Mated to the Warriors (3 page)

“I’m sure your bride will arrive any time, commander. The transport was to be initiated today.”

“I’m sure her hair will be like spun gold and her eyes a dark shade of amber.” Harbart spoke from his place of honor standing at Prince Nial’s right shoulder. Harbart was a pompous little ass, a stooped old man and a creature devoted not to the sacred act of war, but to the distasteful duties of politics, in particular the rise of his daughter as Prince Nial’s betrothed.

Thank the gods for that. If not for Harbart’s interest in my cousin, Nial, the poisonous old man would have most likely set his sights on mating his daughter to me. Currently, I was third in line to the throne. I needed Nial to claim a bride and start producing offspring as quickly as possible.

“Thank you, Harbart.” I accepted his good wishes and leaned back in my command chair. The table in the meeting room seated six of my captains—all formidable warriors with the dark golden hair and yellow eyes common to our people—and the prince. For three hours we had reviewed reports and battle preparations. All ship sections had reported in. All repairs had been made after our last battle with the Hive. Now, an entire battle group, five thousand warriors and ten ships, were stranded in space waiting on a female.
My
female.

Dread filled my gut at the very idea.

Harbart opened his mouth to speak and I caught the gaze of my first officer, who rolled his eyes as the communications beacon dinged. My medical officer’s voice filled the small meeting room. “Commander, we have taken your mate to medical station one. She arrived a few minutes ago, unconscious, but stable.”

Regardless of my disinterest in a bride, I was curious about the woman matched to me. Every muscle in my body went taut with the need to rush to the medical section and inspect her. I could not do so, not now. If I did, every male in the room would demand to accompany me. I would rot in the tar pits on Prillon Prime before I allowed the sniveling politician, Harbart, to see my bride’s naked form. I might not have requested the woman, but that did not make her any less
mine
. Mine to see, mine to care for, and mine to fuck.

The claiming ceremony was sacred and private; only my closest warriors, those I trusted with both my life and hers, would be allowed to bear witness to the claiming. In bearing witness, they vowed to honor and protect my new mate as a sacred part of me, as half of my body, half of my flesh. They pledged their lives to her protection. And before that ceremony could begin, I needed to ensure she accepted me and my second, and that she was committed to our match. Prillon brides were never forced to accept a mate. I frowned. If I couldn’t tame my new bride in the next thirty days without scaring her away, I didn’t deserve to keep her.

Regardless of the timing, I’d slit Harbart’s throat before I allowed him to witness that blessed rite.

“Very well, doctor,” I replied, my voice calm and even. “No one is to see her but me. I will come to her after my meeting with the engineers.”

“Yes, commander.”

The communication unit went quiet and so did the room as the men stared at me in disbelief.

“Why do you not rush to her side, commander?” Harbart’s outraged question confirmed that I had made the correct decision. The vile male couldn’t wait to set his lecherous eyes on my mate.

His obvious jealousy made possessiveness flare. To my surprise, desire for an unseen woman heated my blood and I fought back the urge to rush to her, to see her, to taste her flesh and claim her body with my own. She was matched to me out of every other male in the universe. Her desires were matched to mine and I was eager to test the program’s success. Perhaps my mother had been right to force the issue. Knowing my mate was onboard the ship caused my mind to shift. Logic insisted I did not require a bride, but with her so near, my body had other ideas.

Her arrival would be known throughout the battle group in a matter of hours and the ship would be a dangerous place for my new mate until I claimed her, especially with Harbart’s royal entourage aboard. Stealing females had once been very common on Prillon Prime, and some old fools, like Harbart, longed for the days when men took their brides by the strength of their sword or their armies.

Fools. Many fine warriors had died at the hands of their new brides before the archaic laws had been changed by the current Prime, killed by brides angry and savaged by the loss of their chosen mates. Even now, I refused to jeopardize my bride by showing too much interest. The more I valued her, the bigger target she would be for calculating and power-hungry bastards like Harbart. He was not the only elder or the only politician onboard my ship. They could all rot, as far as I was concerned.

“I will not neglect my duties or become distracted by a mate.” I rose from my seat and the warriors under my command followed suit, all but Prince Nial. My cousin grinned up at me.

“We’ll see about that, cousin.”

With a scowl, I stared back at him. “You will go on the next scout run with Dare, cousin. Try not to get yourself killed.” Dare was my second and my best combat pilot. I didn’t trust the prince’s safety to any other.

Nial grinned. Harbart blustered protests, and I exited the meeting room and walked onto the command deck of my ship, already issuing new orders to my navigator. “Now that the transport is complete, there will be no more waiting. Alert the captains. Prepare for departure. We leave for the front within the hour.”

“Yes, commander.”

I left the command deck and made my way straight to the ship’s engine rooms for my scheduled meeting with the engineers. I did my best to listen, but all I could think about was the female waiting for me in the medical bay.

What would she be like? Would she tremble in fear at first sight of me, as so many females did on my home world? Would she bow and avert her eyes in deference to my battle prowess and superior rank? Would she dare defy me, or would she submit to my will in all things? Would she be soft and curved with large breasts like the women programmed into the ship’s pleasure simulators or would she be lean and strong, like the warrior women from my home world?

The third time I was forced to ask the engine mechanic to repeat himself, I ended the meeting. I was tired of waiting.

The medical deck was not far, and within minutes I stormed into the space expecting to find my bride awake and waiting for me.

Instead, the doctor hurried to my side with a concerned slant to his brow.

“Commander, she has not yet regained consciousness.”

My chest constricted with an unfamiliar ache and I scowled at the man. “Why not?”

“I don’t know. All of her scans appear to be normal. Her name is Hannah Johnson. She is from a place called North America. And this is interesting, commander, she is the first volunteer I have seen from Earth. Most brides from that planet are criminals.”

Doctor Mordin held his monitoring tablet out for my inspection, but I didn’t care to read about her on a machine, nor did I care where she came from. I had been in many battles with Mordin, and counted him a trusted friend. If anything were seriously wrong with my mate, he would have informed me already. I did not care what the bureaucrats in the Interstellar Bride Program had put on their ridiculous forms. She was mine now, she was here, and I wanted to see her in the flesh.

“Take me to her.”

“Of course.” He turned and went into a private suite normally reserved for visiting royalty or high-ranking officers. It was the only private bay in the medical station, and I was thankful for his discretion.

I stood in the doorway as he hurried to my bride’s bedside with his scanners. Arms crossed, I allowed him to finish his scans. I could not see much of her, for the man blocked my view. Despite the fact that I now had a mate only due to my mother’s interference, I discovered that since she had arrived, I was very… interested. Eager, even. “Is she well?”

“She appears unharmed, but I can’t perform a full breeding diagnostic until she is awake.”

“Has anyone come to inquire after her?”

The doctor’s smirk was pure malice, and I was grateful to call him a loyal and trusted friend. He was not just trained to heal, but to kill, and was a fierce warrior. “Oh, the prince’s puppet was here, but I turned him away.”

Fury pumped through my veins. “Excellent. Thank you.”

He nodded once. “My honor, commander.”

“Leave us.”

He grinned. “Of course.”

I waited for the door to slide closed behind him before turning to the small bed on which my bride slumbered.

I expected golden hair and amber eyes. But my mate’s hair was long, straight, and black as night with shimmering strands that looked soft to touch. Unusual, but beautiful beyond reckoning. Equally dark eyebrows arched over delicate eyes, and black lashes rested on pale cheeks. Her skin was the palest I’d ever seen, much fairer than my darker coloring. I couldn’t miss her full pink lips or the hint of blush on her cheeks.

I longed to see her eyes, to discover if they were as exotic as her dark hair and smooth skin.

She was covered by a sheet and I gently tugged it away to inspect the rest of her. Her naked body was lush and curved, her breasts large with enticing dusky rose nipples. Any hair she may have had on her body had been removed, as was our custom, leaving her flesh bare and smooth.

My cock stirred to life, rising in greeting and ready to claim what was mine. She was so small, so tiny in comparison to me and my second. This was not right! The Interstellar Bride Program must have made a mistake.

I swallowed down a surge of disappointment at her size. I would need to be careful with her. Gentle. As commander, I was in charge of this battleship and a whole fleet of others. I had power and control that I wielded with firm command. I wanted to be free to wield that same intensity of power over her body. Looking at her, I realized for the first time that I needed that release and more from my new mate. But she was not from Prillon, and was so small that I imagined my full pleasure would surely hurt her.

So I would be careful. Tender. Remaining constantly aware of her size and small body.

I draped the sheet back over her. I wanted her, but I would not take her like this. I wanted to watch as her eyes widened when my cock filled her the first time, to hear her moans of pleasure as I made her come. I could control my dominant urges and still fuck her. I would seek pleasure from her body—often—and she would know that my second and I were the ones to give it to her.

Leaning over her, I tucked the sheet around her shoulders. Glancing up, I discovered a pair of eyes gazing at me, the irises a deep brown so dark they were nearly indistinguishable from the center.

My heart skipped a beat. A fierce warrior, I shouldn’t have such a visceral response to a small female. I froze, not wanting to scare her. I didn’t know how men on Earth were sized, but I was of great size for a Prillon warrior. Awake, she seemed even smaller and more fragile, striking, and extraordinary.

“Where am I?” She stared at me but didn’t panic or attempt to run. Her voice was melodic and beautiful, and it did not waver or shake with fear. Very reassuring.

“You are on board a Prillon battleship, in the medical station.”

That made her eyes go wide and she struggled to sit up until her back rested against the wall, clutching the sheet to her chest. “Medical station? I’m on a spaceship? You’re a doctor? Oh, my God. Is he here?”

“Who?” I sat down on the edge of her bed and was thrilled when she didn’t move away. I wanted to touch her. Everywhere. Now that she was awake, I wanted to explore her, discover if her body was as soft as it looked. I wondered how she tasted, if her nipples would harden beneath my Prillon tongue, if her pussy tasted as sweet as I hoped.

“My match? Warden Egara said my mate was one of the fiercest warriors of Prillon Prime.” Her gaze locked with mine and her eyes widened.

“He is.” My chest swelled with pride. So, my battle prowess had reached ears as far away as the new planet under coalition protection, Earth.

“Is he… big like you?” She licked her lips and I stifled a groan. I knew she wasn’t referring to my cock, but that was the direction of my thoughts. My cock was… big, as she would soon discover.

My eyes wandered over her face, down the long line of her pale neck. “Yes. He looks like me. Do you find me offensive to the eye?”

I waited patiently as she inspected the hard angles of my face and jaw. I wasn’t blue or green, as were some males from the other coalition planets, but perhaps different from men on her world.

“May I see your hands?” she asked.

Curious, I held my hands in front of her and watched her face turn from pale to pink. She reached toward me tentatively, but drew back before making contact. My hands were easily twice the size of hers, but I craved to feel her hesitant touch.

An odd pink coloration of her skin rushed from her shoulders up her neck to her cheeks.

“Why does looking at my hands make your skin change color?”

“What?” She startled and tore her gaze from my hands to look up at me. “It’s nothing. Just—I was remembering something.” She held the sheet in place under her arms and lifted her fingertips to explore the sides of her head where I noticed thin scars rested on both temples.

“Are you in pain? Are the neural implants causing you discomfort?”

If my bride was hurting, I’d have the doctor back in here immediately. I took care of what was mine, and I discovered an unexpected but instinctive need to protect and care for the small human female before me. I would need to protect her, even from myself.

“No. Not really. It feels like a quiet buzzing in my head.” She frowned and pressed her fingertips to her skin, tracing the edges of the thin implants permanently embedded in her skull. “But I understand you, so I guess they’re working.”

Every member of the Interstellar Coalition’s military had the implants. They were programmed for language and assisted the brain with advanced computations. The implants were vital to our fleet and allowed for ease of communication and understanding between the over two hundred member planets of the coalition.