AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She didn’t think this was a case of no-friends-on-either-side or enemy-of-my-enemy at all. This seemed to her more like a victim trapped in a cage being tortured. Someone who had been surrounded by unfriendly people for so long, even the slightest hint of compassion was enough to push him over the brink her silence had driven him to.
And that really changed everything.
Chapter 6
Rane
This wasn’t supposed to happen.
He should be insulting her. He should be lashing out at her. Forcing her to keep away from him for her own good. Anything else was foolish. Everything else was dangerous. He couldn’t stand the thought of such a pretty, innocent thing being trapped by his mother as he was.
But the way she stared at him, those big, bright green eyes watching him so closely, hurt. It was like she was looking past all the lies and illusions and deceptions and seeing him. A person no one had seen, no one had cared to see, in too many years to count.
But she saw him. Just that easily. His derision, his anger, nothing touched her because she could see past all that.
And it was too painful to be seen. It was an unfamiliar agony. He couldn’t handle it, because if she could see him, but she rejected him, then that meant that she wasn’t seeing the stories in the media or the false reports, or even the true reports. She was rejecting him, and he didn’t think he would be able to tolerate something that personal and painful.
But she reached for him…
And her skin, her hand, was so soft and warm. So completely different from the velvety feathers of his mother’s strikes. She touched him like he was delicate. Like he might be the fragile creature between them.
Then, she spoke so sweetly. Whispered a consoling word to that broken person he struggled to keep hidden, and that was all it took.
Now, he grabbed onto her, soaking in her care and tender touches, having completely forgotten how nice it was to bear the touch of another without pain. Without disgust.
It just made him all the more desperate to get her away from here.
A sweet, compassionate creature like this would be destroyed by his mother.
They weren’t mated yet. She still had a chance to escape this place. Return to her home planet. She was only a citizen of his people, subjected to their laws, if she was mated. He could save her. He could protect her.
And maybe once she was gone, when this final, beautiful spark of light left his life, he’d finally have the courage to climb to the roof and jump.
Lifting his head, he looked up at her. She kept her hands on him, one on his head, the other on his back, her smile was soft, her eyes warm. She was the most beautiful creature he’d ever seen.
“You have to get out of here,” he whispered, voice broken, face tight with drying tears.
“Why?” She asked, finally speaking to him.
“My mother… You’re only here because she orchestrated it.”
“Yeah, I kind of figured that.”
“You’re human, right? You’re a protected species. Right? W-We just have to find which embassy is your protector, and they can take care of you. They’ll get you back home. They’ll save you from her. She can’t touch you if you’re there.”
Her head tilted curiously. “You want me gone that bad?”
“My mother will destroy you,” he gasped, hands clenching on her hips. “She’ll break you down. She’ll control you.”
“Like she does you”?
He flinched at the soft question. But he couldn’t deny its truth.
“I can’t get away.” He bowed his head, resting his forehead on her belly. Craving this unfamiliar warmth and comfort with a fierceness that choked him. “But you still can. Get away before you become trapped. Like me.”
“Ah…”
There was her hand again. Stroking over his crest. Soothing him in ways he didn’t deserve, but couldn’t force himself to give up.
