Page 77 of Infala: The Alien's Bond
Rohanna turned to him with a curious look. “Oh?”
“It is true,” he said. “And we freed a great many enslaved prisoners in the process, including another from Darla’s world. She will be joining us here once she and the others have finished returning the freed captives to their homes.”
“That is marvelous!” Rohanna chirped. “And this may even smooth over relations among some of the rival factions always fighting one another.”
“It was our hope,” Heydar agreed.
Rohanna moved over to Darla and gestured for Tikanna to join them. The crowd parted and the old woman took her place beside her friend and leader. The elder nodded toward Darla. Tikanna got what she meant and moved closer to the human, poking her exposed skin, testing the lines and runes embedded in it.
“Incredible,” she said. “The pigment is fully merged with her body. The process is complete.”
Darla felt the tug inside her pulling harder now that she was aware of what it was. Tikanna saw the look in her eye and smiled. She looked at Heydar next, her smile faltering slightly.
“Let me see your Infala, child,” she said.
It dawned on Darla what was happening, and she was strangely okay with it. She would be bound to her man, and suddenly that wasn’t such a bad idea.
Darla pulled her top down from the collar, exposing the dark rune on her neck, the white highlights faintly glowing in the dimming light.
“Ah, as I thought. You are bonded.”
Darla’s cheeks flushed with excitement as she turned to Heydar, her eyes full of love and longing, showing him the mark now settled in its permanent form. But something was off. His eyes did not share her joy.
“Heydar, what is it?” she asked.
His jaw tensed and his eyes glistened as he lifted his shirt, exposing the Infala on his sternum. It was not the same as hers, and it remained as dark and motionless as ever.
Darla looked around, confused. “No. No, no, no. This can’t be right.”
“The Infala does not lie,” Tikanna said, turning to the crowd. “Who among you feels the pull of the Infala?” she asked in a loud, steady voice. “Step forward and join with your bonded mate!”
A murmur and rustling in a group of males made everyone turn and stare. One stepped forward. One Darla knew all too well.
“Zepharos, do not play,” Tikanna chided.
He lifted his shirt, exposing the Infala resting on his flank. The highlights were slight, but they were glowing. His rune matched. Darla spun around to face Heydar, panic and confusion in her tearing eyes.
“No, it’s supposed to be you!”
Heydar’s gaze shifted to the ground, unable to lock eyes with her, his shoulders, normally held back and his head high now exuding sadness and resignation.
“We cannot fight it,Malaika. It is the law. More than that, it is the way of the Infala.”
He lifted his eyes, meeting hers for one heart wrenching moment, then turned and walked away.
“What? No! This isn’t right!”
A jolt of strange power surged through her when a hand clasped her wrist. Zepharos had come to her side, his Infala drawing him to her as hers tried to draw her to him. It was overwhelming, the sensation. As if everything right in the world was telling her to go with this man. But her heart was breaking even as hormones, or magic, or whatever this rune was forced her to follow him as he led her from the public square.
“Come. We are going to my home,” he said, lust clear in his eyes. “Now.”
Her legs unsteady, Darla followed him in a daze, blindsided and utterly adrift.
CHAPTERTHIRTY-FIVE
Zepharos led Darla quickly to his abode, the newly bonded pair making a quick and perfectly expected exit from the group. All present knew where they were going and what they would be doing. It was the way of the Infala, after all, a part of their laws and traditions older than any could begin to remember.
Once a couple had found their life mate, drawn closer and closer until they finally saw each other’s matching Infala rune, the two would feel an irresistible need to consummate things as soon as possible, setting in stone their union once and for all.
