Alien Soulmate (Paranormal Romance Aliens) Read Online Free Page B

Carver be joining us later?" Marsh asked, looking around the room.
    Ithril shook his head, eyes solemn. "I'm afraid not," he said, sighing heavily. That caught everyone's attention, and he kept his head high and his voice steady. "My brother has not been handling the passing of our father very well at all. I went to check on him earlier since he wasn't at lunch, and I found his rooms trashed. Of course, I thought some treachery was at work and immediately assumed the worst, but then when I went down to the transporter bay, I saw that one of the transports was missing. I believe Carver has fled."
    Shocked murmurs met his words, and he raised his hands, asking for quiet. "I know. It's unthinkable that my brother would do something like that, but I've looked everywhere. I've tried to contact him on his personal communicator, but there's no answer. There was no sign of forced entry, and no one saw anything. I don't know what else to think. Maybe the grief was too much, and he needed time away. Maybe he couldn't handle being given leadership all of a sudden. I don't know. What I do know, is that he isn't here, and I don't know where he is."
    "Do you think the Des'kos came and took him?" one of the women murmured, eyes wide.
    Ithril shook his head again. "No, kidnapping isn't really their style, and there's no way a Des'kos rebel could have gotten into Carver's room with no one seeing it. Especially with the way the mourners were thick in the streets last night. And anyway, if one of them had taken Carver, they most likely would have killed him and made sure we knew about it. They really don't have any reason to try and bargain or ransom him since we've given them everything they wanted anyway." He swallowed past the lump in his throat. "We all know they didn't hesitate to kill our mother, even knowing who she was."
    There was a general rumble of agreement at that, and Cain turned his solemn eyes to Ithril. "How do we proceed?" he asked.
    "As planned. Father wanted Carver and I to lead together, but we can't really do that if he's not here. So, I'll take up the mantle of leader on my own. Someone has to."
    A few uneasy looks were exchanged between certain people, and Ithril took note of it. If this was going to work the way he wanted it to, then he was going to need people to trust him and be on his side. There had to be some way to make sure that everyone thought this was the best plan.
    He leaned back in his chair and thought on that while each member talked about the way their group was dealing with Angen's passing. Since there were no funerals, the Sitheri chose to celebrate the life and mourn the passing of their kind with little vigils and displays for the two weeks that mourning lasted. Ithril made a note to go out and speak to some of them, to show up at some of the gatherings. It was only right that he show his face there since he was Angen's son and Carver wasn't there to do it. Maybe he'd take E'lira with him. She would definitely be good at smoothing the way with people since everyone liked her.
    Cain spoke a bit about reaching out to other clans, and the other members were intrigued, but neither Cain nor Ithril elaborated just yet. It wasn't the time for that. Not so soon, and not right after he'd just announced that Carver had gone missing. All of this had to be timed perfectly if he wanted the results that were necessary.
    When the meeting adjourned for the night, Ithril waited for all of the Council members to file out before he sighed and thunked his head onto the table. His father had been leader since he was twenty years old, which was just two years younger than Ithril was now.
    Angen's father, Kithairin, had been killed in a Des'kos attack, but since Angen had been his only child, Angen had been groomed for leadership from a young age. He had always spoken about how his father was hard on him, making sure that when the time came, Angen would know what he needed to do to take up the mantle of leader.
    Ithril had