Selena
The sound of the doors sliding open filled the silence in the room.
“Good. Just what I came here for,” a voice from my past chuckled. “I was hoping you would be awake by now, but I wanted to meet you in person to make sure.”
Standing in the doorway with his fists clenched was the last male I had ever wanted to meet.
I would have classified him as a demi-human, but the strange aura he radiated from him told me that wasn’t the case, along with his glowing cyan eyes and rune-like tattoos that covered every visible part of his body. Standing tall in a black sleeveless vest and baggy pants, his cold attitude paired with his coloring told me exactly who he was.
“Xenak of the Verya,” I spat, throwing my blanket off my body as I climbed out of my medical bed. Nervousness marred Tori and Celyze’s faces as they backed away, leaving plenty of open space between my cyan stalker and me.
“I should’ve known it was you as soon as they explained that they stole me to save their commander’s brother. Didn’t you understand when you invaded my mind that I don’t know your brother or what you were talking about? You must be a dimstar. You crossed a line when you kidnapped me from my clan. Now you expect me to somehow fix your brother when I know nothing about him?”
“So dramatic, Selena.” Xenak rolled his eyes. “You have always been over-dramatic. I would know; I’ve studied you. As soon as you do as I say and give me back my brother, I will return you to your clan and we can forever part ways.”
“One problem with your plan: I don’t know what you want me to do. Even if I did, paying someone to kidnap me, drug me, and slice me open is no way to convince me to do your bidding. You’ve only given my loved ones a reason to seek revenge for my treatment.”
“That’s the downside of hiring mercenaries to carry out your plans. Sometimes, they get too greedy for their own good.” Xenak crossed his arms and leaned against the wall. “You see, Selena, if I weren’t banned from the Euph Galaxy, things wouldn’t have to be like this. I didn’t want to lose any more of my people, so I had to find a way to bring you here. Fortunately for me, the black market is full of shady people willing to do anything for the right price. Unfortunately for those we hired, they tried to earn twice the credits for doing the same job. You see, the late Aldawi Sovereign wanted you gone because of your relationship with Zirene and the Quaww wanted your eggs to build a hybrid army.
“I just wanted you alive and in one piece. I never planned for you to get injured along the way, though I take full responsibility and apologize for that. In the end, I tricked the Quaww’s connections to meet with the mercenaries and leaked their location to the Aldawi. While I may have hired them in the first place, I felt it was my duty to punish everyone involved for abusing you, since they all played a part in damaging my goods.”
Growling, I stormed toward the arrogant male and slapped the cocky smirk off his face. His eyes widened on impact as his head snapped to the side, thesmackfilling the room. Ignoring the delayed sting, I shook my hand to regain feeling as I held myself back from hitting thefraxone more time.
“You took me away from not only the love and safety of my clan but from my children! How dare you walk in here and demand my help when you have been such anishing fraxto me! I don’t know who you are, and quite frankly, I don’t care, because I am not going to stoop to your level.”
Turning away from my cyan stalker, I addressed the room. “If you know so much about me, then you should know that I was born from a test tube, raised in an illegal research vessel, and tortured for years before I was rescued by my mates. You stole me from the very males who scouted space for me, took me in, and gave me a voice. You took me away from my children, who will grow up without both of their parents if I am not returned soon.”
I whirled around to advance on Xenak again. “Why would I want to help someone who has done nothing but be a pain in myfrax? And for what—your brother’s life? I don’t know you and I certainly don’t owe you anything.”
“No, you don’t owe me anything, but you are here now,” Xenak mocked, rubbing his cheek. “If you want to return to your luxurious life, then you must save my brother’s life first. Simple as that. You cannot escape without my help, so stop wasting both of our time and just do what I exhausted resources and worked tirelessly to get you here for.”
“How can I trust you after everything you’ve done?”
“I guess you will have to take a chance and see.” Xenak cocked his head to the side, studying me. “Let me know when you come to your senses.”
“Commander Xenak, even if she agreed right now, she just woke up,” Zyxel advised, slithering next to me. I didn’t miss how his tail loosely encircled the floor around me as if creating a short protective wall between his leader and me. “My patient needs more time to fully recover before she attempts anything.”
Xenak eyed the crimson male for a moment before stepping away.
“If you believe it is too soon for her to wake my brother, then I trust your judgment.” His cyan gaze met mine and he smirked. “But know that every day you waste here is another day you spend apart from your clan. For the sake of your conscience, I hope they survive.”
I slumped in defeat, unable to form a reply. Tears pricked my eyes as I watched him exit through the sliding door. He gave me a slight wave without looking back as if he knew he had already won.
“Vowels. How many days have we been together?”
“About forty days, your time.”
I didn’t have much time left before my mates started feeling the effects of our separation—if they hadn’t already. It was a gamble to hold out and wait for someone to find me.
If Kaede could find me twice, he could do it again. This time he had the help of his sisters.
“How far can you sense people around us?”
“I can sense all the lifeforms on this asteroid, but I’m incapable of picking up their thoughts unless you touch them. That is how most of my abilities work.”
“Let me know whenever Xenak comes near. I don’t want to be alone with that male if I can help it.”
“Understood,”Vowels replied, his calm mental voice like a soothing balm to my nerves as I processed what had just happened.“That male is useless against you now that you have me. He and Celyze have both tried to communicate with you. While Celyze stopped after two unsuccessful attempts, Xenak kept trying to pierce my shield to reach you, to no avail. He finally stopped after you slapped him, but I believe I will be able to defend you if he tries anything, even if he catches you alone.”
