Chevon's Mate (2 page)

Chapter Three

She couldn’t believe how much
her head hurt. She whimpered just a bit and tried to lift her hand to touch the
back of her head. For some odd
reason,
her hand wouldn’t cooperate. She couldn’t get it to lift. She turned, shifting
her legs and feeling the soft material of the dress she was wearing move on her
legs
. “What in the ever-loving name
of the stars happened?” Tears rolled down her cheeks. Son of a
mukelessi
toad, she hurt like crazy.

She heard people, knew that there was light around her, but
she refused to open her eyes. “What happened?” She whispered the question and
caught the hand of whoever it was that had reached out to touch her.

“Easy, you’re safe. Your escape
pod crossed into our space, and we intercepted it. The doctor is completing his
scans and then will release the ties. Until then you should remain still or he
will insist on starting over.” The man’s accent was somewhat unusual. She
didn’t immediately recognize it. She could tell that he was speaking through a
translator, though.

She was frowning but winced at
the pain that caused her. “What? What space? I don’t understand.” She was so
confused. “You sound odd. Are you from the outer colonies?” She turned her head
slightly toward the too-sexy voice and cracked her eyes just a bit. What she
saw had her screaming, then crying in pain. She took in the space around them
and knew that it was not a Craegin ship she was on. The colors were all wrong.
Everything was all wrong, especially the people around her.

When she finally calmed down
just a small
bit,
she looked at the man in front of her. “You—you’re Imarian.” His skin coloring
was just one of the many things to signal that. “Please, don’t kill me.” She
bit her lower lip. “Where in the world is passing out when you want it?”

“You are not going to be
killed,” he told her. She was sure he even rolled his eyes, but it was hard to
say
with the pain in her head making it
difficult to focus. “You’re perfectly safe here. What is your name? Do you
remember what happened to send you over the border?”

“Laura, Laura Troxell. I don’t
know. One moment I’m on one of the pleasure cruises that go to the far reaches
of Craegin space and the next I feel a horrible pain in the back of my
head
and then I woke up here.” She closed
her eyes again and sighed. It was so odd but she wanted to move to curl up
against him and soak in the heat of the man.

“I doubt this was the way you
may have wished to come to visit Imarian space, but welcome. I am Fleet Admiral
Chevon von Janus. Call me Chevon.” He squeezed her hand
gently,
and she felt his thumb rub
over her knuckles. “From what the doctor has found so
far,
you have a large bump on the back of
your head, probably from a blunt object. The other bumps,
bruises,
and scratches likely came from
the fact you were not strapped into the pod.
Hopefully,
your memory will
clear
more to give us an idea of how you
came to be in the pod.”

“I don’t know. I have the worst
feeling that someone decided they didn’t like me.” She sounded out his name in
her head.
Oh,
she liked that. A lot. It was so odd that she wanted to lean into him, wanted
to have him touching her. It was so strange to have him close to her but so far
away in her mind. She let her mind wander and frowned, her nose wrinkling as her
thoughts kept going back to the moment when she’d translated something from
Imarian to Craegin, something strange
…
and important? She couldn’t think of what it was exactly.

“Whatever you’re thinking
about, don’t worry about it. It will come when the time is right. How is
she,
Doctor
?”

“She will be sore for a while
and likely have a headache for a couple days but she is otherwise completely
healthy. I can give her something for the
pain
. There shouldn’t be any ill effects
provided she is not allergic to it.”

“Laura?” She could hear the question in Chevon’s voice.

“Yes,
please,
” Laura said, taking a deep
breath. There was something she needed to remember. And it was driving her just
a little crazy.

“I will prepare the shot for you to give it to her when she
is settled in her quarters, then, Admiral.” The doctor turned toward her, a
kind smile on his face. “The bed will be more comfortable than anything in
these rooms.” A few moments later, the doctor left them alone with the nurses,
who undid the restraints at her ankles and waist. Chevon unsnapped the one at
her wrist, and her skin tingled where he touched her.

When she was freed from the
restraints,
she found herself turning
toward him. She didn’t understand why but she wanted to be closer to him.
“Thanks.” She kept her voice to a whisper in deference to the pain in her head.

“
Let’s
sit you up so we can get you into this
robe, and then when the doctor returns with the medication we will get you
settled into a set of quarters. It will be quieter than it is here, and you can
even turn the lights off so your head doesn’t cause you as much pain.”

Laura nodded, then gave him a
small smile. She let him help her sit up and when he had his hands on her
shoulders and was pulling her closer, she moved her hands to his chest.
Something was going on, something that was far bigger than she was. She was
drawn to him, needing to touch him. She had never felt anything so strange.

He got her into the robe, and
when the doctor returned he assisted her off the table.
Chevon
kept an arm around her waist
and guided her on the slow journey out the doors and into a lift. “How is your
head feeling?” he asked quietly.

“It’s hurting like madness but
aside from that okay, I think?” She found herself leaning against him again.
What she felt was practically
euphoric
that he was there for her. “I thought that your people and ours were at war. I
thought you would have killed me on sight but you haven’t. You’ve been kind and
generous to me. Why?”

“Because unlike our ruling
body,
I prefer to judge a person on their
own merits. Your speech and looks clearly tell everyone you are not Imarian,
but those are the only differences. You haven’t tried to do myself, my crew, or
ship any bodily harm. Until you do, you will be treated as I would one of my
people.” He led her off the lift at the same slow pace they’d used when leaving
medical. After what felt like a small eternity they stopped in front of a door,
and he ushered her into the room. When the door shut behind
them,
she was surrounded by
silence
and a
space
that smelled like he did.

“You can rest comfortably and
safely here. I’ll need to go see about a few things, but I will check in on you
soon. If you need
anything,
I will leave a communication device set for my code by the bed that you can use
to reach me. There’s water, juice, and some snacks in the cooler for later if
you get hungry or thirsty.” Chevon bent and soon she was seated on a
wonderfully soft bed with the right amount of firmness to have her sighing. “Do
you want to keep the robe on?”

“Yes, please. This is your room?”

Chevon nodded. “It’s secure,
and only a limited number of people can get in here under emergency
circumstances. Under regular
circumstances,
I am the only person that can enter these quarters.” He rubbed his thumb
against
her cheek for a moment before
pulling away. “Under the blankets. I want to give you the medication so you can
rest.”

She let him put her under the
blankets. Then she lay back against the pillow. Her cheek was still warm from
his touch, and his intoxicating scent wrapped around her. “Your bed is so
comfortable. The room smells so good,” she admitted. “Will you stay, for just a
little while, please?”

He stared down at her with an
expression that was difficult to read. “I’ll stay until the medication takes
hold.” Brushing her hair back, Chevon skimmed a finger
over
her cheek before running his hand down
her arm to lift it up. He pushed up the sleeve, and she felt the coolness of
the alcohol wipe before the pressure and slight pinch from the injector.

“Rest now,” he told her
quietly. “I will be right here until you fall asleep.” He squeezed her fingers
gently. His other hand stroked over her hair.

“Thank you.” She closed her
eyes and
simply
leaned against him. She didn’t understand why he felt so
vital—so important—
to her. And right then she was
too worn out to try to reason through it. She yawned, something she couldn’t
have stopped if she had wanted to.

“Sleep,” he murmured. He
continued to stroke her hair, the motion soothing. Her hand was warm in his where
it rested
on
his thigh. “Let yourself relax, Laura. You are safe on my ship. Sleep, little
one.”

Chapter Four

When Laura woke
fully,
she was disoriented. A warm
hand touched her cheek. “Easy,” Chevon said from the darkness. A second later a
side lamp went on
low
to give her enough light to discern shapes and where she was.
Chevon
was holding a
glass
in his free hand while watching her.
“Water,” he said, offering the glass to her.

“Thank you.” She shifted so
that she could lean against the headboard and watch him as he moved around in
the room. She took several sips from the cup, then asked, “Are you going to be
in trouble for taking me in like this? Are you going to have to turn me in?”
She recalled, a while back, a Craegin general had returned from being captured
and suffered one of their people’s harsher punishments for his Imarian love.
She’d seen the two of them together and had to admit, though, theirs was a love
match.

“Unclear,” he told her. He
shrugged off his uniform
jacket
and hung it up before turning to look her way. “I’ve put out feelers to a few
close associates to see if they know what the current mood of the ruling body
might be. There has been no report filed about the pod and subsequent rescue
yet. Because the majority of the crew are
trainees,
we have kept a lid on this.
Only a couple know you were in it. The rest all believe it to be a training
exercise.
For now,
that is how we are keeping it.”

“How can you get me back to my
people?” she asked, scooting over to give him a place to sit should he want to.
The response was automatic, almost as if
…
“Oh no.” That’s when it dawned on her. The reason she was
always
reaching for him, the reason
she wanted to touch him and bring him closer to her.
Oh,
she was so screwed. It couldn’t be
possible, could it? An Imarian
…
her soul-bonded mate? She gaped at him, beyond
stunned
.

He glanced up with a frown
before he finished removing his shoes.
Standing,
once more he walked toward the
bed
and sat down on the end,
facing her. “If you want to return there is a way. It won’t be easy, or quick,
and you would never be able to speak about it because it would put too many on
both sides in danger. But I can make it happen.”
Chevon
didn’t look particularly happy
about
it
but seemed to be firm in his resolve to help her if that was her desire.

“And if I don’t?” she asked
softly. There was a moment’s pause. Then she looked down and began to toy with
the blanket on her lap. She finally said, “The Craegin people, we have what’s
known as a bond mate. It’s someone that fits us perfectly—the other half of our
soul. When we find this
person,
it’s kind of like being dropped from zero gravity to full
gravity
in
a moment. That person, if we find
them, is the only one that will ever do for us. We would do anything to be with
them. Do you
…
have anything like that?” She
had to know if he felt the same draw she did.

Reaching
out,
he stilled her hands with the warm
weight of his. “We have what’s called a soul bonding. It is comparable, from
what I’ve heard the Craegin people have. The draw is immediate once the two
individuals are close enough to one another, and I feel it strongly for you,
Laura. But I would never make you stay if you didn’t want to. I’m not saying I
wouldn’t try to talk you out of leaving.”

“And if I want to stay here?
How difficult would it be for you to keep me?” she wanted to know. “I have
nothing there, to be perfectly honest. I was supposed to be joined
with
someone and I learned that he only
wanted me because of my twin brother. I’m not very old but he and I lost our
parents when we were in our teens. Now I have no one. I only have the man that
could be mine. I only have the man I want to be mine.” There, that was as much
of a confession as she could give him. She had tried to do marriage before and
that had failed epically for her to the point of almost dying before the
wedding, but this was so much more. At least with her ex she knew he was
Craegin and what to expect, but Chevon was Imarian, a race she barely knew a
singular thing about. What would happen when he decided that having a Craegin
wife was more trouble than it was worth?

“I’ll do whatever it takes,
Laura Troxell.” He tipped her chin up so there was no avoiding his gaze. “I
will fight for you, for us. And anyone that takes exception will have a huge
surprise waiting for them. Will you stay here, with me, Laura?”

She leaned into his touch and
nodded, her eyes closed as she did so. “Yes, I will stay here with you.” She
looked at him and smiled, doing her best to shove her trepidation to the side. He
had been trustworthy so far. He had been kind to her. And was it so bad that
she simply wanted to trust him after all she had been through, that she wanted
to believe there was still goodness left in the world? There was so much they
would have to overcome, but a part of her desperately wanted to believe that
they could if they both wanted it. “I trust you.” It was far more than just
because he exuded confidence. It was because of how he had treated her thus
far.

His lips curved into a smile.
Leaning in
closer,
he stopped when the tips of their noses brushed against one another. “I would
like to kiss you right now, Miss Troxell.”

She lifted her hand to curl around the back of his neck,
stroking a thumb over the exposed skin there. She could practically taste him
now.

He slid his hand up to cup the
side of her neck. “Open,” he breathed against her mouth a second before he
pressed his lips to
hers
and stroked his tongue along the seam. She felt his tongue brush hers and
moaned, opening to him. There was a moment where she sighed into the kiss. Then
she shifted so that she could be closer to him. Laura kissed him with the
passion that had been missing in her previous relationship, kissed him with her
full being, heart,
body,
and soul.

His arms closed around her, and soon she found herself in
his lap, allowing her to wind her arms around his neck and press in tighter to
his body. One hand cupped her head, his fingers wrapping around her hair to
give it a light tug as he changed the angle of the kiss. Over and over Chevon’s
tongue stroked to hers.

She didn’t know where one ended
and the other began, but
in
reality,
that was the way it should be between soulmates. She needed
this. She needed him. She kissed him back with all of the desperation of a
woman who was starving.

Tugging her head
back,
he stared down into her eyes, his
breath hot against her face. Gently he ran his hand up her back, then down to
rest on the curve of her hip. “We should stop for now,” he
whispered
. “You need to rest more before
we do anything else.”

Laura sighed. “Okay.” She
didn’t want to stop, but she knew that he was right.

“Once you are fully healed,” he
told her. Chevon pressed a quick kiss to her lips, then leaned back. “Are you
up for a shower, or a bath?”

“I would be able to have an
actual bath? A bath with water?” She didn’t know of many cruisers—or people,
for that matter—that allowed for water baths. Sure, on the pleasure
cruise
they had them but they weren’t
battlecruisers
like the one she was on now. “I would love a bath.”

He nodded with a crooked smile.
“Every crew member has a water ration to use however they want. Finish up that
glass while I start the water in the tub, and then we will get you some more to
drink.”

“Thank you.” He was so kind to
her. “For
everything,
”
she added when he turned to look at her. “Do you think you could find me some
clothing to put on after the
bath
?”

“I’ll make it happen,” he
assured her. Brushing his fingers to her
cheek,
he pushed up from the
bed
and headed for the bathroom. She heard
the water come on a short time later. Then he wandered back into the bedroom.
“My cousin is about your size. She’s left a few things here over the cycles.
I’ll grab them all and you can pick out whatever works for you. Bryerly will
not mind,
believe
me.”

“You’re close to her, aren’t
you?” She could tell as much by the way that he said the woman’s name. “She
visits often?”

“No, she has a career of her
own,” he said, his pride
evident
.
His next words held something
else,
though. “She also has found her soul-bond
mate
and married him recently. I actually
was the one to marry them with an old tradition from a friend’s
planet
. She is quite
sappy
in her love.”

“I didn’t think the Imarians
had
weddings,
”
she
said,
confused. “I know the Craegins
have a ceremony to join together. It’s a public
ceremony
that the family and friends
are all invited to but I didn’t know that the Imarians had one as well.”

“We don’t, traditionally. We
have a binding ceremony much like the Craegin joining ceremony for the family
and close friends. While I know in the past there were what was termed to be
marriages, they were
greatly
different from the one Samantha brought with her. Her ceremony is quite
spiritual and can be made simple or extremely complex.”
Chevon
held out a hand to her. “The
water should be ready.”

She placed her hand in his
without hesitation. When he helped her to her
feet,
she smiled. “It sounds as if perhaps
this woman, Samantha, has a blended version of both ceremonies. Is she from one
of the outer colonies that
are
close to the neutral territory?” It was the only place she could think of that
would have such traditions still in place.

“Hardly,” he said, walking at
her side into the bathroom. “Samantha is from a planet called Earth. I actually
rescued her, too, her and her
antiquated
Earth craft. It took us some time but eventually it was discovered she had been
in space for a little over nine hundred of her years. She likes to hold it over
her soul-bond mate’s head that she is older.”

“
Oh,
my. How could she have survived that
long?” She was no expert but she was certain that there had to be a limit to
the amount of time a person could spend alone in space. “So you have made it a
practice to rescue women?” She was grinning as she said that.

“Samantha survived because of
an ancient practice that the earthlings used called cryo-sleep. She was nearly
dead when she was found, to be truthful. As for my rescuing women, well, I had
to practice so that I could be ready for the most
significant
rescue
,” he said. Leaving her leaning
against the
vanity,
he moved to turn the water off.
Chevon
dipped a finger
in
and nodded. “I’ll go get you some more water to drink and the clothing. Will
you be all right alone?”

She nodded. “I have a bump on
the back of my head, but I’m only a little
dizzy now
.”

He walked right up to
her
and cupped her face. “I’ll leave you
to your bath in peace. But if you don’t come out in a reasonable amount of
time, then I’ll come in to check on you. The clothing I will set on
the
vanity without peeking in.”

“I
’ll hurry
. If for no other reason than to be able to get to spend
more time with you,” she said with a grin. “After all, it
’s
going to take time
to learn more about the man I’m destined to spend the rest of my life with.”

“Enjoy your bath, Laura. I’ll
have a
snack
and water waiting for you when you come out. Call out if you need anything
else.”

She smiled as she watched him
walk away. When she was alone, she stripped out of her clothes, then got into
the bath. She let out a sigh and leaned back. “This is so
nice,
” she whispered, then reached for a
cloth. The sooner she was able to get out of the bathtub, the sooner she was
able to get back to Chevon.

Laura heard the door slide open
and watched Chevon stick a hand in with a large pile of neatly folded clothing
on top. He settled everything on the vanity before shutting the door again. “
Hopefully,
there will be something in
there you feel comfortable in.
If not,
you are more than welcome to wear anything of mine.”