Stowaway (Star Line Express Romance Book 1)

by Alessia Bowman

  “She’s with me,” Niklas says. “No need for that.” He points to the weapon, which Tobs doesn’t put away.

  But it wouldn’t matter if he did put it away, because now the guard’s shown up, and I can see that they’re practically salivating that they’ve got Choryn’s wanted list’s number one suspect in their sights. About to be in their custody.

  About to be taken to their execution squad.

  “Nik,” I say, looking at him, hoping for some help even though he’s already cuffed me and he looks like he’s ready to turn me over to the authorities. I look down at my wrist and try to work the cuff off, but it seems like it’ll never come off.

  “Parst,” says the guy in charge of the guard officers. He’s talking to Arca.

  “First Officer Arca,” says Niklas, and the two shake hands, like they’re going to be great pals. Like they already are great pals. Maybe they are.

  I give up hope.

  The day’s over.

  My escape from Choryn is over.

  What I thought was love is over.

  And soon my life will be over.

  But I look around the landing dock anyway. Maybe there’s some way out of this doom. There must be some way out of this doom. There has to be.

  Several meters away, just off Parst’s right shoulder, I spot a huge ship that I could sneak onto if only I get the chance.

  Now that I’m more skilled at stowing away, I won’t make the same mistakes again.

  Niklas

  “Any relation?” I say, smothering an emergent laugh.

  Parst looks at me like he doesn’t know what I mean, so I tell him.

  “To Joston,” I say, as though I need to explain the obvious.

  “No,” says Parst, although he’s smiling slightly. “I get that a lot.”

  “Have Captain Zavl’yn and the crew arrived safely?” I say. Best to sound as official as possible, I think. Under the circumstances.

  Aymee, who was glaring sharpened javelins at me a moment ago, is now looking off over Parst’s shoulder. Ah. She’s spotted a likely target for her next escapade, and damn me if it isn’t the Marinax. Who have refused my services twice.

  “They’re at the hotel,” says Parst. “Shall I inform them of your arrival?”

  “Please do,” I say.

  Aymee has moved very slightly away from me, so I reach out and take her hand.

  “Good work bringing Desryx with you, First Officer Arca,” says Parst.

  He even looks a bit like Joston. Well, just a bit. Maybe around the hairline. “We can take her now. Her cell’s been waiting since we learned of her desertion.”

  So that’s what they call it when you leave Choryn because you don’t want to become your randomly chosen match’s life mate: desertion. What a fucked-up world this is.

  Parst makes a move to take custody of Aymee, who’s moved just a bit farther away from me and toward the Marinax. I pull her back to my side and put my arm up to shield her.

  “I’m afraid not, Parst,” I say. “Out of your jurisdiction.”

  “First Officer Arca,” says Parst, looking quite stern and, incidentally, more and more like his fictional namesake, the treacherous Joston. I wonder if his fist hurt like mine does.

  “Don’t interfere with the Chorynean Guard’s arrest of a Chorynean citizen,” Parst says. “It won’t be to your benefit.”

  “Don’t interfere with my wife,” I say. “She’s a citizen of the Terran Big World and, as such, you have no right to interfere with her.”

  I hold up Aymee’s wrist to show the marriage band. I hope she won’t mind too much when she finds out that I’d originally bought it for Minda. But Minda was never my wife—she was never my mate—and she never even saw the bracelet, which is kind of glinting in the harsh light here in the landing dock.

  “Your what?” Aymee says as the truth of our marriage sinks in.

  “I did mention that the captain of a ship has certain powers,” I say to her.

  “You married us?” she says.

  “The traditional right of captains since the beginning of history,” I say, smiling.

  Now Aymee’s smiling too, even though she’s also fuming. She’s also staring at the bracelet, the symbol of our marriage, our love, our unbreakable bond.

  Wait’ll Aymee sees the marriage band in the dark. It’s quite something. Iridescent, the colors changing with each movement, and it seems to be alive in a way. Or so I was told when I purchased it.

  Never knowing I’d be leaving the Big World.

  Leaving Minda and Rej behind.

  And meeting and falling in love with the fascinating Aymee Desryx. The life mate I’m privileged to share the future with.

  Chapter 26

  Aymee

  To think that it’s the night of the day I escaped from Choryn, planning to never be back here again.

  To think that I’m at the hotel with the crew of the Centreale, celebrating. With my husband. First Officer Niklas Arca. Big World Terran. The scheming, sexy, handsome Big World Terran.

  I’m a citizen of the Big World now, too, and completely protected from all of Choryn’s overly harsh laws—and worse punishments. I wish Nik would’ve just told me, but he seems to have enjoyed his way instead, if his constant smile is any indication of how he feels and what he thinks.

  Chlo can’t stop hugging me, then hugging Nik, then telling me how happy she is that we’re both fine, that we escaped, that we’ve been exonerated, and that we’re married. How happy she is to be back on Choryn, because just a little while ago her friend introduced her to her brother and now Chlo can’t stop thinking about him. He’s someone very special.

  Captain Zavl’yn’s been congratulating us nonstop and welcoming me to what he’s calling the Centreale’s family.

  Except he and Niklas are already negotiating to purchase something called the Marinax, using the proceeds of the insurance payout from the Centreale’s destruction. And the reparations they seem convinced they’ll get from Arbin Cole’s assets. However that will work.

  And, of course, Nik says I’ll be the chief engineer. It’s the perfect job for me. I can’t argue with that. Especially after he assures me that the Marinax really is the Orquen-class stator it appeared to be from my distant glimpse of it in the landing dock.

  Too much has happened.

  Stowing away. Being locked up. Sex. Accusations. Incredible sex. Trying to save the ship. Desire I didn’t know existed. Love I never expected. Escaping certain death.

  Getting married.

  Too much.

  And yet, not enough. Right now I want nothing more than to get Niklas Arca out of this party, get him out of his clothes, and get him onto the bed in the hotel room we’ve been promised.

  Right after I tell him off for making me think he was arresting me when in fact he was marrying me. While I’m at it, I’ll tell him off for marrying me without even so much as asking first.

  Even though he knows—and I know—that I would have said yes.

  He is my real life partner. My mate. My match.

  Chlo’s coming toward me now and she’s got someone with her. Someone I know.

  “Aymee!” Chlo says. “This is my friend.”

  “Kaera,” I say.

  “You know each other?” Chlo looks startled.

  “Aymee,” Kaera says. She has the same dark brown hair and dull blue eyes as her brother.

  “You met Lasson?” I say to Chlo.

  She gives me a quizzical look, then breaks out into a sparkly smile. “I did. Do you know him too?”

  Kaera looks at me and we crack up laughing, then Chlo joins us just as Lasson makes his way across the room, looking more than a little surprised to see me . . . and more than a little happy to see Chlo.

  Niklas

  The rest are still at the party, laughing and joking and drinking, reliving their escapes, regaling one another with ever-more-fantastic stories about what they were doing when they first heard the abandon ship sirens.


  The party that would never end. Except that I finally ended it for Aymee and me, although I had to turn down that last drink of Sircean brandy that Zav kept insisting I have. Well, I did bring the glass back to the room with me. Can’t let it go to waste.

  I take a sip from it, hand it to Aymee, who takes a taste, smiles, sighs, and leans back in the luxurious bed, back into my arms, her head on my shoulder, her arm across my chest.

  “I cannot believe that Chlo’s friend is Kaera Birtak,” she says.

  “It’s a small galaxy,” I say. “You know, Lasson seems like a decent fellow.”

  “Maybe I should marry him instead,” my wife says. She’s just trying to get a little revenge for my having married her under such unusual circumstances.

  “You scheming Chorynean,” I say, taking the glass from her hand and finishing off the remains. “If only I’d known when I found you in the hot box that we were going to get married, we could have saved a lot of time.”

  “Let’s make up for it right now,” Aymee says, a glint in her gray-green eyes.

  I put the glass on the side table, turn off the lights, and notice, just for a second, that the marriage band really does iridesce in the dark. That it has a kind of life of its own.

  Then I turn the lights back on.

  Because I want to see everything that’s about to happen.

  Author’s Note

  Alessia Bowman is hard at work with her own life mate, doing in-depth research for a few choice scenes in the next book in the series.

  For the further loves and adventures of the crew of the Star Line Express and its new ship, the sleek and sexy Marinax, go directly to Book 2 in the series, Shore Leave. And the passion continues with Book 3, Delivery. Available now!

  If you enjoyed Stowaway, please consider taking a few moments to leave a review. Many thanks!

  Make sure to visit my website and sign up for my mailing list to get news on future releases and specials: https://www.alessiabowman.com/.