Page 30 of Guardian’s Destiny (Space Guardian’s Mate #3)

SLOANE

I had no idea how things had gone so horribly wrong, but they had. In a heartbeat. I was still hurt over his lack of trust in me. Or respect. I hadn't done anything but be supportive of his cause, and this was how he paid me back? It wasn't like I had asked to go shopping on Astrionis. Oh no, I had made it clear that I was on a mission. A very important one. And then he threw that caveman jealousy shit at me. Like I would sleep with him like a Mata Hari. Fuck. I had never done that and never would. Although the thought had crossed my mind a time or two, it would have made a lot of things a lot easier. But that wasn't me. I didn't use sex to manipulate or as an outlet. Sex without at least some emotions for the other partner wasn't my thing. I didn't do one-night stands or quickies in a dark corner.

My earlier thoughts: I had finally found a man who would hold his own against me. One, I could lose myself to without losing who I was came back to haunt me. I wanted to go back in time and slap myself across the face. I wanted to take my head into my hands and slam it into the wall before I said those stupid words: yours . Fuck, what had I been thinking? There was no such thing as Mr. Right . And even if there was, it was definitely not him —the silver asshole. I had even tried to tell him about my mission. But had he listened? No! I even threw out a hint: Daryus ! I mean, how many men were there named Daryus who were also important ? Okay, fine, I had no idea, but come on, was it really such a stretch to go from I need to contact Daryus to I'm on the mission for Emperor Daryus ? He never made that leap. That alone showed me what he thought of me as a person. He had dismissed me and my mission right out and that pissed me off just as much as having allowed myself to have feelings for him.

He was such an ass!

The first thing I noticed was the healing wand on the small nightstand. So, he had taken care of his knuckles. What an idiot for slamming his fist into the wall in the first place. But what else did I expect from a testosterone-fueled jerk like him? I had known from the start that he wasn't any better than all the other boyish show-offs I had ever encountered. He might be highly technologically advanced, but deep down, he, like all the other men, hadn't advanced from the caveman at all. Oh no. It was still: me male. You female. You go in cave, wait for me . What a dickhead.

That was exactly what he was. A fucking dickhead. That was the only head that worked on him. Argh, I was such a pathetic idiot for having fallen for the arrogant bastard.

And now he even refused to let me have the bed like any other normal man would. I scooted to the furthest end of the bed to not touch him. Still, I felt his presence. I closed my eyes, waiting for my nightly visitors, wondering who or what it would be.

Instead, all I saw was dark black eyes and silver skin dancing in front of my vision. Dimples, a deep grin, and an arrogant line moving up from his lips. This was almost worse than my usual ghosts. I saw him laughing and talking to me, and I watched us sparring and sticking our heads together researching Darlam, mating marks, and the Ohrurs.

Ugh! I pounded the pillow.

Vraax shifted on the other side, and my body tensed in anticipation of him saying or doing something. But thankfully, nothing happened.

At some point, I finally dozed off for an hour or two, only to be awakened by Vraax's stirring or moving. I couldn't help it. My entire body was homed in on his, no matter how mad I was, or maybe even more so because I was so mad at him.

I even woke up once to find him rolled over, and me wrapped in his arms. For a moment, I just lay there, soaking it up, but the anger welling inside me could only be contained for so long before I wiggled out of his arms and pushed-kicked him back to his side of the bed.

I should have felt satisfied, but I only felt cold and strangely heartbroken.

To say the mood was tense the next morning was an understatement. Neither one of us had slept well for the rest of the night; tiredly, we snapped at each other each opportunity we got.

When we collided, as we both tried to get through the door at the same time, Vraax grabbed me by the shoulders. "Look, I like this as little as you, but if we want to stay alive and get you to Astrionis, we need to work together."

I hated that he was right. "Fine!" I hissed my consent.

And then, because I'm petty like that, I exaggerated a bow and waved him through the door first. He looked at me as if he wanted to say something but thought better of it—so he did have a few active brain cells left. Good to know—and walked into the hallway. Without turning back, he marched to the room we had met the others in yesterday.

Hyugh, Craygh, and Moddekdum were seated around a table- well, Hyugh and Craygh were; Moddekdum stood by a wall, hands tied in front of him.

"Good, you're up. Help yourself to some breakfast. The transporter should be ready in an hour."

I looked around but didn't see Paddekah anywhere. "Where is Paddekah?"

"One of the other females has taken her in," Hyugh explained. "Don't worry. She is being well taken care of."

I didn't doubt that, but I would have liked to say goodbye to her. Then again, she might not have appreciated that since I had kidnapped her and all that.

"So you'll be joining us?" Vraax asked Craygh, giving me a veiled look.

"I am if you are okay with it," Craygh answered, taking a bite of something pink.

Again, Vraax's veiled gaze met mine. He wasn't happy about this development either, but at this point, it would have been petty of us to refuse. Still, Craygh spying on us was not something I was looking forward to.

We would need to keep an eye on him. I nodded at Vraax so he would know I shared his reservations, and a pang of hurt rushed through me. For a moment, it was like it was before. Damn his stupid stubborn ass.

"Before I forget." Vraax held out the healing wand. "For Chronarch Byalbor. Maybe this will help him regain his eyesight."

My stomach twisted from missing him. Missing the man he had been before our fight last night—the one who was kind and thoughtful like this.

He was never there, Sloane. It was an illusion. He showed his true colors yesterday .

I couldn't argue with that, and thankfully, anger replaced the dread in my stomach. Anger was easier to deal with. A lot easier.

It didn't take much time from there. Chronarch Byalbor sent his regards through a messenger and informed us that he hadn't found out much yet, but he would let us know if he did. It must have been frustrating and more time-consuming for him to have others read to him instead of being able to browse through chronicles himself.

Again, Vraax and I exchanged a glance. Having found out nothing, my ass. The old goat had, he just didn't want to share it with us. He wanted to make sure that we would return. On orders of Lord Hyugh, undoubtfully.

Everybody had their own agenda in this circus, and I was beginning to hate it. I had a nagging suspicion that if we just all sat down and put our cards on the table, we would find that we all had the same goal. Or close to it. On the off chance that I was wrong, I kept my mouth shut. Too much hung in the balance to risk exposing the Arkhevari for who they really were. Hell, I wasn't even sure who or what they were. Honestly, Zapharos gave me the creeps sometimes. The way his amber eyes penetrated mine made me feel as if he could see to the bottom of my soul, and for someone dealing with secrets for a living, that was not a good feeling. I couldn't even decide if he was good or bad. He could be a demon as much as he could be an angel. The jury was still out there, and that was one hell of a scary thought, even more so given what had already happened on Earth.

An Ohrur soldier arrived; curiously, it was a woman. The first I had seen in a role of power.

"Forgive my interruption, Lord Hyugh, but the transporter is ready."

"Thank you," Hyugh rose, and we followed his example. "It was a pleasure meeting you, and I hope to see you again soon." He nodded at Vraax and me. "Be careful," he turned to Craygh.

"I will see you again soon, Lord Hyugh." There was a sly glance in Craygh's eyes that struck me, but before I could give it another thought, Vraax waved me on with a sardonic smile, indicating for me to go first. Petty bastard that he was. Craygh grabbed Moddekdum and followed the soldier out into the hall.

Many words lay at the tip of my tongue to say to him, but I bit them down. Let's get this over with , I cheered myself on. The sooner I would be rid of that nuisance alien, the better . Sadly, I wasn't convinced of it at all. And there was still the slight matter of our mating marks.

We left the palace and returned to the old tunnels, where a functioning version of the same kind of subway car we had spent a night in waited for us. Only this one was in much better shape. It hovered above the ground without making a sound. I would have loved to go to the surface and catch a glimpse of the Ohrur civilization. This car right here was something straight out of a science fiction movie.

Inside, the benches gleamed clean; not a speck of dust was to be found here. Oval windows, also clean, allowed a view of the tunnels as the car set off once we were all seated. At some point, the walls must have been a piece of art as well, but years of neglect and falling debris had taken their toll on paintings and what probably had been mosaics.

Nobody spoke, but now and then, I felt Craygh's curious eyes on Vraax and me. He must have picked up on the new hostility between us. It would have been hard not to; the tension was palpable.

"Are we going to have a problem?" The Ohrur asked a little while later.

"We will work together," I promised, avoiding looking at Vraax.

"You better. I'm risking my life and that of my colony here." Craygh's voice was hard, but there was also something else in it. Calculation? I really needed to get my act together here. This tension between Vraax and me was throwing me off my game, and this was a dangerous time to be off.

I hadn't thought about what being caught would mean for the ancient Ohrurs. Craygh was right; there was too much at stake to get careless now. The Ohrurs wouldn't hesitate to obliterate Craygh's secret underground city.

"We are professionals," I assured him. "Our personal feelings will not endanger the mission."

Vraax sneered and sent him a scorching glare.

"Right," Craygh sighed loudly.

"What is the spaceport like?" Vraax asked all business now.

Craygh pulled up images on a comm that must have seen better days, reminding me that I didn't have mine anymore. Mine had gone to the Chronarch. Hopefully, I would be able to pilfer one on our new ride. An aerial view appeared on one of the subway cart's walls as Craygh projected it from the comm. With a laser pointer—or the alien equivalent of it—he pointed at a spot inside the spaceport's fenced-in perimeter, but still a mile or so away from the airfield. "That's where we will come out. It's inside an old abandoned building. Why they decided not to tear it down or renovate it, we don't know, but it's been our one lucky break, and we don't use it very often."

He looked at Moddekdum as if waiting for an answer, and when all our gazes moved to the Ohrur, he sighed heavily before he graced us with an answer, "Like so many other things, it's a reminder of what happens when a population divides."

I nodded my understanding. We had had similar reminders on Earth. One example that came to mind was the bombed-out shell of the Ged?chtniskirche—remembrance church—in Berlin, Germany. The building had been bombed by the allies like most of the city, but it had been chosen not to be reconstructed or torn down, to remind everyone of the atrocities of war.

Vraax shook his head. "That's hard to believe."

"All the other ruins on Ohrur have been left alone. It makes sense," Craygh interjected, and I was glad it was him and not me. Vraax and I needed to work together on this, but I had a feeling that if I contradicted him like this, he would take it personally, and that was the last thing we needed right now.

"Okay, so do we wait until it's dark and then make our move to one of the ships?" I stopped any more arguments about the validity of Moddekdum's statement.

"Sounds like a plan," Vraax agreed.