Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2

Sunlight filtered through strange transparent barriers, casting unfamiliar patterns across Valen's azure skin. He hovered near the sleeping form of his mate, his tentacles instinctively reaching out before he caught himself and pulled back.

Stars above, what had he done?

The previous night's memories flooded his mind. The crash landing. The overwhelming mating heat. Finding Logan and... claiming him without proper courtship, without explanations, without permission .

This was not how a prince of the Nexa was supposed to behave. He'd been traveling to the Andromeda system to participate in a carefully arranged mating ceremony with a noble from the Crystalline Empire. Instead, his pod had malfunctioned, drawn off course by some failing of the system.

Valen's smaller tentacles twisted with anxiety as he observed the primitive dwelling. Wooden walls. Cloth coverings. Crude metal implements. This wasn't even a space-faring civilization. How could he explain to his family that he'd claimed a mate from an underdeveloped world?

Logan stirred in his sleep, and the sight of him tugged at all of Valen's three hearts. The mating bond thrummed between them, already strong despite its hasty formation. Through it, he could sense Logan's contentment, his peaceful dreams.

At least until he woke up and realized this wasn't some strange dream.

How would Valen explain? He'd picked up some of Logan's language during their... coupling... but not nearly enough to explain the complexity of their situation.

How could he tell this beautiful, unsuspecting creature what had really happened last night? That he was now bound to an alien prince?

A soft groan drew Valen's attention. Logan's eyelids fluttered, consciousness seeping back slowly. Valen held perfectly still, not wanting to spook his mate.

For a moment as he woke, Logan just stared at the ceiling, and Valen could sense the fog of sleep lifting through their newfound connection. Then Logan turned his head.

The peaceful morning spell shattered.

Logan jerked upright, pulling the blanket with him. His eyes went wide, mouth opening in a silent gasp as he took in Valen's form in the daylight.

Did it not please him?

How strange.

It was instinct for Valen to assume the form his mate desired during their mating session. He reached out, one tentacle extending toward Logan's bare shoulder. Don't fear , he tried to project through their connection. I would never harm you.

Logan flinched back, his breathing quick and shallow. "You... you're really..." His voice trailed off as he stared at Valen's tentacles. "You're really not human."

"Not human," Valen mouthed, trying to sound out the words. They felt strange, but Logan nodded.

Did Logan want him to be human, then?

Through their mental connection, Valen reached out, trying to understand what form would please his mate. Images flickered through Logan's mind, memories of desire, of passion, of love. Valen latched onto them, letting his form collapse back into pure energy so he could shift.

His fluid, hazy body solidified into muscle and bone, taking shape according to Logan's deepest longings. Dark hair sprouted from his head, falling just so across his forehead. Full lips. Strong jaw. Gentle eyes that crinkled at the corners when?—

A choked sound escaped Logan's throat. All color drained from his face as he scrambled backward, nearly falling off the bed. "No," he whispered, voice raw. "God, no. Don’t… Don't do that."

Valen froze, confusion rippling through him. Had he not perfectly recreated the form he'd found in Logan's memories? The one that sparked such powerful emotions?

The emotions he sensed in Logan now were powerful as well, but not positive. He caught fragments of anguish so intense it made his hearts stutter. Loss. Grief. A void so deep it threatened to swallow them both. The emotions crashed through their bond before Logan slammed his mental walls up, cutting off the connection so abruptly it left Valen reeling.

Valen immediately let the borrowed form dissolve, returning to his natural state of swirling energy before solidifying back into his previous azure-skinned shape. His tentacles curled protectively around himself, responding to his mate's distress even as he struggled to understand it.

Logan had pressed himself against the headboard, eyes squeezed shut, hands clenched into white-knuckled fists in the bedsheet.

"I'm sorry," Valen whispered in Logan's language, the words clumsy on his tongue. He wanted desperately to reach out, to comfort, to understand, but the raw pain still radiating from his mate kept him frozen in place. "Sorry."

When Logan finally opened his eyes, they were bright with unshed tears. He stared at Valen for a long moment, his jaw working as if trying to form words. Finally, he managed a rough whisper: "Just... stay in your own form. Please."

Valen nodded. Logan's language was still strange to him, but it wasn't hard to puzzle out what he wanted. Valen had meant to comfort, to please, but had somehow caused pain instead. The urge to touch, to reestablish their mental connection and understand what had gone wrong, was almost overwhelming. But he forced himself to remain still, giving Logan the space he seemed to need.

He should go and check on his spacecraft. With a little bit of luck, it had sent out a distress call last night. If his family received it, they would be here soon, and they would help him fix this mess he’d created.

Logan watched as the monster—Valen—left out the same door he'd come in through last night.

Real. This was real.

He pressed the heels of his hands against his eyes, trying to block out the image of Jeff's face morphing out of that strange light. Even now, his chest ached from the shock of it. He'd thought he was doing fine, and then along came this thing and shattered his composure in an instant. And Valen didn't even know what he'd done, did he?

A wave of... something... washed over him. Not his own emotions, but a distant echo of concern and regret that had to be coming from Valen.

What was he doing out there?

And would he return?

"Get it together," Logan muttered, forcing himself to sit up. His body protested, muscles sore in ways he'd forgotten were possible.

The familiar routine of getting dressed helped steady his nerves, though he also had to throw away the clothes he'd worn yesterday, and his body ached in a way that shouldn't have been pleasant, yet somehow was.

That strange echo of emotion washed over him again, stronger this time. Distress. Frustration. They weren't his feelings, but they pulled at something inside him, urging him to... what? Go after the monster who'd turned his world upside down?

"Not happening," he said firmly to his empty bedroom, but even as the words left his mouth, he found himself moving toward the window. Through the glass, he could see a faint trail in the snow leading into the woods. Toward where he'd seen that strange pod last night.

The smart thing would be to let Valen go. Return to his quiet life. Pretend this had all been some elaborate dream brought on by grief and loneliness.

Hell, the smart thing might even be to jump in his car and get back to the city, but it had been snowing the past few days, and he doubted that the roads had been cleared yet.

Ordinarily, Logan liked it this way, being cut off from the rest of the world.

Right now, it meant he had to deal with this creature by himself.

He reached for his boots.

The cold morning air bit at his face as he stepped outside. He hesitated on the porch, scanning the tree line.

Another wave of foreign emotion hit him, stronger now that he was outside. Panic? No, more like urgent concern. Logan's feet started moving before his brain could catch up, following the trail into the woods.

What was he doing? He should be calling... someone. The police? The military? NASA? Instead, he was trudging through knee-deep snow after the thing that had broken into his cabin and…

Don't , he told himself firmly. Don't think about last night.

But his body remembered. Even now, there was a lingering warmth where Valen had touched him, like phantom fingerprints – or tentacle prints – branded into his skin. And that pull in his chest, drawing him forward...

He crested a small rise and stopped short. Below him lay the impact site from last night, the snow melted in a wide circle around a sleek, tear drop-shaped vessel. Valen hovered near it, examining what appeared to be a damaged panel.

This was a space ship, wasn't it?

And Valen the alien that had spilled out of it.

"Fuck…" Logan muttered to himself.

Valen stilled, then turned, those vertical topaz eyes fixing on Logan with an intensity that made his breath catch. Through their connection – and god, he really needed to process that particular development – he felt a mix of surprise, relief, and... shame?

Logan's mind raced with questions, but his tongue felt frozen. What exactly did you say to the alien who'd fucked you into oblivion last night?

Valen's tentacles curled inward, a gesture that somehow conveyed uncertainty. Logan caught fragments of thoughts. Not words exactly, but intentions. Apology. Explanation. Crash.

"Your ship," Logan managed finally, gesturing at the egg-shaped vessel. "Is it...?" He trailed off, not sure how to finish that sentence. Broken? Fixable? Going to bring more aliens to these woods?

Valen's response came as a mixture of foreign sounds and impressions pushed through their connection. The meaning was clear enough: something was very wrong with the ship.

"Great," Logan muttered, shoving his hands into his pockets. "Just great." He should turn around. Go back to his cabin. Call someone who actually knew how to deal with crashed alien spaceships. Instead, he found himself taking a step closer, drawn by the genuine distress radiating from Valen.

The alien's skin pulsed with soft light as Logan approached, those topaz eyes tracking his movement. When Logan was within arm's reach, Valen extended one tentacle, slowly, carefully, as if approaching a spooked animal.

Logan tensed, memories of last night flooding back. The touch, the heat, the overwhelming sensation of connection . But this was different. Valen was asking permission this time, not just grabbing what he wanted.

"You want to show me something?" Logan asked.

Valen gently touched his wrist, sending a spark through Logan's system. Not the overwhelming heat of last night, but something deeper, clearer. Like static clearing from a radio signal. Easier to communicate this way, Valen's thoughts came through.

"You're in my head," Logan said, fighting the urge to yank his hand away. It wasn't an unpleasant sensation, just... intimate. Different from the vague emotional echoes he'd felt earlier.

The mating bond allows it. A pause, then... I should have explained before...

"Before jumping me in the middle of the night?" The words came out sharper than Logan intended, but he couldn't quite keep the bitterness from his voice. "Yeah, that might have been nice."

The heat overwhelmed me, Valen communicated, and then a flood of impressions as if he hurried to explain himself. A planned diplomatic journey to another system, Valen getting into his pod, waking up here, confused and driven to complete the objective of his journey.

"You weren't supposed to land here," Logan translated aloud, trying to process the stream of information. "You were heading somewhere else?"

Yes. Arranged mating ceremony. Crystalline Empire. Images formed in Logan's mind: crystalline beings, formal ceremonies, political alliances. Then Valen's voice again. Not proper behavior for prince. Should not have...

"Wait." Logan's free hand shot up. "Prince? You're a prince ?"

Valen glanced aside. Third heir to Nexan throne. Was meant to secure alliance through mating. Instead...

The alien's grip on Logan's wrist tightened slightly as more complicated concepts pushed through their connection. Concepts about mating bonds, instinctual drives, and destiny.

"Oh god," Logan whispered as understanding dawned. "We're not just... This isn't just a one-night..." He couldn't finish the sentence, but he didn't need to. Valen's confirmation came through their link, clear as day.

They were bonded. Permanently.

Logan yanked his hand away, breaking their connection. The loss hit him like a physical blow, a sudden emptiness where Valen's thoughts had been. "No. No way." He stumbled back a step, snow crunching under his boots. "I didn't agree to this. You can't just..."

But he had agreed, hadn't he? In a way. Last night, when Valen had... when they'd...

No, he hadn't known what he was doing.

"This is insane," he muttered, running a hand through his hair. "I can't be bonded to an alien prince. I can't be bonded to anyone."

Valen made a soft, musical sound that somehow conveyed distress. One tentacle reached toward Logan, then pulled back, respecting the distance Logan had put between them. Through their connection, still there even without touch, just muted, Logan felt regret.

"Don't," Logan said, holding up a hand. "Just... don't. I need to think." He turned away from those earnest topaz eyes, staring instead at the alien ship. "Can you fix it?"

Another burst of alien sounds, but without the physical connection, Logan could only catch the general feeling of frustration and worry. Right. The translation thing only worked with touch.

Logan sighed, forcing himself to turn back to Valen. "Tell me," he said, extending his hand. "But just... just the ship stuff. Okay?"

Valen's tentacle tapped his wrist again. Damage extensive. Primary power core cracked. Secondary systems failing. Distress signal sent, maybe. I hope.

"So someone might come for you, but for now you're stuck," Logan summarized. "Amazing." He looked around the woods. "If help comes, how long will it take? And what do you guys eat? I hope you like canned goods because I'm no great chef."

He turned his attention back to Valen who met his gaze but didn't offer any answers. Maybe he didn't have any.

Just as well. "You can come back to the cabin with me, but that thing you did before when you changed into… into a man I knew. Don't do that again."

I will not, Valen promised. Will not do anything.

Logan wasn't sure if he trusted that, but for now, he wasn't going to let him freeze to death out here in the woods.

"Come on then."