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I nod my head. “I assume you’re telling me this because you think that I should give Koehn a chance to be my mate.”
“He’s already your mate. He cannot change that. He will have to live with that. Or choose a different path.” She shrugs. “It’s always his choice.”
“It’s my choice too,” I huff.
“Yes. Which is why he left. He wanted you to have the options I am about to give to you. No matter what happens to him.”
I sit up straight. “Wait! Where is he?”
“He left the ship right after he got back. He and his me, except for the one in the med lab left to fight in the center quadrant.”
I stand up and pace. “Why the hell didn’t he tell me he was leaving?” My arms wave back and forth and Ruby and Alex come running in the room.
“What’s going on?”
I turn to them. “Koehn is gone. He went to war.”
“He’s in a fight with pirates. Not a war,” the council leader says.
I roll my eyes. “Not the point.”
Ruby giggles but Alex growls. “So what? You can leave your room without worrying about seeing him. And he’s left you to live your life the way you want. Isn’t that what you wanted?”
I pull my hair. “I don’t know! I just wanted time to think and he just kept saying that mate word. It was driving me crazy. And then he opened his mouth…”
“And said something stupid.” The leader smiles. “He’s a male. He’s bound to do something stupid. Hell, he fights for a living. His whole life could be considered stupid.”
I snort. Then I study her. “What is your name? I can’t keep calling you council leader.”
She looks startled, her green eyes sparkling. “Honestly, I almost forgot. Nobody ever calls me that anymore. All I am is my position.” She looks guilty or sad. Maybe a little of both and maybe she’s remembering her intended and wondering what he would have thought of her job.
“It’s Farrah.”
Ruby’s jaw drops. “That’s so pretty. I would make everyone call me that. Much better than council leader.”
She giggles. “Yes. Well, I work mostly with men so it’s better that they call me what they do.”
I nod. “Yep. Cause they’re men. They need boundaries.”
She points a finger at me. “Correct. But back to the choices. There are several planets that are similar to Earth in development and we can find you homes on those planets. All together if you want. And we would make sure that you had everything you need to have a good life. Or you can stay here.”
Alex growls and stomps out of the room. I’m not going anywhere. I’m going to continue looking. We need to find them.”
Nobody needs to ask who to look for. We all know.
Ruby sighs. Her eyes are shadowed. “I might want to find a nice place to settle down. A place to call home.”
Farrah smiles at her. “If you so choose, we will do that gladly for you. We will even check in and make sure that you’re doing well. I want to make sure that you have every option available to make you happy.” Her face falls. “I hate that we can’t allow you to go back to Earth even if this is no fault of your own.”
I nod my head. “This was your idea?” I say quietly.
She shakes her head. “No. It was Commander Koehn’s. He didn’t want you to keep having to face him everyday if it hurt you.”
My chest aches and I rub it slowly. “If only he’d quit saying that word. I don’t want a mate.”
Farrah stands up. “I’ll give you time to think and talk. But as to the Commander…a mate is a gift in our galaxy. It doesn’t matter what species. We’re all searching for that elusive piece of our souls. The missing puzzle piece that will unlock the joy that only a partner can give you. And when you find it…well, it’s too special to keep bottled up inside you. You want the world to know. He has a lot of pride but he’d gladly put that pride aside to be everything to you. I know he hurt you but is it worth giving up everything that you can have here?”
She smiles and pats my shoulder and then touches Ruby’s arm gently. “All of you have much to think about and a lot of decisions to make. There is no time frame for these decisions. Just make sure it’s really what you want. You might not get the chance to change your mind if something happens to him.”
