Page 45 of Jewel of the Alien Bandit
Every mate rune on my body glowed more brightly with my realization.
Would I truly risk everything to selfishly keep her for myself?
Her silver eyes stared up at me, and my resolve only grew. Fuck, I was going to owe Lord Zorn more than my life for whatI was about to ask him to do. I knew tasting her when I was fully mated to her was dumb. Pumped with endorphins I wasn’t thinking clearly, and in the back of my mind I knew I should walk away, let her save her people by mating with another male, but that voice was faint now. A whisper of a conscience describing the probabilities of success not being high enough to risk Estreldez’s freedom. I wasn’t much for mathematics anyway, and a much louder voice was reasoning that neither King Sylve, nor the Krelis Prince cared about killing anyone. The Glorbin Flower was what mattered, and the lives on Estreldez were more valuable alive to harvest it, so my actions weren’t risking lives… not really.
It was a stretch, and a deeper part of me knew that, but that part was too quiet to hear as my mate bond demanded I protect Luan… but more importantly protect our future together.
I lifted my head back from hers to press my lips to her forehead, closing my eyes to relish the moment before the storm. If we survived this, she might just murder me herself. But, none of that mattered because she was the only one I’d allow the privilege to do so.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Luan
MY SKIN STILLtingled where Vareo’s lips had touched my forehead. It wasn’t the steamy touch we had shared before, but it left me speechless, and warmth pooled in my belly.
His words lit a fire within me to find that unseen path towards scorching the forces threatening everyone I cared about. Be the sun, I thought before he suddenly unwrapped his arms from my waist and stood leaving my skin cold.
“Get some rest,” he offered with a tenderness that stopped any stubbornness from rearing at being told what to do. He tucked a piece of my hair behind my ear, which served no purpose but to expose more of my face to him. Saying nothing more, he steeled himself and left me there staring after him. His back turned to me, a scar I hadn’t noticed before pulled my attention to the back of his neck, partially hidden within his dark hair.
A blackened leaf, or wing that didn’t blend well with the rest of his tattoos. I’d felt the raised flesh of scarring when I threaded my fingers along his scalp minutes before, but I had been distracted. And now he wasn’t here to answer my curiosity.
That’s what I wanted, wasn’t it?
For him to live his life, find a shol female, and survive outside of this coming war, away from me?
Then why did I feel so miserable at the sight of his shadow disappearing behind the sealing doorway?
I clutched at my chest, there was this tug I had never felt before urging me to right myself and stand. Before I knew it my feet were padding across the borrowed quarters of this slavers-owned vessel. When I thought about it that way, the small ray of light I felt being in this bubble with Vareo disappeared. This wasn’t merely a transport ship taking us back to my planet. This was a vessel, possibly filled with slaves who had no choice but to do whatever it was that Lord Zorn asked of them.
An image of Lord Zorn’s tattoo with the burned bird wrung through with a sword flashed in my mind. It was the mark of a slave killed and in its place a lord reborn… My heart stilled. Lord Zorn and Vareo knew each other… and Vareo had the mark of a slave still. It was not removed, like those who had escaped their fates.
It was the first thing any freed slave would do, find a way of removing that which claimed them for someone else.
I wasn’t dumb, I had realized he had been a slave, but not the potential that he still was one.
And Vareo’s absence took on a whole new meaning… and that tattoo on the back of his neck reminded me he might not be free at all. Did Lord Zorn say something to him? My whole body tensed as I waited with my hand near the door’s sensor. Was Vareo even free this moment? Was this all a trap to have Lord Zorn gain access to Estreldez? Was I leading a monster into the heart of my clan?
I froze.
With a shake of my head I couldn’t fathom Vareo betraying me like this, even if he was still under Lord Zorn’s claws. I was just being paranoid, I thought, while staring warily at the metal pad next to the door.
Vareo had saved my life only moments before, I felt it in my soul. If it weren’t for him I didn’t think my body would have found the small amount of radiation it did. Somehow he generated exactly what my body needed to heal itself, it was unheard of. And if anyone on Estreldez caught wind of what a shol was capable of then his species would be even more sought after aside from being nearly extinct… to imagine the shol were capable of generating the same kind of radiation produced by our moons, it could change everything.
His species was more valuable to my planet than a lost heir to the Almder could ever be. No one could know what happened between us only moments before. Not if Vareo, and whichever other shol out there wanted to have a semblance of a normal life focused on rebuilding their own species.
I pressed my lips together at the thought of Vareo being with any other female, the tips of my ears burned with jealousy. And in the same thought I realized my trust in him was so fragile, thinking he could still be under the influence of the slave trader, Lord Zorn, and this whole thing could have simply been trading one captor for another.
Hovering over the sensors that would open the door, I paused, needing to be wrong. Needing that feeling of betrayal and the sadness in Vareo’s eyes to be in my imagination. I closed the distance and pressed my palm firmly in place to leave this room and chase after him so I could tell him I didn’t want to push him away.
His absence already caused my insides such turmoil that I never wanted to experience again, but as I stared at the unmoving door my panic only grew.
Nothing happened.
I lifted my hand and slammed it back into the sensor pad, not even a scanning light lit behind my touch. The door stayed securely where it had been before my assault.
I was locked in.
And I was fuming.
