Forsaken by Cyndi Friberg Read Free Book Online Page A

battle born.” He still sounded grumpy, but his expression was starting to relax.
    “If your grandmother was from Bilarri, as we suspect, then your mother is battle born.” Raina scooted forward on the bench and angled her body so she could more easily look at Ashley.
    “I don’t think she was Bilarrian.” In fact, the journal entries confirmed that she was human and explained how she had become a sanctioned historian. Still, Raina wasn’t quite ready to share every detail she knew. “Why would Mimi tell everyone she’d been kidnapped by an alien, but not admit she was an alien herself?”
    “If it was obvious no one believed her, she probably tried to minimize their ridicule.” If anyone could accurately guess Mimi’s motivation, it was Ashley.
    “Did Mimi ever talk about her parents?” Bandar asked.
    Raina shook her head. “And all Mom ever said was they lived on a farm.”
    “Your grandmother’s history isn’t detailed in her journals?” Bandar sounded surprised.
    “Not the ones I read.” It was utter nonsense. One entire volume was dedicated to Mimi’s life. It even detailed her capture and captivity. Raina was anxious to revisit the stories now that she knew they weren’t just fanciful tales.
    Bandar looked at Ashley as the conversation lapsed. Bird calls and the rustle of leaves drew Raina’s attention back to the simulation. It was easy to forget she wasn’t actually sitting in a secluded forest somewhere on Earth.
    After a long pause, Bandar scooted to the edge of his bench and rested his forearm across his knee. The slightly bent position should have been awkward, but somehow he pulled it off. “We really need to see those journals.”
    “And I really need to understand why the battle born have come to Earth. I will not do anything that endangers humans.”
    “Neither would we,” Bandar stressed.
    “I don’t know that. I don’t know you .”
    “You know me,” Ashley pointed out, her expression almost pleading.
    “Or I did before he got his hands on you. The Ashley I know would never turn her back on her life’s work, even for someone who looks like him. You’ve worked too hard and your work is too important to you.”
    “My work was important and I enjoyed it immensely, but—”
    “It’s all in the past now?” The more Ashley talked the more she sounded like a brainwashed groupie. “You’ve known him for a matter of weeks. How was he able to redefine your entire existence in less than a month?”
    Before Ashley could respond the door opened and Kotto strode into the room. “Leave us.” His gaze was fixed on Raina, so the order must have been for the other two.
    “I think it would be wiser—”
    He turned on Bandar with fire in his eyes. “Raina is being recruited for my mission, which makes her my responsibility. Your involvement is no longer needed.”
    Bandar stood, his expression every bit as fierce as Kotto’s “You asked my mate for assistance, so you’re stuck with me.”
    My mate ? Raina’s gaze flew to Ashley, but Ashley was looking at the men. Bandar considered Ashley his mate? Did Ashley feel the same?
    “Your strategy was unsuccessful. Now leave. If you have a grievance regarding me, take it up with Raylon.”
    Ashley’s panicked expression made Raina’s heart beat even faster. Would they really leave her at the mercy of this man? Bandar was intimidating but mostly civilized. Kotto seemed savage.
    “I will not allow Raina to be abused.” They kept taking steps forward until they stood nose to nose.
    “You have my vow.” The statement rang with finality and import. “No harm will come to Raina while she is in my keeping.”
    Bandar fell silent, but his reluctance remained.
    Kotto clenched his hands into tight fists. “Because I requested your mate’s involvement, I have tolerated your disrespect. Doubting my vow is insulting and my patience is at an end. Get out of my sight!”
    To Raina’s horror Bandar motioned to Ashley. “Let’s