by Chloe Cox
Until she’d also started to feel the hundred or so Leonid soldiers who had arrived at some point during the stand-off.
That had been weird. It had felt different, like an awareness, sort of. Like the bond she had with Kragen was a direct line between the two of them, and the awareness of the other Leonids was more diffuse, like background noise.
But the background noise from a hundred Leonid warriors had been pretty damn loud. Especially when she’d touched Kragen. And especially when both their mating marks lit up, bright beacons in the now dark night, while her entire neighborhood filmed the whole thing on their phones.
There had been a moment when Magnus came forward with heavy shackles made of Leonid metal, and Andie had refused to let go of Kragen. She’d felt the apprehension ripple through the ranks of Leonid warriors that surrounded them, all of them different colors, all of them deadly serious and armed to the teeth. And all of them scared of Kragen, and even, maybe, a little scared of her.
The Leonids were freaked out, awed, even frightened by the mating bond between her and Kragen.
Which was just what Andie needed if her plan was going to work.
Now she was on the roof of the hospital, the wind whipping her hair around while she waited for the Leonids to escort Kragen out of the helicopter. There were a few of them guarding her while they coordinated, and she could feel their eyes on her mating mark, which had long since burned through the flimsy material of her cotton dress. It made her think of the cameras she’d seen back at Gramzy’s house.
At least she hadn’t been wearing sweatpants for her fifteen minutes of fame. Gramzy never would have let her live it down.
Gramzy.
Andie had been trying not to think about her grandmother, because it was crazy making. Tears pricked at her eyes, and she did her best to shove those feelings back down. She was about to see her. She’d know more then. Meanwhile, Andie had a literal intergalactic incident to manage. And Andie knew damn well what Gramzy would want her to do.
Kragen emerged from the helicopter, impossibly tall, his eyes shining, draped in heavy chains that seemed weightless on him. The glow from his eyes set off the mother of pearl in his skin, while his dark hair whipped in the wind. Even surrounded by Leonids with phase rifles, and covered in chains and shackles, he looked like he could eat this entire military company for breakfast.
Good Lord.
Andie’s eyes were drawn to his, as they always were. Thoughts still spun out in the back of her mind—thoughts about how this was nuts, how she couldn’t believe she was doing this. I’m a juvenile delinquent phlebotomist with historically terrible taste in men, and I’m about to go argue for my alien ‘mate’ in front of a queen.
Gramzy the lawyer would be damn proud, actually. Even if Andie kept doubting herself.
I don’t know what I’ll do if anything happens to her…
Finally, Kragen’s eyes found hers. And all thoughts fell away.
Ignoring his escort, Kragen jumped down from the helicopter, sending a wave of alarm through the guard, and strode toward her. Andie was beginning to suspect that, like with the chains he’d had back at the warehouse, Kragen was keeping these shackles on just to keep the other Leonids from freaking out.
“Lubcha,” he said as he reached her. He stopped a few feet away, again in deference to the freaked out Leonid guard. “You are worried about your matriarch.”
Silently, tears coming back to her eyes, Andie nodded. All she wanted to do was step into his arms and know it would be ok. She didn’t even care that that was crazy anymore. Let this be crazy; the rest of the world already was.
Don’t get too attached, Knowles. He still won’t claim you.
Kragen took one more step toward her, his face gentle but worried.
“This is my fault, lubcha,” he said. “Do not blame yourself for not being with your matriarch.”
“How did you know I was doing that?” Andie said, wiping away a tear. “If you can literally read my mind, you have to tell me. And then teach me how to do it to you. Why would you think this is your fault? I mean, a lot of this”—she waved around at the military chaos surrounding them, smiling slightly—“is definitely your fault, but my grandmother…”
Andie couldn’t finish. Gramzy had been sick for a while. Maybe Andie had been in denial for just as long.
Kragen smiled sadly as the Leonid guard behind him secured the roof door to the hospital.
“When I was alone with your matriarch, I saw she was in pain,” he said.
Andie blinked slowly, and swayed a little. Kragen reached out and propped her up, even with his shackled hands, but it still felt like the world was falling away from her.
Gramzy had been in serious pain? Andie knew her grandmother was as tough as a cat, unlikely to complain. But she also thought she could see through her grandmother, and Andie would know if she was really in pain. Apparently she’d been wrong.
“Do not blame yourself, lubcha,” Kragen ordered. “I forbid it. I took the pain away as best I could.”
“You what?”
“It was only possible because of our bond,” Kragen said, his brow furrowed. “Even incomplete as it is.”
Andie was all attention.
“Wait, you can help her?” she asked. “Because of our mating bond?”
Kragen frowned, but he held her gaze.
“Your matriarch made me swear not to discuss this with you.”
“I don’t give a flying fuck!” Andie shouted. A few Leonids around them shifted their weight uncomfortably. “You’re my mate, not my grandmother’s!”
Kragen inhaled deeply, his eyes glowing fire.
“I tried to help her, but I may have hurt her,” he said. “Pain is the body’s way of warning against injury. Without it…”
“She pushed herself too far,” Andie finished.
That was actually a relief. Andie knew her grandmother, and that was exactly something she would do. Maybe there was nothing else wrong. Maybe…
“If you claimed me,” she said, slowly, “could you heal her?”
“It is impossible to know,” Kragen said. “No one knows how it would work with a human-Leonid bond. I could lend her my strength, but I do not know how long it would last.”
Andie hung her head. She was suddenly so, so tired, and she still had so much to do. She’d gotten herself into this, and she had to see it through. She’d just…
She’d just been hoping for another miracle.
“But,” Kragen went on, and his voice lifted her head, as it always did. It was impossible to feel hopeless, looking into his shifting, silver eyes. “I believe Leonid medical technology could heal her.”
A red-chested Leonid behind him—a commander, based on the bars on the leather strap across his bare chest—grunted. There were Leonids stationed at regular intervals in a path to the door down to the hospital, and it looked like there were Leonid guards beyond that. They’d secured the entire building before letting Kragen in, and, apparently, they were ready.
Silently, Kragen guided her to his side, and began to walk. The commander behind him seethed, but no one argued.
“Do you think the queen will agree to heal Gramzy?” Andie asked.
“If she does not,” Kragen said as they walked through the threshold, and down the stairs, into the hospital, “I will rip the medical bay out of the queenship and deliver it to Gramzy myself.”
Andie looked at him, wide eyed. So did the red-chested Leonid commander, and a few of the guards.
Kragen was completely serious.
And the thing was, with his tendency to glow like a nuclear reactor where Andie was involved, she got the sense that every Leonid there knew he could do it.
They walked in silence the rest of the way, guided by jumpy Leonids who couldn’t decide whether to watch Kragen, who terrified them, or the alleged first human mate, who fascinated them. Andie didn’t mind the deferential silence—it gave her time to think.
And the more she thought
, the more nervous she got. She looked at Kragen once more, out of the corner of her eye, even though she could feel his presence in every cell of her being. What he called the hunger was building inside her again, sending a warm flush over her skin, and wetness between her legs. Kragen inhaled deeply, a low rumble building in his chest, and the glow brightening in his eyes, and Andie blushed when she remembered that he could very literally smell her.
Her plan needed to work. Or she didn’t know what Kragen would do if he thought Andie would be harmed—or what would happen to Rune. And no matter what, Andie didn’t want anyone, Leonid or human, to die.
Her plan needed to work.
A dark blue Leonid warrior with red hair opened the door in front of them, revealing low lighting, calming taupe wallpaper, and a single hospital bed containing a sleeping Gramzy. Kat was sitting next to her, and looked up as the door opened.
To her credit, Kat barely paused as she took in the sight of Andie, Kragen in chains, and a phalanx of Leonid warriors surrounding them. She rose from her seat, walked forward, and with her voice low, said exactly what Andie needed to hear.
“She’s fine,” Kat said, in full nurse mode. “Her vitals are fine, and her labs are actually better than fine, which no one understands. She fainted on the couch at home, and now she’s sleeping. They’re just keeping her for observation.”
“Oh thank God,” Andie whispered.
“I tried to call you,” Kat said, “but…”
Andie cursed under her breath. She hadn’t even checked her phone, which was always on vibrate. She had been distracted by a giant sexy Leonid, and then they’d just been going to Gramzy’s place anyway…
Get it together, Knowles.
Andie turned around and addressed the Leonid commander.
“I need a moment with my family,” she said. “Alone. You will stay out here.”
His giant red face scrunched up with what looked like it was going to be disagreement—until Kragen growled.
“The door will remain open,” the Leonid commander grunted.
That was fine by Andie. She walked right to Kat, and gave her best friend the biggest hug of her life.
And then, with no Leonids nearby to overhear, she whispered her plan right into Kat’s ear.
“I think it will work,” she finished, and gave Kat a final squeeze. “If you’re in, just say, ‘Of course.’”
She pulled away from Kat to find her best friend smiling, and crying a little bit.
“Of course,” Kat said. “I love you, dummy.”
Now Andie just had to pull it off.
24
Kragen followed Andromeda up the floating steps to the Leonid transport ship that hovered above the hospital’s roof. The Alliance helicopter was long gone, and in its place was a Leonid vehicle capable of bringing them to the orbiting queenship. They had completed their short trip to see the matriarch Gramzy, and Kragen had confirmed that she was not in immediate danger. He would fix his error, eventually. He would not allow Andromeda to suffer the loss of her matriarch, but there would be time enough for that later.
Now he watched her, carefully, as she entered a Leonid ship for the first time. He could feel her awe and wonder through their bond, and it brought a smile to his lips.
And Kragen’s smile brought fear to his guard’s heart. That, too, made Kragen smile. He looked briefly to his right, at the young warrior who was responsible for watching him on the narrow steps. This male was young, his pale-green skin barely showing the telltale metallic highlights of a mature Leonid, his silver hair shorn short, in the military style. To a human, this young warrior would be intimidating.
To Kragen, he was a child. Even without the bond, Kragen had been a commander of the Royal Guard. He would be more than a match for any three of these Leonid warriors. But now?
The power that surged through Kragen, through the new, strengthening bond he shared with Andromeda, had changed everything. None of the Leonids present had seen anything like it, because it had not existed for over a hundred years.
That was when most of the Leonid females had finished dying off. No Leonid female had been born in all that time, and so no one had seen, with their own eyes, the effects of a newly formed mating bond. Especially the effects of a mating bond delayed or denied. Kragen could feel the attention of every Leonid present. He could even feel how careful they were not to look directly at his mate.
Leonids always had good instincts.
But nothing could have prepared them for the reality of a mating bond. Nothing had prepared Kragen. And it was not just the bond. Not just the physical need that tormented him at every moment.
Kragen was beginning to understand that it was far more than that.
He stepped into the transport, his eyes immediately adjusting to the dim light, and let his eyes rest on Andromeda. He could see her heart, as she looked around the transport with wide eyes. He could feel it.
They had always been taught that the mating bond was a physical thing. That a bond between a dominant Leonid and his submissive meant sexual compatibility, and nothing more. That a Dom would have to work to bring love into their lives.
His eyes settled on Andromeda’s and watched her smile.
This was not work. He stood in chains, unable to touch his mate, but none of it was work. The fire inside him burned bright whenever he looked at her, demanding more fuel, demanding that he drink of her. His cock was hard and swollen, his muscles tense. But his heart also swelled. He had seen her heart, and he would never forget it.
He growled suddenly as a Leonid came forward to help Andromeda strap herself in to one of the seats, and the entire guard came to alert.
“Everybody calm down,” Andromeda said, a slight smile on her face. “I can figure it out myself.”
Kragen stood, unmoving, until Andromeda had strapped herself into one of the seats that had been modified for humans who needed to travel to the queenship. Only then did he allow the young guard to strap him in to his own seat, next to his mate.
There was a pause, as the Leonid guard took up their positions, their weapons still trained on Kragen. The transport seemed small with that many Leonids in one space, crowded around his mate. He could smell their fear, their awe, even their jealousy. Kragen took a deep breath, and watched as the guards took a step back.
With a dull hum, the bay doors to the transport slid shut, and the transport began to fly smoothly, the Leonid temporal engines buffering the tiny vehicle against any turbulence. They would reach the queenship’s orbit in mere minutes.
“Why do I get the feeling that those chains you have around your arms are just for show?” Andromeda said, just barely loud enough for him to hear her. She looked at him, her fear and excitement mixed with something else.
“Again,” she added.
Kragen allowed himself another smile. And he was irrationally proud of his mate. She was clever, she was brave. She had more than just a warrior’s heart. She had a commander’s vision.
And she was correct.
It would be so simple. Kragen knew he could destroy everything he saw with almost no effort. The animal hunger inside him wanted him to do let go. To unleash. To destroy everything and anyone that stood between him and his mate, to consume it all, to kill, conquer, and then claim. The urge beat against him like an angry sea.
But his human female was more complex than that animal hunger understood. If Kragen were to bring the transport crashing out of the sky, cradling his mate in his arms, no matter how he protected her body, he could not protect her heart from the consequences of that choice. Her life would be changed forever. It was Andromeda’s own words that echoed in his head, providing a counterpoint to the snarling kravok.
This is my home.
If Kragen turned to war, this would never be her home again. Many would die. His mate would grieve. She would be harmed.
Unacceptable.
“Yes,” he said simply. “They are safe as long as you are safe.”
Kragen
saw her turn to him as he spoke. The hem of her dress rose as she twisted, exposing the smooth skin of her leg, and Kragen hissed. His cock strained against his leathers, and it took all his discipline to remain bound. His skin began to glow with the fever, illuminating the faces of the Leonids who watched them both.
The possessive instincts of the mating bond were becoming more and more difficult to ignore. There were too many Leonids looking at his female.
Kragen growled. The Leonids looked at him instead.
“Better,” he said.
“Uh,” Andromeda said, and he could feel her awareness of the tension in the tiny transport. “Have they never seen a human female before?”
“They have never seen a human mate before,” Kragen answered. “None of us has.”
“And no one was sure you would find any, were they?”
Kragen looked at his mate, her eyes watching him steadily. She had told him she knew, now, after the last time their bond flared, when he drank from her last. She had mentioned rivka. How many Leonid secrets did she know?
“The decision to come to Earth was not an easy one,” Kragen said, aware of the many guards within earshot, and aware that he could not be sure of their true loyalties. “We fought a civil war for that decision.”
There was a silence between them, one that belonged to only them.
“Is that how your parents died?” Andromeda whispered finally. “Is that why you went to live with Rune’s family?”
Kragen turned his entire head, his eyes searching for hers. The urge to take her, in that moment, was nearly overwhelming. How did she see so much without the benefit of kuma?
“Yes,” he said.
“So,” Andromeda went on, “a civil war, Leonids who are starting to fall to the mating sickness, and two whole years without a mating match? And now I’m the first? I’m the only proof that humans can mate with Leonids?”
Kragen growled as the hunger flared high and hot within him. His mate, he could not forget, had a plan. She was not just a warrior, at heart, but strategist. He looked at her bare, exposed neck, and his fangs extended of their own volition.