|03: She Rejects Me.

ZION's POV…

'Bonetta, bonetta, bonetta!' [Fated one]

It's the only word that chants in my head on repeat as I stare at her and when her honey brown eyes collide with my gaze. I feel like the air has been sucked out of me like a whirlwind. 

She is stunning. Absolutely fucking breathtaking, to the point where my canines ache. They desire nothing more than to sink into the delicate curve of her neck.

'Mate….' My inner warrior roars. 'So pure, so beautiful, and she is ours for the taking…' My twin hearts thump in my chest. 'Bind her to us. Bathe her in our scent, so every warrior on our ship will know who she belongs to.' The veins on my temples throb as I try to control my thoughts and gather the last threads of my composure. 

The more I stare at my tiny human mate, the desire to sink to my knees and serve her intensifies. But I am an Alpha King, and I can not allow my warriors to witness the overwhelming weakness she bestows upon me. I reach out to touch her, and she stumbles back. Her honey-brown eyes don't leave mine, and the need to wrap her up in my arms and take off running back to my cabin in the ship with her becomes crippling. 

Every fiber in my large, powerful body wants to crush her to me and demand that she accept me. 

A Kindred.

An Alien.

I am at war with my emotions. 

“Not like this, brother. You are scaring her.” Jaja steps beside me and reminds me to stand down. “This is not our home. She is not one of us and doesn't understand our primal ways.” He mutters in our mother tongue. 

“She ran away when she was to be served with the contract. She doesn't want to mate with me, and I will not… I can not accept her rejection.” My body grows stiff with outrage from her actions. The very same actions that all most got her beaten or, worst, killed. 

I am a fierce warrior. A desirable Kindred Alpha King to many and this fragile human, my mate, my bonetta refuses to come to me.

The Gods have finally found a way to punish my 100-year-old ass. 

All the laws that were laid out bare on the table many centuries ago through the treaty should now be void.  She is the first to break the sacred union between our people. 

Not me. 

Two of my Elite warriors step forward, causing her to take three back, and the scent of fear rebelliously wafts through the air. I snap my head to the side, baring my growing canines as they break through my gums, and I hiss at them. 

Deep down, I know they weren't going to touch her unless they had a death wish to battle me in the Grand Arena once we return home. There are only three reasons why a Kindred enters the Grand Arena in combat form. 

One: You have challenged another Kindred for their mate to take as your own. 

Two: You have been sentenced to death, and you must battle the Queens' finest warrior she personally chooses.

And three: You wish for an honorable death by taking your own life in front of a bloodthirsty audience.

“Please, I don't want to cause you any more trouble than I already have.” Her timid voice quivers as she wraps her trembling arms around her curvaceous waist. “I… I just want to go home.” She mutters as her eyes disappear behind a wall of tears. 

“It es nawt save for yhu to leef,” I try my best to explain to her in the human language. 

Her brows pinch together with confusion, “did you just say 'It is not safe for me to leave?'” She asks skeptically, wiping the tip of her wet nose with the back of her hand.

“Yes.” I reply with a firm nod of my head.

She unexpectedly starts to giggle, causing my twin hearts to cease pumping. It's a beautiful sound I wish to hear often from this moment forward.

“That was fresh.” She shakes her head, sighing.  “And I doubt it is safe for me to be here, too.

 Especially when…" Her voice fades as she quickly closes her mouth and turns to walk away. 

“We the kindred serve to protect the female species. Unlike the human males on this planet.” Jaja kneels before her, openly declaring his submission to my intended. “Your life is safe in our hands.”

My bonetta stops in her tracks, slowly turning back around to face us once again. The other Elite Warriors soon follow my brothers lead as they all kneel before her. With hesitation gleaming in her eyes, her gaze bounces from each Kindred with hesitation evident on her face. When her gaze finally finds mine once again, she raises her brows as if to expect me to follow suit.

I smile under my mask, my body going rigid with wild desire invading every aching inch of my hardening cock. 

“And what about you?” She finally asks breathlessly, lowering her arms from her delectable body. 

“I bow to no one.” I say in a firm, but cocky tone that causes her eyes to narrow into deadly slits. 

“I thought you Kindred are here to serve and protect us women?”

I chuckle.  She is a fiery little thing with a sharp tongue that will suit me well. 

I should inform her that I don't bow to my intended before the mating process. But I decide against it and have a feeling that she won't take my words lightly once she finds out that she is mine.

After all, she did run away from me this morning. The thought of chasing her, driving her delirious with need, irritation, and desire, sound more intriguing than trying to force her to love me.

“My name is Zion Mahji. I am an Alpha King, a Warrior, and I bow down to no one. Including the female species whom we serve to protect with our lives.” I snarl, taking three steps forward, and to my surprise, she doesn't retreat. 

Instead, her honey-brown eyes harden as they gaze into my brilliant blue ones. 

“Fucking asshole.” I hear her mutter under her breath.

 I am unfamiliar with the term as my translator is having trouble trying to describe her choice of words to me. 

 “Unless you are willing to mate with me, then I will gladly kneel in your presence as you will initially become my Queen.” I flick her a cheeky wink, knowing that she would rather have her head cut clean from her neck. 

She giggles, “me, mate with an Alien?” She sneers with outrageous animosity. “Gods no! You may not have four arms, but I cannot see myself fucking a blue Alien and carrying your child.” She visibly shudders with repulsion in front of me. 

A deep, low, and uncontrollable vicious growl escapes between my lips at her comment. “There are plenty of females who will beg to differ with you. Many of my Elite Kindred Warriors have already been mated with a scrawny human.” I say in a cruel tone. 

“Good for them.” She crosses her arms in a defensive posture. “But I don't plan to ever let a Kindred fuck me.”

'Not just any Kindred!' I growl internally with fierce jealousy. 

I rip the mask off my face, violently running my fingers through my midnight black hair with frustration. Lowering my head, I search for her gaze and when they collide, she gasps with surprise. 

“Yo… you're not blue or… Or. Shit!!” She cries out as her eyes suddenly roll back into her head, and she faints before me. 

I lurch forward, catching her, and I pick her up in my large arms. A sense of calmness washes over me as my eyes scan her beautiful face. The sensation of her soft body pressing against mine has the power to calm me.

“I don't know how many times I need to remind you before you start to believe me, brother.” Jaja mumbles as he approaches my side. “But you need to stop taking your mask off and making these… weak females faint before you.” 

“I can not be blamed for the good looks I was blessed with.” 

“Ha! Since when do females faint over good looks, brother?” He retorts with laughter in his voice, clicking his tongue and shaking his head. “The Gods surely want us to suffer, don't they?” He exhales loudly with exhaustion. “There is no future for us with these humans, brother. This mission is a waste of time, and our people deserve better than this freak show playing out before us.” Abruptly, he turns on his heel and storms back towards the building we are currently occupying. 

A thunderous beat plays beneath his combat boots with every stride he takes that is full of anger, fury, and dissatisfaction, reflecting his inner turmoil.