Page 11 of The Alien's Unwanted Bride

Garek’s eyes widened. “The Shadowed Highlands? Is she mad? Or just painfully unaware of the dangers?”

“A bit of both, I suspect,” Dravek said, a hint of fondness creeping into his tone despite the gravity of the situation. Hequickly schooled his features back to neutrality, but not before Garek caught the slip.

A knowing look crossed Garek’s face, but to his credit, he didn’t comment on it. Instead, he asked, “Why not send a search party? Why go yourself?”

Dravek hesitated, the question cutting to the heart of his internal conflict. “It’s... complicated,” he finally said. “The fewer people who know about this, the better. We can’t risk a diplomatic incident.”

Garek studied him for a long moment, his expression unreadable. Finally, he nodded. “I understand. Or at least, I think I do.” He placed a hand on Dravek’s shoulder, a gesture of support. “Be careful. The highlands are not to be trifled with even for someone of your skill.”

Relief flooded through Dravek. He hadn’t realized how much he needed this understanding, this unspoken approval from one of the few people whose opinion he truly valued. “Thank you, Garek. I’ll return as soon as I can.”

Garek stepped back, allowing Dravek to mount the hoverbike. As the prince activated the vehicle’s systems, Garek called out, “And Dravek? When you return, we’re going to have a long talk about this... diplomatic matter of yours.”

Dravek nodded, knowing he couldn’t avoid that conversation forever. With a final glance at his friend, he engaged the hoverbike’s thrusters. The vehicle rose silently, hovering a few feet above the ground.

As he maneuvered toward the hangar’s exit, Dravek’s thoughts turned once again to Zora. Her smiling face flashed in his mind, followed quickly by images of the dangers that could be befalling her. His grip tightened on the hoverbike’s controls.

“I’m coming, Zora,” he muttered under his breath as the bike shot forward into the Tharvisian morning. “Just hold on.”

EIGHT

The cool morning air whipped past Dravek as the hoverbike soared over the sprawling cityscape of the Tharvisian capital. The twin suns cast an ethereal glow over the landscape, turning the metallic spires of the city into shimmering beacons.

As the city limits fell away behind him, the terrain began to change. Lush forests gave way to rugged hillsides, the vegetation becoming sparser and more alien as he approached the borders of the Shadowed Highlands. The hoverbike’s advanced navigation system guided him unerringly toward his destination, but Dravek remained alert, his eyes scanning the horizon for any sign of danger – or any trace of Zora.

The Shadowed Highlands loomed before him, a maze of jagged peaks and deep valleys shrouded in an ever-present mist. Even from a distance, there was something foreboding about the place. The locals spoke of it in hushed whispers, telling tales of strange phenomena and travelers who ventured in never to return.

Dravek had always dismissed such stories as superstition, preferring to focus on the documented geological and atmospheric anomalies that made the region dangerous. But ashe drew closer, he couldn’t shake a growing sense of unease. The mist seemed to reach out to him, tendrils of vapor curling around the hoverbike as if trying to pull him in.

Dravek parked the bike and stood at the edge of the ravine, his dark eyes scanning the terrain with military precision. In the distance, he noted the signs of a recent landslide—disturbed earth, broken vegetation, and scattered debris.

A knot formed in Dravek’s stomach, a feeling he couldn’t quite name. Concern? Worry? He pushed the sensation aside, focusing instead on the task at hand. Emotions had no place in a mission, he reminded himself sternly.

Raising his wrist, Dravek activated the scanner built into his suit. The device hummed to life, projecting a holographic display of the surrounding area. Faint energy readings pulsed at the edge of the screen, accompanied by ghostly outlines of heat signatures emanating from within the ravine.

“Zora,” he murmured, his deep voice barely audible above the gentle rustle of the breeze.

The name sent an unexpected jolt through him, and Dravek frowned. Why did the mere thought of her affect him so? She was reckless, impulsive, and a constant challenge to the order he strived to maintain. And yet...

Studying the scanner’s screen, his gaze fell upon a glint of metal. He magnified the image on the small screen. Though damaged, it was unmistakably Earth technology. Zora’s. The knot in his stomach tightened, and he found himself fighting an irrational urge to call out her name.

Rising to his full height, Dravek retrieved a grappling line from his belt and secured it to the sturdiest tree nearby. As he prepared to rappel down, a memory flashed through his mind—Zora’s playful tone in the gardens as she searched for a discovery of her own. The corners of his mouth twitched, threatening to form a smile.

Dravek froze, startled by his own reaction. Since when did he smile at such frivolous things? He was a prince, a military commander, not some lovesick youth. With a sharp shake of his head, he quashed the impulse. Now was not the time for... whatever this was.

The descent proved as treacherous as he’d anticipated. Loose rocks skittered beneath his feet, and more than once, Dravek had to adjust his grip to avoid a potentially disastrous fall. Yet even as he navigated the perilous terrain, part of his mind remained frustratingly fixated on Zora. Her smile, her laugh, the way her eyes lit up when she spoke of her research...

Dravek gritted his teeth. Focus. Control. These were the tenets he lived by, the principles that had shaped him into the leader he was today. He couldn’t allow himself to be distracted by... what? Attraction? The very idea was absurd. Wasn’t it?

His boots touched down on solid ground, and Dravek immediately scanned his surroundings, grateful for the familiar routine. A narrow entrance to a cave system lay partially concealed by overgrown vines. The vegetation had been recently disturbed—crushed and bent as if someone had pushed through in a hurry.

Zora. The name echoed in his mind once more, accompanied by a surge of emotions he couldn’t—wouldn’t—name.

Approaching the cave entrance, Dravek strained to listen for any signs of life within the inky darkness. For a moment, all he heard was the steady drip of water echoing from deep within the cavern. Then, barely audible above the ambient sounds of the cave, came a faint, garbled voice.

His brow furrowed. The sound was mechanical, distorted—likely Zora’s robotic assistant, Sprig. The fact that the device was malfunctioning sent a fresh wave of worry coursing through him. Worry? Since when did he worry about anyone other than his immediate family and subordinates?

Dravek’s fingers flew over his wrist communicator, attempting to establish contact. Static crackled through the speaker, punctuated by bursts of unintelligible noise. He grimaced, both at the lack of response and at his own eagerness to hear her voice. What was happening to him?

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