by Sadie Carter
Que had been to a few of those. He was not comfortable with so many strangers touching him. And as he had discovered, he did not need to touch Keely to know she was his.
As he followed, he moved his gaze around looking for any signs of trouble. It seemed that since the human mates arrived, there had been more crime. And he would not take chances with his human’s life.
But his gaze also regularly rested on her. The way her thick hair lay down her back, a deep black that sometimes appeared almost purple. Her skin was smooth and the color of that chocolate that the Empress was so fond of—and did not like to share.
Her spine was straight. Shoulders back. She was wearing a pair of shoes with a high heel and he wondered how she could walk so quickly without her foot turning. Perhaps keeping her barefoot was not a bad idea. It would eliminate her tripping and hurting herself.
His gaze moved down her body and snagged on her bottom. What a bottom it was. Firm. Round. He itched to run his hand over it, to pull her towards him with his hands squeezing each cheek.
His shaft hardened and pressed against his pants. He did not know how much longer he could handle her rejection. His need for her grew each day.
Que was not known for his patience. This could only continue for so long.
2
“This cannot keep happening.” She slammed her hand down on her desk with a growl of frustration.
“Keely? What’s wrong?” Mila walked out of her office, staring at her in worry. Her boss was amazing. Quiet, calm, and intelligent. It would be easy to underestimate Mila, but she had a sharp mind and backbone of steel. It was no wonder the slightly scary and taciturn Koran had fallen for her.
Their mating works.
Yes, but she was nothing like Mila. Mila knew the art of compromise. She obviously loved Koran. And she’d given him a gorgeous son.
She wasn’t Mila. Que wasn’t Koran.
“It’s nothing,” she told her boss. “Ignore me.”
Mila studied her intently. “Doesn’t look like nothing. Sure you don’t want to tell me?”
Keely wasn’t a great sharer, but Mila had been good to her. She was starting to consider her a friend. And she had no idea what to do.
“It’s Que.”
Comprehension filled Mila’s face. “Is he still following you?”
She let out a breath. “Yeah. I spoke to him last night. I thought I’d made myself clear that he needed to stop following me around and yet when I came out of the house this morning, there he was again. He follows me back and forth to work every day.”
“Is he scaring you?” Mila asked worriedly.
She knew if she told Mila she was frightened, that Que would be taken care of immediately. These Zerconians didn’t muck around when it came to the safety of their females. Mila was mated to the Grand Poohbah, the commander over all the warriors and her best friend was the Empress. Plus, she was the human ambassador to Zerconia.
All of that combined meant she had a lot of clout. It could also mean that anything Keely said about Que could land him in trouble. And she didn’t want that.
She just wanted him to leave her alone.
Do you? Really?
Fuck. It wasn’t like she hadn’t dealt with her share of creepos. There was that guy on Largons, who’d hired them to do a job then decided he wanted her to be part of the package deal. Tane had fought off his two guards and then slammed him against a wall, making him apologize with his hand around his throat.
Needless to say, they hadn’t gotten that job.
Then there was that time she was kidnapped by a slaver, a different one than the ones who’d kept them captive on that horrible planet after they’d left Earth. She shuddered at that memory.
But she knew Que wasn’t like that. Even though she didn’t understand his obsession with keeping her safe, there was no denying that he’d never once tried to hurt her.
“No, he’s not scaring me. At first, he kind of did. I thought he was stalking me. But he’s doing it in plain sight. He said. . .he’s protecting me. He thinks I’m his mate.”
Mila just watched her. “And what do you think about that?”
“I think it’s preposterous.”
“I know this whole mating thing is weird and not what we’re used to. I get it can be scary, being mated to someone for life. Having a bond with them. But I can also tell you that it’s amazing. Having one of these guys mated to you means that you’re never alone. It means that you have everything from them. Attention, protection, you are their everything. I know it sounds overwhelming, but you will never know anything like it.”
She was wrong. It didn’t sound scary. It sounded downright terrifying.
Mila seemed to read what she was thinking. “Okay, so I won’t lie. They can be arrogant and bossy and when it comes to health and safety, they’re sticklers for having their rules followed.”
Mila’s cheeks pinkened. “These guys just want us safe, so giving in to a few rules they set to accomplish that and to give them peace of mind isn’t so difficult.”
She wasn’t sure she would agree.
“Look, Koran can be super bossy., but there is nothing he wouldn’t do to make sure I was happy. If Que feels that he is your mate, and honey, I’ve never known one of these guys to be wrong, I’m sure he would absolutely do the same for you. They might be a bit intense and overbearing in the beginning, you just have to show them what you need to be happy. They need a bit of guidance and patience. Lots of patience.”
“I’m not a patient person.”
Mila snorted. “I’ve seen you at work. You can be patient. This is another negotiation. Only this one comes with side benefits. Like a really huge, hunky alien in your bed, at your side, sometimes in front of you if need be. But they are always there. I know I can always rely on Koran.”
“We don’t even know if we are mates.”
“Only one way to find out.”
She shook her head. “You make it sound so simple. It’s not.”
“No, it’s not. Nothing worthwhile is simple, Keely.”
“I don’t see why it always has to be so painful though,” she muttered.
“It doesn’t have to be painful. Not if you’re honest. And you communicate.”
“Communication with these guys isn’t exactly straightforward.”
Mila smiled. “Nope. But it sure can be fun.” Her face grew serious. “The Zerconians need their mates, Keely. It’s not a matter of choice with them. It’s life and death. I guess what it comes down to is if could you live with yourself if something happened to Que because you weren’t willing to take a chance.”
That stabbed deep. She wasn’t used to Mila going for the jugular.
“I’m not like these other women. I didn’t come here looking for a mate.”
Mila nodded. “I get it.”
“No. You really don’t.” Guilt made her snap at the other woman. “And I don’t need a guilt trip about not wanting to tie myself to some arrogant asshole.”
Mila’s eyes flared open. “I don’t know Que well, but he doesn’t strike me as an asshole.”
Because he wasn’t. Not really. Sure, he had some whacked ideas about the way the little wifey should act, but nothing that couldn’t be set straight. If you had the time and inclination.
Which she did not.
And who’s to say he wouldn’t turn into an asshole later?
“Keely, I’ve got no right to try and convince you to give him a chance. But just don’t do anything hasty, all right? Que obviously feels something for you and if you are his mate then there is no one else for him. You are it. Without you, he’s sure to fall victim to the mating fever and I don’t know for sure, but I think you’ll probably spend the rest of your life thinking about ‘what ifs.’ I get that you feel the need to protect yourself, but if you’ll give him a bit of trust, you’ll learn that Que can protect you as well.”
Trust. That was the problem, wasn’t it? Because Keely didn’t trust easily. People could
pretend to be one thing and turn into someone else. And the last thing she wanted or needed was someone who thought they got to order her around.
Mila gave her hand a squeeze then walked back to her office. “Just give it some thought. And it helps that these guys are freaking hot!”
She wasn’t so sure it was a positive. In fact, she was putting that in the negative column. He was too hot. Too bossy. Too arrogant. And she spent far too much time thinking about him.
What was she going to do about him?
How was he going to convince Keely that he was her mate?
He never thought to work this hard for his mate. He expected to meet her. Mate with her. Install her in his house. And then go on with his life. Go to training. Come home to his mate. Join with her. Get up in the morning. Start over.
Of course, he did not expect that she would be human. A fiery, gorgeous, stubborn human female.
No, this was nothing like what he expected.
He walked towards the Emperor’s office. He’d just received a summons, which was odd. He did not report directly to the Emperor. When he walked in, the Emperor’s new assistant looked up at him with a smile. She was sitting behind a large desk that had pretty lights strung along the front of it that twinkled on and off.
On top of the desk, a small fake tree sat, decorated with brightly colored balls. He knew what it was— a Christmas tree. The humans seemed to love Christmas. For some reason they liked to decorate trees, alive or fake like this one with brightly colored objects. And on Christmas day they exchanged gifts. He wondered if Keely liked Christmas. He should buy her something.
What did one buy a human female? The only gifts he’d ever bought were for his brother, Zandar. A pang of sadness filled him at the memory. Zandar had been gone a while now, he’d died when the emergency pod he was in crashed. Que had always bought his brother weapons. That was not an appropriate gift for a female, although he had noticed she attended Annabel’s shooting lessons.
He did not know how he felt about that. She should rely on him to protect her. However, the other warriors whose mates attended these lessons did not seem to think there was any harm in it. And he supposed this was the case. He had worried a few times that the females might accidentally harm themselves with the weapons, but Annabel watched them carefully and they were all kept safe.
Whether he would continue to allow her to go after he mated with her, he was not certain. He preferred the idea of his mate taking up more gentle hobbies, as was befitting her delicate constitution.
“Hey, Que, how’s it hanging,” Emme said cheerfully.
He had not had much to do with this female and was not quite certain how to respond to her greeting.
“How is what hanging?” he asked cautiously.
She bit her lip as she giggled. “Don’t worry, handsome. I can see it’s hanging mighty fine.”
The Emperor’s previous assistant had been Annabel, who was now mated to Macon. But she’d only been in that position to spy for her brother, Rich, who was now the High-Councilor on Earth. Annabel hadn’t returned to her position because her skills were being used elsewhere.
“The Emperor said you can roll on in,” the female said cheerfully. She was wearing a bright orange dress that dwarfed her small frame.
His Keely did not wear baggy clothing like this. She wore clothes that hugged her delicious curves, although he might wish they were a little less tight and revealing as it was hard to concentrate on anything else when she was near.
“He wishes me to roll in?” he asked dubiously.
Another laugh. “No. You are hilarious, you know that, right?”
Uh. No. He did not know that. And he did not think he was hilarious. Not in the slightest.
“I just mean, go on in. Better not keep him waiting. The grouchy guy is with him. And the nearly-as-grouchy guy.”
He had no idea if he was meant to know who she was talking about, so he decided it was best to go in and see for himself.
When he walked in, he found the Emperor sitting behind his desk, frowning down at the tablet he held in his hand. Behind him, leaning over and pointing at something, was Koran. Off to the side, pacing up and down, was Macon.
He was not sure who the female had determined was grouchy and nearly-as-grouchy. And it was not important, he reminded himself.
“Emperor,” he said. Then he turned to Koran. “Commander.” He nodded to Macon.
“Que,” the Emperor said with a nod. “We have been waiting on you.”
He was not sure if this was a reprimand or not and looked to Koran, but he was still staring down at the tablet.
“How can I aid you, Emperor?” Que asked.
“You know there is a transporter of human females arriving in a few weeks?” the Emperor bizarrely asked.
“Yes,” he said carefully. Everyone knew that. The unmated warriors were all eagerly awaiting this transporter in the hope their mate might be on it.
Not Que, though. He no longer had to wait. Well, he would not have to wait once his mate actually realized she was his.
Which was taking far longer than he had imagined.
“There has been a problem,” Koran told him.
“Problem? Is everything well?”
“No,” Koran said bluntly. “It is not.”
“The transporter received an emergency beacon from one of our warriors, asking for any available close ships to come to their aid,” the Emperor told him.
He frowned. “One of our ships was out there?”
“No,” the Emperor said carefully. “It wasn’t one of our ships. It was one of our people who was injured and in a ship that was damaged and running out of power reserves. The human commander of the transporter gave permission to the injured male and his ship to come aboard, in keeping with the treaty we have the humans. As you know, our escorting fighter ships are not large enough to let another ship come aboard. They also are not equipped with full medical facilities like the transporter is.”
Que frowned. “This injured Zerconian was on his own?”
“Yes,” Macon said quietly. “They took him straight to medical, put him in the regen chamber we supplied them, then sent word to us.”
“Who was the male?” Que asked. There was something he wasn’t understanding about all this. Who could he be?
“The name they sent us was unknown to us,” the Emperor said, surprising him. “So I asked for a visual. It just came back this morning.”
He turned his tablet around. Que felt it like a blow to his gut. The world around him grew dark, spun, and if he wasn’t a warrior, he would have thought he was about to faint. Warriors did not faint.
Finally, air filled his lungs. In. Out. In. Out. It was all he could do to keep to his feet. Heat then cold washed over him.
“That. . .that cannot be right,” he managed to say. “Is it a trick?”
“There is no reason that the humans would try to trick us. Also, Alek was on one of the fighters escorting the transporter. He boarded the ship this morning and he has given confirmation. It is him, Que,” Koran told him. “It’s Zandar.”
Alek had been one of Zandar’s closest friends. A fierce and rough warrior, he was also loyal. He and Zandar had been close. He would not mistake another male for Zandar.
Which meant his brother was alive.
“But Zandar is dead. He died in that crash.” Que looked from the Emperor to Koran to Macon. “There is no way anyone could have survived that crash.”
“Could be he escaped prior to the crash?” Koran suggested.
The scouting ship Zandar had crashed had gone up in flames, a fire so hot that it destroyed everything.
“But if he survived, why haven’t I heard from him before now?” Que looked down at the image of his brother. He looked different. There was a large scar that ran across his face. His dark hair was down to his shoulders and worn in twists. For an injury to scar like meant his brother hadn’t had access to a regen machine. The man glaring back at him looked li
ke his brother, yet it didn’t. His brother hadn’t had that dead look in his eyes. That fury written in the hard lines of his face.
His hands clenched into fists. “He would have contacted me. They said he had mating fever and that was why he stole that emergency pod. They believed he took his own life.” He spoke of the other members of the crew onboard Zandar’s ship at the time. They had reported him growing more agitated and he’d been moved to medical and sedated. He’d woken up from the sedation earlier than expected then snuck his way down to where the emergency pods were and activated one.
“If he had mating fever, he could not have survived.”
“It is just one of the questions we have around his disappearance,” the Emperor told him. “He would not speak to Alek. Hopefully you will be able to discover the answers we need.”
He would. His brother would tell him. He had no doubts of it.
“But he is well? And on his way home?”
Zandar was coming home. Stars. His brother was alive. He wasn’t sure that had even sunk in yet. It did not matter that he looked very different, that he’d been alive these past years and hadn’t contacted Que. He was certain his brother had good reason. That he was returning home was the important thing.
He was alive.
“There is more, unfortunately,” the Emperor told him.
More? What more? And why were they all looking so serious? Sure, he’d been taken by shock but now that the was getting over it, a feeling of deep happiness filled him.
It was not often your brother returned from the dead.
“It took a full day and night for Alek to get on board the ship and get a visual of Zandar. They were traveling through a dangerous area and he was needed on the fighter ship,” Macon explained. “The name the humans sent us was obviously a false one, but there is no denying he was Zerconian. We did not wish to ask the humans for a visual as we didn’t want to alert them that we did not know who they had onboard. That was possibly a mistake.”
Que frowned. “What? Why?”
“Because Zandar has been accused of attacking one of the human females,” Koran told him.
