“Stupid men,” I huffed from the back of the armored tank.

Hardin grinned at me through the mirror, “Don’t stay mad at him for too long, Jennifer. He was just watching out for you. Can you blame him?”

“Yes!” I hissed back at him. “I can blame him and I do blame him. When I said I was going back to the outpost with him, I didn’t think it was going to be in the back of a freaking truck.”

A dark shadow passed over the tank and I glared out the window once again. I wasn’t worried, the shadow was from Zaruv in his dragon state flying above us. I had insisted on flying with him, I had put my foot down but when it came time to leave, he hit the air and left me behind with Hardin to travel in the tank. I knew that he was only trying to protect me, but still, it drove me insane knowing that he’d played me.

“Here we are,” said Hardin as we slowed down.

“The gate is still miles away. Why are you stopping?” I asked.

“Zaruv didn’t think it would be a good idea for him to fly so close to the outpost. Most of the people here don’t know what’s going on. They would be scared out of their minds to see a dragon alien soaring through the sky.”

“Great,” I muttered as the door opened and Zaruv climbed into the back seat.

“How is the drive going?” he asked me cheerfully.

I glared at him, “Why do you care?”

“Oh Jennifer, please don’t stay angry with me. I just sent my three brothers away,” he said. “Don’t turn your back on me now.”

I knew that he was just trying to make me feel guilty and to lighten the mood. I rolled my eyes at him. Who was I kidding? I couldn’t stay mad at him if my life depended on it. We passed through the gates and I took his hand in mine, smiling at him to let him know he was off the hook. As we passed the clinic, I saw my friends inside doing my job and it warmed my heart, that they could take care of things when I needed to go but now I was home and so happy.

“Here it is, this is the radio tower. You should be able to reach anyone you need to from this point. I need to go check on my men and fill them in on the situation.”

“Don’t forget we are trying to be discreet about the aliens, Hardin,” I reminded him.

He nodded as he got back into the tank and rolled down the window. “Don’t worry, as far as everyone knows we just helped the city to overthrow a good old fashioned human thug. You guys are in the clear.”

“Thank you again for all of your help,” offered Zaruv.

Hardin smiled and shook his hand. “Anytime. Let me know what else you need, I’ll be back in a few hours.”

I was still shocked by how much Hardin and Lee had changed in such a short amount of time. Zaruv and his brothers had turned diehard, alien-hating men into allies with nothing but charge and a little bit of a show. I followed Zaruv into the dusty outpost and cleared a spot to sit down as he started to mess with the controls. My mind was racing, we had to get hold of help before my planet and my home was overtaken by another alien war. I didn’t want to be caught in the middle.

For thirty minutes, I walked around the structure, reading through old logbooks and watching Zaruv work. I couldn’t hear what he was saying from where I was, but when he finally came over to me, I knew that something was wrong. He looked worried and even a little bit afraid. My heart sank as I thought of the other three princes who should have made it to Artax by now. It wasn’t far from us, but the airspace was a virtual dead zone until you reached the planet’s atmosphere.

“What’s going on?” I asked him with a racing heart. “Are your brothers okay? Do we need to go find them? Please don’t tell me they were shot down.”

He shook his head, “No, they are fine. They made it without even seeing another ship. It’s something else though. They tried to contact Dragselia as soon as they landed but couldn’t reach them. I just tried from here and the line is dead too. Something isn’t right.”

“What do you think is going on?” I asked.

Zaruv shook his head, “I don’t know but it’s nothing good. In all the years that I have been traveling, I’ve never come across dead airspace when contacting home. There is always someone listening.”

“Maybe it’s just Donba’s radio, interference happens,” I offered.

Again, he shook his head, “I wish that was the case, but he was only the first person I tried to contact. After I couldn’t reach him, I tried a dozen others and finally the palace. I was careful to hide the tracking signature on the radio so no one listening would know it was me or even where it was coming from but everything was dead. It’s like the whole planet went dark.”

“Oh, my God, what are you going to do? Can you send one of the others to check things out? I’m sure Ragal is stir crazy by now on Artax.”

Zaruv shook his head as he paced back and forth. My heart was racing as he looked inside himself for answers. I wanted to offer him some sort of help or guidance but I didn’t know how. I knew so little of his home and his people. All I knew was that I loved him and I hated to see him looking so worried. I took him by the arm and pulled him to me, wrapping my small arms around his large chest.

“We will figure something out together okay?” I said reassuringly.

He turned to me and took me in his arms. I listened to the steady drumming of his heart as it raced. Something else was on his mind. “Jennifer, if I send one of my brothers and a spy is on Artax, I could be exposing them to death. I can’t risk that, not when it means that their lives and all of the humans and other aliens there and here could be put in danger.”

“What are you suggesting?” I asked.

“I have to go, I have to get close to Dragselia and find out what’s going on. It’s the only way.”

My heart skipped, “No! I won’t let you go. I can’t be away from you, Zaruv.”

“I know. I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I don’t think anyone will be looking for a small, pedestrian pod. Especially not one from a human outpost.”

“Zaruv, what are you saying?”

He looked down at me, his eyes filled with the same love that I felt for him. The very thought of being away from him for any length of time made my heart ache. I still struggled with wrapping my mind around how much my life had changed in a few short days and how much I could never go back to the way things used to be. He was my life now and I didn’t want to spend one more moment without him near me.

“I can’t live without you, Jennifer,” he whispered. “But I can’t stay here. My people and yours are in danger if I don’t stop whatever is happening. I never thought when I left my planet that I would find a love like this, but I have and now I don’t want to ever let it go. Will you come with me, Jennifer?”

My mouth fell open, I couldn’t find any words to offer him. I hadn’t thought about leaving my home, but then again, I hadn’t thought about being without him. The people here were my family. I loved each and every one of them in their own unique way. I thought about them and what I had seen when we went through town. Mikey and his mother working the clinic with smiles on their faces, the girls running around in a safe home.

“I know that I am asking you to give up everything,” he said softly. “If I thought there was any other way, I wouldn’t ask, but there isn’t. I can’t help all of them and know that you might be in danger. The only place I know that you will be safe is with me or my brothers. Together, we are one heck of a great team. Please, don’t keep me waiting.”

“This is big,” I stammered. “This is like, life changing. You want me to go with you? Are you sure? I’m not very good under pressure. I don’t think I’ve even been on a spaceship in the last ten years. What if something goes wrong? I can’t lose you, not ever.”

“You’re right,” he said, looking heartbroken at the ground. “I shouldn’t have asked. This is your home, it wasn’t right to ask you to leave it all behind. I’m sorry. We will find a way to get through this together. I can contact them from here, I just need to work harder.”

“Wait,” I interrupted. “You would stay here? Knowing that everyone else is in danger?”

He nodded his head, “I told you, Jennifer, I love you and I am never leaving your side again, even if that means we stay here.”

I couldn’t believe the sacrifice that he was willing to make for me. My mind had already been made up before he offered. I knew that I couldn’t live without him and that I would have followed him to the ends of the universe if he asked me, but knowing he was willing to sacrifice it all made my heart swell with love even more. He really was a prince among men and aliens alike. I was so lucky to have finally found someone that I wanted to be with forever.

“Zaruv, you don’t need to stay here,” I said softly.

He shook his head, “I don’t care what you say, Jennifer. I am not leaving you. Even if I have to follow you around like a lost puppy for the rest of my life I’m not going to let you out of my sight.”

I tossed my head back and laughed, jumping into his arms and kissing him passionately on the lips. “You don’t have to follow me around at all, Zaruv because I am coming with you. I knew from the moment I met you that you were going to change my life, I just had no idea how wonderful it was going to be.”

His eyes lit up, “You mean it? You will come with me even knowing about the dangers?”

“You were going to stay knowing them, weren’t you? I would follow you anywhere. I love you with all my heart and I never want to be away from you again. So, we are going, and that’s that!” I said playfully.

“I love you so much,” he whispered to me.

“And I love you, my prince,” I replied.

He took me in his arms and lowered me down to the dusty floor but I didn’t care. The only thing that mattered was that we were going to be together forever. As his lips found mine once again and I wrapped my legs around his waist, I knew that our love story was just getting started. It didn’t matter where we were going as long as we were together. We had a planet to save and a mission to plan but in that moment, nothing else mattered but the passion between us. I had finally found my prince.