Page 57 of The Alien's Major Dilemma

Ae-cha made no attempt to hide her outrage and Cooper could feel Marissa working hard not to cross the room and attack the lizard woman.

"That might be a slight exaggeration," the Base Commander said. "Though not much of one, it would seem. And I'm not exactly comfortable giving my support to an effort to wipe out people when I've seen no evidence of wrongdoing."

Ae-cha opened her mouth to protest but the Commander cut her off.

"I believe they're capable of it, but I know there are humans who are, as well. So, no, Ms. Da, your terms are not acceptable. Do you have any others?"

"That is all I was authorized to negotiate," she said primly.

"Very well," he motioned to the Marines standing guard outside the door. "I'll give you the opportunity to contact yoursuperiors. If they won't take a call, you may wait for their reply in the brig."

"What?" Ae-cha Da exclaimed in disbelief. "You can't do that! I came here to negotiate in good faith."

"And Major Ozark has identified you as the person responsible for her torture while she was in your people's possession. You're lucky you weren't shot the minute you identified yourself," the Commander said. "Now, step outside, call your boss, and get me a better answer. And prepare to get real comfortable in the brig."

"Commander, I don't-" Cooper started.

"I appreciate your concern, Cooper," the Commander said. "I trust my men can and will carry out their duty without interference."

Ae-cha stood and followed the guards down the hall, protest in every line of her body.

"Zoric?" the Base Commander asked.

"My men have already been alerted," the lizard man said. "They will stop her if she tries anything."

"I appreciate it," the Commander said.

"I imagine you have questions," Zoric said, his posture straight and still.

"Several," Cooper said dryly.

"Same," Marissa agreed. "Starting with why we should trust you."

"I've already been briefed on the situation with Zoric and his people," the Base Commander told them. "But he can fill you in on anything he thinks is pertinent."

Zoric took a deep breath and Cooper watched his muscles relax across his visible flesh. "Ms. Da may be an awful person but she's not entirely wrong. The Dragor are truly horrible and my people, until very recently, were controlled by one who did terrible things. And my people helped. I could attempt a defense and say that we were controlled, and in some part we were, butmuch of it was by our own free will. My only excuse is that we didn't know a better way."

"So what changed?" Cooper asked. He didn't like what Ae-cha and Zoric were saying about the Dragor. In his experience, the Dragor were the brilliant scientists, inventors and rulers of society. It was only their intervention that had kept the Chelion from being wiped out by wars and bad breeding over the centuries. For them to do that, they had to exert a certain amount of control, true, but he'd never considered them monsters.

"A woman of surpassing beauty and bravery faced the monster who had tortured her and destroyed him," Zoric said, his stiff features bending into a sad smile. "After a long discussion where she told me the realities of the women who had been ripped from us. As much as I had mourned my loss when she'd been stolen away with the other women, I came to be thankful for the choice I'd made not to finish the match."

"What do you mean?" Marissa asked.

"My master had chosen the woman for special attention during her time there. I don't really understand all of his reasons why but I do know part of it was to punish me. She was a genetic match and ideal for his experiments but he also wanted to use her to torture me." Zoric took a deep breath and let it out. "I was too hard to control, questioned his methods, shielded my people when I could. I made the decision to not take the final steps to bind her to me so he couldn't violate her."

"You mean-"

"I mean I had my mate with me, had bound myself to her as deeply as I could to save her from the pain I knew she was going through, and refused to take the final step. When we were raided, she was taken from me, and I mourned my loss but I survived it. Many of my brothers did not. When she returned,she was stronger than I'd ever seen her, and I had to hide how much I rejoiced to see her again."

"And then the rescue party came for her. Not just the soldiers, the Orvax pilot who had matched with her. She was so happy to see him, so grateful, I couldn't hope to convince her to stay. Every day with me had caused her pain. Not at my hand but I had been powerless to stop it. So, I decided to do what I could to help my brothers and the others who had been wronged by my people. To give a hope for a better future for the few of our children we'd managed to hide away."

"So it's possible to survive breaking a match?" Cooper asked. He could feel Marissa's protest but he needed to know for sure.

"Only if you haven't consummated it," Zoric said. "You might be physically alive if you live through the first few days of loss but your mind will slip away until there's nothing left but your still breathing shell."

Marissa shivered and Cooper put a hand on her shoulder.

"Thank you," he said. "And I'm deeply sorry for your loss."

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