Scaled Heart: A SciFi Alien Romance (Project: F5 Book 2) by Jade Waltz (ereader android .TXT) 📕

room. He stilled as soon as our gazes met as if he was afraid I might take offense at something. “I promise you, I am not unstable. I know you think my kind are savages; your notes about Selena and your flinching whenever one of us addresses you made that clear. You have nothing to fear from me unless you betray or hurt those I care for. I don’t understand why you are always on edge. I only asked if you wanted a drink.”

“Sure, I guess, I will have whatever you are having,” he whispered, his voice reflecting the uncertainty he still harbored. “You seem intense still from our moment in the hallway and I don’t know what I need to do to prove I have no nefarious intentions.”

“Can do.” Nodding, I sent him a gentle smile. “I am sorry for how I reacted in the hall, but you know how things have been lately,” I sighed, internally cursing ay myself for my sudden twitchy behavior. “Why don’t you take a seat and I’ll come right over with the drinks?”

Chyox glanced back and forth between the drink dispenser and the sitting area, as if trying to determine if this was a trap. Seeing him so out of his element was sort of cute, if it wasn’t the result of my abnormal behavior.

By the time he sat down, two mugs of spiked osso tea were ready. Placing the tray on the center table, I carefully passed the hot beverage to Chyox before taking a seat across from him.

“So, tell me, why are you here?” I asked, feeling the warmth radiate from the mug in both my hands as steam rolled across my face. “It is safe to assume you don’t often follow females home just to talk to them—or at all.”

“You’re correct,” Chyox sighed. “It’s against our nature to visit a female unless invited by a nestqueen or asking to join her clan.”

“Is that what this is?”

I could feel my heart rate pick up at the thought of him being attracted to me. I’ve always thought he was a kind-hearted male with good intentions, but his lack of exposure to species outside of the Circuli often frustrated him. He would make make simple mistakes like saying something wrong and then be angry at himself for the rest of the day because of it.

Before the horrible day that had changed everything, I had attempted to teach my Circuli coworkers about how to address others outside of their species and help them get ideas on how they can show a female they were interested in them. Attempting to ask a female to be their nestqueen was a concept that was foreign to the Circuli males, because it was always the females in their species that establish any interest and establishing the courting bond between them.

Was he planning to confess his intentions to me? Is that why he came here after work hours?

Had I ruined it all by my irrational behavior?

Was I foolish? Why would he want to be with me?

Instantly, I chastised myself for the mere straying thought of him being interested and finally presenting himself to me. He was here for strictly business and not offering himself to join my clan.

He stared down at his cup as his coloring tinted a worried yellow.

“You invited me over, didn’t you?” He took a sip, followed quickly by another. “I didn’t know how else to speak with you privately, especially since you don’t mind speak.”

Mind speak.

An ability most species in the galaxy shared, which allowed for intimate conversations without worrying about who could hear. From what I had gathered, only a select few beings could overhear a mind spoken conversation, and two of the most powerful were on our side.

“Because demihumans are shielders,” I muttered, swirling the hot beverage in its mug until it curled like a pale-green galaxy. “It took Selena a lot of concentration to speak with Mwe since he wasn’t a part of her clan or connected to her princes, like you.”

Chyox nodded. “I was shocked she reached out to me, even more so when I heard what she had to say to me.”

“I don’t know if it’s a blessing or a curse to be a shielder. Sometimes, I am jealous of Selena’s network, but then I realize others would love to be born a shielder and never worry about a mental attack.”

“That is a fear of mine.” He shivered as his tentacles tightened around him. “But thankfully, we don’t have to worry about an outside attack. Our princes’ powers are respectable and Oeta hasn’t overstepped her boundaries. We’ve grown used to stronger telepaths picking up loud thoughts, or in my species’ case, emotions.”

“Tell me about it.” I grabbed some of my hair and noticed that for once, it was in its default translucent state. “It’s annoying to have my strong emotions displayed for everyone to see.”

His violet gaze traced my hair to my eyes. “It’s beautiful.”

“It is.” I rubbed the hair between my fingers before flinging it over my shoulder. “But still a pain.”

“Ulax are the same way, though we can’t shed our scales.”

“But at least you can see others’ auras, whereas I cannot.” I waved him off. “That’s beside the point—it’s getting late. What did you want to speak to me about?”

Chyox placed the half-emptied drink on the table and breathed deeply, giving me his full attention.

“I wanted to apologize for how I behaved earlier today. Being raised on my secluded home planet, I’ve never realized others were worse off than me. In my mind, I just assumed everyone I spoke with grew up with parents or some form of support system. It never occurred to me that your kind didn’t, even though I knew about your past. I hope you will forgive me for my actions and we can continue to work together as teammates without any lingering tension.”

“You are forgiven.”

“That’s it?”

“Tensions are high at the moment. It has affected me along with everyone else around us.” I shrugged,