The Alien’s Claim by Zoey Draven

Chapter Forty-Eight

Before she knew it, she was standing before the elder council, looking up at them from her place below the dais.

The circular platform that Jaxor had been standing on had moved over to her left. It floated like a hovercraft, with Jaxor still standing on it. She was intensely aware of his gaze on her like a touch, her body always knowing when he was near. She could see him on her periphery.

Erin clenched her hands into fists when she felt them tremble.

One of the elder council members spoke, the one directly in the middle of the row. “We summoned you here after the Prime Leader requested your testimony be included within Jaxor’an’s trial. Did you ask this of him?”

“I…” Erin’s mouth felt dry, but she took in a deep breath, knowing that this was it. They were out of time. “Yes. I did.”

“Tell us why so it can be recorded.”

Recorded?

That was when she saw Coms systems placed on the outer walls of the domed room. They were filming the trial? For their records? Or so that it could be broadcast later?

Erin’s swallow seemed to echo in that massive space. She glanced over at Jaxor before looking back up at the elders.

“Because it’s my understanding that a large reason why he’s on trial is for taking Crystal and me from the Golden City. And I wanted you to understand that he didn’t hurt us.”

“Arguably because Ambassador Cruxan of Otala reached you before he could trade you to the Mevirax,” the elder said.

Erin kept her breathing steady. “No, I believe that he wouldn’t have, even if Ambassador Cruxan hadn’t found us.”

“What makes you so certain?”

“Knowing what I know now,” she started, “knowing that he’d always been conflicted about it, I believe that he would have broken his agreement with the Mevirax that night.”

The elder’s nostrils flared but he went on with his next question regardless. “Would the other human female say the same if we questioned her?”

Erin’s gaze flitted over to Cruxan, his blue eyes flashing at the mention of his mate.

“She offered to testify on his behalf, yes. In fact, she told me that had it not been for Jaxor’an’s actions, she would not have found her fated mate,” Erin said. One of the elders at the end of the dais cleared his throat. “And I would not have found mine. She holds no ill will towards him because like I said, he didn’t hurt us.”

The silence that followed allowed the chants and cries to permeate the courtroom once again. Jaxor’s chain jingled lightly when he shifted. The elder in charge of the trial asked, “You are confirming that Jaxor’an is your fated mate? That his Instinct awakened for you?”

“Yes,” Erin said, keeping her voice firm and clear. Even as a part of her ached, remembering that she’d questioned that very thing in the Mevirax dungeons. She’d let Tavar get into her head. Remembering the agony on Jaxor’s face when she’d confronted him about it made her stomach hurt, made her think her morning sickness would rear its head right there in the courtroom on the shining white floors.

“Was it you,” the elder asked, tilting a long gaze down at her, “who leaked the information about the unknown vaccine currently being tested in the command center’s labs?”

Jaxor jerked his head towards the elder, sharp and quick.

Erin’s chin tilted up, leveling the elder with a knowing look. This was what they really wanted to know, wasn’t it? Not about how Jaxor had treated her, or about their relationship. For a moment, Erin felt like she was the one on trial.

The pressure of the protests might’ve expedited Jaxor’s trial, but would it sway the council’s decision, like Vaxa’an believed?

“I didn’t know the vaccine’s existence was supposed to be keep a secret,” she lied.

“You have created a dangerous and unprecedented situation within our city, female,” the elder said.

“Why?” Erin asked softly. “All they want are answers. All they want to know is whether there is a treatment being tested. All they want to know is why a Luxirian male is on trial for charges that are beyond ridiculous, especially when that same male helped obtain that vaccine from your enemies and killed the Jetutian male responsible for horrific crimes among your people. None of what I ‘leaked’ was a lie.”

The silence was deafening.

When Erin looked over at Jaxor, his careful expression had morphed into something else. Its intensity made her skin prickle with longing.

She was still looking at Jaxor when the elder asked, “Even your pregnancy?”

Erin inhaled a sharp breath as Jaxor’s head snapped towards the dais, the chains jingling together. His brows drew down low. For a moment, he was confused. Then realization made his whole body freeze and then his eyes flicked back to her.

Words were lodged in her throat. Shame made her cheeks burn. This was not how she’d wanted him to find out.

“I…that is…” Erin trailed off, her mind temporarily shutting down as she pleaded with Jaxor silently.

Please, please understand. I will tell you everything. I promise.

His expression was thunderous. He was angry. Rightfully so.

But then his gaze dropped down to the floor of the platform he was standing on, his neck craned, his shoulders tensed. Everything about his body language made her want to cry out to him, to explain.

“Answer the question for the recording,” the elder ordered.

Erin’s heart felt like it was lodged in her throat when she turned her head to look up at the dais.

“Yes,” she said.

“Tev, your pregnancy was a lie? Or tev, it was not a lie?”

“Yes, I am pregnant,” she amended, her voice rising. When she cast a glance over at Jaxor, she saw his jaw ticking even from ten feet away…and he still wasn’t looking at her.

“Who is the sire of the child?” the elder asked pointedly.

She was all too aware that she was in a domed room full of Luxirian males. The Ambassadors stood with Vaxa’an to her right, Jaxor was to her left, the elders were in front of her, and the two guards were behind her.

“Jaxor’an,” she said, a piercing anger jolting through her. She leveled a hard gaze at the elder. “My fated mate.”

“And was the conception willing?” the elder asked, his tone sterile and cold.

Erin’s breathing went rough. Privanax had asked her much the same thing and it infuriated her that the elder would ask something so personal and so insulting, especially in front of Jaxor.

“Of course it was,” she bit out.

“When were you first aware that you were with offspring?” he asked, ignoring her tone.

Her fists were clenched at her sides. “I began to suspect it when I was in the Mevirax’s dungeons. Humans can get morning sickness.”

“So, for the sake of the recording,” he repeated again and Erin’s lips pressed together, “you have not fabricated your pregnancy in order to make Jaxor’an’s trial seem more sympathetic to the public of the Golden City?”

“No!” Erin exclaimed, not sure whether to be insulted or horrified. “I would never make something like that up. I am pregnant. You can ask Privanax if you need it confirmed.”

Jaxor had been standing before the dais when she’d come in. Had they already questioned him? Had he already given his side of the story to the elders? If so, she could only imagine the grilling questions they’d had for him.

When she looked back at Jaxor, he was at least looking at her now, but his careful expression was back in place. He was numbing himself, wasn’t he? He’d just found out she was pregnant in the worst, most humiliating way possible, knowing that she’d had not one, but two opportunities to tell him in private…and he was probably already drawing his own conclusions as to why she hadn’t told him when she’d had the chance. Because she didn’t think he was a suitable enough partner? A suitable enough father?

“Very well,” the elder said. He jerked his head at the guards standing behind her and they stepped up beside her. “Please escort the female back to her dwelling. That will be all for her testimony.”

“Wait,” Erin breathed, her mind racing. “Wait, that can’t be it!”

The elder said, “That is all we needed to hear from you.”

“I need to talk with Jaxor—with Jaxor’an. Please. I haven’t been able to—”

“You cannot speak with him until the trial concludes and a decision is made, as the guard told you before.”

Erin swung her gaze over to Jaxor as the guards began to lead her away. There was so much that she needed to tell him. But there was too much and it got clogged in her throat. All she could do was helplessly stare, trying to think, as the guards guided her up the stairs.

All Jaxor did was incline his head at her. An acknowledgement? An acceptance? What did that mean?

“Wait, when will the decision be made?” she asked, fighting against the grip of the guard to swing her gaze back around at the elders.

But he didn’t answer her and the guards led her through the doors of the courtroom. They closed behind her almost immediately.

“Jaxor!” she called.

The guards kept her from going back inside and she struggled to keep her panic from rising. When she managed to slip from their grip, she tugged hard at the door…but it was locked. It wouldn’t budge.

“Dammit,” she whispered, tears flooding into her eyes, pressing her forehead against the metal. “Dammit.”

He was right there…and yet, he was still so far away.