Adira's Mate

by April Zyon

  “I killed one,” she admitted without hesitating. His touch was intoxicating. She found herself wavering closer to him. Was he drugging her somehow? That had to be the answer, because she didn’t behave like this. She didn’t move closer to men. She didn’t lean into their touches. “He had done horrible, horrible things. He had raped a Craegin female, not the one that had been in captivity for so long. There was another, and he had hurt her, badly. I was able to smuggle her out with a trader that trades with both of our peoples just an hour before I met you. She’s on her way to your home world. I wish I’d been faster, though. I will live with that for the rest of my life, the fact that I couldn’t save her from the injuries that she survived at the hands of people that were supposed to be protectors.”

  “You got her free. That’s all that matters. You are sure, though, the one she is traveling with won’t harm her? If she’s been subjected to even a little of what I was she won’t be very trusting of whomever you chose.” His grip tightened for a moment before loosening, his fingers trailing down her wrist to brush lightly over her palm.

  Adira shivered in reaction to his touch. She had never before felt such an intense and immediate reaction from something as simple as the touch of fingers to her palm. “I’m positive. The family that took her are pacifists. They don’t believe in war or harming another living being. Besides, I saved the family head’s eldest son a few years earlier, and I called that life debt in order to keep her safe. He will protect her and get her back to your worlds.”

  He nodded slowly, his fingers lacing with hers and squeezing gently. “I believe you, Adira.” With another squeeze to her fingers, he let her hand go. “I recall you mentioning something about food, maybe? It’s been about two days since I last ate, and I’m starting to feel it more than a little.”

  “Yes, yes let me get us some food made.” Her mind had begun to spark when he touched her, his hand squeezing hers. Vaguely, she identified the spark as…recognition. Impossible. She shook her head. “What is it that you can eat?” she asked, and offered him choices on what options that they had.

  He pointed out which items of the Imarian diet he couldn’t eat, and told her why. In perhaps a little too much detail for her peace of mind. He did point out a few others he hadn’t minded but since he didn’t know the names of the items, she had to explain and even told him a bit about the foods. Once the meal was prepared and they were sitting, she noticed that for the first time he didn’t have the weapon with him. She didn’t know where it was, but she knew it wasn’t in the kitchenette with them.

  Chapter Five

  A soft beeping sound tugged at her until she let out a groan. The alarm was going off, the one she’d set the night before so she could get up and make them breakfast. It was all about routine in space, Adira knew. Didn’t mean she wanted to get up, though. She was warm, so very warm.

  When the very warm male shifted under her, Adira’s eyes snapped open and she automatically turned off the alarm. She was in the arms of the male that had taken her to free himself. She was being held tightly against his chest and it felt right. What she had been trying to figure out snapped inside of her head, and she stared down at him in shock. Oh heavens, she was really, really screwed. She had thought she was before but now, holy mother, she was in so far over her head. “It’s time to wake,” she said when he muttered something in his language, something that the cochlear translators didn’t know how to translate. “We should be close to needing to make another course change.”

  Her mind was whirling. How was this possible? How could this Craegin be the other half of her soul, the missing part of her being? This wasn’t good. At all.

  His head rotated on the pillow until he could see the time on the alarm. “We still have two hours before it’s required.” He looked to her again, lifting a hand to brush her hair back behind her ear with a gentle touch, the calluses on his fingers scraping lightly to the shell of her ear. “Got tired of being squished in the middle of the night, did you?” he asked. When she blinked down at him, Fin tipped his head slightly. “I told you it would be a very tight fit on this bunk. They were not made for Craegin males.”

  “Right, yes, that’s what it is.” She knew, though, that wasn’t it so much as it was her soul calling to his, her body needing a closer contact with his. Oh hell. She was already starting to merge with him, and when they got to his home world and she was tossed into prison or whatever they did with her, it would hurt him as well. Not good. She needed to make sure that he didn’t touch her. It might lessen the affect on him when they killed her. “Right, so if we have to take another rest time I will sleep in medical on one of the medical bay beds.” Damn, that hurt to say! “I think that I need a drink. You can continue to rest. I’m going to go and get a drink and begin a meal for us for when you are ready to rise.” She needed to get away from him. Had to, before he realized what was happening and hated her even more.

  His arm around her waist tightened, and the free hand caught her chin. Gently he turned her head until they were looking at one another, practically nose to nose. “You’re keeping something from me, Adira. Why are you suddenly so skittish again? You were nervous when I first took you, but you seemed to relax a lot until the moment you woke up. Why?”

  “I relaxed because I was sleeping?” Okay, so even she wasn’t convinced in what she had said. “I don’t know what you mean. I’m just waking and I always feel all out of sorts when I first wake up.” Which was true, but this was completely different.

  “You’re lying to me,” he said quietly. He didn’t sound angry at least, but oddly she picked up disappointment in his voice. She had to wonder if he even knew it was in his tone. “You were relaxed prior to us going to sleep. You were nervous about us sharing the bunk, but you fell asleep easily, which means you trust me on some level. So why lie now?”

  “Because you will not like what I have to say,” she admitted and ducked her head slightly. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust him, quite the opposite actually, but she was worried that he would be very angry with her.

  “Well I’m not getting any happier with you stonewalling me, Adira. Say what you need to say if you would. I’d rather know than be left in the dark. I’ve had too much of that of late, and have had my fill. Say it,” he demanded, tipping her chin back up slightly.

  She stiffened. “My people, the Imarian people, have something called soul bonding. It’s a belief that out in the universe there is one soul that matches yours, one that will fill the holes in your soul as you fill the ones in theirs. From the moment I met you I knew that there was something, but honestly at first I was too afraid because of the situation to realize what it might be, but now…” She shook her head and took a deep breath. “Holy mother, now I know. You are the missing part of my soul. That’s why I relaxed so much around you. That’s why I’ve been oddly drawn to you. It’s because you are my anchor and I’ve waited for you my entire life.”

  He stared at her without blinking for a long time. “Krathle-tri Vox,” he said quietly. “The Craegin have the same thing, but in our language it means the catching of souls. It’s a way of two souls bonding together slowly, first with touch, and then the final piece is with sex.” She could see his jaw clench slightly before he blew out a soft breath. “Didn’t think that would happen.”

  “Yeah. I can feel our souls merging already, that’s why I wanted to get up. When your people decide that I should pay for my people’s crimes, I don’t want you hurt by my death. We should limit our contact so that our souls don’t bond too closely, so that you aren’t harmed.” She was a realist and knew what was waiting for her. Heavens, even if she had gone back she would die because of killing one of the guards.

  “You’ve been compromised anyway,” he said. “Your disappearance would have been noted, and much too coincidentally in time with my own escape. They will rightly assume I took you, which means I could have tortured you for information critical to your people. Not that I have, or would, but they wou
ld assume the worst. You’d never be free again, Adira. At least if you come with me there is a chance to have a life.” He paused, as if to allow the words he had spoken to her thus far to sink in. Then he added, “If you are willing to complete the bonding.”

  “Your people would never accept that.” Heavens, her body had heated up just at his deep voice as he’d whispered the last part of his words, about completing the bond. “I feel the draw to you, deeply, Fin, but this can’t be what you want. Is it? Don’t you have a wife or girlfriend or significant other back home, waiting for your return?” Her hand moved to his neck, her thumb stroking over his tanned flesh. Each touch, skin to skin, brought them closer together but she couldn’t seem to mind it at all.

  “I’ve never had the urge to marry,” he said. “Without family there was never the push to do so either. My only responsibility has been to the Cortege.” His hand slid to cup her cheek, his thumb rubbing slowly over her lower lip as he stared up at her. “The universe decides what is best for us. Who am I to argue with that?”

  “This is driving me crazy.” She spoke, her tongue darting out and touching his thumb that was over her lower lip. “Each time you touch me, each time you speak, I want this. I’m pulled to you. I need you. You are filling my soul.” She nipped his thumb with her teeth. “And what happens to you if we complete the bond? How will your people accept this? Will you be in trouble if you bond with me?”

  “I can’t say there will not be repercussions, but they will be minor. What you need to understand is that I know exactly what to expect. But it isn’t only my choice, Adira. You have to be willing to put up with some discomfort for a time, living on a strange world, learning a new culture, and living with a practical stranger.” Suddenly he sat up, putting them face to face as she straddled his lap. “Think about that for a time while you prepare our morning meal. I’ll make the course adjustment early, and then we can talk more.”

  She nodded. Before she left his lap, though, she said, “I’m perfectly fine with learning you as we are together, but you need to understand that I won’t be left behind. Where you go, I will go as well. If this is something that we go into, this is what you need to know about me. I won’t be left behind. Think about that while I’m making our morning meal?” she asked. Then, simply because she couldn’t help herself, she leaned in and quickly brushed her lips to his. She was utterly fascinated with his lips and had to know how they felt. She was stunned to learn that the sensations of his lips to her were incredible.

  He pulled her back to him, a hand on the back of her neck to hold her close. Fintan took the kiss deeper, his tongue sliding over hers as he tasted her slowly. After a time he released her. “Go,” he urged quietly. “I’ll meet you in the kitchenette once I’ve altered the course.”

  She got up without another word. That kiss had rocked her to the soles of her feet. The kiss had shifted something inside of her and she felt the connection drawing even tighter between them. Holy mother, if sex was what it would take to complete the bond between them, then she would never survive this.

  ****

  Adira was in the kitchenette and had just finished preparing their morning meal when he came back. “You’re just in time,” she told him. “It’s ready, I hope you are hungry?”

  He came up behind her, the heat of him at her back as he reached around her to take the plate. “Very hungry. I feel like I’ll never quite be full again. The scientists and their guard dogs were not overly concerned if we missed a meal or two at any time. We always knew when we’d be going to their sterile rooms because we wouldn’t be fed for a full day. They didn’t wish us to aspirate, and end up dying on them. That would ruin their results.”

  “Heavens.” She turned and put her hands on his chest once more. “No more missed meals for you, okay? I will do all that I can in order to try to make amends, not because I have to and not because I was party to what happened to you, but because it hurts me to see the effects of what they did to you.” She noticed that he hadn’t said her people and for that she was beyond thankful. “I want to make things better for you. It’s my right as the other half of your soul, right?”

  “So you still wish to proceed?” he asked. At her slow nod he put his free hand on her hip and squeezed. “Good, because I do as well. It won’t be easy, that much you need to know right now. There will be a lot of anger toward you, but there is a ritual that will occur when we return to my home world that will ensure none can speak against you, us. You don’t need to know about it, not yet. Later, though, you will know.” Leaning in, he kissed her hard and fast.

  When he pulled back she was panting. “I want this with you. Whatever it is that we have to do, I will do it. I don’t expect for your people to accept me without anger and even hatred. Just as long as we will be together?”

  “We will,” he said. “I wouldn’t leave you behind anyway. Who knows what trouble you could get yourself into if left to your own devices. For now, though, we need to eat. We’ll have to land on an abandoned moon post to change the codes on the beacons. Otherwise we’ll be shot down long before we make it in close enough to be picked up by one of the destroyers.”

  “Right, being shot down is a very bad thing indeed,” she said with a grin. “Sit. Eat?” She moved slightly and took a seat, then picked up her utensil so that she could begin to eat with him.

  He settled down into his seat with the plate and began to eat. She noted, not for the first time, he had impeccable table manners. He ate slowly, but at a steady pace. Occasionally he paused to wipe his mouth and take a drink from the cup of water before him.

  Once they had finished their meal, she allowed him to help her clean up. It was actually very nice that he was there helping her with the cleanup for two reasons. The first one was obvious; she wasn’t used to anyone assisting her with cleanup, and two, because it meant that they were finished sooner than if she did it alone. With that done she leaned against the wall and asked him, “How long until we are picked up by one of your carriers?” Her hand moved to his chest when he stepped closer, not to push him away but to pull him closer.

  “Hopefully not until we have the transponders changed out. If we don’t we’ll be shot down. We’re still squawking an Imarian code, not something we want as we get deeper into Craegin space. I’ve kept our path away from the satellites and patrols. But we can’t keep zig-zagging around. So we’ll stop on a moon, change out the codes, and then we’ll head in to meet with a destroyer. Hopefully it’s one where I know the colonel, otherwise it will get interesting fast. I’m hoping for a friend, and colleague, but with how my luck has been I’m thinking it will be my worst enemy. Outside that lab, I mean.”

  “Then let’s hope for a friend. I don’t want you to suffer any more than you have already,” she confessed and let her hands run up his chest. “So how long do we have before we get to a moon where we can change things out? Do we have time to, ah, complete this bond?”

  “According to the instruments, we don’t have a lot of time. After that, we should have time, though this is not exactly my idea of a place to complete something so sacred. I suppose we could make do if you’re of a mind to.” Fin’s hands moved to cup her bottom, lifting her up against his body even as he pressed in closer to her. “It isn’t something to be rushed, Adira. So we should wait at least until we get ourselves sorted out to sending out a Craegin signal.”

  Adira bit her lip. “Perhaps we should wait until after we’ve gotten to your home so that we know if I am to live.” Even though she dared to hope, a part of her still fully believed that she would die. She didn’t for a moment think that his people would allow her to live, not with her being part of the enemy.

  “Perhaps we shouldn’t,” he said. Lowering his head, Fintan brushed his lips along her cheek. “It would help your cause if we were already bonded, and married, Adira. Less chance they would dare to do anything.”

  “But more chance that they would cause you issue.” Adira tilted her head up and brushed her lips
to the side of his cheek as well. “I don’t want to have you harmed because of this, because of me. You’ve already suffered too much by the hands of the Imarian people.”

  “Don’t worry about me,” he said quietly. “I, on the other hand, will worry about you. As is the right I am given by being yours.” A small shake to the ship had Fin pulling back. “Damn. I may need to take us in manually. Will you be all right back here while I land this thing?”

  “Yes, I’ll be fine.” She reached out and touched her fingers to his cheek once more, then pulled back. “Go. Go and do what you need to do, okay? Keep us safe. I trust you.” Oddly enough, she did. She trusted him a great deal.

  He gave her hand a gentle squeeze before leaving her.

  Chapter Six

  Their stay on the moon was short, thankfully. Fintan did what he needed, then got them moving once more. This time it was on a more direct path since they were now reading as a Craegin vessel. He’d told her he had sent off a message as well to his best friend. His hope was that the man, Bracken, was close enough to come and collect them so their journey wouldn’t take too long.

  He’d found her fussing in the medical bay once they were on their path once more. His arms had slipped around her from behind, and drew her in close. Fin didn’t say anything, just held her close and brushed light kisses over her neck.

  Adira’s hands moved to his arms that were wrapped around her middle and she leaned back against him. Her eyes closed as she soaked in the pleasure of having his arms around her body. She enjoyed this, a great deal. “So, now we are simply waiting for your friend to hopefully pick us up?” she asked quietly.