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

in the bed, since it was big enough for Roxanne to have her own side and plenty of space between them. But now her head was on his chest, and his fingers were in her hair, and her fingers were tracing one of the tattoos on his arm as they caught their breath and sweat cooled and mingled between them.
    “Did I hurt you?” he asked after a moment, and Roxanne shook her head.
    “No, I’m fine. I’ll have some scratches from your claws, but...I think I like them.”
    Aedian snorted, amused. “That is good to know.” He was unsure of himself in that moment. The peace between them felt fragile at best, and shaky overall, and he didn’t know what would be the thing to kick them back into their antagonistic behavior of just a few days before.
    It couldn’t always be like this, of course. There was much more to their responsibilities than having sex, but Aedian had to admit that if fighting and sleeping together was the way things were going to go, he could probably adjust to that.
    “I didn’t think your people were big on cuddling,” Roxanne said, and Aedian tensed.
    “It’s not our way, no,” he allowed. “But then, you do not know very much about my people.” That wasn’t an insult, it was just a fact.
    She rolled her eyes. “Like you know so much about humans.”
    “I’ve learned more about them,” Aedian replied carefully.
    “Mm, I guess we haven’t really been bridging those gaps very well,” Roxanne mused. “I mean, my people are more interested in your tech than you as a people, and your people are more interested in...well surviving , I guess, which makes sense, don’t get me wrong. It just seems kinda dumb that we’re relying on and trusting each other so much without even trying to really get to know each other.”
    Aedian didn’t want to tell her that, at best, Calphesians saw humans as particularly useful nuisances that had come with the planet and therefore had to be dealt with, no matter what they said during ceremonies. He also didn’t want to tell her that there was danger on the horizon if the Platoks decided they wanted to come to Earth.
    The moment they were sharing was nice, and they’d avoided fighting so far, and Aedian didn’t want to upset that. So he just sighed softly and continued petting her head, fingers touching her soft curls almost reverently.
    Soon enough she was asleep against him, and he relaxed. She smelled like him, and she was his , and that was enough for him to be content with for the moment. Anything else could wait until later.

Chapter 8: For the Common Good
    That seemed to be something of a turning point for them, and Aedian was forced to admit that there was something to be gained from talking about feelings and all that. Before, his method of problem solving was hitting things until they did what he wanted, but even he could see that wasn’t a viable option here.
    They still argued and bickered, but that seemed to be just a part of how things were for them. They were both headstrong individuals with a fierce sense of pride in their people, so it made sense in a way.
    When he voiced this opinion to Demos, the other had nodded sagely. “You can’t treat them like they’re that different from us,” he said. “They are different, but the same way we have pride in ourselves, so do they.”
    And as much as that baffled him because humans were weak and greedy things, Aedian decided to just go with it. He only needled Roxy about being human when she needled him about being a Calphesian. Gone was some of the bitterness that both of them used to have in their voices when they talked about each other, replaced by something that was more cautious and fragile, but there nonetheless.
    As far as he was concerned that was all for the better especially considering the fact that they had to get married regardless of whether they wanted to or not. He wasn't going to break the treaty just because they fought sometimes. So learning to live with each other seemed to be