“How?” Al asked, bewildered.
“Let’s see.” Ezra held up a fist and started counting on his fingers. “You use the word ‘human’ as an adjectivewaytoo much. You don’t seem to have any idea where Greece is, or New Mexico for that matter. Sometimes, when you think you’re alone, you mumble in this weird language that I don’t think any human being has ever spoken before. And, oh yeah, like I’ve told you guys a million times, the walls are extremely thin, and I have heard Jude beg for your ‘alien cock’ enough times to get suspicious.”
“I apologize for mating so loudly.”
“Eh, don’t worry about it, you sounded like you were having a good time. The point is, I’ve known you’re an alien for a really long time now, so you can stop pretending. Okay?”
“How long? Weeks? Months?”
“Bud, I clocked you the second you walked through the front door.”
Al gawked. “That is an exaggeration,” he said, almost defensively. “I am a very good pretend human.”
“Okay, first off, you’re an all right pretend human, but you definitely have room for improvement—you’ve been putting whipped cream on barbecue chips—and second of all, I love Jude like family, but there is no way he could get someone as hot as you to hook up with him without there being something supernatural going on. Between him finding a genuine booty call that looks like you and him finding an alien out in the desert while he went and brooded under the stars about his shitty ex-boyfriend, the latter made the most sense.”
Al and Ezra sat in silence then, Al taking in this new information and Ezra waiting patiently.
Eventually, Ezra said, “So with that out of the way, why don’t you tell me everything?”
What excuse did he have not to? The secret was a secret no more.
Al blew his nose loudly into one of the tissues Ezra had given him and proceeded to tell Ezra everything.
* * *
“Okay, so that was a lot,” Ezra said once Al had told him the full story, starting with his crash-landing in the desert, and ending with Jude telling him he didn’t feel the pull of the True Mate bond and that he wanted Al off the planet once their children were born. “Give me a second to process everything.”
“Do you see why I feel heartbreak now?” Al asked, wiping his drippy nose with the last of the tissues.
“Yeah, no, I definitely got that part. It’s the other stuff that is a little overwhelming. The egg thing threw me for a loop. And this telepathic bond thing? Have you already severed it, then?”
Al winced. He had, predictably, cried through a good portion of the story as he told it to Ezra, but the issue of the bond was especially sensitive to him.
“I will sever it soon,” he said evasively. “It is just that…”
“Just what?” Ezra asked. Al sighed, rubbing his throbbing temples. His head wasaching, but that was nothing compared to what it would feel like to—
“I did not tell Jude because I did not want him to feel more unhappiness, but cutting a bond such as ours is very painful and dangerous to me. I will need to be able to have complete focus, or I will irreparably harm myself and my mental faculties. If it were a full ceremonial bond, there would be no way to remove it without severe repercussions.”
“I imagine the divorce rate is pretty low on your planet then, huh?” Ezra joked, and Al managed to crack a small smile.
“It is rarely done, yes. People do not bond unless they feel lots of certainty in their compatibility. This pre-ceremonial bond is different, however. It happened on its own when we joined bodies, as is the case with True Mates.”
“But itcanbe broken? It just will be terrible for you?”
“Yes, and I also will likely never be able to be bonded with another again.”
“Al,” Ezra admonished. “Way to bury the fucking lede. You didn’t say you’d be giving up your whole ability to be like, alien-married. You have to tell Jude. He has to at least know that much before you do it.”
Al hummed noncommittally.
“If I am not bonded to Jude, I do not feel desire to be bonded to anyone,” he said, proud of himself for only crying a little as he said it. Ezra was not convinced.
“You can’t break it without telling him,” he insisted. “Promise me you won’t.”
Because he wanted to continue to be honest with Ezra, Al said, “I can only promise that I will not break it today or tonight, and likely not tomorrow. My tears have caused me to feel great pain in my head, and I would not be able to focus on breaking a bond. I would tear my entire brain apart.” He then added, “I am not a very good telepath, actually.”
Ezra tsked.
