The Royal Mate (Space Wars) (3 page)

“You are going to be bored silly before you know it,” she told him with a grin. “I’m serious. It’s not exactly lots of fun to be down here but I promise I will do whatever I can to help your stay be a good one. I like you, Markus, and don’t want you to regret being here with me.”

“It will be fine,” he assured her. “If boredom does kick in badly enough, I might force myself to do a few at a time. I think we’ll be able to keep one another entertained for the most part, though. Like I said, I’m looking forward to learning more about you.”

Her whole body shivered when he said that the way that he did. She found herself licking her lips and moving so that she was just a bit closer to him.

Chapter Three

Once the hover mover was settled in next to a wall and turned off, Markus pulled the heaviest crate off to poke through it while Paisley stood to the side watching. She’d been correct about what was in it, weapons of all shapes and sizes. She didn’t know exactly what he was doing with them but assumed everything was okay when he shut the lid with a satisfied look on his face.

Bag in hand, he stood up and waved her out of the storage room.

“So, where am I sleeping?”

“Come along, I’ll give you a tour.” Together they walked through the massive space. The rooms were large even by standards above ground, but underground they were cavernous. The colors were soft, calming tones that tended to change depending on the room. The dining room was a soft red while the kitchen had muted yellows and greens to counter the stark silver of the appliances. The halls were a neutral shade of white and the living room was a darker green. She told him about the shelter and showed him where the panic areas were along with the codes to get everything to work, such as the disposal unit and replicator unit. She stopped at a pair of doors and took a breath before telling him, “These are the only bedrooms this close to each other. You can take right or left. I didn’t want to be too far from you, so as long as you are okay with sleeping next door to me?” She wanted to be as close to him as she could get and that was truly weird and she damn well knew it. Just the thought of him being far from her made her ill, and it had nothing to do with her keeping him safe.

Markus stuck his head through a door before pulling back to look at her. He went to look into the other room but returned to the first one. “This one works for me. All that color in the other room would give me nothing but nightmares. Let me grab my bag and then I’ll shower.”

His smile did funny things to her insides as he came back toward her, shouldering his bag. “Is it sonic, or is it water?”

“Water or sonic. The bunker has its own water source.” She watched him as he undid the buttons of his jacket. “There’s a continuous flow of hot water, too, thanks to the springs.” She looked up at him and saw him watching her. There was something in that gaze that had her stomach flipping, her body tightening. She bit her lower lip in reaction to seeing him just undoing a couple of buttons of his jacket.

“Excellent,” he said, shrugging out of his jacket. “Then it will be water. It’s been too long since I’ve enjoyed one. We have a weekly allotment on the destroyer but I rarely use mine. It’s quicker and more efficient to use the sonic feature to give me more time to sleep when I have that opportunity.”

“I couldn’t imagine being on board a starship and not having access to something as simple as water.” She moved just a step closer to him, reaching automatically for the jacket he was setting down before she even realized what she was doing. Her fingers brushed against his and she froze.

She heard the indrawn breath from the man, and his hand closed over hers. The sensations that moved from her fingertips made their way to her heart and soul, making her lick her lips. She watched as his gaze moved to her mouth, as if he wanted to devour her where she stood.

She shook herself out of the trance she seemed to be in. “Uh, I’ll just hang this up for you…” she stammered, quickly pulling her hand back. She walked out of the room, rattled but smiling. She was happy and that was truly something she hadn’t expected. She had thought she was going to hate this duty but she loved it so far.

Chapter Four

Hanging the towel on the rack after he finished drying off, Markus quickly dressed in civilian clothing. Since he was not on the destroyer, he had brought civvies for his stay mostly. It felt a little odd not to be dressing in his uniform; he practically lived in one even during his downtime on their home world, but he only had a couple clean ones with him, should they be required.

Once dressed he returned to the bedroom to unpack his bag into a dresser. They had weapons, and the bunker was definitely secure. He had to give the marshal props for that.

He headed for the kitchen area once he had things put away to find Paisley. Markus could smell something coming from that direction. It smelled good, whatever it might be. Not as good as Paisley had smelled when he’d held her close, but it would do in the interim.

He already knew she was his other half. He’d felt the pull to her the moment he had seen her in her mother’s office. And when they’d stepped into that tube and he’d touched her it was cemented in his mind just who and what she was to him. The missing part to completing him and removing the vague emptiness that existed within him. Like all Craegins born, there was always another individual out there in their territory who held that missing piece. It was the ceremony, the act of making love together, that completed the bonding or as they called it,
Krathle-tri Vox,
the Catching of Souls.

Her back was to him when he entered the kitchen. She was humming to herself. It was soft, and he only caught the occasional note, but it sounded vaguely familiar. Soothing. Moving in closer, he stayed back out of range when he noticed she had a knife in hand to chop up vegetables. No way was he going to startle someone with a blade in hand. She may not be military trained, but everyone had that basic instinct to protect themselves when startled by spinning to face the “threat.”

He cleared his throat to get her attention.

Paisley turned and grinned at him, and he felt his gut tighten. Damn, he could become accustomed to her smile. “Hey.” She set down the utensils she was working with and approached him. “Did the shower help you feel better?” He couldn’t help but notice the way her gaze skimmed down his body. He liked that she noticed him and that he affected her as much as she affected him. “I hope you’re hungry. Food will be ready soon.”

“Starving,” he told her. Markus moved in closer to her and peered over her shoulder. “Looks good. Anything I can do to help?”

“If you will just grab the drinks that I have in the cooler, that would be great. The plates are already out. The cooler is to your left. You can’t miss it.”

“I can do that,” he said. Following her directions and the pointed finger, he found the cooler tucked in among the cabinets. After finding out what she wanted, he took the drinks to the table. Then because he had nothing else to do he sat down at the table to watch her while she worked. She had a grace to her that pulled his interest back and had his body humming happily in anticipation. Paisley had long, flowing red hair that she kept pushing out of her face. Tiny freckles dotted her shoulders, teasing him, making him want to look under her shirt to see if the freckles went further than just her shoulders.

Unable to sit still any longer, he got up to help her. They spent the time cooking, talking, and getting to know each other. From time to time they would brush against each other, their hands touching and both of them looking at each other as if they had felt something. He had, but he didn’t know if she had.

Once they had finished with their meal, both of them moved into the living space.

She glanced at the chair beside the sofa, hesitating for a moment before she settled onto the sofa with him. Then she flipped on the screen, which took up most of the wall, with a small handheld remote. There before them was now a peaceful ocean view.

How much should he share with her? He wasn’t certain if he even should tell her that he felt something for her, because of the danger that he was in just from him being him. He wanted to. He wanted to take her into his arms and kiss her delicious-looking pink lips, but it wouldn’t be fair to her because it would bring her into danger, and while he was certain he could protect himself, he wasn’t sure that he would be able to keep her safe at all times as well.

She surprised him when she said, “I want to know more about you, Markus. Tell me about life on board a starship, please? I’ve never left the planet. I have this thing with flying, so I stay close to home.”

She was so cute. She had a thing with flying? That was certainly interesting. “Sometimes it’s hard to find a moment for yourself,” he told her. “I would go into the zero gravity area just so that I could have some time to think without listening to others constantly coming to me for this or that.”

“It sounds a little oppressive.”

“It’s not. I loved what I did because I believed in it. I loved being in the air and doing what I did because it meant that I was making a difference. I fought for our people because it was what I was born to do. I just didn’t know the extent of it.”

“And now you have me here with you. I’m here as part of keeping you out of the skies. You must really hate me.”

He saw sadness on her face and even though they had just technically met he knew he had to tell her. There was danger coming for him but he needed her as much as he needed his weapons.

He had to have her. To hell with the consequences. He needed her in his life. “Paisley…” He reached out to touch her hand, moving to take it into his, and pulled her close to his body. “I feel something for you.”

“I feel something for you, too.” Their hands touched, fingers twined, and he simply focused on that feeling for a moment and savored her words. She felt something for him.

“I also worry for you,” he admitted. He leaned in and brushed his lips to her cheek. “I worry that this life is going to be too dangerous to have you close to me but I can’t seem to let you go. Ever.”

She had moved in closer to him. He hadn’t failed to notice that she seemed to want to touch him as much as he wanted to touch her. He dipped his head just a bit and brushed his lips to her hand that he held, just caressing her knuckles with his lips. He felt it and knew she felt the small spark that fanned between them as well.

He decided to go all in and said, “You feel the mating bond, too. You are mine. You know that, I know it, and while it would be far safer for you to not be a part of my life, I have to have you. I need you in my life, now and always. Will you be mine?”

He saw the surprise on her face, then her tentative nod. When she accepted, he did the only thing he could in that moment and kissed her. He kissed her like a man starved and in many ways he was; he was starved for the other half of his soul.

Chapter Five

Since they had decided to go all in on their relationship, Markus was having Paisley fill out the forms needed for their bedroom play, forms necessary in their worlds to ensure that there was no pain given that wasn’t asked for.

Leaning back next to her, he reached over to press an icon that popped open a folder. In the folder, he tapped another icon and when it opened up, she saw it was a contract. “Put in your name, the date, and the other items up top here to make it ours. Then scroll down to the next pages to tick off anything that is interesting to you. You can change the settings on the side to different colors of the ticks. Green is okay, yellow is maybe, and red is not in this lifetime.”

She nodded, then started to go through the items, still shocked—in the best way possible—over the fact that she’d found her mate. “How do I know what you like?” She noticed that it was almost like a blank slate for her to work over and she wanted to know how she would know what he liked and didn’t like. “Oh, this is possible?” she asked with a grin when she saw something. “You would blindfold me and we could do things like you tying me up and taking me from behind, anally?” She couldn’t get over just how freaking much that turned her on. She felt him jerk against her body and his breathing came in hard and fast pants before he finally answered her.

“Then put the green tick there. I have the sheets already done on a separate contract. Once you’re done, we can combine them using the program that is somewhere in one of these folders, and it will show a combined list. It can always be adjusted by coming back to your original contract and making a change. It will automatically update into the one that has both our names on it once we run it through the program the first time.”

“I guess I like that idea, that I’m able to make my own choices without knowing what you want and being swayed by that. Oh, this one, too,” she added, placing another green check on more of the heavier BDSM elements of their world. She loved the idea of being tied up, blindfolded, and left to his mercy but the one she’d just checked involved something called a wooden cross. According to the description, she would be tied to that cross. A bar between her legs would keep her pussy and ass spread for him. “Is it getting hotter in here or is it just me?”

“I think it may be you, little one.” A quick look his way showed his lips were twitching but he was attempting to maintain a bland expression. “Keep going, there are two other pages after this one you need to get through. From what you said earlier, the third one will be mostly red ticks.”

She nodded and began to go through the pages. “I don’t mind being spanked just a bit when we’re in the moment but aside from that, no. At all. You’re right, the rest of these are all no because I don’t want to be smacked or beaten with a whip or whatever. I don’t mind if we try the erotic asphyxiation, because I trust you. I’m assuming you would know when too much was too much, right?”

“I would know,” he said. “It’s something that should not be attempted between a new couple ever, or a new couple not sharing the bond. The bond telegraphs a lot of information, especially when strong emotions are at the forefront. Something like asphyxiation will kick in your most primal need to protect yourself. Even with your trust in me, it will be hard to fight it. Those emotions pouring through the bond will tell me if I can push you or if I need to pull back.”

“Makes sense,” she said with a nod, then handed him the data pad after affixing her signature. “This is what I want. I did have a few yellows because I don’t know what they are or how they would work. I want to try at least. I want to try a lot of things with you, and maybe we’ll end up adding to our list,” she told him. “So now merge the two and see where we work and don’t work together?”

Markus accepted the data pad from her and after a few moments handed it back. The first page was now filled where it had previously had a blank chunk of space at the bottom. Obviously for his details and signature, she noted. Scrolling down to the first page, she saw the list had altered from boxes, terms, and descriptions to only terms with either only her name beside it, his only, or both in green or yellow. “All the red items are on the last sheet,” he told her quietly.

She scanned the list, pausing when she got to the last sheet. She looked over the red items, then grinned. “All of our reds match, and all of our greens match. My yellows are even mixed with your yellows and greens. That’s amazing.”

“It does make sense we would be compatible in our tastes. The universe doesn’t usually make mistakes about those who are destined to bond. I say
usually
because there have been a couple I read about in our history that are rather well known. How the universe thought they would make good pairings, I’ll never understand.” Taking the data pad back from her, he went to look at her yellow items that were paired with his green ones. Markus tapped on one, did a search, and handed her the pad so she could see what he’d pulled up. It was a graphic depiction of the act she’d not understood. Instantly her cheeks heated up.

“Can I change that to green, please?” she asked just a bit breathlessly. If she had known she could research the data pad like that, she would have. Mercy. “I want this one to be green as well.”

Chuckling softly, he took her back into her original contract and let her go at it. “Tap the name, and when the little box appears above or below it tap on the box. It will take you into the database that is saved with the contracts so you can see the graphics. If we pull up the actual site, you can see the graphics moving for more realism, but they are still only graphics.”

“I’d rather try them with you,” she told him as she made the changes. “I don’t want this to limit us. It won’t, will it? What if there are new things that come around a year or more down the road?”

“Everything can be changed as we grow together as a couple. If something works now but doesn’t later, we adjust. If you hear about a new whatever you want to try, put it on the list for us to try. There’s a section at the bottom of the red page where you can add in your own items. This is a guide, little one, not a shackle we are forever bound with.”

She glanced up at him. She liked that look he had on his face, a lot. “So what happens now?” she wanted to know. “You look tired.”

He watched her for a moment before lifting a hand to brush her hair back behind her ear. “If you don’t mind, a short nap sounds great.” He gave her a heated look. “But only if you’ll take one with me.”

“Of course I plan on joining you for a nap,” she said with a grin.

His lips curved slowly into a smile that had her insides leaping around doing flips, twists, and plunges as he led her into the bedroom. Pulling the covers back, he waved her onto the bed. “So … any ideas about what you want to do when we wake up? Have dinner later, and then maybe do more than sleep?” she asked suggestively.

“Definitely. We should do a healthy workout, at least an hour to really get the blood flowing, and maybe jog around the interior for a few laps before a sonic shower and rest.” He actually sounded serious when he said it. Staring at him, she couldn’t tell if he was or wasn’t. Then he looked at her and she saw he was teasing her by the look in his eyes. “I am going to presume from your silence that was not what you meant.”

“Not exactly,” she shook her head, “but if that's what you want...” she trailed off with a teasing glance. “I do have to show you the rest of the facility, after all. I should show you the workout area as well as the hot springs, the sauna and pool areas.”

“Well, the hot springs are giving me a few ideas. None that I will share at this time, since we are supposed to be having a nap.”

“Fine, fine.” She stuck her tongue out at him, then turned on her side to fully face him. “So, after all this is over, will you be allowed to return to duty? Is it something that you enjoy or would you be happy to be away from the military life for a while?” She had never wanted to be part of the military. She hadn’t been built to serve her world and she knew it.

Markus looked thoughtful for a moment before he said, “I do enjoy the job. There is always something new to deal with. Sometimes I question my sanity when the same things crop up time and again. But I don’t want to give it up. As to whether or not I’ll be allowed to serve on a destroyer now, I don’t know.”

“I could see why they would want you to remain on a planet instead of being on a destroyer but really if this would end the war, would destroyers be needed? And how will they expect you to divvy up your life? Half here on our home world, half on the Imarian home world, or one in neutral territory as a new home world for both races combined?” She chewed her lower lip as she worked through all the implications and what this would mean not only for him, but for herself as his mate.

“The destroyers will always be needed. We are not the only ones in the universe, little one. But instead of being used to keep the Imarians at bay, they will be for the outer borders and keeping the outer worlds and the moon bases supplied and safe. Yes, I realize we do that now, but it is only a small portion of the military focused on that.” Shifting slightly, he pulled her in closer to him and rested his cheek against her hair. “As to the rest, I don’t know what anyone expects of me. I would not be surprised, though, to find that there will be many crawling from the shadows to tell me what they expect once it is announced. They’ll all be in for a huge surprise. There are very few individuals in this world, or any other, I respect enough to listen to their advice. Fintan is one, Bracken Kauller is another, your mother, and you, my little one. I might even listen to Fintan’s brother-in-law, Petr van Jahnsen. Being he is an Imarian fleet admiral, he’s wise about that side of things. And he has not yet attempted to kill Fintan since he bonded with Adira, Petr’s sister. Not that he likely has not plotted many ways to kill Fin, but he has played nice to date. I admire his restraint and cunning, analytical mind.” His arm tightened around her, squeezing her closer to his body. “But I think we should leave off this topic. We can’t predict what will be coming next, and there is no point for you to be upset for no reason. Close your eyes, Paisley. Rest with me.”

He was right, of course. She moved so that she could rub her cheek to his chest and closed her eyes. “Sleep does sound good.” She yawned and closed her eyes.

“Rest well, Paisley.” She felt his lips press to her forehead. His hand drifted lazily up and down her back, the movement soothing. It helped to relax her more until everything slipped away.