Page 34 of Her Alien Delegate
He grumbled, "She was promised that I was someone I was not, with a title that I did not hold."
"I'm sorry." And I truly was, because it seemed by his response that he had liked her before knowing this and losing her. I would have welcomed any mate that brought him joy into my delegation. "Will you pursue it again?"
He shook his head to the negative. "I was infatuated with my own imagination. She was merely the current vessel for it."
Is that what I felt for my mate? Was I under an illusion of sharing a bond? She did leave when I was clear that we were mates, and that I had every intention of claiming her contract. Perhaps it was one sided? I would soon find out.
"How close are we?"
Pheyal eyed me curiously, and I realized I had instinctively reached for the empty space at my neck. I did not think it waspossible to still feel such a pull when the bond was severed so soon, but I craved to be marked by her.
"You have a contract with her. There is time to bond again," Pheyal reasoned, but the long drag of his muscles showed he too understood losing the bond like I have means I no longer held a binding agreement with my mate that was enforceable by unGor law.
By unGor law, if I had held on to the bond in my own body, then my mate was required to reject or accept my claims after I've performed a ceremony of Gengaktor to prove myself. It would have been easy to find her by the warmth in my chest and the glow of my ormete, regardless of my ability to see her features.
Vaquel was less diplomatic in his words, and said what all of us were thinking, "A contract means nothing." He paused, considering the situation, and then his ormete twitched like they were shocking his mind into action. "Unless..."
"Unless what?" Pheyal urged for him to continue as I leaned in like his words would be the spring of new hope after a windstorm.
"Unless we can prove she didn't leave you by choice," he finally breathed out.
My shoulders sagged at this realization.
Pheyal shook his head and queued up a video surveillance. I watched as a group of new human arrivals on Trillume departed, one after the other, with their hosts. Two humans remained, waiting for some time together; neither of them showed signs of distress, or made any action towards requesting assistance from the trill security.
Then they were approached by a necia warrior—one of great honored standing in their tribe— who escorted them without any force. In fact, the warrior seemed reluctant to be there at all,even arguing with the human whose hair resembled red-colored ormete.
"Hope," I said.
"It isn't enough," Pheyal admitted. "By all appearances, the exchange was voluntary, and both humans left of their own choice."
"Which one is my mate?"
It wasn't like I could tell by an image alone without being around her in the flesh.
"The red-ormete, they call it hair."
But as the image froze, I tried to get a better look at the shorter human, who seemed to hide behind the other.
"And the black-ormete?" I questioned.
"Contracted with the necia warriors for a Rakture ceremony upon arrival. You should prepare yourself for the possibility that your mate has bonded with one of the necia warriors on the ship already."
I growled involuntarily, like my whole being rejected the idea of not being the first to mate with her. Calming myself, I replied, "As the future primary delegate of AsunGor, she has the right to choose who she mates with..."
"And if she's already with offspring?" Vaquel interjected with his usual pessimism and yet very possible assumptions.
"Then we will raise the offspring and make sure we convince her mate to leave his tribe for a new one within her delegation," I said through clenched teeth. It would not be ideal. My brother would use that situation to try to take control of AsunGor. The first born of the Commissioner's delegation isn't even the commissioner's blood. It would not go over well with the clans.
"You wouldn't be able to give her first offspring the honor of your title..." Vaquel lamented with a sadness we all felt. We all knew that I would love the offspring as if it was my own bloodand then politics would make us all choose between what was right and what was safest for the youngling.
I felt their whole life flash before my eyes and watched in my mind as Vaquel doted on a child with epul spikes that he trained to use while swimming in the caverns for their first hunt. I watched as Pheyal made him study how to manage a clan for them to one day take over the responsibilities.
I watched as an offspring not even born yet ran into their mother's arms, but from behind all I saw were shadows, forcing me to reach out and feel with my hands the silky hairs of her ormete. My hand, as it cupped her cheek and felt the way her mouth, turned up in a smile meant only for me.
"We will accept whatever happiness we are given," I confirmed out loud what my heart already knew. "I will speak with the commander and explain her importance beyond a contract."
"The necia warriors are territorial once they've mated," Pheyal warned.
