Mate Abduction (Alien Abduction #9) - Eve Langlais Page 0,6
moment he perceived two people, one being the old woman from his village, the other young and fresh faced, beautiful and dangerous. His goddess. Another blink and she was gone.
“Given I am running out of time, a plain answer would be helpful, yes.” Because he never did do well at solving riddles.
“How about a hint? She’s not from your star system. As a matter of fact, she comes from far, far away.”
The implication was not lost on him. “You expect me to marry a non-blood?” His lip curled. “As if I’d taint the family line.”
“You do not have a choice.”
His stubborn side rose. He didn’t care if the goddess spoke. “I refuse to believe that. You must be mistaken.” His rebuke amounted to blasphemy. No one gainsaid the goddess. Even if she chose to speak through the shaman. It was expected he would listen. Obey.
“Insolence.” The word emerged on a soft exhalation, and yet it lashed him with icy pellets.
His breath frosted, as did Karymma’s skin. From the frozen statue stepped his goddess, in the flesh, the heat of her radiating and yet not dispelling the chill in his veins.
Even he wasn’t so dumb as to remain standing. He hit the ground on one knee. “My goddess does me honor.”
She snorted, and the icy sensation vanished. “You are utterly insolent yet endearing anyhow. Rise, my warrior.”
Thyos stood and tucked his hands behind his back. “I apologize for my rudeness, Goddess.”
“Apology accepted. Mostly because you will have a difficult task.” Karma perused him. “A good thing you’re pretty, or this might not work. Your mate will be more stubborn than you.”
“You know of her?”
“Enough to discern the difficulties. You are very different.”
“She’s an alien, then?” he asked, hoping he’d misunderstood.
“If you go back enough generations, you come from the same seed but have changed along the way. Which is a good thing because we must look beyond our world to others if we are to bring strength and vitality back to this world.” She trailed her fingers on the bark of the tree, and where she touched, the white-gray bark turned a dark brown. A few leaves budded.
She gave it a hint of life. Gave him a little more time.
He appreciated it, but still, an alien as his mate? “My mother will not be pleased.” She tended to be a strong proponent of pure bloodlines.
“Your mother will obey. As will you.”
Thyos struggled to agree. To hand over the fate of his future to a goddess who could be capricious. History clearly showed that sometimes her intervention led to sorrow—for the losers in the wars she started. The winners all adored her while the losers tried to regain her favor.
“Is there not someone else?”
“Enough arguing. You can keep wandering, looking uselessly on this world, or you can face the truth and the future.”
“Let’s say I believe you. How am I supposed to find my mate?” Far, far away sounded like the start to a fantasy story.
“The hand of fate will guide you.”
“It better guide me accurately. There are millions of planets and stars. Where would I even start my search?
“That’s just it. You don’t need to search. Part of the magic of the mating bond is the guarantee you’ll find her.” Karma beamed as if that were the best answer ever.
Not even close. He couldn’t help a sarcastic, “Will this magic also give me a ship and a reason to leave?” Because their hangar currently sat empty. Their few ships already out on missions.
“Have faith.”
In the blink of one eye and the next, the goddess was gone and Karymma swayed in place, a beatific smile on her face that turned to a sharp rebuke when he didn’t move fast enough for her liking.
“You heard our goddess. Go find your intended.”
“How about she finds me?” he grumbled as he headed back to his home, a village in the province of Qhryce.
As he trod the familiar path, he thought over what his goddess said. Could he truly find his mate and save not only his future but that of his tribe?
Hard to believe given, as he entered the village, he couldn’t help but notice the signs of even more abandonment. The longer he went without fulfilling his duties, the more his people absconded in the night. He couldn’t blame the couples who didn’t want to wait any longer to breed.
It shamed him that the once powerful tribe he’d inherited had weakened all because he failed. Failed to find his sykyrah.
And now Karma claimed his