Taken by the Alien Next Door (Aliens Among Us #1) - Tiffany Roberts Page 0,116

There was a seriousness in her gaze now. She reached up and brushed her thumb over his bottom lip, running it back and forth. “I love you, Zevris.”

Heat blossomed in his chest and spread outward, and suddenly his every nerve was alight, hypersensitive to every spot his skin was touching hers. The weight and feeling behind those simple words were immense.

He knew humans tended to throw that word, love, around freely—often enough in some cases to dilute its meaning. But he knew that wasn’t what Tabitha was doing. She’d never said those words to him before now, and though she’d given him countless meaningful looks, though she’d spoken to him so often with honesty and conviction, he’d never seen so much emotion and solemnity in her eyes.

Love was not a concept unique to humans; falorans had a term that represented the same thing, that carried the same weight. He didn’t need the translations loaded into his neural transceiver to decipher the meaning of this. He didn’t need to watch human entertainment to puzzle it out. Love was exactly what he felt for Tabitha.

It was…everything.

Cupping the back of her head, Zevris lifted his own and captured Tabitha’s lips with his. He poured everything he felt for her into that kiss, charged it with all those powerful, complex emotions, with all the longings, desires, hopes, and fears that he harbored inside himself but could not fully voice. His heart thundered and his pulse pounded. Unbidden, his cock twitched, but he ignored it.

When he finally broke the kiss, his lips were tingling, and his breath was ragged. He met her gaze and held it. “I love you too, Tabitha.”

The smile that lit on her face outshone every star. It was more beautiful than any smile from anywhere across the entirety of time and space.

He dragged her back down to lay beside him, tucking her against his side with her head resting on his shoulder.

She rubbed her cheek against his shoulder and was quiet for a time before asking, “What now? It’s been four weeks. What happens from here?”

Zevris frowned. His mind had turned to that question repeatedly over the last month, but he’d not allowed himself to dwell upon it for long. “Honestly, Tabitha…I don’t know. I was assigned a specific mission. In theory, my involvement would end once my objectives are complete.”

She tensed against him. “So, what? Either I have a baby and you leave…or I don’t, and you leave?”

“No,” he growled, clutching her tighter against him. “No. I will remain on Earth regardless, Nykasha. No matter my orders, whether we have a child together or not, my place is here. With you. That is never going to change, Tabitha. You have my vow on that.”

“What about your people, your mission? The…the military? Won’t they come?”

“If it comes down to my having to defy orders, yes. They will. But I have spent half my life eluding detection by a great many military forces, and I know all the methods my people would employ. They would never find us. I don’t believe it will come to that, though, Tabitha. The mating bond is a sacred thing to my people.”

Tabitha’s body relaxed. “And we are bound. So they won’t take you from me. Does our bond…guarantee that we’re compatible to…have a baby?”

Zevris slid his hand to her belly. Even now, his seed could be taking root inside her, growing something precious and rare—a child. Their child. Just the thought of her carrying his baby had his cock throbbing anew with the need to be inside her, to ensure that she was filled with his seed again and again, that she had every possible chance to conceive.

“No. But our people cannot reproduce without a mating bond in place, and we have been able to make that bond with no other species before. And our scientists have said your kind and mine are genetically compatible. There is no guarantee, and I do not wish to give you false hope…but I think the chances are strong.”

She settled her hand over his, squeezing it gently. “Good. I’ve kinda…well, I’ve really grown attached to the idea.”

Zevris’s tongue slipped out and ran across his lips as her words pooled molten desire in his loins.

Tabitha sighed and slid her leg down his body. Freed from her thigh, his cock sprang up immediately. He hissed through his teeth.

“Do…you want me to help with that?” she asked, gesturing toward it.

“No,” he said with a chuckle. “I’ll survive this time, and you need rest.