Holy shit. I wasn’t going to a planet! I was going to go live on a spaceship in the middle of nowhere where they actually fought other spaceships? Or cyborgs. Or whatever! The heart rate monitor began beeping once again and this time it wasn’t arousal I was feeling. It was panic.
I shook my head. Once, twice. “No. There must be some mistake.”
“No mistake.” She scowled at me. “Your match is estimated at ninety-nine percent compatibility.”
“But…” I wanted to go to Forsia, or to the twin worlds of Ania and Axion, where they lived in cities surrounded by restaurants, parties, and opulence. I didn’t want to go to a warship in space.
“Quiet.” The word was bitten off as she hissed at me like an irritated cat. “It is done, the match complete. You already signed. Your family has been compensated, as you requested. Unless you wish to return the funds, you will honor your legal obligation to the program. You chose the matching protocol. You must abide by the results.”
Warden Egara was nice enough, in her twenties and even pretty, if a bit brusque. I understood. The woman at the front desk told me that they didn’t get many volunteers. Most of the women Warden Egara processed were convicted criminals whose only two choices were either enter the Interstellar Bride Program or serve hard time in prison.
“Hmm. I believe I will add this outburst to your bride data. Your new mate should be warned of your impertinence.”
My eyes widened and my mouth fell open.
“Just a minute! I never agreed to that.” Impatient, I yanked at a couple of sticky pads attached to my temples and grimaced as they snagged on my long black hair. I handed them to the assistant, who finished unhooking me from the rest of it and left the room. Warden Egara must have realized that I was about to shove that tablet up her ass, for she held out her hand in a placating gesture.
“All right, Miss Johnson. I will delete that from your profile.” She tapped the screen again and frowned. Her long hair was pulled into a tight bun and the strain on her skin made her look even more severe. “Now, for the record, state your name.”
I took a deep breath, let it out. “Hannah Johnson.”
“Miss Johnson, are you now, or have you ever been married?”
“No.”
“Do you have any biological offspring?”
“No.” I rolled my eyes. They’d already asked me this. I’d signed this shit in triplicate and I was sure it was listed on her tablet.
“Excellent.” She tapped her screen a few times without looking at me. “I am required to inform you, Miss Johnson, that you will have thirty days to accept or reject the mate chosen for you by our matching protocols.” She lifted her head and actually grinned at me. “Judging by these scores, however, I think that is highly unlikely.”
I wasn’t as confident in the computer program they used to match brides to their mates, but I was reassured that the ultimate decision was mine. “Okay.”
“Regardless of your choice, there will be no return to Earth. If your new mate is unacceptable, you may request a new primary mate after thirty days… on Prillon Prime. You may continue this process until you find a mate who is acceptable.”
“Warden, I just want to know…”
She sighed. “You have already signed the documents, Miss Johnson, but I also feel obligated to remind you that as of this moment, you are no longer a citizen of Earth, but a warrior bride of Prillon Prime, and, as such, you shall be bound by the laws and customs of your new world.”
“But—”
“You have been matched, Hannah, to one of the fiercest warriors from that world. You should be proud. Serve him well.” I wasn’t sure if Warden Egara’s command was meant to encourage me or frighten me, but I didn’t have long to wonder. I had no idea that she knew anything personal about the alien males she matched. Apparently, she knew more than I did. Perhaps she liked me more than I imagined. If I were a crazy serial killer, would she still send me to this fierce warrior? Did she tell all women some lie about how fantastic their match was to make them eager to leave Earth?
She stepped forward and shoved on the side of my medical chair. With a small jolt, a bright blue opening appeared in the side of the wall. Still strapped securely, I could do nothing as a long, very large needle appeared. The needle was attached to a long metallic arm in the wall. I tried to pull back and she raised her voice so I could hear her over the bubbling of the strange blue liquid below me.
“Do not fight it, Hannah. That device will simply implant your permanent NPUs. Nothing to fear.” Her smile was forced and her lips thin, but at least she was trying to reassure me. I got the feeling she didn’t do this kind of warm and fuzzy thing often.
I slid into the tiny enclosure and felt the sting of the needle first on one side of my temple, then the other. I was quite sure that the strange and very strong buzzing sensation I now felt on both sides of my head would give me a migraine from hell. Resigned to suffer the effects of the NPU, I was lowered into a heated bath of some sort. Blue light surrounded me.
“When you wake, Hannah Johnson, your body will have been prepared for Prillon Prime’s matching customs and your mate’s requirements. He will be waiting for you.”
Holy shit. “Now? Right now?” I struggled against the cuffs that held my wrists to the table. “I haven’t even said goodbye to my brother! Wait!”
For some reason, my anger and frustration just disappeared, as if the warm bath washed it away. What the heck was in the water? I felt so relaxed, so happy.
So numb.
Warden Egara’s clipped voice was the last thing I heard above the quiet humming of electrical equipment and lights. “Your processing will begin in three… two… one…”
Everything faded to black.
Chapter Two
Commander Zane Deston, Prillon Warship, Sector 764
The bitter taste of protocol weighed down my tongue as I listened to the warriors gathered around the table. We were lucky enough to have soundly defeated the enemy, the Hive, in this sector more than a month ago, and unlucky enough to now have the honor of hosting Prillon Prime’s heir, Prince Nial, on board my warship. The young prince was to be mated when he returned to our home world, and he was delaying the inevitable for as long as possible. He was a highly skilled pilot, but he was untested. He wanted a taste of combat, not the pampered palace existence he’d experienced his entire life.
The Battleship Deston, named after its commander, was the only place in the universe he could hide from the Prime, his father, the king of our world. This ship was the only place immune from the Prime’s powerful reach.
This ship was mine. As a commander with royal blood, not even the royal house could take it from me. Not only was I the Prime’s cousin, but I’d proven myself in many battles. Allies and enemies alike whispered my name in fear.
Despite my reputation across the entire interstellar fleet, I was forced to remain in this sector. Waiting. A woman, my new mate, the mate I didn’t want or need here screwing up my life or my routines, was to be transported and we had to remain stationary to receive her. I hadn’t even made the request of the Interstellar Bride Program myself. My mother had done that without my knowledge or permission. I’d been forced to accept a bride and name a second. If I had refused, I would have dishonored my entire family.
The fact that my mate was unwanted was my secret, my burden to bear. The crew aboard my warship was happy for the delay in our return to the frontier, and eager to meet their new matriarch. My second, Dare, was eager to claim a female and share her with me as true warriors did. Both the primary and secondary males shared the pleasures and responsibilities of the female and her offspring. We lost too many warriors in battle and the custom of sharing a mate ensured that no mated female was ever left all alone. Two warriors from a family line were pledged to every female’s life, body, and honor. If one died, a new second was named.
I had named my second. I had participated in the matching process. And now all I could do was pretend to
be pleased at the match and accept whatever bride was sent to me. I simply hoped she would be intelligent enough not to be a hindrance, and strong enough to accept my nature. Prillon brides were rare, and powerful in their own right. My bride would wield much power, if she were worthy enough for me to give it to her. I wanted a mate who would submit to my every need, but my very base, dominant needs had frightened more than one female from my world. I couldn’t imagine a fragile female from Earth would fare better. I knew I would need to maintain control of myself, keep my true nature contained, if I didn’t want a terrified bride.
“I’m sure your bride will arrive any time, commander. The transport was to be initiated today.”
“I’m sure her hair will be like spun gold and her eyes a dark shade of amber.” Harbart spoke from his place of honor standing at Prince Nial’s right shoulder. Harbart was a pompous little ass, a stooped old man and a creature devoted not to the sacred act of war, but to the distasteful duties of politics, in particular the rise of his daughter as Prince Nial’s betrothed.
Thank the gods for that. If not for Harbart’s interest in my cousin, Nial, the poisonous old man would have most likely set his sights on mating his daughter to me. Currently, I was third in line to the throne. I needed Nial to claim a bride and start producing offspring as quickly as possible.
“Thank you, Harbart.” I accepted his good wishes and leaned back in my command chair. The table in the meeting room seated six of my captains—all formidable warriors with the dark golden hair and yellow eyes common to our people—and the prince. For three hours we had reviewed reports and battle preparations. All ship sections had reported in. All repairs had been made after our last battle with the Hive. Now, an entire battle group, five thousand warriors and ten ships, were stranded in space waiting on a female. My female.
Dread filled my gut at the very idea.
Harbart opened his mouth to speak and I caught the gaze of my first officer, who rolled his eyes as the communications beacon dinged. My medical officer’s voice filled the small meeting room. “Commander, we have taken your mate to medical station one. She arrived a few minutes ago, unconscious, but stable.”
Regardless of my disinterest in a bride, I was curious about the woman matched to me. Every muscle in my body went taut with the need to rush to the medical section and inspect her. I could not do so, not now. If I did, every male in the room would demand to accompany me. I would rot in the tar pits on Prillon Prime before I allowed the sniveling politician, Harbart, to see my bride’s naked form. I might not have requested the woman, but that did not make her any less mine. Mine to see, mine to care for, and mine to fuck.
The claiming ceremony was sacred and private; only my closest warriors, those I trusted with both my life and hers, would be allowed to bear witness to the claiming. In bearing witness, they vowed to honor and protect my new mate as a sacred part of me, as half of my body, half of my flesh. They pledged their lives to her protection. And before that ceremony could begin, I needed to ensure she accepted me and my second, and that she was committed to our match. Prillon brides were never forced to accept a mate. I frowned. If I couldn’t tame my new bride in the next thirty days without scaring her away, I didn’t deserve to keep her.
Regardless of the timing, I’d slit Harbart’s throat before I allowed him to witness that blessed rite.
“Very well, doctor,” I replied, my voice calm and even. “No one is to see her but me. I will come to her after my meeting with the engineers.”
“Yes, commander.”
The communication unit went quiet and so did the room as the men stared at me in disbelief.
“Why do you not rush to her side, commander?” Harbart’s outraged question confirmed that I had made the correct decision. The vile male couldn’t wait to set his lecherous eyes on my mate.
His obvious jealousy made possessiveness flare. To my surprise, desire for an unseen woman heated my blood and I fought back the urge to rush to her, to see her, to taste her flesh and claim her body with my own. She was matched to me out of every other male in the universe. Her desires were matched to mine and I was eager to test the program’s success. Perhaps my mother had been right to force the issue. Knowing my mate was onboard the ship caused my mind to shift. Logic insisted I did not require a bride, but with her so near, my body had other ideas.
Her arrival would be known throughout the battle group in a matter of hours and the ship would be a dangerous place for my new mate until I claimed her, especially with Harbart’s royal entourage aboard. Stealing females had once been very common on Prillon Prime, and some old fools, like Harbart, longed for the days when men took their brides by the strength of their sword or their armies.
Fools. Many fine warriors had died at the hands of their new brides before the archaic laws had been changed by the current Prime, killed by brides angry and savaged by the loss of their chosen mates. Even now, I refused to jeopardize my bride by showing too much interest. The more I valued her, the bigger target she would be for calculating and power-hungry bastards like Harbart. He was not the only elder or the only politician onboard my ship. They could all rot, as far as I was concerned.
“I will not neglect my duties or become distracted by a mate.” I rose from my seat and the warriors under my command followed suit, all but Prince Nial. My cousin grinned up at me.
“We’ll see about that, cousin.”
With a scowl, I stared back at him. “You will go on the next scout run with Dare, cousin. Try not to get yourself killed.” Dare was my second and my best combat pilot. I didn’t trust the prince’s safety to any other.
Nial grinned. Harbart blustered protests, and I exited the meeting room and walked onto the command deck of my ship, already issuing new orders to my navigator. “Now that the transport is complete, there will be no more waiting. Alert the captains. Prepare for departure. We leave for the front within the hour.”
“Yes, commander.”
I left the command deck and made my way straight to the ship’s engine rooms for my scheduled meeting with the engineers. I did my best to listen, but all I could think about was the female waiting for me in the medical bay.
What would she be like? Would she tremble in fear at first sight of me, as so many females did on my home world? Would she bow and avert her eyes in deference to my battle prowess and superior rank? Would she dare defy me, or would she submit to my will in all things? Would she be soft and curved with large breasts like the women programmed into the ship’s pleasure simulators or would she be lean and strong, like the warrior women from my home world?
The third time I was forced to ask the engine mechanic to repeat himself, I ended the meeting. I was tired of waiting.
The medical deck was not far, and within minutes I stormed into the space expecting to find my bride awake and waiting for me.
Instead, the doctor hurried to my side with a concerned slant to his brow.
“Commander, she has not yet regained consciousness.”
My chest constricted with an unfamiliar ache and I scowled at the man. “Why not?”
“I don’t know. All of her scans appear to be normal. Her name is Hannah Johnson. She is from a place called North America. And this is interesting, commander, she is the first volunteer I have seen from Earth. Most brides from that planet are criminals.”
Doctor Mordin held his monitoring tablet out for my inspection, but I didn’t care to read about her on a machine, nor did I care where she came from. I had been in many battles with Mordin, and counted him a trusted friend. If anything were seriously wrong with my mate, he would have informed me already. I did not care what the bureaucrats in the Interstellar Bride Program had put on their ridiculous forms. She was mine now, she was here, and I wanted to see her in the flesh.
“Take me to her.”
“Of course.” He turned and went into a private suite normally reserved for visiting royalty or high-ranking officers. It was the only private bay in the medical station, and I
was thankful for his discretion.
I stood in the doorway as he hurried to my bride’s bedside with his scanners. Arms crossed, I allowed him to finish his scans. I could not see much of her, for the man blocked my view. Despite the fact that I now had a mate only due to my mother’s interference, I discovered that since she had arrived, I was very… interested. Eager, even. “Is she well?”
“She appears unharmed, but I can’t perform a full breeding diagnostic until she is awake.”
“Has anyone come to inquire after her?”
The doctor’s smirk was pure malice, and I was grateful to call him a loyal and trusted friend. He was not just trained to heal, but to kill, and was a fierce warrior. “Oh, the prince’s puppet was here, but I turned him away.”
Fury pumped through my veins. “Excellent. Thank you.”
He nodded once. “My honor, commander.”
“Leave us.”
He grinned. “Of course.”
I waited for the door to slide closed behind him before turning to the small bed on which my bride slumbered.
I expected golden hair and amber eyes. But my mate’s hair was long, straight, and black as night with shimmering strands that looked soft to touch. Unusual, but beautiful beyond reckoning. Equally dark eyebrows arched over delicate eyes, and black lashes rested on pale cheeks. Her skin was the palest I’d ever seen, much fairer than my darker coloring. I couldn’t miss her full pink lips or the hint of blush on her cheeks.
I longed to see her eyes, to discover if they were as exotic as her dark hair and smooth skin.
She was covered by a sheet and I gently tugged it away to inspect the rest of her. Her naked body was lush and curved, her breasts large with enticing dusky rose nipples. Any hair she may have had on her body had been removed, as was our custom, leaving her flesh bare and smooth.
My cock stirred to life, rising in greeting and ready to claim what was mine. She was so small, so tiny in comparison to me and my second. This was not right! The Interstellar Bride Program must have made a mistake.
Mated to the Warriors Page 2
