She sighed. “That’s Trask. He takes possessive to a whole new level.”
He grunted, swung his feet off the bed, and sat on the edge. Looking back at her, he asked a bit too eagerly, “Ready for me to call him in?”
“Beck, be nice.”
Standing, he bent over her, his fists planted in the bed beside her hips then he leaned in for another kiss, this one deep and slow and drawn out like he couldn’t get enough. When he raised his head, his lips still brushed hers when he replied, “I’m always nice, Adria. Your big brother is just going to have to learn how to share you.”
“As you experienced with Lana, also not his strong suit.”
“No time like the present for his first lesson,” he said with a chuckle as he walked to the door. When he stuck his head out, he told someone in the hall, “She’s ready for visitors now.”
There was no answer, but Adria could hear footsteps rushing down the hall as the door slowly swung shut. She stared at it expectantly, waiting for it to burst open and Trask to come rushing in. When the bed shifted, she didn’t pay attention until Beck stretched out beside her again, a proprietary arm wrapped around her shoulders, and pulled her so close she seemed affixed to his side.
“Are you trying to agitate him?”
“No, mate. There are no chairs,” he replied with all the innocence of a snake with a mouse’s tail hanging from its mouth.
But when she glanced around the small overnight stay room from a patient’s perspective, she realized it was true. “I suppose we should do something about seating.”
Then, what he’d called her clicked. She’d never thought to hear mate in reference to herself. And for Beck to use it, as easily as he would darlin’, made her all melty inside.
Leaning into him, she told him dreamily, “I love when you call me that.”
“I rather like it, too, my lovely, golden-haired, blue-eyed mate,” he whispered as he claimed her lips in a tender kiss.
An impatient rap sounded at the same time the door swung open. Beck pulled away enough to glare at the intruders. His irritation changed to avid curiosity when Trask lurched to an abrupt halt before actually entering. This caused a collision of bodies behind him. Lana slammed into his back with a grunt, and Eva smacked into her. Next came Kerr, whose big body jarred both women at once. Her brother, who hadn’t blinked, also didn’t budge.
Beyond that, she couldn’t see who followed, but she heard grumbling, and an annoyed voice muttered, “Faex. Give a man warning next time. You nearly made me squish Maggie.”
He didn’t reply because his eyes were on her.
“Move, Trask,” Lana said as she squeezed by him. “Other people want in, too.”
When she turned toward the bed, she gasped, both hands flying up to cover her mouth.
“Heavens above,” Eva exclaimed in wonder.
Kerr, who’d been glowering at the back of Trask’s head, took in the scene with the same shocked fascination.
Beside her, Beck was laughing. She couldn’t hear it, he’d at least contained it that much, but she could feel his body shaking enough to rattle the bed. Suddenly finding the whole scene as amusing as he did, she broke into a broad grin. “Surprise! I heard blondes have more fun, so I thought I’d give it a try.”
Beck lost it at that, and a loud rolling laugh burst out of him.
Trask ignored the chortling human draped around her and stated the obvious, “You’ve transformed, little star.”
“I have, brother, and I’m sorry for teasing you.” She reached over to cover her still-laughing mate’s mouth with her hand, which for some reason made him laugh harder. “Excuse him, please. I don’t know what’s come over him.”
“He’s giddy with relief is my guess,” Maggie interjected, just her face visible as she peeked around the commander. “And I don’t blame him. We’ve all been where he is if you’ll recall.”
This was true, whether from being taken by disgusting aliens, near death from separation sickness, shot by a jealous woman, or plotted against by insurrectionists, all of them had spent more than considerable time worrying about whether their mate would live or die like Beck had.
“It’s true, by the way,” Maggie added with a grin. “Blondes do have a lot of fun, but it’s a bit of a shock, isn’t it?”
“You look more human than I do,” Lana declared, taken completely by surprise. Then her eyes—the same blue-green color hers used to be–filled with tears. “I’m so happy for you, Adria.”
She rushed toward the bed, pausing to smack her old friend on the arm. “Stop laughing, Kincaid,” she insisted, “and get up so I can hug you both.”
He calmed but didn’t stop grinning. As he embraced his effusive friend, his gaze met hers and held it until the others snapped out of their shock and came forward to express their happiness, too.
Hugs came from Eva and Maggie. Kerr and Roth kissed the top of her head after shaking Beck’s hand and thumping him hard on the back in what Adria figured must be a universal form of congratulations among males. Through it all, Trask didn’t move. He just stared at her from the same spot as though his boots were nailed to the floor.
“Can you be happy for us, Trask?” Adria asked softly.
His eyes moved from her hair to her face before shifting to Beck. “A word in the hallway, Mr. Kincaid.”
Sober now, Beck immediately followed him out.
“Oh, no,” Lana breathed.
Eva pushed Kerr toward the door. “Go after him and make sure he doesn’t kill him.”
“Kill him?” Adria cried. “But we’re newly mated, and fated, too. Don’t you dare, Trask!”
“I’m not going to kill him,” Trask roared from the hall. “But we are going to have a discussion—in private.” With that, the door shut just shy of a slam.
Her worried gaze swept through them all. “You don’t really think he would, do you?”
IN THE QUIET OF THE hallway, Beck looked at the man who, on Earth, would be his future brother-in-law. He hoped he didn’t have a problem with Adria marrying him according to custom, because it was nonnegotiable.
“She’s more like a daughter to me than a sister,” the general told him, his voice strained with emotion. “Our parents died before she was two. It fell to me, a mere boy to take care of her. Our people were suffering from a devastating trauma at the time, and most of my female relatives were gone or had taken ill. I had some help but essentially raised her on my own. Needless to say, I was ill-prepared for the responsibility of a toddler, but that is our way. I thought—after the Rain of Fire stole what it did from our women, Adri included—she might find a purpose in dedicating her life to healing rather than a mate and a family.”
“Is there a reason she can’t do both? Our women do it every day.”
When their eyes met, his looked stricken. “She cannot give you children, Kincaid.”
“I know that, General.”
“And you’re all right with that? If not—”
“I love her, not what she can give me.”
“But will that love endure? Your people have divorce. According to Lana, you had a wife and cast her aside. That isn’t our way. We mate for life.”
“So, Adria has informed me. That is my preference as well. My ex-wife wasn’t faithful. She married me for wealth and prestige. She was not half the woman your sister is.”
“This mate bond you have is unique. We don’t know if you will experience all the, uh...shall we say, benefits, Primarian males do. With her mate a human, she may not either. One is of particular importance.”
“Not well-versed on all of your mating intricacies. I’m not sure I follow.”
He grunted a short laugh. “Neither are we with humans inserted into the mix. Typically, there’s a visible transformation with the female taking on a few of the male’s characteristics. She has done so in this case, that is obvious. Our males change as well, but not in a way that can be seen by the eye. It starts with the hunger. It makes us crave our mate an
d only our mate, on a physical, emotional, and spiritual level, for eternity. We can become quite possessive.”
“Without going into graphic detail–”
“Which is appreciated,” Trask quipped.
“Adria and I have a connection. We’ve both felt it since we met months ago. It kept drawing us together even though we resisted for our own personal reasons.”
“This is often how it works with us as well. We call it the awareness.”
“Yes, that’s very much how it felt. It seems fate knew what we needed well before we did ourselves. We have made a forever vow to one another. Whether I transform and develop this hunger or not, it is a vow I intend to honor unto death.”
He nodded though a muscle twitched in his jaw it was clenched so tight.
“You’ll keep her safe? She can be...”
“Reckless?”
“I would have said impulsive, but perhaps your term is more accurate considering her actions of late.”
“I’ve witnessed it firsthand. She puts others first in disregard to herself sometimes, which is honorable but, to me, unacceptable. I’ll work on turning that around, so her safety is of primary consideration—always.”
“It may take a concerted effort on your part to make her...uh, compliant.”
“I have experienced that, too.”
His head jerked back, and his frown intensified. “Don’t tell me how. Maker help me, I don’t want to know.”
“You have my word, General. I will protect her as staunchly as you have.”
Again, the general nodded. Then he approached, his hand extended, and invited, “Call me Trask, my sister’s mate.”
He clasped it firmly, and they shook once. “You can call me Beck or Kincaid. I answer to both.”
“Or Mayor, so I hear,” he added, a trace of amusement making his lips twitch.
“How? I haven’t agreed to that.” Then Beck grunted. “I sometimes underestimate the power of the Primaria-Terra Nova grapevine.”
Trask clapped him on the back, the thump solid enough he had to brace to keep from lurching forward. “Leadership,” the other man advised, “is often not sought but thrust upon us.”
“We have a similar quote in my world, though it’s about greatness.”
“Doesn’t one often lead to the other? I imagine, like our warriors, you possess an innate ability for command. It, like Adria, may very well be your destiny.”
“Mayor of New Hope,” Beck uttered with a barely suppressed groan. “I can’t begin to imagine the headaches that will come with the title.”
“Don’t you handle those headaches now?” Trask countered. “The title just makes it official and keeps someone less worthy from stepping in and making decisions you don’t agree with.”
“This is true,” he acknowledged.
The door creaked open, and one of the women peeked out though he couldn’t tell who. “I don’t hear bones breaking or see spatters of blood,” she observed in a stage whisper. When the gap widened, Lana’s head poked out. “Is it safe to come out? Do I need to alert the ERT?”
“Have you met my mate the comedian?” Trask asked while shaking his head. “Am I truly such a monster, paulova?”
She stepped out into the hall. “No, what you are is a devoted brother. But you’re a warrior, too, and the supreme general. Forgive us if we thought you might lose your cool and go all warrior general/outraged big brother on poor Beck.”
He held out his arm, and she went to him.
“Poor Beck indeed,” he scoffed. “Have you looked at him? He’d give Ram trouble in the sparring ring.”
Lana shot a teasing grin his way. “Must be from bench pressing steel girders for fun, eh, boss?”
“And repainting ceilings and cleaning paint splotches left on floors by one of my former employees.”
She winced. “Ouch. But seriously, Adria was worried. Someone told her how you two almost came to blows, earlier.”
“That is settled, now, mate. Besides, does my sister think we are barbarians who would brawl in the hallway?”
“One of you better get in here and tell her that,” Kerr said from the doorway. “And quickly, before we have to restrain her to keep her in bed. She’ll have to see for herself Kincaid is unscathed and still in one piece to be satisfied.”
Trask cursed under his breath. “Does she really believe I’d kill her fated mate? It would be like ending her life in the process.”
“That’s useful information,” Beck drawled as he brushed by Kerr.
“There is a modicum of safety provided to a mate,” the princep observed. “Including one with a lot of powerful uncles and cousins.”
Key word: modicum.
He paused to meet the princep’s gaze—the most powerful of her cousins.
Message received.
AFTER EVERYONE LEFT, including Trask who gave her a brotherly squeeze before running his hand down her golden-brown hair in amazement, Beck climbed into bed with her again. She liked the closeness but couldn’t get comfortable, tired of the Ellar-imposed twenty-four-hour sentence of bedrest already.
She squirmed and wiggled, shifting as best she could, considering Beck and his shoulders took up over half the space. When she managed to roll onto her side and almost fell out, Beck caught her just in time.
“This bed is too small for both of us,” she grumbled. “Let’s go home.”
“We will,” he intoned calmly. “In the morning, once Ellar or Juna release you,”
“I won’t be able to sleep. I can’t believe they insisted I stay the night.”
“You almost died, Adria.”
“But I’m fine now and more in danger of being squished in this cramped, lumpy, lousy excuse for a bed. No wonder our patients get so grumpy.”
He rolled onto his back, taking her with him, adjusting her so she was draped on top of him. “Better?”
“Yes,” she said as she snuggled against his chest. “Much better.”
“I guess what they say about doctors is true.”
“What’s that?”
“That they make the worst patients.”
Her head came up. “Who says?”
“Everyone.”
“Not that I’ve heard. Physics make the very best patients because we know what must be done.”
“Including keeping a patient who was at death’s door only a few hours ago for a short period of observation?”
She stared at him a moment then, with an irritated huff, lay down with her cheek on his chest. “No one likes a know-it-all, Beck.”
He slid his hands under her arms and pulled her up his body until they were nose to nose. After kissing the frown from her lips, he set about coaxing her out of her fractious mood. “I’ll make a deal with you. Sleep here with me tonight, and, in the morning, after Ellar or Juna say you can go, I’ll take you home to my place and make you breakfast. You haven’t lived until you’ve tasted my Texas omelet. The secret—just a sprinkle of cayenne.”
Not knowing what that was but liking the sound of the rest of it, especially the part about him taking her home, she acceded to her doctors’ and mate’s orders. “Okay, Beck.”
“That’s my girl,” he said with a grin and another soft kiss, before moving her back down his chest. “Tomorrow, while you recuperate further, I’ll call the base chaplain and ask him to officiate.”
“Our wedding?”
“You got it.”
“While you do that, I’ll call a meeting with the girls. It’s a shame Eryn isn’t here, too. I’ll need everyone’s help to get it just right, although I may need to make a trip home. I’m sure the colony won’t have what I need.”
He stopped stroking her hair. “What for?”
“What for?” she echoed in disbelief as she propped her forearms on his chest and stared down at him. “Our traditional Earth wedding, of course. Where do I start? There’s the dress, flowers, rings, and a cake. None of that, well, except the cake. The baker might be able to pull it off. I’ll have
to ask him. But nothing else for a wedding exists on Terra Nova.”
“When did you come up with all of this?”
“The movie you took me to see had a wedding scene. Do you remember?”
“Um, not really.”
“You are such a man.”
He grinned. “Why, thank you, darlin’.”
She found herself rolling her eyes, something her human friends often did and to the irritation of their mates. Beck didn’t get mad, he laughed.
“I haven’t stopped thinking about how beautiful it was and how special. Vows of love and faith witnessed by the bride and groom’s friends and family. At home, we breach and its done.”
He chuckled. “It’s a little more involved than that, I think.”
“Yes, before that comes the testing. The male gets it easy with a simple blood test, the female, well, let’s just say her testing is more extensive. Then, the results are added to the database and out pops a list of compatible mates. After that very cold, clinical process comes the breaching and”—she snapped her fingers—“it’s done.”
“Don’t forget the part where they live happily ever after.”
“Well, yes, the process is highly accurate, but it isn’t what you’d call romantic. The joining of two lives forever should be celebrated. I want a stunning white dress, a profusion of flowers, and for my friends to be there. And, afterward, a party with food and dancing. I don’t like how the bride and groom smash cake in each other’s faces, though.” She wrinkled her nose at how messy and undignified it was. “I want everything except that.”
“And I want what you want. You have until Saturday to arrange it.”
She pushed herself upright until she straddled him then stared at him horrorstruck. “But, Beck, that’s only a week to get everything ready.”
“Which is too long to wait to make you my wife as it is.”
“But we’re mates—forever.”
“Yes, on Primaria. Here on Terra Nova, I want you mine—officially—as we recognize it, under our laws.”
“I want that, too, but Saturday...”
“I have faith you and your team of influential mates can pull it off. Besides, your princep, the fleet commander, and your brother are all here now. To stay a few days for the event is nothing, but to leave and come back...” He shook his head. “It would delay things entirely too long.”
Bound by Fate Page 26
