The Falcon Prince

nut case….”

She held up one hand. “Okay, okay, but what did you expect me to do? Jump at the chance to go off with a stranger?”

“Yes.” As he pulled his shirt on, he noticed Rianna seemed particularly interested in watching him tug the hem down. As soon as he was covered, her shoulders relaxed. She was attracted to him, no matter how much she would deny it.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” she asked.

“Because you’re beautiful and I want to mate with you.”

She scooted farther away, tugging her hand free. “Mate with me?”

“I believe you would say ‘making love.’”

“I barely know you.”

“But you’re attracted to me.” He didn’t understand her hesitation.

“On Earth we don’t jump into bed with someone just because they ask us. We like to at least get to know the person first.”

No, he would never understand this woman. “But you do know me.”

“I know some things about you, but I don’t know what kind of person you are.”

“I’m a very good one.” He moved closer. “Now we will mate.”

“No, we won’t. We need to know each other longer than a few days.”

“Then we will mate?”

“We don’t usually discuss a timeline, either. If it happens, it will happen.”

That made absolutely no sense. Before he went off to battle, he released tension by mating, and it always helped. If all Earth people waited to mate until the time was right, he doubted any battles were won.

“If I’m part alien, why am I on Earth?” she finally asked. “What? Did my biological parents defect?” Her face lost some of its color and she sat hard on the sofa. “You didn’t lie about them, either. They’re dead.”

He sat beside her and took her hand in his. It was small, soft, and warm. There might be some advantages to holding hands. For once, it would seem, his sister had told the truth.

“I probably shouldn’t be this upset. It’s not as though I knew them or anything. It’s just that I really did think you were crazy.”

He let her remark pass about his being crazy. “I’m sure they would have loved getting to know you.”

“You think so?”

He could easily get lost in the deep brown of her eyes. She was a beautiful woman. Most Symtarians were, but Rianna was different. Maybe it was the mixing of the blood.

“Tell me more about how my parents came to be on Earth.”

Rianna didn’t look as though she would change her mind tonight, so he settled back against the sofa cushions. “Symtaria was dying. There were poisonous gases in the air. Some of our people were relocated to different planets, while others searched for a new home. It took many years, but the old ruler and his advisors found New Symtaria.”

“If this was many years ago, why weren’t the others brought to their new home?”

He shifted positions. “They were accidentally forgotten in the process of rebuilding what had been lost.”

“Forgotten? Forgotten! How the hell do you forget your own people?”

He came to his feet. “You have to understand it was not their intention to forget them. There were many things to do before they could send an expedition to find them. Then the old king joined his ancestors in the afterlife….”

She came to her feet. “And everyone forgot about them again.”

He was thoughtful. “You could say that.”

She slapped her hands on her hips and glared at him. “I just did.”

At least he no longer thought about mating with her. No, now he was thinking about killing her and being done with his mission. Was it his fault they had been forgotten? He thought not.

She paced the room, then stopped and looked at him. “And you can change into any animal?” she asked.

“Some Symtarians can, not all. Once you connect with your true guide that is the form you take.”

“And my guide is Shintara.”

“Yes, it would seem so.”

“And she’s like another person sharing my body?”

“As you will share hers when you shift into your animal guide’s form.”

“Eww. I don’t think I like the idea of sharing my body with someone. And sometimes she’s a pain in the ass.”

“I understand perfectly,” Kristor said.

I do not find that humorous, Labrinon commented.

“If you concentrate, you’ll be able to connect fully with your guide.”

She hesitated before sitting back down. He noticed she chose the opposite end of the sofa.

“You mean if I concentrate on shifting into a hawk?”

“That is correct.”

She shook her head. “Not going to happen. I’ve had all the shifting I want.”

“You would deny your heritage?”

“Excuse me? And who was it that forgot about the ones sent to Earth?”

He chose to ignore her remark. “If you stay here, you’ll be in danger.”

“From the rogue aliens you were telling me about. The same ones who killed my father.”

“Yes.”

“And they want to kill me, too, because I’m of mixed blood.”

“An impure. Your father was also an impure.”

“I don’t think I like being an impure. It makes me sound like I have a disease or something.”

“To them, you do. They don’t want you to return to New Symtaria. They think diluting our blood with a mixed race will make it tainted.”

“Will it?”

“No, it will save our race. Our blood has become too pure. Our guides are becoming stronger than our human side. There has to be a blending of each without one becoming too strong.”

“Or what?”

“Then the weaker side will die.”

“But I’m stronger than my guide. So what will happen if I never shift into a hawk?”

He hesitated, then just came out with it. “Then your guide will cease to exist.”

Chapter 10

Whoa now! I am not planning to die, so don’t even think you can kill me off, Shintara quickly told Ria.

“The idea does have some merit,” Ria told Kristor, but immediately regretted her words.

Shintara was silent long enough for guilt to start seeping into Ria.

You would really…let me die?

I’m scared of flying, Ria told her.

There’s nothing to it.

How would you know? You’ve never done it, either.

Have you ever seen an unhappy bird?

Ria was so not ready for any of this. A throbbing started at her temples. She reached up and massaged them, but the ache was still there.

“No, I don’t want Shintara to die,” Ria finally said to him. “You just need to go back where you came from.