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CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Vivian
“What?” I wheezed, shock punching the air from my lungs.
I’d finally realized everything Wrin had told me was true, I’d finally let myself feel something other than distrust for him… and now this?
I spun toward him, anger welling in me like an old friend and pushing down the hurt. My fists thumped against his chest. “How could you! You said you’d be arrested! You didn’t tell me you’d be killed!”
His big hands stroked down my back, and he made a soothing note in his throat.
It only made me madder.
“No! Stop trying to make it all better. Nothing’s better!” The heel of my hand hit the firmness of his pec and lingered, pressing to him as my hand opened, my fingers digging in.
His tail rose to join his hands, rubbing up and down my back. It broke something inside me. This male—this frustrating and amazing male—had risked hislifeto rescue me. I was still fuzzy on all this fated mate stuff, but I wanted the chance to see what this thing between us could be.
My anger subsided, leaving me open to all the other feelings I’d worked so hard to suppress. The tears I’d held at bay for so long leaked out, streaming down my cheeks as I looked up at him and whispered, “You can’t leave me. I won’t let you.”
“Believe me, Vivv-Ee-Aan.” The look in his eyes was so tender it ripped a sob from me. “It is the last thing I want, either.”
“Then we fight.” I whirled to face his mother. “There has to be something we can do.”
“I’m afraid not,” the senator said, her face pinched and drawn. “The law is clear. Any Zaarn male banished for not having a fated mate is forbidden from ever returning to Zaar.”
“But he isn’t!” I blurted, hope sparking through me.
She frowned.
“He isn’t unmated.” I hooked a thumb toward my chest. “I’m his fated mate.” Everything else Wrin had told me had proved true, so I trusted him. This must be true as well.
“Impossible!” she said. “You’re not Zaarn.”
“Not impossible.” Wrin’s tail rose into the air, buzzing loudly. “It’s true.”
His mother’s eyes flicked back and forth from his triangular tail tip to me.
“Wrin’s allowed to be on the planet if he has a mate, right?” I pressed.
Her lips twisted, and she stared into the distance for a moment. “The law is unclear.” Then she smiled. “But that’s good. That means I can make it work for us as long as we can definitively prove you’re mated.”
“How do we do that?”
“We get you tested for the mate bond.”
“There’s a problem with that,” Wrin said.
His mother frowned in puzzlement. “You didn’t bond when you met?”
“We were in the middle of escaping the hidden facility,” he said. “And Hyoo-mons are… complicated.”
“Hey!” A flash of ire heated my blood, and I slapped the back of my hand to his chest.
He caught it in one of his and held it close. “Don’t worry, my little hellcat. I wouldn’t have you any other way.”
This guy! The admiration in his eyes made my heart skip.
I turned back to her. “Then we mate bond.”
