Page 6 of Fated to the Alien Hero (Warriors of Tavikh #7)

Astrid

A slow awareness rolls over me, but I don’t move. Not yet. I want to enjoy the quiet for another minute or two. I’m not ready to face the day. I’m not ready to start worrying again that Grady will walk through the Tavikhi village and force me to go with him.

I also don’t want to go back to sleep, because with it comes the nightmares.

Each time I woke last night, Evren was there, ready to hold my hand. To wipe the tears that spilled. He took care of me like no one has since my mom. Each time we touched, I could swear a light shone from his eyes. It was faint, but definitely there. Every time I opened my mouth to ask him about it, I chickened out. I didn’t want him to tell me I’m imagining it.

Grady always does when I tell him I see something.

Not that I think Evren is anything like my husband, but the fear is still present. That maybe I’m misjudging yet another person. Except when did Grady ever stay awake to take care of you when you were sick?

Never.

Avoiding unpleasantness has become a learned habit. A painfully learned one. I need to break it though. Maybe now is the best time to start. I raise my eyelids. Well, one of them anyway. The other barely cracks, but it’s something. Sure enough, daylight shines into the tent. The faintly medicinal smell I’m getting used to is present. It reminds me of the slight hint of eucalyptus I’d occasionally get a whiff of when I’d gather water at the river.

“Good morning,” a feminine voice greets me.

I turn, and a petite blonde I’ve never seen before sits on the table on the other side of the structure, her dangling legs swinging back and forth.

“I’m Zara, Kyler’s mate,” she introduces herself and then, at my confused stare, elaborates. “He’s the healer. Sage’s sorta boss.”

Ah. “Um, hi.”

She hops down and approaches with a cup. “Here’s some water if you’re thirsty. I know I was, every morning I woke up in here. That burim root they give you for pain tastes like shit and gives you mean dry mouth.”

I blink, but obediently take it from her, because I do, in fact, have cottonmouth. “Thanks.”

After I’ve drained the wooden cup, I pass it back, and Zara sets it on the bed nearest to mine. “Do you need to pee? Sage is currently occupied with one of the elders, so I volunteered to take over helping with your personal needs until she can get back. I doubt you want Evren or Kyler to undress you and hold you up while you piss. It’s humiliating. Believe me, I know.”

Once again I’m taken aback by…everything.

Zara cocks her head. “You okay?”

I blink again and nod my head. “Yeah.”

“You looked kind of dazed for a second, so I wasn’t sure.”

“No, um, I’m fine. And I’m good for the moment.”

“Cool. But if you change your mind before someone else gets here to take over, just let me know,” Zara says.

“Thanks.”

“Sure thing.” She returns the cup back to the table she’d been sitting on and then walks over to me again. “So…dickhead husband put his hands on you, huh?”

My cheeks heat. Does everyone in the village know?

Is word going to reach the colony?

My breaths come faster. A hand clasps mine.

“Hey, it’s going to be fine. I promise,” Zara tells me. “Gossip is a Tavikhi pastime, but they understand no one outside the village can find out you’re here. They may natter on like a bunch of old ladies, but they won’t betray your secret. I swear, so just breathe.”

I maintain eye contact with her while she coaches me and our chests rise and fall together, each inhalation and exhalation slower than the last until my breathing is back to normal.

“You good, now?” she asks.

I swallow. “I think so.”

“Thank god.” Zara chuckles. “Evren would freak out if he knew you were upset or having a panic attack.”

A fluttery sensation starts up in my belly at thoughts of him and my neck grows hot. I still can’t believe I’m supposed to be his mate. To be honest, I don’t really know what that all entails. I know Evren explained about his goddess choosing the woman who’s meant to be his and all that, but I still don’t understand how that’s possible.

“So you’re the healer’s mate?”

“Yep.” She bobs her head.

I nibble on my bottom lip and wince at the pain. Have to remember not to do that again. “What exactly does that mean?”

Zara’s mouth quirks. “Well, I suppose in human terms it means we’re married. Leg shackled. I’m Kyler’s ball and chain. His old lady, and he’s my old man. We’re bound together in holy matrimony until death do us part. Except that’s not exactly true, since not even death separates mates. When one dies, so does the other, and they remain mates even in the holy land of their goddess, Deeka.”

My good eye bugs wider with every word that falls from her lips. For the second time, she laughs.

“You should see your face.” Zara snorts and her laughter turns to a few chuckles. “Sorry. My mouth sometimes runs faster than my brain. It’s a curse or a blessing, depending on who you ask. Seriously, though, what it means is that you have a guy who loves you. Who will do anything for you. Who will treat you like you’re the most precious person to ever exist. You’re the other half of their soul, essentially.”

“What do you mean a guy who loves me? Evren and I don’t even know each other.” I throw out my good arm. “We literally just met a few days ago.”

“Doesn’t matter.” Zara raises a single shoulder and drops it. “The second you touched him and triggered his mating marks, you also ignited this thing called a soul light. That soul light is basically the spark called ‘love’. So, yeah…a guy who loves you.”

This is way too much to take in. I mean, I know there’s something about Evren that speaks to me. Something about him that just feels…right. But love?

Zara nudges my shoulder. “I know it’s a lot to take in, especially with the minor complication of you having a shitbag husband already, but everything will work itself out in the end.”

I almost choke. ‘Minor complication’? That’s what she’s calling Grady? Also a ‘shitbag’. It’s not an inaccurate description. He is kind of a shitbag. I glance around, almost guiltily, as if he were in the room and hearing my naughty thoughts.

“Sorry you drew the short stick and had to be the one to be here when I woke up.”

Zara huffs out a sound. “Are you kidding? I volunteered for this. Mostly because I’m the only one who wasn’t going to pussyfoot around or try and sugarcoat things. Well, Remi wouldn’t, but she’s out hunting with her other half. The others are nice—too nice, if you ask me—and I love them. I mean, they’re my sisters, but they also tend to coddle a little.”

She eyes me up and down before meeting my gaze again. “You strike me as the type of person who doesn’t want platitudes or gentle hand-holding. You’ve survived…what? Three years of some man’s bullshit and abuse I heard? From the looks of you, he tried really hard to kill you and couldn’t. That means you’re stronger than people give you credit for.”

Am I? All this time I’ve thought I was weak for letting Grady continue to hit me. For not finding a way to leave. Especially before he got me on a spaceship to another planet. Yet, I’ve managed to survive everything he’s done to me. Somehow. Maybe I am stronger than I’ve thought myself to be.

“Thank you. For saying that. It means a lot.”

“Us women have to stick together. We’re a sisterhood.” Zara snorts. “Don’t tell the others I said that, though. They’ll never let me live down the fact that I’m the one being all mushy and shit and talking about family and feelings. Just don’t ask me to hug it out or anything.”

I bite back a smile that threatens. “I wouldn’t dream of it.”

“Good.”

“I know I said I didn’t need any help earlier, but I think my bladder is saying otherwise now.”

“You got it.” Zara helps me down from the raised platform I’m lying on and guides me behind a large fur that hangs in the corner.

Thankfully, she’s efficient, and I quickly take care of my business, trying not to cringe at my helplessness. Once we’re both cleaned up, I make my way back to the bed, but stop before getting in and adjust my arm in its sling.

“Do you think I could go outside and take a walk?”

She raises an eyebrow. “If you pass out and I can’t catch you before you hit the ground, Evren is going to be pissed.”

“I’m not going to pass out.”

Zara studies me a moment longer. “All right, let’s go.”

Together, we exit through the doorway of the tent and step into the sunshine. I tip my head back and breathe in the clean, fresh air and enjoy the warmth. Various sounds of the village reach me and I glance around to take it all in. A few humans and Tavikhi wander around and to my surprise, some of them are kids.

“It’s bigger than I thought it would be.”

“Yeah, I think there’s around eighty of us. Something like that,” Zara says while we walk. “I’ve never counted, but that’s what London has said. You met her last night, right?”

I nod. “Yes. Her and Sage.”

Three kids dart past us—one Tavikhi boy and a human boy and girl. I follow them with my gaze.

“That’s Talek, Cecily, and Carter.” She points in their direction. “Probably going to get into some kind of trouble.”

People dip their heads in greeting as we go by, although the Tavikhi appear slightly friendlier than the humans. They’re not rude by any means, but there’s a much more closed-off feeling to them. As we tour the village, Zara points out different places like the tanning tent, the food stores, weapon stores, storage, and the homes of several couples, including Zander and London’s.

“We’ll find you a place to stay once you’re healed enough,” Zara notes. “The Bohnari should be coming back in the next couple weeks, so if you can get along until they get here, we can use their healing pod to fix you up. You’ll never even know you had a broken arm or busted up face when their healer is done with you.”

I’m so overwhelmed, I keep my mouth closed. She doesn’t appear to need an answer to anything, because she keeps talking.

“Over this way is the training arena. It’s where the warriors who aren’t out hunting spar.” In the distance, it sounds like some type of fighting going on. There are grunts and loud cracks like two objects colliding. “That’s where Evren is. He wanted to stay close to the village in case you needed him for anything.” Zara wiggles her eyebrows up and down and I can feel my face grow hot.

She seems to be forgetting the ‘minor complication’. We reach the top of the rise, and I stare down into the shallow valley below. Sure enough, there’s a marked area of dirt where humans and Tavikhi alike fight. Some use long wooden staffs, while others use capped swords. At least I assume they’re capped. It’s hard to tell from here.

Almost like a tether connects us, my gaze is immediately drawn to one of the warriors at the far end of the training arena. I can’t make out his features from here, but there’s something about the way he carries himself that tells me it’s Evren. He moves with an almost poetic fluidityIt’s violent and rough, but also graceful and smooth.

That fluttery sensation beats inside me again while I watch, my gaze focused in on the individual male. My pulse races a bit and my heart skips. I try to keep my breathing even, but I’m not completely successful.

“You’ve got it bad already, don’t you?” Zara asks.

I jerk, because I forgot she was standing next to me.

“You can’t look away from him, can you?”

Guilt rushes through me. I have no right to be looking at or feeling any kind of way about Evren. I’m not a free woman.I made a promise—a vow—in front of God and witnesses.

“Hey, you’ll get no judgment from me. Or from anyone else.”

“It’s still not right. I’m married.”

Zara shrugs. “Something that can be easily remedied if you ask the right person. Who, by the way, is on his way over. I’ll let him take it from here. Nice meeting you.”

Before I can get a word in, she walks off and leaves me standing there alone.

“Astrid, you are awake.” The masculine voice washes over me like a warm blanket.

I don’t need to turn to know it’s Evren, but I do anyway, because I want to see him. My breath nearly catches. I’d forgotten how big he is. How much taller he is than me. The smile that spreads across his face sends heat straight to my center and my core throbs in arousal. It also softens the hard look he has. He stops in front of me and dips his head.

“Is all well? You are quiet.”

I shake off the hold he has on me. “Sorry, yeah, I’m fine. And awake.”

“Are you feeling any better? I am sorry I was not there when you awoke,” Evren says. “Since I did not leave for a hunt, I needed to spar and train to keep my skills up.”

“You didn’t have to stay here for me. I mean, I’m not saying that’s why you did, but if it is why, I’m just saying you didn’t have to.” All the sentences rush together.

He palms my cheek and I suck in a sharp breath. “Peace, Astrid. I know I did not have to stay within the village and train. I chose to. I do not want to leave you here without me while you heal. Not that I do not trust everyone to see to your needs, but I should be close. In case.”

I shouldn’t love the way Evren’s hand feels against my skin. Except I do. He’s so gentle and warm. And there’s something about that light that glows within his eyes that comforts me. Even if it’s only a figment of my imagination.

“I’m glad you’re close by.” The confession is one I shouldn’t make.

“As am I.”