3013: MATED (3013: The Series) (18 page)

The voice rang out, startling
Alexis as several soldiers moved forward to surround them. The crowd of
spectators gasped as they moved back, giving them a wide berth. Xavier, Thorn,
Brydan and Galan let out vicious growls as they moved to protect her, leaving
her no doubt that the man who had spoken was talking about her.

What the hell was going on?

“Touch her and I will rip your
arms off and beat you with them while I watch you bleed to death,” Xavier
snarled.

“Really? That’s just disgusting…”
Alexis said, too shocked for a proper response.

“I think the description was
quite accurate,” Brydan said then snarled viciously at the soldiers closest to
him. That had the officers stopping instantly and looking at each other warily
as they refused to come any closer.

“They will not touch you,
mate,”
Thorn swore.

“I know,”
she said,
sending her mates a wave of assurance. The last thing she wanted was a brawl in
front of all the guests.

Regent Harold Dexter, an older
man who wore his arrogance like a cloak, strode up to confront them. “Officer
Donovan, you are under arrest.”

Xavier, Thorn , Galan and Brydan
all growled at his announcement, and Alexis knew that the older man had no clue
how close he was to death by the haughty look on his face.

“If you think we will let you
take our mate you are insane,” Thorn said with a mocking laugh.

“Your mate?” A woman asked as she
walked up. Alexis turned and was relieved to see Regent Marie Wyland join the
group. She was known to be a fair regent and an impartial voice during
conflict. Her jaw dropped in shock as she finally noticed Alexis’ glowing eyes,
and it was obvious that this farce was all Regent Dexter’s doing and the other
council members didn’t know anything about him trying to have her arrested.

“Aye, our mate,” Galan replied
harshly. “You will never take her from us!”

“She had violated—”

Regent Wyland cut Regent Dexter
off before he could finish speaking. “I think we need to finish this discussion
somewhere in private. This was not the time nor the place for this, Harold.”

Alexis laid a gentle hand on Xavier
and Galan’s arms and felt them shaking with the need to defend her.
“We need
to talk to them.”

“Nay, not if they threaten you
we do not,”
Galan said.

“Please. I’m not scared. I
know you would never let anything happen to me.”

Xavier was enraged and it took
all his willpower not to lash out at the stupid fuck who dared to threaten his
mate. Never before had the urge to kill taken him so strongly that he would
have attacked the man in the middle of the party without a second of regret. If
not for his mate, he would have torn the man to pieces and let his brothers
take care of the soldiers surrounding them, but he couldn’t because he knew
that would upset their mate even more. Still, despite the calm she tried to
portray, the distress emanating from her was enough to make him feel feral.

That small human male had
embarrassed their mate, and that infuriated him. It shouldn’t be allowed. No
one should ever make his beautiful, little mate feel anything less than the
priceless gem she was. He calmed a little as he felt Alexis’ faith in them and
her absolute belief that they wouldn’t let anything happen to her. Focusing on
that, he conceded.

Xavier sighed then turned his
furious glowing eyes on Regent Wyland. “We will speak with you, but call off
your guards first,” he said sharply. “We will not have anyone threatening our
mate or will we react in kind. This is the only warning you will receive.”

Alexis was relieved when Regent
Wyland barked out an order to the soldiers to stand down while Regent Dexter
sputtered furiously. They were shown into a room the regents used as a hearing
room for disputes. She was obviously on trial so Alexis thought it was fitting.
She held her head up high, showing no fear under the circumstances and felt her
mates approval.

Xavier, Thorn, Galan and Brydan
surrounded her protectively, all of them looking at the people who entered the
room through narrowed, furious eyes. She could feel the anger pouring from her
mates and was holding onto her own by a very thin thread. It was wrong. This
whole entire situation was totally fucked up, but she didn’t want to cause a
rift between the Dragon Warriors and humans that could jeopardize future
relations between the races.

So, she would see this through. 

Several regents positioned
themselves in a half circle, automatically taking a position of power, but that
didn’t bother Alexis. She knew who was the greatest threat in the room, and it
wasn’t the humans. With their magic, there was very little the regents could do
to them, but Alexis was walking a tightrope to keep her mates from attacking
anyone who insulted her. She could smell the fear coming off of a few of the
regents and smiled in response.

Good. They should fear them.

Regent Wyland started off as she
stepped forward and shot a hard look at the man who has created the drama.
“Regent Dexter. Would you care to explain why you chose to make a spectacle
during this celebration?”

“Officer Donovan is a disgrace as
a liaison officer and should be held accountable for her actions and abuse of
her position,” Regent Dexter spewed out as he waved a hand in the air. “We
cannot have officers disregarding the rules and regulations so flagrantly
without punishment.”

Alexis bristled at the irate tone
of the regent charging her. Her only crime had been falling in love with her
mates, and there were no rules in place about that. She could feel that her
mates sensed that she needed to handle this herself for her own piece of mind.
Feeling their pride in her swell, she took a step forward to address the panel
of regents.

“You speak of rules and
regulations when all I did was follow my heart. Yes, I understand that there
are guidelines in place for liaison officers not to overstep their positions,
but there is no rule regarding a choice to bond with any visitors on a
permanent level. These males are my mates and I have chosen to bond my life
with theirs.”

“You stupid girl, that wasn’t
your decision to make,” Regent Dexter sneered.

“Insult my mate again and I will
rip out your throat,” Xavier snarled softly as his hands changed to lethal
looking claws. He took a step toward Regent Dexter, making the other man pale.

“If not mine than whose?” Alexis
shot back as she placed a calming hand on Xavier’s arm. She could feel the
muscles straining beneath her palm and knew it was taking every ounce of his
control to stop from launching himself at the spiteful man.
“Please calm
yourself, my love. They can’t do anything to hurt me. I know you will protect
me, but there is no need.”

“I do not like that fucker,”
Xavier
growled.

“Nor do I,”
Alexis said
and gave a little laugh to calm him.
“But I really don’t want to get
banished from Earth, so let’s play nice with the others. Trust me, I got this.”

“We will trust you, mate,”
Brydan
interjected.
“But if that poor excuse for a male makes another attempt to
take you from us, I will transport him straight into the middle of a large
boulder.”

She shot a startled look at him.
“Can
you really do that?”

Brydan shot her a look and she
saw that his glowing eyes were sparkling with veiled amusement.
“I do not
know, but I am willing to try.”

“Officer Donovan,” Regent Marks
said gently, jumping into the fray. “We can’t have officers doing something
like this without addressing the council—”

“Why not?” Regent Spartan said as
he folded his arms and frowned fiercely at the others. Alexis felt gratitude
sweep through her as Jax Spartan’s father spoke up on her behalf. “If they
wanted to mate with her and she with them, why the hell would she have to speak
to us about it?”

“This could impact all humans—”
Regent Marks began.

“But that is the point…Alexis is
no longer human,” Commander Sullivan Archer said as he entered the room
followed by Commander Jax Spartan. Alexis could see that her two friends were
furious and she was pleased when they came to stand with her and her mates,
showing everyone exactly who they supported.

Gasps sounded from a few of the
regents and Jax nodded his head, crossing his arms over his chest. “And she is
no longer Officer Donovan either. She had already informed me of the situation
and had been cleared of duty, which is how Regent Dexter knew about her mating
the Dragon Warriors.”

“After the fact. She resigned
after the damage was already done,” Regent Dexter argued.

“So what?” Jax fired back. “You
think she should have resigned before she mated to them? What kind of fucked up
logic is that?”

“Careful Commander, you are on
thin ice,” Regent Dexter warned.

Jax scoffed at that. “You want to
come at me, Dexter? Bring it. You might want to remember you aren’t above the
law either. Challenge me at your own risk.”

“What do they mean that you are
no longer human, Alexis?” Regent Wyland asked.

“Just look at her eyes and those
markings covering her arms and back,” Regent Spartan said. “It’s obvious she is
different and I have to say it looks good on her.”

Alexis felt her mates love flood
into her through their bond, giving her the courage to say what she had been
holding back for so long. It was time for the regents to truly understand what
had happened and why she had made her decision to mate with them. This was her
opportunity to speak up for all the women who didn’t have a voice, and she was
determined not to waste it.

“When I agreed to mate with my
Dragon Warriors they converted me.” She ignored the shocked murmurs and
continued. “I believe it was fated that I meet Xavier, Thorn, Galan and Brydan.
The only reason you are hearing about any of this now is because I am
permanently bonded with my mates and not hiding it. And you forget, Regent
Dexter, I am an empath, and my gifts have only been enhanced by my conversion.
Back in the hall I could sense your daughter Marianna’s satisfaction when you
confronted me. You seemed fine with her flirting with them earlier this week at
the dinner the regents hosted, and I have to wonder if that has anything to do
with your actions tonight.”

“How dare you!” Regent Dexter
roared. “I have no idea what you are talking about.”

“It is true,” Thorn growled. “I
heard you speaking to your mate about how your status would be increased if we
were connected to your family, but we had no interest in your daughter. We knew
Alexis was meant to be ours as soon as we met her.”

“I have also heard Regent
Dexter’s opinion on infertile women before, and it gives me extreme pleasure to
have this opportunity to tell you that you are a disgrace as a regent for
calling us wastes of resources,” Alexis announced. The room erupted with
furious exclamations and her mates growled in anger.

“You go too far,” Regent Dexter
seethed.

“She does not!” Galan snarled. “I
have seen the memory for myself.”

“Yes, I shared that memory with
my mates.” Alexis agreed then addressed the rest of the room, ignoring the man
who had once made her question her own worth. “We share a mind bond and they
have seen the truth. I understand that there are reasons for the protocols in
place for testing and placement of elites, and I even understand the marking to
designate which woman can help further the human race, but some of your rules
cause more problems than they solve. To some, the star marks us as unworthy,
and to others it marks us as targets. As an infertile female I have been
limited to the life I could have here on Earth. In fact, all women are limited
on Earth to some degree and I am glad that I had the opportunity to choose my
own bonding unit, unlike most fertile women.”

“You know there are reasons for
our system,” Regent Marks rebuked.

“Yes, but that doesn’t make it
fair. It is easy for you to say as a man who has no idea how women feel. On the
Council of Regents there are no infertile females allowed on the panel so those
women have absolutely no say unless you allow it. You speak of rules and
regulation, but I have worked undercover to help find those officers that have
abused their positions of power to blackmail and take advantage of infertile
females and it happens more than any of you know.”

“This is very troublesome,”
Regent Marks murmured.

“How do you think the infertile
women feel?” Alexis asked, surprising all the regents with her vicious, inhuman
growl. “Even the way you have chosen to confront me about this matter shows
absolutely no respect for me or my mates whereas any bonded unit would have a
private audience with you. Instead, Regent Dexter chose to do this at a
celebration held in honor of my mates. The fact is he would be fine with his
own daughter bonding with the Dragon Warriors, but since I was worthless
because I was infertile I have committed a crime in his eyes.”

“Damn their celebration,” Brydan
muttered. “They can take their honor and—”

“Brydan…” Alexis murmured his
name.

“We deeply regret the timing of
all of this, and for the reason,” Regent Wyland said.

“Make no mistake, we agreed to
speak to you as a courtesy because our mate wanted us to, but as Alexis is no
longer human you have no hold over her,” Galan added.

“Agreed.” Regent Spartan said.
The hard look in his eyes dared anyone to question him, and they didn’t.

“Centuries ago our own world had
rules in place that were made to counter our lack of females, but there came a
time when those rules needed to be changed. Perhaps you should consider your
own rules and who it is damaging,” Thorn said. “Matters of the heart have no
bearing in the political arena. Alexis was destined to be ours and there is
nothing you can do to change that.”