“Because I asked you.”
He didn’t see the point, but he opened his mouth anyway. “I love you. You’re my true mate and it’s going to kill me to give you up.”
Her hand went to her chest. “So why are you?”
Cohn lifted his head and turned to face her. She looked so small and vulnerable standing there. She had on the clothes his mother had bought for her. The warm pink snowsuit and matching boots looked good against her skin coloring. The bottom half of her dark hair curled, sprouting underneath her hat. Her eyes were soft and filled with concern and she was doing that thing she did when she got nervous, chewing her bottom lip.
“Because I have no choice. The officials are asking whoever you choose to reimburse them the funds it took to bring you from Earth and all of your upkeep they’ve paid for since your arrival. I can’t afford that. Even if I could, the officials wouldn’t take my money. Every male on the list provided to you is well connected, whether it be politically or financially. The officials are being controlled by other people, powerful people. I don’t qualify.”
He’d kept himself up last night going around and around in his head, trying to find a way to get on her list. He’d even called Ram and Zephon and asked for their advice. Both of his friends had offered him the money he needed, but as he’d told Daliya, that was only a part of it.
There was nothing he could do and it pained him to think about that.
Daliya narrowed her eyes. He put up his hands. “I’ve thought about it long and hard. Don’t get mad at me.”
She stormed past him and at the end of the hallway, where she could either go left or right, she went left.
“Other way!” he called out to her. Daliya corrected her path and went the right way. He caught up to her. “See? I told you there was no reason to talk about it. There’s nothing we can do.”
She went through the doors that he was sure she’d recognized from the day before. Sitting on the panel were the same officials. Cohn gave them a nod as he approached the chair meant for Daliya. However, she didn’t sit in it. She went straight to the officials. They exchanged confused glances. One of them motioned at the empty chair. “You may have a seat.”
“Not needed,” she simply stated. “I made my decision.”
Another official raised her hand. “We’ve amended the list of suitors to include—”
Daliya raised her own hand, cutting off the official. “I choose Cohn. I don’t care what any of you have to say about it and I don’t care if he isn’t on your precious list. He’s mine. You can object, complain, whatever, but the truth is that this is my choice. Not yours. I accepted the first mate chosen for me. That’s it. You guys don’t get to choose or force someone else on me.”
Cohn stood slack jawed, surprised this small human was standing up to the officials.
Daliya thumbed at Cohn over her shoulder. “So, I’m going to walk out of here with him. Got it?”
An official cleared her throat. Daliya swung her gaze in that direction.
“As we were about to tell you. We’ve amended the list of candidates. Enforcer Cohn Achene has been added.”
Cohn could’ve sworn his jaw hit the floor. His name had been added? “H-how?”
Daliya turned to him, looking just as surprised as he was.
“Zephon has threatened to remove his support and funding for the program and Ramliel has created a blockade on the space station. His fleet has taken up the entire station. No other transports can get on. They’ve both threatened retaliation unless you were added.”
“Oh,” was all Cohn could say. They’d done all this for him?
Daliya slapped her hands together. “Well, good.”
She turned on her heels and started for the door. When he didn’t immediately follow because he was still pondering the actions his friends had taken and Daliya’s outburst, she turned to face him. “Oh, no, baby. After all that fuss I just made over you? You’re coming with me.”
Cohn, finally snapping out of his stupor, thumbed toward Daliya and smiled. “I’m going home with my mate.”
She pulled her eyebrows together. “That brings up an interesting question. Where do we live?”
Cohn laughed. He made his way to her and pulled her flush against him. He held her close and rested his cheek on the top of her head. “You never told me if you loved me back.”
She grabbed his shirt. “I love you back. Now take me home so we can break in your bed.”
Chapter Fifteen
Sweat dripped from Daliya’s hairline, down her forehead and precariously close to her eyelid. She tried to blink it away but only seemed to make the droplet spread.
“It’s so hot,” she complained and dragged her forearm across her face. It only gave her a few seconds of relief before sweat beaded on her skin again.
“Here,” Cohn said from behind her. There was a tug on her back then lightness as the weight she carried was lifted. “I’ll take her.”
“I can finish the trail with her on my back,” Daliya said half-heartedly. She stretched her muscles already thankful to be relieved of the weight her infant daughter had put on her back.
Cohn smirked and strapped Lani, their daughter, to his chest. Lani cooed and kicked, preferring the height Cohn provided and being able to see what was in front of her. Daliya had tried to carry Lani like Cohn, but at five months old, she weighed as much as a human toddler. Daliya struggled to keep up a good pace as it was.
This was their first hiking trip since having the baby. Cohn wouldn’t let her go before the all clear was given by the doctor. She’d been given clearance to workout at home, but she wasn’t allowed near a decent trail. Walking with Lani strapped to her back around the neighborhood wasn’t nearly the same as walking through a tropical jungle on a narrow pathway, under the scorching heat, lungs burning.
And Daliya loved every minute of it.
“My mother would’ve watched her while we went out.”
“I know, I know but I wanted to experience my first time out again with Lani.”
Cohn pulled Daliya close. She had to angle her head up to look at him. Luckily, she wasn’t tall enough for Lani’s kicking feet to connect with the top of Daliya’s head.
“We have many, many years left to go hiking with Lani. It’s alright to leave her behind sometimes. My mother and father adore her and are happy to have a grandchild.”
Daliya played with one of Lani’s kicking feet. “I just love her so much and I want her to experience everything with me.”
Daliya hadn’t known having a baby would feel this intense. She’d always thought overprotective mothers were a pain in the ass. Yet, here she was, enamored with a half-alien baby she would bring down an entire planet to protect.
They’d become pregnant with Lani a few months after their official bonding ceremony. The pregnancy had progressed well and at the end of a slightly longer than normal for human gestational period, her beautiful baby was born via c-section because ain’t no way was she going to vaginally give birth to a child as big as Lani had been. She also wasn’t going to get her insides ripped out in the process.
Daliya had been on bedrest for most of her pregnancy, not exercising, and not moving or doing the things she loved and kept her happy.
Cohn tugged her off the path. “Come with me. I want to show you something.”
Daliya followed him. He cut a way for them through the trees, finally coming to a stop. Daliya made it through the last clearing and to where he stood, waiting for her, and her jaw dropped. They were close to a cliff.
Daliya glanced out at the scenery and couldn’t believe her eyes. Lush trees and greenery was everywhere. There were colorful plants and flowers, looking very much like a rainbow. The sun was setting and a bright orange and blue splashed across the sky. Daliya caught her breath.
“This is beautiful, Cohn.”
Cohn hugged her to him and Daliya melted at his side, knowing this was where she belonged and would stay forever. “Not as beautiful a
s you.”
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About A.M. Griffin
A. M. Griffin is a wife who rarely cooks, mother of three, dog owner (and sometimes dog owned), a daughter, sister, aunt and friend. She’s a hard worker whose two favorite outlets are reading and writing. She enjoys reading everything from mystery novels to historical romances and of course fantasy romance. She is a believer in the unbelievable, open to all possibilities from mermaids in our oceans and seas, angels in the skies and intelligent life forms in distant galaxies.
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Cohn: The Teague Bride Experiment: Intergalactic Dating Agency Page 11