My Alien King (Paranormal Romance Aliens) by Ashley West

already married?"
    Asher’s eyes flew open wide at her questions and he held his hands up in a gesture of peace. "No! No, no, no," he said. "No. None of that. We’re not married, we don’t have to get married, and we definitely don’t make children into monarchs. It’s just. It’s something my uncle thought would be nice, I guess? I don’t know. He thinks a lot of you, obviously, and so do I, but you definitely don’t have to be my queen if you don’t want to."
    She was silent for another few seconds and her eyes were guarded when she looked up at him again. "Is that the only reason you asked me to come with you?" The hurt in her voice was easily heard, and Asher hated it.
    This had all happened so fast, and he’d been so excited, but maybe they shouldn’t have rushed into it if that was what she thought. "No," he said once more, voice soft and reassuring, or so he hoped. "I asked you to come because you seemed really unhappy where you were and because I wanted you to come. Because I like you a lot, and I want you to be happy, and...and I want you to be happy with me, if you want that, too. You can tell my uncle where to shove his ideas of you being queen if you don’t want to do it. No one’s going to make you. I promise you that. I wouldn’t have even brought it up, but I figured that Abon would when we see him, and I wanted you to know everything before we leave."
    "Oh," Mia said, and that was all she said for a long minute. Then she sighed and shook her head, giving him a tiny smile. "Well, thank you for telling me. I guess I should be flattered that your uncle thinks so highly of me, or something like that. No one’s ever told me they thought I should be a queen before."
    "You’d be good at it, if you chose to do it," Asher replied. "You care about people. I can tell. That’s how my mother handled being queen. She just… She cared a lot."
    "Are you angry with me?" Asher wanted to know. He'd understand if she was, but he was really hoping that she wasn't.
    She looked at him and then shook her head, leaning up to give him a light kiss. It was no more than a brush of lips against his, but it was enough that he flushed darkly and wanted to pull her in for more.
    "No," she said when she'd leaned back. "I'm not angry. I'd have been angry if you were just trying to get me to come with you because you need a queen to be king, because I hate being used, but you wouldn't do that, I don't think. And you can't help what your uncle wants apparently. We can deal with this whole admittedly weird thing when we get there, I guess."
    It was as good an idea as any, and Asher was eager all over again. He grabbed the extra fuel and went around to the back of the transporter, topping it off before slamming the hatch shut with a note of finality.
    "Last chance to stay here," he said to her, and though he was mostly teasing, he was also quite serious. He wanted to make sure.
    "I'm going," Mia said, nodding firmly. "Goodbye, Earth."
    With a little whoop, Asher kissed her cheek and hit the button to close the door. The stairs folded up and smoothed out back into the door panel which slid into place with a hiss and a click. He checked all the dials and displays, making sure that there were no pressure leaks or cracks in the craft. Everything read perfect, just the way his uncle had showed him to read it, and with a deep breath, he hit the series of buttons to get them moving.
    "You'll want to sit down for this," he said over his shoulder. "And strap in. This first bit is bumpy."

Chapter 10: Interlude
    The device in his pocket trilled with a cheerful sound, and a smile crossed Abon’s face as he pulled it out and checked the screen. Even after all of these years, it still showed him the things he wanted to see, and right then and there it was telling him that his nephew was leaving Earth. Finally.
    Finally Asher would be able to come home to his people and things would start to be the way they should have been if the Shaddoc