by Susan Hayes
He glanced over to her. She had turned her chair to face him, her curiosity overcoming her interest in the fast receding lights of her home. Once again, he was struck by her strength and courage. Even granting that her judgment had likely been compromised by the Scorching, she was still accepting all that he’d told her without panic or fear. Maybe these humans weren’t so primitive after all.
“As I understand it, humans can choose to bond and create younglings with anyone they chose. It’s different for my people. We cannot procreate with anyone but our true mate. When we find them, we are drawn together and form a bond that lasts for the rest of our lives. It’s also the only way for a Pyrosian to unlock their power over flame.”
“One person? That’s it? Out of an entire world, you all have to find the one person that’s your match? How is that even possible? What happens if you never find each other?”
He smiled as she hit him with another barrage of questions, even though the answers to her queries were nothing to smile about. “In the past, we had great gatherings. All those who sought their mate would attend, meeting with as many others as they could, hoping to find the one they were destined for. Now, we have databases that can determine likely matches. Once the pair are both adults, that information is sent to them, and they can meet. If the match is true, then they are together for the rest of their lives.”
“Sort of like how Star-Crossed works?” she asked, then frowned, her dark eyes turning stormy. “Or is it exactly how it works? Did you build a database of Earth girls?”
If she was smart enough to make that leap in logic, there was no point in compounding matters by denying the truth. “We did.”
“And then your king sent his son and a handpicked selection of Pyrosian elites to come here and claim human women? Do they even get a say? Will I ever get to see my friends again?”
“We are not barbarians. Any female who was matched has the right to refuse. And yes, I will do my best to ensure that you see your friends again. I give you my word.”
“Why are you doing this?”
“Because my people are dying out. Every generation there are fewer females born, and more males live their lives without finding their mate. We had to find another species to reproduce with. Against all odds, we found one. Humans.
“We believed that these pairings would be something less than a true match, but close enough to allow reproduction. In at least two cases, however, the matches have been perfect. Your friends aren’t answering you because they are in the thrall of what we call the Scorching. It is the mating fever that begins when a matched pair first touch.”
Her shoulders drooped. “So, odds are good they’ll be leaving with their true mates when this is done? And since I don’t have a match, I can’t go with them. I’m glad they get the right to choose, though. That’s good. Lisa always wanted to travel. I guess she’s going to get to see more than she ever dreamed of. New planets and everything. And they’ll be heroes. Helping to save your planet.”
“The males they were destined for will give them good lives. Your friend, Maggie, will be a queen one day.”
Gwen winced. “Oh man, that’s right. She’s really not going to love that idea. She always tried to stay out of the spotlight and live quietly. You’re sure they’re a true match?”
“I’m certain. They experienced the Spark.”
Gwen’s eyes rounded. “You mean, like the blue spark-thing that happened when we touched?”
Flames and fury. He shouldn’t have mentioned the damned Spark.
When he didn’t answer her, she stiffened and turned to face forward again. “It was that Spark thing you’re talking about, wasn’t it? But I was rejected from the program, so it must be a glitch. According to your database, I’m not good enough to be your true mate.”
“The Gods make the matches, not a computer.” He didn’t know what else to say. When he glanced over at Gwen, she was so still and quiet she might have been carved from stone. Shoulders rigid, hands clasped tightly in front of her, her eyes locked on the viewscreen directly ahead.
Seeing her like that and knowing he was the cause of her distress made him physically ache. He wasn’t worthy of a mate. He was too scarred and battle-hardened to be a good match for any female. Especially not one as amazing as Gwen. There had to be a way to undo this so she would be free to find someone else. Someone who would treasure her and always put her needs first. She deserved that, and he couldn’t give it to her. He had to put his duty to the crown first. Always.
The silence between them continued for the rest of the journey. The only words spoken were from the ship’s computer, and the only sound was the rhythmic drumming of his fingers on the edge of the console.
Once they docked, he unfastened his harness and turned to assist Gwen with hers, only to discover she had managed to undo herself and was already out of her chair and backed into a corner of the cockpit.
“Now what happens?” Her words were clipped, her hands still clenched in front of her. It wasn’t until he looked carefully that he saw that she held them that way to hide their trembling. She was afraid. Whatever trust she’d had in him was gone.
“Now, we leave the ship. First, we’ll go to the airlock again, and stay in there a few minutes during decontamination. Then I’m taking you to medical to have your burns attended to.”
“You’re going to fix my hand?”
“You are injured. We can heal that in a matter of seconds. Why would I not do that for you?”
“Because I’m a problem you need to deal with, not a guest. I realize that, now. I was stupid not to see it before. I’m a risk. You didn’t come to tell me about Maggie and Lisa out of the goodness of your heart. You weren’t supposed to come to the planet at all. You said so yourself. You had to come because I know too much and I was about to call the police about my missing friends.” Her brow furrowed. “Did you do something to my phone? Is that why I couldn’t call anyone the last time I tried?”
“Yes, we blocked your communications. I’ll explain the rest once we’re in the airlock.”
He exited the cockpit and let her fall in behind him. He wanted to touch her, to take her hand, but he didn’t. It would only accelerate the Scorching.
They re-entered the empty space of the airlock, he activated the decontamination program, and turned to face Gwen. “You are more than a problem to be dealt with, Gwen Hudson. You are a guest on this ship, not a prisoner. No harm will come to you, I swear. I should warn you, that while most of the crew have been giving rudimentary training in your language, not all of them will be fluent. There may be miscommunications.”
“So, that’s not some nifty translator device you’re using to speak with me? You actually learned English? How long did that take? And what’s with the blue lights?”
“The light is part of the decontamination process. And yes, I learned your language. We were all given cognitive augmentation containing information on language and customs. The uploads were done while I slept.” He’d take her rapid-fire questions over unhappy silence any time. At least they were talking again.
“You learned English in your sleep?” she sighed. “I wish we had that tech. I could take a nap, wake up, and be able to read books in a new language. I can speak and read a little French, but most of what I know comes from reading the French side of my box of Corn Flakes.”
The airlock lights strobed green, and the outer door opened, revealing the open space of the shuttle deck.
“Medical is this way. Follow me.”
A few uniformed crewmen worked on the vessels, and all of them turned to stare as Gwen stepped into view. She was the first human they’d seen in the flesh, and all of them were curious.
Gwen hunched her shoulders and dropped her gaze to the floor. “Why are they staring?”
Kash raised his voice and added a booming tone of authority to his words. “They’re staring because they’ve forgotten their manners. Get back to your duties, or your next mission assignments will be
guarding grain shipments to the Qualla mining colonies against paka infestations.” He then repeated the entire statement in Pyrosian, and by the time he was done, there wasn’t an idle crew member in sight.
Good. No one stares at my mate but me.
He banished the errant thought and headed for the medical bay. He needed to be thinking clearly, and that wasn’t going to happen while he was in the thrall of the Scorching. It was time to put an end to this madness before it consumed him completely.
4
When Kash started barking orders in his strange, sharp-toned language, she gave up trying to pretend everything was normal. The reality of her situation came back in a rush, swamping her in doubts and making her question her sanity. She’d let herself be taken away from her planet by an alien. God, she’d even kissed him!
Worse, she wanted to kiss him again.
Every growly, grumpy syllable he uttered made her heart race and filled her with needs so intense it hurt not to reach out and touch him. The only thing that made her ache worse was knowing that he didn’t want her. Or maybe he did, since he’d kissed her, but he didn’t want to want her. Why else wouldn’t he have told her she was his mate?
She followed Kash out of the hangar and down a brightly lit corridor. The floors were a pale yellow, and the walls had a hint of orange to them. Every few meters, panels were set into the walls, and she recognized them as being similar to the one Kash had used to open the door to the airlock.
They passed several crew members along the way, all wearing military-style uniforms of black and orange, and everyone greeted Kash with a hand-to-heart type of salute as they went by. Both the men and women were tall and fit. They looked surprisingly human, with similar hair colour and features, though they all seemed to have varying shades of golden skin instead of the wildly varied hues of humans, and she noticed that some of them had golden eyes.
“In here.” Kash stopped outside another panel. A portion of the wall vanished, and she was ushered inside.
Apart from the beds, it didn’t look like any hospital she’d ever been in. She breathed a soft sigh of relief. Hospitals were far from her favourite places. The sharp, medicinal odours and hushed sounds reminded her of the family members she’d lost.
Her mother had battled her cancer for three years before it finally killed her. Gwen had spent so much time in hospitals, she’d actually taken her first steps in a cancer ward. Her Gran had spent the last few days of her life in a hospital bed, too. The stroke stole her ability to move and to speak, but Gwen had stayed with her until the end.
That was when the nurses had discovered that the little girl haunting their halls had lied about having anyone to take care of her. The next day, with only a bag of clothes and a handful of treasures she’d managed to sneak into her things, Gwen was placed in the system and sent off to a foster home.
“This is a hospital? Where’s the equipment? The patients?” She gestured around at the empty beds and comfortable surroundings. The walls were a warmer shade of yellow in here, the lighting was soft and soothing, and the air was clean of any scent at all.
A tall, blonde man walked into view, his brows raising in surprise as he spotted her. “Human?” She recognized the first word he spoke, but the rest of his comments were in the same language Kash had uttered while they were in the hangar.
He and Kash spoke for a bit, and she got the impression that Kash wasn’t happy about whatever he was being told. She was also fairly certain that she was the topic under discussion since she heard her name mentioned more than once.
Eventually, she got tired of being talked about and interjected. “It’s not polite to talk about someone when they can’t understand what you’re saying.”
The blond gave her an apologetic smile. “I am sorry. You are correct, this does concern you. My name is Torel, and I am what you would call a doctor. Would you show me your burns? The Commander would like me to treat them for you.”
She held out her hand, palm up. “It’s really nothing. They’ll be gone in a few days.”
“She treated them with water and plant sap, Torel. I trust we can do better for our guest.”
“It’s aloe vera gel, and it’s very good for burns. It’s the best we primitives can manage, Commander.”
The doctor carefully inspected her burns, his touch gentle. “And I’m sure it works very well. My mother has an herbal remedy for respiratory ailments that’s as effective as anything ever synthesized on my world. However, we have developed some very effective technology for regenerating injured tissue. I can have this healed in a matter of moments if you will allow it?”
“I’m not Pyrosian, though. Will it work on me?”
He nodded. “All lifeforms are similar at the cellular level. It will work. You won’t even feel it.”
“Then you have my permission.” The doctor kept hold of her hand and led her to a simple white table with a single chair beside it. “Sit there, and place your hand on the surface with the injured side facing up.” He moved her hand into position.
She looked at the ordinary table with some doubt but followed directions. “Now what?”
Kash loomed over the table, arms folded over his massive chest, and scowl on his face. “Now Torel lets go of you before he’s the one who needs treatment.”
“That’s the second time you’ve threatened someone since we got here. That’s some leadership style you’ve got, Commander.”
“Torel knows better.”
The blond chuckled. “He’s not normally quite this…I think the word is grumpy. He’s having a most difficult day.”
Kash growled something in Pyrosian, and the low, guttural tone sent a surge of lust coursing through her. Her nipples tightened, her clit began to swell, and heat flowed over her as if she’d been dipped in molten honey.
The doctor glanced up at her, and she could read the concern in his expression. “Are you feeling heated? A sudden rise in your body temperature?”
“Yes.” That much she could admit to without embarrassing herself.
Torel looked past her to Kash and said something to him in Pyrosian. Kash shook his head, and the two argued for several seconds before Kash finally barked out a single word and stalked away.
“Why is he so angry with me?” She asked, pitching her voice to a mere whisper.
“It’s not you he’s angry with. He’ll explain once I’m done here.” Torel waved his hand over a corner of the tabletop, and a keypad appeared out of nowhere. He typed in a few characters, and gave her a reassuring smile. “You’re going to see a golden glow appear around your hand. Try not to move until it dissipates. It won’t take long.”
“Okay.” She tried to ignore Kash’s brooding presence as he watched her from the far side of the room. Instead, she kept her eyes and her attention focused on her hand. The glow appeared exactly as Torel said it would. She couldn’t feel anything, but as she watched, the redness faded, the blisters grew smaller and then vanished as if they’d never been there at all. In a matter of seconds, it was over, and she lifted her hand to stare at it in amazement.
“You’re fully healed. If you feel any tingling or itching in the next few hours, have the Commander contact me.” Torel looked over at Kash. “She’s all yours, Commander.”
“Apparently.” Kash didn’t sound at all pleased about it, either. “Come with me, Gwen. There are matters we need to discuss.”
Torel lowered his voice again. “Disregard his temper. The Commander is not used to being told no. That’s all.”
He walked away before she could ask Torel what he meant.
“Gwen Hudson, you need to come with me. Now.”
“You might be a Commander, but you’re not my boss. I don’t answer to you.”
“Kaheya. Please.” He held out his hand to her.
She joined him, but instead of taking his hand, she passed him her bag, weighed down by the tin of cookies she’d stuffed inside. “Where to, now?”
“My quarters.”
&n
bsp; Why would he want her in his quarters? “Lead the way.”
Kash felt like he’d been sideswiped by a comet. His life was spinning out of control, and every time he got close to stabilizing things, something happened and it all went up in flames again. He had convinced himself that Torel would be able to stop the onset of the Scorching, and things could return to normal.
Torel had sent that hope crashing into the heart of the nearest star. There was no known way to stop the Scorching. The mating fever was irreversible. Resisting it would only cause pain and possible madness. He’d been willing to accept that risk for himself, but Torel had noticed Gwen’s symptoms. If they didn’t give in to the Scorching, she would suffer, too.
The Gods were playing games with him. They’d given him the one thing he’d always wanted, but to claim it, he’d have to forsake duty and defy his king.
He strode through the ship, driven to haste by the needs of the Scorching. He was so caught up in his thoughts, several minutes passed before he realized that Gwen was struggling to maintain his pace. Her legs were far shorter than his, forcing her to jog to keep up.
He stopped, pivoted, and scooped her in his arms without a word.
“Hey! What are you doing? You can’t carry me.”
“Are you questioning my strength again? Have I not made it clear that I am more than able to support your weight? You are small. Your legs are shorter than mine. This way will be faster.”
“You’re at least a foot taller than I am, but that doesn’t mean I’m small. I’m five-foot-four. Maybe you’re just too big. Did that ever occur to you? You could have slowed down a little. Why the sudden hurry to be alone with me? The last time we were alone, you said I was a mistake. That being matched to you was some kind of glitch.”
Anger, regret, and desire blended together into a maelstrom that threatened to snap the last shreds of his control. “No. You said you were a glitch. I said that matches were made by the Gods.”