After what I'd just witnessed, their obsessive struggle for supremacy was laughable. There was so much more out here, so much more that humans, with their petty fighting, had yet to comprehend. "When do Earth's first soldiers arrive?"
"Soon. Tomorrow."
Holy shit. I didn't have much time. "I want to meet them first, talk to them. And … " My voice faded as I considered what I could do to convince the soldiers arriving from Earth that the threat was real.
"And?"
"I want them to see Myntar's body. I want them to watch what happened. Do you have the video on file? Are there cameras in the medical station?"
Rav groaned and I felt his utter and complete disgust at the idea. "Everything that happens on this ship is recorded."
Everything? Shit. They hadn't exactly told me that either. But that was a concern for another day. "Let me show them, Rav. I know these guys, their type. They live by a code of honor that's solid. Their loyalty is absolute. They'll listen to me."
"I hope so. I truly hope so. Because if they so much as glare at you, if Grigg believes they are a threat, he will kill them."
I shuddered, knowing Rav spoke true. Grigg's patience had been pushed to the breaking point by me, by Earth's bullshit attitude and the day's losses to the Hive. "They won't."
"Good. But you should know, love, if Earth tries to fuck with the Coalition's fleet, they'll lose."
"Would the Interstellar Coalition let the Hive take us out? Destroy Earth?" The idea was terrifying, but I had no idea what the Prime of Rav's home world, or the leaders of the other planets, might decide if Earth's leaders didn't get their heads out of their asses. Earth was so small, and so very, very far away.
"No. We'll protect them, even if they don't deserve it. There are billions of innocents on your world who need to be sheltered."
"But what about our soldiers? You know Earth's leaders won't stop trying to get their hands on a weapon. A human pilot could easily steal a ship. Why let them come here at all? I don't understand."
Rav stroked my cheek as he explained. "You must understand, we are very, very far away from your home. Should a human pilot steal a ship, he would never make it out of this system alive. The light of your star takes thousands of years to reach us. There are over two hundred and sixty member planets in the coalition, most in different solar systems. The Fleet protects trillions of beings, hundreds of worlds separated by vast expanses of space. We live and fight and die and most never leave their sector of space. We are a vast network spread out over unimaginable distances connected only by our transport technology."
"Then, how did I get here?"
"Our transport system uses the gravity wells around stars and black holes to accelerate travel and communications. You journeyed here as a beam of pure energy accelerated to speeds you can not comprehend. Our transport and communications stations are very secure and guarded my entire battle groups of warriors. Your naïve human spies could not break into our system even if we walked them through the door and chained them to the controls. The transport pads are controlled by bioscanners and neurostim units implanted directly in the brain of our technicians. There is no way for your people to overcome our security. Even the Hive has been unable to do so, and their race is much more advanced than the humans of Earth."
"So, there's truly nothing Earth can do and no way to send anything back without permission, not even a simple message?"
"No. There is not. But your Earth is not the first world to doubt our intentions. Your leaders will come around eventually. They always do." Rav kissed me again and I melted in his arms, our embrace one of comfort and care, not hot monkey sex, although Rav was pretty damn good at that, too.
"I love you, Amanda. Whatever happens, I want you to know that."
I didn't have the words, not yet, but I held him close for a long time, both of us lost in our own thoughts, the connection between us wide open and flooded with tenderness, with love, as I allowed myself to believe he was mine to keep, allowed myself to fall absolutely, no-holds-barred, head-over-heels in love with him.
Chapter Fourteen
Grigg
The dining hall was full and the crowd of people who stopped to greet Amanda had begun to grate on my nerves. In less than an hour, the first soldiers from Earth would arrive via transport, and my beautiful, soft-hearted little mate had somehow convinced me not to kill them.
"Lady Zakar, Commander, Doctor." Captain Trist bowed low as he rose from the opposite side of the round table, his tray now empty. "I must report to the command deck."
"Captain." I inclined my head as he left us. I often took my meals here, but before Amanda's arrival, most had simply nodded silently and passed me by. Today I felt like the center of a one-woman event.
Everyone wanted to meet our mate, greet her, offer their congratulations. Amanda took it all in stride, seated as she was between myself on her right and Rav on her left. No one got close enough to touch. I was still too raw from the events of yesterday to let her out of my sight, mine or Rav's
I'd felt them bonding, soothing each other, the peaceful flood of emotion soothing me as far away as the command deck where I'd sent more than a hundred pilots into battle. We'd lost a dozen, but the Hive incursion had been pushed back.
The war went on. And on. And fucking on. I'd been fighting since I was a boy, my father dragging me with him to the command deck when I was a mere child, teaching me strategy. Teaching me how to deliver the killing blow, how to kill without mercy. Twenty years I'd been fighting, and each death took a toll on my soul. I was battered, worn down.
Before Amanda, I had forced myself to fight for duty, for honor. Now? Now I fought for her, and my determination to drive back the Hive forces, to protect her and all of my people, settled like a mountain in my chest, unmoving and without mercy. For her, I could fight forever.
She pushed the food around on her plate, an expression of distaste on her beautiful face, and I realized that I had not thought to find out what the people of Earth liked to eat.
"I'm sorry, Amanda. I should have thought to order dishes from Earth for the S-Gen programmers. I will remedy that immediately."
She leaned her head against my shoulder, touching me with a comfort and familiarity I was quickly coming to crave. "It's all right, Grigg. You've got much more important things to deal with than my taste buds."
"No, love. I don't. You are the only thing that matters to me." I meant it. If I lost her, I'd have no reason to keep fighting. I'd be finished.
Her eyes widened when I failed to hold back my emotion, but I was done hiding the ferocity of my devotion, my need, from her. Rav shifted in his seat as I was sure he felt it, too, the link forged by our collars both a blessing and a curse. I simply glowered at him, daring him to say a word.
Which, of course, he did.
"Told you, love."
She smiled and her smile morphed to a small laugh. "Yes, you did."
I held her face still between my palms and kissed her once. Twice. Right there in front of everyone as an unnatural hush fell over the room. "What did he tell you?" I whispered.
Amanda's secretive smile was all feminine mystery and I longed to throw her down on the table and fuck the truth out of her.
Gods, I needed to get control of myself, but knew I wouldn't be able to rein in my dominant nature, not until she was safely ours forever, the claiming ceremony complete, her collar a dark midnight blue.
Rav saved me from making a fool of myself in the middle of the fucking dining room. "I told her you were a pathetic, needy mess."
I considered denying his words, but the soft glow in Amanda's eyes, the total acceptance I saw in her gaze, stopped me cold. She knew. She already fucking knew the truth. "Yes, I am."
Admitting it didn't make me weaker. It didn't make me anything my father said I would become. Instead, it made me stronger, for I knew Amanda and Rav would be there for me, supporting me, encouraging me. Loving me, no matter what hardship we faced.
The confession earned me another smile and a sigh that made me feel like I'd just conquered the entire Hive collective. I kissed her again, pulling her as close as I dared in such a public place. When I let her go, she smiled and turned to Rav, kissing him, too, making sure he knew what he meant to her.
Glowing with happiness, she forced another bite of the nutrient-rich protein cubes down, her eyes scanning the crowd that had suddenly found something else to do, and somewhere else to look. But the room felt lighter, calmer, happier.
Maybe that was just me.
Amanda gasped and jumped to her feet. I rose instantly, Rav a split second slower, both of us ready to tear the head off whatever had scared her, but it wasn't panic flooding my collar, it was sorrow.
Confused, I looked down at my mate as she placed a hand on my arm to stay me before walking away, toward a couple and small boy that had just entered the dining room.
Silence descended as my mate approached Captain Myntar and his mate, everyone watching, waiting to see what Amanda was going to do.
She didn't say a word, but her gaze locked with the much larger Prillon female's for scant seconds before Mara leaned forward, collapsing with heaving sobs in Amanda's outstretched arms.
As if a dam had broken, everyone in the dining hall rose and surrounded Myntar and his mate and child, offering support and sharing in their sorrow. My little human mate was in the center of the small crowd, cementing my people into a family unit stronger than it had ever been.