by Mel Teshco
Amanda exhaled harshly. “Then I’m guessing that’s also what scratched your arm.” At Marissa’s nod she looked pointedly at Asher. “Not exactly the world’s greatest boyfriend, are you?”
On his planet a declaration like that would be considered treason. But he hated that he agreed, even as he doubted his most loyal subject would step in and defend him as adamantly as Marissa.
“It’s hardly his fault alien asshats want what he and his people have.”
Amanda cocked an eyebrow. “I don’t really know what you’re talking about, nor do I want to know. Just ... let’s get you to your bathroom. Once you’re showered and clean I can soak that wound with antiseptic. And there are still plenty of clothes in your bedroom closet.”
Asher stepped toward them and Amanda turned back to him. “Don’t worry, I’m not about to report you to the authorities. Not this time. I know you’ve got Marissa’s best interests at heart ... despite her appearance.”
Asher held himself back, his eyes on Marissa the whole way as she walked upstairs with Amanda right by her side.
“Well,” Reginald said into the taut silence. “I think this calls for an early drink.” He headed toward a bar that was hidden behind the staircase. “Something strong to settle the nerves.”
Asher accepted the drink, but his mind wasn’t on Reginald’s halfhearted attempts then at chitchat, he was too busy listening out for trouble. Marissa wasn’t yet fully healed, and was therefore vulnerable. He couldn’t let himself be sidetracked and not hear enemies approach until it was too late.
After a few more minutes of talking to himself, the older man gave up the pretense of conversation and stared moodily into his drink. But then he cleared his throat and lifted his head. “You know, there’s a lot you could be hiding from Marissa, but I get the sense you’ve told her more than Luke ever did.”
Asher’s interest revived in a rush. “You’re right. She knows everything she should about me now. If it wasn’t for the Tantonics, I believe I could make her very happy.”
Reginald nodded. “Much as it grieves me to admit it, I think you’re right. In fact, even with those aliens and the government people after you, I’d say you’d still make her happier than Luke ever did.”
Asher’s throat thickened and his voice sounded hoarse when he acknowledged, “I’d do anything for her.”
“I believe you would.” Reginald took a sip of his amber liquid. “I mightn’t know you all that well, but I’m an astute man. And my guess is you’re far worthier of my daughter than the man she thought she loved.”
“I’m honored you think that.”
“Luke was a snake,” Reginald said darkly. “He worked in the accounts department for a string of my companies, until he was caught recording false numbers and redirecting the money into his own bank account.”
“Marissa didn’t know?”
Reginald shook his head. “He’d been seeing my daughter for three months by that stage. The moment Luke knew he’d been caught, he withdrew what money he could and did a runner, dragging Marissa with him on the pretense of saving her from me.”
Asher’s hands fisted. Marissa had been taken advantage of in the worst way.
Reginald exhaled noisily. “The bastard then threatened to harm Marissa if I alerted the police, or tried to persuade her to come home.”
Asher’s gut churned. The jerk had pretended to love Marissa just to save his own hide. How had Marissa fallen in love with a man like that?
“I was a complete wreck,” Reginald admitted. “But everything got a whole lot worse when Luke bribed me for money. A few days before his accident, he asked for a million dollars to send Marissa home. If he didn’t get it he threatened to marry her, and we’d never see her again—“
The stairs creaked and a freshly showered Marissa in a gorgeous white lacy dress stilled on the bottom step. Her face paled and her eyes glittering with emotion. “Daddy, please tell me you’re lying.”
Chapter Seventeen
Marissa’s limbs had turned to ice and she couldn’t have moved from the bottom step if she tried. If even half of what her father had said was the truth, Luke’s so called love for her had all been an invention to suit his own sick purpose.
It meant Luke had lied to her about wanting children, about house renovations—everything! She’d been so right to have doubts about her fiancé. No wonder at the end they hadn’t been sleeping together
She dragged her stare away from her father’s gray face to focus on Asher. The alien meant more to her than any man had the right to in such a short a time. But though he’d said she was more than just a breeder to him, she couldn’t help but wonder if he truly did want her for all the wrong reasons, just the same as Luke had.
Her dad stepped toward her. “I’m sorry you had to hear that. If I could have spared you from that pain I would have.”
She shook her head, too numb for tears or recriminations. “I just want the truth now, Dad.” She bit the inside of her cheek. “Is Luke the reason you never contacted me, or came after me?”
He nodded. “Yes. I lost your mother. I couldn’t lose you too. And Luke would have done whatever was necessary not to get caught and imprisoned.”
Her belly lurched. She’d sensed odd things about Luke and had seen sides of him that hadn’t gelled with the Luke she thought she’d loved. At least now she understood why he hadn’t been in any rush to marry ... why she too hadn’t been in a rush to tie the knot.
“Is that why you wanted me to marry Jacob?” she asked her dad.
Her father squeezed his eyes closed for just a moment. “Yes.” He opened them, and she saw the pain inside. “Even before Luke was caught cooking the books, I knew he wasn’t the right man for you. There was something ... off about him. I also knew my old friend was quietly obsessed with you. It made me think perhaps the match would be suitable, despite the age gap.”
“You wanted Jacob to keep me away from Luke,” she said weakly. Not to mention the fact Jacob was immensely wealthy, and she’d never lack for anything.
Her dad raked a hand through his shock of grey hair, leaving some strands standing up on end. “I should’ve talked to you about my fears, instead of secretly trying to fix things. But I was more than aware of your guilt issues thanks to your mother taking her life.”
Marissa clutched the handrail, suddenly wishing Amanda had returned downstairs with her instead of calling back her colleague. “Yeah, well, I should’ve been there for mom.”
“Believe me, there was nothing you could have done for her. Nothing anyone could have done.”
Marissa blinked. “I never did understand exactly why she was so depressed.”
She’d blamed her father for it, but perhaps she’d jumped to the wrong conclusion?
Her father sighed. “You knew she was sensitive and highly strung. What you didn’t know was that she believed there were other things all around us, things that weren’t human.”
“It all makes sense now,” she whispered.
How often had she woken to find her mother awake at midnight or later, with all the lights on and her face pale and eyes haunted? She’d presumed her mother had had a fight with her dad, especially when her mom had been quick to tell her nothing was wrong. Yet a blind person could see nothing was right.
Her dad’s smile was more a grimace. “In the end she couldn’t deal with seeing, hearing and sensing what no one else could. She visited a number of doctors. They all prescribed sleeping tablets and anxiety meds.”
“The same meds she overdosed on,” Marissa said, feeling sad and sick and a hundred other emotions she couldn’t even dwell on.
Asher stepped beside her, his big hand brushing her arm. “Do you by any chance have a picture of your mother?”
She nodded. “Yeah, in my backpack. But it’s probably burned along with the car wreck it was left in.”
Her father’s eyes widened before he sighed and rubbed at his temple. “I have a framed photo in a locked drawer in my study.
I’ll get it for you.”
Asher waited until her father had climbed the stairs before he held out his hand, and led her to a lounge. It wasn’t until she sank into the soft, buttery leather, and he sat beside her, that he asked, “Your dad hasn’t kept many photos of your mom?”
A wave of heat hit behind her eyes. “No, he couldn’t stand the memories, the guilt.” She laughed. “Or maybe he was trying to save me from my guilt. In any case, he put all the photos—except one obviously—in boxes and stored them in the attic.”
Asher tucked a hand beneath her chin, lifting her gaze to his. “Do you feel responsible somehow for your mother’s death?”
“In many ways, yes. But I think the guilt worsened when dad became seriously overprotective of me. It suffocated me. When Luke offered me a way out, I was only too glad to get away from dad’s controlling ways.”
Too bad Luke’s declaration of love had been nothing but empty words.
“And now?”
“And now I wonder if there’s something intrinsically wrong with me, and that people are meant to leave me.”
“Do you still think I’ll leave you?” he asked gently.
She swallowed hard, her throat burning right along with her eyes. It was his compassion that unraveled her. She barely kept her emotions in check when she said, “You have more reason to leave than most! You’re from another planet, a king who’ll sacrifice everything for your people. You’re also a man who has enemies who want to kill you, or at the very least, take you away from me!”
She slunk against the lounge. “Even worse is knowing that the only reason you’ve stuck by my side is because I’m a breeder.” She shook her head. “It’s bizarre just how miserable that makes me feel.”
“Marissa,” he groaned, before he leaned forward and kissed her, blocking any more words. She opened her mouth to protest, and his kiss deepened, revealing his feelings for her in a way that couldn’t be faked.
When he finally drew back, his eyes glinted with inner fire. “I love you,” he said thickly. “And I’ll kill every single Tantonic we encounter to protect you and prove my love to you every second for the rest of our lives.”
She jumped at her father’s cleared throat. She felt young again and naughty. But it didn’t stop the warm coil of emotion from unwinding inside her even before she focused on her father. “You’ve got the photo, Dad,” she said weakly. “Thanks.”
He raised a silver brow. “I wasn’t sure if I should interrupt.” He walked toward them and held up the framed picture. “You can keep this.”
She was too overwhelmed to do much more than nod and then stare at the photograph, which wasn’t just of her mother. It was a family shot taken many years ago in a rare, happier moment.
She handed it to Asher, seeing it through his eyes. She was a much younger version of herself, standing for the photo with her mother crouched behind her, an arm slung around her shoulders. Her father knelt beside them, a rare smile creasing his face.
Asher turned to her. “Your mother has red hair.”
She nodded. “Yes, I inherited that from her.”
Asher nodded. “She was also breeder, just like you.” He gave her back the framed picture. “Which means she could sense dragons, and possibly other beings too.”
Marissa pushed a hand to her mouth. “So my mom wasn’t making things up? She was truly sensitive to things that weren’t human?”
Asher’s eyes didn’t once leave hers. “I’m almost certain of it, yes.”
Reginald hunched his shoulders. “I should have believed in her more. Instead I chose the doctors words over hers.”
Asher shook his head. “I don’t believe anyone’s at fault. Sometimes there’s no right or wrong. And sometimes bad things happen to good people and there’s not a damn thing we can do about it.”
Marissa knew he wasn’t just talking about her mother. He was talking about his people, too. She put her hand in his. “You’re right. We should be living for the people who died. I’d bet they’d wish that for us too.”
Asher nodded, and lifted her hand to his mouth. Heat moved through her belly when he kissed her knuckles. But it was the glint of jewelry on her finger that made her realize there was something she had to do if she was to move on with her life and into a bright, new future.
Tucking her hand into her lap, she twisted off her engagement ring, stood and said to her father, “Dad, would you mind selling this ring for me and giving it to an animal rescue organization. I don’t need it anymore.”
Her father smiled. “I’d be more than happy to, sweetheart. And I’ll donate the same amount.”
She experienced a peculiar sense of lightness, of weight falling off her as she pressed the ring into his palm and he closed his hand over it before drawing her in for a hug. She closed her eyes and breathed in his familiar, spicy cloves scent.
When he pulled back, tears filled his eyes. “You don’t know how happy this makes me.”
“Not half as happy as it makes me,” she whispered, her own vision blurring as emotion hit her front and center.
It wasn’t until Amanda clack-clacked her way down the stairs that the tender moment was broken. But Marissa didn’t mind, her past felt put to rest, resolved, and she had a future with a man who was far more caring and far more human than the one she’d almost married.
She turned to Asher, and stepped toward him, adoration for him filling her from the inside out. When he pulled her into his arms, she looked up at him and said quietly, “I love you too.”
Epilogue
One week later
Asher woke with a smile on his face even before he turned in his bed to stare at the still sleeping Marissa. He restrained an urge to wake her with a kiss on her mouth, or perhaps a kiss further down. But they’d made love twice already through the night, and though Marissa wasn’t anywhere near as fragile as she looked, she was still human and pregnant with his child.
His belly fluttered, his internal heat rising with barely checked emotions. He’d do whatever it took to take care of Marissa and his unborn child. They were his everything now ... his whole world.
He forced his stare away to glance around the first floor of the big, abandoned warehouse, where Amanda’s father had once worked. He and Marissa had cleared out and meticulously cleaned the area when they’d first arrived, making the entire first floor their own. They’d left the ground floor a maze of rusting machinery, conveyor belts and empty boxes, ensuring the warehouse still looked abandoned.
The metal and other materials would help shield his heat trail and that of their future child. They would be as safe here as just about anywhere.
It’d turned into the perfect hideout. Particularly when Marissa had found a wad of money in her backpack, put there by her father, and they’d been able to kit out their floor with a bed and wardrobe, and all the creature comforts she enjoyed.
But the most important item had been the generator he’d purchased so that they could go off-grid with the electricity and use the warehouse restrooms, which included showers. The storage cellar had silenced the generator’s droning noise. No one would hear it.
A meow brought Asher’s focus to the black and white cat that’d jumped on the end of the bed. Marissa had taken in the stray a few days ago and already it seemed right at home as it stared at him with pitiful, unblinking eyes.
Asher grinned and slid out of bed before he walked around the wardrobe that separated their makeshift kitchen. The cat had a hollow stomach. Guess it was one thing they had in common. He opened a can of tuna and slid the fish pieces onto a dish. “There you go, Jedi.”
Opening the lid of a container, he spooned some mouthfuls of dark colored cereal balls into his mouth. Coco Pops, Marissa had called them. They were a little sweet for his taste but they helped fill the hole in his belly until he ate something more substantial.
He chewed on the cereal while he watched Jedi polish off the fish. His mouth twitched into another smile. It seemed they had a pet now, and
with a baby on the way and a place of their own—kind of—it was probably as close to domesticated as one could get, given the circumstances.
He’d relish the experience while it lasted. With Marissa due in nine months, he’d do anything to settle down and make a life with her. Do anything to colonize Earth without worrying about Tantonics and the PDA.
But for now he’d enjoy the peace and quiet and give Marissa all the love she could possibly handle.
He expelled a harsh breath. A pity that tonight a full moon would light up the sky. Like it or not he’d soon discover if he’d be forced into shifting into his dragon form. He’d soon know if his heat signature would then attract his enemies.
His chest tightened. Their peace might soon be a thing of the past.
Leaving Jedi to his breakfast, he returned to the converted bedroom. Marissa sat, the bedcover slipping to her waist and baring her breasts to his gaze. She smiled sleepily at him and all his dark thoughts dissolved even before he stalked toward her.
Her shriek of laughter as quickly turned to mewls of pleasure as he covered her body with his and set out to seduce her—gently but thoroughly—all over again.
Maybe one day he’d get to thank his brother, Kadin, for choosing this world for his banishment.
He really hoped so.
Earth couldn’t have been a better place to inhabit. And Marissa couldn’t have been a more perfect mate to find.
He only hoped his Riddich comrades would find a similar happiness, and maybe when they met up in a year’s time, the world they were living in would be one free of fear.
Marissa gasped and he growled at their exquisite joining. He’d stop at nothing to make a life here with Marissa.
*
Thank you so much for reading Marissa and Asher’s story, I sincerely hope you enjoyed it! There are plenty more stories in this series for you to enjoy, with book 3 in the Dragons of Riddich series, Baron. Continue reading for a sneak peak, first chapter preview.