The Alien Commander's Surrogate

Episode Twenty-Nine

Episode Thirty

Salex

How does one lose an entire human in this short of a walk? Snarling, I pull up my com once more, my fingers flying across the screen.

SALEX: I can't find her. Hack her communicator for me.

GHANTLAN: She won't love that.

SALEX: Who do you work for?

Ghantlan's response is slower than I'd like, but once I receive an affirmative checkmark on my message I know that he's off working on overriding the security features that are built in the warriors on board who desired that privacy.

Fuck privacy. Next time I couldn't find her, I wanted to know exactly where her little human ass was. I pressed a hand against my chest, the ache that bloomed there when I first emerged from engineering, only to find that she wasn't there, or in her room, or in mine.

Fucking bond.

This entire day was a nightmare and I knew it had everything to do with the fact that I hadn't gotten to see her. But while my bond was a greedy bitch who wanted her with us at all times, I only had to worry about hers, and she had been fine without contact with me yesterday. Or today.

Much to my chagrin.

SALEX: Sometime this decade Ghantlan

Just as I dropped my hand back to my side, growling at the inescapable need to make sure she was okay, I heard something. My entire body still, the ache in my chest pulsing.

Hillary

She emerged, one hand on another Ternzian's forearm as she shuffled along. My senses flew into action, registering the scent of her blood, of oil and old fear and against the breaking scent of another male on her skin.

I growled and widened my stance. He was dead, it didn't matter if he was my own brother at this point. My mate was bleeding and scared. He would pay.

"Don't touch her," I gritted out, the words barely understable as my blood flooded with the venmo that would be deadly to anyone except for her. My vision blurred and I dropped back, ready to spring forward and sweep her to safety. Then I could dispatch him.

Muscles bunching I leaped, my claws extended, fangs dripping, only to have to stop halfway when a tiny, soft padded hand lands in the chest of my torso. I paused, my breathing ragged as I stared down at the hand halting me, then slowly followed the line of her palm arm to the face that had become so painfully important to me over the past few months.

"Move aside, Hillary," I got out, my chest rumbling as Bayes, of course it was Bayes who gave me a slow, smirking grin. He still held the towel that I knew had her blood on it. Murder would be too good, I would rip him to pieces. Slowly.

"Are you for real?" Hillary's voice was high, pitchy as she dropped her hand to cross her arms. "What the hell are you doing?'

"I can smell your blood."

"Oh God," Hillary rolled her eyes, "I tripped over one of the ancient doors back there, it's just a scrape."

"You..tripped..."

Were her cheeks more pink than before? "Yeah, Salex, sometimes a human's trip."

My brows rose, my face relaxing slightly as I stared at the two of them. "And you sought him out for assistance?"

Was I...jealous? Is that what this emotion was? I was dwelling on it, trying to decide, with a slash of human suddenly split into my mind, the feelings so sure, so confirmed that I knew they were hers, not mine.