Page 32 of Chased by the Alien Mercenary (Monster Mercenary Mates #6)

To make matters worse, I heard booted steps from behind.

The kind that walked in sync, marching the way only soldiers would.

Twisting, I pushed Lyra defensively behind me and bared my teeth at this new threat.

More Aderians in uniform, these were definitely military rather than port officials.

They meant business; they weren’t the same soft pushovers as the rest of their race.

These were the empaths who had chosen to be warriors anyway; they were strong, they were dangerous.

The one in the lead was raising his hands—unarmed—but the others?

They all had their rifles at the ready. My muscles tensed, my body readying itself for a jump.

Nobody touched my mate! I would protect her, no matter what.

My growl was loud, a warning they did not heed. I was going to kill all of them.

***

Lyra

I hung onto Solear’s arm with grim determination.

If I let go even a little, he’d slip free and start attacking; that was the last thing we needed right now.

The Krektar and other guards back at the mansion had all been bad guys, no doubt about it, but these dudes?

They looked like soldiers, with military buzzcuts that exposed sharp, elfish ears.

All of them, much like most of the people I’d seen so far in this city, were gray and black with a silver glimmer.

Their eyes had no whites, pure black and reflective like mirrors.

Yet, even in uniforms and body armor, they all had something sleek and elegant.

Not bulky with muscle, but lithe and strong all the same.

The guards protecting the port entrance were all just like these guys, though not quite so uniform.

Some of them still had longer hair, one even had it draped about his shoulders, all the way down to his knees!

But there was no denying that Solear and I were now trapped between two armed and trained forces.

To fight now would only get us captured or killed, and we’d fought too hard to get here to let that happen.

I wasn’t going to let my guy get himself killed because he couldn’t control his instincts.

He felt trapped, and considering his past, I understood why he wasn’t handling it well.

“Lower your weapons,” I dared to call out, “and back off a little. My guy doesn’t want to attack, but he will if he feels cornered.

” I didn’t tell them that the only reason he hadn’t already leaped was because I was hanging onto him with all my might and he did not want to harm me.

I didn’t think anyone would listen to me, but to my surprise, the soldier in the lead gave me a nod and then made a gesture with his hand that had all his men back up two precise steps.

“Are you all right, miss?” he asked so politely that it was painful.

Like he was sipping tea with his fucking pinky out, that kind of stiff-upper-lip polite.

It was utterly mind-boggling to deal with that after the past couple of days.

I must have blinked at him in confusion for several long seconds, but then a sound made Solear shift and growl back at the port gate.

He whirled to keep me protected behind his broad back and, collectively, weapons were raised and a dozen clicks in perfect synchronicity indicated they’d removed the safety.

“Easy, easy there, Solear. They’re not trying to harm us, please.

Stand down. It’s okay.” But there was a hint of uncertainty now, too many grim faces staring at my guy did that.

I didn’t think they wanted to harm me, but Solear?

Definitely. I tried to reach him telepathically, but I was still clumsy at that, and it felt like there was some kind of block in place.

“You don’t want to hurt us, do you?” I directed that question at the guy who appeared to be in charge, and he gave me an immediate, decisive nod.

“We wish to resolve this peacefully, Miss,” he said.

Then, a small hesitation before he leaned in the tiniest fraction, hands still open at his side in a universal I’m-unarmed fashion.

That did not mean much, though, when he had a dozen guns pointed at us from over his shoulder.

“Are you the lady who arrived on a slicer from the other continent half an hour ago?” I nodded, uncertain where he was going with this.

I doubted they’d come after us with a dozen men just because we ran out on a parking bill.

“Are you here under duress, miss? Did you come from the Silverhill Vineyard?” Oh.

It didn’t take a genius to figure out that was the name of the mansion I’d been kept at.

I’d gotten the impression something massive had gone down there last night.

Had this city been involved? Didn’t they have a meteor storm to deal with?

He seemed genuinely concerned, it shimmered in those odd black eyes, plain to see.

He might be a little stiff, a true aristocrat, but there was a kindness to his face that you wouldn’t expect on a hardened soldier.

“Solear is my mate. He rescued me,” I declared firmly.

Those words abruptly made Solear’s growl cut off.

It was only a very quick glance, but he did take his eyes off the threat to look at me in surprise.

He was still tense, but it was as if aligning myself so directly with him had grounded him. He was back in control.

“They want to take you from me, so they can make sure,” he said to me.

Now, his focus was no longer on the soldiers in general but directly on their leader.

I could tell that the smooth aristocrat was uneasy beneath Solear’s direct glare.

His mouth grew pinched, and something tightened at the corners of his eyes.

“They’re not going to take me from you,” I said firmly.

“You don’t have to worry about that. Doesn’t he?

”I turned to the leader to ask him that directly, and he nodded again, in much more of a rush this time.

He felt threatened just from Solear’s glare, though he’d settled down and shifted out of his aggressive pose.

No longer was he pulling on my grip, but curling against me, holding me gently in his arms.

“No, miss. If that is your mate, we would not separate you. We just need your statements about what happened at the Silverhill Vineyard.” I hadn’t directly indicated that I had been there, but he seemed to believe that I had.

That became more obvious when he added, “We had an inside source that indicated one enslaved human female. That was you, correct?”

“Inside source?” I asked out loud, certain I’d heard that wrong.

It hadn’t appeared that anyone was on my side in there.

Not even Keya or the other servants, though it had been obvious they were there against their will too.

Definitely not any of the Krektar or the other guards, and certainly not Goldie.

That bastard had tried to harm me more than once, and I hoped he was rotting in a cell somewhere right now.

I didn’t really believe in fate or magic, though truthfully, before Solear, I hadn’t believed telepathy was real either.

It certainly felt like fate was laughing at me when, directly on the heels of those thoughts, a new party arrived—and with them was Goldie, the fucking bastard.

Solear saw him too, and he lunged for real this time, snarling like a rabid beast. Still clinging to his arms, I was dragged with him, and I was impressed with the soldiers’ restraint for not shooting us on the spot.

“What is he doing here?” I shouted, though I did not dare point, because then Solear definitely would slip from my grasp and leap through the guards that surrounded the smug, gold-and-red bastard.

He was accompanied by another of those shimmery anthracite guys, one with fancy robes and long black hair almost down to the cobblestones.

Gold adorned his neck and the pointed tips of his long ears; something not quite a crown rested on his head, too, indicating he had to be important.

The soldier, who had so far been the only one to speak boldly, stepped closer, almost to my side.

I had a feeling he was bracing himself to help me hold back Solear if I needed the help.

He answered slowly, as if he were confused.

“That is our inside source, miss. He is the one who called us to rescue the slaves, yourself included. Chancellor Arifires is here to escort him to his ship so he can return to his undercover mission.”

I faltered, which allowed Solear to surge forward again with a snarl, but my startled gasp was enough to halt him again.

Shoulders heaving with repressed anger, his entire body was still ready to strike.

His arm shifted in my grip, slick armor hard to keep hold of, but he twisted and tugged me under it instead, against his chest. Then his head lowered, rubbing against my hair, and I could see how this move made the whole crowd relax.

Like the sight of his affection, his desire to protect me, eased their fear of him.

“Allow me to clear up your confusion, lady human,” the slick, smooth-talking bastard with the Chancellor said.

He held his hands out at his sides in a welcoming, relaxed gesture, and his expression was warm and kind.

I wasn’t fooled; he’d looked just like that as he prepared to order his men to whip me.

He was playing a role, this was a lie. Had to be.

“How did you get out? You should be dead,” I snapped at him.

“You’re not their source, you tried to hurt me.

You did hurt me!” I shouted the last, and though the soldiers did not respond, the Chancellor winced as if my outburst pained him.

If I’d thought the lead soldier was haughty and aristocratic before, this one took the cake.

He looked so regal, with that gold circlet on his shiny black hair, that I had to fight the urge not to bow when he turned his black eyes on me.

“Easy there, miss. We understand you are a victim, and we only wish to help you. All humans are safe within Aderian boundaries. This is a sacred law we all uphold. Right, son?” He intoned these words like he was declaring a new law, full of official weight.

I was actually impressed by his ability to do so, as if the authority he carried leaked out of his pores and into my mind.

“That’s because it is,” Solear snarled inside my head.

“Aderians are all empaths, but some can project, or more. He is definitely more.” Oh…

So that’s what these guys were called. At least they were trying to make it clear that I was safe on their world.

Too bad that wasn’t true; I hadn’t been safe until Solear had found me.

I still didn’t feel safe, not with all these guns aimed our way and Goldie standing over there like he was the hero, not the villain.

“Yes, Father. You can trust us, miss. You have sanctuary here.” That was the lead soldier speaking, and unless “Father” was a weird way to address their Chancellor, he was the son of that important official, the one looking all buddy-buddy with the very guy who had tried to assault me more than once.

I didn’t trust any of this—not one bit—but I did believe that these Aderians were being fooled by Goldie.

At least Solear had actually calmed enough that I wasn’t worried he’d attack at any moment.

Maybe the presence of the true bad guy had made him think again, to plan.

It certainly felt like his mind was racing, though I could not make out any fully formed thoughts.

“If I may,” Goldie said, bowing in my direction.

“I know how it appeared, but I had to play a role, or they’d have suspected my status as an undercover agent for the Xurtal Empire.

Allow me to formally introduce us: I am Heliosor, at your service.

And if you wish to leave the planet, might I suggest I walk you and your.

..mate to your ship?” He gestured at the port gates, then smiled magnanimously at the Chancellor beside him.

“The lady is not a prisoner here, is she? If she wishes to leave Llykhe, she may do so, correct?”

Ah, fuck. The bastard thought he could convince me to walk onto a ship with him, then kill Solear and punish me for what went down.

I just knew it. How he was fooling these Aderians, I had no clue.

If they were empaths, shouldn’t they sense his evilness?

Shouldn’t they know they were being lied to?

Unfortunately, this Chancellor did not suspect a thing and began to nod at the offer.

“Of course, miss. If you wish to leave with Heliosor, that is also an option. Why don’t you let your men stand down, son? ”

I glanced at the lead soldier still hovering near Solear and me and realized that his expression was not as placid as that of his father.

Did he not trust this either? Or did he not trust Solear?

But he ordered his soldiers to stand down and lower their weapons, all with perfectly identical motions and timed at exactly the same instant.

I knew soldiers were drilled to do that, but this was downright eerie.

“Very well. I assume you have no papers? We shall escort you to the port, if that is what you wish.” His eyes searched mine then, almost as if he were imploring me not to leave.

There wasn’t a single bone inside my body that wanted to agree with Heliosor’s offer, that bastard was lying.

But Solear caught me by surprise by suddenly nodding.

“Yes,” he growled—one of the few words he ever managed to say.

For him to make that attempt made it clear he very much wanted to do this.

But why? Surprised, I looked up at him but saw only the sharp edge of his jaw above my head.

He did not look down, did not share his thoughts with me, but his hands against my body gently pressed, as if to reassure me that all would be well.

Then Heliosor waved a hand, smiling warmly. “Surely we don’t need armed guards inside the port? Besides, the human has her own guard, doesn’t she?” And that idiot Chancellor, he agreed.