Rhal Part 1 (Scifi Alien Serial Romance) (The Ujal) (4 page)

Nothing. She needed to get him out of her head. Now. Permanently, if she could. He was nothing but a thorn-covered heartache waiting to happen. Ha! It had already happened.

She swallowed hard and shoved Rhal from her thoughts. She had bigger, if dumber, things to worry about.

“Excuse me?” She raised a single eyebrow. “Did you just really say that?”

“Cara?” Concern tinged Rina’s voice, and she felt bad about that, but Rhal taught her the different sounds the guards and warriors used while on duty and off. Two grunts and a click that communicated in half the time of words. Earth Special Forces had hand signals; the Ujal had sounds.

“One sec, this guy called me Earth garbage. Or shit. But basically the same thing.”

“I did no such thing,
female
.”

Both eyebrows rose in surprise with that one. Sneering at her? In front of his principessa?

“Oh, hell no. Excuse you?” Now Rina stood at her side, righteous indignation filling every inch of her.

“
Shit
,” Erun’s voice reached them a bare moment before the rapid thump of his booted feet on carpet announced his approach. The captain of Rina’s guards was definitely in a hurry to get to them. Then again, she could understand his desire to keep Rina happy. “Principessa? Cara?”

The man sounded worried and, really, he had every reason to be. Rina always did have a big mouth, and this whole bit of drama was probably best left until they got back to UST. She could have spoken with Rina and Tave in private. But she’d just had a super shitty mating questionnaire and so wasn’t in the mood for asshole mermen. Er, Ujal.

Rina pointed at the guard. “This guy talked shit to Cara.”

The offending guard’s skin flushed and teal scales fluttered. So he had shit for control, too. “I did no such—”

“Seriously?” Cara shook her head and looked to Erun. She repeated the sounds, her alto dropping to a baritone to properly utter them.

Erun’s eyes widened a split second before a glare overtook his features. Unlike the jerk standing nearby, his scales remained hidden. The ability to suppress them was proof of a warrior’s training, his strength. “You’re dismissed. Return to Tau.”

“You—”

“Return. To Tau. Your presence is no longer necessary. Report directly to Prince Tave upon arrival.”

“Erun—”

A rapid spattering of sounds left Erun’s mouth, and Mr. Teal actually paled in response, his attention shifting to her as his eyes widened. Was that… fear? “I’m sorry,” he wheezed. “Tell him—”

“Leave. Now.” Erun’s voice was harder than steel and unrelenting. “Report to Tave. Admit your behavior and ask for both protection and leniency.”

Mr. Teal gave one last panicked look at Cara and then pressed his fist over his heart. “As ordered.”

The male looked sick to his stomach, but took off down the hallway at a brisk jog. Their small trio watched him depart and once out of sight, Erun met her gaze. “I’m sorry you had to hear that.”

Cara shrugged.

“She heard what?”

Now Erun looked sick, and Cara came to his rescue. “Nothing much. You know how tough guys curse and stuff. He was talking crap, and I got pissed because he was all ‘fuck this Earth shit.’” She shrugged. “No bigs. Erun has a thing for cursing, right Erun?” The warrior looked skeptical at her excuse but nodded. She didn’t know Erun well, Rina’s personal protection hadn’t been in place long, but she was glad he trusted her that little bit. “See? All good. Let’s get this tablet turned in.”

So I can see what kind of mate I
won’t
be.

Rina pointed at her. “Don’t think your distraction is gonna work. We’re so revisiting this.”

“Of course.” Sure they would. Like, never. Mainly because Rina’s pregnancy brain had her forgetting things left and right.

Plus there was the fact that her post-breakup flu would make Cara forget as well. Right now all she could dream of was: 1) a hot bath and 2) finding out if she had a mate. Someone that wasn’t Rhal.

Rina returned to their course, gliding down the hallway, and Cara was quick to follow. Where before, Erun led them, he now hung back and allowed one of the other guards to take point. She found out why the minute Rina began chattering to one of the other males intent on protecting her.

“Are you going to tell him?”

Cara feigned ignorance. “Tell who, what?”

“If the male is smart, he’ll go to Tave the second he gets back to UST and then Tave will go to Rhal. Are you going to get to Rhal first?”

She huffed. “Babying Rhal isn’t my responsibility, you know. Nor is protecting everyone from his temper. He…” Doesn’t want me. But then he does. And then he doesn’t again. And his kisses… Cara groaned. “Comm Tave and tell him to hold off on talking to Rhal. I’ll do it later.”

She both hated and loved that she was one of the only people who could talk to Rhal about anything without fear. Over the months she’d yelled at him, laughed with him, punched him in the nose and almost broken her hand but that wasn’t her fault. He was being a drunken ass at the time. Apparently Ujals and whiskey—no matter how much they wished otherwise—didn’t mix.

“Cara? You coming?” Rina paused at the corner of the hallway and there was no missing the excitement in her best friend’s eyes.

“Yup, let’s find out who I’ll be banging for the next fifty years.”

Rina rolled her eyes. “You know—”

“Yeah, yeah, Miss Principessa.” No growls, grunts, or clicks came with that bit of disrespect. Thank God.

That bit of drama behind them, it didn’t take long to wind through the empty halls—being the BFF to a princess had its perks, including a vacant testing center when needed. They finally made it to the proctor and Cara carefully slid the tablet across the counter. They’d already pricked her finger to get her DNA, they’d scan her test and then tell her if she had a mate on Earth. If not, they’d expand the search to include the IGM databases.

Her only rule was that her new mate would be human. Because if she was mating an Ujal it would be Rhal and since he didn’t want her, well, there wouldn’t be anyone else.

The proctor frowned; eyebrows drawn together as he prodded the data pad and then tapped at his screen. He remained silent, gaze locked on the data streaming across the digitized glass, and Cara grew antsier by the second. A few more presses and even a knock with his knuckles. And… nothing from him.

She’d waited long enough. “Uh, is something wrong? Should I come back? They said I’d hear something today, but…”

He shook his head, concern filling his eyes. “No, one moment while I have my supervisor review this.” The proctor spun and quickly strode toward a closed door at the other end of the massive counter.

Rina looked to her. “Only you.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Only her. It’d always been,
only Cara
. Only Cara would slice open her foot on the one broken bottle on the beach. Only Cara would drive over the one nail in a parking lot and get a flat tire.
Only Cara
would… Yeah.

A different man came toward them, the cut of his suit and insignia on his lapel designating him as a Population Ministry agent. “Miss Marte, I’m Agent Jaxum, if you’ll follow me.”

Cara took a step forward only to immediately stop with a soft touch from Erun. She turned her attention to the Ujal, question in her gaze, but he had his narrow-eyed attention on the agent. “We can discuss Cara’s case here.”

His tone brooked no argument, and she truly looked at him then. The angles of his cheeks, the ticking muscle in his jaw. Something had him cranky, agitated, and if he wanted her happy ass to stay here, then here was where she’d stay.

“This is a highly private—”

She found herself interrupting the agent. “Here is fine.”

The agent’s lips pressed together so hard, they formed a white slash across his face. “Very well,” he snapped and lifted the data pad. He spun it around and slid it across the counter to her. She stared at the red letters, the way they filled the screen and what they meant. “Cara Marte, daughter of Jassla and Corinne Marte, is unmatchable due to degenerative genetic material. The ministry’s decision is final, and no future petitions will be accepted. Good day.”

Seventeen red letters, one message: Applicant rejected.

To be continued in Rhal Part Two…

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Links to the rest of The Ujal: Rhal:

Rhal #1 –
http://scifibit.ly/rhal1

Rhal #2 –
http://scifibit.ly/rhal2

Rhal #3 –
http://scifibit.ly/rhal3

Rhal #4 –
http://scifibit.ly/rhal4

Rhal #5 –
http://scifibit.ly/rhal5

Rhal Complete Series –
http://scifibit.ly/rhalseries

The Ujal Series:

Vados –
http://scifibit.ly/vadoszon

Tave #1 –
http://scifibit.ly/tave1

Tave #2 –
http://scifibit.ly/tave2

Tave #3 –
http://scifibit.ly/tave3

Tave Complete Series –
http://scifibit.ly/taveseries

Rhal #1 –
http://scifibit.ly/rhal1

Rhal #2 –
http://scifibit.ly/rhal2

Rhal #3 –
http://scifibit.ly/rhal3

Rhal #4 –
http://scifibit.ly/rhal4

Rhal #5 –
http://scifibit.ly/rhal5

Rhal Complete Series –
http://scifibit.ly/rhalseries

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Published by Erin Tate. Rhal. Copyright © 2015 Erin Tate. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. This book contains material protected under International and Federal Copyright Laws and Treaties. Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is prohibited. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without express written permission from the author.

This is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents and dialogues in this book are of the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is completely coincidental.