by S. E. Smith
“There’s a spaceship!” she said in awe looking up into his dark silver eyes.
“Do you see that?” Tink whispered in excitement as she grabbed his hand without thinking and pointed out the front window.
“Oh. My. God! My dad is going to have a shit fit when I tell him about this!” Tink said excitedly as she squeezed the hand she was holding and put her other hand on the view screen.
“It is so beautiful!” she said in a whispered voice.
Realizing she was leaving a perfect palm print on the glass-like material in front of her, she muttered softly, “This is just so cool. I can’t believe this is real.”
Tink glanced down and turned a little pink when she realized she was still holding the dark haired man’s hand. She made to let go but he tightened his grip on her hand refusing to release it. Tink blinked up at him in surprise. What she saw made her catch her breath. He looked like he had no plans to let her hand- or the rest of her- go anywhere! It was a look of pure possession; one she had never encountered before. Tink stared into his dark, silver eyes giving him a small questioning smile before tugging her hand free again until it was free. Turing back to the view screen, she looked out the window and watched as a small shuttle moved slowly out from under the ship she was on to the one off the left side.
“Wow!” Tink couldn’t believe how beautiful it was.
She continued watching the shuttle grow smaller as it approached the other starship. Fumbling with the guitar strap on her shoulder, she lowered it against the front railing before pulling her purse around to the front of her. She had to get a picture of this to show her family! They were never going to believe her. Just wait until she showed her dad this. He was going to be totally jealous of her…but in a good way. Her folks would love this, Tink thought wistfully.
J’kar watched as the female lowered the black case down off her shoulder laying it up against the wall by her before reaching for another bag lying criss-cross across her body. He was still trying to comprehension what happened to his body when she turned and grabbed his hand. He was surprise when she touched him. He hadn’t known what to expect; certainly not a kaleidoscope of emotions. He felt a jolt of electricity run from his hand down his body overwhelming his senses both physically and emotionally. Stepping closer, he drew in a deep breath; breathing in her scent. A wave of dizziness engulfed him as the scent of her skin and hair assailed his sensory system. Grabbing hold of the railing next to her, he tried to control the emotions cascading through him. He felt a heat rush through his body and a pleasure so intense, it was painful as it course through him.
Physically, his body responded to hers by wanting to grab her and take her right then and there. He felt his groin tightening, his heart beat increasing, and even his canines wanting to explode out of his mouth as the need to claim her as his washed through him! It was the emotional feelings he needed to control. Gritting his teeth together, J’kar fought the feelings rushing through him. He had never felt so possessive, so protective, so…afraid? J’kar shook as his response flooded through him. He needed to get control of himself and figure out what was going on.
“This is so beautiful,” Tink whispered softly to the man next to her.
She knew he couldn’t understand her from the looks she was getting so far. She pulled out her cell phone and aimed the camera on it towards the shuttle docking with the other space ship. She took several pictures of it before turning around to the man standing next to her.
Tink turned to take a picture of the man standing beside her. Tink drew in a swift breath drawing in his scent. Pure male fragrance swirled through her. He had a wonderful musky scent with a hint of sweat; almost like a combination of sage, leather, and mountain air.
Normally, she thought guys had more of a tendency to smell, well, like an old car or, after flag football, a sewer. This man’s scent was doing some really weird things to her thought process! She felt more like jumping his bones. This was not something she normally thought about. Aiming her camera at him she noticed he was gripping the railing so tight his knuckles had turned white. He was leaning forward slightly with his eyes closed and his head tilted down like he was contemplating some major decision. Tink took a quick picture before moving away. Distance was good when your self control was doing the Indy 500 in the opposite direction, Tink thought with a silent chuckle.
Moving up the left side of the circular room, Tink walked up to the next closest man in the room. He was sitting by a row of computers but was watching her intently as she approached. Tink put on her most ‘customer’ friendly smile. It was the one she used when she had to either work on a particularly difficult client’s car at the garage or when her parents dragged her to some author’s convention.
“How do you do? My name’s Jasmine Bell.” She said sticking her hand out.
When all the man did was stared at her hand blankly Tink reached down and grabbed his hand shaking it. Boy, lack of communication was the pits sometimes, Tink thought as she moved to the next guy who gave her the same curious ‘What the fuck?’ look. She continued up around the room coming to a halt in front of another tall man.
“Hi, Jasmine Bell but everyone calls me Tink.” She repeated she pointed to herself.
Tink studied the guy standing in front of her with a frown. He looked familiar. Like a combination of the boy she helped earlier and the man whose hand she grabbed near the front window. Turning to look into the deep silver eyes now staring at her intently from the front of the room, she turned back again to look into the lighter silver eyes staring at her now. A light bulb clicked on.
“Brothers?” Tink asked pointing to the man watching her and the man in front of her trying to convey her meaning.
She pointed between the two of them again and put two fingers together, repeating slowly. “Brothers?”
The man standing in front of her looked at J’kar then back down at Tink and smiled. “Ta, mankko.” Borj’s eyes widened as he realized what the female was trying to say.
“Brothers.” He repeated in the strange language the female used.
Pointing to himself, he said. “Borj’Tag Krell Manok.”
Tink smiled even bigger. Finally, someone who was willing to communicate!
Pointing to herself, she said, “Jasmine “Tinker” Bell.” She pointed to herself again and said, “Tink!”
Holding out her hand, she grabbed the man named Borj’s hand and shook it firmly. Man, they really did only come in one size so far on this ship! Huge. Tink thought as she watched his hand swallowed her smaller one.
“Tink.” Borj repeated slowly. Borj turned his head to look at his brother J’kar in amazement and said in their native language. “The female is called Tink.”
J’kar was so shaken by the reaction he was having to the female he hadn’t even heard her move away from the railing next to him. When he opened his eyes and realized he had a death hold on the railing, he released it with difficulty. As he released the railing, he noticed the hand the female gripped was burning. Turning his palm upward he stared in disbelief. A series of intricate circles were forming on his palm. Touching his fingers to the palm of his left hand, he slowly traced the circles. The mating rites! He found his bond mate.
Turning, he stared as the female moved from one male to another along the left side of the bridge before she stepped up to his brother. As she touched one then another of the males, a low growl started in his throat. She was his! She should not touch other males. He would kill any male who touched her! The growl became louder as she reached out and grabbed his brother’s hand the way she grabbed his. He barely heard his brother say the name of the female to him. All he could see was a haze as he became totally focused on the female who was to be his lifetime bonded mate.
Borj looked with concern at J’kar. His brother’s face had turned to a dark mask of fury. “J’kar, what is it? Did the female do something?”
Borj looked down at the small female gripping his hand and smiling up at him. He could
n’t see that she had done anything to his brother but he didn’t know what species she was. Could she have done something harmful during the time she touched J’kar? Borj glanced at the other three men the female touched. They seemed fine. They watched her with open desire but nothing else appeared wrong. Borj glanced down at the female and could feel a stirring of desire himself. She was very attractive to him visually and her scent was unusually appealing but nothing that would cause the fierce look that was on his brother’s face. Looking up again, he barely had time to release the female before his brother was upon him.
J’kar didn’t even realize he moved until he was holding his brother by the throat. A deep growl rolled through his clenched teeth.
“Mine!” J’kar snarled in a low voice. His grip tightened around Borj’s throat. “Do not touch her!”
Tink let out a startled squeak as she stumbled backwards away from the two huge men. She hadn’t even seen the man down front move until the one named Borj let her go suddenly thrusting her to one side. Tink held on to the railing briefly for support as she watched the huge man from down front wrap his hand around his brother’s neck.
“Now wait a minute, fellow. Let the nice man go.” Tink said rushing forward and grabbing the dark haired man by the arm.
“What is your problem?” Tink asked in frustration as she ducked under the angry, dark haired man’s arm to get between the two.
She knew that wasn’t the smartest place to be but she had finally gotten one of the men to understand her. The last thing she needed was the one person who was trying to communicate with her getting killed. So, she did the first thing you should never do in a fight situation, she put herself in the middle of it.
Raising her hands to press against the stone wall that was the dark haired man’s chest, she pushed with all her strength. He didn’t even move. She doubted he even knew she was there. Tink rose up on her tip-toes to place the palms of her hands on each side of his face tugging until she had his attention. Slowly he looked down at her. I really needed to find out his name, she thought to herself, so she could quit calling him the dark haired man. Especially since it looked like all the men were dark haired! Tink thought in exasperation.
Tink stared into his eyes and smiled shakily. “That’s right, darling. Release your brother before you hurt him.”
Letting her hands slide down to his chest again, Tink said in a soft, husky voice. “Come on, you can do it. Just let the nice man go before I have to do something we’ll both regret, like beam you upside the head with my nice little wrench. Come on, it would be a shame to mess up a perfectly good wrench or your gorgeous head.” Tink added with a mischievous little smile. It wasn’t like she would do anything to mess up the big guy’s face, his hair maybe, his clothes definitely, but never that gorgeous face.
Tink kept up the pressure of her hands on his chest while she talked calmly. Slowly, the dark silver eyes lowered to meet hers again. Tink knew she had his full attention when she saw his eyelids droop with desire as he gazed down at her. Smiling again, she nodded her head up and down and pushed again. This time, he backed up a step…then two. Tink kept the pace until she was a good five steps from the man named Borj. Patting the chest she was pushing against, she let out a loud sigh. One disaster averted, now to figure out what just happened without getting ravished, she thought with another silent chuckle. How did she always seem to get herself into these situations? Tink wondered as she ran her hand through her short curls causing them to bounce all over the place in disarray.
“Well, that was interesting.” Tink said as she put her hands on her hips still standing between the two men. She didn’t know what was happening but she was suddenly very conscious of the fact she was far away from home and her left hand was burning like hell. Rubbing her left hand on her thigh, she looked back and forth between the two men with a raised eyebrow.
Blowing a strand of hair out of her face, Tink asked in a suddenly leery voice. “So, can anyone tell me what that was about in English or mime, or whatever in the hell I might be able to understand?” At this point, she would even take stick-figure drawings.
Borj looked at J’kar. He didn’t understand what had happened. Why would his brother suddenly attack him? Why was he claiming the female?
“J’kar, what is happening?” Borj looked shaken at his brother’s behavior. “Why are you claiming the female as if she was bonded to you?”
“She is mine. She is my bond mate.” J’kar was suddenly ashamed at having attacked his brother.
He ran his hand through his short hair before looking at Borj. He had never done anything so out of control before especially not to one of his brothers. Looking at his left palm again, he slowly raised it for Borj to see the intricate circles now clearly visible.
Borj’s eyes widened at the sight of the circles normally found only during the mating rites indicating bonding between two mates. He glanced at the female through new eyes. If what his brother was showing him was true, they finally found a species they were compatible with as bond mates. Physically, the female was very attractive and the knowledge a Prime male would be able to bond with her through the mating rites was life-altering for their entire planet. The only problem Borj saw was there was just the one female. They had no idea where she came from and there was no way of communicating with her. Their translators were unable to translate anything the female had said so far.
Tink didn’t like the look going back and forth between the two brothers. They, and the other men in the room, were suddenly looking at her like she was their favorite new toy or something. Even the new guys who came into the room to look after the boy she brought in stopped what they were doing to stare at her. The boy, who was looking decidedly pale earlier, now had a huge grin on his face. What the hell was going on?
Tink looked back to the two men who were about to kill each other and found them both staring at her. Taking first one step back and then another and another until the railing was pressed tight against her back, Tink decided she really didn’t like the look in their eyes, especially the one named J’kar. He was looking at her like she was edible! Tink was deciding whether to make a break for the entrance to the room when she felt her cell phone vibrate in her pocket. Startled, she patted the sides of her skirt. She forgot she put it in the pocket of her skirt after taking a few pictures to show her family. She highly doubted she had cell service this far! Pulling her phone out, she saw a text message written across it from RITA. Stunned, she re-read it twice before it dawned on her what it said.
Portal set to open behind you in twenty-eight seconds. Time to go home, sweetheart. RITA’s message stated in bold letters.
Looking up again, Tink took one last look around her before gazing at the man named J’kar. She wondered why she felt dismayed at the idea of leaving him. Maybe it was for the best, Tink thought vaguely as she gazed into the burning flames of desire in his eyes. The image of the two of them entwined in a burning mass of naked skin flashed through Tink’s mind as she imagined what would happened if they were ever alone in the same room for more than a couple of minutes. Yes, Tink thought with regret, a relationship with tall, dark, and delicious would never work. They were literally worlds apart.
J’kar let a slight curve lift his lips as the impact of what was happening began to sink in. I have a bond mate, he thought with a feeling of disbelief. He had all but given up on the idea of ever finding one as he had attended all the mating rite ceremonies since he turned of age and never found his bond mate. That he found one in such an unusual way could only mean she was sent by the gods and goddesses.
His gaze drifted around the room to the other men. He saw hope and amazement in their eyes as what he said and showed to Borj sank in. If he found his bond mate then they had a chance to find theirs. His gazed moved possessively to the female. Tink, he reminded himself. His gaze moved possessively over Tink. He watched as she reached into her pocket and pulled out the small square disk again. His eyes took in the slight frown betwee
n her eyes then watched as they widened a little. As he watched her look around the room then back at him he began to get an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach. As if something bad were about to happen. A low growl started deep in his chest then burst forth as he made a lunge for her.
All hell broke out in a matter of seconds. J’kar let out a roar of pure outrage as behind Tink a shimmering doorway appeared and a huge male suddenly stepped out of it behind her. J’kar vaguely heard Tink gasp and heard her let out a small scream before she was grabbed and pulled up and over the railing by the large male. J’kar raced to the railing bracing one hand on it he cleared it in an attempt to get to his bond mate before the male had a chance to reach the shimmering doorway. At the same time, his brother Borj and two other men rushed to stop the male. The male pulled Tink through the doorway, releasing a small smoking device as he went, and then there was nothing but empty space.
Chapter 7
Tink gasped and screamed as she was grabbed from behind and lifted over the railing like she weighed no more than a ten pound sack of potatoes. A strong arm gripped her tight around the waist and held her snug against a huge chest. Tink was about to fight when she heard a familiar oath escape from the massive form holding her.