Page 64 of An Alien for the Farm

“Neuroprotectant,” the medic says. Taking my arm, I watch as he administers the medication.

The prick is minor but, within moments, the ache in my skull begins to dull.

The medic withdraws the needle and applies a small bandage. “Rest is imperative now. No exerting yourself for at least one sol.”

Closing the trunk, he makes a movement like he ruffles his feathers underneath the suit. It looks like he’s about to leave and I sit up too quickly. My head protests. “What about Zynar? You have to help him, too.”

The avian picks up the trunk, his confused gaze shifting to Varek and then back to me. “You have not told the female?”

I blink, gaze shifting from him to Varek. “Told me what?”

“I am sorry, human. There is nothing I can do for the Kari. He is far past what I can remedy. He needs to complete the rut.”

The rut?

I sit in stunned silence as Varek escorts the medic to the door. He doesn’t try to stop him either. Doesn’t get the medic to go examine Zynar. As if he knows what the medic says is true.

When the house falls silent, I wonder if Varek has left, too. Wincing against the heaviness in my skull, I start to rise before movement catches the corner of my eyes. Varek. He’s there again, blocking the doorway.

“What’s going on?” I say immediately. “What’s the rut? Varek…” It’s a struggle ignoring the pain in my skull, even though it’s starting to ease. “Please, I need to know. Tell me what’s truly happening to Zynar.”

Varek is silent. He stares at me from where he’s standing by the bedroom door. “I would explain, kahlesta…but…I do not want to scare you.” Words his brother has said to me before. It seems that time is repeating on itself, only with a new circumstance. But just like the last time, I’m not afraid of what this Kari has to say. In fact, there’s a part of me that needs to hear it.

“So many things have happened in the last few years that little can scare me, Varek. I’m a grown woman. I can take it.”

He hesitates still, gaze shifting from mine to move around the room.

“Does your species rut?” he finally asks.

I shake my head. “No. But I have a good idea of what that is.”

He stares at me for a moment before releasing a long breath. Enough that it fogs up the transparent rectangle in his suit that he’s watching me through.

“I would spare you this distress,” he finally says, “but you deserve truth.It is what I would want for my mate, if my core-rhythm ever awakened. If there was ever a chance…” He’s looking at me strangely now and it isn’t difficult to see the yearning in his eyes. But that’s before he suddenly looks away, the emotion seeping from his yellow pits as if I imagined it there.

I give him a moment, allowing him to feel the emotions he’s clearly trying to hide from me.

“Your existence…” he finally says, “is of dreams, Eleanor. A kahl. A mate. You are something every one of us displaced Kari has always hoped for.”

The last sentence is said almost underneath his breath and his focus goes somewhere far away, to memories, hopes, and dreams I cannot see. I remember seeing the same look on Zynar’s face before. Those times he told me about his past. Behind the suit, the intensity in Varek’s eyes changes. Softens. Almost like mine would do if I was about to cry.

“You’re really serious, aren’t you,” I whisper. I go still as his gaze suddenly heightens on mine. “You really do think I’m your brother’s mate.” The words choke from me, my heart beating a little harder at their utterance.

“I don’t think you are. I know you are, kahlesta.” He looks at me, his face unreadable still. “You are fated.”

My heart thumps so hard in my chest, it makes the pain in my head increase. Fated. Me? To Zynar? Does such a thing actually exist?

But Varek is completely serious. There’s no sly grin. No muffled laughter. His words hold weight and they’re coming from deep within.

Moments pass with only the rain breaking the silence between us. No words come to my tongue. Because I’m trapped sitting still, his words repeating over and over in my mind.

Fated.

My heart does another hard thump that forces me to inhale deeply. A fated mate. Such a thing hardly seems possible or believable. Like a fairytale. So…why doesn’t it feel strange? Why doesn’t it feel wrong? Why doesn’t my heart protest?

I swallow hard, my heart thumping heavily in my chest. Because despite that it’s a thing of dreams…maybe I want it to be true. Maybe I want to imagine that leaving Earth was really all for a reason. That it needed to happen just so I could meet him. Zynar. The male that’s been awakening me in every aspect. This electricity that’s been swirling around us from the first day I met him…this need. Maybe I want to believe it’s because there’s been a greater plan all along. Maybe I just want to hear that the hunk of an alien I’ve been falling in love with is head over heels falling in love with me, too.

There it is again. That word. Love.

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