Page 43 of Guardian's Heart

Mating Marks? My body hummed in response to the word; some deep-buried intuition resonated with it.

"Mating marks?" Nova asked, pulling her hand from Nock's grasp. Unconsciously, she rubbed the black lines.

"You didn't know?" Nock seemed perplexed. He looked from Nova to me and back to make sure we weren't fooling him.

I shook my head. "No idea."

"Interesting." Nock still held my arm in his hand; with the other, he pushed up my sleeve and studied the lines. "I must say, I have never seen such intricate marks before."

"How much do you know about them?"

"Given that I created nearly a hundred streams about mating marks in the universe, I would say quite a bit. But like I said, I’ve never seen anything like this. Do they go up all the way up your arm?"

"And sides and hips," Nova added.

The Kred's forehead moved up in clear astonishment. "I've seen many different mating marks. Usually, they're like a ring around the arm, or spots, sometimes lines, but nothing… and especially not… what species did you say you are?" He looked up at me.

"I'm a Space Guardian," I replied, irritated that he asked.

"I know that, but what species? What planet are you from?"

I opened my mouth to respond and closed it. "Ohrur?"

"You don't look like an Ohrur."

He was right about that. Ohrurs were nothing like us, from their smaller statures to their oversized heads.

"I…" Both Nock and Nova stared at me expectantly. "I don't know," I finally admitted when I realized that I truly didn't. Neither had it ever crossed my mind to inquire. I felt another headache coming on. Maybe I needed to use a full healing cylinder instead of just the wand. The headaches had been coming too often lately for my liking.

I trained on Ohrur with other Space Guardians until we were deemed ready to go out on missions. The Ohrurs equipped us with what we needed and provided us with missions we completed to fill their pockets… that was the life I knew andhad never once questioned. I loved my life. I had been born to fight and was filled with a deep sense of justice, a sense I could often satisfy. Hunting down criminals and ridding the universe of them was everything I had ever strived for. I found release in taverns on space stations or planet side; there were always willing females to satisfy me. A good meal, a stiff drink, a quick fuck, those things had been the greatest gifts right next to the hunt. Protection missions like this were usually boring, and I viewed them more as a punishment for some misdeed I might have committed, like disrespecting my minder.

Now, I was rendered speechless by a simple question.What species was I?

"Has nobody ever questioned it?" Nock wanted to know.

"You tell me, you're the holostreamer," I retorted.

NOVA

I had no ideawhat they were talking about. What in the hell was a holostreamer? I had an idea, but it sounded ludicrous. I mean, I had hacked accounts for social media streamers to get them more views, even internationally, but if Nock was a social media guru, he had to be universal, as in streaming through the entire universe. I stared at the short man. He seemed taller than when I first saw him, but even now, he appeared more like a ten-year-old than a man.

"Holostreamer?" I asked. Fully aware that this wasn't the most important question right now, but needing to know.

"Nock fancies himself a sort of reporter, except nobody wants to hire him, so he puts out his streams in hopes people will watch it," Zaarek explained.

"I’ll have you know that I have nearly a trillion followers." Nock looked offended while my head reeled.A trillion followers? That number simply threatened to blow my mind. That was… many, many more times the entire population of Earth.

Okay, so not important right now, Nova, focus! my mind screamed. For good measure, just in case I missed the memo, it addedmating marks.

Alright, so what the hell are mating marks?

Again, I had a pretty good idea, but my mind refused to go there.

Zaarek’s stricken expression, however, stopped all my other questions. "Zaarek?"

"Let's sit down," Nock proposed. My weakening knees liked the idea, and I slumped unladylike onto one of the stools next to Nock while Zaarek paced the mess hall.

"You're making me dizzy following you," I complained as my neck craned for the umpteenth time, trying to keep track of him.

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