Page 29 of Guardian’s Destiny (Space Guardian’s Mate #3)

VRAAX

MINE!

Nothing had ever meant this much to me than this one little word. It encompassed my life, my everything. Her.

"Say you're mine," I whispered.

Her eyes, which had been clouded dreamingly, changed as reality caught up with her, and I cursed myself. I didn't stop her when she rose from where she had been lying on my chest, pulling the covers up all the way to her throat. "Say you will take me to Astrionis."

Hurt for her not committing to me the way I desired pierced my heart, and I steeled it with anger. "I already promised you I would. But please enlighten me, what could possibly be there that is more important than getting to Darlam?"

She glared at me. If she had been able to, I was sure fire would have shot from her eyes and burned me on the spot. I watched her swallow and emotions play over her expression as she collected herself.

"I have a message I need to deliver to a very important person." She selected her words carefully, too carefully.

I narrowed my eyes at her as jealousy blinded me and called up a rage the likes I had never known before. She had a message for a very important person ? Important how? Who? Space Guardians were the most powerful force in the universe. There was nobody more important than us. Unless… the thought hit me like a laser beam to the heart, clouded my judgement as more of temper flared. Unless it was a male she was referring to, and he was more important to her than me.

"I need to get to Astrionis now," she either wasn't aware of my rising temper or chose to ignore it. With her, I assumed the latter. "Or Pandrax, whichever is closer. I have been working with?—"

"You know the others are waiting for us." I interrupted her, realizing too late that she had been about to tell me something. But I had never felt anger like this before, and I didn't know what to do with it. Or how to control it.

She still remained calm, which infuriated me all the more when she agreed. "I do. I understand how important this is to you. But you need to understand that this is important to me too. It won't matter if the others will have to wait a day or two, whereas what I need… It's a matter of life or death."

"You know I can't leave you there," I warned. Why was she being so obstinate?

"I just need to… talk to someone."

Red dots appeared in front of my vision. "Who?"

Now she looked alarmed, as if she had finally figured out that my temper had reached its boiling point.

"Does that really matter?" She asked defensively. "Look, I've been nothing but supportive of your mission. Can you just take a few days to support mine?"

I crossed my arms over my chest, still holding out hope there wasn't another male, "If you tell me why this is so frygging important that you want me to abandon?—"

"I'm not asking you to abandon shit," she snarled, as her temper rose too. Good, finally . I needed to know that she felt something, too, even if it was anger. She got off the bed and pulled the blanket with her.

"I'm asking you to trust me for a few days. Like I have been trusting you." She sounded so reasonable, but an edge had slithered into her tone, and somehow, it irked me even more.

I rolled out of bed, pulling up my pants, which had been discarded on the floor. "I do trust you, but I need to know why I'm putting the most important mission of my life on hold."

"It's complicated." She glared at me. Daring me.

"Try me." I did dare.

Our eyes locked; fury had gathered in hers that matched my own.

"Oh, so you want me to trust you, but you can't extend the same courtesy?" She bellowed.

Frustrated, I threw my arms up in the air. "You know everything there is about me and what is happening, whereas I have no clue who you are or why you need to get to Astrionis so badly. Who is he?"

The moment the last three words were out, I knew I had made a big mistake. Her eyes turned from furious to ice cold. "So that's it? Who ? Is that all that matters to you? I can't be part of a secret mission I've been sworn to keep silent about? Is that it? You're just seeing a woman in me who does… what? Have sex with you to get to her lover?"

She spat the last word in my face with such venom that I cringed. She did have a point. She was a very resourceful woman; she was brave, smart, and strong. Had there been female Space Guardians, she would have made the first cut. So why couldn't I see that she was on a mission? Because my anger was aroused. Anger and, yes, jealousy. Frygg. And both those emotions clouded my sense of reality. I had never experienced jealousy before. It was a new, foreign sentiment, and I had no idea how to handle it.

"Who, Sloane?" I barked.

She knotted the blanket over her chest and dug her nails into her hips, undoubtedly to stopping them from punching me.

Her eyes glinted. I should have seen the trap coming, but I was too emotional to think rationally. Her chin jerked up in challenge. "Daryus," she threw the name at me, and it punched me like a fist to the heart.

For the split of a tick, I considered her talking about the Pandraxian Emperor Daryus, but that was so out of the realm of possibility I dismissed it right away. I couldn't imagine any scenario where Sloane would have met the emperor, let alone needing to get a message of life and death to him.

All I could think about was that there was another male. I had been right. Frygg. I didn't want it to be. My fist landed on the wall next to me. It was made from strong metal and rock. Pain seared through me, and I was sure I had just broken a knuckle or two, but that was nothing compared to the pain searing through my heart.

What good did those mating marks do when her heart belonged to someone else? Was this some kind of cosmic joke? I flung my hand out to ease the pain, but it didn't help.

"God I hope you broke some knuckles you pigheaded ass." She yelled.

"That would serve your bloodthirst just right, wouldn't it?" I snarled.

"You are such an idiot," she shook her head. It wasn't her words, but the tone of her voice that got to me. Resigned? Regretful? Frygg, I didn't need her frygging pity.

"Fine, you know what? I'll take you to Astrionis. As soon as we get aboard a ship, I'll take you, and good riddance."

I purposefully pushed any thoughts of our mating marks from my mind. Hopefully, once she was reunited with her lover, those mating marks would vanish into thin air, back to wherever the frygg they came from.

"Good," she threw the word at me like hurling an object at my head. "I hope you will sleep comfortably on your chairs."

With that, she made her way into the bathroom, where I heard the shower turn on. She was washing all traces of me from her body. That stung.

I brushed my hand through my hair, a gesture that usually calmed me. Not then, though. My heart was beating erratically, anger churned in my gut, but the worst was the pain in my heart that choked me, made it hard to even breathe.

I glared at the two chairs. There was no way in the vastness of the universe that I would sleep on them. If she didn't want me in the bed, she would have to physically kick me out, or she could sleep on the chairs.

My hand was throbbing, and even though the pain was at least somewhat distracting from the agony in my chest, I knew that, sooner or later, I needed to take care of it. We still had a ship to hijack and watch at least one prisoner. With a curse, I pulled the healing wand out of the pack and went to work, reminding myself to keep it out so I wouldn't forget to offer it to Hyugh in the morning. Hopefully, it would work on Byalbor and buy us some more goodwill. That wasn't the only reason, though. I wanted to help the male.

Once my knuckles were healed, I threw myself on the bed, grabbed a pillow, and… was hit by her scent. Frygg. Maybe the chairs would be preferable.

The door to the bathroom opened, and she stepped out, fully dressed, I noticed from half-closed eyes. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Going back to sleep," I mumbled into the pillow, turning my head back into it.

"Oh no. Not on the bed, you're not."

"Feel free to try and make me leave it." I challenged.

She huffed, irritated, and by the way the mattress shifted, I knew she had sat down on it. It was petty, I knew it was, but I couldn't help feeling victorious. That feeling, however, didn't last long. There was nothing victorious about lying here, without a blanket, close to the female I loved. I frygging loved her. An admission I had made to myself earlier in the heat of the moment but now it truly caught up with me.

I pounded the pillow, frygg. When had that happened?

From the moment you laid eyes on her, you fool .

I pounded the pillow again. Frygg.

"Would you lay still, please? I'm trying to sleep," she complained.

I glanced up. She was all the way over at the other edge of the bed. She was as far as she could get from me. One foot was even off the mattress. The need to reach over, to touch her, to say something was nearly overwhelming. My hand was already stretching for her when one name floated back into my mind. Daryus . And with that, my hand withdrew.

Why had she slept with me? Did she think it would farther her agenda? I hit the pillow again, remembering the way she had responded to me. That couldn't have been an act, could it? She had liked it as much as I did. Didn't she? She cried out my name, so yes, she must have liked it . So who the frygg was this Daryus ?

Ask her , my rational mind suggested. You can't deal with that right now , my heart responded, still bleeding from where she had cut it into thousands of pieces.

I closed my eyes, knowing full well I wouldn't sleep a tick for the rest of the night. Thanks to that manipulative, scheming female next to me.

The one I wished was in my arms right now.