Page 7 of Guardian’s Destiny (Space Guardian’s Mate #3)

SLOANE

My entire body ached. It felt like waking up after a severe case of the flu, an extremely hard workout, or a mission from hell. I didn't even have the energy to open my eyes. I just lay on the bed, bathing in my misery, and tried to figure out my next steps.

Getting in contact with the Pandraxians was crucial—ideally the emperor, but a Lord Protector or the Superior Commander would suffice. If reaching Zapharos to warn him about his compromised position proved impossible, then the Pandraxians had to be informed. Allowing the Moggadesh to get their filthy hands on an Arkhevari was unthinkable. With a groan, I rose from the bed, forcing my eyes to open only to land… on that silver hunk I had admired before. He was lying inside what looked like a comfy as hell giant beanbag.

"Sloane, you're awake," he stated the obvious. "How are you feeling? Can I get you anything?"

"I need to get out of here," I said, swinging my legs over the bed. Shit, I was dizzy. Automatically I kept my weight off my broken ankle, until I remembered the other women using a healing wand on it earlier.

"Hold on, slow down," he rose from the beanbag chair—far too graceful and easy for a man of his size—and came over toward the bed.

I held up my hand. "Stop!"

"What?"

Is he dense ? "Stop!"

He stopped, wearing a perplexed expression. It looked almost… hurt?

"I only want to help you," he assured me.

"Fine, then help me get out of here."

"Where do you want to go?" He creased his brow.

"As I told your friends before, I need to get to Astrionis," I explained. Maybe he hadn't gotten the message from the others yet.

"Sloane, maybe?—"

"Since you already seem to know my name, let's make it fair. What's yours?" I interrupted him.

"Vraax."

Vraax ? That sounded stupid, but what did I know?

"Alright, Vraax, can you take me to Astrionis?"

His stance slightly tensed. "Didn't the others tell you about our Soulweb Glyphs?"

"Yeah, I heard the whole story," I admitted. "Sorry about that." I wasn't sure what I was sorry about. "But our species doesn't do with this fated mate stuff. So…" I trailed off, hoping he would get the hint.

"Uhm, didn't they tell you that there's nothing we can do about it, right?" He asked.

"Look, you are an attractive man. I'm sure you can find another woman who would be happy to be your… ah, mate. It's just not me."

As tempting as the man was, I had long ago decided that I would never marry. Never bind myself to a man like my mom had to my dad.

At that, he laughed. Actually threw back his head and laughed. Anger surged through my stomach; the fate of the Pandraxian Empire was hanging in the balance, and he was laughing at me? He just reinforced my belief in why I never wanted to bind myself to a man. They would never take us women seriously. Well, most didn't. I had seen how Daryus took every word of his Empress, Heather, to heart and how Xandros surrendered to Ash. But they were exceptions to the rule. The other alpha males I knew were just that, alpha males, or better alpha holes, as I liked to call them.

"Forgive me," he apologized after an agonizing thirty seconds or so of uninterrupted hilariousness. "I don't think the females explained how this bond works to you."

I rolled my eyes. "They did. Fate brings you together, Soulweb Glyphs appear, which by the way hurt like a bitch, batta-bing batta-bang, batta-boom. I'm telling you it's just not for me. I'm sorry."

He stepped aside. "Fine, leave."

"I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings," I tried. I could have gone easier on him, I told myself as I stepped around him, ready for him to pounce on me or worse. He really was a good-looking man, and during any other circumstances, I would have loved to… explore this mating thing… Well, maybe not mating as in marrying, but mating as in hopping to bed together, that I would have strongly considered.

The door ahead of me opened. So far, Vraax had given no indication that he would try to stop me, so I stepped into the hallway. I figured I would run into the others somewhere and persuade them to take me to Astrionis. I was sure Emperor Daryus would handsomely reward them for their troubles. The information I had would warrant that. Not just the threat of the GTU and the Moggadesh, but protecting Zapharos. He could not fall into the Moggadesh's hands.

The doors had barely closed behind me and I had barely taken four steps away from it, when the damn mating marks started to hurt again. What the…

I really didn't have time for this. I stared at my arm, really looking at the marks for the first time. They were actually kind of pretty. They were even swirling around my Eagle, Globe, and Anchor tattoo, enhancing it instead of covering it up.

My legs were getting heavier with every step I took, and the damn marks hurt like they were being carved into me all over again. But I'd be damned if I gave in to it. I had lived through worse. I could do it. I forced another step as sweat ran down my back. Don't you dare give up Sloane , I told myself, a mantra that had fueled me all my life. As a teen, I finally realized that Dad would never acknowledge any of my accomplishments. I went into the military to prove something to him, but in the end, I proved it to myself. There were always going to be men who treated me differently because I was a woman, but I was determined to prove myself the best.

I heard the door behind me opening, and heavy footsteps rushed up to me. "You okay?"

As soon as Vraax came closer, the pain receded, same with the heaviness in my legs. "What the fuck?"

"Come," he pulled me back into the room I had just left.

"Explain!" I demanded, pushing my hands into my hips, staring up at him as fury emanated from every fiber of my being.

"Hey, this is not my fault," he said, putting his hands up.

"Well, it's somebody's," I huffed. Then I took a deep, steadying breath. This wasn't me. I was a cool and collected person. I wasn't temperamental. Reason always ruled my brain, not emotion, which was exactly why I was so damn good at my job. I could analyze any situation and keep a clear head. I had sent hundreds of soldiers to their deaths after the Cryon invasion. Had I not been able to separate my feelings from the mission, I would not have been able to lead another operation. I was always good at outweighing the risks and consequences with the results. Yes, hundreds of soldiers had died, good soldiers. But they had also saved thousands of civilians. Civilians who would have otherwise died because they couldn’t protect themselves. I knew what duty was and how hard leadership could be. I had sworn an oath and so had all those men and women I sent to their deaths. And I wouldn't have hesitated to die right there with them if need be. That was duty.

"Alright," I made an effort to smile at him. "Explain. Please."

"We don't know everything yet, but the Soulweb Glyphs choose the mates, and once they do, there is no changing it. Until we both accept this, they won't let us be apart from one another for more than a few paces."

"Right." I took another deep breath. "Okay." No, that didn't seem to work; my anger was still burning hot in my stomach. "So we have to stay together? For how long?" My mind worked feverishly. I still had time to warn Zapharos or the Pandraxians. Perhaps there was an option of me accepting this Soulweb bond, having sex with him, and going on with our lives. Yes. I could work with that. He wasn't exactly repulsive. I thought I might have even enjoyed it.

He shrugged, his deep, black eyes—and I mean black, there was no iris, no sclera—took me in unapologetically. "I don't know, but if I had to guess… until we die?"

"Until we die?" I faltered. I had never faltered in my life, but I did then.

Take another deep breath. Okay, I can handle this. First things first . "Alright, then you'll have to come with me."

"Go where?"

"Astrionis," I said, managing not to roll my eyes since I'd already told him that and the others before. I was sure he and the others had already talked. They were all Space Guardians, right? Working for the same team? There was no way they hadn't discussed me. That's how units worked.

"We're on our way to Darlam." He declined, actually looking apologetic that he couldn't fulfill my request, which made me even more suspicious of him. "I'm sorry. I'll gladly take you to Astrionis after we're done, but I promised my support."

"What about this fated mate thing? Aren't you supposed to want to make me happy or something like that?" I wasn't above throwing out the guilt trip card, and I had learned a thing or two about the Soulweb, which the Pandraxians called mekarry. I had seen Lord Protector Garth with his mate Silla and the Emperor with his Empress Heather, not to forget Ashley—the reason I was here—and her mate, the Superior Commander of the Imperial Forces, Xandros. All three men were waiting hand and foot on their fated mates .

Vraax ran a hand through his hair, his black eyes regarded me thoughtfully. "I vowed to be there for them. I'm sorry, Sloane. I promise I will take you to?—"

"Astrionis, when this is over, yeah, yeah, I heard you." I interrupted him, "So what's so important about these Soulweb Glyphs that you have to get a whole mission together?" If I knew more about what the Space Guardians were up to, maybe I could let a snippet or two fall about my mission. Maybe. That was a big maybe because I was sure the Space Guardians wouldn't care one lick about the Pandraxians’ trade routes being attacked by the Moggadesh. Plus, talking about Zapharos was out of the question. Nobody could know about his existence. Nobody. Emperor Daryus had made sure to engrain that into me.

I wished I could have just borrowed a comm and sent a message, but the information I had was too sensitive, and we were out of range from Pandrax. Otherwise, I would have tried from the space station.

I thought he wouldn't answer me for a moment, but then he seemed to make up his mind, "It's not just about the Soulweb Glyphs, they're part of it, but there is more."

He stopped, and I impatiently waved my hands for him to continue. He threw me an irritated glared—good, I was happy I was frustrating him as much as he was me—petty, I know, but I wasn't in the best state of mind. Zapharos was in danger. More than ever, now that the enemy knew I overheard them. Time was of the essence.

Vraax regained his composure and continued, "Space Guardians have worked for the Ohrurs for thousands of years. I never questioned them or my job until I met Zaarek and the others.

"It began with a simple question: Who are we? I didn't know the answer. Still don't. But we now know that the Ohrurs did something to a planet, Darlam, which looks like it's our ancestral home. I—" he stopped, brushed his hand through his hair again, and against my will, I was mesmerized. His words were heartfelt. I knew a thing or two about loss, but I had always known I was human. I asked myself what it would be like not knowing that and came up short. It had to be devastating.

"I'm not explaining this very well."

"You're doing fine," I encouraged him, like I would have any other informant or soldier under my command. It was important to keep their self-confidence up.

"We discovered the Ohrurs are killing Space Guardians when it's their time to retire. That's our thanks for thirty years of service."

Okay, so maybe there was more to this than Soulweb Glyphs, I allowed. But my mission priority was still Zapharos. Mentally, I did some quick calculations; I did have some time. "How long will this mission of yours take?"

"I don't know."

This man was certainly no help whatsoever. But I recognized a brick wall when I came up to it. I remembered overhearing their discussion about additional ships being towed yesterday, sparking a fleeting thought—I could try to take one. But with these infuriating shackles, the so-called Soulweb Glyphs , escaping seemed unlikely, let alone piloting a vessel. Trapped, with no clear way out, I glared at Vraax. Seducing him in true Mata Hari—the famous German spy who had seduced men for information—fashion was an option, yet something about that idea didn't sit right with me. He wasn't bad looking and I wouldn't have minded fucking him, but that was just the problem, something inside me stopped me from using this last, desperate card.

Vraax's comm announced an incoming call . Zaarek's body materialized in the room. This part—and some others—of their technology never failed to amaze me. It made it look as if Zaarek was actually here with us, fusing with a chair he walked through, like a ghost. "Tharaax and Noodar are bringing Possedion in, and the girls are in the breakroom with Nock."

"We're on our way." Vraax looked at me for confirmation, and with a loud sigh, I gave it to him.

Silently glaring at each other, we entered the breakroom, where he announced, "I'll be only a couple of rooms down the hall if you need me."

I rolled my eyes. "What about the marks?"

"We'll see. Sometimes they allow more distance."

How convenient and whatever , I thought balefully, waiting for the damn things to start burning when he left, but to my amazement nothing happened. Interesting. If I could just figure out?—

"So, what happened to you?" Zoe interrupted my train of thought.

"Hold on, let her ask questions first. I'm sure she has a ton of them," Luph interjected.

"Actually, Vraax already filled me in on most of it," I admitted. "I asked him to take me to Astrionis, and he told me about your mission and made it clear that I wasn't going to Astrionis until this is finished first." I couldn't stop the bitterness from leaking into my voice.

"Why do you want to go to Astrionis?" Hannah asked.

"I've heard other prisoners talk about it, that it's a refuge camp," I said.

"Other prisoners? Were you a prisoner on that space station?" Hannah sounded like an interrogator now. She didn't trust or believe me, or both. I needed to up my game. It was surprising, though. If anything, I would have expected more difficulties from Nova. Who reminded me of someone.

I tried to stick to the truth as much as possible. I left out the part where I had infiltrated the Space station, looking for information, and tried to steal one of their ships after I gathered what I needed.

"I escaped, but I broke my ankle in the process and have been hiding and scavenging for a week." I kept it short.

"Oh, you poor thing," Zoe exclaimed, looking at me sympathetically.

"Why were the GTU forces after you?" Nova stepped up to the plate, apparently not convinced by my story.

I tried to keep it nonchalant, "Probably because I stole food, and there was this minor incident where I tried to slip into the cargo hold of a GTU transporter."

This wasn't entirely true; I never even made it to a hatch, but telling them this was easier, and I wasn't about to reveal that I had killed GTU soldiers. No matter if these humans had protected and saved me. I didn't care what mission they were on; killing GTU soldiers was a major crime—one that would get you hunted by Space Guardians.

"Wow, badass," Zoe remarked, at least she was buying my bullshit. Not so much Hannah and Nova. I would have to throw some more crumbs at them if we were going to work together for a while. I wanted us to get along and not to be scrutinized every step I took. Besides, I liked these women, all four of them. They were very different from the people I usually hung out with, except Nova, who kept reminding me of someone. I hated that sensation. It tickled me at the back of my mind, teased me, but my little synapses refused to make the connection.

So when Hannah asked, "What were you doing before… the invasion… you know." I decided to give them the truth. There was no harm in it, and it had nothing to do with my current employers. Well, maybe some, but they didn't need to know that. Emperor Daryus had sworn me to secrecy on this. I still had a hard time wrapping my head around Zapharos, the Arkhevari, and the consequences of their existence. This strange group might have saved my ass from the space station, but they hadn't earned my trust yet.

"I was in the MARSOC before the CIA recruited me," I filled them in.

"MARSOC?" Hannah asked.

"A specialist unit of the Marines," Nova explained, surprising me. Not many people knew about this specialist unit. "Marine Forces Special Operations Command. What?" She looked at us. "My brother wanted to be one."

Brother?

I would have loved to know her last name, but there was no way that amongst the billions of people having been displaced from Earth and strewn around the vastness of the universe, Tuck was related to her. That was just way too much of a coincidence. This would be way past fate and karma and all that Zen shit.

"I thought the Marines already were a specialized unit." Zoe cut my train of thought off and brought me back to our discussion.

"The best of the best," I agreed with a proud grin. Being with MARSOC had been the best years of my life. I should have never agreed to join the CIA, but you know what they say about hindsight, right?

"Guess they were jealous of the Navy SEALs and Army Rangers and had to have their own," Hannah giggled nervously.

"So you're CIA now?" Nova questioned.

"Was," I corrected softly. Her eyes did look like Tuck's. "I don't think there is a CIA any longer."

"No, probably not," Hannah agreed with a sad curve to her lips.

"Well, we can sure use you," Nova clapped me on the shoulder.

"Use me?"

"Well, you weren't exactly rescued," Hannah admitted. "We're in the middle of something."

Oh, that. "Yeah, Vraax said as much."

"I'm sorry we can't take you to Astrionis," Zoe apologized.

I tried to keep my anger back, but I must have lost some of my edge by the way Hannah looked at me. I deepened my smile, trying to win her back over. "That's alright. Astrionis was just a place I thought I could find safety."

"Well, we're safe," Luph assured me with such a sweet smile that I forgot her… let's put it politely, strangeness.

"Yeah, for now," Nova harrumphed.

"Killjoy," Zoe chided.

I liked their easy exchange and banter. Hannah seemed to feel a bit out, too, and when our eyes met in commiseration, she smiled at me. The urge to want to be part of this group held a strange lure, and I admitted, "I should have known. Danger is literally my middle name, and I seem to attract it wherever I can."

"Your middle name?" Zoe asked.

"My full name is Sloane Pericolosa Storm," I filled them in. "A soldier whose last name was Pericolosa, which literally means danger in Italian, saved my Dad's life, so he decided it would be a good middle name for me."

Thinking of good old Dad almost warmed my heart since I had chosen to remember only the good times with him. Once I had been able to let go of ever gaining his approval, it had almost been liberating.

All four women stared at me incredulously. I had forgotten that normal people didn't usually have daddy issues. A fact I had been able to keep from all the psychiatrists I was forced to see as a necessity for my security clearance over the years. I didn't need to talk to a shrink to know that I had daddy issues . I knew. I had loved the old bastard. Otherwise, his praise would have never been so important to me. Well, that was water under the bridge. I put on my most winning smile. "It's true."

"Wow, I feel kind of small now, having been named after a supernova," Nova laughed.

"Hannah isn't exactly colorful either," Hannah added.

"Or Zoe," Zoe laughed, "but Princess Luphelia might offer some competition."

"Princess?" I arched an eyebrow.

That opened the floodgates, and the four of them filled me in on all the deep, dark secrets they had unearthed about the Ohrurs and the Space Guardians and how they came together as a group. It was quite an impressive story, and I won't lie, it was intriguing as hell—just the kind of mission I would normally give my left arm for to be part of. In short, the Ohrurs had decimated an entire planet, Darlam. They killed the entire population to get their hands on what they called an Archegene, which came a little bit too close to my mission and was something I needed to mull over when I had a second to myself.

The Ohrurs lost fifty percent of their population during a civil war that followed or caused the Darlam extinction; the women weren't sure about the sequence yet. They took the Archegene and cooked up a new species, the Space Guardians, whom they had been using ever since as their little private army for hire. Killing any of them who started asking questions, which, from what I heard, happened somewhere between twenty to thirty years of service for the Ohrurs.

Not only that, the Ohrurs had also killed any Space Guardian and their fated mate if they discovered their Soulweb Glyphs.

"Doesn't sound like people you want to fuck with," I agreed when they finished.

"The worst. We're trying to get to Darlam to find more answers, but the Ohrurs put a forcefield up around the planet, and it's impenetrable." Zoe explained.

"And that's what they're interrogating the Ohrur about now?" I perked up.

They nodded in unison.

"You think he'll talk?" I asked curiously.

To my utter surprise, Hannah said, "The Ohrurs have a high pain tolerance, so we've tried sleep deprivation and waterboarding."

Again, I would have expected that from Nova, not Hannah. She impressed me. "Nice," an idea occurred to me. It seemed like I was in this whether or not I liked it. The faster these people finished their mission, the faster I could get in contact with the Pandraxians and warn Zapharos. I might even find a way to use one of their comms, as long as we weren't out of range. I turned to Luph. "That sleeping stuff you gave me yesterday, are you some kind of healer?"

"We don't really need healers anymore. We have healing wands." Luph explained. "But to answer your question, I do know how to make certain remedies."

"Do you have one," I asked as an idea solidified in my mind. Luph retrieved one and held it out to me. "Perfect, let me borrow that. Also, do you have a potion that will make someone violently sick, like throwing up?"

Luph looked startled. "I can make something, but why would you?—"

"Give it to me, and I'll make your alien talk," I promised, a plan forming in my head. This wasn't my first rodeo interrogating an asshole who thrived on being hurt. Some fanatics got off on that shit. The harder you hurt them, the deeper their conviction of not saying a word. You always had to be one step ahead of them, and I was good at that. Me and Tuck both. I missed working with Tuck. He was one of the few people I trusted. Him and Ash, really. It was too bad that we got separated after the Cryons invaded. I got stuck in North Carolina, and he… wherever they had sent him on a mission, right before. I even missed his bullshit flirting with all the girls. Despite the hard times I liked to give him about it, he was a hopeless Casanova.

"That I've got to see." Nova boxed Hannah in the side. Shit, it was a well-known, well used gesture between friends, but I swore I still had a callous right underneath my rib where Tuck used to love elbowing me.

You remind me of my little sister , he would grin. I looked Nova up and down; the more I thought about it, the more… no, it couldn't be. But I would start looking into it.

"Is there anything else you need to know from the Ohrur?" I asked before I left.

"We want to contact the other Space Guardians, but their names are encrypted on the Ohrur database, and we haven't figured it out yet. If we can get their names, I can try to contact them and convince them to join… our little rebellion." Hannah filled me in.

Her sincere enthusiasm was refreshing, and I found myself liking her more and more. "I'll have that to you in a jiffy," I promised confidently.