Stolen By the Alien by Ashlyn Hawkes
6
Omur
I’m exhausted. I’ve been flying for so long, and although Hannah rode me, that sexual bout had taken so very much of me. I swear, when I came inside her, I also gave her a bit of my essence. I gave her a piece of myself, and it’s only a matter of time before she realizes that she has me inside her even when my cock isn’t. We’re two halves that make one whole.
But the maestro—
Fuck the maestro.
But what am I going to do? I honestly have no idea. As much as I want nothing more than to lie down and go to sleep, I can’t. I’m too anxious and unsure and worried and unnerved. I’m a bundle of nerves, and all I want to do is return to Hannah’s side. Yes, as soon as I returned to her side, I wanted to touch her, to be with her, to be accepted by her fully, for her to accept the truth that she is my mate.
That’s not too much to ask. It really isn’t.
There has to be someone I can talk to, someone who might have gone through something like this before.
But there’s no one I can think of who has been with an Earthling. No one who has a mate that is not accepted by Maestro Shule. No one who has faced this same situation.
With a scowl, I head all the way back to the cockpit. The command modular has been hovering in place since I stole Hannah from Earth, and I don’t know what to do. Should I return her to Earth? But then I would have to wipe her memory, and I don’t want her to forget about me. I’m selfish. Even more so, I don’t want her to leave me.
But what other option do I have? Return to Garrus? The maestro will not take kindly to my bringing an Earthling to his planet. What is he afraid of? That she will bring wars with her? That the Garrux will all of a sudden turn against one another and start to fight and kill each other? That’s absurd.
The longer I sit here, the worse I feel until finally, I opt to call Rumus.
“Brother!” he exclaims. “What is it you need? Do you have news?”
“I do, actually.”
“Why do you sound so despondent?” Rumus demands.
I swallow hard. My brother has always been able to read me, but normally, he has to see my face for him to understand what I’m thinking. This might be the first occasion he’s done it while we’ve been galaxies apart.
“What happened?” my brother asks. “If you do not tell me, I will be forced to determine the location of your echonator and come to your exact position so that I can learn for myself the details and source of your despondency.”
I grimace. I hadn't even thought about the echonator, which means the maestro knows precisely where I am.
After I clear my throat, I wince. It’s painful to do that, and my tongue feels swollen. I hate that I feel like this. Today should be the happiest day of my life. After all, I located my mate! But she does not believe nor accept me, and she is an Earthling, which my maestro despises.
“You said you have news?” my brother prompts. “If you will not share it, I have to wonder why it is that you bothered to call me in the first place.”
“I found my mate, but her species does not realize that there are such things as mates. Worse than that, there is… another issue.”
"What issue is there?" Rumus asks. Then, he laughs. "Has she married already? That happened with Juliuus, didn't it? His mate was married to another one of her kind. A Marren? Or a Nessian? I cannot recall."
"What happened?" I ask, even though I already know the story.
“She took one look at Juliuus, realized her mistake, and explained everything to her husband.”
“And her husband had been a Tallon, yes?”
“Yes. They’re rather aggressive, as you know, and he would not let her go without a fight.”
“Juliuus killed him.”
“Only because the Tallon would not admit defeat.” Rumus hesitates. “Is she…”
“She’s not married,” I say.
But honestly, I do not know that for certain. What was it she had said? Something about not even getting married… something about learning the guy was… She had mentioned divorced, and then she got all passionate.
"Or maybe he's a fucking cheater or cheats on you before you even get married, so fuck him."
Yes, that had been it. That had been when she had made up her mind and finally told me her name.
Someone had cheated on her. What exactly did that mean? The fucking cheater had cheated on her before they married. At least, that is what I’m understanding. Thank the universe they had not married because that would have only complicated things further, and things are complicated enough.
“Then what is the issue?” Rumus asks. “She doesn’t have two mates, does she?”
“No, no,” I say. “Nothing like that.”
"Oh, yes. You said she doesn't recognize mates, so how would it be that she had come to have two? What then precisely is the issue?"
"She's an Earthling." I mumble the words, not wishing for her to possibly overhear me again. The cockpit is far enough away from the room she's in that she cannot overhear me. Only if she were right outside the cockpit could she listen to my conversation.
Rumus says nothing for a long time. Then, he huffs a sigh. “Did you tell the maestro?”
“He knows.”
“You fool,” Rumus hisses. “I know I’m the better, smarter brother, but still, how could you?”
“What was I to do?”
“Lie.”
“Because he wouldn’t have learned the truth eventually,” I say dryly. “He has eyes.”
“Yes, well…”
“He wants me to either wipe her memory or…”
“Or…”
I don’t bother to say it. I can’t say it.
“What will you do?” Rumus asks.
“Not that! Not either of those options.”
“Have you considered what else you might do?”
“I don’t know.”
“And what does she have to say? Where is she?”
“In my room.”
“On the command module?”
“Yes.”
“So she’s seen it.”
“Yes. Obviously.”
“And you two have just talked?”
I say nothing.
“You two have done what exactly?” he asks suspiciously.
“Nothing that she did not agree with,” I mutter.
“But she…”
“She does not yet accept me as her mate.”
“Maybe that is for the best,” Rumus says.
“Since when have you ever been practical?” I demand with a groan.
“What is it that you want me to say?”
“I want… I don’t know what you want.”
“Don’t ovian lie to yourself,” Rumus spits out. “You know exactly what you want.”
“Yes, of course. I want her to be with me. I want her to be my mate for the rest of our lives, and I want her to have my babies, and I want—”
“What is it that she wants?”
“I don’t know,” I tell him honestly.
“It might be better for you to just let her go,” Rumus says softly.
“How can you say that?” I growl. “Could you do that to Karlii?”
Rumus says nothing.
“Oh, so you wouldn’t want to wipe your mate’s memory?” I ask haughtily.
“I can’t imagine what you must be going through,” Rumus says slowly.
"Of course not," I snap. "How many Garrux have been told by the maestro that they are to be doomed to a loveless existence without their mate, all while knowing their mate is alive and well and living on another planet?"
Rumus says nothing.
“Tell me what it’s like,” I beg. “How is it to have a mate who accepts you?”
Rumus sighs noisily. “I can’t. I… You have no idea what it’s like.”
“What it’s like to what?” I ask, not even sure what I mean by this question.
“You and your mate… you are two before, but then, you become one.”
“One mind?” I ask. “One body, one soul? But your bodies do not fuse together.”
"No, but also yes," Rumus says.
I let out a growl. “You are frustrating me.”
“I was frustrated too at a time when none of the older, mated Garrux would explain to me what it felt and meant to be mated, but now, I understand. It’s impossible to put into words. It must be felt to be understood and appreciated.”
I wave my hand about. “That does not help me in the slightest.”
“Don’t worry about the maestro,” Rumus advises. “If you did not have to worry about him, what would you do?”
“Try to get Hannah to understand what it is to be my mate, for her to accept it.”
“Hannah,” Rumus says.
A wild feeling of raw anger wells within my chest. I do not like to hear her name on the lips of another male, even if that male is both my brother and mated to another.
Jealousy. I’m jealous.
“You love her already, don’t you?” Rumus groans.
“I do not know her well enough to claim to love her,” I say.
“But you love her just the same.”
I say nothing. He might be right.
“You would die for her, wouldn’t you?” Rumus asks.
“If it came to it, yes,” I say without hesitating.
“There truly is no other for you, is there?”
“Precisely,” I groan.
“The maestro will never accept her. You do realize that, don’t you?”
“But why?”
Rumus says nothing.
“Do you know why?” I press. “I feel as if there must be something that happened that caused the maestro to hate Earthlings so very much.”
“I heard a rumor,” Rumus starts but then stops.
“What did you hear?”
"The maestro has no mate, as you know."
I nod slowly.
“He thought he had found his mate.”
“An Earthling?”
“Yes.”
“What happened?” I ask, my heart sinking. I’m not certain I wish to hear about this.
“He wasn’t able to convince her about being his mate, although she did eventually say that she loved him, but then…”
“Then what?”
“Then, he found her in bed with another man.”
“She…”
“She cheated on him.”
As I thought.
“That’s terrible,” I murmur, “but just because that happened with his—”
“Do not call her his mate,” Rumus mutters. “He will hate you all the more for it, and he will hate your mate, if you ever can convince her that you and she are meant to be together for the rest of your lives.”
"Whatever happened between the maestro and that woman will not be repeated with Hannah and me," I say firmly.
“How can you be so sure?”
“Because I know that she is my mate.”
“Maestro Shule thought so too, and he hasn’t located another woman to be his mate.”
“Because he’s closed off his mind and his heart,” I say.
“Are you so sure about that?”
“Yes.” I brighten. “Maybe if we can find the maestro’s mate—”
“Not all maestros try to find their mates because they are too busy with their responsibilities leading the Garrux,” Rumus reminds me.
“Yes, but Shule—”
“I don’t think he’s going to accept any woman.”
“Yes, but—”
“It’s worth a shot.”
“No.”
“Rumus, if you help me—”
“How can I do that?” Rumus demands. “Karlii is pregnant.”
“Since when?”
“We found out two weeks ago.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“You were off to find your mate.”
“Yes, but—”
He chuckles. "We both seem to be saying that a lot. Trust me, Omur. You worry about yourself. Ignore Maestro Shule for now."
“Yeah, because that’s possible.”
“I’m not sure what else to tell you.”
I end the call and swallow past a lump in my throat. Maestro Shule will never approve of my being with an Earthling, and worse, what if what happened to him happens to me? Hannah would never cheat on me, right? Not after she had been cheated on, right? But maybe her being cheated on will cause her to be closed off to love, just like the maestro. She might never accept that we’re mates, and where would that leave me?