Protected by the Alien Warrior Hope Hart (books that read to you .txt) 📖

voice. He was just a kid who’d lost his mom. His father should have been there for him.

“So what happened?”

“He gave me to my father’s brother. They already had sons and wanted no more, but his mate had been close to my mother, so she agreed to raise me.”

“I’m guessing that wasn’t a good thing.”

His jaw hardens, and I lift my hand, running my fingers over his cheek. He glances back at me, and something seems to soften in his eyes.

“Now that I am fully grown and I can look back, I believe there was something broken in my uncle. Something wrong with his mind. He would tell me that I was just like my father. That I would grow up to be alone, just like him. He would beat me, tell me I was useless, that my father lost himself in noptri to forget about his failure of a son.”

My hands shake as I sit up. “Where is this asshole now?”

My fury seems to amuse Vrex, and the corner of his mouth twitches as he pulls me back down to him. “Dead. He challenged the wrong warrior from another tribe and was sliced apart.”

“Good,” I growl. “Why didn’t the tribe king help you?”

He shrugs. “The qatai’s health was failing. Not many people knew, of course, but I was sometimes close to Dexar. His father was also obsessed with growing the tribe and taking down any who threatened the safety of the tribe.”

“What about Dexar? He could’ve done something.”

“I wanted nothing more than to leave the tribe. As soon as his father died, I petitioned Dexar, and he allowed me to leave.”

Vrex strokes his finger down the line between my eyebrows as I scowl.

“So he never helped solve the problem? He just let you walk away?”

“That was solving the problem,” Vrex says gently. “I prefer to be alone.”

I ignore the hurt that slices through me at that. People who abuse children are very good at convincing those children that it’s their fault. It sounds like both Vrex’s father and uncle taught him that if he let people close to him, they’d fail him, or worse, abuse him.

“Your uncle should have paid for what he did.”

“A few years later, I found out that he had attempted to seduce my mother before she mated with my father. I believe he had convinced himself that he was in love with her and that my father took her from him. When she died, I was a living memory that she chose another male.”

I grind my teeth at that. “I don’t blame you for leaving. I would’ve told all of them to go fuck themselves and left the tribe as well.”

He huffs out a breath, his fingers returning to play with my hair. “I have no doubt that you would have, little Flame Hair.”

I attempt to ignore the way my toes curl at his low voice. “You know, you act like you’re no good with women. But from what I’ve seen, you’re chivalrous, kind, and one hell of a good lay.”

Vrex is silent for a long moment, his fingers gently untangling my hair. “Females are frightened of me,” he says matter-of-factly. I study his face, but his expression is completely blank.

“I don’t understand why,” I murmur.

“You are a brave female,” he says. “You are never afraid of me, even when you should be. Most females do not like my size. They have heard of my…reputation, and this disgusts them.” He reaches up a hand, pushing his hair off his face so I can see his scar.

I snort, and he narrows his eyes at me, obviously confused. Most of the time, I forget his scar is even there.

“You can’t be serious.”

He tilts his head.

“About the scar thing. I can maybe understand the other stuff, although they sound like little bitches to me. But the scar is hot.”

I’ve managed to shock the warrior. He stares at me as if I’ve suddenly announced that I’m planning to take off my clothes and ride his mishua through the forest.

“Hot?” His voice is strangled, and I frown at him.

“Come on, the whole tortured soul thing? The remote cabin in the woods, the air of mystery, the seven feet of pure delicious male, and then the interesting scar? If you were on Earth, you’d be snapped up in a heartbeat.”

He glowers at me, rolling away. “You are mocking me.”

I blink at him. “I’m not.”

“People on this planet know me as nothing more than the Assassin of Agron. The only females who deign to lie with me are those who care more for my coin than my reputation.”

“You pay for sex?”

He blinks at me, as if surprised that this is what I’ve latched onto. “Did you hear nothing of what I said?”

I wave that away. “Yeah, yeah, you’re a fearsome warrior, a misunderstood male, yada yada. But who do you pay for sex?” Yup. I sound jealous.

Vrex gives me a scathing look. “Whores in Sebe who are willing to overlook the scar on my face in return for a few orgasms and some credits.”

He’s trying to shock me with his words, but it doesn’t work. Instead, I slide one leg over him until I’m sitting up, staring down into his grumpy face.

His eyes are hard, his jaw tight. And he won’t even look at me.

I sigh and lean down, pushing his hair away. He tenses, his hands rising to my shoulders.

“Shh,” I whisper. “Let me.”

He closes his eyes, and his huge body trembles as I gently kiss every inch of his scar. When I’m done, his eyes are dark, unfathomable, and blazing with need as he rolls me onto my back.

He spends the rest of the night dragging moans of pleasure from my lips.

I’m still tired in the morning, but I smile as Vrex nuzzles me awake.

“We must go,” he says. “I have packed what we need, and we can eat on the way.”

I blink up at him. “Okay. Just give me a few minutes.”

It doesn’t take me much more than that