Page 21 of Seized by the Alien Space Warrior (Alien Romance #8)

Chapter Twenty-One

A va was lost five turns after she left Aekon. She wondered if Kaico knew where he was going, but his steps were sure as he led her through the dark labyrinth of tunnels without hesitation even though he only had a small spotlight on him.

The walls of the tunnel were roughly hewn. The ceiling was plenty high for her, but Kaico had to stoop in places. Every so often, the tunnel would open out into a vestibule. Some were empty, while others contained groups of battered Ixod. Mostly they were mothers holding a baby, or clutching the hand of a small child.

Kaico checked them over, carrying a toddler or two after he assessed their condition. Ava eyed the female Ixod, who seemed to be as wary of her as she was of them. One in particular nursed a baby. She sat with her back against the wall, and looked more exhausted than Ava felt. Ava was shocked to see her foot soaked with blood. She had to be in a great deal of pain.

She looked for Kaico, but he was busy with someone else. Ava gnawed her bottom lip. The female closed her eyes and dropped her head against the wall. The baby wailed and the female cracked open her eyes, gently rocking the baby and cooing to it, even though her movements were slow.

Ava inched closer to the female. Her yellow eyes locked onto Ava, brimming with the same unease that filled Ava. She stopped rocking the baby, her full attention riveted on Ava.

Ava stopped, still a good distance to the female. Ava realised it was probably the first time she’d seen a human.

“Hi. I’m Ava. I’m just wondering if I can help you?”

“I know who you are,” the female said softly.

Heat swamped her cheeks. Of course they would know her. She was the one who had brought down the Forsica on their home, besides being the only human on their planet. What was she thinking? There was no way this female would want her anywhere near her baby. She’d probably endangered her whole family.

Ava tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and turned away. “Oh, of course you would.”

“Please, I…would love your help,” the female said.

Ava snapped back around. It was hard to tell with her shaggy mane and fur-lined face, but she felt no animosity coming from her. The female looked up at her while she gently tapped her baby. Her shoulders were drooping and rounded and she grimaced when she moved her foot. Ava gave her a tentative smile and sat down next to the female.

“I am Zelda,” the female said. “Do you think you could hold Denu? Just for a moment?”

Ava held out her arms. “Of course.”

Zelda settled Denu into her arms. The baby, while looking small in Zelda’s arms, was a big as a two-year-old baby in Ava’s. Ava rested against the wall alongside his mother.

Denu’s little furry face screwed up before he smiled, showing off a mouth of pink gums.

“Oh. He’s adorable,” Ava said, stroking the back of her finger along his jaw.

His fur was so soft she barely felt it. His cheeks were chubby and round and his little pointed chin was the perfect frame for his face. His nose was quite flat, which was to be expected as the Ixod’s adult face was fairly flat as well. His eyes, although closed, were twice the size of a human’s. It was an alien face, but no less lovely than any human baby.

His hand slipped free of the wrap and found Ava’s hand, his little black claw-tipped fingers circling her finger. “Oh, he’s strong, aren’t you, beautiful?”

She was usually too busy to pay much mind to babies, but here, now, for the first time in her life she wondered what it would be like to have a child of her own. A little girl with charcoal skin that would light up pink with happiness and eyes that glowed with love. Not a human child. Not a Dhasu either. A beautiful child somewhere in between.

She tried to shake the thought free, but it took hold. The fantasy stretched to include Aekon holding her in his massive arms. Their baby’s body would be the size of one of his biceps and she would reach out like Denu to clutch one his fingers.

His full lips would be curved in a smile as he gazed down at her before he would turn his attention back to Ava and his gaze would become something more primal. More urgent. In her mind, there was a spark there that was absent in reality. Light, where she’d seen only emptiness. The mental picture morphed to lodge in the middle of her chest. Complete happiness.

Complete stupidity.

She shook the image free, not without effort, forcing her attention back to Zelda and Denu. Aekon had made himself abundantly clear. He didn’t want any sort of relationship with her. Nothing permanent. Nothing casual either for that matter. She’d been stupid to act on her desire. Stupid to think it would have any other outcome than what he’d told her all along.

He’d left out one important thing though: she was his bond-mate. He hadn’t told her about that. Surely that would have warranted a different reaction from him other than flat out rejection.

He’d hurt her. She was angry with herself, yes, but although she knew she shouldn’t expect anything from Aekon, she thought he could have started with manners. A show of caring after they’d made love—not outright disdain.

Zelda winced and stretched her legs out in front of her. “He also can get very heavy.”

Ava mentally shook her head. It seemed all over the universe, being a mother had similarities no matter what species.

She sobered when she saw Zelda’s blood-coated ankle. “Kaico will be with you soon, I’m sure.”

Zelda nodded. “I can wait. It looks worse than it is. Resting helps.”

Ava hesitated, before asking, “How did it happen?”

Zelda’s eyes narrowed. “Those Forsica caught me unaware as I was running into one of the escape tunnels, those lowlife scum. My bond-mate took care of my attacker before returning to the fight.”

Ava stroked the baby’s downy mane. “I hope he’s all right.”

She prayed Zelda wasn’t going to become a widow today. Not knowing what was happening back at the camp was torture.

“We fight for our freedom. There is no greater honour,” Zelda said. “My mate is a strong male. As is yours.”

“Oh, Aekon is not my mate.”

Why did those words feel like ash on her tongue? As she said them, she felt the weight of untruth, but that didn’t make any sort of sense. In fact, nothing had made sense since she’d woken to a nightmare.

“I see the way he looks at you. The way his nodes flash with golden light. It only does that when a Dhasu recognises their bond-mate,” Zelda said.

Ava pursed her lips. “Do you know much about his species?”

“Only that they worship their bonded-mate for life. There is only one for them, and when their bond-mate dies, often they follow closely into the afterlife to be with them,” Zelda said.

“Only one bond-mate. Never two?” Ava asked.

Aekon had told her he’d already had a bond-mate. If Zelda was correct, then it was impossible for Aekon’s skin to flash gold for her. No matter how unsettling that thought was, no matter what Brenur had said—she was not Aekon’s bond-mate.

Then why did she feel that connection? Why had she become so aroused so quickly? Why did she still desire him? Why did her chest feel so empty with his rejection? Nothing made sense and she was fast becoming exhausted worrying about it.

Zelda thought for a moment. “I’ve never heard of that happening, but we also have a saying. Fate knows best . If fate has decided your Dhasu is to have two bonded-mates, then that is how it will be. There are species throughout the ten Quadrants that form fated Quads. If it can happen to four beings, then fate can gift a being twice. It is not for us to decide. Who knows the mind of fate?”

“Fate knows best,” Ava murmured.

In this instance, she had a hard time believing that fate did in fact know best. That fate was at work here at all. Perhaps feeling this way was only her misguided reaction to waking to the terror her life had become, clinging to the one good thing in a sea of horror.

“What if one doesn’t want the other? Do they have a choice?” Ava asked.

Zelda looked bewildered, then her features morphed into something horrified. “No being rejects a mate-bond. To not accept it is to not accept your own heart. You dishonour yourself, your bond-mate, and fate herself.”

Not only was Aekon rejecting her, he was also rejecting something bigger than himself. He must really not want her.

A heavy lump formed in the pit of her stomach.

“Human’s don’t have bond-mates.”

And life was that much simpler on Earth because of it . Or was it?

“No?” Zelda quirked her brow. Her gaze fell to Denu who had fallen asleep in Ava’s arms. “Do you form couples? Triads?”

A faint smile shaped Ava’s lips. “Couples mostly, although some form, uh, triads or more. Usually it’s because they want to, not because fate has told them to though.”

“Then what brings you together?” Zelda asked.

“They fall in love. Sometimes it happens fast, and other times it takes years for that to happen. Usually they enter a marriage, an agreement with each other, that they will love each other and live together. Sometimes it works out. Other times it doesn’t.”

Whatever was between Aekon and herself, certainly no agreement had been made. Maybe whatever she felt was something to be resisted. The thing was, she really had no idea what was going on between them other than Aekon didn’t want it to happen. She also knew this wasn’t the time or the place to be making big decisions. She barely knew him and they were in the middle of a war. Making love to him had proven to be the worst thing she could have done so far.

“Then how do you know if you should be together?” Zelda said. “If you don’t know the other person, how can you tell they will be good for you if fate doesn’t help guide you?’

“Well…you don’t. You have to get to know the person first and then make your mind up,” Ava said.

Zelda scoffed. “That would take too long. What if you had to meet ten potential mates and never found the right one?”

People got it wrong all the time. That was why the divorce rate was so high and the reason that Ava hadn’t gone out of her way to put her heart on the line. All it took was to be abducted and crash landed on an alien planet for that to happen. Ava stilled, seeing nothing. Was that what she’d done? Put her heart on the line?

“Fate doesn’t mean a lot where I’m from. People prefer to find out themselves.”

“Maybe that’s why you’re unsure then,” Zelda said.

Kaico bustled over, saving Ava from a response. “What did you do to your ankle, Zelda?’ he said.

“It’s just a cut, but it needs to be bandaged,” Zelda said.

Kaico examined her ankle. “It needs to be cleaned and sutured. I can do that at the bunker. I’ll bandage it, but can you walk?”

“I can carry Denu, so that will be easier for you,” Ava said.

Zelda grimaced. “I’ll make it. Just do what you have to do, healer.”

Kaico wrapped Zelda’s ankle. When he’d finished, he led them through another tunnel. Ava was glad Kaico guided them. If she was on her own, she would become hopelessly lost, which was probably why the tunnel system had been built like this. Added protection for the people who lived down here. It was quite smart, now that she thought of it.

As though she couldn’t help herself, her mind wandered back to Aekon and what Zelda had said. Ava wasn’t unsure. In fact, she’d never been any surer in her life.

The mate-bond came from Aekon and if he was able to resist its pull, she should have no problem with it either. She’d told boyfriends in the past when it wasn’t working and she’d gone on her merry, single way. This would be no different, although back home she didn’t have a mate-bond dragging her down trying to make her mind up for her. She would just have to live with that. If Aekon didn’t want her, she would accept that and move on.

Only the gaping hole in the middle of her chest was making a damn good argument against her. Ava sighed and trudged on behind a limping Zelda, holding Denu in her arms. If Aekon was so adamant on getting her to this Sanctuary so he could drop her off and leave, she would not stop him. She had pride after all. Maybe after he left, she would forget about him and go about making a life for herself. Maybe find someone who actually wanted her.

Maybe fate would offer her a second chance as well. Someone who was brave and honourable and had the power to electrify her body with the slightest touch. One who could see right into her soul in a glance and regard her with such passion.

Why did that thought make her chest tight and heart ache so much? What if it never happened and she let the only one for her get away just because he was a stubborn ass?