Page 74 of Guardian's Heart

"A threat?"

I shuddered as goosebumps crept down my spine while a chill seeped into my stomach.Don't take the bait, don't take the bait, I prayed.

"If you want to call it that." Possedion lured Zaarek in deeper.

"And who will carry out your threat? You?" Zaarek mocked.

"Your fellow Space Guardians might not like the assignment, but they will follow my orders, trust me." Possedion stared coldly at Zaarek.

I waved my hand to keep Zaarek calm, whose eyes were immediately drawn to me.

"What are you looking at?" Possedion immediately cried, turning.

I ducked deeper into the bathroom, praying that Possedion's holograph couldn’t simply follow me.

I didn't need to.

"What is that?" a burst of derisive laughter followed Possedion's statement, and I fought against my curiosity to look at what had caught his attention.

"I get it now. You don't need an ambassador to endear yourself to the other humans. You need a warm body in your bed."

Noises as if someone was picking something off the ground came from the other room.

"That is none of your business."

"You're right, it's not. If you want to amuse yourself during your missions, that's your choice."

Possedion sounded more amused than agitated now, and I dared a glimpse around the corner. Zaarek was holding a red blouse pressed against his chest. Shit. That blouse and a few other items lay strewn on the floor where Zaarek had ripped them off me last night.

Then my eyes moved to Zaarek's now naked chest. Before, he had been draped in a sheet, but when he jumped off the bed,he must have discarded it in his anger for Possedion. Shit! His mating marks were fully on display.

Possedion must have noticed them at the same moment. "What is that?"

He screeched for a second time, moving forward with his hand stretched out, pointing at Zaarek's chest.

"Frygg!" Zaarek scrambled to the bed where he usually kept his comm and disconnected the call.

"Frygg!" he shouted again, throwing the comm against the wall. I figured it was safe to step out of my hiding spot. "Now what?"

I picked the unscathed tablet off the floor. It began to vibrate immediately.

"Don't answer that," Zaarek ordered in an agitated voice.

ZAAREK

With Possedion's discovery ofmy mating marks and Nova in my bedroom, we lost our advantage of keeping the Ohrur in the dark. Worst yet, they knew where we were going. Nock had casted it loud and clear. Yet, if we wanted to stand a chance to connect with Raasla or Noodar, if he was still alive, it had to be here and now.

"How long do you think we can wait?" Nova asked when we met with Nock a little while later in the breakroom and filled him in.

"Not more than two days," I suggested, not liking the idea of even spending another hour here. A thousand, or to be exact, nine hundred and ninety-eight Space Guardians would be on the lookout for us. Given that it would be a rare coincidence that even one of them was near this space station, I thought we would have some time. But I would rather not take any chances with Nova. The arrival of one or more Space Guardians to take me into custody would also affect her. I was sure Possedion wanted her caught as much as me.

Not only that, I had also put Raasla in danger because now Nock's message would fill the Ohrurs in on what had happened to him. I felt responsible for warning him, which was the only reason I took the risk of staying.

"How long will it take Raasla to get here?" Nova asked next.

I shook my head. "It's impossible to say. At the most, a year."

"A year?" She was stunned.

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