Page 5 of Guardian’s Destiny (Space Guardian’s Mate #3)

SLOANE

The metal walls of the crawlspace were narrow and suffocating. They seemed to be pressing in on me from all sides. After being stuck inside the space station's walls for over a week, I felt disgusting. Washing up in the restroom I liked to use didn't help with my sweat-drenched and filthy clothing, but it was better than nothing. That and the water being drinkable had kept me alive so far, but I wasn't sure how much longer I could make it.

Thanks to my broken ankle, I had no idea how to get off this station. Now and then, I managed to scavenge some food from the food court, but those occasions were rare and few in between. The station was open twenty-four seven and so was the food-court, always filled with people, at all hours of the day and night. The few times I snuck in and snatched something off a forgotten plate were small miracles.

Today looked like it was going to be another day without food as I made my way back to the restroom. Crawling was easier than trying to walk, but neither was very pleasant. Still, I had to try to find a way off this station. That was why I checked the conference rooms and communication stations every day to see if I could get in and comm the Emperor.

Heavy footsteps below me made me pause. I knew that gait; it belonged to the GTU soldiers patrolling the corridors, still looking for me. I didn't think they would be able to hear me above them, but why take a risk?

It wasn't my first rodeo being stuck in an impossible situation, but this time, the odds were truly stacked against me. Not only could I not try to blend in with the crowd below—because I was human—but my broken ankle would make it impossible for me to run or, let's be honest, even walk. Being one of the only humans on a space station was daunting, to say the least. There was no one I could call for backup unless I wanted to provoke an incident between the GTU and the Imperial Forces. That was still an option, but only if everything else failed.

The boots below me made some noise again, telling me they were finally moving on, and so did I. I clenched my teeth because dragging my ankle wasn't the most pleasant thing in the universe. At least it wasn't far from here to my hiding spot. I didn't like hanging out there during the day when the bathroom was a regular ant's nest of coming and going, but I was close to the end of my endurance and pretty sure I was running a fever. I needed to replace the bandage on my ankle to give it a break—no pun intended. Which throbbed constantly now. During the last hours, it had developed a pulse all on its own. It was a good thing that I had learned to push pain away from a young age. There was nothing my dad abhorred more than tears.

When I was ten, my appendix ruptured. It was one of the rare occasions when my dad was actually home—he was a Marine and was called out more than I saw him. A few days after the surgery, my stomach began to hurt, even worse than it had before the surgery.

Anyway, that day, Dad took me for some ice cream when I fainted. Concerned, he took me back to the hospital. There was never any doubt in my mind that my father loved me. He did, he might have had a skewed view of women, but in his way he loved me. It was his approval and pride that I yearned for and never received.

The doctor said that my surgery wound from the appendectomy had gotten infected and needed to be reopened, and the puss needed to be drained. They wanted to give me morphine, but I pleaded with them not to. I pretended to be afraid of the drug. While they opened the stitches and drained the puss, I didn't allow one moan to escape my lips, despite the pain. I wanted to show my dad that girls could be just as brave as men.

When my mom arrived, I was all bandaged and filled with antibiotics. Mom hugged and kissed me, while Dad shook his head. That is one stubborn daughter you got there .

My ears perked up. Finally, I was sure I would hear some words of praise from him. Maybe even an I'm proud of her .

What happened ? Mom asked and my entire body coiled in anticipation. This was my moment.

She was too scared to get any pain meds . Dad shook his head. I don't know what nonsense you filled her head with, but morphine is not something to be scared of .

Instead of words of praise, he and my mom got into a fight.

On the upside, that day, I learned that I could master pain. And dammit, if I wasn't going to prove it, as I scooted another few inches toward my destination.

Somewhere during my great escape attempt, I had lost my comm, and all the stations with comm access were now heavily monitored. The GTU soldiers’ numbers seemed to have doubled. Gar'Ny L'ym Tack would not allow me to leave this space station alive.

My only hope was that the Pandraxian ship that had brought me here was able to contact the emperor. They had to know that, according to the GTU, I was a fugitive. That would send red flags to him. The question was if he was willing to risk a scandalous incident with the GTU on my behalf or if he would leave me behind. God knew that many missions on Earth had been handled that way. Agents forgotten and left behind for the greater cause .

I was finally coming up on top of the restroom I had chosen as my hiding spot when I heard voices below me.

"What do you think the guys will order for us?" A woman asked.

That couldn't be, could it? Was my translator implant on the fritz?

"I'm sure it'll be edible. Zaarek takes great joy in making sure I get plenty to eat." Another voice answered, and this time, it was plain as day. These women were talking in different accents, but they were speaking in English.

I scuttled the last few feet to where the next opening hatch waited for me, leading straight into my stall. One I had jimmied so I could be sure nobody other than me would ever enter it.

I opened the hatch just far enough to be sure the woman below had finished her business. Certain she wouldn't appreciate me taking a peek as she pulled her pants up. My heart rate sped up when I laid eyes on her: she was indeed human!

Had my luck finally turned? These were the first humans I had seen on this station.

"Just put your hands inside," the woman with the deep southern drawl advised another I couldn't see.

It was now or never. I glided down the hatch, balanced my feet on the toilet, and cursed underneath my breath because of the damn ankle that protested my weight. It felt like the universe was using a big fat red arrow, pointing at the woman in the stall next to mine. A warning? A push to move forward? Since I was all out of options, I had to give this a shot. Under normal circumstances, I would have never trusted myself to strangers, but these weren't normal circumstances, and Zapharos's life was on the line. I took a deep breath, climbed down the toilet, opened the stall door, and asked, "Hey, can you help me?"

Three sets of eyes, all human, stared at me in as much disbelief as I stared at them.

"Sure… how… who are you?" The one with the southern accent was the first to recover from her shock of seeing another human woman on an alien-owned space station.

"I'm Sloane," I introduced myself, nervously looking around to make sure no other aliens lurked about. I had never seen this bathroom as empty as it was today, and I prayed my luck would hold just a little bit longer. Four human women in the public restroom would be noticeable as hell. I wasn't sure if it would be noticeable enough for an alien woman to call the GTU, but that was a chance I would rather not take right now.

"I'm Nova, this is Hannah and Zoe," the Southerner introduced. "What do you need?"

"A ticket out of here," I admitted.

"That we can do," Nova nodded.

"It's kind of time-sensitive. And I broke my ankle," I filled them in.

"Got it. Hannah, run to the guys and warn them," Nova instructed a pretty brunette who darted off.

"Let's give her a moment to warn the guys, and then we're out of here," Nova promised.

"What happened to you?" Zoe asked, reaching for my arm.

"Long story," I tried to evade her question, but my mind was already in full gear coming up with a plausible explanation. I was good at making up stories. Very good.

Nova scooted underneath my right side, and Zoe followed her example, slipping underneath my left. "Alright, that should do it. Can you walk?"

"That'll work," I acknowledged as we made our way out of the bathroom, with me limping. "When you say guys , you're not talking about human men, are you?" I checked.

Zoe giggled, "No. Our men are Space Guardians and?—"

Oh fuck. I tuned out the rest of what she said. I had heard about Space Guardians, some elite force that patrolled the universe, killing off criminals. Something that would normally not faze me, but given the fact that right now I was a wanted criminal, this didn't bode well for me. Fuck!

On my best days, I would have had a hard time fighting a Space Guardian, and I sure as hell wasn't at my best right now.

I could only hope that the GTU hadn't put out an alien equivalent of a BOLO out on me yet, otherwise I was going to be in deep shit.

It was too late now. From a few feet away I watched Hannah talk to three silver hunky aliens, who stared at me like I was a demon from hell. Imagine the Hulk a bit leaner and taller and silver instead of green, and you get the picture. Had I not been in the situation I was in or in a bit better physical condition, I might have appreciated their good looks even more. The Pandraxians were well built and gorgeous, but compared to the Space Guardians, they were like models from a Sears catalogue compared to Iron Man magazine. I had seen plenty of aliens since the Cryons invaded. None of their strangeness fazed me all that much any longer, but I wasn't about to not admire a well-built body. One of the hunks separated himself from the others and came toward us. I tried to keep my head down but instinctively sensed that wouldn't fly. So I met his gaze straight on, but he only had eyes for Nova.

"I'll carry her," he offered. "It'll be faster."

I hated the idea of acting like a damsel in distress, but like it or not, that's the situation I was in. Zapharos , I told myself. You're doing it for Zapharos , a thought that only reiterated how much I despised the Arkhevari.

The alien picked me up like I weighed nothing, and judging by his size, I was pretty sure that's how I felt for him, too, and we made our way to the chutes. Chutes were like elevators here, only they looked more like those pipes at the drive-through banks where you could shoot your deposit to the teller.

"Hold it, that female is a wanted criminal," a voice called out as three GTU soldiers approached us.

I wanted to hit my head against the hunk's chest. We were so close. So close. Damn it.

"Perfect, we're Space Guardians and have this under control," one of the other men shouted back.

"You have no jurisdiction here," the same GTU soldier announced.

To my surprise, the Guardian carrying me never stopped, didn't even hesitate. He moved us straight to the chute and jumped with me still in his arms. It didn't take long before we exited, and he took off running. When I peeked over his shoulder, I noticed Zoe and Nova following close behind us.

"Stop!" A voice demanded ahead of us, and the Space Guardian came to an abrupt halt.

"What did you do, female?" The Guardian asked with a hint of what I could have sworn was amusement in his voice as we stared at ten GTU soldiers.

The others had followed us as well, and one Space Guardian separated himself from the group, moving toward the GTU soldier who had called out.

"Do not interfere with Space Guardian business." He moved intimidatingly forward until they were nearly nose to nose, staring menacingly at the soldiers.

"This female is our prisoner," the head soldier said, standing his ground.

To my astonishment, the guardian pulled his blaster and pointed it straight at the soldier's face. Who the hell were these guys?

"Do you really want to interfere in Space Guardian business?"

More blasters were drawn and aimed—the Space Guardians at the GTU soldiers and the GTU soldiers at the Space Guardians.

"Thrax!" Hannah called out in a choked voice.

"Your choice. We can fight this out, and you'll die first, or you can let us go." The Guardian named Thrax threatened.

The hatch to where I assumed their ship was docked opened before two more Space Guardians stepped out, making me wonder if I had walked into some kind of nest. I wasn't aware that Space Guardians worked together like this. From what I understood, they only worked alone.

Both of the newcomers held their blasters in hand, and with interest, I assessed the one to the right. I had a thing for muscular men, and this one fit the bill. He must have been over six feet tall, probably six foot eight or so, which made him a foot taller than me. His silvery skin glowed under the light, and I noticed that his body was not tattooed in contrast to the others.

I had no idea why my attention had flipped to him; several blasters were pointed this way, and a fight could break out at any moment, but something about him drew me to him.

The alien carrying me didn't waste any time. The moment the other two Guardians joined, he moved us straight for the open hatch. Unfortunately, the passage was too narrow, forcing the Guardian whom I had been appraising a few steps back, but it wasn't enough. My bare leg still brushed against his bare arm, and a jolt ten times worse than an electrical current moved through me. Setting all my senses on fire. We were out of the GTUs' soldier's reach now, but my entire body hummed from the inside, pulling all my attention away from the fact that I was safe.

My rescuer took me through a cargo hold, up a set of stairs, and into what appeared to be a breakroom.

"Who is that female?" the other Space Guardian who had opened the hatch for us demanded.

Before anybody could answer, a heavy thud made the giant carrying me turn, and we stared at the Space Guardian I had brushed against a few seconds ago lying on the ground. Had he been shot?

"Ah frygg," one of the other men cursed, staring at the one on the ground, who was now holding his arm in pain. Surprised, I watched black marks etch themselves onto his flesh.

"Serves him right," the man who appeared to be the oldest, chuckled.

"I've set course to where we left the other ships to pick them up. Can you remotely activate them to follow us?" Another alien, this time a woman—I assumed—and the ugliest creature I had ever seen entered the room. It was good that I had been trained to keep my emotions under a tight wrap. Otherwise, I might have exclaimed in surprise. Her skin reminded me of that of an elephant's, rough and gray and filled with folds. She wasn't very tall, but she held herself with a certain grace that was admirable, especially since she was walking on three legs. Her arms were bare, and I noticed the same markings on her that the others had, men and women. Had I walked into some kind of cult? That would be just my luck.

"Yes, Darlam?" a male voice asked. I couldn't have said who because just then, a jolting pain raced up my arm.

The rest of their conversation was lost to me because another spasm ran through my hips and legs, and this time, it was so intense I couldn't stop a moan from escaping my lips.

"Ah, hell!" I heard Nova curse before I closed my eyes to ride out another wave of pain, so excruciating I thought I'd pass out.