Page 80 of Guardian's Heart

"Let's wait until we're all together," Noodar declined, keeping an eye and a blaster trained on Vraax.

An uncomfortable silence followed, and I hoped it wouldn't take too long to catch up with Raasla's and Noodar's mates. I was curious, though. "The distance from your mate doesn't bother you?"

"I'm not happy about it, but I'm not bothered," Noodar replied, looking curious.

"After the marks first appeared on Zaarek and me, we couldn’t be more than a mile or so apart without our bodies hurting like hell," I explained.

Noodar's eyebrows rose in sync. "No, that never happened to us."

"Interesting," I mumbled, reinforcing my earlier theory that they had only hurt until Zaarek and I fully gave in to our bond.

"By the way, the marks are called Soulweb Glyphs," Noodar filled me in.

"Soulweb Glyphs," I repeated, liking the sound of it very much.

Vraax snorted, and we ignored him, just like we ignored Nock, who seemed still pouty over one, not having been recognized, and two, for Noodar not sharing all his secrets just yet.

"How soon did yours appear?" I felt like Nock, peppering him with endless questions.

"The same day I saw her, only a few hours later." Noodar's expression turned soft. "And yours?"

"A few days, but honestly, I ran away from him. After he caught up with me, it was only a few hours," I admitted.

"That sounds like a good story." Noodar grinned, and what else was there to talk about besides the hundreds of thousands of questions I had, which, out of fairness, would have to wait until we were all together wherever we were going.

"Fascinating," Vraax mocked, leaning back against the wall and closing his eyes.

When I finished Zaarek's and my tale, I challenged Noodar, "Your turn."

"There isn't much to it. I was supposed to take and protect Princess Luphelia to her groom, but the moment I saw her…" He shook his head, looking lost in revelry, a smile spread over his face, making him look handsome.

"She's a Mantarian, right?" Nock couldn't help but interject, and Vraax made a gagging sound, earning him a dark glare from Noodar.

"What does that mean?" I wanted to know.

"Mantarians aren't known for their… beauty," Nock explained.

"Hideous creatures," Vraax said, and when Noodar was about to jump him, I held him back by his elbow.

"Don't. He wants a fight to distract us," I warned.

Noodar gave me an appreciative once-over and nodded, cautioning Vraax, "One more word, and I will stun you."

"So you were smitten the minute you laid eyes on her," I tried to soothe and bring him back to the story. Shooting a glare at Vraax to make him shut up.

"Yes." Noodar leaned back against the wall. "She's not a beauty," he shot at Vraax, "but she's my soulbond."

"How did the Ohrurs react?" I asked.

"I had a feeling they wouldn't like this one bit." Noodar smirked. "After all, I was supposed to protect her and take her to her groom. The Ohrurs would have never tolerated a union between her and me, and neither would her family. So we only had one choice. I made it look as if our ship had been attacked by pirates and blown to pieces, and then we simply vanished."

So they had done what Zaarek and I had discussed before, running. "How did that go?"

"We're here, right?" Noodar winked.

"Why do I have the feeling that it isn't an accident?" Nock piped up, and I had to agree with him.

I stared at Noodar, encouraging him silently to continue. "We did vanish for a while, flew under the radar," he reminisced. "But after a while… questions arose. Questions and—seems like we're docking," he interrupted himself.

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