Captured By her Alien Mate by Ava York

Kator

This human...was not Isabella. This was a turn of events that I had not expected, to say the least. I didn’t know how this was going to play out, but I knew I had to take some action otherwise this particular house of cards was going to come tumbling down at any moment.

I looked into her eyes. “What happened? Where’s Isabella?”

“Why should I trust you? I don’t even know who you are or why you can understand me or how you even know Isabella’s name.”

She must be terrified, I realized. Was this how my mother had felt when she’d first been captured? Except she had had no one there to help her. Something in the woman’s eyes drew me in. The sounds of the approaching guards grew louder.

“I can understand you because I’m half D’Tali,” I said, and lay my hand on her arm, trying to reassure her. In that moment, I felt something. A little charge shot through my hands into my chest.

Why did I say that? Why did I feel so compelled to reassure this human I had just met?

“Listen to me, we don’t have time for this. Even by saying out loud I’m here to help you, I’m risking my own skin. If you revealed that, I would be killed without hesitation. No benefit of the doubt. No nothing. It would be over. Do you understand that?”

She nodded.

“All right then. So now you tell me who you are and I will do everything I can to get you out of here in one piece.”

She took a deep breath and let it out. “My name is Riley. I’m a part of the security forces of the D’Tali and I was trying to protect Isabella when the Aetam attacked. I hid her and made enough of a ruckus they didn’t bother looking any further. Looks like it worked.”

All right, I thought. That made some sense to me. “Good thinking,” I said.

“I would never allow anything to happen to her.”

Her conviction moved me. The laugh of an approaching guard grabbed my attention. I needed to get out of here before they arrived and moved to the door.

“Don’t leave me! Take me with you.”

“I can’t, yet.”

“How the hell do you expect me to trust you if you’re not getting me out of here?”

“I realize this may be difficult for you—”

“Difficult?”

A poor choice of words on my part, perhaps. She wasn’t going to let it go, I could see that in the light of her eyes.

I needed to get back into the hallway before the guards started getting too curious for my own good.

“Listen to me now: I can’t explain all of this to you in this moment. You need to be patient and I will be back to help you further. I give you my word. And that’s the best I can do for now.”

She stepped away from me, then whirled back. “Well that really isn’t very much, is it? You’re giving me nothing.”

I moved towards her and reached out a hand, putting it on her shoulder and immediately felt that surge again of...something. Energy. Connection.

I must have looked as surprised as I felt because Riley moved away instantly.

“What?” she said. “What is it?”

I shook my head. I didn’t know if I knew. I didn’t know if I could explain it.

Was it possible...this woman was my mate? How could that be? But the feeling was there. It was undeniable. It spread all the way through me and I could see on her face that something also spread through her. It flashed through her eyes, just for a moment. A mix of desire and longing.

This was turning out to be a very strange day.

She reached absentmindedly to where I touched her and rubbed the spot.

“Riley,” I said softly, pulling her from her reverie.

“Yes? What?”

“I’m asking for your trust. I know it’s in blind faith. I’m not here to hurt you. I can’t say more than that right now. But if you’re willing to give that trust to me, I give my word I will honor it. Truly. On my honor as a warrior.”

She looked at me hard and searchingly then she slowly nodded.

“You are willing to give me a chance?” I asked.

“For now. I hope I’m not wrong,” she replied.

“I’m sorry I can’t take you out right now. It would be too suspicious. And I need to talk to Mofat and Hulat.”

“Who’s Hulat?”

“Mofat’s son. And he makes Mofat look like the kindest, gentlest creature that ever lived.”

She nodded slowly. “I don’t like it, but yes. All right.”

I slipped her some meal bars I had tucked into my belt.

“Eat these. It will give you some strength. They will give you water, but they won’t feed you. They want to weaken you, so that you’ll be more susceptible to their questions and demands. So, act the part, all right?”

Riley tore into the bars hungrily, nodding her head. “Yes, I understand,” she said between bites.

“Excellent. Stay strong for now and I will be back to help you more soon,” I said.

I headed for the door and turned back before I opened it.

“What’s your plan?” Riley asked.

I looked at her and shrugged.

“I’m working on it. I will be back soon,” I said and closed the door behind me, making sure it was locked.

I stood there a moment, trying to process what had just happened. How could it be that in all the world I would find my mate in an Aetam cell? And that she would be human? I needed to think about this, but I didn’t have the time at the moment. Such reflection would have to wait.

Moving swiftly, I passed the guards I had dismissed and told them I was done with the prisoner for now but that she needed to be undisturbed.

“The prisoner is not to be disturbed. I find that someone other than the high command or myself have had use of her, the punishment will be slow. And brutal. Is that understood?”

The guard swallowed hard and shook his head.

“Yessir,” he said, and they all snapped to attention.

“See that it is,” I said, heading back up the stairs to the main floors of the palace, using the time to tamp down my tension. First my mother, and now my…mate. Two women in my life who were in danger from the Aetam. But I swore Riley would not suffer my mother’s fate. Not while I had breath in my body.

In my mind, the only thing to do was to delay, to find some time until I could come up with a more proper plan. Something that would get Riley out of here safely and keep the Aetam off her trail for as long as I could manage.

Stepping into the throne room, I saw Mofat conferring quietly with Jalon. They stopped speaking when I entered the room.

“My lord,” I said, bowing slightly.

“Kator,” Mofat drawled, lazily sprawled against the back of his throne. “From Jalon here, I understand that you just spent some time with our prisoner.”

“Indeed, I did, my lord. I wanted to...take the measure of her before her interrogation proper began. She’s tough. Stronger than I would have expected from a weak human.”

“We’ll get what we want from her soon enough. Hulat has many methods of persuasion at his disposal.”

I frowned. “You’re leaving Hulat in charge of the questioning?”

“Why wouldn’t I?”

“Because, my king, with all possible respect, your son is a bit more of a...blunt instrument, rather than a scalpel, wouldn’t you agree? Effective in many cases. But here, with a prisoner who would rather die than give up her secrets? Perhaps something else is in order.”

Mofat looked at me carefully, then to Jalon, who nodded his head in assent.

“All right, Master Assassin. What do you suggest?”

“A more nuanced approach may yield greater rewards, even if it takes that much longer,” I said.

“That’s right, my lord. And we want as much intel from her as we can get.”

Mofat looked at us both and finally nodded his assent. “Very well. I will permit your tactics for now, Kator. But only for now. Without results...”

“You need not even say it, my lord,” I said.

Mofat nodded and left the room, Jalon following behind.

Time might be on my side, but not for long.