Read Online Aedian: Alien Warrior: A Sci-Fi Alien Invasion Paranormal Romance by Ashley West - Free Book Online Page B

wanted to speak with you,” Aedian said.
    Roxanne rolled her eyes. “And you always get what you want,” she muttered under her breath. “Come in. And watch the horns.”
    Aedian blinked, but ducked his head and walked in through the front door, looking comically large in her parents’ modest house. His head was nearly to the ceiling, and he looked like he was afraid to move for fear of breaking something. For once, he was wearing a shirt, and she knew that it was common practice for them to clothe themselves more when they were in human areas.
    There was a wariness to his expression, and Roxanne frowned. He didn’t seem angry, but that didn’t mean that he wasn’t, and she refused to let her guard down.
    “Are you going to tell me what you want?” she asked.
    “I wanted to speak with you,” he said again.
    “Yeah, you already-” she was cut off by the whistle of the kettle in the kitchen, and she sighed, remembering she’d put it on to make tea. “Come on, then,” she said, motioning for him to follow her into the kitchen.
    She turned the burner off under the kettle and rummaged in the cabinets for the peppermint tea she favored. Her parents always had some on hand for when she visited.
    When she turned back towards the door, the sight of Aedian sitting at the kitchen table startled a laugh out of her. It was just that he was so large, and the kitchen chairs were rickety and small. Small enough that her father, at six feet, always complained about them, and Aedian was definitely nearly a foot taller than her father.
    In fact, he looked so out of place, that the laughter bubbled out of her. The kitchen was painted a peach color, and there were flowers on the molding and baseboards, and it was just so funny to see this hardened warrior sitting there, eying the sugar bowl on the table mistrustfully.
    Aedian’s head jerked up when she laughed, and he narrowed his eyes at her. “What is so funny?”
    “You are,” Roxanne said. “You look so uncomfortable.”
    He shrugged. “This is not my home.”
    “No,” she agreed. “It definitely wasn’t made with your kind in mind.” She went about making her tea and then leaned on the counter with the hot mug, blowing across the steaming surface before taking a sip. “So what did you want to talk about?”
    The wariness returned, and he sighed, dragging his claws through his hair. “I wanted to...apologize.”
    Roxane blinked in surprise at that, nearly dropping her cup. “What?”
    “That’s the word, yes? Apologize? We don’t say that much among my people.”
    That was hardly a surprise. She was sure that when they hurt people they meant it. But she was still stunned that he’d come here to say that. “For what?”
    “For the way I acted. For not listening when you told me no.”
    And he even knew what he’d done wrong. More than ever, Roxanne felt like she was in an episode of The Twilight Zone or something. He sounded sincere enough, even though he looked like he was worried that she was going to hit him again.
    “You’re sorry for that?”
    He nodded. “Is that surprising?”
    “I... I guess so. I just. I didn’t expect you to realize you’d done something wrong. I know how you feel about humans. And you were banging on about how I belong to you, so I just assumed…” she trailed off and shrugged.
    Aedian sighed and glanced around the kitchen once more before looking at her again. “At first I didn’t know what I had done wrong,” he admitted. “I am not used to people resisting my advances. But I had a talk with Demos. You know Demos?”
    Roxanne furrowed her brow. “One of the other champions?”
    He nodded again. “Yes. He understands humans in a way I do not.”
    “It’s not just humans, though,” Roxanne put in. “You shouldn’t treat anyone like that.”
    “That’s what Demos said. He also said that you do not belong to me.”
    “Demos is smart,” Roxy said. “But I guess...it’s not entirely your fault. The language