Then he groaned and pulled back. This would lead to another round of mating. He needed to control himself. The countdown clock still followed them on the wall, glowing red. She was not his.
He stood up quickly and reached a hand down and pulled her up with him. “Come,” he ordered and walked them back to their spots at the wall. They both sat back down, side by side, each holding water.
“So…where do you live?” she asked, immediately starting another conversation. His lips curved. They were sitting very close, her arm brushing against his forearm. His cock hardened from this simple touch. His need for this female who was carrying his offspring was both amazing and terrifying.
“I live here, on my ship. My Cabul, my altar, my belongings are all here.”
Her brow furrowed. “Where do you go in between your missions?”
He shrugged. “I dock long term.”
She met his gaze, her eyes wide with concern. “You live alone? You’re always alone?”
He remained silent.
“Kayzon,” she said, her voice filled with emotion.
He looked away. He did not want her pity.
She took his claw in her tiny human hand with the extra appendage. “Honey, you have me now. You have our offspring, too. You are not alone.”
He stared at her, wondering what “honey” meant.
She seemed sincere. This was that same sincerity she’d exhibited in the medical bay. But his family had seemed sincere and secure, too. He remembered how much his mother had loved him, before she’d been forced to leave and he’d been tossed to the corner of the four sectors. He remembered the lies he’d been told prior to his judgment and removal from the Xylan mating database.
He shook his head. “You do not understand. I am Bredwdr.”
“What does that translate to in English?”
“Beast. It means I am considered a beast.”
“This is bullshit!” she exclaimed. “You are the best of men. You’re not a beast. Or if you are, you’re my beast.” Her voice softened. She reached forward and cupped the side of his scarred face with her hand. His eye softened, and he leaned into her palm. She was probably the only female in the four sectors who was unafraid of his features. She did not judge him by his exterior but by his actions and words.
His hearts thundered in his chest. His palms were sweaty. He did not understand how the gods could have sent this Bride to him.
He had no idea what course to take. None. Had the gods deserted him?
He moved back from her and stood up. “I need to pray about this,” he admitted.
She looked up at him and reached out to squeeze his hand. “Okay,” she answered. “Okay.”
Oh fuck.
In that instant he understood.
He loved this small human. His hearts had opened up to include her, and he was terrified.
Terrified to let anyone have that power over him again.
Chapter Nine
Kia wandered down the main hallway of her new husband’s spaceship, alone.
Today was certainly one of the most life-altering days of her life.
She’d woken up in the morning. Well, she assumed it was morning because who really knew when you were on a spaceship, right? But she’d woken up in an alien’s bed—the male she’d mated with the night before in a fierce claiming on a holo deck forest, and found their bed empty. Empty because her new husband didn’t think he was worthy to be her husband and said he’d claimed her because he’d lost control of himself and had done all of that with her when he shouldn’t have
Right now he was praying about it.
Her husband was there, in his alcove, bowed before the same multigod altar she’d seen a million times at her own house growing up. Her family performed absolutions three times per day. Everyone did, even little Harmony. But in the last three weeks since Dad had left, Kia hadn’t joined in prayer once. And it had been pretty darn freeing. Mom had looked hurt and Janet was pissed off, but Kia didn’t care.
What had the multigods done for her? After a lifetime of devotion and prayer, New Earth was a shithole. No one was getting along. Dad was in hiding because he wouldn’t give up multigod.
Where were the Gods when Dad needed them?
Like she’d always suspected, the whole thing was a load of crap. What just gods would treat a loyal servant like trash? When Dad had needed multigod they hadn’t been there for him.
It literally hurt her to see Kayzon relying on the same gods that had turned their collective backs on her Dad and her family. She couldn’t do the absolutions with him. He’d asked if she would join him, but she’d declined. His face hid his emotions, but she’d seen the disappointment in his eyes before he could hide it. The slight slump of his shoulders.
So now she was wandering the ship alone as he’d suggested she do while he prayed. She was supposed to be getting used to it, learning where everything was. If she chose to stay, it would be her new home.
Her fingers trailed over the shiny railing that lined the hallway. She walked slowly, with no real destination in mine. He’d advised her to go the Bridge and quiz the computer on how the systems worked. It was a good idea. She was just…overwhelmed. A lot on her mind.
Like, she was pregnant. Going to have a baby. And married to a man who kept telling her she should be running the other way to get away from him and he wasn’t good for her. In fact, he thought he was so bad for her that she’d accept the idea of terminating her baby just so she could fully get away from him and start over fresh, as if this mating had never happened.
She snorted.
Ridiculous.
She looked up and realized she stood in front of the cargo bay. She felt a hint of curiosity. Why not start her investigation of the ship here? Kia swiped her hand over the lock at the door, pleased when the mechanism recognized her, and walked into the cargo bay, checking out the equipment.
A metal tube stood, dark gray and imposing in the corner. It contained the target Kayzon had in lockdown stasis. He’d referred to him only as THX690. She walked closer. All she could see was the outline of features through the glare on the glass that framed a shadowy face. She assumed he was human because Kayzon had retrieved his target from New Earth, and only humans lived on New Earth.
What if she knew this person? There was the possibility. New Earth was tight-knit. If you didn’t know someone, you at least knew of their family or of their community. Even more curious than before, she stepped forward for a better look.
And then she staggered back.
“Daddy?” she gasped, tears immediately choking her throat.
Upon closer inspection she could easily identify the man in stasis.
She ran to the tube, her hands trembling as she frantically searched for the locking mechanism. Tears welled in her eyes and her throat clogged.
Her dad was in the fucking tube. In the fucking tube. The whole time she’d been messing around with Kayzon, the whole time, Dad had been in here, locked up.
Godammit.
Kayzon had captured her father from New Earth, dragged him in a body bag through the Marketplace, had him in lockdown stasis and was about to deliver him to the Bounty Hunter Guild, who would then deliver him to whoever had placed the reward on his head.
Oh hell, no.
She searched and searched, tears streaming down her face, snot starting to run from her nose. But she couldn’t unlock the damn thing.
“Computer,” she gasped. “Computer, open the tube. Open the tube.”
“Access code restricted.”
“Daddy!” she screamed. “Daddy,” she said softer as she fell to her knees in front of the metal tube from hell that wouldn’t open.
“Kia?”
She whirled around, pissed off like she’d never been pissed off. Like no one had been pissed off. This was her fight song. Her power was turned on.
She stepped forward, her fists clenched. “Kayzon,” she rasped, her voice filled with the emotions she could not possibly hide. �
�You have my father in lockdown stasis.”
“What?”
She pointed at the stasis unit. “That man is my father. His name is Dago Cho. Release him immediately.”
“THX690 is your father?”
“Yes, but I’m sure you already knew that.”
He looked genuinely confused, which only angered her more. Her new husband had her father locked up. He was hurting her father. This was all that her mind could register.
“I didn’t know he was your father,” he said.
“Bullshit.”
“What?”
“You knew. You knew this whole time.”
“I did not.” Now he looked angry. “Xylan do not lie. If I am telling you I did not know this target was your father, then I did not know.”
“Let. Him. Out.”
Her new husband didn’t move.
“Kayzon,” she warned. “If you want our marriage to succeed and for me to ever choose to stay with you and be happy and for the start of your new line to go well, you need to do this. You having my father in lock up isn’t the way to start your new marriage.”
He inhaled and moved over to the tube. “Computer, access code THX690 Hunter alpha. Unlock THX690 from the stasis unit.”
She watched with tears in her eyes as the unit began to hiss and power down. They were both quiet, staring at the tube intently. Calm, calm, calm. She exhaled, trying to calm the hell down. Her new husband was a multigod believer, she reminded herself. The first tenet of multigod was no untruth went unpunished. Maybe he really didn’t know.
He tilted his head to the side, lips pursed. “I do not understand how this is possible. THX690 isn’t human. He can’t be your father.”
She clenched her teeth and sucked in a breath. He might as well have stabbed her in the heart with those words. “Of course he’s human.”
“No, I had a difficult time retrieving him. He’s not human. I scanned him afterwards before I put him in stasis because I was curious at his strength. He should have been much easier to retrieve. The computer diagnosed his species as Gravian.”
The unit opened. Steam rushed out. Her dad’s eyes were still closed. Ugh. She ran forward through the cloud of mist and unbuckled him as fast as her fingers would allow. Kayzon was right at her side, helping to pull her dad out. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she told him. “You know I have more strength than the typical human. It’s a genetic abnormality my Dad said had been passed on in his family for hundreds of years. I’m the only one of my siblings to inherit it.”
Kayzon lowered her dad to the floor and propped his back against the tube. She crouched down at his side and cupped his face. “Dad, wake up. Dad.”
His eyes fluttered open. Those familiar black eyes, just like her own. His short black hair with the new hint of gray at the temples. That strong jawline. “Kia?” he croaked.
Thank the gods.
“Oh Dad!” She grabbed the front of his shirt and leaned her forehead against his. The tears started flowing again. She couldn’t help it.
Weeks. Weeks she’d been freaking out, worried about this man. And here he was, alive and back in her arms.
He coughed and put an arm half around her and absently patted her back, gaining his voice. He looked around. “Where am I?”
“You are on my ship,” Kayzon answered.
Kia frowned and looked up. Her new husband was standing close, his stance wide, arms crossed over his chest. Shit, he was imposing.
Her dad immediately tensed and sucked in a breath. He grabbed her arm and stood them both up with surprising strength and agility for a man who’d woken up moments before from lockdown stasis. He stood strong before Kayzon and pushed her behind him. “Why am I here?” he demanded. “And why is my daughter here, too?”
Kayzon lifted his chin. “Your daughter is my Bride.”
“What?”
She peeked out from behind her dad’s back. “Crap. You didn’t need to lead with that, you know. We could’ve eased him into it.”
Kayzon’s ridges rose up. He shrugged. “I do not lie.”
“Obviously.”
“What is going on here?” Dago asked, his voice loud.
“We’ll explain everything to you in just a second. But first, are you okay?” she asked him.
“I’m fine.” He blinked and continued to stare at Kayzon with grim distrust. “Just…confused.”
She stood in between the two physically imposing men. Dad was much taller than her. Well, everyone was taller than her. Her whole life she’d been this petite person everyone dismissed as not pretty enough, not strong enough, not…just not special or worthy of even a second glance. And because she didn’t want to draw attention to herself or her powers, she’d cultivated that perception, keeping people at a distance. She was so tired of living like that. On the verge of invisible. So very tired. She looked over at her new husband who she was pissed off at and realized her anger at him was already fading. He’d never dismissed her or thought she was weak. He knew about her powers and liked her more, didn’t think she was odd or a freak. He’d already tried to train her to use them better. She felt she could be herself around him. Like this was home.
“I am Kayzon of Twenty-Six, a Bounty Hunter,” her husband announced. “Your case was assigned code THX690. I accepted the assignment to retrieve you.”
She looked at her dad, who was staring intently at Kayzon. “I don’t understand,” she said. “How could someone put a Bounty on your head? It’s hard to get ahold of the Bounty Hunter Guild when you live on New Earth. I should know because I tried. And anyway, there’s a zillion ways to have you secretly killed what with all the bloodshed going on, no one would need to go through the bother of hiring an outsider like a Bounty Hunter to kill you for them.”
Dago Cho stood up to his full height then, as if he were finally shrugging off the effects of the stasis unit. His eyes narrowed on Kayzon. “You are the Bounty Hunter who captured me even though I have broken no laws, and now you are claiming my daughter as your Bride?”
Oh shit, this was getting tense.
But right when she was worried she’d have a fight on her hands, Kayzon did something Kia never saw coming in a million years. Something amazing. He took a deep breath, lowered to one knee before her father and bent his head.
“I rescued your daughter from a Hurlian snatching and inadvertently touched her bare skin,” he intoned. “We tested mating compatibility and I discovered she was my Bride. I claimed her immediately.” He lifted his head and stared directly into her father’s hard gaze. “But I am a banished warrior who has been removed from the mating database. I have placed our mating in review as is required by law. Your daughter has twelve hours until judgment when she can decide to commit to this mating or to terminate.” He clenched a fist and beat it against his own chest. “I place your honor…her honor…before mine.”
Her jaw dropped. She had no idea what this honor stuff meant, but it seemed to be doing the trick with Dad because he uncrossed his arms and his face softened. He closed a fist and beat it against his own chest in return. “Dago Cho, Priest of the Twelfth Ward and the Thirtieth Line of Multigod of Gravian formally accepts your offer. I hear your truth and I see your honor.”
Wow. Just wow.
Dad looked at her. “He is your mate?”
She answered without hesitation. “Yes.”
Dago nodded. “I will then accept whatever determination my daughter makes. This is entirely up to her.”
She blew out the breath she didn’t realize she’d been holding.
Kayzon gave a curt nod and stood, visibly moved at her father’s words. “You were difficult to retrieve, a worthy adversary,” he told him.
Dad nodded. Then they were all quiet for a minute. Because, shit, what did you say after that? Basically, she was just standing there in shock. What was that all about? It seemed to be more than simply multigod formality, because Dad used language and terms she’d never heard him use before, in any
ritual. And she’d seen him perform hundreds of multigod rituals for the inhabitants of Singapore over the years.
Kayzon was the one who broke the silence. “I must report this abnormality to the Hunter Guild. You are either not THX690 or this mission was a complete fabrication. The Bounty Hunter Guild will want to start an investigation. Illegal Bounties are always fully investigated and punished.”
Dad grunted. “How did this happen? How did you end up apprehending a target who was innocent of any crime?”
“I do not know. The Bounty was vetted and approved by the Guild and sent out for bids. Only the Guild will be able to find the truth.”
“Dad,” Kia interrupted. “You look a little pale. We can keep talking about this, but how about we go somewhere where you can sit down and rest.”
“Let’s go to my quarters and have a meal together,” her husband offered.
She smiled. “That sounds like a terrific plan.”
Kayzon guided his temporary Bride and her father, the Gravian Priest of the thirtieth line, to his own quarters. He shook his head. A priest of the thirtieth line? Within his Bride flowed the blood of the most ancient lines of Gravian. She was only half human. His guilt over the accidental forcing of mating compatibility grew exponentially, along with the fact that he’d extracted the wrong target.
Fuck.
He offered a quick, silent prayer to the gods.
A female of her worth had no business mating with a Banished male. The manager of her line would never have offered to test her with a male of his lowly stature. Kayzon had never met a Gravian until he had fought with Dago Cho. He hadn’t even known the male was Gravian until after he’d arrived on the ship and requested the computer run a physical diagnostic. Gravians were the perfect species to infiltrate New Earth. They looked human, but their biology was different.
“The moment I returned to get all of you off of New Earth this Bounty Hunter was on my ass and he tranqed me,” Dago told Kia as he ate, recounting the story of his extraction.
Kayzon grinned.
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