Claimed by the Alien Bodyguard - Tiffany Roberts Page 0,66

My friend, Astius…he was assassinated by members of his own family. They tried to implicate me for his death, and I…I avenged him. It was all I knew how to do. Another family member took power in the aftermath. They were grateful for what I had done, but there was still a faction of traitors left behind who had insulated themselves within a rival organization. They put a bounty on my head.

“So, the new leadership helped me escape. Set me up to go somewhere else. Astius always talked about a different kind of life, an honest life, without all the illicit activity and whatever. Thought about that a lot after he was gone. Was still thinking about it when I found my way here.”

Broxen combed his claws through her hair and stroked the back of his finger along her jaw. “And when I saw you…for the first time, a different life really seemed possible.”

Gabriela’s fingers curled slightly into his shirt. His touch was so soothing, so calming, but it didn’t quell her spark of unease. “But you’re safe now, right? No one will come here looking for you to get the bounty? No one will find…us?”

Find Ana.

He shifted his hand and brushed the pad of his thumb over her cheek. “No one will find us. You and Ana are safe with me, Gabriela. I will never hurt either of you, and I’ll tear apart anyone or anything that tries to harm you.”

“I believe you.” Gabby reached up and cupped his jaw, grinning. “I really shouldn’t be turned on by that, but I am.”

The corner of his mouth tilted up; the expression was all the more devilish given his true appearance. His tail coiled just a little tighter, and its tip slipped under the hem of her pant leg to stroke her bare skin. “And how about the tail?”

A shiver coursed through her. “There are so many naughty things going through my head right now.”

His grin stretched wide as he chuckled. He slid his hands down to grasp her ass. “My bloodthirsty, lusty mate.”

Gabriela’s clit pulsed. “Oh, just kiss me.”

With a growl, Broxen pulled her against him and slanted his mouth down over hers, claiming her lips in a ravenous kiss that stole her breath and made her toes curl.

Sixteen

Nakonin, the city on Turata in which Broxen had spent his whole life before coming to Earth, was an urban sprawl of towering, oppressive buildings and dark streets that served as a home to tens of millions of people. It was the kind of place where there’d been activity at all times of day and night, where hundreds of species and cultures slammed together into something that was sometimes amazing and often violent.

Boise was barely a city in comparison. It had the sprawl, as there’d been plenty of room for the humans to expand outward, but it lacked the urban. Even by Earth standards, it was a small, lightly populated city. Not even half a million people lived here as far as he knew.

But right now, two days before Christmas, it felt like the most crowded place in the entire damned universe.

The drive from McCall had been quiet, and Highway Fifty-five, which wound down along the Payette River for much of its course, had been thankfully clear of ice and snow. It had allowed him time to think. Though he hadn’t wanted to reveal the truth of who and what he was to Gabriela and Ana like that, he didn’t regret instinctually dropping the holoshroud’s illusions. He’d done it to save them.

Things could have gone differently in so many ways, could have gone terribly, but they hadn’t…and both his females had accepted the truth with an ease he could never have predicted. That left him feeling better than he ever had in his life. They saw him for what he was, and they weren’t afraid. They weren’t put off.

More than ever, he felt like they were a real family.

He had trouble believing he’d only taken Ana and Gabriela into his home four days ago; he felt like they’d been there forever, like they belonged there.

But that quiet, simple drive changed as he’d neared the tiny town of Horseshoe Bend, where there were suddenly more cars on the road. The traffic had only worsened from there, hitting its peak as he entered Boise.

The stoplight ahead—where he needed to turn into the mall parking lot—had gone through two full cycles since he’d taken his place in the line of vehicles. It seemed to allow