Alien Romance: The Alien's Bliss: A Sci-fi Alien Warrior Invasion Abduction Romance by Ruth Anne Scott Read Free Book Online Page A

tent. “No one will bother them.”
    Anna snorted. “I wouldn’t be so sure. Aquilla could be planning to capture someone else to get his revenge against the Ursidreans. He could be planning to capture Aria, for all we know.”
    Aimee sat down next to Emily across the circle from Anna. “The Avitras won’t do anything while we’re here. You don’t have to worry about that.”
    Anna frowned at her. “What makes you so sure? He’s done it before. He might do it again.”
    “I’m just sure,” she muttered.
    At that moment, Marissa, Carmen, Aria, and Penelope Ann stepped out of the trees. Penelope Ann walked her friends to the edge of the circle and stopped. “I better get back before Aquilla starts to get suspicious.”
    Marissa turned around. “Are you sure you can convince him to go along with our plan?”
    “I can’t promise anything,” Penelope Ann replied, “but I’ll do the best I can. He’s not as stubborn as you think. He’s just careful. He doesn’t want the other factions taking advantage of the Avitras.”
    Anna made a face. “No one is taking advantage of anybody.”
    Penelope Ann faced her. “Aquilla has good reason to feel the way he does. None of the factions is innocent in this. You would do better to concentrate on your own factions instead of blaming Aquilla for everything all the time.”
    “That’s what....” Aimee stopped herself just in time.
    Anna looked at her, but the others didn’t seem to notice. Aria pressed Penelope Ann’s hand. “You’re right, Penelope Ann. We all have a lot of work to do to achieve a lasting peace. We all appreciate your efforts. We’ll do our best on this end to make the men more receptive to Aquilla when they come to negotiate.”
    Penelope Ann burst into a grateful smile and gave her a hug before hurrying back up the hill. Marissa watched her go. “I’m worried about her. I wish she’d stay down here with us.”
    Carmen turned away. “I’m sure any of us would do the same in her situation. Aquilla isn’t the bad guy in this, and we shouldn’t treat him as such. The other Alphas overcame their prejudices and made peace first. That’s all. We can’t blame Aquilla for mistrusting them or us.”
    “There’s nothing we can do on our end,” Marissa pointed out. “Our men are all at peace. Look. We’re camping side by side. What more is there to do but wait for Aquilla to see reason?”
    Aimee couldn’t hold back any longer. “Not necessarily. Even if these men do agree to peace, they won’t disband their border patrols. All the old prejudices will remain for a long time. Aquilla is only expressing the unspoken reservations we all feel toward tearing down the barriers between our factions.”
    Aria sat down next to Aimee. “I don’t think any peace agreement will ever fully remove those barriers. Show me one faction that will willingly give up their unique identity, their sovereign territory, just because they made peace with the other factions. No one will. The Ursidreans will still live in their mountain city caves, and they’ll have to maintain the border patrols to make sure the Lycaon don’t take back large tracks of forest.”
    Marissa spun around. “Who said the Lycaon would take back large tracks of forest? Don’t go bad-mouthing the Lycaon.”
    Aria smiled at her. “You see what I mean? Not even we can talk about it without jumping to the defense of our own factions. We’ve only been on this planet a short time, and yet we think and act the same as the rest of Angondran society.”
    “Aimee is right,” Carmen added. “No peace agreement can overcome those prejudices. It isn’t about Aquilla at all.”
    “Then it’s all hopeless,” Anna put in. “We should all pack up and go home.”
    “Not at all,” Aimee argued. “We came here to help sway the men in favor of peace. We can still do that. Each of us—I mean, each of you —can approach your mates and pass on the message to them that we need to work together