Possessive Alien Mate(Savage Martians #2) - Sue Mercury Page 0,28

a human female as a bride. But now he would not trade Tyra for all the riches in the universe. She was his precious female and she was growing on him more and more each day.

He stared across the dinner table at her and smiled when she met his eyes. She returned his smile and then took another bite of the pasta dish she’d prepared for dinner. She’d made something called spaghetti and meatballs in the food replicator and though he’d never tried Earth food before, he found he liked it very much. And as he held her gaze, he finally grasped the depth of his former loneliness. Gods, how could he have been so foolish as to believe he didn’t want or need a mate? It wasn’t natural for a Marttiaxoxalian male to live out his days alone.

His wrist comm buzzed and he glanced down at the message, just to ensure his presence wasn’t needed at the palace. He was due to return to his guard duties tomorrow, but if there was an emergency he would not hesitate to fulfill his pledge to protect the king as well as Marttiaxoxalian interests.

He frowned at the message. It wasn’t from his guard unit or the palace, but it was a message from the Martian Affairs office in Bismarck, the city Tyra had called home. The clerk’s message indicated that Tyra’s uncle already had a functioning video comm installed in his home and claimed his comm number had been active for over fifteen years.

He glanced up at Tyra as he allowed his utensil to clatter on the table. He swallowed hard and glared at her. She had lied to him. But why? The message also included the comm number of Tyra’s uncle. Perhaps Rem could contact her relative and demand an explanation.

But no. He ought to interrogate his mate first. Find out why she’d lied to his face. A growl built in his throat and he noticed her fidgeting as she looked at him. Her face then went pale.

“Is-is something wrong, Rem? You, um, you look angry.”

“Finish your meal,” he said in a sharp tone, his happiness from moments ago evaporating. “After dinner, I want you to go to our bedroom and wait for me. We have something to discuss.”

Her eyes filled with worry, but she nodded and slowly took several more bites of spaghetti. He rose and started clearing the table.

“I-I can help with that,” she said, reaching for a plate.

“No, go upstairs.” His fury was steadily building. He had the sudden urge to grab her and shake her and demand she spill her secrets, but he refrained from rushing around the table to accost her. He needed some time to calm down before he confronted her with the proof of her lies.

She turned and hurried out of the dining room.

Fluxx. How could he ever trust her now? What would possess her to lie to him about her uncle owning a video comm? If she didn’t wish to contact her relatives on Earth, he didn’t understand why she wouldn’t just say so. Instead, she had lied.

Had she lied to him about anything else?

He finished clearing the dining room table, tossed the dishes into the refresher, and wiped down the kitchen with angry movements.

With a growl of frustration, he stalked upstairs to find his errant mate.

Why was Rem angry with her?

Tyra paced back and forth over the rug in the center of their bedroom, racking her brain as she tried to understand what she might’ve done to upset him. It was possible he was mad about something that didn’t have anything to do with her, but given the furious way he’d glared at her, she had a horrible suspicion that she’d done something to incur his wrath.

She replayed the last few days. They’d enjoyed time on the palace grounds and he’d even introduced her to the king and his mate, a human woman named Esmay. Yesterday, they had taken their midday meal in the banquet hall with dozens of other guards, royal dignitaries, and others who lived in the palace. It had been clear to her after meeting several guards that many were surprised by Rem’s decision to take a mate, though she didn’t understand why.

Rem had become angry with her twice during her first day as his mate—first, when she had behaved too cordially to the purple males they met in the forest (in his opinion, anyway), and second, when he’d glimpsed the picture of her father in her locket and