Page 79 of The Alien Warlord's Fated Mate

He said the last two words in carefully enunciated English.

“Then I will.” She brushed her fingertips along his jawline, then let her hand drop, surprised by how weak she was. “What happened to thevyirkolen?”

“Kaelen Drexus slayed it.”

“Dang. Well, now I guess I’ll have to help him out.”

Zoran’s eyes narrowed. “Help him out?”

“That’s between me and him,” she said firmly.

“Mate,” Zoran growled. “You will not keep secrets from me, particularly secrets shared with another male.”

“Who said it was a secret? Besides, you’ll figure it out soon enough. Trust me.”

“I do.”

“Good. Then that’s settled.” The pins and needles sensation roared through her, and she bit her lip to stifle a gasp. “Mom’s really here?”

“And your father as well. I believe they linger at the science center discussing viruses.” He pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Rest now. If you behave, I shall draw you a bath and wash you thoroughly.”

Prickles of another kind washed over her. “That sounds promising.”

“Indeed. We must begin making these grandchildren you pledged to give your mother.”

His smug tone made her laugh. “Well, now that I’ve promised, I suppose it’s a sure thing. There’s just one problem.”

“Yes, my mate?”

“I could really use some cuddles right now.”

“If it so pleases you, such will ever be my honor to oblige.”

Zoran crawled into the narrow hospital bed with her and held her gently against his chest until she fell into a deep sleep, safe and secure beside her beloved mate.

Over the next few days, Mia became intimately acquainted with her doctors’ torture devices, the machines they used to gauge the damage done to her spinal cord. She felt fine. Better than fine, really, at least physically. As hard as she tried to put it behind her, the memory of thevyirkolenhaunted her, that and the fact that one of her own people had locked her outside with that monster.

When Zoran asked her what she remembered, Mia forced down her rancor as she told him about the locked doors and pleading with Raelka Korlis.

His eyes had gone from green to white between one breath and the next. “She will be dealt with.”

Mia hadn’t asked how. Raelka had been given more than one opportunity to demonstrate her loyalty and had failed repeatedly. Now she would pay the price.

Mia’s parents settled into a spare bedroom in Alara’s house while Mia’s mother consulted with Emma Mitchell and her peers, both Xeruvian and human, on the nature of the virus that had so devastated Xeruvian females. Their stay was temporary. As soon as the ship dropped them off in Arkkukari, it returned to Earth, where Sonja Mathis and her mate Aklan Phyrz worked to reopen a dialogue with Earth’s many governments. The Reynolds would go back when the next ship traveled that way.

Until then, Mia welcomed their time together. She was happy to putter with her research around doctor’s appointments, physical therapy, and mentoring sessions with Zoran’s mother. Happy to let her friends drag her to movie night, and very,veryhappy when her doctors cleared her to resumeintimate relationswith her mate, as they put it.

Though Zoran still treated her as if she were made of glass.

A week after the attack, Zoran presided over an emergency session of the Warlord Council, flanked on one side by Mia and on the other by his mother.

While the warlords discussed the implications of the twovyirkolenattacks, Mia studied those in attendance. Because of the nature of the meeting, it had been opened to the public. The warlords who had a voice in the proceedings sat in a circle in the center of the open space. Whoever could squeeze in sat or stood around them, well back so that the warlords could move freely.

Mia recognized several among the crowd. The warlords who had trained beside her mate during those early days aboard his ship, as well as those she’d met since their arrival. Her friends and colleagues from the science center. A few local merchants.

Her parents stood beside Jyrak on the outer edges, their curiosity so obvious Mia was sure even the Xeruvians could spot it.

Near the end of the session, a young, handsome warrior Mia vaguely recognized dragged Raelka into the empty space in the middle of the inner circle. The female’s hands were bound behind her and her eyes were wild with a desperate, defiant fear.

---