Page 49 of Her Alien Savior
“Invite me to the after party, okay? Just not the main event. On Earth, it’s just weird to watch family fuck. No insult to your customs or anything.”
“Family…” I let the word roll off my tongue. “This translates to tribe for my language.”
“I was worried about her, since I wasn’t able to let her know I was okay, but I’m glad she was right about some aliens after all. It was humans I had to watch out for… And she was an action star kicking your ass with her weapon dancing. If you don’t mind, I’ll follow you to your room so you can give this to her.” Granete held up the spear Riley had used in our Rakture dueling ceremony. “I made this for her when I first got here. I didn’t think I’d ever get to give it to her. Lee will understand when she wakes… She will wake, right?”
I held her closer to me and growled. “Of course, she’ll wake. I would not harm my mate. This gift you wish to give her, this is not some human mating ritual of your tribe?” I did not like another male giving such a thoughtful gift to Riley without knowing what its meaning was to them.
He laughed and did the arm smacking gesture he used when we met like I had said a joke, I did not smile.
“You can call me Nate, now that we’re brothers and all,” he said jovially.
“Brothers…” It clicked for me, and I needed clarification to ease the way my instincts pulled in two directions with this human. “Riley’s tribe… What is your second name that humans give themselves?”
“Spearit,” he chirped, and walked ahead of me with Riley’s spear, and a smile on his face as he passed. “Don’t stab me in the back, okay? I just can’t walk beside you while you’re carrying my sister’s naked unconscious body.”
Granete, Nate, Spearit of Earth… They shared a second name, their tribe’s name. A brother, I thought, not by bond, but spawning. My brothers in my tribe were all family by bond, we all shared blood at spawning, if we shared a spawn maker it was not discussed. A spawn for the tribe was a blessing for all.
“Nate…” This was the name she called out in her restlessness. She was distressed. It was difficult to see subtle differences on a species not of my tribe, but I could see it now, the similar shape of his eyes, the curve of his nose, though bigger, was like my mates. They were of the same spawning. His hair was the same color, before the silver of our bond began to grow at her roots. It will take many risings for the full change of her mane’s coloring to be seen as it sheds and replaces with new strands.
He scuffed his boots on the ground, the silence between us changed to something heavy that I could feel as a lump in my throat. My Riley’s spawn mate wished to say something important but held it to himself.
“Speak,” I barked, though I hoped not too roughly for his human sensitivities. If he was anything like my mate, he would bite back with his words and I would be relieved, but though they had similar appearances, he merely laughed and shook his head. I was beginning to see that his laugh was not of humor, but of a diversion tactic.
He stilled and turned with a look of seriousness. “When she wakes, can you tell her I listened to her that day. I told them I was done fighting, and when I did…” he choked up, before brushing the feeling off with a forced chuckle as he lifted a hand to scratch his neck, “Well, it’s all history. The humans I was working with weren’t actually standing for any human rights at all, they were using the platform as a way to keep the treaty in a state of chaos so they could traffic humans themselves for profit. All those times I helped them build a spaceship, it wasn’t to free our planet of being reliant on alien technology, they wanted to benefit from the obsession over the new species to the universe. I was tossed in with the rest of the human cargo but got lucky coming here.”
“Why did you not take up the offer to return to Earth?” He had said this facility offered this when he came, and he could have returned to Riley.
“I was part of the alien terrorist group, and if I returned, I’d have been imprisoned on Earth for my crimes. Staying here, they gave me updates on Riley when they could. Seeing her here was a surprise, and I’m not sure why she didn’t say something.”
This she was the mate he spoke of before. He let out a frustrated sigh, and then smiled back at me hiding his emotions.
“I do not know this mate of yours, but if she cares for you, then she had her reasons to delay revealing this to you,” I said remembering I had kept my past from Riley, and she had kept hers close to her chest as well. “My mate said nothing of a brother, yet I am certain there is a reason that I trust was for the best. As my elder has said to me before, in time there are no more secrets when you stay true to your hearts. The goddess has her ways of revealing things when you are worthy.”
“Figures she’d find a mate that would support her regardless of her armor.” He chuckled. “I could learn a thing or two from you. Here I am brooding over not being told something so important as my sister being here and there you are thinking she would have told me if I were ready to hear it. Fuck, I’m so stupid. She was trying to tell me something, wasn’t she…” Nate rubbed at his face and groaned. “She did tell me about her, but without saying who she was. Anyways, I’m the reason your door was locked.” He was speaking quickly, and I allowed him to speak without interruption as I would any warrior explaining their actions to me on the command deck of my ship. I burned under the ears at believing that he was responsible for Riley feeling trapped, but if he was speaking true then I had him to thank for triggering my Rakture ceremony with my mate as well.
He continued, “It’s just that… I’m sorry. I didn’t really think of you as more than a problem I had to solve for her. If you were truly mate compatible, I told her that humans need forced proximity to bond with mates. The more we see a potential mate the more we either gravitate more towards them or push them farther away. I came up with the solution that if you mated that she’d share your D.N.A. and to make the locks open to your shared genetic markers. I didn’t know… Argh, I just forced my sister to…”
I couldn’t let him continue when it was my mate he was speaking of, “You did not force anything. Sped up my claiming perhaps, but it is not honorable to claim a mate without her first claiming the mark herself. She drew blood from my veins, and clearly demanded I give her my mark.”
“Whoah,” he held up his hands in defense before covering his ears. “I don’t need to know the details.”
Humans were strange in their embarrassments of normal biological functions, but I did not press the issue. I wished to place my mate on a soft surface in our dwelling to make sure she did not wake with aches from being held in the confines of my arms the whole time she was accepting my mark. Not that I would mind holding her until she woke, but she did not possess the same glands as a necia warrior, and I wouldn’t risk it. After thinking of making sure my mate was comfortable, I paused before we reached the door to our chambers. I knew why I did not think on this sooner, but I feared my mate would not be pleased with this development, so I had to see if I could persuade him otherwise.
“You will not be around to tell her these things yourself,” I surmised.
He sucked in a breath through his teeth like I’d harmed him with the truth. The honorable thing for me to do would be to leave all of this information for him to discuss with my Pulsunne when she woke, but he would not have told me these things if he intended to speak with her.
“No, she won’t be around for me to tell her, because you’re going to leave tonight. It makes me feel better, knowing that she has someone. I can’t help but feel I’m the reason she’s here,” he sighed, then groaned, “Take care of her, alright, can you do that for me?”
He never needed to ask. She was my Pulsunne, and I’d spend the rest of my risings honoring her trust given in her claiming. I nodded at him in acknowledgement, though it was not one of acceptance. If we could leave tonight, then so could he. “She calls for you in her sleep,” I say instead. It was only the last few risings as she came out of her stasis, and I had been jealous of another male occupying her dreams, but the way she whimpered was not one of pleasure, but of pain.
“As the trill would say, One beside one is two, but once they merge they are new. She isn’t my family anymore, she’s yours, and she needs you more than she will ever need me. Only you guys are leaving tonight, I need you to claim your rights at the palace before she wakes… before Klemon can participate.”
My eyes lit up with understanding, and I saw him differently. Not just a human, but a warrior looking after his mate. But what he was asking was not possible, and I could not deceive him.
“If the planet is truly locked down, no transports would be active, and the only way off planet is a shuttle capable of getting through security measures, and likely an outlaw not to be trusted. Even so, I can not leave my tribe to be killed should I not show myself on the second Dan Stars.”
Nate shook his head with a coy smile. “No, within two Dan Stars. I read the notice like everyone on planet, but I didn’t look closely at it until I saw Riley and found out you were her mate. While you were,” he stopped and grimaced before shivering and continuing without addressing how I was claimed as his sister’s mate, and gave her my mark, “Anyways, I read it more closely. It’s a timeframe, not a scheduled date, it’s by the second Dan Star you need to challenge whoever is present to reclaim your rights by duel. Show up early, when they aren’t prepared and you have the advantage.
