Mated to the Alien Pirate: Celestial Mates

by Leslie Chase

  Arrax’s strong hand took my chin, and with gentle but irresistible strength he raised my face to look up at him. A blue finger brushed a tear from my cheek as he looked at me.

  From this close I could see the strange sparkling galaxies of his eyes. Thousands of golden flecks floating in the darkness, mesmerizing, impossible to look away from. We were only inches apart and my breath caught. Just one simple movement and we’d be kissing.

  I didn’t know if I dreaded him making that move or if I wanted to make it myself.

  Instead, he let go of me and sat back abruptly, as though shocked by his own behavior. I swallowed, moving away from him until there was as much space between us as possible. The room seemed all too small.

  “I believe you,” he rumbled at last. “A spy would tell a better lie.”

  The noise I made was half-sob, half-laugh. Typical. He believed me because my story was so crap. But I’d take that over the alternative.

  “So, uh, what are you going to do with me now?”

  His lips quirked into a grin that vanished as quickly as it appeared and I felt my cheeks burn as I glanced at the bed. Not what I’d meant, but… tempting anyway. Very tempting.

  “When we’re at a safe dock I can put you on a ship heading back to your ‘Earth’ and make sure you’re safe,” he said, as though neither of us had thought of anything else. “If there’s a ship headed in the right direction, and if you can pay for the berth.”

  Celestial Mates can, I thought. That was part of the deal: if things didn’t work out, they were supposed to get me home. But that didn’t help if it delivered me into the hands of the Antarans.

  “I can pay,” I told him. “But I told you, I can’t go home yet.”

  “You can’t stay here either,” he said. “It isn’t safe for you, and unless you have a place here I don’t have the spare resources to feed you.”

  “What kind of place? I can do my share of work.”

  “You’re no pirate, Marcie,” he said, his rough voice softening. “And this is a pirate ship. What work can you do to earn your share of food and oxygen?”

  Flustered, I glanced around the room and tried to think. Pirate captain’s wench had a definite appeal when I looked at Arrax, but I recoiled from the idea. As hot as he was, trading my body for his protection felt wrong, and if he wanted to hire a girl for his bed, he’d already have one.

  What else did I have to offer? My skills as a pirate? Arrax was right, I didn’t have any. Unless…

  “You need an accountant,” I said firmly, straightening up and faking confidence. Arrax’s eyebrows rose and he gestured for me to continue. “Look, you’re raiding ships, you’re stealing cargo. And I can see you’re good at that, you know what you’re doing. But your ship’s a mess, and that means the money’s going wrong somewhere. Which means you need an audit. Someone who can look at your books, who can balance them, help you budget and maybe even spot if someone’s skimming.”

  And maybe I’d learn something about his business. The fact that he’d backed off when he found out the Jester wasn’t the kind of ship he’d expected made me wonder what lines he drew. Maybe there was such a thing as a moral pirate?

  He still kidnapped you. He still took the cargo. I wouldn’t let myself forget that, just because he was sexy enough to make me squirm. But it wouldn’t hurt to look and see.

  Arrax straightened up too, tapping a finger against his cheek. I swallowed again, realizing that I hadn’t really expected him to take this seriously.

  “You think you can do that?” he asked, voice quiet and thoughtful. “A pirate ship will have a lot of expenses you don’t have experience with.”

  “Doesn’t matter,” I told him, offering a silent prayer I was right. “It’s the same with any new business — there’s always a lot to learn. I’ll get the hang of it, and if I don’t, you won’t be any worse off than you are now.”

  I smiled, or tried to. Arrax frowned, then nodded, then grinned.

  “Very well,” he said. “I’ll sign you on for a share of the profits and then you’re a member of the crew.”

  I blinked, and he laughed at my surprise. “Yes, it’s that easy. We’ll need to find you a berth, but that’s not a problem. Welcome aboard the Atreon’s Revenge. I’ll get Raxa to settle you in and find more suitable clothes, and then you can start to earn your keep.”

  He offered me his hand and I reached over to shake it. And just like that, I’d joined a pirate crew.

  6

  Arrax

  I watched Marcie leave with a heavy heart. Raxa would take care of her and she’d be safe. That was a good start. But was I doing the right thing by taking her onto the crew? Doubting her story felt impossible, any spy would have a better one. But… I cursed. There was something she wasn’t telling me, and until I’d uncovered that secret, I wouldn’t be able to trust her.

  And until I trusted her, I wouldn’t do anything else with her. As much as I wanted to, I refused to let myself get more attached than I already was, and I knew with a bone-deep certainly that once I took her as mine I wouldn’t be able to let go.

  With a growl, I stalked off to the bridge. I’d keep an eye on her, and if she tried anything I’d stop it. Until then, I had other duties to attend to. Letting myself get distracted from my work helped no one except possibly Zarr.

  The tactical station behind the bridge should have been empty, a place for me to work in peace. Today, the glow of the holomap illuminated Doctor Jorn, propping himself up against the wall with a glass in hand and a grin on his face. The bottle sat beside him, a spare glass beside it. Beautiful crystal — I tried to remember where we’d stolen that set and gave up. One of the rich slavers we’d plundered over the years, but there were too many to remember which one.

  “Told you a girl was the answer,” he said with a grin. “Look at the spring in your step.”

  I growled and his grin widened.

  “I don’t know why I put up with you.”

  “Yeah you do,” he said. “Between my peerless medical skills and the fact that I have the only working still aboard, you can’t do without me.”

  I sighed, grabbing the bottle, pouring, and drinking. The booze burned my throat as I swallowed down. “The still helps, I’ll grant you.”

  Jorn pushed off the wall, looked me up and down, grunted and poured himself another drink. “You’re not having a good week. So why did you bring the female aboard? My jokes aside, Arrax, I know you. You didn’t steal her for yourself.”

  “She was a passenger, headed for Atreon.”

  Jorn dropped his drink. It hit the deck, shattering and sending shards of glass flying. He ignored the mess, staring at me. “She was what?”

  “You heard.” I refilled my glass and offered it to him. He needed it more than I did, and I needed a clear head. “No one goes there willingly except ore barges and slave traders. Now this lone human female buys passage on an independent ship? It makes no sense.”

  That wasn’t all, of course, but anything else would have to wait until I understood her motives. Besides, I refused to give Jorn the satisfaction of knowing I really was interested in a female. He’d given me enough grief about that before she’d turned up.

  He shot me a knowing look but relented, downing the drink. Jokes about my love life would keep for later, we had strategy to discuss.

  “What’s your plan then? I mean, if she won’t tell you on her own,” he said, turning to the hologram of the nebula. Criss-crossed with known routes and secret hideouts, it showed everything we’d learned about the illicit trade passing through the volume in our five years as pirates. A dozen places we could safely dock for resupply or to drop off an unwanted captive. I reached out, touched the icon of the nearest one, expanding it.

  Perhaps I should just drop Marcie there. Thousands of ships passed through, she’d be able to find a way home. Either that or she’d end up dead, or a slave. No.

  “For now I’ve let her join the crew,” I told him, raising a hand to
forestall the inevitable comments. “Yes, it’s a risk, but I don’t have any other excuse for not just putting her ashore the first chance I get. And if I do that, we’ll never learn what she’s up to.”

  That wasn’t the real reason, or at least it wasn’t the main one. The thought of her stranded alone on a strange space station or planet hurt me deep down in a way that made my mind shy away from it. My imagination conjured an image of her standing on the dull gray decking of Atreon station, the predators of a dozen worlds ready to descend… no. I’d die before I let that happen.

  Even if I found somewhere safe to leave her it would mean never seeing her again. A surprisingly strong part of me resisted that idea. To never see those green eyes again, to never understand what went on in Marcie’s mind?

  Maybe Jorn had a point, and I did need a female in my life if this was how I reacted to one being dropped in my lap. But this was different. No other female I’d seen had this effect on me. And I’d met enough to be sure, from bartenders to a xil pirate queen. Until Marcie, not one of them awoke this flame that threatened to set my world on fire. None of the others compared to the flame-haired human who’d tumbled into my life.

  Jorn said something and I realized I’d lost in myself the thought of her. I shook my head, trying to clear it, and growled at his laughter.

  “Whatever happens with Marcie, spy or no spy, we’re going to need another prize,” I told him. “Something valuable. The crew is hungry for profit.”

  “That’s the truth,” Jorn said. “I hear grumbling, especially from Zarr’s lot. You should think about doing something there.”

  He drew his thumb across his neck, making his meaning plain. I laughed. “If I start killing crew for grumbling, you know where that’ll end up. Our heads on spikes.”

  “Yours, perhaps. I’m the doctor, no one’s going to kill me.” He probably wasn’t serious. Probably.

  “I’ll put Zarr off the ship with his share the next time we hit port,” I said. “Anyone who wants to go with him is welcome to leave on good terms. Hell, if we take a nice prize ship I’ll let him buy it out, then he gets to be Captain Zarr. That’s what he wants, after all.”

  It wouldn’t end well for anyone who followed Zarr. His kind of hungry ambition never worked in the long run, but there was no telling him that.

  As we talked, I worked, expanding the map again and looking for hints of a rich target. Raxa had uploaded the Jester’s navigation records into our system, including all the other ships she’d seen, and their trails stretched across the display like threads. One of them had to be worth hunting.

  “You’re probably right,” Jorn said, pouring himself another drink. Good thing we had taken no casualties in the last fight, because I’d seen him in this mood before. There was a reason he served on a pirate ship and not a hospital station. “But I’d watch him. Zarr’s hungry, and some of the crew listen to him. The new recruits, the ones who haven’t been with us long, they don’t understand why you’re captain and he’s not. He’ll buy them out from under you if he’s got a chance.”

  “I’ll just have to make sure he doesn’t get one,” I said, half paying attention. The rest of my focus was on one of the red threads, twisting through the nebula. A ship the Jester had spotted days earlier and avoided… for good reason. The Crimson Feast might be a bulk transport, big and heavy and slow, but it was owned by a front for the Antaran mob.

  Which meant two things. First, they were a fair target. Second, their hold ought to be full of treasures ripe for the taking. I smiled. Yes, this would do nicely. On the course they’d followed when the Jester saw them, they’d still be days out from their next stop, and they’d need to stop for a navigation check here.

  I marked the spot on the map, baring my teeth. Getting there in time would push our engines to the limit, but we’d manage. Unlike the hunt for the Jester, there’d be no lying in wait for the Crimson Feast, no long delay giving the crew time to doubt. We’d drop out of hyperspace straight into an attack, and that suited me fine.

  A chance to bloody the Antarans was always a pleasure, and this should shut up the complaints about the lack of loot. Hit the Crimson Feast, get to safety, and I could pay off Zarr and let him go.

  Then I’d have all the time I needed to unravel Marcie’s mystery.

  7

  Marcie

  Raxa fetched me from Arrax’s cabin and I followed her through the corridors of the Revenge, wondering how the huge aliens like Arrax managed in these cramped spaces. It wasn’t easy even for me, and I was tiny in comparison.

  Even Raxa had to keep ducking under overhead piping. The Antaran was taller than me, though not so tall as Arrax and not nearly as broad shouldered. I took the chance to get a look at her as we walked. A female pirate — there didn’t seem to be many aboard, and if there was a secret to her survival amongst these killers I wanted to learn it.

  She certainly looked like one of them. Leather pants and top, the right sleeve cut off to show her robot arm, a pistol slung low on her right hip. On her left she wore a blade, something between a long knife and a short sword. Her long dark hair had metal braided into it, catching the light as she moved.

  Raxa looked over her shoulder and caught me staring. With an appraising look in her eyes she returned the favor, glancing up and down my body. She grinned and I blushed.

  “Don’t be shy,” she said with a little laugh. “Captain could have done a lot worse, that’s all I’m thinking.”

  My blush deepened and I bit my lip. Maybe a better outfit would have let me feel more confident, but the jeans and cheap, tacky tourist t-shirt were all I had to wear. Even the other poor choices I’d picked up before leaving Earth were back on the Jester, wherever that was now. I didn’t look like a fearsome pirate, though my wardrobe was only part of that.

  I settled for crossing my arms and trying my best to look fierce. It didn’t come naturally, and Raxa did me the favor of pretending not to notice I’d tried.

  “Wouldn’t have picked you for his type, honestly,” she continued, leading me deeper into the Revenge and shoving her way through a game of dice. I scurried after her, resisting the urge to apologize to the gambling pirates when they scowled up at us.

  “No? So what’s his usual type?” I asked, caught between my curiosity and a surge of embarrassment that reddened my cheeks. Raxa laughed.

  “No idea.” She shook her head, the metal woven into her hair chiming. “I’m not it, but aside from that… well, I had my money on some statuesque warrior woman.”

  She laughed again and I bit my lip, cheeks burning. The whole topic made me uncomfortable, but I had to know more.

  “You and him?” I asked, trying not to sound jealous. Raxa implied that it hadn’t worked out, and anyway, it wasn’t as though I wanted Arrax myself. Was it?

  She grinned back over her shoulder. “No, but I thought about it a few times. Let him see I was interested, but he didn’t bite. Which means he’s crazy, obviously. In the three years I’ve been aboard the Revenge, he’s never had a girl that I know of.”

  I laughed with her, but my laugh didn’t come out right. A bit shaky, a bit weak. Raxa’s eyebrow raised and she cocked her head to the side, but she didn’t say anything. We walked in uncomfortable silence until we got to the end of the corridor and she hit the button to open a door.

  “This is where you’ll bunk for now,” she said. “Trin and Vissa will take care of you. Hey, Vissa, who’d you pick in the Captain’s Mate Pool?”

  “My money was on a kadran,” a new voice joined the conversation, high pitched and musical. “Thought he’d stick inside his species.”

  The speaker perched on a bunk, looking down at us, and I blinked at the sight of her. Humanoid, slight build, she looked like she wouldn’t even be as tall as me. Instead of hair, she had brightly colored feathers.

  She wouldn’t have looked like a pirate if it wasn’t for the knives. She wore them in her boots, on her belt, on a harness across her body. One was in her hand, whit
tling at a piece of wood as she watched me with a fierce, predatory gaze. Like a hunter waiting to pounce.

  “So you’re the one who cost me a hundred credits, hey?” She hopped down from the bunk, knife somehow vanishing on the way down so she could grab my shoulder. Despite her slight build her grip was strong enough to make me flinch. “You’d better be worth it.”

  I opened my mouth but didn’t know what to say. After an awkward moment, Raxa came to my rescue. “Be nice, Vissa, she’s new.”

  “New or not, if this is the girl the captain’s taking, she’d better make him happy.” She cocked her head to the side, examining me. “Looks more like prey than a hunter. What’s your name, prey?”

  “I’m Marcie,” I said, finding my voice with difficulty. “And I’m not prey. I’m not your captain’s girl, either.”

  A smile flashed across her angular face, vanishing so fast I wasn’t sure I’d seen it. “No? But he carried you off himself.”

  Yeah, and I don’t know why. I didn’t want to say that, so I shrugged and looked around the small room.

  Four bunks, four lockers, and a sink. Not much space, though only two of the bunks were occupied. I sank onto a free one, sitting back and sighing.

  “If I was Arrax’s girl I’d be in his cabin not back here with you, right?” I tried to make that lighthearted, but it came out petulant. Vissa hopped back onto her bunk and Raxa leaned against the wall, her metal fingers drumming on the doorframe. I tried again. “I’m just another pirate now, like you girls.”

  Vissa laughed, a sharp, explosive sound. “You? You’re nothing like me, human. I am a xil warrior.”

  I frowned, looking her up and down. Sure, she had lots of knives, and her wiry frame looked muscular enough for a fight, but facing a giant like Arrax or Zarr? They’d eat her alive.

  Before I said something stupid, Raxa came to my rescue with an explanation. “Vissa and Trin are xil fighter pilots. They’re the ones who took out the Jester’s turrets so we could board you, and you won’t find better.”