Epilogue #2
For a long moment, the only sound was the faint, almost imperceptible hum of the Recon ship’s idling engines.
Commander Thames studied me, her analytical mind clearly working, weighing the risks and rewards, the undeniable scientific value of this world against the unexpected resistance of one of her own scientists.
No doubt, assessing the level of threat posed by Sorik and the other warriors who now formed a silent ring of watchers around the edges of the clearing.
She was fucked. I could have told her that. I kept my mouth shut and let her come to her own conclusion. If any one of these storm warriors decided she was a threat to be eliminated, her ship would be destroyed before she could run back inside and try to leave.
Then, she looked past me, at Sorik, who stood behind me, a silent, formidable presence. Her gaze was no longer just curious, but calculating, recognizing the raw power he represented, the unspoken claim he had on this world, and on me.
"Empty handed.” She said it as if the words tasted strange in her mouth. "And what am I to tell my superiors?"
“Tell them we’re all dead. Tell them you never landed your ship. Tell them the electromagnetic interference in the atmosphere makes coming here an unacceptable risk. You’re a smart woman. You’ll figure something out.”
As if to punctuate my orders, Sorik directed another bolt of lightning. The massive flash of light hit the ground between her and her ship. Her armed escort leaped back with distressed cries.
She didn’t even flinch. “Interesting talent you have, alien man.”
“My name is Sorik. Sloan Carter is my mate. Leave and do not return. If you threaten this valley again, we will destroy your ship.”
Oh hell, yeah. He was sexy when he went primal.
Her lips tightened with anger, but I knew we had won and a sense of relief so profound it almost buckled my knees washing over me. "Very well, Sorik."
She gave a curt, professional nod, then turned and ascended the ramp, her grey uniform a stark contrast against the vibrant, alien world she was now forced to abandon.
Her soldiers fell in behind her. The ramp closed. I watched, holding my breath as the vessel rose, its engines screaming.
The planet's normal hum returned. It came slowly at first, a faint, hesitant pulse, then stronger, a warm, living current that flowed through the marks on my skin, through my hand, clasped in Sorik's. It was a welcome, a reassurance, a confirmation.
I turned to him, my heart full. He looked down at me, his silver eyes soft, the fierce protector replaced by the man who loved me, the man I had chosen.
"I do not care for that human female." His voice was a low, intimate rumble.
I laughed. “Neither do I.” A slow smile spread across my face as the sky rumbled in warning. I turned to search the skies for their ship. It was too small to see, too far away for my eyes to find, but I could still feel the disturbance in the planet’s energy field.
I was no longer human, as foreign to my old self as Sorik had been when I first saw him. I was more now. More alive. More aware. More in love…
The energy snapped. A bright light struck something in the distance with a blinding flash.
Sorik watched, then threw his head back and laughed. “The storm has chosen.”
“Her?” I opened my mouth. Closed it. “The storm crashed her ship?”
“Yes. A warrior from Sol’Vorak will find and claim her. Teach her some manners.”
“What!” I tried to image the mighty, feared commander, Ryla Thames, being claimed by a storm guardian from another village. Whoever the warrior was, he was going to have his freaking hands full. “I guess we don’t have to worry about NFI sending more Recon teams.”
“Why not?”
“Two ships lost. Two crews. Our scanners can’t penetrate the atmosphere here.
That’s why we tried to break through into the atmosphere.
I’m sure she made the same decision. But NFI is a corporation.
Everything they do is decided by risk and reward, by finances.
They will cut their losses and move on. Catalog this as a hostile world not worth exploring. ”
“Perfect. Now you are truly mine.” He leaned down and kissed me, a gentle, possessive kiss that tasted like him.
Like home and a future that the storm had chosen for both of us.
The marks on our skin blazed in sync, a silent, triumphant declaration.
The dreaded NFI had come, and we had met them, not as a lost crew and group of primitive aliens, but as the guardians of a world that had chosen us.
Speaking of… the storm cycle was nearing its peak.
I pulled Sorik toward the village. Toward our home. The storm was coming and I couldn’t wait to ride the lightning with my mate.
Thank you for reading Marked! Are you new to Grace Goodwin’s USA Today’s Best Selling series set in the world of the Interstellar Brides? Program? Ready for more? Read Heartless from Interstellar Brides? : Primal Mates - Book 1 next!
My destiny is not to claim a female, to have a family, to be rendered helpless by love.
Warrior. Doctor. Spy. I am Commander Helion, a heartless terror, relentless and unforgiving. Merciless.
Despite this, I am matched. A beautiful human female is now mine. Despite my warnings, she is determined to leave her mark on me, body and soul.
Honor demands I resist. I tell her the truth. I will not place a mating collar around her neck. I cannot protect her—especially from me—my choices—the horrors I face every day.
One moment of weakness and she gets under my skin, makes me want things I cannot have. She is everything I am not—and the most dangerous creature I have ever faced.
Claiming her—keeping her—is not possible with my pivotal role in this never-ending war. There is no place in my duties for desire. For need. Too many innocents count on me for protection. Too many lives are at stake, including hers.
The enemy is always ready and waiting, but I never expected her to be among them.
For the first time in my hardened life, I question my sanity. My dark soul. I begin to understand exactly what my enemies have stolen from me—and realize there is no limit to what a heartless warrior will sacrifice for love.
CHAPTER 1
Willow Baylor, Prillon Prime, The Capital
“Congratulations, Willow. It’s a ninety-nine percent match.” My dearest friend, Makayla, squeezed me one more time as I waited for my turn to transport. “I am so happy for you.”
“Thank you. I can’t believe it. I’m---numb.” What my friend didn’t realize was I meant that quite literally. I should be excited. Smiling. Excitement should be bubbling through me like champagne fizz in my veins. I felt nothing, like I’d been erased.
You’re still hiding. Stop pretending you need a big, bad alien to protect you.
Shut up.
I didn’t want to talk to the stubborn wench who lived inside my head—a.k.a., the old me. The me from a former life. She’d been in charge before I’d been kidnapped by aliens and lived through a literal hell. I didn’t want to be her again. She got into trouble. She made stupid choices.
The new me was doing just fine. Better than fine, I had a matched mate!
The warden who administered my bride testing had already given me a run down on final instructions for transport. I was ready to go. I’d said goodbye to my friends, all of them women from the sanctuary who, like me, had been rescued from that Hive prison.
I was being allowed to take a few personal items with me to my new home—and my new mates.
I knew it was a break in Brides’ Program protocol.
Perhaps Prime Nial and the others assumed we’d been through enough trauma already.
They had done everything in their power to make us feel at home her on Prillon Prime, to help us heal.
Danika Arcas, a human woman mated to a couple of warriors, was always available.
She was in charge of the place and took care of anything and everything we needed.
What she couldn’t get for us, Queen Jessica—another human out here in space—would handle.
The exceptions made for us regarding transport protocols weren’t huge, but hugely important.
As was our unfettered access to the S-Gen machines.
Leaving our sanctuary was hard enough already. It was a relief to know I wasn’t going empty-handed, and I wasn’t arriving naked.
As if. So humiliating.
A small suitcase filled with personal items had been carefully placed on the transport pad.
In just a few minutes I would be on my way to my powerful, protective, and possessive new Prillon mate.
And his second. Yes, please. I had never been with two lovers before, but the idea of having two experienced warriors completely obsessed with caring for me, protecting me and ensuring physical pleasure?
Wonderful. I couldn’t wait to find out who my mate had chosen as his second—and mine.
“I wish your mate was here, on Prillon Prime, but he will have to retire eventually. Right?” Makayla’s voice cracked like she was fighting off tears—and losing.
She squeezed me so tightly I was afraid she would crack a rib.
I hugged back just as hard. She, too, had been to hell and back.
Maybe I should be crying with her, but I didn’t feel sad.
About time.
I ignored the self-talk. I was relieved to be leaving this place, ready to move on.
I was tired of waking up alone every night, tangled in my sheets.
I wanted a warrior—or two—next to me, around me, holding me, touching me.
I needed fire in my veins, where for so long now there had been nothing but ice.
I kissed Makayla on the cheek. “Maybe we’ll be neighbors one day, here in the capital.” Better if my mates retired to Prillon Prime in a few years, rather than being killed in the war. I didn’t want to be a widow.