by Ava York
“Worry about it later, Captain,” Mozo snapped. “Your match is on her way.”
What?
Lila
I sat, so in shock by the immediate match that I just stared blankly at the screen. I forgot to fight as one of the nurses swabbed at my temple with an anesthetic. The gel was cold and stung for a moment before it numbed my skin.
The nurse batted away my questing hand and another held them down while the first pressed a blunt tool to the numbed place.
She continued to smile through my discomfort, acting like I was there by choice. Like I had made an appointment for a simple physical rather than being forced to leave my family for a complete stranger.
“It’s a top-of-the-line translator. You’ll feel some pressure, and there might be a little dizziness, but it’s a small price to pay, don’t you think?” She readied her finger on the end of the device.
I squirmed and shouted out, “Get off me!”
I tried to fight the firm grips on my hands and my shoulders, to stop her from doing anything else to me.
But it was too late. It felt like being punched in the temple. My ears were ringing and the bastard nurses took advantage by leading me slowly out of the room. The floor felt like it was moving underneath my feet and I needed help moving down the hallway.
Someone put a temporary wrist band on me as we entered another room and I was assisted to a railing. Once I was stable, I tilted my head and tried to get my eyes to stop watering.
The nurse handed me a folder and I took it automatically, holding it tightly like it was some sort of life preserver.
“Wait. I’m really not ready for this,” I insisted.
I was sinking fast. Everything happened so much more quickly than I’d thought it would, and I was woefully underprepared.
I took a couple of deep breaths, then realized that I was alone in the tiny room, and my heart froze.
The teleporter.
I tried to gather myself to move toward the door, but it was too late. Light filled my vision and all I could hear was an intensely loud buzz of static.
When the light faded, a huge man stood in front of me.
Well, not a man at all, really. He was tall and had the broadest shoulders I had ever seen, even working on a farm all my life. The glint of golden tattoos shimmered over his arms and what I could see of his deep reddish-brown, almost burgundy, torso.
And there were the horns, of course.
Two dark gold horns protruded from his forehead, curving back.
Hard to miss.
He glared and growled something, but my ears were still buzzing from the teleport. I dropped the folder and scanned the room quickly for a weapon.
To the side of the platform I’d arrived on was a staff. Or maybe a mop. It didn’t matter.
I grabbed it and swung at him as hard as I could.
Mostly due to luck and the fact that he had stooped to speak to me at my height, I cracked him right in the jaw.
His face darkened and I swallowed back the nausea in my throat. He caught the end of my improvised weapon and tugged it easily from my grasp, then advanced on me, growling.
T’hoihj biuxiop nr goyulbjk!
Top-of-the-line translator, right!
“Get away from me!”
I turned back to the teleport, hoping that there was some instant recall, but he grabbed my arm before I could take more than a step.
T’hoihj still nr goyulbjk!
It was like being grabbed by a statue. My heart sank as he pulled me toward him and wrapped his arms around me.
I didn’t have a chance of getting out on my own.
Stay still nr goyulbjk!
Frustrated tears filled my eyes and threatened to spill over, but I couldn’t let that happen. My family needed me.
Stay still nr goyulbjk!
They needed me to be strong to get through this, figure out a way to get back to them.
I had to get back to them.
Stay still nr woman!
His arms were still tight around me, but I noticed that he wasn’t hurting me. In fact, he seemed to be taking great care not to injure me, despite his much larger size.
His torso behind me was warm and solid and irritatingly comforting.
Maybe the match was a mistake, a glitch in the system. The nurse had said it never happened that quickly or matched so well.
Maybe if I just waited for a few days, someone would be here to take me back home, with the pay as an apology for the confusion. I decided to look through the documents to see if I could find a loophole, anything to get me home.
His gravelly voice finally filtered through the fading buzz. “Woman, are you the one assigned to me? Can you understand me? I mean you no harm.”
His tone implied that he had said this several times already without any response from me.
I turned my head to face him, glaring ineffectually. “Yes, I was assigned, but don’t get used to it. I’m not staying.”
Maybe he was just perpetually grumpy, but the alien male finally released me.
Mostly. He kept a firm hand on my wrist, the one with the bracelet on it and I didn’t bother trying to pull free.
“Will you stop trying to run? Or fight?” He rubbed at his jaw with his free hand and frowned at me. “I’m not happy about the situation either, so I would appreciate it if you would calm down. I am not your enemy.”
I nodded at him, but my teeth clenched tightly.
“You’re not happy with the situation?” The nausea in my stomach burned off as the rage surged into my chest. “Then why the fuck are you in the system? You could have stopped all this from happening by just not registering!” Tears welled in my eyes but I pushed them back, too angry to care. “You uprooted my entire life! Took me from my family! But you’re not happy? What the hell is wrong with you? Is this a game to you?”
I pushed my hand into him, trying to shove him back. He didn’t even budge. He took a deep breath and pulled me carefully over to a bench.
He waited for me to sit and when I eventually did, he sat beside me. He was taller than me by about a foot if I had to guess.
If he was human, he would be one of those people who got asked over and over again how tall he was. If he was human, he’d probably be some kind of men’s wear model.
Those gorgeous, tough-guy, lumberjack types who sell jeans. Hell, he could probably sell jeans even with those horns.
It was a lot easier to take in the details now that I knew he could be polite.
Well spoken, even. But he still owed me one hell of an explanation.
He frowned at me frowning at him. “Woman, I wasn’t given a choice, either. Those above my rank have deigned to reward me with you. It was not something I chose. It was not something I believe I have time for. But it happened, nevertheless.”
He pulled a hand down his face and looked very tired for a second. And just for that moment, I wondered how hard this was for him, too.
Wait, I was a reward?
“I could no more turn you away than you could avoid being sent here. There’s no point in fighting this, not for either of us. It would be best if we simply worked with the arrangement.” He let go of my wrist and offered a strange sort of salute, right fist to the left side of his chest. “I am Rekker, Captain of the Vaznik warriors.”
“My name is Lila, and I’m not giving up. I don’t care if we’re perfectly matched. I don’t care that someone decided to reward you.” I poked one finger into his chest. “First off, I’m not a reward to be handed out like a treat. And I don’t care if you think it’s easier to just go along with this. I’m going to figure out how to get home to my family. If you’re not going to help, then stay out of my way. It’ll be easier on both of us.”
I pushed myself to my feet and turned to stand in front of him, my arms crossed. It was easier to cut an imposing, determined figure when he was sitting.
Even though we were still eye to eye.
He seemed about to speak, probably ir
ritated with me again, but I stopped him.
“And what the hell is that? What are you doing now?” I jabbed a finger toward his shoulder. One of the gold tattoos that swirled over his body was changing color.
Rekker’s gaze followed my finger and further accusations died on my lips. He looked utterly shocked and lifted a hand to trace along his skin. “I don’t believe it.”
As he spoke, the tattoo flared white, impossibly bright against his dark skin.
I took a step away and watched him carefully, waiting for an explanation. The odds were good that I wasn’t going to like it.
“What’s happening?”
Rekker
The human woman’s eyes left mine, inspecting the tattoo on my left shoulder. When I followed her gaze, I saw why: my mating tattoo was blazing white, a shining beacon against the deep burgundy of my skin and in stark contrast to the other golden swirls.
Dread filled my body from the bottom of my toes to the tips of my horns. None of my tattoos had ever been white before.
Crimson with rage, yes, but never white. I knew it meant that this human woman was truly my mate, whether indicated by a genetic test or not.
It was bred into my physiology to occur whenever I was close to the woman I was meant to spend my life with.
But I didn’t tell her that.
The last thing I needed was a feisty human getting in my way when I was on an important mission to an unknown planetary system. A mate was never part of my plan. There certainly wasn’t room in my life for one, no matter how pretty she was.
She really was very pretty.
Beautiful, even. Her hair was so rich and red and underlain with chestnut strands, reminding me of Vaznik’s autumnal season. It looked incredibly soft and I found that I wanted to run my fingers through it, despite my trepidation regarding our situation.
And I’d never seen anyone else with eyes like hers. They were a deep evergreen, with flecks of cinnamon, the pupils lined in a ring of gold nearly the same color as my tattoos. I didn’t want to, but I swear I could see every bit of my future laid out in them as they burned into mine.
“Why is only that tattoo white?” she asked finally.
Her voice had changed its timber, lowering an octave and softening into a subtle, delicate thing.
Clearly to disarm me. I swallowed, hard. It was working.
“It flares white when I’m supremely annoyed. The rest turn red when I’m angry, but that one’s special. Kind of like a birthmark, I guess,” I told her.
Lie, lie, lie, Rekker, I thought.
“What do you have to be annoyed about? It’s not like someone forced medical tests on you and then shuttled you away to be some breeding slave to someone you’ve never even met,” she snapped.
“You clearly know nothing about the Mahdfel race, do you?” I asked.
It took all the effort I had to keep my voice calm. She was mad enough for both of us.
“I believe I know the important details,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest.
“Do you know that my people were created by the Suhlik as a slave race? Made to do their bidding for generations until we eventually revolted? That’s the reason for the war between us and across these galaxies. They still abduct our children when they can.”
“That’s . . . that’s awful,” she said softly.
Her eyes were soft, too, and lined in silver. I watched as she swiped a hand surreptitiously across them, as if she didn’t want me to notice how upset she was.
“It is. It is awful. At least you were of age when this happened to you, and your family has been compensated. Imagine being taken as a child and your family never knowing your fate,” I said.
“I—I can’t. It’s too horrible.”
We fell silent for a few short moments, just staring at each other. I used it as an opportunity to survey her further, taking in her slim build.
She looked as though she’d been involved in some sort of labor all her life. Her muscles were long and wiry, but there was a sort of fineness to her. She didn’t look as breakable as I’d imagined she would be.
Absentmindedly, I wondered what she thought of me. If I couldn’t get out of this mess, it would be helpful if she found me somewhat attractive.
“Since we seem to be stuck with each other for the time being, I’ll need to find you somewhere to stay while repairs are finished on my ship, the Calliope. She’s currently docked here, but with luck, we’ll be leaving tomorrow,” I told her.
“I don’t even know where here is,” she said, her fire igniting again. “And I don’t need a place to stay, I need to go home.”
Well, I could help with one of those things.
“At the moment, you’re at the teleport station of the mobile command hub Walkandro.” I could see that didn’t mean anything to her. Of course not. I tried again.
“We’re in orbit around your dwarf planet Pluto.” There. That should be helpful.
“I’m on Pluto?” she said incredulously, her voice was so shrill it nearly pierced my eardrums.
“For crying out loud, Pluto isn’t even classified as a planet anymore!” she exclaimed, enraged. “Couldn’t they have sent me somewhere better than this dark, frozen wasteland? Good grief!”
I supposed telling her I thought Pluto was really quite beautiful would incense her further, so I didn’t say anything. Maybe later she’d like to take a look at those glittering mountains.
Doubtful.
“I can’t stay here, that’s obviously absurd.” She spun, throwing her hands in the air. “Pluto!”
When she started flailing about, pacing the floor and kicking anything that wasn’t bolted down, was when I realized she wasn’t going to calm down or accept her situation anytime soon.
Unfortunately, the beeping of the teleport unit signaled an incoming shipment of something. Hopefully the supplies we needed for the Calliope, but right now I didn’t care.
“We’ll need to move this discussion elsewhere.”
I bent at the waist and scooped her up, throwing her over my shoulder like a sack of flour. When her sternum hit the curve of it, she let out a small sound of surprise before resuming her tirade.
“Put me down!”
Her tiny, ineffectual fists beat against my back as if she could hurt me and I couldn’t help but laugh, which, of course, just made her angrier.
“How dare you treat me like this! Put me down immediately, you dumb brute! If you think this is the proper way to treat the woman who’s supposed to be your mate, I’ll never agree to it! I’ll die trying to get off this poor excuse for a planet before I ever stay with you!”
“You’ll do nothing of the sort,” I said, my voice a low growl.
The day had gone on long enough. That morning, I wasn’t even sure I’d be alive by the evening, and now I was stuck in a battle of the sexes I hadn’t asked for.
My patience was wearing thinner by the second.
There weren’t many Mahdfel left on the hub, other than its regular crew, but Lila was causing enough of a racket to get everyone’s attention.
All eyes turned toward us when I burst through the doors to the main hub of the base. Her yelling echoed throughout the tiny space, which was more than a little embarrassing.
I quickened my pace, crossing through the room to the other arm of the wheel, where my temporary quarters had been assigned.
Lila continued screeching, but seemed to have tired herself out at least a little bit. She ceased hitting me, although continued to demand that I release her. Unfortunately for me, the base was a great, hollowed out hunk of metal and her voice echoed throughout it.
One by one, my fellow captains popped their heads out of their own offices, wondering what was causing such a racket.
“Ignore us!” I yelled, barely acknowledging them and walking by briskly.
“Where are you taking me?” Lila asked.
Her voice had become a hoarse wail, as if she’d nearly resigned herself to her fate.
“We needed to leave the teleport chamber. But obviously, we still need to discuss some things. I have quarters assigned on the base, and you’ll be quite comfortable and safe there,” I told her.
Thankfully, she didn’t respond.
When I reached the door to my quarters, I tightened my grasp on her legs with one arm and laid a hand against the screen on the wall. It scanned my bioprint and hissed as it released, the door sliding free.
Once inside, I made my way to my tiny bedroom and dumped Lila unceremoniously onto the bed. Immediately, she tried to stand, but I forced her down again with a hand on her shoulder.
“We’re leaving tomorrow, so you’ll stay here tonight. I’ll lock you in, so you’ll be safe,” I said, taking a seat beside her.
“I want to go home now,” she said pathetically.
“After the way you’ve acted, I want the same.”
I didn’t care how beautiful she was or how much my body reacted to her—she was the last thing I’d ever search for in a companion.
It was truly a cruel twist of fate that the system thought she and I were a perfect match for one another.
The system, and the blazing evidence of my tattoo.
I wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt, but she reacted so vehemently to me that I couldn’t help but be offended.
If she would stop screaming, and I actually wanted a mate, we could be well matched.
But there was no time to figure that out. I had to get the Calliope up and running again as fast as possible so we could meet the loader in the Andromeda galaxy and begin the next mission. I wanted nothing more than to wrap it up as fast as possible and return home with my crew intact. They deserved that much.
Once Lila had somewhat quieted, I stood and made ready to leave the room.
“Where are you going? You can’t just leave me here by myself,” she said.
I thought it was real fear that I saw in her eyes, but it disappeared as quickly as it’d come.
“You have nothing to worry about. No one here would hurt you.” An unreasonable flash of rage swept through me at the thought. “Besides, only I’m able to access these quarters. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”