Prime Deliverance (Katieran Prime Series (Book Five)) by KD Jones Page B

Colony’s leader arrives.”
    “It was no problem. I understand.” She gave him a sweet smile.
    “Well, I would like to make it up to you. How about I take you on a special tour tomorrow after Morning Meal?”
    “Lindsey and I would enjoy that,” AriELa replied noticing the surprise on Lindsey’s face. She gave the other female an innocent smile, but Lindsey narrowed her eyes at AriELa, suspecting something was up. AriELa read in one of Kat’s romance books that sometimes romances needed a little push to get things moving along. AriELa planned on doing a whole lot of shoving. Her friend Lindsey was in love and she wanted her friend to have that love returned.
     
    *****
     
    The next morning, AriELa watched from the balcony of her suite as the shuttle with KadEN and Lindsey took off. “Good luck, my friend,” she said aloud.
    “Why would you do this?” TarAK asked her, standing at the balcony doors.
    She turned around. She hadn’t heard him come in. She looked around for Lucy, but the warrior female wasn’t there.
    “Second Lieutenant Daniels is training with AshOR today.” He stepped forward.
    “Oh.” She blushed because she realized she sounded breathless. They were completely alone. That had not been her intention when she set up Lindsey and KadEN’s get away.
    TarAK was confused. He stopped directly in front of her but did not reach for her as he longed to. “Why would you push the Prime Leader into the arms of another female?”
    AriELa looked into his beautiful eyes. “They have love for one another but refuse to act on it. I am giving them the opportunity to act.”
    “But you are to mate him.”
    “I cannot mate someone if he has love for another. Lindsey is my friend, I want her to be happy.”
    “Why come back to Kiljor if you did not plan to mate?” He moved closer.
    “I had thought there might be a possibility of a mating. However, the moment we returned and I saw the two of them together, I knew it would not happen.”
    TarAK broke their eye contact as he stared off angrily in the direction the shuttle had flown. “He is a fool to want any other female but you.”
    She was flattered that he would say that. But then, he didn’t want her enough to fight for her so she had to harden her heart. “No, he’s a fool if he doesn’t claim the female he loves.”
    TarAK looked back at her realizing she could be talking about the two of them. It was the first time they talked about what was going on with them. “Maybe he feels there are too many obstacles keeping them apart and is trying to do the right thing for the female and his people.”
    AriELa shook her head. “Denying the very part of you that makes you who you are is not serving yourself or your people. Our belief in a mated pair of Gods is the very structure of both nations’ society. We were created to find our true mate and to bond. To do anything else is acting against the Gods’ wishes.” This was getting too close to their own non-relationship. She needed some space.
    “I think I’ll go down to the Meal Room.” She didn’t wait for him but walked away. She hadn’t set up Lindsey and KadEN so she could be alone with TarAK. TarAK had more than one opportunity to state his feelings for her. She would have accepted him happily, but she couldn’t keep putting her heart out there to be stomped on repeatedly. For the first time in a long time she wondered why she had survived that Morin attack when her family had not? Would everyone have been better off without her there? She knew these thoughts would only bring her misery so she pushed them aside.
     
    *****
     
    After leaving the Meal Room, AriELa went in search of Lucy, she had a question for the warrior female. She found Lucy with AshOR. AriELa watched Lucy as she trained with AshOR. AshOR had taken off his shirt and his golden, hairless skin had a sheen of sweat. He was what Jaxon would call a hottie. The male standing next to her growled. She glanced up at TarAK in