Claimed By The Alien Warlord (Straight To Gay Alien Doms #2)

1

Aiden Gallagher sat on the damp log near the fire and watched the flames dance upward into the dark sky.

The smoke curled past his face and disappeared into the pine branches overhead, and he breathed in the sharp scent of burning wood mixed with the clean mountain air.

He stretched his legs out toward the fire and felt the heat seep through his jeans, warming the cold that had settled into his bones after the long hike up the trail.

Melissa sat across from him on another log, her knees pulled up to her chest and her hands wrapped around a tin cup of coffee. The firelight caught the edges of her face and turned her hair into something golden and soft, and Aiden watched her with a quiet smile that he did not try to hide.

"So you're just going to stare at me all night?" Melissa said, her voice warm with amusement. "That's the plan?"

"Maybe," Aiden said. "You make a good view."

She rolled her eyes and took a sip of her coffee. "You're ridiculous."

"I'm romantic. There's a difference."

"You're ridiculous," she repeated, but she was smiling now, and that smile made something in his chest loosen and settle.

Aiden reached down and touched the small velvet box in his jacket pocket, just to make sure it was still there.

He had done this a dozen times already today, maybe more, and each time his fingers found the familiar shape he felt a little jolt of nervous excitement.

The ring was simple, a single diamond set in white gold, and it had cost him two months of his salary.

He had spent weeks picking it out, driving to three different jewelers, comparing stones and settings until he found the one that felt right.

Melissa did not like flashy things. She liked real things, honest things, things that meant something.

He thought she would like this ring. He hoped she would say yes.

"You've been quiet all night," Melissa said, setting her cup down on the ground beside her. "What's going on in that head of yours?"

Aiden shrugged and poked at the fire with a long stick, sending a shower of sparks up toward the stars. "Just thinking about tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?"

"The hike. The overlook. I've been looking forward to it all week."

Melissa tilted her head and studied him with those sharp green eyes that always seemed to see more than he wanted her to. "You've been weird about this trip since we left. You barely talked on the drive up. You keep touching your jacket pocket like you're checking for something."

"I don't keep touching my jacket pocket."

"You just did it again."

Aiden dropped his hand from the pocket and scowled at the fire. "You're imagining things."

"I'm not imagining anything. I know you, Aiden. I've known you for two years. You get this look on your face when you're hiding something."

He laughed despite himself and shook his head. "You think you know everything about me."

"I don't think that. I just know when you're acting strange. And right now, you're acting strange."

Aiden tossed the stick into the fire and watched it catch, the flames licking up around the dry wood.

He thought about the ring in his pocket and the words he had practiced in front of the mirror a hundred times.

He thought about getting down on one knee at the overlook, with the mountains spread out behind them and the sun rising over the peaks.

He thought about the look on Melissa's face when she understood what was happening, the way her eyes would go wide and her hand would fly up to her mouth.

He had imagined it so many times that the scene felt like a memory already.

"I'm not acting strange," he said. "I'm just tired. Long hike, you know."

"You're never tired. You're a personal trainer. You run five miles before breakfast."

"That's different. Running is easy. Hiking with you is work."

Melissa threw a pinecone at him, and he caught it one-handed without looking. "Asshole," she said, but she was laughing.

Aiden grinned and tossed the pinecone back at her.

It landed in her lap, and she picked it up and threw it again, harder this time.

He ducked and it sailed over his shoulder into the darkness beyond the fire.

They both laughed, the sound carrying through the trees and echoing off the distant rocks, and for a moment Aiden forgot about the ring in his pocket and the nervous feeling that had been sitting in his stomach all day.

He thought about his life before Melissa, the years he had spent bouncing from one relationship to another, never quite finding what he was looking for.

He had been the guy who could get any girl, the one his friends called when they wanted to go out and meet women, the one who always had a date for the weekend.

He had liked that about himself, the ease he had with women, the way they seemed to gravitate toward him without him having to try too hard.

He had built his identity around that, around being the guy who was good with women, the guy who never got too serious.

Then he had met Melissa, and everything had changed.

She had not been impressed by his charm or his confidence.

She had looked at him like she saw through all of it, like she could see the parts of him he tried to hide.

And instead of running away, she had stayed.

She had called him on his bullshit and laughed at his jokes and told him when he was being an idiot.

She had made him want to be better, not because she asked him to but because she made him want to deserve her.

He looked at her now, sitting across the fire with her hair falling loose around her shoulders and her face lit up by the flames, and he felt that same quiet certainty settle over him.

This was the woman he was going to marry.

This was the life he wanted. A house with a yard, a couple of kids, weekends spent grilling in the backyard and watching football on Sundays.

He had never wanted those things before, not really.

He had always thought of himself as the guy who would stay single forever.

But with Melissa, all of that had changed.

"Look at that," he said, nodding up at the sky. "You don't get that at home."

Melissa tilted her head back and followed his gaze. "It's beautiful. I forget how much I miss it until I'm out here."

"I'm glad we did this," he said, his voice quiet. "This trip. I needed it."

Melissa turned to look at him, her green eyes soft in the firelight. "You've been stressed lately. I could tell. I was hoping this would help."

"I've just had a lot on my mind," he said. "Work stuff. Family stuff. Nothing to worry about."

Melissa studied him for a long moment, and he could see her weighing his words, deciding whether to push or let it go. She must have decided to let it go because she just nodded and turned back to the fire.

"Okay," she said. "But if you want to talk about it, I'm here. That's what I'm for."

Aiden smiled and reached across the space between them to take her hand. Her fingers were cold from the night air, and he wrapped his around them and squeezed. "I know. That's why I keep you around."

"Because I listen to your problems?"

"Because you're warm and you smell nice."

Melissa laughed and pulled her hand away, swatting at him. "You're impossible."

"You love it."

"I love you," she said, and the words came out so easy, so natural, like she had said them a thousand times and would say them a thousand more.

Aiden felt something shift in his chest, a warmth that had nothing to do with the wine or the fire.

He wanted to tell her then, right there, with the stars above them and the fire burning between them.

He wanted to pull the ring out of his pocket and get down on one knee and ask her the question that had been burning in his mind for months.

But he stopped himself. Tomorrow was the plan.

He had imagined it so many times, the overlook, the sunrise, the perfect moment. He did not want to rush it.

"I love you too," he said, and he squeezed her hand again before letting go.

"We should probably get some sleep," Melissa said, stifling a yawn. "Long day tomorrow."

"Yeah," Aiden said, but he did not move. He wanted to hold onto this moment a little longer, the peace of it, the quiet certainty that everything was going to work out the way he wanted it to.

Melissa stood up and stretched, her arms rising above her head, and Aiden watched the firelight play across her body. She caught him looking and smiled.

"Coming?"

"In a minute. I want to put the fire out first."

She nodded and crawled into the tent, the zipper rasping shut behind her.

Aiden sat alone by the fire, listening to the sound of her settling into her sleeping bag, the soft rustle of fabric and the murmur of her voice as she talked to herself.

He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out the velvet box.

He opened it and looked at the ring, the diamond catching the light of the dying flames.

It was perfect. He snapped the box shut and put it back in his pocket, patting the outside once to make sure it was secure.

He stood up and kicked dirt over the fire, watching the embers hiss and die. The cold air bit at his cheeks, and he pulled his jacket tighter around his body. He was about to turn toward the tent when the light hit.

It came from everywhere and nowhere, a blinding white beam that split the night sky like something torn open.

The light was so bright that Aiden had to throw his arm up over his eyes, and even then the glare burned through his closed lids and turned everything to white.

He heard Melissa scream, and the sound cut through the silence like a knife.

"Melissa!" he shouted, and he tried to move toward the tent, but his body would not obey.