Page 64 of Married to the Beast

Before Faleesha and her mother could object, Sylvan took the items out of their hands.

“And now I think we’d better go,” he said to Bear. “It seems that your mate might need medical treatment.”

“Yes, she does,” Bear agreed grimly. “She fainted—I think from shock.”

He turned to leave the living area and headed for the front door of the house with Aleena still in his arms.

“Just wait one minute!” Sir Greggor exclaimed. Puffing his chest out importantly, he placed himself squarely in Bear’s path.“You don’t dare insult me like this! I’ll tell the whole Council what you’ve done and the deal between our people will be off—the negotiations will be completely nullified!”

“Your people stand to benefit immensely from our trade deal and the worm hole agreement Ambassador Bearick negotiated,” Commander Sylvan said, raising an eyebrow at him. “Do youreallythink they’ll call off the entire thing just on your word?”

For a moment, Sir Greggor seemed at a loss for words.

“I…they…my opinion carries great weight with the Council,” he said at last.

“Fine—then tell them whatever you want,” Bear growled. “But right now I’m taking my wife and leaving this fucked-up planet!”

He pushed past Sir Greggor, who was still protesting, and carried Aleena out the door and towards the long-range shuttle, which Sylvan had parked on the front lawn. He was done with their bullshit.

Right now he just wanted to tend to his wife and when she woke up, beg her forgiveness and pray to the Goddess she would take him back.

42

BEAR

Aleena regained consciousness briefly in the shuttle on the way back to the Mother Ship but then sank back into a faint, which had Bear more worried than he wanted to admit.

Luckily, the Mother Ship folded space for them at once so almost before he knew it, he was carrying her into the Med Center for a full diagnostic. He and Sylvan, who was also a physician, examined her carefully from head to toe and Bear was relieved to find nothing permanently wrong with her—just some cuts and bruises that would heal quickly with their advanced treatment.

At last, he carried her into a private room at the far end of the Med Center to wait until she woke again. Sylvan went with him, a look of sympathy on his face.

“She’ll be fine,” he said, as Bear laid Aleena carefully on the med-bed and pulled a crisp linen sheet up to her chin. “Her mind just isn’t ready to come back to her body yet. But it will soon.”

“I pray to the Goddess you’re right,” Bear said. Leaning over his wife, he stroked a strand of her long, coppery hair away from her bruised face. Seeing the marks on her high cheekbone and her swollen, cut lip made his heart twist in his chest.

“Iamright,” Sylvan assured him. “Here—I’ll leave her things with you.” And he placed the pile he’d been carrying, including the breast shield, the jewelry, and the small recording device he’d taken from Faleesha, at the end of the bed.

“Thanks.” Bear nodded at him. “For everything—I couldn’t have gotten home so quickly without you. And thank you for having my back, even when Sir Greggor threatened to renege on the deal we made with the Karpsians.”

Sylvan frowned.

“OfcourseI backed you up—a male’s mate must always come first. And it leaves a sour taste in my mouth to deal with a people that treat their women so badly and disrespectfully. If they cancel the deal, we’ll find what we need elsewhere.”

“Thank you.” Bear was immensely grateful. It wasn’t every superior officer who understood what was truly important and put his priorities in order like Sylvan did.

“Although, if the younger daughter reallydidrecord what was happening, we might have enough evidence to show the Karpsian Council what actually happened,” Sylvan added. He nodded at the holo-recorder. “Why don’t you see if you can find anything worth showing them while we’re waiting for Aleena to wake up?”

Bear looked apprehensively at the small, handheld device. He didn’t know what he might find on there, but he was almost sure it would be bad—reallybad. Still, if it could save the trade deal and keep peace between the Kindred and the Karpsians, he knew he should view its contents.

“I’ll look at it,” he told Sylvan. “And I’ll bring you anything I find.”

“Good. Thank you.” Sylvan put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed briefly. “Everything is all right now—you have your mate safe aboard the Mother Ship where no one else can harm her.”

Bear wanted to say that she’d already been harmed—that he hadn’t been in time to save her from the trauma she’d suffered. But he only nodded and thanked his Commanding Officer again.

When Sylvan stepped outside, he drew a chair up to Aleena’s bedside and picked up the small holo-recorder. He didn’t want to look at it but he made himself press the “view contents” button anyway.

The first few minutes were just the two males he’d fought dragging Aleena inside the dark room and tying her to the wooden X-shaped cross. Then the slapping and shouting began.

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