Page 6 of Fated to the Alien Rebel

“Yes, of course.” She slides her hand beneath my head to bring a cup to my lips.

I should not need the female’s assistance, but I am glad for it. The liquid has the bitter taste of burim root, but I drink it anyway. When I have had enough, I draw my head away. She gently releases me.

“How is your pain? Do you need anything else? Are you too hot?” The healer’s apprentice touches my brow ridges. “Too cold?”

“What…” I clear the rasp in my voice. “What happened? Why am I here?”

“What is the last thing you remember?”

I strain my memory to recall anything. Evren and I discovered traces of a luani and needed at least two more warriors to go after it.

“Evren, Katem, and I asked Benham to come with us on our hunt for a luani. We left early that morning and…that is all I can remember.” Except for the pain. The pain I will never forget.

“You all found it and it attacked. The luani struck you across the chest. Benham and Katem brought you here.” Sage pauses. “That was a week ago.”

Her words confuse me. “A week? I do not know how long that is.”

“Sorry, yeah.” She tosses up her hand. “Um, a week is seven days. So, it happened seven turns of the sun ago. Your wound got infected. We weren’t sure if you were going to make it.”

It is no wonder I am weaker than a kit if I have been with the healer for seven turns. I study Sage again. She does not look like I remember before the attack. There is something different about her. From the dark coloring under her eyes, she looks as though she has not slept. Her form is not the same either as though she has not been eating. She does not look healthy. “Have you been here the whole time?”

She glances away before bringing her gaze back to me. “Yes.”

“Why have you done so?”

Sage pauses for several beats of my heart. She reaches for me and clasps my hand. Her skin is soft and smooth. She is also warm and there is a tingling along my flesh where we touch. Slowly, she raises my arm. I glance down at it, unsure what my limb has to do with why she has watched over me for seven turns. It is then that I see them.

Dark swirling mating marks line my flesh. I blink, unsure if I am imagining them, but they are still there. I turn my gaze up to Sage. There is a look of uncertainty on her face.

“You?” Is this why she has remained here?

She carefully sets down my arm. “Yes. It happened the day they brought you in here.”

For this ‘week’, I have been mated. I try to recall everything I have learned about what it is like when a warriorfinds his fated mate. My nene and baba both said the minute they touched, not only did Baba’s mating marks appear but both of their soul lights ignited. I look into myself and search for this light, but I cannot find it. Perhaps I am looking in the wrong place. Except there is nothing inside me anywhere that I can feel or see. My mating marks may have appeared on my body, but I do not feel mated.

“You have my thanks.”

A flash of hurt crosses Sage’s face, but is quickly gone. “I didn’t do it for a thank you.”

I want to say something else, but I do not know what. She clears her throat and steps back. “Do you need some water or anything more for the pain?”

“No, thank you. I will perhaps rest for a little while.” It does not matter that I just woke, the small amount of speaking I have done has fatigued me.

She nods, but does not meet my gaze. “Rest is always the best medicine. I’ll let Kyler know you woke up.”

My eyes slowly close, but my mind does not want to rest no matter what my body says. Once again I search inside for my soul light, but there is nothing. Could it be I just need to heal from my injury? If I sleep, will I feel differently when I wake? I say a prayer to Deeka asking for guidance, but she does not answer. I am left with a hollow sensation in my chest.

The one thing that I have prayed for since the shefir mated the shefira has come to pass and yet it does not give methat sense of completeness Zander and the other mated males have spoken of. Am I defective in some way? What if Deeka is wrong and I am not meant to be mated to Sage? No answers to my questions come. I should say another prayer, but why do I bother if the goddess will not even acknowledge them in any way?

Discontent wells up inside me. I will rest though, like I said, and when I wake everything will be different.

Chapter 4

Sage

Something’s wrong. I don’t know what it is, but Jodah’s reaction to learning we’re fated mates is not what I expected. Not even close. I’ve witnessed three matings and every single male was in awe over being blessed by Deeka with what they call theirkeeshla.Jodah, on the other hand, barely acknowledged it. His studying of the marks on his arms was so detached. Like they belonged to someone else.

An all-too-familiar sense of dread settles in my belly adding to the weight that’s been present since the night Mr. Griffith attacked me. My eyes burn with tears and that clogged sensation enters my nose. I blink them back and sniff to get rid of it. Jodah just woke up. He almost died. I shouldn’t read too much into his lack of reaction. Right?No, I’m going to let him get some more sleep and things will be different when he wakes.

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