Page 62 of Marked

“Tell them we’re all dead.Tell them you never landed your ship.Tell them the electromagnetic interference in the atmosphere makes coming here an unacceptable risk.You’re a smart woman.You’ll figure something out.”

As if to punctuate my orders, Sorik directed another bolt of lightning.The massive flash of light hit the ground between her and her ship.Her armed escort leaped back with distressed cries.

She didn’t even flinch.“Interesting talent you have, alien man.”

“My name is Sorik.Sloan Carter is my mate.Leave and do not return.If you threaten this valley again, we will destroy your ship.”

Oh hell, yeah.He was sexy when he went primal.

Her lips tightened with anger, but I knew we had won and a sense of relief so profound it almost buckled my knees washing over me."Very well, Sorik."

She gave a curt, professional nod, then turned and ascended the ramp, her grey uniform a stark contrast against the vibrant, alien world she was now forced to abandon.

Her soldiers fell in behind her.The ramp closed.I watched, holding my breath as the vessel rose, its engines screaming.

The planet's normal hum returned.It came slowly at first, a faint, hesitant pulse, then stronger, a warm, living current that flowed through the marks on my skin, through my hand, clasped in Sorik's.It was a welcome, a reassurance, a confirmation.

I turned to him, my heart full.He looked down at me, his silver eyes soft, the fierce protector replaced by the man who loved me, the man I had chosen.

"I do not care for that human female."His voice was a low, intimate rumble.

I laughed.“Neither do I.”A slow smile spread across my face as the sky rumbled in warning.I turned to search the skies for their ship.It was too small to see, too far away for my eyes to find, but I could stillfeelthe disturbance in the planet’s energy field.

I was no longer human, as foreign to my old self as Sorik had been when I first saw him.I was more now.More alive.More aware.More in love…

The energy snapped.A bright light struck something in the distance with a blinding flash.

Sorik watched, then threw his head back and laughed.“The storm has chosen.”

“Her?”I opened my mouth.Closed it.“The storm crashed her ship?”

“Yes.A warrior from Sol’Vorak will find and claim her.Teach her some manners.”

“What!”I tried to image the mighty, feared commander, Ryla Thames, being claimed by a storm guardian from another village.Whoever the warrior was, he was going to have his freaking hands full.“I guess we don’t have to worry about NFI sending more Recon teams.”

“Why not?”

“Two ships lost.Two crews.Our scanners can’t penetrate the atmosphere here.That’s why we tried to break through into the atmosphere.I’m sure she made the same decision.But NFI is a corporation.Everything they do is decided by risk and reward, by finances.They will cut their losses and move on.Catalog this as a hostile world not worth exploring.”

“Perfect.Now you are truly mine.”He leaned down and kissed me, a gentle, possessive kiss that tasted like him.Like home and a future that the storm had chosen for both of us.The marks on our skin blazed in sync, a silent, triumphant declaration.The dreaded NFI had come, and we had met them, not as a lost crew and group of primitive aliens, but as the guardians of a world that had chosen us.

Speaking of… the storm cycle was nearing its peak.

I pulled Sorik toward the village.Toward our home.The storm was coming and I couldn’t wait to ride the lightning with my mate.