Page 14 of Her Alien Delegate (Necia Alien Warriors)

Chapter eight

Broma

W hat have I done? I brushed the hair away from her cheek and behind her ear. Her ormete was lifeless as she slept, but it seemed to glow as I touched it.

"We are bonded, My Delegate," I whispered and kissed the top of her ear.

The bond is only beginning. My mate will need to allow me to give more of myself before the bond becomes permanent.

As soon as we leave this place, I'll have the contract made official with the council.

According to my own customs we were already mated, but without more contact, the bond will fade without being nurtured.

Her face was soft in her sleep as she accepted our bond within her body.

You'll sleep less the more our bond grows , I think as if she could hear my thoughts.

My fingers prodded at the sap stuck to my eyes.

I could scrap it off, but it would surely take some skin along with it.

I wanted nothing more than to see my mate, but feeling her would have to be enough for now.

"I do not wish to leave you, but I must find Vaquel. I will return."

Grabbing my robe from the floor, I winced at the sting of the fabric brushing against my ormete.

In the moment, I had forgotten how tender they were from battling with them earlier against the trill.

I licked my lips, still tasting my mate on my tongue.

It was easy to get lost within her. She eased all of my pains, but I could feel the poison from the trill was slow to heal with the antidote.

Mating was only a temporary reprieve from the ache.

"There is currently a guest in the main hall, would you like to use the secondary hall?" the AI suggested.

"No need. A guest would hardly be threatened by a blinded unGor." Though, they would be if they knew how often we hunted without light to guide our eyes.

"As you request," they said as the door whirred open. "The guest has opted to remain in the hall."

Interesting.

"Searching for something?" I asked as I stepped out. The door closed behind me to protect my mate.

"You smell of mating. It seems I had nothing to worry about," Romek's voice was heard down the hall.

"Romek..." What was he doing in the isolation chambers? Only guests requesting isolation were in these halls. Something didn't sit right with me and all I could think was the Blue District BOD AI had only said there was one guest in the hall, and I'd left Pheyal with him. "Where's Pheyal?"

"He was held up at the palace to secure your title, but we were worried when we didn't hear from you. I thought you would choose an isolation chamber to prevent others from the anti-alliance from group finding you."

It made sense, but my ormete buzzed with adrenaline, like I should be alert to predators. My lack of sight could be a contributor to that, but I had to be sure.

"I need to secure a contract with my mate as soon as possible," I changed the subject. He should be asking where Vaquel is, if he is truly concerned.

"Absolutely," Romek agreed. "I'll have the contract prepared.

You can add your mate when we return to the palace.

" He hesitated before adding, "The council will be pleased you've found a mate so quickly, but we should make sure the contracts are prepared at the palace and not connected with the Blue District. "

He still hasn't asked of Vaquel...

"Vaquel will be worried," I prompted.

"In the eye of the goddess, they who neglect their duty are forgotten," he shook his head in disgust, "It is disgraceful that he is not at your side. I should have been the one to join you."

Romek did not give any indication that he knew Vaquel was taken, but I did not like the way he sounded more trill than unGor, even in my presence.

If I could see his expression, I could make more observations to whether he knew more, but as it was, I had to trust he was here because he was smart to know I'd be in isolation.

"Come, come. We must wait out the night and return to the palace as soon as the isolation ends."

Without realizing it, I was putting distance between me and my room where my mate rested. The attack from the garrant and the trill had me distrusting everything.

But I put on a diplomatic smile and nodded. "Let us return to your chamber."

"And your mate?"

"She'll be resting for a while yet; best not to disturb her."

"How fortunate to find a strong bond," he replied in a strange tone devoid of emotion. Was that jealousy?

Guided by the sound of the door opening, and the soft beeping of the AI allowed me to easily navigate the hall.

Once I arrived where the sound was echoing loudest, the door closed on what I assumed was the elevator.

I wouldn't be able to leave the Blue District, but my isolation was not limited to the isolation rooms. Though, if Romek was able to enter my floor, he also had an isolation unit.

Did he volunteer to be isolated in an attempt to find me after losing contact?

"There are many floors for isolation," he sensed my curiosity.

Why was he on my floor, then?

"Here we are," he said as a door opened to a blood-curdling howl that set my ears on fire.

Romek pushed me to the side, and I wondered if that was to protect me from whatever was making that screeching noise. The door closed behind us.

"The guest is in distress," BOD explained as I was sprawled on the floor, my ormete tingling with my own distress at feeling a presence of danger.

"What has happened?" Romek demanded.

The smell of blood was pungent in the air, and I braced myself for what I couldn't see.

"Sedatives are ineffective, and the guest is not coherent in thought."

The screams echoed, and I heard the distinct sound of flesh being torn apart, and something wet and sticky slapped against my arm. I carefully picked the thick slab from my flesh, and my nostrils flared.

"Remove my sap, immediately," I snapped at the AI.

A mist sprayed on my face, and the sap melted, dripping from my eyes. I waited for the weight of the substance to lift, and I opened my eyes to the horror before me.

The garrant from earlier was flailing on the ground, tearing its own skin off. Gashes and flesh scattered around him as he rolled in pain. Romek rushed to hold him down.

"What is he doing here?" I glared at Romek.

"He was demanding a ransom for holding you captive, and I thought it would be fitting to show up and interrogate him with the very one he claimed to have at my side."

Again, his explanation made sense but didn't sit right with me.

"Why aren't the sedatives working on him?" I asked BOD.

"I'm analyzing the blood," there was a pause before a steel reinforcement slammed down over the door behind me, "Warning. Warning. Anomaly detected. Here, at the Blue District, I pride myself on maintaining a safe place for all species. You will remain isolated until the anomaly is resolved."

"What anomaly?" I asked as the garrant twitched and stopped moving.

"You have been exposed to the remains of an unknown death of a guest. Until it is determined you are not the cause, and that you pose no threat to the rest of the guests, you will remain in this room."

"Stubborn species," Romek muttered to himself.

"You know what this is," I said with no reservations now that I could see the way he was unconcerned with the amount of blood splattered on him during the garrant's struggle.

"So do you," he wiped his hands on his robes before continuing, "You'll understand when you take a closer look."

I approached and saw the purple scales underneath the deep gashes. "The solungors..."

The virus was supposed to have been eradicated.

"The garrants are notorious for faking their medical records. They are suspicious of all things not made from their own planet. I was hoping we could question him, but I guess that's not necessary when he was lying about having you to begin with."

"How long until we are cleared to leave?"

I've read reports of the virus across the universe, but every planet had their own procedures, and Romek would be more familiar with them.

"First they will need to verify that the anomaly is contained to just the host. They will wait long enough to make sure there isn't any growth inside of us. It could take a second red star rotation."

I swore under my breath. When was the last red star rotation? If I was remembering correctly, we had just had the second red star already, which would mean we would be stuck here for two more for the second red star to come again.

"We might as well get comfortable," Romek said with a sigh. "But we can use my clearance to get in touch with the palace and let Pheyal know you're okay. He'll be relieved to know that you've been mating instead of being held hostage."

I relied on Romek to connect with the palace until my own title was confirmed by the Galactic Council.

"Connect us immediately. We must send out the mating contract so that she does not believe I have abandoned her."

"Of course," he placed his hand on the interface, requesting palace communication. "Commissioner Romek, how may we assist you?"

"There should be a Commissioner Pheyal being escorted by a trill representative, please connected with his escort."

All trill had implants with communicators, while unGors chose to only have translators that had to be updated manually for new language additions. We preferred not to be traced and bound by technology.

"In many we rise, Commissioner Romek," a trill answered.

"Is Pheyal with you?" Romek got straight to the point, which I could appreciate.

"I'll connect with my tablet interface for him to speak with you." A moment passed and an image of Pheyal appeared on the wall.