Crystal Knoll Point of View

As Sunni holds me on the couch, I squirm in pain trying to find somewhere that is comfortable. Vincent noticed that I was gone, my body shut down in pain me screaming in release as Sunni tries to explain what is happening.

"Crystal, honey, please stop screaming. Your mark has realized that you are not around him, and he has realized the same sending your body into a state of pain that is mean to paralyze you. It should go away soon, but I need you to calm down so I can think for half a second on what I can do for you."

While I appreciate her, she reminds me a lot of me, and the blunt anger that can come from frustration.

I wouldn't blame her.

"I might have something that can relieve that pain." She runs off without waiting for my answer and I let my head fall into the couch. If she doesn't have anything I think I might just start slitting my throat instead.

Instead of coming in with an ointment or something Sunni runs into the room with a tablet that has the news in their language playing through. I groan and her and she raises a finger to me pointing at the small screen.

She forces a smile, "Lythapad foresric unpa venod unpa quape ge ferit, ugo ertica orfa uoya." I raise my brow and she covers her mouth, "Oh so you don't know about the mass slaughter of women, and you don't speak Latin?'"

She continues to listen to the news listening intently to what they are saying before turning to me, "The King has sent out a search party for you, to which I assume you must be his mate. Where are you planning on mentioning that or was that just a secret you were going to keep till, I got my head cut off?"

"What happened to fuck the patriarchy?"

"It's fuck the patriarchy until the King is involved. He murders anything in his path that gets in his way, and I happen to be in his path. Now I am not changing my mind or anything, but I wish I would have been told a little sooner so I could pick a better hiding location."

"Are you always this snarky?"

"Are you always this dense? It would make sense since you are from earth." She tosses her hand on her hip, my pain becoming a dull ache compared to earlier.

I ignore her thinking through my new plan. If somehow, we could convince the herd of idiots, I am indeed not the mate of the King or have Sunni moves us to a more secure location, then maybe I can have her teleport me back to earth. While I would feel bad asking, getting home has to be my main priority.

"He has sent out a Yheve Unferta. This must be serious mate hunting. A Yheve Unferta is like a group of people that gather all un-mated females, and the ones that do not have males to speak for them, for example you, and drag them to the castle so the mate can find their women very quickly. They are predicted to be here by tomorrow, and if they see any women out on the streets or even just barely see the hair of women until the Yheve Unferta show up, they will kill her, even if she is the mate of the man." She says and pulls her hair back into a ponytail.

Oh? So, getting shot is an option?

"So, what's your plan?" She tosses the tablet to the side and smirks, "And remember I can only go places I have seen, so taking you home wouldn't be an option."

"You literally just lost so many helpful points." I groan tossing my head back into the couch while she laughs.

"Ah so you are predictable."

"Are you always a bitch? Or just to me?" I laugh at her, and she sticks her tongue out at me.

"Only to people that I don't know well, trying to stay alive in this economy ya know?" She tuts struts over to the other couch plopping down.

I shrug my shoulders and look around, her house is what you would have expected out of eighty-year-old women, it is so orderly, and it looks like she is never here.

I guess if you can teleport then you don't have to be home a lot.

My shoulder seemed to stop hurting with only a small sore remaining allowing me to sit up, she smiled, "Looks like it wore off, it will happen again though, let's just you can keep yourself together when they get here. Your fresh mark screams run away mate."

Sunni takes a deep breath and claps her hand together in a loud sound moving to the kitchen to grab stuff for sandwiches. She announces her every move as she walks through the kitchen. Her whistle moves through the home, and she is back soon enough with weird looking sandwiches, nothing too crazy to look at but the green bread definitely gives me a queasy feeling.

"You haven't had much of our food, huh?" She clicks her tongue and shoves her face full of the sandwich, me following quickly.

"Not really. I had Gera, but that is the extent of what I have tried."

"The bread is green because it's made with vegetables. With so many people to feed across the galaxy and trade being encouraged, many things that we have are modified to increase the nutrients that we intake, like bread having a full serving of veggies per slice."

I look over the bread, the taste being fresh and unexpected. We sit in silence as we shove our faces together letting our focus be on the food between us.

"So do you think I will find my mate tomorrow?" Sunni says sitting on the couch next to me and I look at her our legs tangled together and the tablet on the table next to us to keep us updated with updates.

Her body language shifts lightly, and she acts more like a nervous schoolgirl than someone that hates the idea of mates. In the short time that I been able to get to know her I could tell that she is conflicted on her feelings about it but doesn't want to admit it.

"So, you want a mate?"

"Me? Want a mate? Pff." She choaks on her spit and beats her chest pulling away from me to sit straight watching the tablet closer.

"It's okay to want a mate, Sunni. Why would you not want someone that is destined to be with you?"

"Pretty hypocritical coming from someone that jumped down the side of a building to get away from hers." She tuts leaning back to run her fingers through her hair spinning the ends through her fingers.

"I agree, but my circumstance is a little different. I didn't grow up like this, I was taken from my home and kind of forced into this position. If I had grown up in the Cintum maybe... but I would never take away the joy for others. If you want a mate, then you should have one, but if you don't, that shouldn't mean your death either." My voice is sorrowful but caring as I sit up with her letting my head fall on her shoulder. She is a little taller than me, so my height difference is noticeable when I have to shimmy closer to her to lay my head down.

Nodding my head against her to encourage her, she sighs dropping her shoulders slightly and then continues, "My ability allows me to travel to a lot of places, places that I have traveled to, I mean, and believe me... I have traveled everywhere. I spent months going between the cities trying to find him, or her I mean, but more than anything I want someone that can take care of me. I am tired of just surviving..."

She sighs and lets her shoulders rise throwing my head off of her. A slur of words in her tongue spill through her slips and I can't make out any of it. Soon she looks at me with an expression that I don't quite comprehend, "If he isn't anywhere that I have traveled, that means that they have to be at the castle serving the King, While I might, and I mean might actually want a mate, serving someone that has been so cold to us would irk me."

We fall to silence again, and she watches the news translating at certain time points for me, but no more emotional garb is shared between us her stone wall back up and protecting her again.

She looks out the window and sees the sun setting and smiles at me, "It seems it is time to get ready for bed."

"Bed? I just woke up a couple hours ago."

"When we teleported, we moved to a time zone a few hours ahead, meaning nighttime sooner. So yes, it is time for bed."

Just like on earth with central time, as long as we don't have that bullshit jumping back and forth and hour at Hedium I think I could get used the way the time zones are set here.

When I was stripped bare in the shower later that night in the spare room that Sunni lent me, I allowed myself to sit under the water letting the water send me into a sea of thoughts that have plagued me all day.

Sunni made it clear that the guards would be here tomorrow, and while we could teleport elsewhere, she has never been able to teleport off worlds meaning that at some point the guards would find us, or we would have to starve until we could find a susceptible male to help us. The double edge of double-edged swords.

If anything makes sense right now it's that nothing makes sense.

That's the truth.

My body curves away from the bed as the mark sends paralyzing pain through me again my sleep being ripped away from me, Sunni breaking into my room to my screams and bone shattering pain.

"It will go away. Just calm down. It will go away." Sunni repeats over and over again running her hand through my hair trying to calm me pulling my sweat covered head into her lap.

The pain reaches a peak forcing me to lift off the bed into a sitting position my eyes rolling back as it ripples over me forcing every cell in my body to shake with pain. I feel Sunni's tears hitting my face as she watches me rip in half unable to beg for the pain to go away.

My sweating figure flops back on the bed as Sunni gives me worried eyes.

"Are you okay?" Sunni whispers into the darkness of the room the dull ache returning over my body.

The motion of my head nodding could be felt, against her uncovered thigh, she leans down pressing a kiss against my forehead her tears adding to the salty sweat that covers me.

"You are so strong, earthling." She whispers cradling me close to her letting her light hums move me back to sleep by body exhausted from the pain that it had to endure.

"Wake up! Wake up! The Yheve Unferta will show up any moment. Fix your nest you call hair and get in the living room." My body shoots up from bed and I groan. Why didn't she wake me up earlier?

"I wanted you to get sleep and it... bothered me that I had to disturb you, mostly after last night." My face must have said it all.

"I appreciate you, Sunni."

She looks at me, a flat line forming with her mouth as she registers my words, "Something you need to know Crystal... thanking people, appreciating people is a sign of weakness for someone. I could easily kill you ya know?"

"For some reason, I don't think you are ready to kill me just yet."

She clicks her tongue and smiles a cat like grin, "Yet is always a good assumption to have for me. Now come on, they will be here soon. Grab a grey dress and meet me in the living room."

Standing up I crack my back dropping the thiun in the corner to stand naked in front of the closet that has a few grey dresses. I grab the first one I see tugging it over my body letting it fall to my knees. It almost covers my mark, so I tug it over, so it looks like the dress is just hanging off to one side. Sunni tosses some shoes into the room, a nice pair of sandals, and she yells out that she prays they fit me because the wraps would be a red flag to any guards that walked in.

The sandals fit snug against my feet, my hair still in the braid I had tossed it into after my late-night shower.

As I leave the room, banging on the door sounds and Sunni runs to open it. When she does, she drops her head down not showing her face and I quickly do the same.

"Hello females, we are with the Yheve Unferta serving the King. As you must know the King's mate has run from their quarters and we have been sent to locate here. May we please see your faces." Sunni lifts her head and smiles the male looking over her quickly and then deciding she is indeed not the mate of the King.

He then turns to me, I look up at him and smile, my shirt still covering my mark against my skin, he looks over me with a more skeptical glance, "Where are you from female?"

I see Sunni suck in a breath, her shoulders straight up, but I keep my smile, "Klataz."

"Fuck." Sunni whispers and turns to me throwing her hands up telling me to run and I look at the male who smirks starting to walk towards me. The dress falls back into the correct position as I turn and the male lays eyes on the mark and with his suspicions confirmed, he starts to book it to get his hands on me.

I dash to one of the back rooms and slam the door behind me letting the soldier beat on the door as I look for a way out, his threats to call the King ringing through the door causing my heart to race and lose focus. A small crack shows through the wood of the door as he runs into it again. I don't have much time.

I run to the window throwing it open and stick a leg out. As soon as my other leg touches the ground the door burst open and in comes the soldier with those funky alien eyes.

"Come here you little..." The man speeds to the window just as I turn to run away. His callous covered hand grabs my ankle dragging me back through window. My ass slams on the ground as he takes a breath.

"Now let's go get you in the fucking car." He grabs my hand and lifts me up dragging me through the hallways on my ass that is definitely going to get a rug burn after this.

Right when we enter the living room Sunni widens her eyes at my messed-up clothes and the black eyes expression the man holds the death grip on my ankle enough to tell her the whole story.

"You are an idiot." Sunni whispers as I get put next to her with a tie holding my ankles and wrist together separately, "Women don't speak to men. Ever. Didn't your mate tell you that?"

"It's not like I have written down everything that has been said to me these past two days, okay?" I groan tugging at the ties that have been used to wrap around my wrist.

The man pulls out a device similar to what had buzzed on Vincent's table the day before, "My King, I have found a marked female. Brunette, green eyes, runner."

The amount of loud he had to be for me to hear him across the room is impressive as the man pulls the communication device from his ear as Vincent screams orders to bring me back immediately.

The man groans sliding the communication device back into his uniform as another male enters the home seeing the two of us tied up. I see him stop in his place, looking at Sunni with a similar smile that Vincent had given me when he found. Me.

I guess she did find her mate today. He picks her up under her knees and behind her head and she just lets it happen. Very quickly he pulls her to him to where her face is dug into his chest, and he is very close to her neck. I can guess what he wants to do.

"Jeff, both go with us. This one is mine." He growls picking up Sunni in a similar fashion I had seem the other men do, the way Vincent demands to carry me, but the main difference being that Sunni smiles leaning her head against him as he cuts the ties off of her and holds her close, a light kiss on her forehead to go with it.

"Great Mark, now I really am the last fucking man standing huh?" The apparent Jeff remarks looking at me with an eyes roll, "This is the King's mate, runner I tell ya."

"Hello, my Queen, I am sorry to approach your friend in such a manner, I hope that all is forgiven." Mark smiles at me trying to seem friendly but I just keep my mouth shut avoiding any contact with him.

Sunni looks over at me with a guilty look and I just roll my eyes at her giving her an awkward back thumbs up as she curls more into him. Even though I don't agree with things doesn't mean I shouldn't be happy for others.

Jeff wraps his hand around my upper arm snipping the tie around my ankle letting me walk to the car that is sitting in front of the cabin. Mark takes care of contacting the other guards to let them know that I had been found.

While Mark nicely sets his mate down in the back seat with me, Jeff shoves me, and I almost eat shit as I land in the back on Sunni's lap who almost jumps out of the car to beat ass, but Mark stops her with his arm coming into the back seat to hold her back.

"He tends to be a little angry. I will handle him love."

I swear I see smoke come from her nostrils as she stares down Jeff who just gets into the passenger seat letting Mark handle the 'driving.' He pushes the wheel up and we shoot into the sky and when we were well above the trees, he leveled the wheel and drove like you would a car, but more motion sickness. The castle comes into view quickly, it seems the car can fly faster than I would like it. I almost turn to Sunni to ask her teleport me elsewhere, but the way she stares through the seat her mate deters me.

I can almost feel his anger before I see it and I shrink more, almost put out of view, but Jeff just laughs at me sending me a wink as we land in the courtyard.

Vincent stands waiting for me, a scowl resting on his handsome face, and I am almost tempted to flash a nipple instead of continuing this conversation in the direction I feel like it might go. Maybe a little nudity will keep me from being ripped apart.

Jeff turns off the car and comes around the back to my door and opens it, letting me out while cutting off the restraint. Before I could even process the new circulation to my fingers, Vincent's hold is on me dragging from the car and into the castle.

"Where the hell have you been?" He seethes carrying me through the building much like before. Does this ever get old for him?

Instead of going to the expected bedroom, he carries me an office that has simple black couches and a large desk with papers thrown all over it. This must have been where he went off to...

He drops me on the couch running his hand through his hair to go behind the desk and get a better look at me, "I want you to start from the beginning on how we went from kissing goodbyes and watching shows, almost making love for fucks sake to you running off to the middle of nowhere."

I stay silent, his anger very present and my fear of something happening to me taking over. I watch him grab the chair behind my desk screaming as he throws into the wall next to him, breaking into pieces at the contact.

"Do you have anything to say to me? Anything at all? Have I not given you enough? What do you want? What can I give you for you to stay, stay with me? Please baby. Please."

My heart aches as I look at him, his once perfect face now face of torment and pain. He looks over me with such hurt that my body can't help but call out to him, want to help him, and hold him close until he knows I am there forever. But the matter is, I can't give him that. I can't give him what he wants. I

"Fine. If you are choosing to keep to yourself, then I will respect that. Mark and Jeff will be the new guards on our suite while I am gone. Other guards will be appointed under our windows, and you will not be allowed to leave the room with me until you give me an explanation, or I learn to trust you again. Is that clear?"

"Your plan to win me over is to lock me away? What kind of fucking love story is that you, asshole?"

"It's the kind that keeps you safe and here. The kind that keeps you with me, so I have the time to love you damn it!" He walks around the desk grabbing me from the chair and holding my waist against him, our breaths matching beats and our eyes meeting a fire that could melt