Silver Scholar (Warriors of Valose: Alien Fated Mates #8)
Prologue
ROWAN
“Ithought I’d find you here.” The deep timbre of his voice washed over me, scattering gooseflesh across my skin.
I shifted my gaze away from the endless expanse of sea surrounding our secluded island to find Zikkar.
He stood tall, at least seven feet, his kilt hanging low around his hips, accentuating his muscular frame.
Long strands of silvery white hair cascaded down his back and chest like a shimmering waterfall, catching the first rays of the twin suns in a mesmerizing display.
He was the only Valosian who didn’t unsettle me. A tech from Clan Huren, he had the same alien features as all the rest: elfin ears, tight-knit silvery scales that shifted colors with his mood and surroundings, fangs like a Vampire, and swirling silver eyes.
My fingers instinctively rose to my chest, rubbing at the fluttering pressure behind my sternum as Zikkar took a seat on the ground next to me.
I sighed contently as he joined me. Zikkar’s presence was like a first sip of morning coffee, a warm, comforting embrace from within. A wave of calm accompanied him, a welcome balm from the sorrow and fear that I often carried with me.
“You’ll be leaving soon.” I pulled my bottom lip into my mouth to stave off the trembling.
I didn’t want him to go. Not only would I miss him terribly, but his mission was dangerous.
He was to fly over the city of Huren in what the girls called a bubble craft, a small invisible vessel, where he would spend countless days working on a device that would open a portal in the impenetrable dome shielding the city.
A war was coming, a stand against the Gretolics who had taken over the city, the same little gray freaks who had abducted all of us girls from Earth. I’d heard vivid descriptions of them and was glad I didn’t recall ever seeing the creatures who had stolen me away from my family.
“As soon as Wexxor and Sazzar are finished speaking with Sia Jakkar,” Zikkar said with a tight smile.
A twinge of reluctance flittered inside me, but the muted feeling was gone before I could grasp it.
“How long will you be gone?”
“For as long as it takes to create a portable gate large enough to let in an army of warriors,” Zikkar replied, then rattled off some tech jargon that was way over my head.
I was a student of botany, so science wasn’t a stranger to me, but alien technology was something entirely different.
I didn’t understand how it all worked, but she did.
Rose. His girlfriend. They weren’t a mated pair like the other Valose/human couples.
No matching shawras were etched over their hearts, no glowing design to mark them like wearing coordinating wedding bands, but they were still an item.
“Please, be careful and stay safe.” It was on the tip of my tongue to beg him to stay with me, but I had no right to ask such a thing. He wasn’t mine, he was Rose’s, and they were leaving together along with another tech named Wynnter.
“I promise,” Zikkar grinned. “Once the warriors take back the city, we will see each other again.”
I wanted to be reunited with Zikkar after the battle but moving from the seclusion of the island into the middle of the jungle inside Huren territory—a place I had only heard about from the girls who had been there—terrified me.
Protective dome or not, the jungle everyone spoke of exuded a sense of peril, even in their stories.
Their tales painted vivid pictures of colossal beasts reminiscent of prehistoric Earth.
I imagined the nocturnal dinosaurs they had described and wanted no part of that.
From the girls’ accounts, I could visualize the saber-toothed cat Chompers, now just a playful pet, would eventually grow into. A formidable predator with an insatiable hunger, his adorable, fuzzy face twisting into a menacing visage that haunted my imagination.
“I’ll miss you,” I blurted.
“I am always with you, Rowan,” Zikkar placed his hand over mine where it circled my sternum, “even if I’m not physically here.”
It wouldn’t be until much later that I understood the true meaning of his words.