Page 29 of Alien Prince's Fated Mate

“Which way?”

I pointed up the nearest slope. Not our original path, but it would have to do. I could only hope the flying machine would lose us in the higher passes, where the winds grew treacherous.

I whistled for the villart, the scaled beast’s sharp hooves clipping over the rocks. Niam’s scent spiked with apprehension as I lifted her onto its back, but she settled into position without complaint. I swung up behind her, gathering the reins in one hand while keeping the other free to steady her if needed.

“Hold tight,” I murmured against her ear, and urged the villart forward.

“We can stop to eat once we find better shelter.”

“Fine.” She leaned back against me, just a hair. “But I expect a real meal this time, not just travel rations.”

I hid my smile. She’d grown bolder about making demands. I liked it. “I’ll see what I can hunt, once we’re safe.”

The villart’s steady gait carried us higher into the mountains. Niam’s small frame fit perfectly against me, her scent wrapping around me with each breath. The beast inside purred at her nearness. Snow dusted her shoulders, melting into the fabric of her new clothes.

“Tell me more about the Temple,” I said. “How did this horror come to be?”

She stiffened in my arms. “You won’t believe me.”

“Try me.”

“Once upon a time, there was a ship that sailed through the stars.” She turned to look at me. “It’s what brought my people here, to this world.”

I adjusted my grip on the reins, processing her words. “A ship? Like the trading vessels on the coast?”

“No, much bigger. Made of metal, powered by lightning and strange forces.” Her fingers traced patterns in the villart’s mane. “When it crashed, the survivors built walls around it, sealed themselves away from your people, insisted we were the only ones on this world. The people who had been in charge on the ship, the pilots, and commanders, struggled to find a way to repair the machines they had relied upon for generations.” Shetensed. “And then they developed the emergency protocols and called it a Temple.”

“At the cost of young women’s lives.” My jaw clenched at the thought.

“Yes. Without access to better resources, the ship needs living tissue to repair itself. The ones who commanded the ship in the sky became priests, found they could... connect girls to the remains. Some survived the process. Most don’t.”

The beast snarled inside me. I wanted to turn around, storm the Temple, and tear it apart with my bare hands. But Niam had a plan, and I’d promised to help her see it through.

“Perhaps the old stories were true after all,” I mused, desperate to draw her mind to anything other than her time in that cursed place. “They say the Frostlings fell from the stars in a blaze of fire. We thought they were just tales to frighten children.”

“Not tales.” She shook her head. “My people came here by accident, but we made it our home. Even if some of us turned that home into a prison.”

Snow fell harder now, the wind cutting through my cloak. Niam shivered against me.

“We should stop soon,” I said. “You need food and warmth.”

“I’m fine.”

“You’re freezing. And I can hear your stomach growling.”

She huffed out a laugh. “Maybe a short rest. If you promise to tell me more about these Frostling stories.”

“Deal.” I steered the villart higher along the trail. “Though I warn you, they paint your people as fearsome creatures who steal children in the night.”

“How disappointing that you got stuck with me instead - I can barely steal myself away from anything.”

“I wouldn’t say stuck.” I breathed in her scent again, fighting the urge to bury my face in the crook of her neck. “And youmanaged to escape the Temple. The priests will learn to fear you, just like those creatures of legend.”

The beast rumbled its agreement. My mate was stronger than she knew. Now I just had to keep her alive long enough to prove it.

The snow blasted sideways, stinging any exposed skin. White sheets obscured everything beyond a few feet ahead. I hunched forward over Niam, trying to protect her from the worst of it. The villart’s scaled hide shed the snow, but its steps grew more hesitant on the narrowing mountain path.

A metallic glint caught my eye through the curtain of white - then another, and another. The Temple’s machines had found us.

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