Page 44 of Kissed By the Alien
“I want to help you, really I do, but how? It’s not like he respects me. If he did, he wouldn’t have shoved me in a damn cell. Once he slapped those cuffs on me, he wouldn’t talk to me. He doesn’t want to hear anything I have to say unless it’s information about the Brotherhood. Which I don’t have.”
“I don’t know what is going through his head right now, but I assure you, Lexi, if you talk to him, he will listen. I guarantee he is hyper focused on everything you say and do. It’s in the nature of a sholan when his sholani is near.”
Doubt must be written all over my face because Hunzu pulls me aside in the corridor we’ve been walking down and points out the window. “Lutan has not told me the details of Narzan’s death, but I know Lutan, perhaps better than he knows himself. He would never hurt let alone kill his brother. Whatever happened, Lutan’s blaming himself for a bad situation that resulted in Narzan’s death. In his mind, it’s the same as killing Narzan. Dead is dead, after all, whether he shot him with a blaster or failed to keep another from killing him.”
My stomach turns, hearing how Lutan’s been torturing himself.
“Lexi, I do not know you well, but you appear to care about Lutan which is why I’m telling you this. He refuses to talk to me about Narzan. But I’m hoping…”
“You’re hoping I can help him.”
“You’re his sholani.”
“I don’t believe in fated mates or soulmates.”
“Heartmates,” Hunzu corrects me.
I resist the urge to roll my eyes. “Same thing.”
“It is not, as I understand the human concept. This is more than finding a commonality of beliefs and desires. Our gods pair us with the one who completes us. There is a bond that ties us to that person. It never fails. But that bond needs to be acknowledged, accepted, and nurtured. When we find our mate and claim that person, it is forever.”
I still don’t see the difference between soul mates and heartmates, but it doesn’t matter. Whatever he wants to call it, Hunzu seems to think I can help Lutan. What’s more... Iwantto.
“I can’t help Lutan from a cell.”
He presses his palm on an id plate. With a slight click, the door unlocks. “I’m not taking you to another cell.”
Hunzu pushes the door open and steps aside, giving me what I’ve been demanding since I arrived. He’s releasing me...
CHAPTERSIXTEEN
LUTAN
Ishove the guard against the wall of the embassy security room, struggling to restrain myself. He’s one of Hunzu’s men and not the enemy.
“What the drekk do you mean he released her?” Hunzu’s the one I should be yelling at, not this fourth lead who was only following orders.
After handing my prisoners over to the guards to toss into the cells in the embassy’s basement, I went to the security room to ask where they moved Lexi. I figured they had another set of cells or gave her a guest room and put a guard on her since she’s a no-risk prisoner. Hearing they released her nearly made my mind explode with all the possible things that could happen to her.
“Warrior Kovel approved her release, to make room for the new prisoners.”
My hands clench and unclench, the need to punch something or someone—namely Hunzu—growing with an intensity that is new to me. We’ve had our disagreements in the past, but he’s never outright defied my wishes. And this time, he’s endangered my sholani by releasing her.
“How long ago?” I can track her. It’s what I do. The precise reason I was assigned to locate these blasters. No one is better at tracking than I am.
“Two hours.”
Drekk! She could be anywhere by now. Blood pounds in my ears and my nails dig into my palms as an image of Narzan lying dead in a pool of blood jumps to the forefront of my brain. His face transforms to Lexi’s.
Krike! Will these horrors never end?
“She’s likely home by now, Warrior,” the guard says with a casualness that has my horns pitching forward with a need to blood them.
He knows why she was in that cell. They all did. And yet they let her leave.
“Tell me he sent someone to escort her,” I say, knowing Hunzu would never risk a female.
“No, Warrior. All personnel were occupied with their duties. Warrior Kovel escorted her out of the cells, but then returned shortly after.”
