Luna’s Alien Mates

Chapter 6

Vallyn

The night was quiet, broken only by the distant hum of insects in the dark canopy. Vallyn had finally allowed his weary body to rest, though sleep never came easily to a warrior. He lived always half on guard, his instincts sharpened by years of training and duty. But tonight, something strange tugged at him—a pull he could neither name nor resist.

He did not sense her until she was already there, close enough that the faint warmth of her hand brushed the air above his skin. His breath stirred, catching in his throat as his eyes opened. How could he not have felt her? No shift in the air, no warning scent, no whisper of sound had alerted him. She was simply there, the little human female with eyes that never stopped questioning and lips that carried strange words like music.

Why now? Why did she reach for him when the moon was high and the clan slept?

He had been ready, in his heart, for rejection tonight. Ready for her to cast him aside as so many females had done with warriors unworthy of bond or bloodline. Vallyn had braced himself to walk the lonely path of a rejected male. But he had not been ready for her touch. For the silent question lingering in her fingers as they hovered so close to his face.

His chest tightened, fear and yearning twisting into something dangerous. If she touched him now, would it break him? Would it awaken what should never be awakened between them?

“I’m sorry, your hair is just really…” Her voice trailed off, her strange tongue hesitating.

Really what? Vallyn rose too quickly, towering to his full height, and glanced toward the hut. Axoh had stirred, his sharp eyes catching the scene instantly, already alert, already protective of the female entrusted to them.

The woman—Luna—looked between them with a face drawn in confusion and apology. Her brows pulled together in a way that seemed almost childlike, though her gaze carried more strength than most warriors he had met. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to frighten you, Vallyn. I only wanted to…to feel your hair.”

Relief loosened the knot inside him, though only barely. She wanted to touch his hair. Not banish him. Not shame him. Just a fleeting, harmless curiosity. But harmless was never what it seemed when it came to bonds and scents and bloodlines. If her fingers slipped into his hair, what would happen? Would his body betray him? Would his heart?

He stepped back before she could test his restraint.

“You may touch your chosen’s hair when they arrive, female Luna,” Axoh said firmly, his tone carrying the weight of law.

The translator hanging by her side repeated the words, making her blink and nod slowly, though a trace of disappointment flickered across her face.

Moments later, she announced in her open, strange way, “I’m going to pee out here. In the woods. Just over there. Is that okay?”

Vallyn gave a stiff nod, already moving to follow her. She turned abruptly, pointing her small hand—first at his chest, then rising until her finger was almost at his face.

“No, big guy. You stay there.” Then she jabbed her finger toward the hut, commanding as if she were the daughter of a queen.

“She does not wish to be watched while she urinates, Vallyn,” Axoh murmured, his eyes glinting with restrained amusement.

Vallyn bit back a growl of frustration as the female marched off farther than he liked. His instincts screamed at the distance. She was prey to any danger that prowled, and his duty, his need, was to guard.

“She slips past my senses,” Vallyn admitted quietly. “It is as if the warrior blood in me fails when she is near. Her scent clouds my mind. She came so close I did not even wake until the air of her hand brushed my lips. If she touched me, Axoh… I feared it would make me a rejected male. I feared it would break me.”

But even as he spoke, danger stirred. Shadows rustled in the trees. He felt them—unwelcome males watching, waiting.

He was running before he thought, crashing through the undergrowth toward Luna. She gasped, scrambling upright as he shielded her with his body.

“Quickly, female Luna. Warriors approach.”

Her small sound—half squeak, half frightened cry—tightened something deep in his chest as she fumbled with her strange coverings. He blocked her with his frame, scanning the canopy above.

“I am Vallyn of Clan Zaali,” he called out, his voice carrying the authority of the pack. “Who goes there?”

Outcasts. He felt their presence, two males cloaked in dishonor. Outcasts never approached unless they sought to take what was not theirs. His body coiled with tension, every muscle ready to fight.

“This female has been chosen. Come no nearer, unless you mean to challenge me.”

For long moments, silence pressed around them. Then the shadows retreated, their footsteps swallowed by the forest.

He turned, his gaze falling on the trembling woman at his back. So small. So breakable. And yet, so brave to look up at him with wide, steady eyes.

“You are safe with me, female Luna,” he murmured, breaking the rules of his rank by speaking such words. “I will allow no harm to come to you.”

The truth burned in his chest like fire. He longed to comfort her, not only with words but with the touch of a male who could claim, protect, and cherish. Her scent, rich and intoxicating, pulled at instincts he had long buried. No female of his kind had ever smelled like this.

But it was impossible. He would not be chosen. He could not be hers.

Morning broke through the fog as they walked, her strange pack of belongings slung across his shoulders. She had not complained once, though her small legs worked harder than any warrior’s stride.

When he offered her a rest, she gave him a tired smile. “I told you, it’s Luna. You don’t need to call me female. I already know what I am.”

He found he liked the way she bristled when he ignored this request. Her voice, her laughter, the way she stamped her little feet—it stirred something dangerous inside him.

“And I told you,” she added with a laugh that made his heart stumble, “don’t call it urinate.”

He tried again, clumsy in her tongue. “Do you wish to…pee?”

Her laughter rang like music. He found himself smiling despite the ache in his chest.

By the time they reached the next clan hut, the air had shifted. Her chosen was waiting. The male stepped forward, arms open, claiming before the ritual, before the law allowed.

“You may come to me, my female,” the male said. “I am your chosen.”

Vallyn’s hands curled into fists at his sides. He was dismissed with a single glance, cast back into the shadows where he belonged. But Luna’s eyes—those strange, bright eyes—hesitated. They flicked to Vallyn, searching, questioning.

And in that fleeting moment, Vallyn knew.

Whatever fate had written, however laws would bind them, something dangerous and unbreakable had already begun to grow between them.