Mate.
I kept thinking of the word and its meaning since Kol had said it to me four days ago. Since the moment we officially became husband and wife, so to speak, it felt like I was on autopilot. The Maji way wasn’t simple, and marriage to the Maji certainly wasn’t as simple as saying ‘I do’. It was something like a sacred ritual that tied individuals together for life. That terrified me because I didn’t have time to wrap my head around the fact that I was beginning to fall in love with him before his saddle was hitched to mine.
We had a bond now; a chemical bond that allowed us to share a mental link. We could speak to one another through our minds; as if being claimed by an alpha male wasn’t daunting enough, I had to have him inside my head, too. I didn’t know where to begin to describe how I felt about the turn of events that had taken place in my life. On the one hand, I was extremely grateful for the new life being offered to me and my people, and on the other hand, I couldn’t believe any of it was real.
The fact that I was safe felt too good to be true, and the other fact that I was an alien prince’s wife was something I couldn’t even begin to comprehend. I’d had a few days to adjust since I became a mated female, and the only thing that I was used to was the Maji themselves. I barely noticed skin colour, height, or sharp teeth anymore or even acknowledged the company I kept was a different species. That all felt too trivial to focus on in light of my new status.
Not only was I married—mated—but I was also now a princess. Me. A skinny little runt from Earth who didn’t know the first thing about being anything other than a peasant let alone a member of the Maji royal family. I felt like I was trapped in a dream. At times, it was the perfect dream, and at other times, when my worries became too much, it was like a never-ending nightmare I didn’t know how to wake up from.
How did I find myself here?
I jumped when I felt a hand on my thigh.
In the mess hall? Kol asked.
I turned my head and glanced at him.
No, I told him. In this situation. None of this feels real, and I’m beginning to wonder if it ever will.
“Do not worry yourself, shiva.” Kol winked. “You’re the first female of your kind to mate with a Maji, and it’s all happened so fast for you that it will surely feel strange for a while. Once we reach Ealra and settle into our life, that will change.”
You don’t know that.
“I do.” Kol nodded.
“I wasn’t saying that to you. I was just thinking it in general.” I groaned and turned my attention to the food on my tray. “You have to teach me how to block my thoughts from you. I feel like I’m never alone… not even in my head. It’s stressing me out, Kol. I’ve always been on my own, and I didn’t realise how much I liked the peace and quiet until your voice appeared in my head.”
I ignored the snickering from Mikoh, who sat across from me. Surkah, on the far side of the table next to him, glared at him.
Really? Kol asked, his tone amused. You seemed to really like that I could hear your thoughts when you were too shy to voice how much you liked my licking you last night.
I set my jaw and looked up from my breakfast tray and glared daggers at my grinning mate. We hadn’t had sex since the night we mated. The first two days were because of sensitivity, not mainly because of the sex, but because of Kol’s essence bonding into the bloodstream. It made me weak, and a little uneasy on my feet. Not being at full strength didn’t stop Kol from touching me when we were in bed. He never took it to the point of no return, but he did explore me with his fingers and mouth until I couldn’t see straight. Everything about our intimacy was still new territory for me, so it meant I embarrassed easily. Kol wasn’t allowed to discuss what we did in private, but he talked about it anyway,
“Get out of my head, Kol.”
His lips twitched, but he nodded, which only caused me to eye him suspiciously.
“I want to learn the blocking thing you mentioned to me,” I informed him. “You said it was possible for mates to screen our thoughts so we could have privacy, and I want that as soon as possible. And I still protest that you should have told me that there would be a psychic link between us!”
“I told you.” He frowned. “I didn’t want to scare you.”
“I just don’t understand how any of this is possible. I know you’ve explained it, but I can’t comprehend it,” I said with a shake of my head. “I am human, and humans can’t read one another’s thought.”
“I’m not human,” Kol said.
You don’t need to tell me that, big guy. I’m more than aware.
Kol grinned at me, and knowing he heard my thoughts, I scowled.
“How can we be so different but the same too?” I wondered aloud.
“Maji and humans,” Mikoh began. “Our bodies are similar, yes?”
“Apart from skin colour and how freaking huge you all are… yes.”
Kol’s lips twitched, but I ignored him because I knew he knew exactly what part of him I thought was huge, and it wasn’t the head on his damn shoulders.
“Humans are the only other species we have found that resemble us with such detail. As you said, we’re different, but we’re the same, too. Species of the cosmos cross-breed all the time; it is how many species are born. Maybe Maji were once humans, or maybe humans were once Maji.”
“Humans would have come from Maji, I think,” Surkah thoughtfully interjected. “Our race is a lot older than theirs is.”
Mikoh nodded as he leaned back in his chair.
“I think so too, but maybe another species has diluted their blood so much, and that’s why they slightly differ from us, or perhaps they’ve evolved on their own… but not entirely… Nova has bonded with Kol as any other Maji female would have.”
It was an irrational thing to do, but I slammed my teeth together and began to breathe heavily at the thought of another woman touching my husband. A frightening sensation of possession filled me from head to toe.
He’s mine.
I jumped when I felt Kol’s purr rather than heard it.
“Yes, shiva.” He smiled and reached for me, pulling me onto his lap. “I am yours.”
He nuzzled my neck and inhaled.
I could scent her forever… my female.
“I’m going insane!” I said as I lifted my hands to my face. “I hear and feel you all the time, and now I’m getting possessive like you. Am I turning into a Maji? Is that what your essence is really doing? Is it taking the human out of me?”
Everyone’s laughter only grated on my nerves, but instead of being angry, I felt emotional. It sounded funny to them, but I was so confused and scared about what was happening to my body, and I didn’t know what to do about it… so I began to cry.
“Shiva.”
No, don’t shiva me, I sobbed. You think this is funny, and it is to you, but it’s not to me. This is all as natural as breathing to you, but it’s one new thing on top of the other for me, and I’m just so scared, Kol. Nothing like this happens in my world.
Kol tightened his arms around me.
“I did not think, shiva, and I am so sorry. Please, do not cry. It pains me when you cry.”
He meant that literally. I could feel how upset my tears were making him.
“Do you want to pilot the Ebony? You keep asking me, and if you stop crying, I will allow it.”
I heard male laughter. “Your father was right; our mates will have us under their thumb.”
“Quiet, Mikoh!”
Mikoh only laughed louder.
I pulled back from Kol, sniffling and hiccupping.
“You’ll… You’ll let me fly the c-craft?”
“If it makes you stop crying, shiva.” He nodded frantically. “Yes.”
I wiped away my tears. “Okay.”
Mikoh’s laughter aggravated Kol, and I could sense he was about to attack him.
Please don’t, I pleaded. I can’t handle seeing you fighting with him right now.
We must leave then, Kol almost growled in response. His impatience to have Surkah is pushing him to challenge every male he sees.
I don’t want to go back to our quarters, though. We’re always there.
Surkah had told me that newly mated males would go to great lengths to hide their females from peering eyes. Everyone was a threat to a newly mated male, even a female. It was in their instincts to keep their females hidden where nothing could harm them, and to Kol, that meant us holed up in our quarters all day, every day.
We reach Ealra in less than one Earth hour, Kol hummed as his fingers stroked my thigh. What do you want to do if not return to our quarters?
I perked up. “I can fly the craft since we’re getting off it soon.”
Kol glared at Mikoh when he laughed again, and without a word, he stood and brought us to our feet.
“We’re going for a walk,” Kol said, his tone clipped.
Surkah smacked Mikoh’s chest with the back of her hand to stop him from saying whatever it was he was about to say in response to Kol, and the distraction worked wonders. She became his primary focus, and it enabled me and Kol to slip away from the table without Mikoh noticing our departure. When he was looking at Surkah, the world could have ended around him, and he wouldn’t have noticed.
When Kol and I left the mess hall and walked side by side down the identical hallways, I slid my hand into his, and his expression of awe made me giggle like a little girl.
“I can’t believe it was only a few days ago,” I mused, “that I would have pushed you off the craft if I was given the chance.”
Kol’s laughter caused my heart to leap as he squeezed my hand. “A mating changes everything, shiva.”
It really had, the hard-headed Kol I had first met had been replaced with the most caring male I could have ever have wished for. While he was still a typical male, he went about his alpha ways with a little more consideration for me. With every passing hour, I became more and more infatuated with him, and I knew it wouldn’t be long until I had fallen head over heels in love with him.
He was perfect, and I didn’t have to have the chemical bond the Maji had to become addicted to him. I was already knee-deep in my obsession with him, and like everything else, it scared me half to death. I was terrified that things would change when we landed on Ealra, and our time together would be cut in half. It was a fear I couldn’t shake no matter how often Kol told me it would never come true. All I had ever known and loved had been taken away from me, so I couldn’t see how the pattern would suddenly end just because Kol said so.
“Are you really letting me fly the Ebony?” I asked Kol when we stepped onto the bridge.
The crew on the bridge did their fist over the chest and bowing thing to Kol, and they did it to me too, but none of them looked at me. He nodded to me as he led me to a large control panel where someone was always stationed even if the ship was on auto pilot. The male moved away without a verbal order from Kol, though I knew he probably told him to move through their comms. Kol stationed me in front of the control panel, and he positioned himself behind me. He put his hands on mine and placed them flat on the control panel.
“You do not know how to physically pilot but just about anyone can do it mentally,” Kol explained, his hands still pressed on the back of my hands. “I have given you clearance to fly. You don’t have a comm of your own, but your translator has frequencies that my comm has just finished rewriting so you can think your commands to the ship.”
I was suddenly terrified to fly the ship.
“This is a bad idea,” I said, panicked. “I shouldn’t have asked for this.”
I noticed the males on the lowered section of the bridge suddenly grabbing the closest sturdy thing to them, and a few of them even laughed and said something that made Kol tense.
“Say a single word further,” he growled to the males on the bridge, “and I will allow Surkah to do her annual assessment early this year.”
Gazes quickly dropped, and bodies busied back to work. All except one.
“And early assessment is worth it.”
“Nero—”
“That little human has you, as the humans say, by the balls.”
I choked on air as I laughed. I looked to my right and found Nero, a male who I had met a few days earlier when I tried to escape the Ebony, and from his conversation with Kol, it was easy to tell that this was another one of his close friends.
“Get back to work,” Kol growled.
Nero winked but did as ordered. When my attention left him and returned to what I was about to do, I tensed all over again.
“You will do fine,” Kol assured me and pressed a kiss to the crown of my head. “Now listen to me carefully, okay?”
I bobbed my head.
“We’ll be reaching Ealra soon, so what we want to do is slow down, and to do that you need to fire all forward facing thrusters.”
I knew that; my father had told me the functions of every part of every machine in an engine hall, but I still appreciated Kol’s guidance because I suddenly forgot everything I had ever been taught about a spacecraft.
“Okay, and how do I issue that command?”
“You simply think it.”
Uh.
“Okay… is that all?”
“You have to start your command with ‘Ebony’, or she won’t do what you tell her.”
I gasped. “Is she self-aware?”
A lot of androids on Earth had become self-aware over the years.
“No.” Kol laughed. “She is just programmed to react in conversation as if she were a living Maji female. She has personality.”
“Right,” I said, relaxing. “Will I do it now?”
“Let me announce our heading to the passengers first.”
I hesitated. “Okay.”
He closed his eyes. “This is the shipmaster,” he spoke, his voice stern. “Prepare for deceleration. Humans, you will feel odd for a few minutes, so I’d advise you to sit down and place your head between your knees now. All males assist any female that is in need… Please note that my mate is heading the deceleration.”
The crew on the bridge practically wrapped themselves around their consoles.
“Oh, that’s reassuring!” I said sarcastically as I scowled at them.
“You can go ahead,” Kol murmured to me.
I didn’t know why I was so startled by his voice, but I was. I figured it was my nerves over flying the ship that was filled with not only Maji salvation, but human too. I quickly looked down at my hands, and before I lost my nerve, I thought, Ebony, can you fire all forward facing thrusters to slow us down… please?
Yes, Princess Nova, a sultry female voice flowed through my mind.
I gasped when my body was suddenly, in slow motion, pulled forward. I felt so bizarre and almost instantly lightheaded. My hands slipped from the control panel, and before I knew it, I was sitting on my behind with my knees raised to my chest and my head resting on them. A large warm hand was stroking up and down my back.
You did well, shiva.
I was trembling.
I can’t believe you let me do that. I’m never doing that ever again.
Kol laughed as he continued to stroke my back. It didn’t take long until I was back on my feet and feeling back to normal. I worried for the rest of the human women who were possibly weak, but Kol assured me there weren’t many cases of humans fainting, and those who had were being cared for by males until Surkah, or another healer, could help them feel better.
“Do you want to see the engine hall?” Kol asked me. “You won’t be back on board the Ebony in the future, so it’s your last chance.”
So he thought. I didn’t tell Kol that I eventually wanted to start my trade as an engineer, but I figured I’d wait until we were settled on Ealra before I made that declaration.
“I’d love to see it,” I beamed up at him.
We left the bridge hand in hand, and a few minutes later, we were on the lower decks of the Ebony and walking into the incredibly huge engine hall. I imagined the engines of the craft to be roaring with life, but they were eerily silent, though they were working from the look of them. I was a little unnerved that I couldn’t tell which engine was the main one used for converting energy from the reactor core and which ones were the propulsion engines used to fire up the craft’s thrusters. It all looked different than what I was used too.
“Thane?” Kol shouted, looking around for his friend.
I saw no males anywhere, and I found that extremely odd because an engine hall usually had a crew with specific skills that kept everything in check from the moment the rector flared to life until the moment it was shut off. I smiled when I suddenly heard the familiar growl of an engine, a hiss of pneumatics that flowed to the reactor core, as well as some reverberating. The Ebony was virtually silent, as Mikoh had once told me, but an engine was an engine, and all an engine wanted to do was to be heard.
“This is amazing,” I said in awe.
I jumped when I heard a loud bang that was quickly followed by harsh curses.
“Is that you, Kol?”
The voice that spoke was deep and had a natural rasp to it.
“It’s me,” Kol confirmed. “And my mate.”
I blinked when a male rounded from behind a black engine pump with a rag of some kind in his hand. His skin, or what I could see of it anyway, was a warm blue… the patches that weren’t covered in a thick black liquid anyway. Like every other Maji male, Thane was tall, muscular, and ridiculously attractive. His chestnut brown hair was tied into a knot on the back of his head, but wild strands escaped the tie and hung loosely around his chiselled face. His cat-like eyes were emerald green with white strikes throughout them, and a white scar stood out against his skin, curving up from his neck and onto his cheek in a jagged pattern. I didn’t focus on it. Instead, I locked my eyes on the black patterns that decorated his neck, the top of his chest, and his bare arms.
He had spilled an oil of some kind on himself, and he was busy wiping it off, but I mistook some of his obvious tattoos for oil, too.
“I’m not presentable for the new princess,” Thane angrily scowled at Kol.
My mate laughed. “I think you look just fine, like a young one with a skin rash after he got into an alder berries bath.”
Thane’s glare told me he’d love to beat the shit out of Kol.
“Stop teasing him.” I clicked my tongue and nudged my mate.
He put his muscled arm around my shoulder.
“This is my female,” Kol stated, his show of dominance not going amiss.
Thane rolled his eyes and focused on me.
“Princess,” he said and placed his fist on his chest before he… bowed.
I tensed. “You really don’t need to bow. I’m not really a—”
“You’re my mate, shiva,” Kol cut me off. “You’re a princess through our mating.”
That was never going to be possible to wrap my head around.
“Yes, but still—hey, wait a second! How come you aren’t freaking out at Thane for looking at me and talking to me?”
No male—except Mikoh and Nero—was allowed glance in my direction or mutter a word in it. And more than once, Kol had attacked them both when they made me laugh. Kol had been very firm about no one interacting with me since our bond snapped into place and I became his mate.
Kol raised a brow. “Because he is Thane.”
He said that like I knew the meaning behind it.
“Explain,” I demanded.
“He is my brother in arms,” Kol shrugged. “I trust him, and my instincts do, too.”
“In other words,” Thane interjected, “he knows I pose no threat to take you away from him.”
Oh.
“Well.” I nodded. “Okay then.”
Thane’s lips twitched then he flickered his eyes to Kol.
“The deceleration wasn’t very smooth. Are you well?” the male asked, worry laced in his tone.
“Did you not hear my announcement?” Kol asked.
As if on cue, one of the engines roared.
Thane raised a brow. “I never hear you in here unless you contact me through our comms.”
“I forgot.” Kol waved him off. “It was nothing anyway.”
“Nothing?” the male blinked. “It stalled engine one.”
I winced and looked up at Kol. “You said I did well.”
“You did,” he assured me. “Gravity pockets are all over space. Anyone could fly into their path when deceleration is issued, even you.”
“Excuse me?” Thane cut in. “Did I hear that correctly? You let a female pilot the Ebony?”
I could hear the amusement in his tone.
Kol set his jaw. “For one minute, yes.”
“Why?” Thane asked, astonished.
“She… She was crying… and I wanted her to stop.”
Thane stared at Kol, and he waited about two-point-five seconds before he burst into a fit of uncontrollable laughter.
“You’ve… gone… insane.”
My lips twitched as Thane bent forward and whacked his hand against his knee as he laughed. I didn’t mind that I was the source of his laughter. I quickly realised that women… females, have a very long way to go before the males of the Maji race will see them on an equal level. To be honest, I didn’t think the males would ever see the females as something other than gems to protect. And I wasn’t sure that it was a bad thing.
“I am still in my right mind,” Kol growled.
“You’re not,” Thane insisted, still laughing. “You’re letting a female pilot the Ebony because you wanted her to stop crying.”
Kol scowled. “She is my mate; it pains me when she cries.”
“That is why I won’t ever take a mate,” Thane said with an amused chuckle. “The only female I will let rule me is the Ebony.”
Kol tensed. “Nova does not rule me.”
Thane deadpanned, and it only caused Kol to scowl at him harder, and that made me laugh. Thane switched his gaze to me, and he beamed a huge smile. It was a gorgeous smile even if he did have sharper gold-capped teeth than what I was used to.
Kol suddenly growled, and almost instantly, Thane dropped his gaze from me, but he was still smiling.
“You have tamed him, princess.”
Kol grumbled something under his breath that made Thane snicker.
I sighed. “I don’t believe this one will ever be tamed; he is prepared to attack every male I glance at.”
“He won’t be like this forever.” Thane winked. “Your mating is fresh. After a few decades, his instincts will calm, and he won’t be bothered if other males look at you and speak to you… within reason, of course.”
“A few decades?” I spluttered.
Thane laughed. “At least five.”
Normally, that kind of talk would prompt me to say ‘I’ll be dead in five decades’, but Surkah has assured me many times since Kol and I became mates four days ago that the chemical essence of my bond with him would slow my aging dramatically. She had no proof other than a reading her lissa thing projected to her. For Kol and every other Maji, Surkah’s word was as much proof as they needed as she was a healer, but for me, it didn’t hold much promise or make a lot of sense. It made as much sense as being able to hear Kol’s thoughts and feel his emotions. I was either going to be young for very long time or get old and wrinkly sooner than the Maji thought.
Only time would tell.
“It’ll take him that long to calm his ass down? Are you kidding me?”
Kol belly laughed along with Thane.
“I’m not Human, shiva.”
“Yeah, you’ve said that a million times, but how different you are is still baffling. I honestly don’t think I’ll ever get used to it. You’re a complete weirdo, mate.”
Kol stared down at me then lifted his hands to my face, rubbing his thumbs over my cheeks before he lowered his mouth to mine. Almost instantly, I leaned up on my tiptoes and returned his kiss. My arms went around his waist, and my lips moved with his. I hummed when I parted my lips, and his tongue snaked inside. When he pulled back from our kiss, he was making that rough purring sound I loved so much.
Kol chuckled softly. Placing the tip of his nose against the tip of mine, he dragged the tip up the bridge of my nose before he stopped at the point between my eyes. He pulled back slightly and replaced the tip of his nose with his lips as he planted a gentle kiss. My stomach instantly burst into butterflies. Kol had done that very action the morning after our mating. I had woke up, and he did the exact thing with his nose on mine, and when I asked him what he was doing, he told me it was a mate kiss, a sacred gesture between mates and cherished family members. He explained it as an action of deep love between mates.
I was greatly touched by the action, and the meaning and emotion behind it, but I quickly turned the conversation to our being able to hear each other’s thoughts and began to learn all about that part of being a Maji’s mate. I didn’t want to discuss love with Kol because I wasn’t anywhere near that point with him to be able to say it. He hadn’t told me he loved me, but I knew he was very close to doing so. I knew our mating was different for him; it had a completely different effect on him. He didn’t just feel possessive of my body; he felt possessive of my heart, too. Our mating didn’t only ensure he was mine, and I was his, but it gave me his heart without asking if I wanted it. I knew I had to be very careful, or I’d break it.
He regained my attention when he kissed me once more, and it caused me to hum with delight.
His kisses are awesome.
“I’ll be sure to give you plenty of them, my mate.”
I smiled up at him. “I’m going to hold you to that.”
“You’re lucky I have not had lunch; it would be all over your feet right about now if I had.”
I blushed wildly when Thane spoke, reminding me of his presence.
I turned my head towards him. “I’m so sorry; that was incredibly rude of us.”
“Don’t apologise.” Kol snorted. “He has done a lot more than kiss a female in my presence, and Mikoh’s and Nero’s for that matter. I think he even once brought a female to her knees when my father was close by.”
Thane devilishly grinned. “Guilty.”
I snorted, and just as I was about to speak, Kol closed his eyes, and a slow grin spread across his lips.
“Why’re you smiling?” I asked, appreciating how handsome he was.
“I’m being hailed to the bridge.” He looked down and pinned me in place with his violet eyes. “Ealra is within sight.”