Page 6 of Jhon

This was more than just an urge. Much more.

And much worse.

This was a mate bond.

3

ELLA

Ella reached the other ship and gazed up at the baby.

He was tiny, with bright eyes and beautiful, lavender skin. If he were a Terran baby, she would guess he was about five or six months old.

“Hello,” she said softly, giving him a gentle smile. “Are you my son?”

The little face lit up and he squeaked at her, wiggling his fingers and toes as if he couldn’t wait to hug his new mama.

Her heart constricted painfully, and she found herself fighting back tears.

She had come here to save her family. She had considered the difficulty of a new life away from everything she knew, and the hardship of raising an alien baby. She had known she would be enduring a harsh climate and the abject prejudices Terrans suffered throughout the galaxy.

Never once had she allowed herself to picture the happiness of this moment - the intense longing to hold her perfect son, and kiss his soft cheeks.

She had never imagined herself drowning in an instant and powerful love.

She held out her arms to him and he swam in place, chubby legs kicking.

Only then did she look up to see who was holding him.

A massive and wildly gorgeous soldier, wearing straps of leather armor over his otherwise bare chest, frowned down at her suspiciously.

She blinked up at him, and had to fight the instinct to step back.

His skin was the same beautiful lavender as the baby’s. But his expression could not have been more different. His dark eyes flashed with impatience, and his jaw was clenched in what she could only imagine was fury.

“The agency sent you,” he growled.

Her eyes shot back up to his and she felt ashamed that she had let them drop to admire his thickly muscled body without meaning to.

“Yes,” she replied, feeling her cheeks heat.

He extended his arms at last, letting the baby dangle between them. He looked even more tiny in comparison to the soldier’s impressive bulk.

Ella took the baby quickly, cradling him against her chest and instinctively turning away from the wind to shelter him.

“Ah-la-la-la-la-la-muh,” the little fellow said merrily as he tried to catch her hair in his chubby fist.

The wind kept carrying it just out of reach, which made him chuckle as he grabbed for it again and again, his little chin tilting up and showing off his chubby cheeks.

He smelled as sweet as fresh-baked cookies. It was impossible to resist pressing her lips to the soft wispy hair on his little head and drinking him in.

She could hear the soldier who had brought the baby talking with a droid, but she had eyes only for her son.

“Are you ready to begin the journey,” a deep voice asked suddenly.

She looked up into the handsome face of the soldier.

“Yes,” she told him.