Page 90 of I Married A Syllen

“It’s understandable. But even if it had been humans against Syllens, you’re my soulmate, Taelen. We may not be bonded yet, but the moment I accepted you as my husband, I also accepted the Syllens as my new people. It cannot only be the case when it suits me or when things are good. The human wedding vows state ‘…for better or for worse, until death do us part’ for a reason. We’re still getting to know each other, but if ever there’s a choice to make, I will always choose you.”

“My mate…” he whispered with such affection that my toes curled.

He drew my face towards his and kissed me with such tenderness that my eyes pricked. I hated that we weren’t face-to-face so that I could properly embrace him. After we broke the kiss, he tightened his hold around me and buried his face in my hair. I leaned back against him, savoring this moment of peace and communion.

But the sad reality shattered it when Taelen jerked his head up to look in the distance at the other Syllens closing in on us. The moment he made that silent hiccupping movement, I realized someone had sent an ultrasonic message that he was responding to.

He glanced at Procrea’s building, which was now clearly visible. I silently thanked all the powers that be that it wasn’t right on top of another company. The three-story building sat on a very wide ‘corner’ lot, flanked on the north and east sides by the river. A large grassy area surrounded it, with a big parking lot on the west side that Procrea shared with a tech company. Across the street from the front lawn, a commercial building housed a casual restaurant, a gym, and a convenience store that catered to the local businesses.

As lunch hour ended more than forty-five minutes ago, I breathed more easily at finding the streets empty with everyone going back to work. But that relief was short-lived. With Mazeria’s breathtaking landscape, large windows were standard to allow people to enjoy the view. In this instance, flocks of Syllens riding Nordjarimms and Elijinns quickly drew people’s attention.

I groaned inwardly as humans—and apparently other aliens as well—lost any sense of self-preservation when curiosity reared its head. Syllens had been adamant about not wanting to mingle with off-worlders in any way. So what the fuck made these people think that going outside and exposing themselves to a swarm of them coming as a group to the human colony was a good idea? Did they think the Syllens were coming to enjoy some tea and cakes with the neighbors they never wanted to begin with?

“Shevraya,” Taelen said softly, the sliver of tension in his voice making my spine stiffen. “I heard your previous words well and understand them. But I must once more offer to leave you at a safe distance here.”

“What?! Why?!” I exclaimed, baffled.

“I do not know what we will find there,” he said carefully. “If it is what I fear, we shall show those people no mercy. We will kill them... All of them. If you would prefer not to witness that possible level of violence...”

I swallowed hard as his voice trailed off. It shamed me to admit that, although I had known this was a possibility from the start, I kept trying to convince myself that somehow that would be avoided. A part of me wanted to take him up on that offer. Every fiber of my being was screaming that we would find something even worse than whatever I could imagine.

Obviously, I didn’t want to see people die. At the same time, burying my head in the sand when things got rough would make me a coward. I couldn’t claim the Syllens as my new people but only stand by their side when everything was rainbows and unicorns.

“For better or for worse…” I said.

“For better or for worse…” Taelen echoed, his face melting in an expression that could have been love had we known each other longer.

Drannor and Nym had been flying alongside us for the past few minutes. Although they’d taken flight a little after us to load their respective captive onto their mounts, they deliberately stayed behind during most of the journey. They likely suspected Taelen and I would have much to discuss regarding what lay ahead. But now, more Syllens had caught up.

Chapter 17

Mirella

Less than five hundred meters away, Orian and her Osheos were closing in fast from our left flank. They reached us just as we began our descent towards the front lawn of Procrea.

My heart skipped a beat when a large Enforcer ship decloaked above the commercial building across the street. Three smaller shuttles also dropped their stealth shield in the shared parking lot to our left. I didn’t know how I felt about them revealing their presence like this.

While I doubted it meant that we needed to behave because they were watching us, the Syllens might perceive it as such. However, I believed it was their way of communicating to the human colony that the UPO and the Enforcers condoned whatever would take place here.

As we dismounted, the tall glass doors of the main entrance parted, revealing a very nervous security guard. Across the street, gawkers crowded the restaurant’s front terrace and balcony. Too many employees of the neighboring tech company came outside and stood near the shuttles in the parking lot. More of them were plastered against the side windows of their buildings to watch. A couple of drones started hovering in the vicinity. One of them belonged to a news media. Naturally, the word had spread far and wide.

However, the fact that none of the Procrea employees could be seen at the windows raised some serious red flags. If they had a clear conscience, they’d be trying to get an eyeful like everyone else. I realized then that the Enforcers’ airborne ship above the restaurant had not landed so that it would be ready to give chase to any shuttle that attempted to flee if things soured. After all, Procrea also had an underground parking accessible through the east side facing the river.

“Can I help you?” the guard asked with a tremor in his voice.

I felt sorry for him as his eyes darted in every direction to take in the more than one hundred Syllens who had dismounted their Nordjarimm on the front lawn. Easily half as many more were hopping off their Elijinns and walking out of the water from the east side. Their harsh expressions and deafening silence were intimidating as hell.

“Bring us Ludwig,” Taelen ordered. “We would like a word with him.”

The guard recoiled at that unexpected demand. He licked his lips nervously, his brain appearing to short-circuit while trying to find an appropriate response.

“M-may I ask w-what this is about?” the guard stammered.

Without a word, Taelen made eye contact with each of his Osheos. They immediately grabbed the unconscious captives off the back of their mounts. The guard’s jaw dropped. It struck me then that he hadn’t noticed their presence until now. Under the circumstances, it wasn’t surprising. He’d been too focused on the throngs of Syllens—which he was seeing in the flesh for the first time—to pay any attention to their mounts.

With impressive strength, Nym and Drannor each dragged their captive by the wrist like they weighed nothing.

“Ludwig lost a few things in our forest. We’re here to return them,” Taelen said in a frosty tone.