by Aria Bell
“That won’t be enough, and you know it.” Gren’don’s hand tightened on the grip of his blade.
I could no longer ignore the building threat. Casually, I moved my hand to my sword hilt, watching him through half-lidded eyes. It was so quiet on the bridge I could hear the hum of the machinery and computers.
“Navigation, put in a new course, by my orders,” I said, staring right into Gren’don’s eyes, daring him to make the first move. “Cerros Nune Station at Prioxa. Now.”
I waited patiently as the nav officer powered down our faster than light drive. When we were stopped in space, he reoriented the Defiance Blade and entered the new course calculated by the nav supercomputer. I never took my eyes off my first mate, waiting to see what he would do.
“We’re tossing away a huge amount of credits, Captain,” Gren’don warned. “This doesn’t benefit the crew.”
“It was my idea to bring the Defiance Blade to strike at in the Galactic Core. The Mero Tallasa was a great haul. Now it’s time to get out of Galactic Imperium territory and head to safer space. As for Sylvis Trasker and I…” I grinned at him, and then glanced around at the bridge crew who were watching us tensely. “We all know the mating bond is a sacred joining, blessed by the universe. Battle and love, aren’t those the two sacred cornerstones of the Jardan? Neither can be denied.”
“We are pirates,” Gren’don snarled. “Pirates are outsiders. And she is not Jardan.”
“That’s right. But when I mate her, she will have the same rights on board my ship.” I gave him an even wider smile that wasn’t entirely friendly as my gaze bored into him. “Besides, I recommend you find a human of your own. They are small, but that will only help make your tiny cock seem bigger, right, Gren’don?”
His face contorted in rage as a few of the bridge crew choked down laughter. The pale blue skin of Gren’don’s knuckles had turned white where he gripped his sword, and his eyes narrowed dangerously. “You haven’t mated her yet. I formally demand you claim her as a true mate, for the blessed joining. If you do not claim her, body and soul, and prove it, I will call you out as la’danv mer—a faithless captain.”
Many of the bridge crew shifted uneasily at their terminals, and there were a few low exclamations and amazed curses. If he challenged me as la’danv mer, it wasn’t the same as challenging me directly to be captain, to take the power through a duel or test of battle. No, challenging me as la’danv mer was a claim that I had failed the needs of the crew. If I did not respond to it, I would lose the support of most, if not all, of the pirates on the Defiance Blade. Being labeled la’danv mer would lead to a kind of shunning that would make it difficult for me to command the ship. It was a kind of passive mutiny, even if no one onboard was strong enough to defeat me with a blade.
Which meant, for this to work, I needed to have her swear to be my mate…and to have her yield her body to me, so that we joined in both words and intimacy. Although we’d already shared the most intimate of love acts, this had to happen after mating her, so our previous lovemaking did not count. As confident as I could sometimes be, I wasn’t certain she would still want me after all that had happened, everything that had changed between us. She might have agreed to be my mate, but only because she was utterly desperate and had no other options. I had to win her heart, not just stir passion within her body. My need to touch her, to embrace her, had overridden my better judgment, but her trust in me had been shaken, and I couldn’t blame her. I had to show her how much she meant to me. Prove how, whenever I saw her, my heart filled with a joy that far outrivaled the thrill of battle or the elation of flying a starship through a planetary ring.
But I loved a good challenge, and Sylvis Trasker was worth it in every way.
I gave Gren’don a measured stare. “I do not fear your challenge. But I’m not sure what proof would you need to satisfy that I have fully mated her.” I gave him my most arrogant grin. “I suppose we could fuck right here in my captain’s chair…but we all know the crew would be so distracted we’d end up in a black hole or crash landing on some ice moon.”
“You will swear upon your father’s sword that you’ve had her,” Gren’don said, his show of teeth more a snarl than a smile. “He was a warrior, wasn’t he? A lie would dishonor him. And you.” He took a step toward me. “You’d prove yourself la’danv mer.”
I narrowed my eyes, my words cold and harsh. “So be it. I will swear upon my father’s blade. And any who challenge that oath after I make it…they will die by the same blade.”
Silence greeted my threat. Good. Because I was not about to put Sylvis in jeopardy. They were upset about losing the ransom. I understood that. But I was captain, and I had made a decision. Sylvis was under my protection.
And soon she would be my mate.
I glanced at the holo-screen readouts that showed me our new course back to the planet Prioxa. I nodded, then turned an icy look back at my first mate, who was seconds from receiving his termination notice via my sword blade. “You have the bridge while I go collect my mate for the ceremony.”
“Aye aye, Captain,” he replied, his face carefully blank.
I left the bridge, wondering if I would come back to a full-fledged mutiny. Part of me wanted nothing more than to face off blade to blade against Gren’don and anyone else brave enough to challenge me. But Gren’don hadn’t yet gone over the line by directly challenging me or by refusing to carry out my orders…not so far anyway. Until he did, I had to keep my blade sheathed.
I walked faster toward Sylvis’s quarters, not because I was looking to get this over with, but because I was eager to see her again. This whole thing was crazy, but in some way I couldn’t quite put into words, it also felt perfectly right.
I waited a few moments after the door’s unlock chime to enter her quarters. Sylvis stood next to her bed, watching me with those wide, dark eyes I found so expressive. Her eyes told me she was having more doubts, maybe even fears about the course we were about to embark on together. But the expression on her face was nothing but determined. She stood in her captain’s uniform, which she’d had cleaned so that it was so white it practically glowed, with her chin held high and her shoulders back. She stood as if she was ready to take this whole thing head-on no matter what.
What an incredible woman. Her fire, her spirit, her inner strength impressed me time and again.
I bowed to her. “Captain Sylvis. Are you ready?”
She coughed out something midway between a laugh and a groan. “Not even close.”
“If it’s any consolation, I barely got any sleep last night, thinking about this. About you.”
She looked surprised. “Really? Mr. Shirtless Alpha Pirate? Unable to sleep because of little old me?”
I shrugged, a human gesture that had made its way into Jardan culture. “I thought females liked it when males shared their feelings.” My grin turned wicked. “Besides, I didn’t explain exactly how I was thinking about you, did I?”
Her cheeks went that shade of pink I adored. Sometimes she was so tough, and other times she blushed like a maiden. It made her fascinating to me.
The silence between us became just as tense as the silence on the bridge after I’d announced my intentions of mating Sylvis, but it was a different kind of tension. A sexual tension, an extreme awareness of each other, fueled by the memory of her in my arms yesterday, her body pressed against me, her lips against mine, my cock inside her, driving us both to the heights of pleasure. I wanted nothing more than to walk over to her and claim those lips again, to pull her against me and leave her breathless, with the taste of me on her lips.
But I held my passion in check—barely—because I knew that right now she needed a strong mate who was there for her. I needed to show her I was now her protector, her guardian, and her partner. That she could trust me with her life…and her heart. My feelings for her were incredibly tender, a heady mix of admiration, understanding, and scorching desire. I wanted to be there for her, no matter what. Even if
this was only temporary, a way for her to escape a kind of marriage slavery imposed by her father, I intended to honor her, to make her as happy as she could be given the realities of our situation.
I didn’t say this aloud. There was no point wasting words explaining something I was going to show her, to prove to her every second from this moment onward.
She finally broke the silence between us with a coy smile, turning back the teasing on me in a way I loved. “So much for formal attire. You aren’t even wearing your coat to our mating ceremony. Don’t you feel naked?”
I wanted her naked. Right now. But I didn’t push my luck. There would be plenty of time for luck pushing later. “This is formal attire for a Jardan male during his mating. More or less.”
Quite less, actually, because while the male went bare-chested, he usually broke out his finest trousers, shined his boots, and buckled on his most expensive sword belt to carry his blade. These were my best black trousers, but that wasn’t saying much. My sword belt was plain leather, although with the white sword and starburst symbol of the Defiance Blade on the titanium buckle. I suspected my boots still had some blood droplets on them from when I’d cut off Tleg’s hand to prove Sylvis was off-limits to everyone but me.
And I’d do that again in a heartbeat.
Sylvis stared at me as though she didn’t believe a word I’d said about the formal attire, but her eyes had lost some of that uneasiness, the fear I’d first seen. I considered that a victory.
“Where I come from,” she quipped, “the groom isn’t supposed to see the bride before they stand together.”
“Interesting custom. But our situation is a little unusual. A pirate has to remain flexible.”
“Then I suppose we should go be flexible space pirates,” she said, a tentative smile on her lips. “Although I’m not sure what I’ll have to do. Don’t make me look like a fool, Kash Dra’sten.”
I walked to her and took her small hands in mine, giving them a gentle squeeze. She was so delicate, watching me with those eyes that seemed so big in her face, all her emotions shining in them, that I wanted to shelter her in my arms forever. To destroy anything that might harm her. To give her the galaxy just to see her smile. The strength of the emotion surprised me.
“I would never do that to you. For as long as we are mates, you will be the tersa tuval of my heart. Your honor and your happiness are more important than my life.”
She stared up at me, her eyes full of gratitude. Then she nodded, took a deep breath, and said, “I’m ready.”
I held my arm out for her and she took it. We left the room together, heading toward the bridge side by side. I slowed my strides so she could keep pace with me.
“This will be simple,” I said to her under my breath. “The Tol’moi Treatise gives Jardan captains the right to perform True Mate ceremonies on their ships. Once mated to me, you get the same rights as any other member of the crew. But you’ll have more privileges, because you’re not just mated to any old pirate captain, but to me, with the blood of Jardan warriors running through my veins.”
“I’m all shivery with anticipation,” she murmured, smirking at me. “But that doesn’t answer what I’m supposed to do.”
“I admit it will be a little strange with me being both the captain and the one getting married—”
“I’m sure strange has never stopped you before.”
“—but I say a few official words. I draw my sword—”
“Does everything you Jardan do have to involve a sword?”
“—you place your hand on the hilt. I place my hands over yours. We both acknowledge that we are forming a bond, that we are true mates. All you have to do is repeat what I say.”
“And I should trust that you can remember the right words?”
I gave her the side-eye. My new mate was turning out to be a challenging match for me in the sarcasm department. “I memorized them last night. In between picturing you naked.”
“My confidence is overflowing right now, it really is.”
“Good. Our oaths are witnessed by the crew. We head back to my quarters as mates. Then we put into play the rest of our plan.”
She was silent at that. I wondered if her mind had immediately gone to where mine had gone when I’d said head back to my quarters as mates. Because all I could think about was taking her into my arms once again. Capturing those full, soft lips with mine. Reliving all that physical ecstasy we’d shared, indulging every desire, every passion…
We’d arrived at the doublewide doors leading onto the bridge. They opened for me as I stepped into the range of the scanners. All the bridge crew turned to look at us as we entered.
“Captain on the bridge,” Gren’don said. From his tone, it was clear he wished I were somewhere else, like outside the airlock without a spacesuit.
I walked with Sylvis to a spot near my captain’s chair in a raised, central location so all could easily witness us. The main viewscreen only showed the light distortion as the displacement fusion engines warped space, allowing the Defiance Blade to move faster than light. A quick glance at a holo-displays showed that we were indeed racing for the outer rim of the galaxy. So Gren’don hadn’t tried to undermine my command.
At least not yet.
“I don’t intend to waste a lot of time,” I announced, scanning the faces of every crewmember on the bridge. “As captain of the Defiance Blade, it is within my power to perform the ceremony of the True Mate. There are many varied traditions for the ceremony, especially on An’cen, the world I hail from. But Captain Trasker doesn’t have to worry about all of that.” I gave a lopsided grin, not letting it bother me when no one smiled back. “Now, I call upon you to be witnesses of our mating, where we declare our hearts and our intentions, in honor of the stars.”
I was paraphrasing some of the fancier, formal language. First, because I couldn’t remember it all word for word. Second, because I wanted to get to the point as soon as possible. Until she was formally my mate, she was at risk, and I couldn’t stomach that after all she’d been through since coming onto my ship.
Carefully, I drew my Iteran blade. The metal was blue, very strong, and wickedly sharp. The cross guard flared back around my hand, the grip was rough, black leather. The pommel was a pyramid-shape made out of crystera metal, perfectly balancing the weight of the blade.
The crew all stood at their terminals to acknowledge us as the ceremony began. None of them looked happy about it, but that didn’t matter to me. After all, they hadn’t been the ones kidnapped to be ransomed back to a father who thought of them as a nothing more than a commodity to trade away.
I carefully set my blade tip down on the deck, steadying it with one hand. Then I held out my right hand to her. She placed her hand in mine without hesitation. I drew her hand toward me and placed it on the sword grip. Then I covered her hand with my right one. My other hand I placed over my heart. I nodded at her, and she mirrored me, placing her free hand over her heart as well.
The Jardan believed that declaring love had to happen three times for the mating to be unquestionable. Vows had to be said on a sword. They needed to be spoken with me staring into her eyes as she stared into mine, holding each other’s hands. And finally, they were sealed with a kiss, a symbol of the union of soul and flesh.
“Sylvis Trasker,” I said. “My heart takes you as my true mate. I vow to love you with my soul, defend you with my strength, honor you with my mind. You are my mate. I shall hold you above all others. So swear I.” I looked deep into her eyes. “Will you accept me?”
“Yes,” she said, holding my gaze. I could feel her hand trembling beneath mine, but her voice was steady.
“Now you say the same oath,” I murmured to her, smiling at her, hoping to put her at ease.
She flashed a nervous smile back at me and started in on an oath I never thought I’d hear a human female say to me. Her voice was strong and rang out loud and clear across the bridge. “Kash Dra’sten. My heart takes you as my tru
e mate. I vow to love you with my soul, defend you with my strength, honor you with my mind. You are my mate. I shall hold you above all others. So swear I.” She looked up at me, achingly beautiful. “Will you accept me?”
“Yes,” I replied. I instructed her to join with me in repeating the vow two more times to give it the sacred weight of three. When we were done, she followed my quiet instructions and took my sword in both of her hands. It was heavy for her, and she struggled with it a little. I guided her hand as she sheathed the blade back in the scabbard at my waist in the second-to-last symbolic act.
Then came the part I was looking forward to most.
I took her in my arms and kissed her. The bridge ceased to exist, all my troubles with my first mate vanished, my worries about making it back to the outer rim were gone. There was only Sylvis. There was only the touch of our lips together. The culmination of our vows to one another.
As I drew away, looking into her big, dark eyes, I wondered what she’d been thinking of during the kiss. I knew exactly what I’d been thinking of. How perfect she felt in my arms. How her lips stirred me. Her body had me thinking all kinds of carnal thoughts. How I’d gladly give up my entire cut from this raid again just to kiss her one more time.
