Page 59 of Guardian's Soul

"Because every three months, I get a shot to stop me from having babies," she explained.

Hearing how painful childbirth was for humans, I understood why. The thought of her enduring any kind of pain to bring my son or daughter into the universe didn't sit well with me at all.

"I got one about three weeks before I was taken, so I should be good for another month… but I don't know how your stupid universe time works, so I don't know if it has been three Earth months yet or not. So, let's run this test." She was ready to jump off the chair.

"Wait, let me finish searching for what the Ohrurs did to the Space Guardians who found their Soulweb mates." I stopped her.

She settled back down, but I could tell she was antsy. Needing to find out about our compatibility. It had to be indeed extremely painful for human females if the very thought of having babies terrified her like this. But if it was that bad, how did her species procreate? From what I had gathered, there were a few billions of humans or had been.

She had mentioned that there were drugs now, so that had to be why. Still… it was confusing.

Then my mind veered as I began reading about the Ohrurs atrocities. I slammed my hand against the armrest, startling Hannah, whose mind must have drifted because she wasn't looking at the screen.

"What?" she screeched, startled. "Is it your head? Is it hurting?"

For a moment, she distracted my anger enough to think about it. Strangely, the headaches only seemed to appear when I remembered things or dreamed about them, but not when I read about my ancestor's pasts.

"No," I answered her, but I didn't elaborate on my thoughts because my outrage was too much.

"They killed them." Undiluted fury rushed through my veins.

"Who killed who?" Her forehead creased.

"The Ohrurs killed every Space Guardian and every mate they ever found. They lured them in whenever suspicion arose that they might have been compromised, and if they had the markings, they were terminated."

"Oh no." Tears pooled in Hannah's eyes. "That's terrible."

My blood ran cold when I read the next sentence. "Space Guardians are to be retired between twenty and thirty years of service. That's how long it seems to take for them to fully mature to where the possibility of mating marks becomes an issue, and during this time, they also start to develop a profound awareness of their deeper selves and their place in the universe ."

"When you say retire…" Hannah asked apprehensively.

I nodded. "Terminated. Yes."

I leaned back in the chair and felt her hand on my arm, gently stroking it. "I'm so sorry, Thrax."

I had worked for those people. For over twenty years, I had worked for them. I had been happy doing so. And what would the reward for this have been? A quick death?

Frygg!

I slammed my hand on the armrest once more, shaking my head in disbelief at my own naivety.You and thousands, maybe millions of others, my mind whispered. That was when my hot, burning fury turned cold. Ice cold. A thousand Space Guardians at any given year for tens of thousands of years. My mind was right. The number had to go into the millions.

HANNAH

Thrax was soagitated I didn't know what to do.

"Talk to me, Thrax." I kneeled beside him, putting my hands on his knees. For a moment, I feared he didn't even see me. He was so lost in his fury.

"I worked for them, Hannah," he finally said in a tone so low I had to tilt my head to hear him. "I thought I was doing the right thing."

"And you did," I reassured him, hardly believing that I was telling him it was okay that he had killed… however many people. They had been criminals. Especially if what he had told me about his moral compass was true. "Just think about all the people you saved by terminating the bad ones. You are still you."

He shook his head and moved one hand through his hair before using it to massage the back of his neck. "Why didn't I see this? Why didn't I question any of this before? How could I have been so blind?"

"Don't." I squeezed his knee. "How could you have known? You didn't have the Soulweb Glyphs before. I think they triggered all of this."

He laughed dryly. It was an ugly, self-deprecating laugh thatturned my stomach. "I never asked myself one simple question, Hannah. Who am I?"

"You are a Space Guardian," I said, putting all my conviction into my voice. "You rid the entire universe of its scum. You save people. That's who you are. That's who you've always been."

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