Captured By her Alien Mate by Ava York

Kator

“What’s that?”

Hiding underneath the hood of her cloak, Riley looked at me with wide, anxious eyes. In my hands, the small bird I held flapped its wings against my fingers, but I kept my gentle hold on him. Carefully, I tied the small piece of parchment around one of the bird’s feet and only then did I let go of him.

“I’m sending word to Tahkath,” I replied, watching as the bird blended in with the night, its dark feathers disappearing in the darkness. “Before the sun rises, that piece of parchment will be in Vokar’s hands. He’s going to take care of the extraction.”

I tensed as that word left my lips. Extraction. Vokar and I had always planned for this day, but I never thought it would happen so soon. My job in Aetam was far from over. Still, now that Mofat wanted to be more heavy-handed with Riley, this had to be done. I’d never allow that old monster to hurt her.

Especially now that I knew she was my mate.

“Come, we gotta hurry,” I muttered, guiding Riley through a maze of alleyways. It’d take a while before someone found out about the Inquisitors I left behind, but I didn’t want to waste a single second. Time wasn’t on our side, after all.

Moving fast, I led her straight to the commercial district, our hoods pulled over our faces, and stopped before a decaying merchant’s building. I looked around to see if anyone was watching us and then rapped my knuckles against the door.

“Who the fuck is this?” A loud voice came from inside, followed by the heavy sound of footsteps. “Is that you, Barat? I’ve told you I’m not shipping off any of your stupid furniture unless you pay me what you—”

The barrel-chested merchant fell silent as he pulled the door open. He looked at me with a surprised expression, and then his eyes darted toward Riley. Almost at once, he clenched his jaw and waved us in.

“I never really thought this would happen,” he started, shutting the door behind us. Holak was far shorter than most Aetamians, but he tipped the scales with his weight. His arms were thick slabs of meat forged into tools of power and strength by decades of loading wares into carts and warehouses. “Is the woman also going to require extraction? Ah, shit. What a stupid question—she’s here, isn’t she? Come, come. Let’s not waste time.”

I didn’t say a word as I followed Holak deeper into the entrails of his warehouse. At the end of it were a series of carts loaded with barrels, and he promptly emptied two and waved us inside.

“My employees are going to be here in fifteen minutes, as we’re carting all these barrels out of the city,” he explained, scratching his chin in a pensive gesture. “I keep enough palms greased so my shit isn’t inspected, so I don’t think you’ll find any trouble getting out of the city.”

I helped Riley into one of the empty barrels, and then climbed inside the other. Before I crouched inside it, I looked straight into Holak’s eyes and nodded.

“I want you to know I appreciate this,” I said, but the old merchant just waved my words away. “I’m serious. You know that—”

“I won’t have it, Kator,” he said. “Had it not been for you, my daughter would’ve ended up in the hands of Mofat’s cronies. With women so few and precious, there could be no worse tragedy. I’m in your debt, and this…” He waved one hand at the barrels and shook his head. “This is nothing. I’ll never be able to repay you. Now, hunker down before anyone hears you.”

With one final nod, I did as I was told. Once the barrels were shut, an all-pervading silence settled around me, only dispelled when loud voices cut through it. Those had to be Holak’s employees, I figured. Soon enough, I felt the carts rolling out of the warehouse and I knew that we were on our way.

Nothing happened for at least an hour, but it didn’t take long for my back and shoulders to start aching from the awkward position I was in. The way the cart rolled down the barely paved streets didn’t help much. I tensed when we bypassed inspection at the main gates. Just like Holak had said, getting out of the city was easy.

“Alright, out with ya.” Standing over the barrel, Holak seemed as if he was twice his size. He offered me his hand. With a groan, he hefted me out of the barrel. Another half an hour had passed, and the carts were all on the roadside. In the distance, I could see Holak’s employees chattering idly. “Don’t worry about ‘em. They’re trustable. Still, it’s better for you to hit the road now. We don’t want to take any unnecessary risks.”

“You got that right,” I muttered, and then spun around and helped Riley out from her barrel. She groaned as she stretched her legs, and I felt a tingling sensation in the pit of my stomach as I heard the sound of her voice. “You got the gear, Holak?”

“Damn right I got the gear.” Laughing, he opened a third barrel and grabbed a large bag from inside it. Just a cursory look and I knew that it contained a tent and what little gear we needed for a night on the wildlands. I grabbed the bag, put it on my back, and then clasped Holak’s hands. “Thank you, my friend.”

“Yeah, well.” He shrugged. “Just remember... if you get caught, you never saw me.”

“Never,” I said with a smile, and then led Riley toward the underbrush on the side of the road. I kept a steady pace as the trail moved away from the main road and only slowed down once we were out of sight. If Mofat sent any patrols looking for us, they wouldn’t be able to see us from the road. That, of course, didn’t mean his patrols wouldn’t venture into the wilderness. We still needed to be careful.

“What now?” Riley asked me after a couple of minutes of walking.

“Now we walk,” I merely said. “Vokar, or one of his men, will meet us. We need to be there before the sun rises tomorrow.”

Thankfully, that wasn’t a hard task. We reached the place where Vokar would meet us by dusk, which meant that we'd be able to rest during the night. After setting up the tent on a secluded spot, I unfurled the blankets over the canvas and looked at Riley. Outside, the setting sun was casting long shadows, and some of them were long enough to reach inside the tent. Somehow, the dimming brightness of the day only made Riley more beautiful. It was as if her beauty was the only light anyone needed.

“You can stay in the tent,” I told her as I waved at the blankets. “I’ll be fine sleeping outside. It’s not the first time I’ve done it and, besides, it’s better if I keep watch.”

“Wait.” Before I could leave the tent, she reached for me and curled her fingers around my wrist. I hesitated, the warmth of her skin making my heartbeat speed up, and then looked into her eyes. She ran her tongue over her parched lips, and I could almost see the gears turning inside his head as she chose her next words. “I still haven’t thanked you for what you’ve done. Had it not been for you…”

“I did what needed to be done.”

“It’s not that simple, is it?” she continued. “After all, you put yourself in danger just so you could help me. You risked your life over and over again.” She held my gaze for a moment, but that moment seemed to stretch into eternity.

“I would do it again,” I muttered. “And again.”

“Why?”

I opened my mouth, but the truth got stuck in my throat. Could I really tell her that she was my mate? She’d seen my body’s reaction to her, but did she understand the meaning behind it? Did she know just how important she was? Or that I’d give my life for hers in the blink of an eye?

In the end, I decided words wouldn’t be enough to explain it. Instead, I just closed the distance between us and brushed the hair away from her face. Then, looking straight into her eyes, I leaned in to kiss her. Again, that overwhelming feeling of completion washed over me.

Yes, I thought, you are my mate, Riley.