Alien's Orphan Bride: A Sci-Fi Alien Romance (Mail Order Human Book 4) by Sue Lyndon, Sue Mercury Read Free Book Online

another male and choose to leave her mate, as long as she hasn’t given him a child or isn’t currently pregnant.”
    “So you are worried I will see a Marrlxian male I like better than you and leave you before you get me pregnant?” Hailey took a deep breath and blinked slowly, taking it all in.
    “That…is…my greatest fear.” A note of vulnerability resounded in his voice. “You are my mate, Hailey, and we are meant to spend the rest of our lives together, to have children together and grow old with one another. I realize we are still strangers, but when I look at you, tiny human, I know in the depths of my soul that you are my perfect match.”
    So he feared she would abandon him for another. Betray him. Hurt him.
    She rose up and walked around the table to him. When he turned to look upon her, she cupped the side of his face and pressed a tender kiss to his forehead. Yesterday when she’d been worried, he had kissed her in the same way to try to quell her fears. It had worked, and she hoped it eased his anxieties too.
    “I’m not the first mate you’ve had, am I?”
    “No,” he replied sadly.
    He scooted his chair back and pulled her into his lap. She held eye contact with him and stroked the side of his face, marveling in the contrast of her pale white hand against his magnificent blue skin.
    “Tell me about her,” Hailey ventured. “Tell me what happened.”
     
    * * *
     
    Cav inhaled a deep, steadying breath, then told Hailey everything about his time with Lishana. He had never spoken openly about his first mate’s betrayal before. What happened to him was so shameful, in his culture and especially for a Marrlxian in the highest social class, that he had endured his hurts in solitude. Even his family members and friends never spoke to him about Lishana leaving. They had learned of her betrayal through whispers on the street. Lishana had boldly paraded around the city with her new lover, creating what amounted to a scandal because they came from different classes.
    Marrlxians valued their social standing and reputations over love. It was practically unheard of for a male to pair with a female from another class. The gods had separated Marrlxians into classes to keep their society functional and strictly ordered. In the time of Cav’s ancestors, it had been punishable by death to mate outside of one’s class. But during his grandfather’s youth, a movement of modernism had voided this law, as well as many other laws considered archaic, even if they were intended to curb behavior that was yet considered abhorrent.
    Hailey listened intently to all he said, her expression full of sympathy.
    “I can only imagine what it feels like to be betrayed by someone who’s supposed to care about you,” she said, a bit shyly, “but I am sorry for what happened, Cav. It sounds like an awful experience.”
    Guilt stabbed at him as her own truth hung between them. She’d never had anyone to care about her on Earth. At least he’d grown up in a traditional Marrlxian family and had a happy childhood. She hadn’t told him what living in an orphanage had been like, but if no one had favored her there, not even a caretaker, she had undoubtedly spent her early years feeling lonely and unwanted. His heart ached for the tiny human girl who had never been loved.
    “Gods, Hailey, come here.” He pressed her head against his chest and brushed a hand over her hair.
    She melted into him and tucked her arms around his waist, hugging him back. He strengthened his hold on her. Where did they go from here? Despite his insecurities, he supposed he should trust her. Lishana had been critical and ill-tempered, and obsessed with material things even during the time the Marrlxians were recovering from the flood, when resources were scarce. But Hailey had a gentle, sweet spirit, and she seemed genuinely grateful for all he’d given her. She was also extremely polite to the servants, while his first mate had treated them with