Page 77 of The Alien Warrior's Mate

Lans’s brow nubs slanted together. “We have more than enough food—”

Tiegan grabbed Lans by the shoulder and gave him an imperceptible shake of the head. Turning to Korben, he nodded. “Take all the time you need. We’ll update our interfaces and help the females.”

Korben pinned them both with a hard look. “I’m leaving my mate in your hands. Enthara will watch over her, but—”

“We will protect your mate with our lives.” Lans dipped his chin.

Korben said nothing but, inside, his heras was breaking. Time was running out and he still couldn’t come up with a plan to save his brother. Perhaps Lans and Tiegan would do a better job of protecting Sah-ah. He did not feel capable of saving anyone. Right now, Korben felt like a failure.

He hadn’t been able to protect his mother. He couldn’t protect Clavas. Who was to say that he could protect Sah-ah? Just because he wanted her,neededher even, did not mean that he should have her.

With a heavy heras, he plodded into the thick foliage of trees and disappeared from sight. Sah-ah’s laughter rang in his ears, growing fainter and fainter as he traveled. It was a sign of what he would lose and what he had already lost.

Thirty-One

Sara

Sara smiledat the stunning woman talking a mile a minute. She hadn’t taken one breath since starting her story. It was impressive in a way.

“Oh no.” Liliana noticed her expression and cringed. “I was hogging up the conversation again, wasn’t I?”

“It’s fine.” Sara grinned, but her heart wasn’t in it. She hated standing in front of these women knowing what Korben had in store for them.

Korben.

Her mate.

Even though she wasn’t responsible for his actions, she was linked to him now. The chip in her head that kept channeling his emotions into her brain made it pretty hard to ignore him, even if she wanted to.

“I don't know how Emma put up with me,” Liliana said with a light, fluffy laugh.

Emma wrapped her arms around herself. “To be honest, I don't mind the chattiness. At least she was talking a language I could understand.” Emma tipped her chin at the Plutonians. “It felt like I was never getting through to that guy.”

“They didn't hurt you, did they?” Sara asked.

“Oh no.” Liliana gestured wildly with her hands. “Just the opposite. Tiegan rescued me from these really crazy lizard creatures. It was insane. I heard there’s even more wild, alien animals on this planet. Like killer wasps and—”

“Ugh. Those wasps.” Sara shuddered.

“You saw them?”

“We almost got stung alive. Enthara got hurt when she used her power tank to spray them.” Sara reached out and absently rubbed Enthara’s nose. The zapten had gotten excited when meeting all the females and she kept calming her down.

It was weird, but Enthara seemed to be feeding onheremotions as well as Korben’s. Since Sara was so happy to meet the other ladies, Enthara was about to burst from glee.

“Wait, who’s Korben?” Lilliana asked.

“He’s my… a Plutonian.”

“You said he talked to you. Can you understand them?” Liliana’s eyes were wide. “Like have an actual conversation?”

“I have a neural connector that allows me to communicate with the Plutonians. You can get one too if you’d like.”

Liliana nodded eagerly.

Emma seemed less convinced. “You trust these guys?”

“I…” A ball of emotion rolled into her throat.

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