Page 27 of The Alien Warlord's Fated Mate

Mia laughed. “I bet.”

“I would be happy as well.” Alara clasped Mia’s hand in her own, gently, as if she were well aware of her greater strength. “If there had been another way, my daughter, we would have chosen it.”

Mia covered Alara’s hand with her free one. “Don’t apologize for trying to save your people. I might’ve done exactly the same thing in a similar situation.”

Alara hesitated for a moment, then said, “May I offer some advice?”

“Um. Sure?”

“Do not forgive my son so easily. He will value your affection more if he must work to win it.”

Mia blinked at her for a moment, letting the words sink in. A slow grin curved her mouth. “Leona is going toloveyou.”

“Who?” Alara said, cocking her head quizzically.

The vehicle slowed, drawing their attention to the town beyond them, and Mia let the conversation shift naturally to her friends. She would settle matters with Zoran soon enough. Now it was time to explore this beautiful world he’d given her.

Chapter Eight

Zoran settled himself onto a cushion within the circle of warlords gathered for a Council meeting. He was the only mated warlord present among those who had traveled to Earth and back. The others had whisked their mates away to their own territories, leaving him to update the warlords who had remained on Zephyria to protect their people.

He controlled the frown threatening to manifest in his expression. That was not quite true. Aklan Phyrz and his new human mate, Sonja Mathis, would spend only a senna on Zephyria before returning to Earth and negotiations with human governments. And while several warlords who’d made the trip had not found mates among the human females, only one had found a mate and refused to claim her. That female had joined the other unmated humans in the compound Alara had readied for them.

Under other circumstances, the shame would ruin that warlord’s family. Given the chain of events, Zoran could not find it in himself to chastise Nyklan any further. Perhaps in time, his sister’s mate would heal enough to claim his human. Only Nyklan could mend that breach, though Zoran prayed the unknown female—for Nyklan had refused to name her—would find her own way into Nyklan’s heart, healing him of one of the most vicious griefs ever to be visited upon a Xeruvian.

The other warlord sat now in the council circle, brooding. Since he was there, Zoran intended to make full use of his knowledge. Why not? Such would save energy for brooding of his own.

As the final warlord settled into the circle, Zoran straightened, catching every eye in the circle. Though news had likely already spread, he began with a simple truth. “The mating instinct calls us to human females.”

Low murmurs raced around the circle, echoing back from the field protecting them from the storm brewing around the open Council Grounds. Zoran had chosen this place, here among the jungles of hisjutji, for a reason: let the warlords be reminded of their nature. Xeruvians were predators at heart. They would need those instincts, that fierce tenacity, to save their people.

“My own mate bears my mark,” he continued. “I knew the moment our eyes met that she was mine.”

“What of the others?” someone called out.

“I can only speak for myself. The others will share their stories in their own time.” Zoran nodded at Nyklan. “Brother, what of your impressions of the human females?”

Nyklan answered without hesitation. “They are not as weak as they seem. Fragile, perhaps, certainly more delicate than our own females, but ferocious when cornered. Aklan Phyrz’s mate fought alongside him to escape the grasp of her own people. She came willingly, bearing his mark, and will not be parted from him, by all appearances.”

Kaelan Drexus leveled a shrewd gaze on Nyklan. “And yet, you refuse to claim your own female. Are they so flawed, then, that they can so easily be shunned?”

Nyklan snarled, his eyes flashing hotly. “That is no concern of yours.”

“Such is every warlord’s concern,” Kaelan said flatly. “If the instinct can be repudiated, then another male must be given a chance.”

Nyklan jumped to his feet, his muscles taut as his hands clenched into claw-tipped fists at his side. Zoran rose as well, to keep order if nothing else, and managed not to sigh when Kaelan slowly rose and faced Nyklan.

“Why?” Nyklan growled viciously, the word scarcely recognizable as speech. “You opposed this path. What say have you in the matter?”

“As much say as any other male here,” Kaelan said, “now that the issue has been settled.”

Several other warlords, even those who had supported attempting to mate with other species, voiced agreement.

“Then speak of other females,vyirkolen,” Nyklan snapped back. “Do not prod me about a female over whom you have no say.”

Kaelan snarled as he attacked, his fangs bared, claws out. The warlords beside him bounded into action, attempting to contain him while Zoran wrapped his arms around Nyklan’s torso and bodily shoved him out of the circle. They landed heavily on the packed earth.

Nyklan grunted once, then let his hands drop to the ground as Zoran slipped to the side, his knee pressing into Nyklan’s chest. “Let me go.”

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