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She need never know she was my fated mate.
We hurried on in silence as the shuttle descended from above. Sleeker than the passenger shuttles the tourists used, theArrowcouldn’t hide its combat readiness if you knew where to look. Weapons ports dotted the hull, and the matte gray color had been carefully chosen to almost disappear once in space.
It landed right as we reached the edge of the clearing, and the airlock opened as we walked up to it.
Tark bounded forward, his hand outstretched like the Hyoo-mons did. “Hi! I’m Tark.”
He was my best friend in the entire universe. I’d lay down my life to save his.
Yet a fierce possessiveness burned in my chest like a volcano ready to erupt. My hands balled into fists as my tail rose into the air with an angry buzz. I wanted to punch the easy smile from his face, send him careening away from my soul’s breath.
My lips pulled back from my teeth as everything in me fought to snarl that she wasmine. I clenched my jaw shut, unable to do anything but growl as every muscle in my body locked tight.
Tark’s eyes darted to my kron and widened. He slid to a halt. The last words I wanted said spilled from his lips, and all my careful plans crumbled to dust.
“Frek me! She’s your fated mate!”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Sofie
The new alien looked like Raxnor in that he clearly belonged to the same species. Same purple horns, black hair, purple eyes, and blue skin—for the parts that showed, at least. He was a touch taller and slimmer, not that that meant much with these guys. They’d both give a human bodybuilder a run for his money.
He loped out of the gray shuttle with a relaxed ease that lacked Raxnor’s careful precision. A big grin lit his handsome face, but it didn’t spark anything but a feeling of friendliness inside me. Whereas the smallest lip twitch from Raxnor filled me with joy.
So not horny for all aliens. Horny foronealien. Check.
“Hi! I’m Tark!” His hand stretched out for a shake, but before I could take it, Raxnor stepped between us, growling.
What the hell? I thought he said this guy was his friend.
Tark’s eyes darted to where the tip of Raxnor’s tail hung in the air, vibrating. “Frek me! She’s your fated mate!”
Confusion wrinkled my brow. “I’m hiswhat?”
“What’s the human word?” Tark said. “Oh, yeah! It’s married. You two are married! Congratulations!”
Carajo!Shock rippled through me, freezing me in place.Married?
As soon as I could move, I whirled to face Raxnor. “How long have you known?”
“Since the moment we met.” His face went expressionless.
“You didn’t say anything!”
“You didn’t have a translator chip at the time.” Dios mío, he sounded so calm I wanted to smack him, if only to get some kind of reaction.
“But, but…” I sputtered, flapping my hand. My heart raced, making it hard to think. “I got one later that same day, and youstilldidn’t tell me.” Here I’d been worried about being too enthusiastic and scaring him off, and we’d been the alien equivalent ofmarriedthe whole time!
“Oh, frek. I’ve really stuck my tail in things this time, haven’t I?” Tark’s head swiveled back and forth as he tried to look at both of us at once. “I want to fix it—I really do—but we have to get going. The Tula are watching everything right now, and me stopping here is suspicious enough as is.”
Raxnor scowled and jabbed a finger toward the tourist village. “I thought you used Kirel’s hacking program to create a fake delivery?”
“I did! But if they check, there’s no actual delivery. So it’s not a good idea to push our luck.”
Raxnor grunted and reached for me, ready to pull me into the shuttle.
I sidestepped, unable to handle him touching me right now. After the hell I’d woken up to in this new world, he’d made me feel so safe. I’d trusted him on an instinctual level.
