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

informed that was where she would be going when the new school year rolled around.
    “I’m sure it is in your father’s eyes,” Abon replied kindly. “I suppose I won’t be seeing too much of you then. Once you change schools.”
    And that was one of the worst parts of it all. The library was one of her favorite places to go after school, within walking distance even, and she’d spent most of her time there when her parents were working. But now she’d be lucky if she even got to come on the weekends anymore. Her parents were going on about her taking more responsibilities and coming with them to functions so the people could see her and how much she’d grown.
    Mia would much rather have spent her time there at the library, curled up in one of the squashy arm chairs with a book or her sketch pad, drawing or reading or sneaking in a nap.
    “I guess not,” she’d replied, unable to keep the sadness out of her voice.
    Abon had smiled and ruffled her hair before reaching into his jacket pocket and pulling out a small, leather bound book. “I have something for you. This may not make much sense right now, but there will come a time when it will explain everything. There are some things that have happened and will likely keep happening, and they’re my fault, and I can’t tell you how sorry I am. I hope this will go some way towards making things right.”
    At the time, she hadn’t known what he meant by that. She’d been confused over the indecipherable book and hadn’t spent much time thinking about the other parts of what he’d said.
    But now that she had the benefit of distance and knowing what was going on, Mia understood what he’d meant. He must have known that she was being taken by the Shaddoc and why. And he must have known that it would continue long after they’d stopped speaking.
    The fact that she couldn’t understand anything in the book probably made it so that the Shaddoc couldn’t get any of the information out of her.
    Clever.
    When she managed to pull herself out of her thoughts, she glanced at Asher who was studying the book intently. “Does it make sense to you?” she asked, raising her eyebrows.
    “Hm? Oh, yes. It does. It’s written in our language, but your letters. See?” He turned the book to face her and held a finger at the top right corner of one page. “Right to left, and in a spiral across the page.” His finger traced a line through what was presumably a sentence.
    Mia shook her head. “That makes absolutely no sense.”
    Asher shrugged. “To you, maybe. But this was never really meant for you to read, I don’t think. It’s pretty much addressed to me.”
    “Why would your uncle give me a book that’s meant for you?”
    “So neither of us would have the whole story,” Asher explained. “In case I was ever caught by the Shaddoc, since they were already taking you. You had all the information, but you couldn’t read it, and I could read it, but I didn’t have it. So no matter which one of us they took, they couldn’t get anything.”
    “And now?” Mia asked. “Now we’ve got all we need, right?”
    Asher grinned at her. “Yes. But now we’ll know what to do. And they won’t catch us.”
    “You sound sure of that.”
    If anything, his grin got wider. “I am. Would you like to know what the book says?”
    The abrupt change of pace was surprising and took a few seconds for her to catch up with, but she definitely did want to know. She’d spent a good portion of her younger years trying to figure out what the hidden message there was, and now she had someone there would could read it all for her.
    She assumed that Asher wouldn't’ have offered if the words inside were private and meant only for him, so she nodded and settled in, looking at him expectantly.
    Asher smiled, his eyes lingering on her for a moment before he dropped them back down to the book and began to read. “There will come a time when I won’t be here any longer. When the things that