Page 4 of Fated to the Alien Rebel

“Sage, is all well?” Zander’s head is cocked.

“Yeah.” I drop my arm. “Yeah, it’s fine.”

“Why don’t you go take a rest before the evening meal?” Kyler suggests. “You have been in here all day.”

Zara steps over and lays her hand on my arm. “You really do need a break.”

My gaze shifts to Jodah, and I shake my head. “I don’t want to leave yet.”

“There is nothing more we can do at the moment. It is up to Deeka, now,” Kyler tells me.

I turn and make eye contact with each of them. “I’m notleaving.”

Zara’s shoulders sag and both Tavikhi pause a moment before they nod. I can tell they’re all trying to come up with some way to convince me to go, but I turn my back and focus my gaze on Jodah.

“Continue getting him to drink the burim root and keep the wound covered until the cloths begin to dry,” Kyler finally says. “I will be back to check on him in a short while.”

I pour more powder and water into the cup and return to the male Deeka has chosen as my mate while Kyler gathers the unused sinew and suture supplies. Zander and Zara exit the tent, with a final glance over her shoulder from her. Again, I slide my hand beneath Jodah’s head and gently raise it.

“Drink a little more for me.” I place the cup at his mouth and slowly tip it for the water to drain out. His throat bobs, and he swallows most of it.

With a damp cloth, I work to try and wash the dried blood that’s still on the parts of his body I can see and reach. I glance up at his face while I gently wipe his skin. I onceheard that even unconscious patients can hear people’s voices. It should feel silly talking to him, but it doesn’t.

“You’re going to be okay.” He has to be. “It’s funny. Just the other day Maeve and I were talking about Deeka blessing more of the warriors with a mate. She said since I’ve been here for so long without finding a mate, maybe the goddess had a younger warrior in mind for me. I joked that she was going to make me a cradle robber.”

I chuckle as I swipe the cloth across his forehead. “You probably don’t know what a cradle robber even is. It means the male is still a little young—late teens or early twenties—while the female is significantly older. Not that I think you’re that young. But I’m thirty after all, so my options for unmated males were a bit limited.”

Jodah still hasn’t moved or given any sign he’s conscious. Not since the single time he opened his eyes. But I keep talking. Kyler stepped out a minute ago and I don’t want the male lying here to think he’s been left alone. I don’t want him giving up.

“I heard you went hunting a luani. No one has been back to say if you guys took it down or not, but I’ll bet you did. When you get better, you’re going to brag about how even a vicious creature as big as that couldn’t defeat you. You’ve certainly earned your bragging rights.”

My throat is a bit dry—and I’ve cleaned Jodah as well as I can—so I grab a small sip of water.

“I don’t know how you guys aren’t freezing walking around shirtless all the time.” I give an exaggerated shudder. “Where I lived on Earth we rarely had to step outsideif we didn’t want to. Buildings were connected to each other by these things called sky bridges. They’re enclosed tunnels you could walk through to get from one place to another.

“Most of the time, I was either at work or at home, so I only needed to go outside to catch the train. We also have this thing called electricity. It’s this amazing invention that takes one kind of energy and transforms it into another kind. Although it’s probably a lot more complicated than that.” I chuckle. “Anyway, the new energy is used to power lights and provide us with artificial heat in our houses and all the buildings when it’s cold outside and cold air when it’s hot outside. We didn’t have to use torches or fires. We also had plumbing and running water.”

God, I missed running water. I check the medicine-soaked cloths covering him. They are slowly drying on his chest.

“I’m going to be an icicle before the cold season is over, I think. Talek says the cold dust can get up to a couple feet high. I’ve never seen that much in my life.” If I didn’t know it before, I realize now how many more privileges I had than London and Maeve who were from the bottom tier. They really got screwed over by the world.

Unable to help myself, I touch the mating marks along Jodah’s bicep. The dark purple lines swirl and hook and I could almost swear they turn a darker shade as my finger runs along the design. “I’ve always thought about having a husband someday. Maybe not kids—not that I have anything against them—but definitely a husband. Although after I came to Tavikh, I’d kind of given up on it,like I hear a lot of the warriors have. But these marks right here. They mean something to me. I don’t know if you’ll want me as a mate if you ever find out what I did, but I plan on doing everything I possibly can to make sure you heal and stay alive.”

Maybe this is the reason I’ve been brought here.

Chapter 3

Jodah

Pain unlike any I have ever experienced before radiates through me. It is as though I am being stung by hordes of mushkanja one right after another in a never-ending cycle and there is nothing but an endless sea of pain and agony. On the other side of it is a sweet sound that calls to me, but it is too far away, and I am weak.

Cold seeps into my bones. If I am asleep, I cannot wake. I can only feel pain and want nothing more than for it to cease. A soft touch strokes my face. It might be the one place I do not hurt. It reminds me of my nene’s touch when I caught a sickness as a kit and she held me in her arms and spoke to me of our ancestors. But then the caress stops. I desperately want to call it back.

A glowing light appears and grows brighter and brighter until I am nearly blinded. Yet, my eyes are closed. At leastI believe they are. A pale wisp of smoke billows around me—covering me—and the pain disappears as though it never existed.

Peace settles within me and my body relaxes into the cloud of smoke that wraps around me like a warm fur. A sudden knowing comes. A form rises from the smoke to appear in front of me. A female. Deeka.

She is stunning, although she has no form. Her essence shines so bright it takes my breath away.

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