He inclined his head as if I were a visiting diplomat, not the woman he’d fucked senseless in the back of a car in broad daylight. “I am well. The doctors tell me I am mission ready.”
“Mission ready? What does that mean?”
“Warlord Velik is a valued member of the Coalition’s most elite force. His commanding officer has requested his assistance on a top priority mission. We leave within the hour.” Doctor Mersan, the Prillon whose face I’d come to hate, offered the information like he was reading from a card, not breaking my heart. He turned to Warden Egara, who I just now realized had followed them into the room. “Satisfied?”
What was he talking about?
Warden Egara looked from the doctor to Velik. She watched him for what felt like forever as I stood frozen as ice. A statue. What was I supposed to do? Why was Velik acting this way? Was it the mission? This all-important mission?
“When will you be back?” I could wait for him. He was mine. It would suck, but I understood a soldier’s duty. My uncle had come and gone on more tours of duty than I cared to remember. Then he’d joined the Coalition Fleet and disappeared. I knew a few military wives. It was part of loving a warrior. Part of who Velik was. I would wait and be here for him when he came home.
“I do not know,” Velik responded at the same time as the doctor.
“Undetermined.”
“Very well, Doctor. Warlord. You should go.” Warden Egara’s sigh made my chest feel like an elephant had stepped on me. I couldn’t breathe.
Velik inclined his head to me, then the warden, and turned as if he were going to leave without even saying goodbye. No good-bye hug? A kiss? If he had an hour, we could do even more…
He took one step and I ran. I threw myself at his body and wrapped my arms around his waist. “Velik. I don’t understand. Why are you acting this way? I’m your mate. Don’t you remember?”
Silence filled the room, heavy and full of cold dread. Or maybe the ice I was feeling was in my veins. Something was wrong. Very wrong.
Velik looked down at me with a kind expression on his face. One he might give to a puppy, or a two-year-old clinging to his leg, not his mate.
He lifted one hand and ran gentle fingertips over my cheek. “Apologies, my lady. You are beautiful, but I do not know you. You are not my mate.”
7
Stefani, Twelve Weeks Later
* * *
Not for the first time, I was grateful for the numb emptiness that filled me.
I pulled up to the guard’s station and faked a smile at Rowan, the Elite Hunter who seemed to be permanently camped here.
“Hey, Rowan. Warden Egara is expecting me.”
“Sending another message to Atlan? Or are you going to visit your mother again?” He was kind and friendly, so I answered him.
“Sending a message.”
“Very well, my lady. Be well.” He opened the barrier so I could drive my new SUV through to the parking area. My old car? Gone. Couldn’t keep it. Hurt too much.
I went through the paces. Parked. Checked in. Waited for the warden to come out of the black hole of offices and other rooms in the huge complex, and escort me to one of the private rooms used for off-world communication. Adrian and I made the trip at least once a month to talk to our mother, who was living on Atlan. But today, I wasn’t calling my mother.
I was calling him.
The asshole.
The only beast I’d been able to discover, who, through all of Atlan’s history—and I’d looked—had ever…ever…refused his known mate.
“Stefani. It’s so good to see you.” Warden Egara gave me a warm hug and I tried to return the sentiment. Couldn’t do it. Not today. “I have the comm room all set up for you. We can call your mom whenever you’re ready.”
“I’m not here to talk to my mother.”
Warden Egara looked confused, but she nodded and led the way to the small room I’d come to know well. Small, round table surrounded by six padded chairs. A large screen on one wall as well as smaller, individual screens that popped up from the table in front of each chair if you wanted to talk up close and personal, more one-on-one than conference style.
