Page 42 of Guardian’s Heart (Space Guardian’s Mate #1)

NOVA

Wringing my hands, I walked up and down the mostly empty storage area. Zaarek had bought many items at our last stop, things he was hoping to sell so we would have enough credits to get away, start over, for our investigation, whatever we decided to do. Hopefully Raasla and his friend would have a better idea about what that next step would be.

"What if Raasla doesn't make it in time?" I asked the Space Guardian, whom I had warily allowed entrance after he showed me his mating marks. First, I had assumed him to be Raasla, but he had introduced himself as Noodar when he entered the ship. Not much later, Nock joined us, saying that Zaarek was hunting the other Space Guardian down, whom we still didn't know if they were Raasla or a fourth player.

"Don’t worry, it’ll all work out," Noodar assured me. It didn't help, though. I kept the blaster in my hand, pointing it down, but I could bring it up and shoot Noodar within a fraction of a second if he made a move to shorten the distance between us. Which he hadn't yet. Respectfully, he stood several feet away and leaned against a wall as if we were having a friendly chat instead of me holding a blaster ready to kill him.

I tried to get Zaarek on his comm once more, but he didn’t pick up. So I kept pacing for what seemed like an eternity, careful not to present my back to the Space Guardian. Every fiber in my being itched to get back on the bridge and look for Zaarek. I had barely broken into the system when Noodar showed up, distracting me. Now, my worry was back in full gear. I could hand the blaster to Nock and have him watch our guest. That thought, however, was short-lived.

"So, you are Noodar, the famous Space Guardian who didn't finish his mission," Nock provoked, reminding me why my idea was a bad one.

"I didn't leave it unfinished," Noodar responded with a hint of defiance, reminding me of Zaarek. "I mated her."

The mating marks! Of course!

"Where is she then?" Nock, like me, seemed to never stop when he bit into something.

"Safe and away from here," Noodar replied, and I caught the hint of worry for the woman in his eyes. He didn't like to be away from her. Not one bit.

"How did you manage to evade the Ohrurs for so long?" Nock kept firing his questions unperturbed.

"Pardon me if I don't want to answer your questions just yet, Nock." At the mention of his name, Nock perked up. I hadn't introduced the two, only told Nock who Noodar was. "Trust goes both ways. Let's wait for our friends, and then we'll chat."

"How do you know my name?"

Noodar seemed to grow tired of the exchange, but to his credit, he answered, albeit just as evasively, "The same way that brought us here."

I wasn't a fan of his evasiveness, but part of me leaned to trusting this man. He looked older than Zaarek, and I was becoming as curious about his story as Nock seemed to be.

Surreptitiously, I took in his mating marks, which looked the same as Zaarek's and mine. When I looked through the surveillance camera, he had taken off his shirt to show them to me and he still hadn't put the shirt back on. I wondered if that was to keep them on display to reassure me that we were on the same team. A small sound warned us in time that the hangar door was opening. I raised the blaster toward the entry while Nock moved back, too close to the other Space Guardian. I groaned inwardly. If Noodar decided to use Nock as a shield, I would be in one big pickle.

Steps thumping up the gangway had my heart pounding until I saw Zaarek's face. Only he looked beaten up. One of his eyes was swollen shut, and he was limping.

"Zaarek!" I cried in alarm but stopped myself from running to him as two more Space Guardians entered—one holding a blaster at the back of another, who didn't look pleased.

Zaarek gave me a crooked grin that must have hurt like hell as a wound by his lip opened and fresh blood dripped out. He stopped cold when he saw Noodar. His accusing glare turned to me, and I held up my hands. "He came knocking, and he has mating marks, and I kept my blaster on him."

Zaarek closed his good eye and looked up as if praying for patience.

"I'm Raasla, and this is…" the man with the blaster said, poking the other in the back with the barrel of his blaster.

"Vraax," Zaarek filled us in.

"Noodar," Noodar introduced himself.

"Nova," I added.

"Nock," the holostreamer said but couldn't stop himself from adding, "but you probably already know that."

Nobody gave him the attention he was seeking, and his grin faltered.

"Alright, let's go into the breakroom," Zaarek suggested. "Nova, can you grab the healing wand from our room?"

"On it." I nodded and took off in the other direction than the men.

"Use it on him first." Zaarek nodded at Vraax.

"No way, you need it more," Vraax refused stubbornly.

"Fine." I shrugged and moved to Zaarek before the two could get into one of those testosterone-fueled men’s fights about who was the toughest.

When I was finished with Zaarek, I threw the wand at Vraax. "He can do it himself," I declared hostilely.

"You requested a meeting," Raasla prompted, pointing at Zaarek's mating marks. "I assume she has them too?"

I rolled up my sleeve.

Vraax hissed.

"Our mates are safe aboard another ship," Noodar explained, jerking his chin toward Raasla. "I suggest we take off and reunite with them where we are a bit safer. I assume you deactivated the tracker?"

The last question was directed at Zaarek, who nodded.

"What about him?" I wanted to know, eyeing Vraax's markless body.

"He'll come with us. He might be an asset," Zaarek decided.

Vraax snorted derisively but didn't say anything.

Zaarek and Raasla went to the bridge to get the ship going to wherever Raasla's and Noodar's mates were waiting for them. The rest of us stayed in the breakroom. It was hard not peppering Noodar with questions, harder than before while I had waited for Zaarek to return. This time, I didn't have any worries distracting me from my curiosity. But I decided to wait until we met up with the other females .

"So, tell us about Darlam." Nock didn't seem to have such reservations.

"Let's wait until we're all together," Noodar declined, keeping an eye and a blaster trained on Vraax.

An uncomfortable silence followed, and I hoped it wouldn't take too long to catch up with Raasla's and Noodar's mates. I was curious, though. "The distance from your mate doesn't bother you?"

"I'm not happy about it, but I'm not bothered," Noodar replied, looking curious.

"After the marks first appeared on Zaarek and me, we couldn’t be more than a mile or so apart without our bodies hurting like hell," I explained.

Noodar's eyebrows rose in sync. "No, that never happened to us."

"Interesting," I mumbled, reinforcing my earlier theory that they had only hurt until Zaarek and I fully gave in to our bond.

"By the way, the marks are called Soulweb Glyphs," Noodar filled me in.

"Soulweb Glyphs," I repeated, liking the sound of it very much.

Vraax snorted, and we ignored him, just like we ignored Nock, who seemed still pouty over one, not having been recognized, and two, for Noodar not sharing all his secrets just yet.

"How soon did yours appear?" I felt like Nock, peppering him with endless questions.

"The same day I saw her, only a few hours later." Noodar's expression turned soft. "And yours?"

"A few days, but honestly, I ran away from him. After he caught up with me, it was only a few hours," I admitted.

"That sounds like a good story." Noodar grinned, and what else was there to talk about besides the hundreds of thousands of questions I had, which, out of fairness, would have to wait until we were all together wherever we were going.

"Fascinating," Vraax mocked, leaning back against the wall and closing his eyes.

When I finished Zaarek's and my tale, I challenged Noodar, "Your turn."

"There isn't much to it. I was supposed to take and protect Princess Luphelia to her groom, but the moment I saw her…" He shook his head, looking lost in revelry, a smile spread over his face, making him look handsome.

"She's a Mantarian, right?" Nock couldn't help but interject, and Vraax made a gagging sound, earning him a dark glare from Noodar.

"What does that mean?" I wanted to know.

"Mantarians aren't known for their… beauty," Nock explained.

"Hideous creatures," Vraax said, and when Noodar was about to jump him, I held him back by his elbow.

"Don't. He wants a fight to distract us," I warned.

Noodar gave me an appreciative once-over and nodded, cautioning Vraax, "One more word, and I will stun you."

"So you were smitten the minute you laid eyes on her," I tried to soothe and bring him back to the story. Shooting a glare at Vraax to make him shut up.

"Yes." Noodar leaned back against the wall. "She's not a beauty," he shot at Vraax, "but she's my soulbond."

"How did the Ohrurs react?" I asked.

"I had a feeling they wouldn't like this one bit." Noodar smirked. "After all, I was supposed to protect her and take her to her groom. The Ohrurs would have never tolerated a union between her and me, and neither would her family. So we only had one choice. I made it look as if our ship had been attacked by pirates and blown to pieces, and then we simply vanished."

So they had done what Zaarek and I had discussed before, running. "How did that go?"

"We're here, right?" Noodar winked.

"Why do I have the feeling that it isn't an accident?" Nock piped up, and I had to agree with him.

I stared at Noodar, encouraging him silently to continue. "We did vanish for a while, flew under the radar," he reminisced. "But after a while… questions arose. Questions and—seems like we're docking," he interrupted himself.