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understand her perspective? Or would he keep her locked in the house forever, never allowing her to visit with Angie or even partake in the simple joy of an early morning walk? This planet was supposed to be her freedom and her second chance, not a prison.
    Exploring the streets and the market had been a wondrous experience. Hailey didn’t regret climbing out the window, even knowing she was disobeying her mate. On Earth, she’d never once gone on a walk just for the pleasure of it. She’d moved around cautiously, always watching her back while praying no harm visited her as she foraged for food or searched for shelter.
    Niashu flitted into the dining room and refilled their glasses of water, then departed just as quickly. Hailey hoped Cav hadn’t taken his displeasure out on the maids before he’d ventured out to find her.
    Once she finished her meal, she sipped her water and waited for him to speak. He pushed his plate back and continued staring at her, but didn’t utter a word. The prolonged silence threatened to drive her past the brink of sanity. Her stomach wouldn’t stop performing somersaults, and her heart beat faster with each passing second.
    This waiting, this nervousness, reminded her of all the times she’d sat apprehensively on her sleeping spot as a couple interested in adoption walked through the orphanage. She would cringe with her head down, her tangled red hair hiding her face, and cough hard as the couple passed her. Most of the other children would do the same, because no one with loving intentions had ever visited the orphanage. People had been too poor and life had been too fucking hard for kindness and charity. The couples who adopted orphans used them for hard labor and housed them in conditions more horrendous than the orphanage.
    As Hailey sat across from Cav, she found herself looking down and wishing her hair wasn’t in a braid, because she very much wished to hide her face. A few times the couples had paused before her sleeping spot and stared at her for so long she feared she would be chosen, despite her coughing and feigning of illness.
    Please say something, Cav. Say anything . Just as a scream built in her throat, he finally broke the intolerable silence.
    “You are never to climb out a window again, tiny human. Gods, you could have fallen and broken your neck!” He slammed his hand on the table, causing her to gasp.
    When she met his eyes, the intense look of concern reflecting in his dark depths startled her. She’d expected to see fury burning in his gaze, but she detected no anger at all. Was he really that worried she might have fallen? Scaling down the wall hadn’t been difficult and her feet hadn’t slipped once, but if she had tumbled to the ground she very well could’ve broken something, or worse.
    “Cav, I don’t want to be locked up in this house day after day. Please try to trust me.”
    “First, promise you won’t climb out any windows again, should I accidently leave one open.” Worry still strained his visage and his shoulders weren’t moving. He was holding his breath, she realized, in anticipation of her answer.
    “Okay, I promise.” Perhaps if she gave a little, he would also give a little in return.
    “Good.” He exhaled the breath he’d been holding and leaned back in his chair, much more relaxed than he’d been seconds ago. The tension in the atmosphere started to dissipate, and Hailey also felt more at ease.
    “Until you are pregnant with my child, another Marrlxian male could steal you from me. That is why I locked you in the house.” Secrets lurked in his troubled gaze. There was more, but could she get him to open up?
    “Surely the males will not take a mated female by force? I saw many females walking around the city today, even human women who obviously couldn’t be pregnant this quickly.”
    “Marrlxian males do not take females by force. It is dishonorable to do so and punishable by death. However, a female may fall in love with