She was brilliant. A scientist who studied the stars and the universe. She had studied and earned advanced degrees and accolades on her home world. I did not know exactly what she did, or how her knowledge might be useful to my people, but I had spoken to Ronan briefly and we were in agreement.
First, we survive this battle, and then we dedicate every waking moment to learning about our female.
The smile in her photograph was filled with happiness and hope. She’d looked excited to face a new adventure. To venture out into space and meet her perfect mate. But, in this case, mates. And I knew I was not perfect.
Me?
Gods help her. I was not perfect, not in any way.
“Squadron 168 will arrive from Battlegroup Brekk in three hours,” Captain Onar spoke. He’d been with me for years, former leader of the protection team at Transport Station Zenith. He was fierce and organized, his bronze hair and skin broken only by bright golden eyes. He held a tablet and was swiping across it as he spoke. “The fighter wing from the Zakar will arrive seventy minutes after that. We’ll have five hundred fighters in the bay in the next twenty-seven hours, in addition to the three battleships coming from Prillon Prime.”
“How long until most of the fighter reinforcements have arrived?” I asked. The battleships were huge, with their own contingent of fighters. They would be at least a day behind the smaller, faster fighters that were being transported on massive transport pads to the nearest military bases and reassigned to the Battlegroup Karter.
“Six hours, as long as the bay is clear for them to land,” Onar replied.
“Send us out there, Commander. We’ll find them.” Warlord Wulf stood still as a mountain, but I wasn’t fooled. I’d stood beside him more than once and watched him go beast on the battlefield, knew exactly the level of violence he was capable of.
“As soon as we find the fuckers, they’re all yours, Warlord.”
“Good.” He pounded the fist of his left hand into his right palm, the boom so loud several warriors looked up from their work on the docks below.
Fucking Atlans.
I glanced at the PC, her cream-colored uniform a stark contrast to the battle gear worn by the rest of us. “We’re on schedule, sir. All civilian vessels will be clear within the next two hours.”
Turning, I looked to Chloe and Ronan. “What can the I.C. tell us?”
Everyone knew they were I.C., knew that some of their missions were top secret. I didn’t care. The time for whispers and shadows was over.
“A plan to search for the weapon is in the works,” Ronan commented. “I’ll work with Onar to coordinate rest periods for our personnel as well as maintenance of the ships so we can send out advance squadrons. We’ll mix the crafts so we have fighter ships side by side with scanner craft.” He looked to the the Prillon captain, Onar, who nodded in agreement.
“Search groups will run 25/7,” Chloe added. “Ronan and I will be on different rotations along with two others from I.C. Central Command.”
I nodded. “Good.” My leaders were efficient and successful in their roles; that was why I had them. But they would be coordinating with I.C. as well as squadron leaders from multiple battlegroups. I had no specific physical task, nothing to do except organize, monitor and guide as needed. We weren’t under fire. While I considered the entire battlegroup under possible imminent attack, there was no direct proof. I couldn’t scramble or fight back when we didn’t know what we were fighting.
I would not be deployed in the search groups. I would lead from here. It made me feel as if my hands were tied, in every facet of my life.
Imprisoned behind a comm table while I sent good warriors out to die. Tied to a female I didn’t dare claim. Trapped in a sector of space I could not leave, head stretched out across a butcher’s block, waiting for the Hive to strike.
“Commander,” the PC said. She was Prillon, a collar about her neck indicating she was mated. I knew she had one child, although she was not being relocated with the other non-military personnel. I needed a civilian liaison here. If we had wounded, or lost any warriors, I needed a link to their mates and families close.
“Yes?”
“Will Lady Karter be joining the personnel in the safe zone? If I am to remain here to assist, they will need someone in charge. While I do have subordinates who can handle the task, I think everyone would be more comfortable with her presence.”
What the PC said was true. As my mate, Erica became Lady Karter and was, while unwittingly and perhaps against her desires, in charge of all non-military personnel on the ship. That was thousands of individuals. And with those from the Varsten battlegroup mixed in, it was nearly double the usual count. While I’d been inside her body on several occasions, I didn’t know much about her mind. I knew she was intelligent, but I had no idea why she’d volunteered to be a bride. Would she be a good leader? Would she even want to be?
“No, Lady Karter will not be going to the safe zone,” I said. “I’m sure your team will be excellent support instead.”
While the PC’s eyes widened slightly, she only tipped her head in acknowledgement.
“I will go to the safe zone and take command of the civilians in the fleet.”
The female voice from behind me had me spinning on my heel. I knew that voice, the soft timbre of contentment, the sharp bite of anger, even the breathy cry of pleasure.
Erica.
Ronan went immediately to her side, pulled her into his arms for a hug, then put his hands on her shoulders and pushed her back so he could look at her. “What are you doing here, mate?” His gaze ran over her. “Did something happen during transport? Are you hurt?”
It had only been thirty minutes since we’d sent her to Prillon Prime and the safety of Prime Nial’s palace. He hadn’t commed to say she hadn’t arrived. Why the fuck was she here?
A thrill ran through me at seeing her, and yet, fear as well. She was not safe here.
“Oh, no. I met Lady Deston. We had a nice chat and she agreed that I should come back.”
“Prime Nial allowed it?” I asked, stepping toward them. The others around us parted to let me by.
She shook her head, her long hair flowing down her back. I remembered it, just an hour ago, fisted in Ronan’s hand as she sucked him off. Shit, I was getting hard.
She looked to me, tipped her chin up. “No, he was busy with you.”
Oh, she was mad. I didn’t have to be her mate to see it. Her body wasn’t soft and supple as she was when aroused. Her muscles were tense, her mouth pressed into a thin line. Her eyes flared with anger.
“Jessica and I had a nice, little chat.”
I glanced at Chloe who was smirking. Damned Earth females.
Erica lifted her hands, knocked Ronan’s off her shoulders, then put her hands on her hips and glared at me like I was a naughty child.
Gods be damned, I hadn’t seen that look on a female’s face since I was a boy being scolded by my mother.
“I can’t believe you sent me to Prillon Prime when I am now Lady Karter. Chloe said I was in charge of non-military personnel. I can’t do that from a planet a trillion miles away.”
“I need you to be safe, mate,” I said.
She spun on her heel, the flowing brown dress I’d had rucked up around her waist as I fucked her, swirling about her long legs. She came over to me, actually pushed my chest. I didn’t move, but she dared to shove me.
And that made my cock even harder.
This magnificent, feisty female was my mate.
“And yet there are children right over there.” She pointed to deck three and the group that was boarding one of the cargo ships.
“They are leaving within ten minutes for a safe zone.”
Her eyes narrowed. “A safe zone is safe enough for them but not safe for me?”
Oh fuck.
“You should go, love. We will worry over you otherwise,” Ronan said.
That was obviously the wrong thing to say since her mouth dropped o
pen and she looked like Chloe had the time she made her mates sleep in the fighters’ quarters for two nights.
“I am Lady Karter. I am here to assume my duties to lead my people. I do not need your permission, Lord High and Mighty. I will do what needs to be done, and you aren’t going to stop me.” Magnificent, perfect fucking female.
Leaning down, I whispered in her ear. “I can spank your ass, tie you up and carry you back to the transport pad.”
She turned her head slightly so our lips almost touched. “You can try,” she threatened. “If you do so, Kaed, then the testing was wrong, and I will not return. I will not be dictated to or coddled like a child. I am your mate, not a pair of boots to be tossed away when it’s not convenient for you to have me around.”
I arched a brow at her comment. Ronan came over so he stood beside us both. The group of commanders was probably still behind us, but I paid them no attention. I was focused solely on Erica as her words sank into my body. My soul. She was deadly serious. If I sent her away now, I would lose her forever.
My silence must have softened her heart, at least a little, for her tone was gentle when she spoke next, Ronan and I both leaning forward to catch every word.
“You disrespect me by not finding me worthy of my role. I do not wish to be reckless with my safety, but I will not walk away when my people need me, when you need me.”
“Mate,” Ronan said. “We would never disrespect you.”
She turned and looked up at him. “But you have. You doubt our match.”
I shook my head. “No. Never.”
“Yet you think the testing didn’t match you to someone strong enough to be at your side, to share your burdens, to take on the role of Lady Karter before your people. You expect me to walk among them, unclaimed, and explain to every curious eye why you have chosen not to claim me?”
I hadn’t thought of it that way. Our lack of collar dishonored her and embarrassed her in front of my people. Her people.
“I trust you in your jobs. I trust that Ronan is careful when he goes out into the field. Chloe explained the I.C. to me and I know it is full of… peril. And you, being commander of an entire battlegroup, means you deal with bad stuff. You forget I arrived from Earth into the middle of a disaster. Why can’t you trust me to handle myself in the same way?”
“We live under constant threat of attack,” I told her.
She tilted her head to the side to look around me. “Chloe, where’s your family?”
I heard the female’s light footsteps as she approached. “Seth is boarding a freighter with the kids now. I showed the children how to make up constellations in the sky and it will keep them entertained on the journey. Seth will be in the safe zone with them while Dorian flies in one of the advance search groups.”
Erica looked up at me again. “Her children have been on this ship all their young lives. If Chloe keeps them here, then don’t belittle me by assuming me too weak to stay as well.”
I clenched my hands into fists. “I will not have you harmed or exposed to the horrors of my job. Of Ronan’s.”
“Too late. I had warrior’s blood on my hands the very first time you touched me, do you not remember?”
Ronan looked to me, and I could read his mind as if he were a comm message, a message I finally received. Erica wasn’t the problem, I was. I was afraid of hurting her, losing her. Afraid the violence of my mind would frighten her away.
But if I did nothing, refused to take this chance, to trust her, I would lose her anyway.
“You will not remain on the Karter. You will go to the safe zone and lead. The PC will prep you before you leave and assign her top people to assist you.”
The smile that lit her face was brilliant. In that moment, I knew I’d underestimated Erica. I’d thought, perhaps not even consciously, that she was weak. Incapable of life on the Karter. Of leading those under her care. I should have known better; from the first minutes in her company, she’d gone to tend to others.
She had a caring heart and a need to serve and I’d taken that from her.
“I won’t go without a collar.”
Ronan smirked and I crossed my arms over my chest.
“Now you give the orders?” I asked.
“I will not be Lady Karter in all ways but one.”
Yes, it appeared that in this mating, she would indeed be giving the orders.
And I’d be blessed by the gods themselves to follow them.
“Are you sure, Erica? You might want to be involved with the evacuation, but that is different than knowing what I feel. What I sense. The burden is great.”
She sighed. “Again, you underestimate me. Perhaps you are forgetting that you will know what I feel, what I sense. Perhaps that will lift you up, not take me down.”
“Ah, mate,” Ronan said, cupping her cheek with his hand. “Give him hell, Erica. Make him beg.” He kissed her on the lips, hard. Fast. “I want to see it, at least once in this lifetime.”
Erica smiled up into his eyes and wrapped her arms around him. They had both made up their minds, as had I. I would trust in the matching protocol, trust in my family, in the female who held my heart in the palm of her small, human hand.
“Very well,” I said. I had fought this long and hard, but knew it wasn’t something I could win. She would soon learn the burden I carried, and I hoped the testing was correct and she could handle it. I turned to the PC. “Send someone to fetch my collars from my office.”
She turned and fled with haste.
“Kaed, you need to go with her,” Ronan said.
I frowned. “To the safe zone?”
He nodded. “One mate should remain with her, in safety. Need I remind you of the main reason for a second in Prillon mating?”
“No,” I snapped.
“Remind me,” Erica said.
“A mate is cherished, loved, protected and possessed by her two mates. Because Prillons are mostly fighters, death is a strong possibility. Having a second means a mate will never be without a male. For love, for children, for their future.” Ronan kissed her forehead. Damn him for being the gentle one. I felt like an Atlan beast in comparison.
“I must lead one of the advanced groups so the Hive doesn’t win this fight. It will reassure me to know he is with you. That if I die, you will not be alone.”
“Ronan,” she whispered, then nodded.
I wanted to argue with him, but I sighed instead. I didn’t want to fight anymore. I was jaded, angry, stressed. Frustrated. I was at my breaking point at the thought of losing her. Was that why I’d been matched? Was the testing that accurate to know exactly when I needed a mate to take care of instead of leading others into battle?
Was my new role not only commander, but Erica’s mate? Her personal protector?
“You are the commanders’ mate, Erica. One will lead while the other remains at your side, protecting you,” Ronan added.
The PC returned with the familiar box that held my collars. I opened it, took the three out and handed the empty box back to the PC. She smiled as she took it from me, then stepped back.
“I will not claim you in the usual Prillon custom, mate,” I said.
“But—”
I put a finger over her lips. “It involves stripping you naked and fucking you. In a traditional claiming, I would be deep in your pussy and Ronan in your ass as witnesses observe and chant.”
She flushed a bright pink at the words. I took my finger away. “Oh.”
“Yes, oh.”
“I have made one concession already by allowing Ronan to have your pussy in equal measure. I will not allow anyone to see you as your mates do, your body is for the two of us only. The sight of you coming, the sound of it, belongs to us.”
“We’d be sharing your body here. Now. Do you wish for your claiming to occur in the landing bay of a battleship?” Ronan asked.
She swallowed. “Do we have to do that, in front of everyone? I admit, I’m not really into exhibitionism.”
; I shook my head. “No, we will modify the ceremony.”
Stepping back, I faced the team of group leaders. “As you’ve probably overheard, Lady Karter and I will be going with the cargo ships to coordinate the battle from the safe zone. I will lead the fighters and she will lead the civilian teams to care for your mates and families. Since we are short on time, you shall witness our modified claiming.”
They moved silently and quickly into a semi-circle around myself, Ronan and Erica. I handed two of the collars to Ronan and I lifted one to my neck, wrapped it around and closed it. While I couldn’t see, I assumed the color went from black to brown, my family color: the Karter family’s, for hundreds of years.
I took one back from him as he affixed his about his own neck. As his collar changed color, I felt the connection, the power of the bond the collars gave us. I felt his emotions, the pride in this moment, his contentment with Erica. The desire, the love, the need. I also felt the pressure of his job, of the Hive, of what was to come, but I pushed all of that down, just as I did with my own thoughts not related to this moment.
I wouldn’t ruin this moment for Erica by focusing on dark thoughts. She would learn the weight of our connection soon enough. Right now, in this moment, I wanted her to feel all the need I had for her. Lust. Love. Desire. Trust. Pride. Everything I felt when I looked at her was tangled up into a knot so tight I had no hope of unraveling it.
I turned, looked to the captains and commanders who surrounded us, the leadership team that would see us through the coming battle, and nodded.
They began to chant, softly, yet in direct accord with the mating ritual. Their voices rang out strong and clear, and soon every warrior in the landing bay, as well as the civilians had joined the chant. To bear witness to a claiming was to be honored, chosen as a trusted guardian and friend to the mated trio. Including everyone here felt… right. She belonged to them as well. Their Lady.
Erica’s eyes widened as the volume rose, but she tilted her chin up, ready. Ronan placed his hands upon her shoulders, turned her to face me directly, then collected her long hair in his hand, held it aloft.
With steady hands, I put the collar about her neck. I was aware that this moment was life altering. Forever. I cleared my throat and looked into her eyes. “Do you accept my claim, mate? Do you give yourself to me and my second freely, or do you wish to choose another primary male?”
The Commanders' Mate Page 12