12. ZOE

Surreptitiously I studied Noodar's mate. Her skin reminded me in color and folds of that of an elephant's, even though she was of slight build. Her three legs were something to get used to, same as her orange eyes, but the soft smile on her gray lips indicated a sweeter nature than her looks made her appear.

The yellow dots on her skin were also a bit off-putting, making it look as if her body was being ravaged by some kind of disease, but that too I tried to put out of my mind, reminding myself that I was in the company of aliens and not all of them would be pleasant to the eye.

"Thank you so very much," Luphelia said politely, taking one of the farocks and nibbling on it. "I never thought I would eat one again."

"We have plenty. I'll happily send some back with you," I offered.

"That would be very sweet and welcome, but I don't want to take away from you."

"You're not," I assured her. "I'm sure Silla will be happy to restock us and you with more."

"Silla?" she asked, and that was the opening for Raasla to dive into our story. Before Noodar entertained us with his and Luphelia's.

Which went like this. The Ohrur had charged him with protecting Luphelia during her journey from her home planet to her future husband's. The journey had been perilous because her intended was warring with his neighbors, and it was assumed they would try to interfere with the delivery of his bride.

As it turned out, he hadn't needed to fear them. They never made an attempt to kidnap his bride, but Noodar—her protector—fell in love with her, and she with him. After their soulweb glyphs appeared, they made it seem as if pirates had attacked them and gotten the better of Noodar. Assumed dead, they had been free to explore the universe for the puzzle of Noodar's and Raasla's ancestry and the secret of the soulweb bond.

"Unfortunately, we didn't find out much. I broke into several databases, and all I discovered was that there was once a species called Darlam, but they have been extinct for so long that nobody even remembers that they had ever existed." Noodar filled us in. I took Raasla's hand. Even though we already knew about this, I imagined it was still hard for him to hear. Some days, I wondered if this would happen to us humans too. Gone and forgotten. It was depressing to think of how many species had been in the vast universe that nobody even remembered.

"From what I learned, the Ohrurs did the extinguishing," Raasla remarked darkly.

"So it appears," Noodar replied.

"So what are we going to do about it?" Raasla sounded annoyed, and I stroked his arm, a gesture that usually settled him.

Noodar met his gaze. "We wait. Just as I have waited for you, there will be more. Soon."

"How do you know that?" Raasla challenged.

"You came," Noodar stated simply.

Raasla grunted, making me smile.

"The Ohrurs have sent three more Space Guardians to search for humans. I'll keep an eye on them." Raasla nodded, making peace with the idea of waiting, something I knew he wasn't very good at. But I had several ideas on how we could while the time away.

"Will you be staying with us?" Luphelia asked with a hopeful gleam in her eyes, making me realize she must be starved for female companionship.

"For a little while," Raasla said after turning to me, and I nodded my agreement.

"Good, let's get going. We have a nice house not far from here. You're welcome to stay for as long as you want." He nodded at Raasla. "And I have the best database access in the entire universe."

That sounded a bit preposterous to me, given that he hadn't fully figured out the Darlam's demise and what it had to do with the Space Guardians. Only when I actually saw his database did I realize how apt his description had been. It could take centuries to wade through all the data he had compiled.

We stayed for days. I was getting the hang of the cube-like screens that made it easy to browse through many different sources at once, while the translator automatically transcribed the text for me into English.

"You really should get some rest." Raasla found me as usual in the middle of the night staring at several open cubes, moving and turning them.

"I couldn't sleep. Something was nagging at the back of my mind," I admitted.

He enfolded me from behind. "I love how much you have taken to my cause."

Raasla nuzzled my earlobe. His hot breath sent shivers of arousal over my skin.

"Love?"

I turned the seat around and stared into the deep depths of his eyes.

"Love." He nodded, tilting his head as if he had just come to the conclusion. "I love you." A wide grin spread over his lips, dimpling his cheeks.

I couldn't stop my hand from moving up, from my finger laying over the dimple that had vexed me from the moment I had first laid eyes on him.

"I love you too," I confessed and watched in amazement as the depths of his black eyes intensified.

"It's a good thing since we are bonded and similarly tattooed." He smirked, trying to make light of it.

"Don't," I said, moving the tip of my finger from his dimple to his lips. "Don't make a joke right now, please."

"I don't joke."

"But if you insist." He pulled me up all the way to standing. His strong hand laid flat against the low of my back, tugging me closer yet. So close I felt the hard erection of his cock, inflaming my core with lust. "I love you, Zoe. I love you with all my heart. Even if it weren't for the stupid markings or the soulweb, I wouldn't want to be without you. I love you because you are brave, resourceful, and resilient. Most of all, I love you because nobody has ever done anything for me like you are doing now."

My knees weakened. All I could do was stare at him. Him, the man who hardly ever spoke, who preferred grunts to answers was giving me the best declaration of love a woman could have ever asked for.

My mind tried to grope for words to reply to his statement, but they failed me. Instead, I took his hand and pressed it over my breast, where my heart hammered. "This only beats for you."

"My love." He kissed me and carried me to the room we shared in Noodar's house, where he proved even more how much he loved me.