Joyzal’s mother looked confused. “My dear, it was easy. These are only pirates after all. They aren’t Xylan.”
Well, she had a point. Jacole had noted that the other women in the cargo bay weren’t scared. The vibe was totally different this time. Everyone was fully clothed and looked fed and refreshed. None of the original pirates who had raped some of the women where here. They had all been killed by her husband, a thought that warmed her heart. This probably made the time penned in the cargo bay easier for the other women. But also, yeah, they all had almost a smug look on their faces. Like they were biding their time until they were outta there. They all definitely knew something she didn’t.
But still…“Easy? Melachine, there are hundreds of them on this ship. They have us. They’re taking us to their bidders. The other women and I have a plan, but we’re not sure if—”
Melachine rolled her eyes and snorted. “No, they’re not. And you do not need to worry about creating a plan to free yourselves. These pirates have a Xylan female of royal pigment on board their ship. No one harms a female Xylan of royal pigment.” She waved a hand dismissively. “Soon they will be space dust. Meanwhile, I need to speak to you about my son.”
Jacole’s mouth was open so wide she was sure she’d catch flies. “But…what? Joyzal? Why do we need to talk about Joyzal?” Her chest tightened. “Is he okay? Is something wrong?” Oh shit, maybe she shouldn’t have left him. She’d ended up having to order the computer to tranq him so she could get away because he’d refused to let her go. She felt bad for doing it, but it was the only way. If something happened to him in her absence, she’d never forgive herself.
“Just wait, all will be fixed. Joyzal is healthy and on his way, and the Imperial Fleet is not far behind. Now, can we talk about why I’m here? My son informed me you have trouble trusting him, that because you are human you don’t trust in the Xylan mating bond.”
Shock over this situation continued to roll in waves. “Wait, you’re here, talking to me while I’m in captivity on a pirate ship, just because you want to chitchat? You know you have a habit of showing up at the worst possible times, right?”
“So I’ve been told.” She smiled. “Now, answer my question. Is it true that you do not trust him?”
Jacole crossed her arms. “Yes, it’s true. But it has nothing to do with Joyzal. I’ve been burned so badly by men in my life, at this point I wouldn’t trust Jesus.”
“Who? Oh, never mind. I think I need to explain Xylan culture. I’m concerned my son didn’t do an effective job of this if you are worried about his fidelity.”
“Oh hell, I can’t talk to you about this, Melachine. The guards will be back any minute. This is crazy timing.” She glanced over and caught Lizard Lady’s mischievous gaze. Bitch. She was laughing at her. Jacole blew out a huff and continued. “This is hard for me. He does seem to be everything I’ve ever wanted. And because I’m pregnant, this whole subject is kinda moot, isn’t it? Of course I’m staying with him. But…”
“What worries you?”
“I don’t know if this is forever. I just don’t. How can I? We’ve only known each other for a day or two. And I don’t understand why this worries you or Joyzal. In the end it doesn’t matter what I think about that. I’m not leaving him. I’m here. Where else can I go?”
“What if you were given the option to go elsewhere? What if one day you found yourself able leave him? What if you took his offspring with you when you did?”
“Oh.” Melachine had a point. Suddenly Joyzal’s fears came through and hit her in the heart with stunning clarity.
“But I wouldn’t do that…” Or would she? If she was saying to him that this wasn’t forever, then what assurance did he have that she wouldn’t up and leave him and take his baby, too? “I mean, what the fuck,” she sputtered, suddenly feeling put on the spot. “I’ve never… Melachine, men don’t usually care about this shit. The men I knew would be overjoyed to hear I was down with being their temporary baby mama. And I’ve never had the mother of a guy I’m dating care enough to try and get to know me, to try and talk me into staying.”
Melachine looked confused. “I am the manager of my line. It is my duty to negotiate the satisfactory mating of my descendants. Joyzal is an orphan, as am I. My line is gone. I am alone. Without my mate or my offspring. Joyzal offered to become my champion and I am his manager. He is my adopted son. I will do whatever I can to see to the continuation of his line. Of our line. And isn’t it true that you are also an orphan?” she said gently.
Jacole took a deep breath, surprised at how that got to her. Her nose started to sting. “Yes, I am. I’m an orphan. My parents abandoned me, and my grandma raised me. Grandma Helen died last year.”
“Jacole, you are without a line. I would be honored to be your manager…your mother. You are Joyzal’s Bride. Therefore you have joined our line. But in order for this to work, you need to be able to assure my son that your bond is real. I need for you to look inside yourself and decide what you really want.”
Oh shit. This kind woman wanted to adopt her and make her part of the family. “Did Joyzal put you up to this?”
“He doesn’t know I’m here. He’d be very angry if he found out. He always thinks I meddle too much.” She smiled mischievously.
Jacole decided it was best to come clean with this woman. “Joyzal says he wants me, but what if a few years from now I annoy the hell outta him? What if he meets someone else he likes better? There are no assurances in life, Melachine. When I say I’m not sure about forever, I’m just trying to keep a loophole open for the both of us. For him. For that day when he wishes he could mate with someone else.”
“In the Xylan culture that day never comes. Did my son make it clear to you that a Xylan mating bond is physical?”
“He said that I am the only one for him. His first and his last. But Earth men say that, too…”
“No, this is different. You are his first and last. In fact, I fear for my son’s life. If you break the bond during the initial phase of mating, he will go insane and die. No one on Chronos will care about Joyzal’s wellbeing because he is Margol, but I will care.” Her voice broke. “I will care… He is an honorable warrior, a good Xylan. You would be lucky to have him as your mate.”
“What are you talking about? He would go insane if I left him right now? He never told me this…”
“He is focused on you, not on himself. This is the way of a Xylan warrior in initial mating.”
“Human,” Lizard Lady whispered. “The guards are entering the cargo bay. You two need to make this quick.”
“I am trying to talk you into staying not only because I care for him, but also because I think he would make you happy,” Melachine continued. “Joyzal will make an excellent champion for you. You cannot return to Earth. You know this. Now that you must live out your life in the four sectors, join our line. Accept this bond and see that it is your future.”
“What if Joyzal wants out of this?” she asked, determined to see this line of reasoning out to the bitter end.
“He will never want out. There is no need for an out. All Xylan lack sexual impulses until the moment they meet their mates. Their sexual feelings lie dormant. And once mates touch and bond, they can only physically have sex with their mate. Joyzal can only have sex with you. He will never feel lust for another. It does not exist in our species. Why then would he want to part from the one person in his life who he will mate with and share offspring with?”
Joyzal tried to tell her he was a virgin, but she hadn’t believed him. She hadn’t taken him seriously. He’d been so good with his hands, his lips… How could she have believed him? Damn, the man was a natural at sex. A phenom.
“He won’t ever cheat on me or want to divorce me?” It sounded like a fairy tale, so therefore too good to be true. Jacole had always known that deep down she was a woman of her word. If she ever took wedding vows, she damn well meant to keep them. She’d always planned on getting married only on
ce in her life. She’d learned to view men as not being able to take those vows as seriously as she did. Men weren’t keepers. Women were strong and stayed, but when the going got tough, men got going. She’d never known her dad. Hell, her grandfather had left Grandma Helen for a woman down the street.
“I never thought I’d get married and have kids. I never thought I’d meet a man who could really make that commitment with me. A man I trusted to stay through thick and thin, to take that vow as seriously as I knew I would.”
“I think you are more Xylan than human,” Melachine laughed. “That is exactly how seriously all Xylans take mating vows. The mating bond is irrevocable. There is no leaving it.”
A blast rocked the ship.
Jacole gasped and turned her head to see the group of guards who’d recently entered the cargo bay now pulling out weapons and assuming defensive positions.
“Sounds like they’re here,” Melachine quipped.
“Who? Who is here?”
“The Xylan Military and the Bounty Hunter Union,” Melachine answered. “The space pirates signed their death warrant when they dared capture a Xylan female of royal pigment from her mate’s ship. And they took a high-level target away from the Bounty Hunters. I told you, they’re not very smart. Both the Xylans and the Bounty Hunters after them for retribution. Also, my son is here to bring you back.”
“But they didn’t take a high-level target away from the Bounty Hunters…”
Melachine winked. “My son is resourceful.”
There was smoke rolling into the cargo bay, very much like the purple haze used the last time her husband had done this. Melachine’s vid blinked out. Two large figures emerged from the vapor.
Lizard Lady had already managed to unlock their cage. Jacole stepped out and gawked at her husband, the number one Bounty Hunter in the four sectors.
Joyzal was there to rescue her? And he’d brought reinforcements. Standing next to him was another badass Xylan warrior. A man slightly shorter than Joyzal, with darker skin. It had to be his friend, Rayzor. Tears pricked her eyes. Joyzal was such a good man. But also an idiot. He could get killed, and dammit, she didn’t need his help.
Lizard Lady was unlocking the women from their cages again. Bird Lady was helping.
This was just like the last time her Bounty Hunter husband had saved them all, except this time he had back-up, and the two of them were kicking serious space pirate ass. There were many more pirates on this ship than last time, but it was obvious that Joyzal and Rayzor were an unbeatable team. They smeared pirate ass across the cargo bay. It was fabulous.
She’d sought cover with the other women in the corner, behind the cages, waiting for the fire fight to pass. When the last pirate had been mowed down her husband turned his head and pegged her with a furious gaze. Uh oh. He strode over, his blaster dangling from one claw, sweat dripping off the ridges of his forehead.
Lizard Lady chuckled from beside her and jabbed her in the side with an elbow. “Looks like you’re in trouble,” she hissed. “I’m happy it’s you and not me.”
He grabbed her hand and growled into her ear. “I will punish you later. Come with me, we are leaving.”
He dragged her away. She didn’t even get a chance to say goodbye to her friends. The two warriors exchanged chin lifts and then they were striding out of the cargo bay and down a hall to an access tunnel with a ragged portal that had been blown out. She stepped over the debris and through the opening that was aligned with her husband’s ship. In a matter of steps she was no longer a prisoner and she was back where she’d started. It almost felt like being home. She took a deep breath and smiled. Well shit, she had to admit that was certainly easier than her own escape plan.
Chapter Nine
“Let’s get the fuck away from here,” the other Bounty Hunter immediately growled.
The two ships were joined together in order to create the opening they’d passed through. Joyzal’s friend pressed his hand over a device embedded in the wall and a force field of some sort shimmered over the opening they’d created in the side of the slave ship. It made Jacole happy to see that the ship they’d just left wouldn’t have a gaping hole. After all, her friends were still aboard the slaver until the Bounty Hunter Guild and the Xylan Imperial Fleet finished their rescue operation. The door to Joyzal’s ship slid closed with a heavy clang.
“Ships detached,” the computer confirmed.
Her husband began to stride toward the bridge. “Good now we will—”
“Incoming vid for Joyzal of Six from Melachine,” the computer interrupted.
“Oh fuck, she has the worst timing,” Joyzal snarled. He began striding faster, as if he were running away from something. “We need to get out of here, fast, before Rayzor is found on this ship by either the Imperial Fleet or the Bounty Hunter Guild.”
She smiled at the new guy. This was Joyzal’s best friend who’d arrived to help him out. That was cool.
He returned her gaze, eyed her up and down and gave Joyzal a sharp glance. “Your Bride is a female of royal pigment. How did this happen?”
“I rescued her from the space pirates. She’s human, the same as your Bride. Hold on, we’re going into slip drive,” he answered as he sat at the controls and touched a few buttons, and Jacole felt a tingling in her belly as the ship went into slip drive.
Rayzor looked over Joyzal’s shoulder, studying the control panel. He snorted. “If you had a faster ship, we could be ahead of the Imperial Fleet by now,” Rayzor remarked.
“At least I have a ship that works. It must feel odd to you, not having to stop every rotation to fix something.”
“This ship is so slow the Imperial Fleet will impound it as dead weight.”
“If you would shut your trap, I could concentrate and get on with it.”
Joyzal glared at Rayzor with a look so threatening, Jacole took a step back. Wow, she was seeing a side of her man she’d never seen before. The scary Xylan her new friends had told her about. No wonder other races feared the Xylan. They really were mean motherfuckers, weren’t they?
“If I came back I could take your number one place on the Leaderboard today.”
Jacole sucked in a breath. Jeez, that was harsh. She’d only known Joyzal for a short time, but even she knew that his status on the Leaderboard meant everything to him.
Joyzal roared. He threw himself forward like a Super Bowl linebacker and plowed into Rayzor. Their gigantic bodies smashed against the wall of the bridge. She couldn’t help the small squeak of surprise that flew out of her mouth. The space wasn’t that big, but she did her best to stand on the opposite corner, with a console in between her and the two raging brutes.
Rayzor snarled and grappled and it was on. The two warriors were going at it hand to hand, no holds barred, right in the middle of their escape from the Imperial Fleet and with an incoming message blinking. Apparently these two felt there was always time for a good fight. Jacole winced when Rayzor threw a punch into Joyzal’s midsection that she knew had to hurt like hell.
She could still hear the insistent chime of the incoming vid over the battle raging on the bridge, and the holo-map displayed the lights of the mass of the Imperial Fleet moving closer and closer. The chime sounded again. “Come on, you guys. Let’s not fight. We don’t have time—”
Rayzor gave a mighty heave and pushed Joyzal off of him. Her husband bounced against the adjacent wall, his back connecting with the blinking light for the incoming vid. “Oh shit,” Jacole whispered. “You guys, you guys, the video.” She tried to warn them, but they didn’t hear her, too caught up in their fight. The contact caused a large screen to blink to life, forming a picture of Melachine on the wall.
Oh great, Melachine was going to see the chaos on the bridge. Could this get any crazier?
The two men stumbled directly in front of the vid screen, so intent on their fight they were unaware of their new audience. Both were gulping in deep breaths, sweat beading on the ridges of their foreheads, their hai
r wild, cuts on their faces. Joyzal lifted his right fist to—
“Rayzor?” Melachine gasped. “Rayzor? My son, is that you?”
Jacole looked at Melachine’s image, startled. Her son? Why was she calling Rayzor her son? Joyzal was her son, not Rayzor. Both warriors froze mid-fight and turned their heads toward the screen. Everything suddenly became very, very quiet.
“Rayzor?” Melachine asked again, her voice choked with emotion. Tears rolled from her eyes. Her right hand reached out as if she could touch him.
“Mother?” Rayzor responded. He let go of Joyzal and stumbled closer to the screen. “Mother?” His voice cracked. “I have not heard your voice in ten planet rotations.”
Melachine was openly weeping.
“Oh my God,” Jacole whispered. Tears formed in her eyes. None of this made any sense. Wasn’t Melachine, Joyzal’s mother? These two weren’t brothers, were they? Joyzal would’ve told her if Rayzor was his brother.
“Mother…” Rayzor said again softly. He looked like a man who desperately wanted to reach out and grab his mother and smother her with all the hugs. “Mother,” he said louder as the urgency of their situation clearly dawned on him. “Mother, the Imperial Fleet is close. How…? Why are you here? Are you in need of assistance? Are you unwell?”
“I am well taken care of,” she sniffed, and lifted her chin toward Joyzal. “Joyzal is my champion. I am the manager of his line.”
Rayzor whipped around and stared slack-jawed at his friend. “You are my mother’s champion?”
Joyzal met Rayzor’s gaze and exhaled. He lifted a closed fist and tapped it against his chest. “Rayzor of Twelve, your mother has been taken care of with honor. She has been in this warrior’s charge for the last ten years, since the first day of her banishment. You have no cause to worry about her health or welfare.”
Joyzal's Prize (Alien Bounty Hunters Book 2) Page 9
