Chevon's Mate (3 page)

She could only smile. He had
left as quickly as he’d entered and just as quietly. To
herself,
she said, “I have a strange
feeling that I’ll adopt more of your clothing than you’d like.” She liked that
idea, actually, the thought of being able to wear Chevon’s clothing, being able
to smell like him. Laura craved him in a way that bordered on insanity.

“I
’
ll put in a request for more if it comes to that. I am
heading to the kitchenette for your snack, so I
’
ll be out of hearing range.”

Laura laughed. She hadn’t
realized that the wall and door between his room and the bathroom would be so
thin. This was her first time on a military vessel. “I would appreciate that
but only if you wear them
first,
”
she called through the closed door.

By the time she was done in the
bathroom, Chevon had a plate of food and a fresh glass of water sitting on the
little table of the seating area. He stood when she came
out
. “Feeling better?”

“I am, thank you.” She felt
clean and now knew that she had a fist-sized lump on the back of her head. “I
think someone meant
to kill
me,
” she blurted. “The lump on the back of my head, with its
placement
…
I don’t think someone was trying to just hurt me.” Another
reason she was
jubilant
to be where she was now.

Once she was sitting, he
reclaimed his own seat. “Have you remembered anything more?” he asked. When she
shook her head in
frustration,
Chevon rubbed a hand over her arm. “We’ll keep a watch over communications to
see if there is anything reported.”

“Thank you for everything you
are doing for me. I know I keep saying that but I can’t seem to help myself.
You’ve been so good to me, but it goes beyond being my mate.
Chevon, you are an excellent man. I’m happy that I’m
yours but more than that because you are mine.”
Insanely happy he was hers,
actually.

“There is no reason to continue
thanking me, little one. Most Imarians, like most
Craegins,
are good people. There are
definitely a few who give us a reputation that the majority does not even
realize is out there. Sadly, propaganda has a way of making many wary, and in
some cases rightfully so. Now, there is something I should talk
to
you about,” he said, turning serious.
“Because we are keeping you under wraps, in a manner of speaking, you won’t be
able to meander around the ship. For now. I am hopeful this will not be a
problem for long. This doesn’t mean I plan to keep you chained up to my bed, no
matter how
lovely
that thought may be. It only means we will have to plan excursions to the
recreational areas a little more carefully than normal.”

She felt her pussy clench with the idea of being chained to
his bed, but she shrugged and said, “Well, to be honest, I don
’
t feel like being out and about
right now anyway.”

“Once the doctor gives us the
okay for you to be up and moving
,
we’ll see what can be done to keep you from feeling caged. For now, lots of
rest and plenty of quiet. He did mention to me you may have head pains off and
on for the next few days. As long as they aren’t causing what he called a
stabbing pain, he recommended a mild pain reliever.”

“I’d rather not take any drugs
that I don’t have to.” She had always hated taking medication. “I don’t mind a
little bit of pain as long as it’s not blinding. If that
happens,
I’ll tell you, I promise,” she
assured him before he could even voice his concern.

Sitting back in his chair, he
picked up his mug and watched her over the rim until she took her first bite.
Once he apparently was satisfied she was
eating,
he turned his attention to the
data pad he had
rested
on
one side.

She wondered what he would have
done had she not done what he wanted her to. Laura continued to eat and watched
him as he scanned through the data pad. She could tell when he was reading
something that was bothering him, because his hand tightened just a bit on
whatever he was holding, his mug or the pad. “Is everything okay?”

“No, but it is nothing new
either. More idiocy from the ruling body. They seem to believe they can change
rules that govern the military whenever they have the whim.” He set the pad
down, then got up to refill his mug from a canister on the dresser near the
door. “They are a civilian division only, which they do not like, so every now
and again
they
like to flex their muscles to see how far they can push the military leaders.
Right now they are attempting to put into place a mandatory rule to rotate out
command structure of cruisers on a regular basis. Which no commanding officer
in the armada would ever stand for. But we also know not to say anything to
them, merely put in a notification to our commanding officer about their idiocy
because this sort of thing is a distraction technique. They throw out something
that will raise our ire while they are working to implement something even more
devious.”

“That would break the ease that
one would have in a vessel this size. You have to have
a strong
commander in charge of the
military.” She was no strategist but
she
was
sure
that a rotating command system
would be
awful
for everyone on the ship. The commander needed to know his people, needed to
know every nut and bolt of the
vessel
to be any good at all in his position.

“A commanding officer of any
cruiser, even one like mine that is primarily for training the new recruits,
has to have people in place
he
or she trusts. We are a training vessel, but we have run into situations where
having
a stable
command structure was the only reason we were able to come out of it intact.
Banged up, yes, but with no lives lost. The command crew has to be able to
practically read one another’s minds, anticipate what is needed, and act
without waiting
for
an order.”

“Why is it that you are the one who is running the training
vessel? You don’t seem to be aged enough to have been removed from the fighting
lines and placed on as an instructor.” It was odd. He seemed as if he was very
fit and capable and more than willing to be in command of a fighting vessel if
he had wanted to. “If only we no longer had this stupid war. It’s senseless.”
She then frowned and something drifted in her mind, something she had read
somewhere. “There’s something
…
” She rubbed her temples as pain throbbed at the base of her
skull, and the elusive memory was gone again. “It will come later, right?”

“Don’t push,” he
said quietly
. Sitting forward in his seat,
he touched her cheek with his fingertips. “It will come when it is time. As to
why I am a training officer. I am one of the few Imarians who has no real
temper. There are only a rare few who are calm enough to handle both
training
and combat. Even as a training
vessel,
we do not shy from any
confrontations
or disputes that require assistance. If we are the closest
vessel
…
”
He shrugged. “It’s a good chance for the crew to learn what is expected,
needed, and how to handle a situation by being there for themselves instead of
reading about it in the data packets.”

“
Well,
whatever it is, I’m thankful it was
your craft that found me.” Because she could have possibly continued to tumble,
maybe even into the asteroid belt and possibly into one of the asteroids—or she
could have bled to death.

“
Well,
we do tend to utilize this section of
space for the training, at least in the early days of a new crew, because it is
usually quiet. Though if women in tiny spacecrafts continue to come tumbling
through I may need to rethink the decision and possibly relocate.” Chevon
winked at her, then returned his attention to the data pad when it flashed. He
read whatever had come up, then returned his full attention to her. “We have
been getting an inordinate amount of traffic through here in recent cycles. Not
that I’m complaining, but this is not what we consider normal by any means.”

“The cruise I was on selected
this as their
normal
route and it’s on its fourth
cruise,
”
she told him. “On this
route,
that is.” She frowned as she thought about it and shook her head. “Wait, no.
That’s not right.” She looked at Chevon and
simply
focused on him. “Wait, the
cruise that I was on normally doesn’t come as close to the asteroid belt as I
had to have been. It typically stays a parsec from that belt because of the
possible shift of gravity on the smaller rocks that might pull them out of that
belt and onto a collision course with one of the planets.”

“Or the ship itself,” he told
her. “All larger craft stay well clear of the belt for that reason. The bigger
the vessel the further from the asteroid belt it must remain. Smaller vessels
like the crawlers, or our specters, can fly through without much concern
because of their size and maneuverability. Unlike a cruiser or the pleasure
vessel. I have my first officer looking at the automated recordings of the
escape pod to give us an idea of how long it was in flight. It should, if it
was maintained properly, also show us where you were dumped and your path.
Hopefully,
this will tell us exactly how
long you were in there so we have a better idea of what to watch for in the
Craegin
communique
.”

She reached out again, needing
to touch Chevon. “My parents were both members of the Craegin Council. When
they were killed my twin took one of the positions but I didn’t because I’m not
politically savvy and never have been and I’m
okay
with that. I’m a linguist and code breaker.”
 
Pain pulsed in her head again, then stopped.
With a sigh, she pushed her empty plate away.

Chevon stood, then came around the table and tugged her to
her feet. “We should move to the sofa so you can be more comfortable,” he said.
“Bring your glass. We
’
ll refill it before we settle in.” He tucked the data pad
under his arm and grabbed his mug before offering his free hand to her.

She grabbed her glass with one
hand, then placed her other hand
on
his. “We are good, right?” She didn’t know how this would work for them but she
was looking forward to it.

“Whatever comes next we will
work
on
it together.” Chevon let go of
her hand to wrap his arm around her
shoulders
and draw her in close. “I don’t know how this will yet work out, but I intend
to find a way that allows us to have a life we can enjoy and look back on with
amusement when we are retired. But it will be a step at a time, and
occasionally we may need to take a small tactical retreat before surging
forward once more.”

“I like how you
think,
” she told him with a smile.
She was determined to have a life with Chevon and be the best mate that anyone
could possibly want. She was quite a bit younger than he was but she was
determined and that made up for her lack of life knowledge.

He pressed a kiss to her
forehead before
urging her toward the
kitchenette.
Chevon
gave her a quick tour of where everything was kept should she
need
to look for something while he wasn’t
there. Because Laura knew if she needed something he’d likely be up and moving
before she completed the thought. After refilling her
glass,
they settled down on the sofa
with Chevon draping her with a throw that was soft, fuzzy, and so
hot
.

She was snuggled close to his
side. She couldn’t help but grin at the way he’d made sure that she was
covered, warm, and had her drink. He was a nurturer and would have been very
well suited for a position as a physician instead of a commander of a battle
cruiser. She
was, however,
thankful that he was in the position that he was in because it had led them to
find one another.

“You have one of those looks
that women often wear that make men extremely nervous. Are you planning to
share or should I live in terror while my mind scrambles around looking for
clues?”

“I’m just thinking that you are
taking such good care of me. You are a nurturer and it’s rare that someone
takes such
incredible
care of a person he doesn’t really know.”

“It’s part of my job
description,” he told her. At her
look,
he bundled her closer and rested his cheek
on
her hair. “I have one thousand six
hundred and forty-three souls on board this cruiser who I am responsible for. I
am an
instructor
,
disciplinarian, confessional, and occasionally a shoulder to lean on. All part
and parcel of being a commanding officer on a craft big or small. Those under
your command are your responsibility. So is the craft, but the most important
part of any
cruiser
is the crew. Without
them,
it is nothing but a large hunk of metal floating aimlessly until something
breaks down.”