Page 35 of Guardian’s Heart (Space Guardian’s Mate #1)

ZAAREK

I wasn't happy that Nova had filled Garth and Silla in on our plans, but the Lord Protector seemed to be taking it better than I had expected, plus, his information about Raasla was important.

"Did he say anything?" I asked Garth as we walked to the giant rock formation that housed his palace and over a bridge that spanned a moat filled with a thick, swampy, lava-like substance that bubbled in many places—presumably from gasses.

Small creatures hopped over the surface, unfazed by the heat, which I could feel even on the bridge.

"They are too light to sink, but anything heavier gets pulled down within ticks, and there is no coming back," Garth explained.

"Nice defense. Are you expecting an attack?"

"Many nasty predators live on this planet," Garth filled me in. "Most only come out at night, and this"—he pointed at the bubbling mess—"keeps us safe. To answer your question, I imagine you're referring to Raasla, the other Space Guardian?"

At my nod, he continued, "He and his mate, Zoe, had the same markings as you. He said he was going in search of a male named Noodar. Does that help?"

"It does." We stepped inside, and he led me into a great hall filled with tables, where I found Nova and Silla. Their heads were close together and they were both smiling, animatedly talking with each other. The sight made my heart leap. I loved seeing her this happy and carefree.

"I appreciate your understanding in this, Lord Protector.”

"Call me Garth. I'm not happy about it, but I do understand. Silla and I… the Cryons did something to her body that nearly killed her. I put everything on hold to find out what it was and how to heal her. So I understand that mating bonds take priority and change you."

We walked up to the dais, and I took the seat next to him while Nock, who had been uncharacteristically quiet, took the seat on my other side.

"I've always been intrigued by you, Space Guardians. I worked once with a male named Xaalen, a very impressive male. To be honest, it never crossed my mind to ask what species he was." Garth looked apologetically at me.

I rubbed my chin, getting tired of the same conversation and questions, but that only underlined the importance of what we were doing. "I wish I could help more." Garth waved a servant over to fill our cups.

"Your understanding is more than enough. Thank you, Garth."

"Our females seem to be getting along just fine." He smiled, and his dark eyes reflected his love for his mate when he turned to look at her.

They did. It warmed my heart to see Nova this animated. For a fraction of a moment, I considered whether she wouldn't be better off staying here, but I disregarded that idea right away. Not only for the obvious selfish reasons but because our mating marks might have allowed some distance between us now, but I was sure, would start burning like I dipped my arm into acid before I even made it out of the atmosphere.

Dinner was brought in and from Nova's oohs and aahs, I figured she was enjoying the dishes. I sure was.

"A lot of it is human cuisine," Garth explained.

"It's fabulous and hard to tame," Nock complained, twirling his fork through what Silla had called spaghetti.

I preferred the meat course and roasted vegetables, while Nock exclaimed about garlic bread .

"With the Cryons retreat from Earth, we're able import a lot of things the humans have been missing."

"Wait, they left?" Nova exclaimed.

"Not willingly. Emperor Daryus had one of his famous temper fits and ordered Superior Commander Xandros of the Imperial Forces to take them out ." Silla filled her in with a slight smirk as if reliving her favorite memory. She sighed deeply. "That was one of the greatest moments of my life. Hadn't I already been head over heels in love with Garth here"—she pecked the Lord Protector on the cheek—"I would have so fallen for the Emperor."

"I'm not sure what to think about that…" Garth looked torn between awe and consternation. "But, vra, it was quite spectacular."

"I want you to blow the frygging Cryons out of the sky. Right now! I want you to free every single human on their ships," Silla said, making her voice deep to make it clear she was repeating the emperor's words. She clapped her hands and laughed. "One of the best moments of my life."

"What are the others?" Garth leaned over to her and she whispered something in his ear that made him look at her as if he was ready to carry her off to bed right frygging now.

"Earth is no longer occupied by the Cryons?" Nova made sure with tears in her eyes. My heart clenched. Did that mean she wanted to go back?

"Did a lot of the humans return to Earth then?" Nock asked, leaning around me.

"Some, not as many as I would have thought," Garth replied.

"How about Xandros, the Superior Commander of the Imperial Forces? I heard his mate wanted to return to Earth?" Nock kept peppering him.

"You have to ask Silla about Ashley. She's more in touch with her than I am. All I know is that both Xandros and Ashley are busy trying to gain access to a Cryon planet that holds some damming evidence." Garth held out his cup for more vepo. The old Pandraxians stayed away from liquor. Their preferred choice of beverage was enhanced water, vepo.

"How about some juicy stories about the Terrible Triplets?" Nock kept going. Whatever had kept him quiet so far seemed to have left him, and he was making up for it with a vengeance.

Garth nearly choked on his vepo and ended in a coughing fit while I glared at Nock. "Nock!"

"What, that would make an excellent stream, an exclusive with Lord Protector Garth about his, the emperors, and the superior commander's exploits in their youth." Nock's eyes were wide with excitement.

"I apologize for my… " I failed to put a name to Nock. He wasn't a friend. Neither was he a partner or brother. "He's a holostreamer and—"

"No way!" A youngling, maybe about twelve years old, ran forward. "You're Nock." He reached Nock's side. "Uncle Garth, you didn't tell me that the famous Nock would be here tonight." The youngling turned to Garth.

Uncle ? This kid was a human.

Garth coughed a little bit more before he rubbed the boy's hair. "Well, I wanted to surprise you."

"This is Kevin," Garth introduced. "We semi-adopted him before Xandros and Ashely found his parents."

"That was a big surprise too." Kevin beamed but turned his attention right back to Nock. " Nock! wow, I can’t believe it’s really you! I watch all your streams! You’re like… the coolest holostreamer ever!"

Nock ate up the attention, visibly growing in his chair, his chest swelling, and now and then, he threw a triumphant glance my way, in a see, I'm famous kind of way, and I rolled my eyes.

"Thanks, Kevin. I always love meeting my fans—especially ones as hyped as you!"

To be fair, the kid was making it easy for Nock's head to get bigger. "I can’t believe I’m talking to you! You’re, like, my hero. I tell everyone at school about your streams! So what are you working on now?"

"I'm working on a top-secret stream right now about Space Guardians."

"Cool!" Kevin enthused. "When can I see it?"

"Hopefully soon. We need to find out some things first."

"Like what?"

"Nock," I warned the Kred to shut up.

Nock deflated some, but his smile returned in no time. "What about you? What are you schooling in?"

Kevin bloomed under all the attention. "I want to be a Superior Commander like Uncle Xandros, so he's been training me remotely. Actually, right now, he gave this kinda really cool homework."

Nock surprised me; he seemed genuinely interested in Kevin. "Oh yeah? What’s the assignment?"

"I'm supposed to research planets that have been put under quarantine and write about what happened there. You know, like diseases, plagues, or, um… I dunno, alien infestations or something. I have to learn their locations and degrees of quarantine, so I won't ever send my men to them," Kevin answered seriously, and I froze.

Nock, however, didn't. I wasn't sure if he was just more of a pro when it came to surprise revelations or if Kevin's words went over his head, and he just rolled with the flow. At least not until he finished his sentence, proving her was wilier than I had ever given him credit for.

"Quarantine planets, huh? That’s… actually pretty fascinating and interesting because I’ve been looking into some pretty big stuff about diseases myself. There was this plague that wiped out half the population on one planet… It’s a bit of a mystery, honestly."

I was about to reign Nock back in, but again, he proved himself to be more in control than I thought. "I can’t say too much, top-secret and all, you know. But let’s just say the Space Guardians are very interested in it. Hey, Kevin, do you have a list of those quarantine planets?"

It would have been easy to pull that list up ourselves, but Nock involving Kevin made the kid happy. "Sure, I’ve got it saved on my comm."

Nock leaned over conspiratorially to Kevin. "You mind sending it over? I think you might’ve just helped me with something big, Kev."

"Really? You mean, like, I could help you with your secret Space Guardian stuff?" Kevin's smile lit up the room.

"Absolutely. You’re already a hero in the making, Kevin. Just zap me that list, and I’ll do the rest. And hey—don’t tell anyone, alright? We don’t want the Ohrurs getting wind of this.”

Kevin pulled out his comm and Nock his. "I’ll send it right now. This is so cool!"

Nock winked at him. "Thanks, Kevin. You’re sharper than most adults I know. Keep an eye on my next stream—you’ll wanna hear what I find out."

"Did you hear that, Uncle Garth?" Kevin ran over to his uncle. "Aunt Silla." He pulled on Silla's sleeve.

Garth leaned over and looked thoughtfully at Nock. "Alright, Nock, you earned this. Do you want a story about the Terrible Triplets? Fine. But this stays between us, got it? The Emperor would not appreciate this one being public knowledge." Here, he winked, meaning, just keep my name out of it.

Garth continued, “ Back at the training academy, the three of us decided to prove how brilliant we were—Daryus, Xandros, and I. We were in the middle of a mock war game with an opposing team and decided to up the stakes. One night, we snuck into the opposing team’s hangar and took their fighter.”

Nock’s eyebrows shot up. “You stole a ship?”

“Borrowed,” Garth corrected, raising a finger.

Nock grinned. “I’m sensing this didn’t go as planned.”

“Not even close,” Garth admitted, shaking his head. “We got the ship off the ground—barely. Daryus insisted on piloting, of course, because he had a natural gift , and Xandros was in charge of navigation. I was… well, I was supervising.”

“Supervising?” Nock asked, clearly amused.

“Alright, fine, I was sitting in the back eating a nutrition bar and making sarcastic comments,” Garth admitted. “Anyway, we didn’t realize the ship’s guidance systems were busted. Halfway through our war game , the nav system started to act up, and before we knew it, we were hurtling toward the academy’s training grounds at full speed.”

Nock winced. “You didn’t…”

“Oh, we did,” Garth said, laughing despite himself. “Crashed it right into the academy’s holographic combat simulator. Wiped out half a year’s worth of simulations in one go. The whole system went offline for weeks.”

Nock burst out laughing. “That’s insane! What did you do?”

“Daryus immediately started practicing his apology speech, Xandros tried to convince the instructors it was an accidental systems test , and me? I just told them we were making sure the academy’s emergency response protocols worked properly.”

“Did they buy it?” Nock asked, still laughing.

“Not even for a tick,” Garth admitted. “We spent the next month scrubbing every deck in the academy as punishment. But you know the crazy part? We still won the mock war game—because technically, our crash took out the enemy team’s entire base.”

Nock shook his head, grinning from ear to ear. “You three are unbelievable. No wonder they called you the Terrible Triplets .”

“Yeah, well,” Garth said, leaning forward with a smirk. “Just remember who you’re dealing with, streamer boy. We may be older now, but we’re also very powerful.”

To me, Garth said, “Kevin had a rough year even after we were able to reunite him with his parents, so anybody who makes him smile needs a reward."