Page 36 of Guardian’s Heart (Space Guardian’s Mate #1)

NOVA

"I got something for you," Zaarek said when we were finally alone in the amazing room Garth and Silla had prepared for us. He looked a little bit forlorn, come to think of it, he had looked a little depressed for the rest of the evening.

"Is everything okay?" I asked him.

"Everything is fine," he assured me in the way where you know it's not.

"Zaarek, talk to me."

He held up a beautiful dress instead. "I saw this at the space station and I was going to give it to you, but with everything that happened, I forgot until we checked the cargo to make room for all the stuff Silla ordered for us."

It was by far the most stunning dress I had ever seen, let alone owned. "Oh Zaarek, it's gorgeous."

"Try it on," he said with a wink.

"Only if you tell me what's bugging you."

"Bugging?"

I sighed. "Bothering."

"Do you want to go back to Earth?" he surprised me by asking.

"What? No!"

"It's okay if you want to," he said, but his encouraging smile didn't reach his eyes. "We'll figure something out…"

"Zaarek, no." He was still holding up the dress and I stepped in front of him, to rise on my tiptoes and to take his face in both of my hands. "I love you. I want to be with you. There's nothing for me on Earth…" Not even the hope of finding my brother. If he was still alive and had never come forward before, it would be impossible to find him now. Millions of people had been displaced. I had to lay him to rest once and for all. "Nothing!" I repeated with vehemence, wanting to convince him and myself.

"Are you sure?" Zaarek pushed.

"Absolutely."

He tried to suppress the sigh of relief moving through his body, I knew he did, but I felt it nevertheless.

"Hey, in the future, when something is buggi—bothering you, just tell me, okay? There's no reason to be miserable if it can be solved with a simple communication."

He leaned forward and kissed me, then he pressed the dress into my hand. "I can't wait to take this off you."

I giggled and removed my clothes, while he intently watched me with smoldering eyes. I might have overdramatized wiggling my hips slightly as I wiggled into the dress, but seeing the growing bulge in between his legs through his tight pants might have added to the dramatization.

Once I had the dress on, I couldn't believe seeing my reflection in the mirror and I wished Silla would have given us time to change before the dinner earlier. I would have loved to show this dress off.

On the other hand, seeing Zaarek's mouth agape as he stared at me with the hungry eyes of a predator it might be a good idea to keep this dress to ourselves.

"Nova," he said dryly. "You look absolutely beautiful."

"You think so?" I turned for him. I would have twirled, but the dress was pretty tight and not really the twirling type of dress.

"Think so?" He walked over to me and took my face into his hands. "I don't know what I did to deserve you, but you are the most beautiful female in the entire universe."

Honestly, his words and the truth of them written all over his face made my knees go weak. Being wanted by this man… "I don't think I understand how I got this lucky either," I admitted and kissed him.

"When this is over, I'm going to take you to a big feast or something," Zaarek promised, lifting me off the ground. "I can't wait to kill everybody who dares look at you in this dress."

I giggled. I shouldn't have, but Zaarek had a way with words that made my heart go all batty and fill my stomach with millions of bubbles. Which in turn turned my mind to mush. Hence this babbled word salad.

I leaned up and whispered, "I'm not wearing any panties."

He already knew that since he watched me undress and put the dress on, but his reaction was still everything I had expected and more.

The time to say goodbye came way too quickly. I liked Silla and Garth and wouldn't have minded to stay longer, but after what Kevin inadvertently solved last night and finding out Raasla's name, our mission had grown hotter, and the three of us were antsy to solve the final puzzle.

Before we left, Silla gave me one more task. "If you find Raasla and Zoe, will you tell her that I believe I found her mother and sister, Regina and Lizzie?"

Silla had told me about the database she and Ashley were maintaining in order to unite as many humans as possible. This was good news, and I was thankful for the chance to be the bearer of it when and if we ran into Raasla and Zoe.

Silla's expression turned far away. Her smile was nearly ethereal. "Small miracles like this happen here every day. I'm so blessed to be able to play a small part in it."

"You are doing such important work here, Silla," I said, meaning it. Even though, for just a moment, I wished that finding my brother Tuck would be that simple. She had asked me if I had anybody she wanted me to be on the lookout for, but everybody I cared for on Earth was long dead, so I had declined. I feared that should I allow this sliver of hope in, this what if , it would drive me insane. Tucker was long dead. End of story. If he wasn't, he would have come back for me. He would have reached out.

Instinctively, I took her hand, something I had never done with a stranger before, but just like an unknown power linked Zaarek and me, I felt a similar draw to Silla, who I would have probably never met on Earth. That alone seemed enough to make me believe in fate. I said, "Something tells me that you have more than a small part in this."

Her eyes warmed at me, and she pressed my hand in return. "Many wheels are turning to right things that have been wronged." She looked heavenward. "I've never been a believer in God or fate or anything like this, but now I'm convinced that some higher power is turning the lever to get all those wheels aligned."

Her words sounded poetic and would have turned me off a few weeks ago, but now…. On Earth, I would have called her a brainwashed fanatic, but here, and with everything that had happened, I wasn't so sure she wasn't right.

"Before we go, may I take a few images for my show, please?" Nock reminded us of his presence.

"Please. We can use all the publicity we can," Silla waved him on.

Zaarek sighed loudly, shaking his head. "After Garth's story last night and now the pictures, the insufferable Kred will only get worse."

I snickered. Over the course of the last few weeks, I had learned a thing or two about Nock and Zaarek's love-hate relationship. They were like brothers, and Zaarek would rather die than admit that he cared for the holostreamer. While Nock… I thought he craved Zaarek's approval and recognition. I would have to talk to Zaarek to make him be nicer to Nock. Nock was a great help; I didn't think that we would have accomplished half of what we had so far without him.

"Oh, you like him, and you know it," I teased.

"Well, I wish you good luck on your endeavor," Garth said, watching his wife talk to Nock for a few more minutes.

"Thank you, Garth, and let me assure you again that I will return to my initial mission of rescuing humans as soon as I unravel this secret."

"Why do I have the feeling that there's a big scandal brewing?" Garth asked, returning his attention back to Zaarek while my gaze moved to Silla. She looked so small and fragile, and yet it was more than obvious that she had this nearly seven-foot giant wrapped around her little finger.

"Let me know if there's anything I can do to help," Garth offered.

"We are good for the moment, but thank you, Lord Protector. It would help, though, if you send a message to the Ohrur that I fulfilled my mission to your satisfaction."

"That I can do," Garth agreed. "I don't suppose you want me to mention the guests staying back with you?"

"It might help if you did. I'm planning to inform the Ohrurs that Nova is staying with me as a mediator for the next group." Zaarek pulled me to him.

"I can do that," Garth said.

Silla and Nock returned, both of them conspiring about a stream he was going to do for her and the misplaced humans as soon as he was done with this segment. Silla hugged me and made me promise to come back again soon.

Once we were back in space, we met on the bridge, where Nock was basically bursting at the seams to share with us what he found.

"That kid is a genius! Absolute genius," he praised.

"What did you find?" Zaarek asked.

"What are you guys talking about?" I wanted to know.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't tell you last night." Zaarek looked sheepish.

"Told me what?"

"Kevin," Nock stated.

I nodded. "Yes, Silla told me about him. She and Garth nearly adopted him when, by some miracle, Ashley found his parents."

"Yes, so he's doing a school project on quarantined planets," Zaarek filled me in.

I still didn't understand. "What does that have to do—"

"It's a wild shot," Nock agreed, "but if the Ohrurs were so decimated by a disease, there have to be more records of it. It has to have come from somewhere." Nock turned to Zaarek. "Ohrur was never quarantined."

"I didn't think it would have been."

"Hold on." I nearly screamed, making the famous time-out hand gesture. "What did Kevin say?"

"Oh, he gave Nock a list with names of quarantined planets."

I nearly fumed from irritation. "He could have gotten that from any database."

"The point is that his words made Nock and me think that there could be a connection between a quarantined planet and the Ohrur disease since no other species fell ill."

"Why didn't you tell me last night?" I demanded.

He wiggled his eyebrows. "We were kind of busy?"

The tips of my ears burned. He was right about that. I also remember falling asleep right after because Silla, Garth, Nock, and I had sat together until nearly the early morning hours and talked.

"Alright, I forgive you," I said quickly before Nock picked up on this part of the conversation.

Fat chance.

"Too much information, you two."

"Anyway, what did you find out?" I prompted him.

"Since we don't have a specific date other than about twenty thousand years ago," Nock began.

"Yeah, why is that?" I interrupted. "Weren't you guys all flying around during that time? I mean, keeping history should be a large priority."

"It was, and it is, and we were," Zaarek answered. "But don't forget how vast the universe is. If the Cryons hadn't offered Silla as a gift to the Lord Protector, years could have gone by before anybody would have found out about you and your planet. Afterward, it would have been nearly impossible to pinpoint the exact time of the Cryon invasion unless they kept records of it."

"Oh," I got it. "So unless the Ohrur came forward, nobody would have known about the disease."

"Exactly," Nock hurried to stop this little side conversation. "I found three planets that were put under quarantine during that time frame. Xynthac, Darlam and My'rranow. Xynthac's quarantine was recalled about twelve hundred standard galactic years ago, Xynthac and Darlam are still active."

"Let's see what we can find out about them. I will let you two handle that."

"What are you going to do?" I asked Zaarek.

"I'm going to see if I can find Raasla or Noodar."