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Chapter 15

15

Z ara sighed as Traax's lips met hers, his strong arms encircling her waist and pulling her hard against his larger, more muscular and very male body. The kiss was electric, one that sent sparks of need and fire through her veins. A moan escaped her as she leaned into him, savoring the solid warmth of his embrace, the way her body seemed to mold perfectly to his.

Like she was meant to be there. In his arms.

It was a strange sensation, being present in her own body while inhabiting the big, mechanical shells of the alien robots. She felt the hum of their power cores as if they were her own heart and the faint vibrations of their servos as they scanned their surroundings vigilantly, even as she lost herself in the heat of Traax's lips on hers. She felt as if she existed in two worlds at once, her consciousness split between the biological and the mechanical.

But as his tongue swept into her mouth, her train of thought derailed completely. Her world narrowed down to him, only him, and the fire he lit in her blood. She slid her hands through his hair, winding her fingers through the silky strands to hold him close. She closed her eyes with the relief he was still alive.

The moment she'd understood his plan, the moment she had grasped that he planned to sacrifice himself to save her, the realization had hit her like a bolt of plasma.

She loved him.

She loved this proud, arrogant, and utterly infuriating man.

That thought had been followed by fury, white-hot and overwhelming. Fury that she'd just realized what he meant to her and rage at his willingness to throw his life away. But beneath that rage lay a terror so deep it had almost paralyzed her right there in the middle of the corridor. The thought of losing him, of facing a universe without him in it, was unbearable. She hadn't been able to take another step forward, locked in place as her world tore itself apart.

In the middle of it, she must have reached out somehow. As her heart had cracked, the band under her hair had flared to life, and suddenly she saw the world through different eyes.

Literally different eyes.

Twenty-four different eyes, to be precise, as three drakeen lumbered to life and stepped down from their perches and into the corridor around her. She'd almost landed on her ass on the deck until she'd realized she controlled them as easily as her own body. She hadn't asked questions, just poured her consciousness into them and turned back to the fight, driven only by the primal need to save him.

To save the man she loved.

She broke the kiss and pulled away slightly, her hand coming up to cup his cheek. She winced a little as her thumb brushed lightly over the gash on his cheek. It was deep, the edges ragged and crusted with drying blood. It had to hurt like hell, but he didn't flinch, his amber eyes locked on hers with an intensity that made her heart skip a beat.

"You're a fucking idiot, you know that?" she murmured, her voice raw with emotion.

Behind her, one of her drakeen half turned, its sensors scanning his body. Data flooded her mind, a clinical assessment of his injuries. He had severe lacerations and deep puncture wounds as well as significant blood loss. She breathed a sigh of relief. He had no damage to vital organs.

He would live.

The vise around her heart loosened slightly. His lips curved in a wry smile, and he leaned into her touch, turning to nuzzle her palm.

"Yes..." His voice was low and rough, but his expression was gentle as he looked down at her. "I love you, kelarris . I couldn't let you die here."

She gasped, the sound somewhere between a laugh and a sob. "But you were happy to throw your own life away?"

He straightened, his expression hardening.

"A warrior's sacrifice to save his mate is not throwing his life away," he replied, but beneath the bravado Zara could see the exhaustion along with the pain he was trying so hard to hide. "It is his honor and his duty."

"So we're back to that. Your mate." She tried to keep her expression deadpan but couldn't, her lips curving slightly.

He searched her face, capturing her hand in his. Gently, he guided her hand to his wrist, using her finger to trace the intricate patterns that wrapped his skin like ivy.

"The gods have decided," he said in a low rasp. "See? Mating marks. They only appear when we've found the one we're meant to be with. When we have found our bonded mate."

She frowned as she looked at them. They were beautiful, intricate swirls and spirals that seemed to dance across his skin. She knew they hadn't been there before, but they seemed right, like they'd always been meant to be there.

"Looks like some dodgy drunk-ass tattoos there."

She looked up, a smile quirking the corners of her lips up as she took in his offended expression. Her heart ached with tenderness. This man, this proud warrior, an alien prince, had been willing to die for her. That kind of devotion, that depth of love, deserved more than her usual snarkiness.

"You know..." she said slowly, moving closer against him and running her fingers up his arm. "You could just, I don't know... ask?"

"Ask?" He blinked in confusion. "It's that simple?"

She just nodded, her smile widening. "Human women are easy to understand. Just respect us, ask what we want to eat, admit that you're always wrong, and we're all good."

His answering grin was blinding as his strong arms wrapped around her, holding her close to him. "Always wrong? I am lord starfighter. I am always right."

Zara scoffed and placed her hand on his chest to stop his advance. "Yeah, yeah, you keep telling yourself that. Don't you have something to ask, handsome?"

The humor faded from his face, only to be replaced by a look of such raw, open love that it took her breath away.

"Zara, my kelarris ... my heart..." His voice was low and filled with such emotion that it made her knees weak. "The female who called the mating marks from my skin, will you do me the honor of being my mate? Of being mine for the rest of our lives, of creating young together, should the gods grant us that, and growing old together?"

Her heart swelled almost to bursting, a surge of love and longing filling her so intense it was almost painful. Tears stung her eyes, blurring her vision. But she blinked them back quickly, not wanting to ruin the moment by blubbering all over him.

"I'm not giving up my job," she warned.

His smile returned as he slid a sideways glance to the drakeen standing guard around them. "Indeed not. I'm not a brave enough male to ask you to do that, not with your… uh, companions here."

His expression sobered and he lifted a hand to cradle her face gently. "I would not change a thing about you, Zara. I want you just as you are, and I have from the moment I realized what an ass I'd been the other morning. Please put me out of my misery… Will you be mine?"

She lifted on her tiptoes, wrapping her arms around his neck so she could brush her lips against his.

"Since I love you," she murmured the words against his lips, "I really think I should be. Or you should be mine. Or both. Both is good."

"Both is very good."

She felt his grin, fierce and triumphant, a moment before he claimed her mouth in a searing kiss. Within a heartbeat, she melted against him, lost in the heat of his touch and the hunger of his kiss.

A sharp cough shattered the moment. They both jumped, pulling apart to find Zhain leaning against the corridor wall, a wide grin on his face.

"You know, I thought I'd come to pick up a pair of bodies," he drawled, his eyes glittering with amusement. "Not walk into a?—"

She held up a finger, her eyes narrowing. "Do not finish that sentence!"

Zhain held up his hands in mock surrender, his grin only getting wider.

She felt a blush warm her cheeks, but she refused to give him the satisfaction of seeing her squirm. Instead, she turned back to Traax, her hand finding his as their fingers intertwined.

There would be time for explanations later, time to work out the logistics of a human-Latharian relationship. For now, all that mattered was that they were alive, they were together, and they loved each other.

Zara stood beside Traax, the cold air surrounding them a stark contrast to the warmth of his hand in hers. The journey back from the hunter station was a blur in her mind. Exhaustion and relief mingled in a hazy memory of curling up at Traax's side, letting his nearness soothe her frayed nerves.

At least they'd managed to grab a shower aboard the battleship Zhain had brought out to rescue them and clean up, a fact she was grateful for, given that the emperor himself had been waiting for them on the flight deck when they landed. He was a striking man, tall and broad-shouldered with a mane of dark hair threaded with warrior braids. His features were similar enough to her mate's handsome face that she could see the family resemblance, but his green eyes, so unlike Traax's amber gaze, bored into her… assessing, calculating.

She'd seen images of the emperor before, but seeing a picture and actually meeting him were two different things. Power radiated from him, a mantle of authority that made the air around him seem to crackle with energy.

"And you can control them independently as well as in synchronicity?" Daaynal asked, interest in those intelligent eyes.

She suppressed a shiver, and nodded, not trusting her voice not to squeak and betray her nervousness. Daaynal was Traax's cousin, yes, but he was also the ruler of an entire freaking empire.

"Show me." It was an order, not a request. The emperor didn't need to gesture to his own drakeen as an example, the four brutish robots clustered at his back like silent sentinels. Had he brought all of them because she had three? Did they worry she would use hers to attack the emperor himself?

She slid a glance sideways at Traax. He smiled down at her and squeezed her hand gently in reassurance .

Taking a steadying breath, she reached out, feeling the now familiar tingle as her consciousness brushed against the mechanical minds of her drakeen. With a thought, she sent them off to different corners of the bay, each with a specific task.

One headed for a workbench, its metal fingers closing around a wrench. Another turned to a spare parts shelf and plucked a length of wire from the organized chaos. The third marched right up to a storage locker and retrieved a pilot's helmet, the visor gleaming under the bright lights as it closed the door gently before turning and heading back to her.

Within a minute, her drakeen had dropped their items at the emperor's feet, a small pile of mundane objects that couldn't be seen dangerous but nonetheless demonstrated the extent of her control.

A grin quirked her lips as the warriors around Daaynal murmured, and the big man himself looked surprised.

They might be impressed, but she wasn't done yet. With a mental nudge, she set the robots in motion once more, their heavy frames moving with surprising grace as they began to dance, their steps perfectly synchronized with each other.

"Amazing," Daaynal murmured, shaking his head. "That a human can control three drakeen at once, without training or injury... it is astonishing."

He turned to Traax, his brow arched. "And we are certain she has suffered no injury?"

Zara stepped forward, her chin raised in challenge.

" She can speak perfectly well for herself," she said, her voice clear and carrying to the back of the flight deck. "The healers Commandant Roic brought with him insisted on examining me all the way back from the hunter station. According to them, I'm fine."

Part of her cringed at the audacity of speaking so boldly to the emperor himself, but another part refused to be intimidated. She had faced the Krin, one of the Lathar's bogeymen, and she had survived. More than that, she had saved her mate, one of their royal dukes. She would not be talked over, not even by the emperor himself. She had more than earned the right to speak.

Traax moved to stand beside her, a solid presence at her shoulder.

"From the scans they took, they have confirmed that Zara is not under undue stress controlling all three and has sustained no injury," he said. "They're looking into what, exactly, about her physiology allows her to pilot so easily, to see if we can use it to locate drakeen pilots more effectively."

Daaynal's eyes lit up, his expression sharp with an eager fascination that made her feel like she was under a microscope. "Humans continue to surprise me. I would be most interested to see this research for myself. And also to watch a live test scan while she pilots..."

He half turned as if to summon someone to make it happen on the spot, but Traax cleared his throat pointedly.

"With respect, cousin," he said, his tone respectful but firm. "While our injuries have been healed, my mate is very tired. I would ask your permission to withdraw and ensure that she gets some rest."

Surprise flickered across the emperor's face as he glanced back at Zara. She didn't need to fake the exhaustion that pulled at every line of her body, or the way she leaned against Traax, trying to steal some of his strength to stay upright. Daaynal's expression softened, and warmth filled his emerald eyes.

"Of course, where are my manners?" he said, shaking his head. "You are newly mated. Please, Lord Starfighter, see that your princess gets the rest she needs. I will see you both when you are fully recovered."

Princess .

The word echoed in Zara's mind as Traax led her away, her drakeen falling in step behind them. She barely had to think about them anymore. They just moved as an extension of her body. Thankfully, because she really wasn't firing on all cylinders right at the moment. Waiting until they were out of earshot of the emperor and his entourage, she turned to Traax.

"Princess?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

A smile tugged at the corner of his lips, a gleam of amusement in his amber eyes. "Technically I am a prince of the empire, though I do not use the title," he reminded her with a smile. "But that does make my mate a princess."

She tried to digest that, trying to reconcile the idea of herself as royalty with the gritty, hardscrabble life of a starfighter pilot. It didn't quite fit, like trying to jam a square peg into a round hole.

Traax's expression turned mischievous, a playful light dancing in his eyes. "Although... we should clear up one small matter first."

Her brow furrowed. "Oh? What's that?"

Traax scooped her into his arms in a swift movement, cradling her against his broad chest as he stalked off down the corridor. She let out a startled laugh, her arms instinctively wrapping around his neck even though she knew he wouldn't let her fall.

His grin turned wicked as he looked down at her.

"The consummation of our mating."

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