It wasn’t a cell. Soulless warriors slated for retirement weren’t kept in cells. No, they were confined to locked rooms with a comfortable cot and plenty of food. There was even a window that looked out onto the wintry expanse that was their home moon.

To say his examination had gone poorly would be an understatement. The moment he’d mentioned a denya, he’d been labeled delusional and fixated. No one even suggested speaking with Sierra, even though he’d practically yelled at them that talking to her would explain everything.

But no, he was soulless, and therefore he could not have a mate. He could not feel anything. Despite all evidence to the contrary. The decision to execute him had taken less than half an hour. He’d be given his Final Night, as was custom, and removed at dawn the following day. He would not be permitted to say his goodbyes, and Sierra would never hear of what happened.

Until the door had locked behind him and Raze realized that there was absolutely no way of getting out, he hadn’t known what it meant to feel hopeless. Until this moment, every impossible scenario had ended with him finding a way out. When his thirtieth birthday approached with no mate in sight, he’d applied to become a soulless warrior and cheated death. When his men were captured by pirates and under threat of death, he’d found a way to save them. When their ship was floating dead in space, another had been right there to take them home.

But there would be no rescue ship tonight. Nothing but darkness and a scalpel taking him from his mate and the galaxy.

His eyes misted and he blinked hard, holding back tears. He had nothing left but his pride, and he would not give that up, not so soon after he’d found it again.

The final torture was the bond that pulsed bright in his chest. He could feel Sierra’s frustration and the anxiety that being grounded in an unfamiliar place brought out in her. She feared that she couldn’t protect the women she’d rescued, and a glowing pulse of affection and desire beat strong in both of their hearts, binding them tightly to one another.

Would she feel him die? When the bond snapped, would she know? If any of the gods were real, he prayed that she wouldn’t. If he could spare her that one sorrow, he’d sacrifice his soul all over again.

With nothing else to do, Raze stared out the window at the blinding white snow.

A sharp spike of fear traveled down their bond, followed quickly by fierce determination. Raze jumped up from the bed and began to pace. Something was wrong. Sierra needed help, and he was confined to this cursed room with no reprieve.

The lock disengaged and Raze held himself back from tackling the guard that stepped in. He could escape the room, but there was no way off the planet. Buying a few hours would mean nothing but a swift death the moment he was caught.

The guard studied him for a moment. He was a younger man, maybe twenty-five, and Raze couldn’t remember his name. “You’ve been summoned,” he said.

“It isn’t dawn, it isn’t time.” He’d still been counting on a miracle, and that miracle was supposed to have at least twelve hours to arrive.

“You’ve been summoned,” the guard repeated.

If he was going to his death, he’d at least do it with honor. They walked down dim gray halls and to the judgment room. Raze stood with his hands behind his back and looked at the three judges who’d sent him to death without waiting for an explanation. “There has been a development, NaFeen,” Sandon said. Neither of the other two judges acknowledged his presence.

A development?

The door behind him burst open and Raze didn’t need to turn around to know who was there. But how had she known? And why were they speaking with her?

Sierra stepped up and placed a hand on his shoulder. Raze released all the tension he hadn’t realized he’d built up. “This man is my mate,” she said. “And if you’re about to kill him because he’s crazy or unstable, you’re wrong, and you can’t.” It all came out in a rush and she thrummed with energy. Raze was worried she was about to launch herself at the judges, but she held back.

Sandon leaned forward, hands clasped together. “You are a human,” he pointed out. “And even if what you claim were possible in general, it isn’t possible with him.” One of the other judges nodded, while the third remained still, shrouded in shadow. All tribunals like this consisted of a mated warrior, a warrior who still had his soul, and one of the soulless. The still one must be soulless.

“Since I’m standing here with him, it clearly is. Look,” she drew herself up, “I don’t know if there’s some sort of test you can do, or some way we can prove this is true, but it is. And if you refuse to acknowledge it, then I must insist that you hand him over as a citizen of Earth.”

The room went utterly silent as everyone looked at Sierra as if she’d grown a second head.

“Earth has no jurisdiction here,” Sandon pointed out. “And even if it did, Raze is no citizen.”

Raze remained silent, even as his mind tried to catch up to the game that Sierra was playing.

“He is a citizen, as my mate,” she insisted. “The Alien Recognition Treaty of 2167 acknowledges that all marriages or equivalent ceremonies between an Earth citizen and a non-Earth citizen bestow Earth rights upon the spouse. In light of that, you are holding my mate, my spouse, in contradiction of that treaty. He is mine, and you can’t have him. I will not let you execute him.”

She was brave, and a little crazy, and Raze couldn’t love her more.

The judges leaned in close and Sierra’s hand dropped down beside her thigh and reached out to brush his. Raze gripped her hand tight, hoping her plan somehow worked. The judges kept speaking in low voices and seemed to pay no attention to them, though Raze didn’t for a moment believe that was the case. Several more minutes passed by and when Sandon leaned forward again, Raze’s anticipation skyrocketed.

“This is a previously unknown and unanticipated turn of events,” he said evenly. “It has always been the goal of our force to preserve Detyen life and keep our culture alive. In protecting our people, the judgments we must make are often harsh. But we cannot survive by inflexibility. The judgment on the status of Raze NaFeen is hereby reversed, and his mating acknowledged.”

Sierra bit off an excited sound and Raze’s eyes widened. That was it? He was saved? She was his?

“However,” Sandon continued. “In light of this new information, you will both be required to undergo a series of tests to determine if this was a freak accident, or if more such matings can be expected. Report to the med bay tomorrow.”

Raze squeezed Sierra’s hand, as if that could stop her from protesting, but she stayed quiet. The judges filed out of the room through a back door, and he and Sierra left through the main entrance. In the hall, they remained quiet and shocked for all of ten seconds before she let out an excited whoop and jumped into his arms. He held her close and she wrapped her legs around his waist, giving him all of her weight.

“Holy shit,” she breathed into his ear. “I can’t believe that fucking worked.”

Her heart beat out a steady rhythm against him and her hands were practically vibrating where she was touching him. “You’re amazing,” he said, unable to stop grinning.

“You got a place more private where you can show me that?”

And then they were rushing down the hallway, uncaring of who saw them. They were here, alive, and together. And whatever the next day brought, nothing was going to change that.

***

There really was no luxury on this base. Already, all the drab walls were kind of getting to her, and Raze’s room was just kind of sad. Or, it would have been, if her mate wasn’t already half-naked and panting, red eyes devouring her like she was the tastiest dessert on the tray.

“So I’m a citizen of Earth now?” he asked.

“Um,” Sierra let out a nervous breath. “To be honest, we barely covered that treaty in school and there might have been some shit I made up right then. But they bought it, and that’s what counts, right?” She’d been clinging to the edge of panic the entire time they stood there, ready to scream or do something truly crazy if she couldn’t get them to listen. Raze was perfectly healthy. Who were those assholes to tell her that he needed to be put down like a sick pet because he was acting differently than they expected?

Raze tilted his head back and laughed, the warm sound wrapping around her as tightly as a hug. “You bluffed!”

She blushed and ducked her head. “That was the least of what I would do to get you out of there.” The strength of her fear—and other emotions—scared her, but not enough to make her hesitate. “And,” she conceded, “they could have been less reasonable. I highly doubt that would have worked on Earth.” What if her father had been sitting on a panel like that? A cry of Daddy, I love him would not have been enough to save any man’s life.

“Then we count ourselves lucky.” He reached out and grabbed her wrist, gently pulling her towards him. Sierra’s hands wrapped around his waist like they belonged there and she placed her cheek against his naked chest, the beat of his heart steadying her.

She traced over the clan markings on his chest, her fingers drawing little lines against the slightly raised, dark skin that dotted his chest and down his arm. Raze shivered under her touch. “Are they sensitive?” she asked, not letting up.

“A little.” He held still, letting her explore.

Her tongue darted out to trace along the edge of one mark on his pec and Raze sucked in a harsh breath. A little, sure. She could feel the thick length of his cock pressing against her and just his presence meant she was practically ready to explode. She didn’t want to waste time with a striptease today, not when she’d almost lost her mate just after finding him. No, today she needed something else. Desperately. “Get your clothes off,” she ordered, pulling back.

Raze grinned. “You’re commanding today.”

“And you’re not getting rid of me, so get used to it.” It could have come out harsh, but her voice was shaky with desire. Half-naked, he was the most handsome man she’d ever seen. Nude? He was a work of art.

He dipped his head and captured her lips and somehow Sierra ended up plastered against his body, one leg slung over his still clothed form. He pulled back and they both gasped, chests heaving. “Don’t want to get rid of you,” he said, those eyes flashing between red and black again. God, that was sexy.

“Good.” She traced her hand over his cheek, fingers finding a ridge there, like there was cartilage giving his cheekbones a sharp edge. She kissed him there too, learning his every secret with her fingers and her lips. “Pants off,” she whispered in his ear.

Her playful mate placed his hands on her waist and start to guide her pants down, exposing her to the cool air of the room. She pulled her top off while he worked and stepped out of her pants once they fell all the way to the floor. Raze stepped back and devoured her with his gaze, licking his lips in a way that made her shiver and caught a moan in the back of her throat. All that intensity, that strength, it was all hers.

Raze made quick work of his pants, casting them off and standing proud and naked before her, his cock hard and right there, all for her. She licked her own lips and imagined the taste of him, but her own sex was hot and wet and she needed him inside of her right now. Their first time together it had been a little strange, good—great, actually—but strange. There were some sort of ridges on his dick that hit her just right, giving her sensations she’d never before felt. And right now she wanted to feel them again.

They fell onto his bed together, scrambling a bit to find the right position on the small cot. His room hadn’t been made to accommodate two people, it barely fit him. But with hot skin pressed against skin, they made it work in a writhing mess of moans and pleasure, slick with sweat and the evidence of their mutual arousal.

He found his way to her entrance and Sierra gasped as he slid in, slid home, and seated himself deep inside her. Her head fell back and his lips were there, kissing along the column of her throat as he thrust in and out, whispering words of devotion she’d never before wanted to hear but now couldn’t live without. This man, this alien, was the one person in the entire universe meant for her, and it couldn’t have been clearer as they tangled together on scratchy sheets and spelled out their devotion with their bodies.

Pleasure crested in a wave and Sierra called out, clutching Raze close as he emptied himself into her, his lips never ceasing to taste as he marked her as his with his lips and his tongue and his cock.

Time floated around them as they came back down, and before long Sierra was draped over half of Raze’s body, clinging to him close as the haziness of sleep tried to capture them.

“I didn’t think it was possible,” she mumbled, her lips brushing against his chest with every word.

Raze’s fingers tangled in her hair, playing with it gently. “What?”

“To fall for someone this quickly. This completely. But I love you, you got that, right?” She’d thought the words would be hard to say, or that she’d be too afraid to speak it out, but with Raze there was only comfort and the certainty of her place in his life.

“I love you too,” he told her.

“We’ve still got shit to figure out.” They might have figured out one obstacle, but too many remained.

“We will,” Raze promised.

And for the first time, Sierra fell asleep full of hope.