“I’m marked like that?” I raised my fingers to my neck but felt nothing.
He nodded, his gaze dropping to the spot. “As we’ve never had a human Starfighter before, I was not sure how your body would react. I wanted to kiss you because I could not hold off a second longer, but I also wanted to cause you no discomfort. Your body handled both very well. Even the soreness from the injection process should fade quickly.”
That was a relief. I wasn’t thrilled about what he’d said, but the kiss had definitely distracted me. He’d been thoughtful in that. And that had been one hell of a kiss. It had literally knocked me out.
I sighed because… that kiss.
He stepped close, raised his empty hand, and stroked my cheek. It was a gesture he couldn’t seem to resist. His dark gaze roved over my face as if learning it again. “I would never hurt you, bondmate. Ever. I protect you with my life.”
The deep tone of his voice indicated he meant every word. His words were just like the vow he’d given me in the game, but these were not scripted.
“We’re bondmates,” I said. “A bonded pair.”
“Yes.”
“It’s real.”
“If you’ll allow me to put this emblem upon your uniform before we leave our quarters, I will be pleased to introduce you to the entire base.”
I nodded. He came close, affixed the emblem to my uniform shirt over my left breast. Through the uniform, his knuckles brushed my nipple and it hardened. When his eyes lifted to meet mine, I knew he felt that physical reaction to him. He brushed the hard tip again, and I swore I heard a growl or some other possessive sound come from him.
His green eyes flared with heat, and I licked my lips. I remembered our kiss, wanted more. “Do not look at me like that,” he said, his voice deep with a hint of warning.
I frowned, then whispered, “How am I looking at you?”
“As I am looking at you,” he replied. “Like I want to kiss you. Take you back to the bed and strip you bare. Make you my bondmate in all ways.”
“I want… I want you to kiss me,” I breathed.
His eyes flared, and he leaned down. Brushed his lips to mine. Barely. Quickly. He lifted his head, and our eyes met. Held.
OMG. I knew my cheeks were flushed, my nipples hard. He could see what his words did to my body. He didn’t know my body was wet and eager for him. If he got my clothes off as he wanted, he’d find out soon enough.
My stomach growled.
The corner of his mouth tipped up, and he stepped back. “Sustenance first.”
“Then?”
“Then,” he replied, as if that explained everything.
He took my hand and led me from our quarters into a long corridor. I tried not to stare at the bizarre designs etched into the walls. They were clearly alien and exactly like what I’d seen in the video game. I recognized it from the game’s graphics, this moon base. Everything was smooth and sealed, with no visible bolts or joints in the walls that I could see. The corridor that led away from our quarters was maybe two hundred paces from a vast open space that made me stop dead in my tracks.
The ceiling was so high the beams supporting the structure looked like thread woven into a spider’s web far overheard. The structure was a series of connected hexagonal domes, each glowing a different color. The effect was stunning as the common area before us looked like it was flooded by bright sunlight. The space was so large that dozens of corridors opened into it, the archway we stood beneath one of the smallest. There were others large enough to drive multiple semitrucks through, side by side. And one wall was windows or plexiglass or screens. I wasn’t sure if I was looking at a real view or a simulated one. Either way, it was stunning. The planet below looked just like Earth, except the continents and oceans were in all the wrong places. The blue oceans, white clouds, green and brown land masses could have been on Earth. But I had seen them before. Many, many times.
I’d been here before. In the game. Now I was here in real life. With Alex.
He pointed as I stared. “That is my home planet, Velerion. It is twenty times—”
“The size of Earth. Yes, I know.” I could recite every piece of data and knowledge that had been programmed into the game. I knew all about Velerion, the war, the evil queen who was trying to take control of his planet and surrender its people and resources to the Dark Fleet. “Everything in the game is true. Every single detail,” I murmured. I wasn’t questioning it any longer.
He looked at me and simply said, “Yes.”
I ran my hand over my hair. “Why do you need me? Why build the game and send it to Earth of all places? There have to be better places to get fighters. I mean, seriously, look at me! I am not a soldier. I’m overweight, I’ve never held a gun, I deliver boxes for a living, and I’ve never even been to another country, let alone the other side of the galaxy.”
I waved my hands at the planet below us as I spoke, and Alex grabbed them out of the air and held them between his own. The touch, and the way he stroked his thumbs back and forth, was comforting. Again, he grounded me.
“You, Jamie Miller, are an Elite Starfighter. You are one of the most highly skilled and effective warriors in the galaxy. We sent the game to Earth because humans are well-known to be resourceful, intelligent, and creative, all traits required in a Starfighter.”
“I’m the only one you got?” I looked up into green eyes that were too serious and way too sexy. “That can’t be right.”
“You are the first. No one on the other worlds has come close to completing the training academy. Earth has many fighters close to completion.”
“You mean they’re about to beat the game,” I said, clarifying.
He gave a negligible shrug. “Call it what you will. To you, it was a game. To Velerion, a tool to identify and recruit the best Starfighters we can find. Once the others’ training is complete, they will be brought here as well. You will not be alone for long, my Jamie.”
“I’m not alone, Alex.”
He leaned in close and pressed his lips to mine in another chaste kiss that shocked me and left me wanting more. “No, you are not.” His gaze was riveted to my lips. “Nor will you ever be, bondmate. I am yours and you are mine.”
I thought back to the ceremony I’d watched. “‘Will you stay with me, Starfighter? Will you remain at my side and fight with me to the end of our days?’”
“You remember what I asked of you.”
I nodded.
“I remember you accepting and General Aryk formally bonding us. It is true. It is real. The bond. Our pairing.”
Our gazes locked, and I felt a nearly irresistible urge to rip that uniform from his body and jump him. Before I could act on the impulse, we were surrounded.
“Alexius!”
“Is she the one?”
“A new Starfighter! Thank Vega!”
“One more bonded pair won’t be enough.”
“It will help.” That last came from a tall male in a Starfighter uniform.
The voices surrounded me and I processed the Velerion easily, but this time I realized the movements of their lips weren’t matching the sounds my brain was hearing. That was going to take some getting used to.
Alex raised one hand for silence as he wrapped his other around my waist. When they had quieted down, he spoke to the group, who looked like regular humans. They wore various uniforms, but thanks to the game, I knew exactly what each of their jobs were on this moon base. Alexius and I were wearing the black of the Elite Starfighter. There was a mechanic who worked on the Starfighter ships, two officers of the Velerion military who would be in charge of base operations and supplies, and two men who also wore Elite Starfighter uniforms with the swirled mark on their chests.