Adira's Mate (8 page)

She nodded. That actually made a
good bit of sense to her. “And when is it that we would draw up this contract?
Once we’ve been picked up by your friend?” She hoped it was his friend, at
least. “Another question, and this is totally a different topic, but what will
happen to my crawler? While I trust you, I honestly would feel better if your
people couldn’t go through and download the medical files that I have. I don’t
want this to be used against them. I hope you understand?”

“
We can draw it up at any time
once we finish going through the rules, and my general expectations. Once I’ve
done my part I fully expect you to have your say on everything too. I may be a
Dominant, but I’m not a dictator. As to the crawler, it will likely be used to
scrap metal, the hard to get parts pulled out, and whatever’s left junked or
recycled, depending. We can wipe all the banks if you wish, or if you’d prefer
we can download the data for you to keep with you for the future. I will never,
ever ask you to reveal anything you are not comfortable with,
Adira
.
Especially anything about your
people.
I may ask you questions from time to time, but you always have
the right to refuse to answer. Are we clear?”

“
Thank you for that.” She couldn’t
tell him enough just how much she wanted him and how much his words meant to
her. “I’m happy that we will have a training or adjustment period as we learn
each other. It means that we will be able to learn each other’s quirks while
learning each other.”

“
Precisely,” he said softly. A
double beep sounded suddenly.
Fintan
frowned and
looked around before his eyes went wide. “I need to get up. That’s a message
coming through. Hopefully it’s Bracken telling me he’s coming to rescue us from
this tiny ship. Up, if you would.”

She shifted and moved, rose to
her feet, and nodded. She watched him as he
moved,
the
predator’s grace that he had in spades once more making her realize how lucky
she was to have him in her life. In the cockpit he waved her back out of sight,
a slightly amused look moving over his face for a moment. Once she was tucked
out of sight he pulled up the message, only it wasn’t a message, but a live
communication. Likely a good thing he’d had her duck out of the way. “Bracken,
you old goat herder, it is you.”

“
Fintan
?” the other male’s voice sounded
stunned. “I thought for sure command was playing a foul joke on me when they
sent the message along. It’s damn good to see you, old friend.
Though the clothing leaves much to be desired.”

“
Beggars must not be choosy, old
friend. Now, bring this beast aboard so I can have a real shower and change
into something more comfortable.”

“
It will take us a few moments
yet. We will be in position soon, and then pull you aboard. Hold tight.”

A few more words passed between
the men before
Fintan
turned the communications off.
“Apparently my luck has changed for the better since meeting you,
Adira
. But now we need to do whatever you wish with the
medical logs. Do you want to purge them, or save them so you have them later?”

“
Purge them. Anything that is
there in the logs is in my memory.” She looked to him and felt real fear. She
moved closer to him. “I hope that they don’t try to force us apart. If they do,
know that you were worth whatever price I have to pay.”

He cupped her face in his hands,
tipping her up to look at him. “They may try, but they will fail. Bracken will
back my decision once he understands it. There will be no price for you to pay,
Adira
.
None.
Do you
understand?
None.
You are mine. Now let’s purge the
memory from the system, and then we will get pulled on board the destroyer. Say
nothing when we leave the ship, and stay slightly behind me, but close to my
side.”

She leaned into his touch and
nuzzled his hand slightly. She finally nodded and pulled back. Moving from him
to the console, she put in her codes to do a full memory dump and clean up.
Once that was accomplished, she smiled. “Let’s get you home.” She was nervous,
but she would be stupid not to be. “I trust you.”

“
Good,” he said quietly. Leaning
in, he kissed her gently, wrapping an arm around her waist to pull her body up
tight to his. He took the kiss deeper, but didn’t rush it in any way. His free
hand slid up and down her hip. Slowly he lifted his head, licking his lips as
he did so. “Personally I can’t wait to have pants that actually fit.”

“
I bet.” She let her hands move
over his chest and downward.
“Although there is something
seriously sexy about having you in clothes that are so tight on you.
You
are truly hot.” Her hands moved to his back and she looked up at him once more.
“We could always get naked again, you know.”

Cocking
his head slightly, he asked her, “
So
you were watching me when I was showering. I thought so, but now I know for
sure. Why don’t we shelf that until we have a real bed?
One
where my feet are not dangling off the end while my head is at an unnatural
angle.”

That had her laughing. “Yes, I
watched you as you showered. How could I not?” She shook her head. “We will be
a while before we have a real bed, won’t we?” she asked nervously. “Or will we
have one aboard the destroyer? And can we go through our contract on board the
destroyer as well, so that we can both be naked, together?”

“
Being an officer has its perks,
Adira
. One of them being a real bed with all the amenities
included. We can do the rough draft of the contract, though we may not be able
to finalize it. Depends on how stubborn we both are over any of the details.
Who knows, we might have it done very quickly with enough motivation to drive
us.”

“
I like that idea.” She would try
not to be stubborn. She wanted this with him far too much. “I’m glad that being
an officer will come with those perks, by the way. And what about your destroyer,
when will you be back on board your own ship?”

“
That depends. I was missing for
three months. There will likely be a very long question period to find out all
that was done, what I found out, and a bunch of other nonsense. I’ll have to
ask Bracken where my ship is currently. They don’t tend to put them out of
commission when their officer disappears. They do tend to put someone else in
charge, though. So this could become rather messy in the long run.” A couple of
beeps sounded, and
Fintan
wrapped his arm around her
tighter while reaching up to grab one of the ribs of the crawler a moment
before the ship was jolted about. “Hold tight,” he instructed.

She wrapped one arm around his
waist and the other she braced on the wall. Wavering slightly, she
lay
her head back on his chest and closed her eyes. “Well
let’s hope that they will install you back onto your destroyer, because I have
a feeling that you live for the action, don’t you?”

“
I used to think so. Certain
recent happenings, though, have me reconsidering my outlook on life. I suppose
we’ll find out soon enough.” They both bumped about as the crawler settled with
a bit of a shriek of metal. “We’ve arrived. Let’s go greet them before they
decide to try and break in here.”

She took a deep breath and
settled in just at his back and side. She slipped her hand into his, gave it a
squeeze, and nodded.
Reaching out, he punched in the code to open the
door and lower the steps. “Remember, say nothing no matter what. Trust in me a
little longer,” he said under his breath. They were in a landing bay with a
couple of officers and some other soldiers. All had happy looks until they saw
her—then the weapons came up fast.

Chapter Seven

Fintan
eased in front of her. “Lower
your weapons, now,” he said in a tightly controlled voice. He sounded pissed,
and chilling. “That was not a request,” he added with a little more bite to the
words.

Adira
kept her mouth closed. She
was trusting
him just as he had asked of her. She believed
in him and knew that he would keep her safe. She felt her pulse racing,
however. She knew that if she wasn’t careful she would have a full-blown panic
attack hitting her in the face of the men and women with their weapons raised
to her.

The officer in the middle of the
grouping frowned. “
Fintan
, what is going on?”

“
They lower their weapons, or I’ll
take them from them violently. This is not a request, gentlemen. Lower the
weapons now!” His voice
rose
only a little but it
seemed to have the desired effect. All the guns were lowered until they pointed
at the deck plating. Fin gave her hand a squeeze before he moved out of the
crawler. Turning so his back was to the group, he helped her down. “Breathe,”
he said for her ears alone.

Adira
nodded and squeezed his hand.
With her gaze locked with his she took the moment to calm herself, breathing
with him. She was thankful that he was taking the time to calm her, to help her
to relax. She swayed in closer to him, closing her eyes, and lightly rested a
hand to his chest.

His hand came up to rest over
hers. “Nothing is going to happen to you,
Adira
. Take
another slow breath for me.” Fin was keeping his voice very low, barely a
whisper to her ears, but exactly what she needed. It was an intimate moment
amid potential chaos.

A throat cleared. “I hate to
interrupt, but what is going on here?”

Adira
nodded and smiled. “Thank you,”
she whispered very softly, wanting to keep the moment between the two of them
alone. She took another deep breath and touched her fingers to his lips before
pulling back slightly. “Your friend wants you, Fin.”

“
I noticed,” he muttered. Turning
back around, he looked to his friend. “
Adira
, this is
my oldest friend Bracken. Bracken, this is
Adira
, my
chosen one.” In the silence that followed that statement, a pin could have been
heard dropping on the command deck.

Adira
simply bowed her head to
Fintan’s
friend. The man was just as large as Fin and
looked as if he could spit nails from that pronouncement. She looked to
Fintan
, not sure if she could speak and relying on him to
lead her in this uncertain time.

Bracken was staring at Fin with
wide eyes. “Uh,” he managed to get out. He shook his head and frowned again.
“Clear the deck,” he ordered. The men hesitated just a little too long. “Now!”
he snapped out.

Once the landing bay had emptied,
Bracken moved closer.
“What the hell is going on, Fin?
You vanish for three months and bring back an
Imarian
?”

“
Be careful, Bracken. Friend or no
friend, if you insult her I will take offense. She saved my ass and got me out
of that hellhole I was stuck in. Once we bond she’ll be
Craegin
,
so choose your next words very carefully.”

Bracken shot her a look. “Do you
know what you’re saying?”

Fin’s
eyes narrowed.
“
As
the words are coming from my mouth, yes.”

The other man shook his head
slowly. “You’d better, Fin. This is going to be a hell of a mess when we get
home. Damn,” he muttered. “I’ll pass the word through the crew, but I think it
best we get you two into a room sooner than later. No point testing them, given
the level of hostilities of late.”

“
I’ll need all the data from the
last months I’ve been gone. Everything you have, Bracken.”

“
I’ll have a pad delivered to your
quarters.” The man shook his head again, and let out a breath. “Hope she’s
worth what’s to come.”

“
Bracken, enough,” Fin said with a
growl. He squeezed her hand gently and tugged as Bracken led the way out of the
bay into the bowels of the destroyer.

Adira
followed along at the heels of
Fintan
and Bracken. She listened to their quiet talks but
more than that, she watched the looks she received. She looked quite different
from the men and women on this destroyer, her skin far fairer and her height
much less than even their women’s height. She also noticed the difference in
how she felt, the air in the ship something she wasn’t accustomed to and making
it a bit difficult to breathe, but thankfully nothing too bad.

Bracken stopped a moment later,
punched in a code on the pad next to the door, and stepped aside. “I’ll have
some food brought up, along with some clothing. If you need anything else you
know where to get it.”

“
Thank you, Bracken.”
Fintan
clasped his arm for a moment,
then
stepped aside. Turning, he reached out for
Adira’s
hand and, giving it a squeeze, he led her into the rooms. She waited for
several moments before she finally spoke. “Well that went better than I had
anticipated.” She turned to look at him and watched the way he was moving, sure
that she was missing something. “Why did they all look as if you had signed
your own death warrant when you told them that you were keeping me?”

He gave a lazy shrug while
looking around the room Bracken had given them. It had a sitting area, a table
that sat
four,
and a small kitchenette in the main
area. Beyond that was a large bedroom with a decent closet, and a full-size
bathing room. “They tend to get that way when someone bends the rules.”

She moved toward him and
lay
a hand on his strong forearm. “Talk to me?” She wanted
to know what it was that they were getting into. “What is keeping me safe going
to cost you,
Fintan
? Please, talk to me?”

“
Nothing I’m not more than
willing, able, and happy to give. Think nothing of it,
Adira
,”
he said, finally turning to look at her. “I don’t want you worrying about any
of this. For now we should wait on the food and clothing to be delivered. Then
I really want to have a shower.”

She
had to agree with that. “
A
shower does sound remarkable. Will they have clothing for me as well? While I
enjoy this dress that I’m wearing, I honestly would love to be able to have
something else on right now.”

“
I would assume
so,
though what it might be I’m unsure. It will be clean though, so that has to
mean something. We’ll have the dress cleaned, so you can have it back if you
wish.” He moved back out into the main area with her hand still in his.

“
Thank you for that. I’m honestly
not certain that I would want it back, though.” The dress was a part of her
past; it was something she didn’t want to hold on to. Taking a deep breath, she
smiled. “I think that I’ll enjoy getting to know the customs of your people.”

“
I’ll key up some information
about our world so you can read through it. It’ll give you an idea of our
trade, our customs, our laws, and some little bits of information most
outsiders would never figure out. You can read through it at your own leisure.
Bracken has orders to check out a couple of moon stations, odd readings or
something, prior to our return.
Should take us about a week
to get home.”

She nodded, happy that he was
willing to give her a chance. “Thank you. I’d like to be able to get to know
more of your culture before we land there.”

“
I’m glad you’re willing to do
so,” he said quietly. “Most come to our world without a care, and then get
upset when they are caught breaking a law, or stepping on toes. I wouldn’t go
to their world without learning all I could prior to a visit, so why should
they be any different?” He shook his head and squeezed her fingers lightly. A
chime sounded. “That should be our food,” he said, releasing her hand.

“
I agree.” She didn’t say anything
else while he moved away from her to get their food. She took a deep breath and
once they were alone again, she said, “I happen to really like having all the
facts that I can have about a place before I’m let loose upon the world.”

Setting the tray down,
Fintan
pulled out a chair for her. “The lieutenant said our
clothing would be along in a bit. They were still looking for something that
would fit you. Unfortunately most of our people are a little on the larger side
than
Imarians
are. You may have noticed,” he said. “I
had Bracken send a variety of items, though I did have him confirm with medical
that nothing he sent could be harmful to your
Imarian
digestion. There are a few items on our world that can make your people
violently ill, yet cause us no harm.”

“
I did notice. Even the women that
I saw were larger than I am, taller than I am. It’s not a bad thing, just a
different thing.” Their people were made stronger, seemingly larger. Then
again, her brother was massive as well.

He nodded as he began to uncover
the dishes on the large tray. Setting them on the table, he put the tray and
the lids on a spare chair. “These are a variety of meats, these are cheeses,
some fruits over here, and the last dish is a variety of crackers, and sweets.
I’m sure you can figure out which are which, given Bracken apparently sent up
the stickiest of the sweets known to our people.”

That had her grinning; she
couldn’t help herself. “I look forward to trying this, all of these foods.” She
took a seat at the table with him. Watching him take a seat, she asked him, “What
do you like the best?”

Fintan
pointed out a few items on each
platter, then sat back to watch her while she tried each.
Adira
took her time, tasting them, getting a sense of the flavors and textures. After
a time he lifted a brow. “Well?”

“
I like them, a lot.
Especially this one.”
She pointed to one of the fruits that
was bright red and shaped like a star. It was sweet, but not cloying.
“And this one.”
She picked up one of the white cheeses and
popped it into her mouth.
“A great deal.”
The cheese
was actually very spicy and tasted marvelous with the sweet fruit.

“
Good to know,” he said. Reaching
out, he picked up a few items and began to eat as well. He left her with the
red star fruit and the cheese while eating a bit of everything else. The sweets
they both left alone until the very end of their meal.

Once she had eaten her fill,
Adira
leaned back in her chair and smiled at him. “That was
very nice. Far better than what I was able to offer you in my crawler. I’m
sorry that I wasn’t able to give you more.”

“
You shared what you had
available. I couldn’t ask for more than that,
Adira
.
Considering what I’d put you through up to that point, I’m impressed you fed me
at all. You could have left me to starve. You could have injected me with
something to knock me out and then taken me back. That you didn’t
speaks
of a generous, giving heart, and a woman who looks
beyond the obvious differences of two people to see what really lays beneath it
all.”

“
I never would have let you
starve,” she told him with a bit of a frown. “I couldn’t hurt you, ever. Yes I
was afraid at the beginning, but it changed. It shifted. Something changed when
I clued in with my feelings. Something shifted with your touches. I realized
that you wouldn’t harm me any more than I could harm you.”

“
As I said, you are an amazing
woman. The fact you were even willing to wait that long to see if there was
more to me than what I showed proves that. Strong as well, I should mention,
something you’ll need in the coming days. We’ll be tested, know that, but we
will come through it all the better.”

She took a deep breath and
nodded. “We’ll make it through this. Somehow and someway we will make it
through this and we will come out strong. We will come out as a unit and we
will survive this. I’m staying with you, so you’re stuck with me now.”

“
I don’t consider that a bad
thing,
Adira
, so you really shouldn’t phrase it as
such. You are a blessing, a once in a lifetime blessing.” Sliding his hand
across the table, he captured hers in a gentle but firm grip. “You are mine,
for now and forever.”

“
Good.” She tightened her hand on
his. Taking a deep breath, she shifted and moved closer to him.
“Because I want to keep you, forever.
I happen to really
like you,
Fintan
.
A great deal.”