Free Eve Vaughn by The Zoo Page A

there was only one way to show him how she felt without words. Taking his hand, she placed it over the frantic pulsing of her heart and gazed into his mesmerizing cobalt eyes. She hoped the expression on her face showed him exactly how she felt about him.
    Dar stared at her searchingly, his gaze roaming her face, and the corners of his sensual lips tilted and the corners of his eyes crinkled, conveying his own happiness. He stroked her face in a loving gesture and planted light kisses across the bridge of her nose, and along her cheeks.
    Bella snuggled into him with a sense of contentment sweeping over her. She relaxed in his gentle hold. Her last thought as she drifted off to sleep was that she loved this man.
    Dar remained awake long after Bella had fallen into slumber. He slid out of bed and tossed on his clothes, careful not to wake her. After what they’d just shared he knew in his mind without a shadow of a doubt there was no way he could keep her at the zoo. He’d have to break her out of here.
    Bella was intelligent, but it would take months before she was fluent enough in his native tongue to effectively communicate with anyone other than him. In that time Zavian would try everything in his power to see her and the male Human mated. He couldn’t allow that to happen. She belonged to him, and the thought of someone else holding, touching, and fucking her sent a spasm of jealousy through his core he’d never experienced before.
    Besides that, how long would it be before one of the other zookeepers noticed that Bella was deaf and report it to Zavian? It would surely mean the end of her. He couldn’t risk losing her.
    But where would they go? There had to be some place he could take her where they could be together without the scrutiny of outsiders looking at them as if their love was some kind of perversion.

    - 61 -
    Love ?
    Certainly what had happened between them transcended mere fucking, but love? He delved deeper on this subject for nearly an hour and realized how much she filled his thoughts and how he couldn’t wait to see her each day. How his heart flipped within his chest when she granted him one of her special smiles, and how he couldn’t think of spending life without her. If that wasn’t love, Dar didn’t know what was.
    He loved her spirit and courage in the face of her circumstances. Finally, Dar had found the woman he wished to spend the remainder of his life with, someone to grow old with, bear his children if it were possible for them to procreate together. Even if they couldn’t, she was all that mattered to him.
    The major problem in taking her off Flamyrl was not only would he be viewed as a pervert and thief to boot, but he’d be a fugitive, unable to return lest he be imprisoned for an unspecified amount of time.
    He stole a glance toward the bed where Bella slept peacefully. The slow rise and fall of her chest told him she wouldn’t be waking anytime soon.
    For her, he would do it. She was worth all he’d have to give up, but there was only one place he could take her. Tabehr, just on the outskirts of the galaxy. It was a neutral planet which meant once he and Bella arrived seeking sanctuary for whatever reason, they would be under Tabehr protection. He’d have to leave all he knew behind, saying goodbye to his friends, family and his career.
    His parents traveled quite a bit in their old age, so he would probably see them eventually, and as for his siblings, they had lives and families of their own. He’d find a way to communicate with them when things were settled. He’d miss his job because at times he cared for the animals more than he did his fellow beings.
    In order to implement his plan, he’d need to pool his funds, gather supplies, and come up with a way to sneak Bella out of the zoo without being detected. This would change his life forever, but, with Bella by his side, they could make it work.
    His plan would take some time to get together, a few weeks at the most, but