling his hips. “Of course you are,” she said haughtily, grinning down at him as she pinned his hand above his head.

“And you’re mine.” Again with the statement that sounded so much like a question.

She lowered her lips to his, just barely brushing them together. “Of course, I am.”

He sighed in relief, and she sank into him with a smile, kissing him like they had all the time in the world.