Page 11 of Saving Lauren

CHAPTER 6

D’Var

My mate is trembling, I am afraid I said too much, but she needed to hear these words. She needs to hear how I see her, so she can start to see herself that way. I may be a Warrior, but I am not an idiot. I see she is hurting; I see how broken she is feeling. And I may not know how to fix her, but I can give her this. It is what my heart tells me she needs.

“Would you like me to help you with your hair?” I ask her and she blinks up at me. Her eyes are a pale green, not a color that you find in the Galaxies, so I can imagine it made her a rarity.

“I can fix it,” I say again.

“You can?” she asks, surprised. I nod.

“I have oils, and a comb. I can even braid it for you if you’d like to.” She smiles and it is glorious.

"Yes, please!" she exclaims. “I would really love that, D’Var.”

My heart is glowing, and I grin at her. “I can do it now? We can go to my room; I have all the items there.” She is biting her lip again and I wait patiently. She will make the choice that is best for her and I will love her either way.

“Okay,” she says. I mentally check in with T’Rak, he is his grumpy self and instructs me to take good care of my mate. I quickly take two bottles of water from the fridge, then I lead L’Ren towards my room.

L’Ren is quite a bit smaller than I am, but I will make it work. I grab the pillows from my bed and put them on the floor, so we can sit and look out at the stars. Then I get my kit and take a seat, with my back against the bed. I look up at L’Ren who is still standing in my doorway, unmoving.

“You need to sit before me, this will be the best position, because you are so tiny.” This causes a reaction, and her cheeks start to redden once more, ‘blushing’ she called it.

“I am not tiny. I am actually pretty tall for a human woman,” she huffs and plants herself in front of me. She crosses her legs, and I can easily wrap mine around her, but I do not want to crowd her so I keep them open.

I start with the oil. I massage it into her hair. I work up from the bottom, so that I can smooth the biggest tangles out as I work. When I get to her scalp, I use the oil on her head as well and I massage it into the skin. She moans and I freeze.

“Did I hurt you? I am so sorry, my Zarra.”

“No, no, it’s okay,” she murmurs. It sounds more like a combination of syllables than actual words. “Don’t stop.”

I grin, she must really like it then. I sniff and I only smell her delectable scent, no fear at all. I gently massage her head and when I have absolutely no more excuses to touch her any longer, I grab my bone comb. It is a very old comb, used on our home planet before the destruction and almost the only thing my mother could take with her when she fled. I decide to tell L’Ren about my mother as I softly begin to comb her hair.

“The comb I am using is my mother’s. She is a proud and fierce woman. When our home planet was destroyed, this was all she took with her.”

“What happened to your planet?” she asks, and I sigh. She needs to know this, she needs to know about our race, so I take a breath and begin the sad story about the Warriors of Arracate.

Lauren

“We Arracate have always been the fiercest of warriors,” D’Var begins. “A long time ago we were living on our home planet of Arracate. It was a good planet, green, prosperous and the people were happy. Arracate are only male. We mate with different species, and our planet has always been a refuge for species who lost their home due to war or conflict.”

He pauses, for a few seconds his focus is solely on stroking his comb through my hair. I let the silence settle between us and let myself enjoy his touch.

“Our cities were always filled with laughter and life,” D’Var continues. “Lots of different species, and tribes. Everyone lived together peacefully.”

“The Warriors did not only defend our own planet, but we also often assisted nearby planets when unfriendly species wanted to conquer them, therefore we have a lot of allies. Sadly, we also have some pretty serious enemies, one of them has decided it would be their life’s mission to destroy all Warriors of Arracate.”

I gasp. “D’Var…” I start, my voice skips from emotion, my heart breaks for him. He seems so sad. I want to hold him and tell him everything is going to be okay, but I hold back. He told me it is not a happy story, I know everything will not be okay in the end.

He gently squeezes my shoulder. “It is okay, L’Ren. It’s been a long, long time and I consider myself lucky to have known the peace of Arracate. There was an energy from inside the planet that gave us our strength and soothed our souls. A lot like the peace we find when we meet our mate. But I will talk about mates later.”

I nod and he goes back to untangling my hair.

“The Sternotheri are creatures fueled by greed. They want to own, to possess and to destroy. We fought them a couple of times when assisting our allies. It was always in space, until we were asked to save a small colony of Zhurgards on a nearby moon. Their home planet had become uninhabitable because of pollution and their people were spread throughout the quadrant. The Sternotheri got wind of the colony and occupied their settlement. When we got there they already showed their worst side to the colonists by killing the men and enslaving the women and children. The Sternotheri are great fighters, but we were able to kill them all.”

I touch his upper leg without thinking about it and look at his expression in the reflection of the windows. “You were there?” I ask, but I already know the answer.

“Yes,” he says. “I saw firsthand the death and destruction they bring. We rescued the colonists, but I don’t know if they were ever the same after what happened to them.” He caresses my head with his fingers, finds more tangles and goes back to working the comb through.

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