Page 1 of Guardian’s Destiny (Space Guardian’s Mate #3)

SLOANE

"So, your first mission in space." Ashley's holographic form hovered in front of me. "How is it?"

"Surreal," I answered honestly, automatically gazing through the large window at the spaceships coming and going. Every now and then, I still had to pinch myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming. Never in a million years had I thought I would ever be in space. Hadn't even had the desire to do so. If I had, I would have joined NASA, not the Marines.

Ashley laughed. "Right? I still get emotional."

That made me laugh. "You? Emotional?"

"Hey, don't bang on a marine only because she has feelings. Not everyone can turn them off like you."

It wasn't a barb. Coming from Ash, it was a compliment. She and I had met at boot camp several years ago and became fast friends. She was the sister I never had. Our friendship had lasted through being stationed at different posts, a change of jobs for me, and an alien invasion.

That we had been reunited after the Cryons attacked had been a small miracle. One, I thanked the lucky stars for every day. Not because Ash had given me the opportunity to keep doing the job I so loved, but because I had my friend back. One of my only two friends. The other was Tucker, whom I had, unfortunately, lost track of during the invasion.

"What can I say? It's a gift," I bragged.

"You should give some of that to Daryus. By the way, what did you think of the Emperor?"

That was a loaded question. What did I think of Emperor Daryus? "He's… enigmatic?"

Ash snorted. "Yeah, that's one way to describe him. Did he have one of his famous temper fits?"

Did he ever.

The moment I walked in to meet him, I had to duck because the head of a sculpture came flying my way. "You can call it that."

"I'm sorry. I should have warned you."

The expression on her holographic image dancing in front of me told me that she wasn't actually sorry. After a second more, she broke out in laughter that had tears rolling down her cheeks. "Remember that grunt… what was his name… Ryan?"

"Ryan Sullivan," I nodded. "Nobody will ever forget the man who thought he was God's greatest gift to the entire world's female population.”

"You should know that you will be my inspiration tonight when I make myself cum," Ash whispered in a false baritone, while fighting laughter in between words.

Yeah, Ryan Sullivan had been one of the worst male specimens Earth had to offer and one of many reasons I would stay single for the rest of my life.

I imitated Ash's voice from a time back on Earth, "Oh Ryan, there's a kitty stuck in there."

Ash kept her deep voice, "There is only one kitty I'm interested in…"

It was my turn to snort. In the end, we had been able to talk Ryan—making many, many false sexual promises—into going to retrieve the kitty . What we hadn't told him was the kitty was a bobcat, sleeping in its den.

"Well, now I know how he felt," I said, wiping random tears of laughter from the corner of my eyes. "Now thanks to the Emperor and you I know how he felt."

"In my defense, I had no idea he would have one of his temper fits." Ash tried to sound contrite.

"But you were hoping?"

"Pleading the fifth." She made a zipping motion over her lips. "No, honestly, how was it?"

What she was really asking was, did I get the job?

Only a year in with the marines, I switched to MARSOC, and a few operations later, Deputy Director Jane Austin recruited me to the CIA, where I found my true calling.

After Ash and I had a happy reunion on Earth, she intimated that the Pandraxian Emperor was looking for a new Chief Intelligence Officer. I tried to tame her excitement about us working together. A Chief Intelligence Officer position wasn't really something you got offered. You had to earn it. And despite my talents for the job, Emperor Daryus and I both knew that I lacked space experience, including alien politics, assets, contacts and so on.

Ash had done her best, training me in the alien technology, even taught me how to fly a spacecraft, but at the end of the day I was knowledgeable enough to admit that even though I had a vast knowledge of a lot of shit, I didn't know anything. I lacked assets and connections to the right people. I lacked the knowledge of the political minefield a Chief Intelligence Officer had to navigate. These were things you learned on the job, and as good as I had been on Earth, this was a whole new ballgame for me. One, I needed to learn how to play first.

That didn't mean I didn't want the job.

"We both decided that I had to gain more experience first," I explained to Ash. "We'll go from there."

"Oh, you're on a mission?" Ash beamed. "What is it?"

"Nothing special," I lied.

This has to stay between us; nobody can know about this , Daryus had warned.

"Really?" Ash rose an eyebrow at me; she knew me too well.

I shrugged, "Yeah, just some errand, so the Emperor and I can get to know each other better."

The Arkhevari are only a rumor, a legend. If word gets out that they're real, this could change the entire universe . I understood the caution; he had already explained the possible repercussions. It was like someone from Atlantis suddenly appearing on Earth, claiming to have lived all this time hidden in the depths of the sea. Or like vampires coming forward. If this Zapharos really was who he claimed to be, an Arkhevari, this was highly sensitive intel that needed careful planning on how to announce it to the universe at large.

"Hmm, sure," Ash nodded. "Got it. Top secret James Bond shit."

"What are you up to?" I asked to change the subject.

"Well, I'm glad you asked. I'll be happy to tell you because that's what friends do. They tell each other what they're up to."

I waved my hand at her to continue. She grinned happily, "Xandros and I are about to kick some Cryon ass on Cronack."

As much as I had cursed the fact that I had been inside an underground bunker, relatively safe, during the Cryon invasion, I was happy to have missed the trauma of having been abducted by them. God knew Ash had made the best of her situation after the Cryons took her, but if she hadn't met Xandros, she probably wouldn't be here, and I would have never seen my friend again.

A smirk tugged at my lips when I recalled how she had described meeting Xandros—by aiming a blaster at his head. That just sounded like her. But if Xandros hadn't been Xandros, it could have played out a lot differently. No matter how resilient my friend was, I didn't think she would have ever made it off Colynth, the Cryon's main planet.

Cronack was a planet where the Cryons had meddled with genetic engineering and the very pit of what was wrong with them. After chasing them off Earth and bringing their Emperor down, cleaning up Cronack was probably one of the most satisfying missions for Ash.

"Kill a few Cryons for me," I requested.

"You got it. That's what friends are for," Ash agreed.

"Are you ready?" The imposing form of the Superior Commander of the Imperial Forces, Xandros Callicapos, appeared next to Ash. "Oh, hey, Sloane, are you our new Chief Intelligence Officer yet?"

I laughed and waved at Xandros, "Not yet, doing an interview errand."

"On ZXG64?"

If he thought he could catch me off guard, he didn't know me very well yet. Although how he found out where I was would need a little farther digging.

"You did your homework." I praised sarcastically.

Xandros turned to Ash, "You're right, she'll fit right in."

Ash grinned. "Told you so."

"Alright, as fun as this was, I've gotta go. Got some aliens to meet," I announced.

"Sloane," Xandros called me before I disconnected the call.

"Yeah?"

"Be careful, whatever Daryus has you involved in, keep your eyes open," Xandros warned. During the journey from Earth to Pandrax, I had gotten to know the Superior Commander. He was an arrogant ass, but he had the balls to back it up, so I liked him. I would still kill him if he hurt Ash, but I might feel a small twinge of regret… nah, probably not.

"Always am." I winked and disconnected the comm. I liked this technology. I liked how whoever you talked to would appear right in front of you. I wasn't the feely touchy, hugging type of person, so I didn't miss the personal touch all that much. It was enough to be able to see Ash and to know that she was okay.

Alright, it was time to meet Zapharos and to find out if he really was who he claimed to be.

The first meeting with Zapharos didn't go too well. He was the most insufferable alpha asshole I had ever met.

Through encrypted messages on my comm, to which I was unable to reply and unable to trace, Zapharos had invited me to this space station since space stations were easier to navigate than a planet. Planets had a lot more security measures than places like this that made a living of people coming and going. Plus, most of the visitors minded their own business.

I had no idea if Zapharos was aware of this or not, but the station he had picked was one on which humans were becoming a more recognized species, one in the firm hands of the Pandraxian Empire.

We were supposed to meet in a rented conference room and I wanted to be early. So when I hastened around a corner and a man slipped out of the darkness like a living shadow, I did what I was trained to do. I attacked. He found himself on his back with my blaster pressed to his temple before he could say boo .

"You are Sloane Storm," he said, his voice smooth and cold, his expression didn't acknowledge that he was on his back, seconds away from death. "Former MARSOC, recruited by the CIA before the Cryon invasion. A ghost in the system ever since."

Nobody knew what an Arkhevari looked like. They were nothing more than fabled beings. So-called gods who had once existed, if one believed in such things. I was still new to this alien world, and there were still many species I had yet to meet, but there was no doubt in my mind who the man underneath me was. It was more a sense than his words. I had been in the game long enough to know how easily the things he said could be dug up, but I recognized him as the man I was supposed to meet.

"You have no room talking about ghosts," I said, pulling the blaster back and rightening myself. He followed my example, dusting himself off in the process and holy shit. He was a sight to behold.

He hadn't given me much time to assess him when he emerged from the shadows, but now that he stood in front of me? He was the most beautiful, dangerous-looking man I had ever met. He was easily close to seven feet tall. His features were chiseled and would have put any model to shame, just like his well-proportioned muscles that would have won him the Mr. Universe title .

That wasn't all there was to him, though. A golden aura surrounded him, which could deceive one into thinking he was an angelic being. He wasn't. His amber eyes burned with an intensity that was far from angelic, more like the fires of hell.

"I'd love to stay and let you ogle me all day, but what do you say we move this conversation to a more secluded spot?" he suggested.

I put the blaster back into its holster by my thigh but kept my hand on it and a healthy distance from Zapharos. Disregarding his words for the bait they were. I wouldn't engage in a petty back and forth spat. "Lead the way."

He assessed me coldly before he turned and led us a few paces down the hall. I had memorized the way to the conference room I had rented, but he moved toward another door opposite it. The entrance opened, and Zapharos bowed sarcastically toward me, waving me in first. The fine hairs on the back of my neck stood up when I walked by him too close for my comfort, knowing fully well he was doing this only to unnerve me. That was my first indication of the kind of bastard Zapharos was.

It didn't take him long to prove my theory.

The room we entered was a monitoring station and should have been occupied by several Imperial Forces soldiers, but there was nobody here. Countless screens on the walls displayed the hub of the space station. I turned to Zapharos.

"Where are they?"

Zapharos jerked his chin toward another door, which I supposed to be either a bathroom or supply room.

"Occupied," he grunted. "Let's get down to business."

He tilted his head, studying me like I was some puzzle he was too bored to solve. "So you are the Emperor's newest pet project?"

Normally, I wouldn't rise to an obvious bait like this, but he had already raised my hackles, so I responded curtly, "I'm nobody's pet."

Proving why it would have been better to stay cool, he chuckled, a low, mocking sound that made my teeth grind. "That's cute. I bet you think you're here on your own terms."

"I'm here to arrange a meeting between you and the emperor," I bit out. "A meeting you requested."

He sighed dramatically. "That would make you his errand girl. I thought you were a big bad spy."

I took a step forward before I could stop myself. "I don't care who you think I am, but I'm not playing games. Do you want to arrange a meeting or not?"

His eyes darkened, and his amusement shifted into something more calculating. For a long moment, he didn't speak. Then, finally, he exhaled. "Fine. Have it your way. Tell the emperor I will be waiting for him on Zycada, at the Wings and Tits ."

He winked at me. "I trust you will tell your boss I am who I said I am?"

I ground my jaw. It wasn't like I could ask him for his references. But I was a hundred percent sure this man was who he claimed to be, an Arkhevari. And if he wasn't, he was still someone we better keep an eye on. "Why do you want to meet him?"

For a moment, I thought he wouldn't answer, but then he said, "I need to warn him."

"Cryptic," I remarked.

His enigmatic eyes flickered with amusement. "I trust you will be there, little errand girl?"

"And miss meeting you again?" I asked in mocked horror, shaking my head.

A few weeks later, I met him again, right where he had requested us to be: at the Wings and Tits . The place was just as crude as its name promised it to be. It was like every other downtrodden strip club on Earth I had ever been to, except the women were all winged, and the clientele was even sleezier than on Earth, given their… alien nature.

"Not a word about this to the Empress," Emperor Daryus warned me.

"My lips are sealed," I promised.

"That Arkhevari better have some intel," he ground out, and I was beginning to see some of his famous temper bleeding through. He hadn't been happy when I told him that I was certain that Zapharos was in all likelihood indeed an Arkhevari, and where we were supposed to meet.

It was a good place, though. Nobody even looked at us when we entered with our hoods drawn over our faces, followed by several Imperial soldiers, also with their hoods drawn. The proprietor waved us forward the moment we entered and led us toward a private room.

"Just a moment, let me check the room first," I said, leaving his title out, not wanting anybody to overhear us.

Inside I found Zapharos leaned forward on a chair, staring at a winged female gyrating up and down a pole. The way he hungrily stared at her reminded me more of the lust of a demon than the angel he looked like.

"You're late," he remarked without looking up.

"Well, we didn't exactly set a time," I replied, assessing the room. One-way windows allowed a view of the main room on the other side, without them being able to look in. There were no other doors, and the ceiling was dirty enough to prove that nobody had tampered with it.

"She's got to go." I nodded at the dancer.

"Sorry, sweets." Zapharos rose from his chair. Anger rushed through me because I thought he meant me. Instead, he held out his hand like the gentleman he most definitely was not and helped the dancer down. "You are a goddess," Zapharos remarked, petting her ass and riling my ire.

"Send him in, little errand girl," Zapharos demanded haughtily.

A sharp reply danced at the tip of my tongue, but I swallowed it down. Without a word, I retreated like the stripper, and Daryus went inside.

I hadn't expected this would be the last time I got to see the Arkhevari, but I had hoped for a much longer break before hearing his name again.