Page 2 of Stolen By Her Alien Mate

Now that the light is out, I can see almost nothing, but I hear the rustling of his thin blanket as she snuggles next to his body. She is but a young child to his eleven turns, but neither think it odd for her to sleep beside him in his dormitory bed. After all, she is his be’lahshuk. When they are both grown, they will be mates.

“My tummy hurt and I wanted to make sure you were okay.”

The rustling in the bed beside mine stops. “What do you mean your tummy hurts?” he asks.

Caiside and Aislynn were the first to be matched. The seed markings slowly blooming down her neck and up his wrists. They won’t fully blossom until they are much older. Their Venamy will not settle until then, but there are hints of each of their powers already. Her ability to make water glow. His to summon objects to him. Not just his ion blade, but other things as well.

And twice before now, she said her tummy hurt, and then something bad happened. “Tell me, Kap’ashal.”

She makes a whining noise before saying, "There was a strange noise from the windward side of the castle.”

The windward side of the castle is where the girl’s dormitory is.

“Light your amulet,” he commands.

A moment later, light pours from the orb in her palm, brighter this time. He is already out of bed and pulling on his boots.

He meets my gaze. “Wake Radford and the others. Tell them what Aislynn told us. I’m going to investigate.”

Instantly alert, I’ve started pulling on my boots already, thinking of my own Jaylerena who is across the courtyard in the girls’ dormitory. “I’ll come with you.”

“No.” He lifts Aislynn from the bed and hands her to me as soon as I'm standing. “Take her. Keep her safe.”

Her arms are still wrapped around his neck. “No! Don’t leave me!”

“I must.” He cups her jaw for only a moment. “Stay safe. I will return.”

I have to fight every instinct I have to obey Caiside’s order and stay with Aislynn. I wake Radford, who is only a few moons younger than Caiside, and it’s chaos after that. He brings up the lights in the room as we move from bed to bed, waking everyone as quietly as we can. Maedoc, another boy about my age, leads the younger boys down through the bowels of the castle to the servants’ quarters, where Lantemere and his son Draeden sleep.

With the brighter light of the overhead lighting, Aislynn’s glowing orb dims. At some point, I set her down to help one of the younger boys. It’s not until the hall is nearly empty that I notice that her orb has vanished entirely. She’s gone.

“That’s everyone,” Radford calls to me from across the room. “Let’s go!”

“Aislynn is gone.” I give one last look around the room to verify she’s not hiding somewhere, before heading toward the doorway through which Caiside vanished. “I think she went after him.”

Radford mutters a curse. “I’ll go after her.”

“No. The others need you. She’s my responsibility.” If Caiside is our natural leader, Radford is our de facto second in command. If something has gone wrong, we need him. “I’ll go.”

I don’t wait for him to answer but take off down the hallway that leads to the castle courtyard. It’s so dark I have to draw my ion blade and use its light as a torch.

I run down the hall and up the stairs, praying I’m faster than a girl of five turns.

Thank Tides, I am.

I catch up to her, holding her tiny orb in her palm, only a few steps into the courtyard.

We both stop at the sight we find: shuttles on the horizon, one directly above us, Sovereign troops on the ground pouring from the girls’ dormitory, and Caiside running towards us, his ion blade lit, blade fully extended.

He skitters to a stop when he sees Aislynn.

His gaze jerks from her to me, yelling over the hum of the shuttle engine. “Get her out of here!”

I snatch her into my arms, all but running backwards as the scene unfolds before me.

He doesn’t follow us. Instead, he braces his legs and extends one hand overhead.

“What is he doing?” I ask the question aloud, but expect no answer as I turn and run for the doorway.