Guard (A Sci-Fi Alien Romance) Read Online Free PDF Page B

I’d never be seen again. We slowed and came to a stop. I looked up at the sign above us and couldn’t help but smile despite my terror. Cathedral of the Saints. Of course. My view of the spires had been obscured by the guards. I was still surprised I’d missed it.
    The doors opened slowly as the first guards reached the top steps. It was too gloomy inside for me to see anything yet. I stepped across the threshold, holding my breath. I half expected Kefi to leap from the shadows and grab me. But there was no one there apart from three of his staff.
    “Thank you guards,” the one at the front said. “I am Tyno. Kefi’s chief of staff.”
    All three looked so similar that they could have been brothers. They were smaller and slighter than the Erostrian guards. My eyes started to adjust to the gloom. I glanced around at the familiar ornate foyer.
    The backup guards nodded and left swiftly and quietly. There was plenty of space in the high-ceilinged room for the remaining nine of us, but it still felt oppressively small. I turned and glanced at the doorway. One of the guards stepped between me and the open doors.
    I turned back to see the commander and Tyno share a look.
    “I warned you that she was trouble.”
    “You did,” Tyno nodded.
    “Sir.” Simo stepped forward. “One of us should stay here in case there’s trouble on the mating night. Kefi is an influential member of the council, and—”
    “I know he is,” the commander snapped.
    “All the more reason to ensure tonight goes smoothly,” Simo continued, unruffled.
    The commander shook his head. “Who’s the commander of this unit?”
    “You are, sir,” Simo said without blinking.
    “Good. Remember that.” He turned away and nodded at Tyno and the other staff. My heart, already pounding hard, started to thump so fast I was sure I’d pass out. This was it. They were leaving me here.
    “Actually, Commander Qeia, your guard makes an excellent point. He shall remain with us in case of any trouble,” Tyno said looking me up and down. “Though I expect Kefi won’t have any problems with this one.”
    I risked a glance at Simo as the commander and the other guards filed out of the room. His face was twisted into a cruel leer. Suddenly I was filled with doubts. What if he wasn’t my savior at all?

Chapter Nine
    Tyno interrupted my frantic, terrified thoughts.
    “Come, woman. It is time to prepare you for mating.”
    The other two stepped back and opened the double doors to the interior. I followed Tyno through, with Simo following close behind me.
    I glanced back at him with a hundred questions on the tip of my tongue. He shook his head in warning.
    I looked around in surprise. We were in a corridor, not the cavernous cathedral like I’d expected. It was over ten years since I’d last set foot inside, but that occasion was stamped in my memory as clear as a photo.
    “What happened to the cathedral?” I whispered.
    Tyno smiled, amused. “We have no need for your cathedral.”
    “But the sign’s still outside.”
    He shook his head and looked at me like I was an idiot. “Of course. Why change the outside of the building when it’s the inside that matters.”
    We carried on walking. I watched the dull, grey concrete walls, wondering how much of the old cathedral interior was left behind them. In my mind, I imagined we were walking up the main aisle in the middle, with the sun shining through the stained glass windows that rose high into the ceiling.
    The last time I walked that aisle it had been a beautiful, sunny summer’s day. A day for picnics and trips to the beach and playing in the ocean. Not a day for my parents’ funeral. But that’s how it had been. That was the last time I’d entered a church. It was the last time I’d done a lot of things.
    Ever since then, with no other family, I’d been shunted around from foster home to foster home until I’d run away at the age of fifteen. After several months of squatting, I’d finally