My Alien King (Paranormal Romance Aliens) by Ashley West Read Free Book Online

them in, and she sighed with relief with the worst of the damage seemed to be that the Shaddoc had opened all the doors in the place and rifled through a few things. Nothing was missing from what she could tell, and nothing was broken.
    “I’m going to get dressed and hunt down the book,” Mia said to Asher who was looking around her place with open interest. “You stay down here and don’t start going through my stuff. One group of aliens invading my privacy is enough, thanks very much.”
    He nodded solemnly and raised a hand in something that could have been a salute. Mia snorted and went to her bedroom to put on clothes that weren’t her pajamas. Asher was attractive, but he was something like a massive puppy. Either way, she’d seen him eying her legs in her small shorts, and she would feel much better and more in control once she had some clothes on.
    Not that she particularly minded him looking, but.
    But it was best not to go there.
    They had come here for a reason, after all.
    Once she had changed into jeans and a t-shirt, she opened her closet door and stood on tiptoe to reach the top shelf. There was a box up there that she had kept there since she’d moved in. In it were most of the happy memories from her childhood. Things like concert tickets and the first piece of art she’d ever gotten a positive critique on, a few photos, and the book that she’d gotten from Abon.
    It had been years since she’d looked at it, and once she’d found it in the box, Mia opened it. The words made no more sense now than they had when she was a child, the letters twisting and turning over the pages in a pattern that made no sense to her at all.
    Presumably, Asher would be able to read it, so she tucked the small, leather bound book under her arm and headed back down the stairs to where she’d left him.
    Asher had moved from examining the trinkets on her mantel to sitting on the couch, tapping his fingers against his knees while he flipped through the channels of her television.
    He looked up as soon as she walked in, eyes bright. “Did you find it?”
    “I did. It still makes no sense to me, but here.” Mia handed it over and sat down next to him, watching as he stroked fingers over the warm leather with an almost reverent look on his face.
    It was funny how it had been so long since she’d gotten the book that she’d almost forgotten about it altogether, but now that it was back out and she was watching Asher touch it, she could remember exactly how it’d happened.
    It was summer, right before the new school year was about to start. Her parents were off at some kind of fundraiser or charity event, and Mia had walked the distance from her house to the library, a tote bag bulging with books at her side. She’d had a week to go before school started up again, and she wanted to get in as much pleasure reading as she could before then.
    She had a vivid mental image of walking into the library and painstakingly taking each book out of her bag, arranging them in a stack according to size on the counter before she’d pushed them all to the librarian to check back in.
    The woman had smiled at her warmly and told her to take her time choosing new ones.
    Mia remembered that she hadn’t looked for Abon right away. She’d gone over to the young adult section to browse what new books they had, adding five or six to her bag right away. By the time Mia made it over to the section where Abon worked, her bag had been loaded down, and he’d immediately taken it from her and placed it on the table so she wouldn’t strain herself.
    She could remember how warmly he’d smiled at her. His eyes a bit darker that Asher’s, more a warm honey color than brilliant gold.
    “You’ll be off to a different school this year, won’t you?” he’d asked.
    Mia had nodded. “Yes. It’s on the other side of town. My father says it’s the best school in the city.” No one had asked her opinion on this school, of course, she’d just been