“I don’t know what I felt,” I finally said, settling for a half-truth. “It was…unusual. Like nothing I ever experienced before.”
That last part was totally true, at least.
His frown subsided. “That was the mate-bond. It allows us to sense our mate’s emotions. And it is how I know that we do belong together, no matter what the computer says.”
There was something bewitching in the idea of his certainty. What would it be like to be with someone who was so sure we were meant to be together?
The computer chose that moment to interrupt. “Calculations complete. Prepare for hyperdrive jump to the Battleship Lavelek.”
Great.
If the computer did what it was supposed to do, I would be meeting more of Dax’s people soon.
I’m not sure I’m ready for this.
Chapter Eighteen
Dax
As soon as we came out of the hyperdrive jump, I signaled the Lavelek to let them know we were coming aboard. Nora watched with huge eyes as the Drovekzian battleship loomed above us, and I set a course for the landing bay.
“It’s huge,” she breathed.
I set our coordinates and left the rest of it to the computer.
Nervously, Nora reached up and patted her hair. I glanced at it out of the corner of my eye, but I didn’t have the heart to tell her that the lovely pile of blond curls she had started with atop her head was now a little worse for wear.
And her once-white dress, despite having the worst of the bloodstains cut out of it, was no longer the lovely confection it started out as.
Not that I cared. Her current disheveled state came from fighting against the Karlaxons, saving me, and working by my side to move the dead Karlaxon from the bridge.
Every stain on that dress, every curl out of place, had been earned—and then some.
My mate is perfect.
I dared any Drovekzian to suggest otherwise.
Glancing down at my own uniform, I realized it was fairly bedraggled, too. I could have changed into a new uniform, but if Nora couldn’t meet my crew looking her best, I wasn’t going to outshine her.
I would never do anything that might make her uncomfortable.
Leading her to the scoutship’s exit, I stood patiently as we finished docking. When the door slid open with a hiss, I was delighted to find an entire regiment of my soldiers waiting to greet us. They snapped to attention, one fist on each abdomen in the traditional Drovekzian salute.
I returned the gesture and took Nora’s hand to lead her off the ship. To her credit, she moved as regally as if she were a clowder alpha female—which, come to think of it, she now was.
Or at least, she would be as soon as we completed the mating ceremony.
“At ease,” I commanded my soldiers.
They all dropped their salutes and relaxed into a standard stance.
“Commander,” my second-in-command, Braxen, stepped up to greet us. “Welcome back. We didn’t expect you so soon.”
“We ran into a little trouble with the Karlaxons.”
Braxen’s eyes widened, and his gaze flicked toward my mate. “I’m sorry to hear that, sir.”
“We dealt with it, for the most part.” With Nora’s hand still in mine, I headed toward the bridge, Braxen striding along the other side of me. “However, that scoutship needs to be completely overhauled and checked for Karlaxon spyware. The computer core was hacked, and we almost didn’t make it back at all.”
Braxen came to a dead stop, his mouth hanging open. “They hacked our computer core?” He jogged a few steps to catch up again.
“And boarded the scoutship,” Nora interjected, her tone indignant.
Braxen hissed between his teeth, and out of the corner of my eye, I caught Nora clamping her other hand over her mouth as if to stifle a giggle.
For the first time ever, I considered how the battleship must appear to a complete stranger. My soldiers were neat and clean, close-fitting black uniforms contrasting nicely with the bright shades of their neatly trimmed and combed fur.
But Nora’s people didn’t have fur. Her skin was almost entirely bare, rather like the Drovekzian tribes at the tip of the northern desert—but unlike their skin, Nora’s didn’t have thick wrinkles.
“Nora, this is my first officer, Braxen. Braxen, this is my mate, Nora.” I gave Braxen a sidelong glance. “She killed one of the Karlaxon soldiers.”
This time, Braxen’s hiss held more surprise than anger. “I’m impressed.”
Nora shrugged. “He was trying to shoot Dax.”
That simple statement, indicating as it did that Nora would never hesitate to protect me, sent a warm glow through my entire body.
“We will be in my quarters getting cleaned up,” I informed my first officer, who gave a sharp nod of acknowledgment.
“There is one other thing, sir,” Braxen said.
“What’s that?” I paused, waiting to hear what he had to say.
“Just before you boarded, we received notice that General Galatov will be arriving in roughly two sundrops.”
I repressed a sigh. Of course Galatov would plan an inspection while I was away. “I think you could perhaps delay informing the general that I’m on board until his arrival.”
Braxen’s eyes glinted with humor, but he refrained from smiling. “Yes, sir.”
“Inform me when the general arrives.”
At Braxen’s salute, I turned down the corridor and led my new mate to the senior officer’s quarters.
I had definite plans for those two sundrops.
As we entered my cabin, Nora asked, “What exactly is a sundrop?”
I blinked, trying to determine how to answer her. “I believe you called your unit of time an hour? A sundrop is a holdover from our time before space travel, when we measured time by how far the sun had declined in the sky.”
“Thanks.” Her voice had gone quiet, and nervousness radiated off my mate as we stepped into my quarters. It coursed through her entire body, sparking through her palm and into my hand.
“What’s wrong?” I asked her.
With a quick jerk, she
