Ah, she was understanding now. I exhaled and even allowed a smile to turn up the corner of my mouth. “That is correct.”
“Because I accepted the offer to be your bonded mate.”
“Yes.”
“Because the Starfighter Training Academy isn’t just a video game but a recruitment tool to find people from all over the universe to fight Queen Raya?”
“Yes.”
“Why me? I’m a nobody, Alex. Seriously.”
Alex? My gaze dropped to her lips, and I wanted to kiss her. Now. “You, Jamie Miller, are an Elite Starfighter and my bondmate.”
“Okay, let’s say I believe you. Why build that game? Don’t you have pilots on Velerion?”
“We did. The skills required of an Elite Starfighter are far less common than you believe.” The surprise attack was still an open wound on my heart, and all of Velerion. “Just over one year ago Queen Raya destroyed a secret moon base where the bulk of the Elite Starfighters were stationed. The moon itself is nothing but a long asteroid belt now. Rock and debris from the explosion spreads across two grids in orbit around my planet. Only a small core of Elite Starfighters were off base at the time and survived the attack. Many of my friends were killed that day, including my only brother and his bondmate.”
Her shoulders slumped, and she raised her fingers to her lips. “God, that’s… I’m sorry.”
I wasn’t sure if she believed me, that what I stated had truly happened, or if she’d been so entrenched in her game that she had become empathetic to what she believed were the program’s imaginary beings.
I cleared my throat. “The training program was created to discover the most skilled fighters from Earth. What you refer to as a game is a battle simulator used to train our pilots. You are the first from Earth to complete the training.”
She set her hand on her chest. “Me? The first?”
Nodding, I took a step toward her. “You are the first to complete the pilot training program. You are the first Elite Starfighter from Earth.”
She looked an equal mix of pleased and wary. “Then you’re an Elite Starfighter too, because we did it together.”
I nodded. “Once you completed your training, I became one with you. I was reassigned.” I didn’t want to elaborate on what I my job was on Syrax. I had strict orders to keep what we’d been doing for the past year a complete secret. “I was notified of our original match many months ago, on the Earth date of June thirteen.”
Her eyes widened. “The day I made you in the game?”
I did smile then. It was amusing to hear her perspective of the training program. “You didn’t make me. You selected physical and cognitive options that, when combined together, matched mine.”
She frowned. “You mean if I had chosen different components, I’d have been matched to someone else? A real someone?”
“Yes.” I looked down at myself, ran a hand over my chest. Her gaze followed the motion. “I am pleased that you find my components appealing.” It was my turn to look her over, appreciating every inch. “I find your components appealing as well.”
Her cheeks flushed pink, and she glanced away. I sensed interest and pleasure, although she did not embrace either. I would win her over, I was sure of it.
She stomped over to a high-backed chair, dropped into it. The space was small, a living area with comfortable seating facing a large, flat screen. She reached over and grabbed a black object from the low table in front of her.
“This is how I played. A gaming controller.” She lifted her chin to the screen on the wall. “My TV.”
So this was where she trained. I’d tried to imagine this setting, but now I was here. She might not be the only one to struggle with the belief that this was truly happening. It wasn’t every day a Starfighter met his bonded mate… from another planet. Seeing her small body in the place where she had battled beside me, where we spoke to each other, fought together… fuck. I wanted to kneel down in front of that chair and touch her. Everywhere.
Time for a distraction.
“You told me to shut up on our last mission,” I said, smiling as I remembered her sass.
Her head whipped up to mine, and she stared at me, almost afraid.
“How do you—”
“Because it’s real. I’m real. The enemy you fought is real. While the missions were simulated, the battles are based on past challenges faced by our Elite Starfighters. The training scenarios are identical to real events our people fought in the past. You were trained. You excelled. It is time to fulfill your destiny and fight at my side.”
3
Alexius
* * *
She started to laugh again, but it fell away as she continued to look at me. I didn’t shift, barely breathed. “Oh my God. You really are serious.”
She grabbed another item from the table, pointed it at her screen. She pressed a small button, and the screen illuminated. She dropped the device to pick up the gaming controller, pressed a number of buttons, but the screen remained blank.
Her hands went up in obvious frustration. “See? It’s broken.”
She tossed the controller onto the hard surface with a clatter.
I shook my head. “No. It is complete. Your training simulation is over, and the data has been erased to protect your identity.”
“You mean I can’t play anymore?” she asked, running a hand over her hair again in, this time, an angry gesture.
“You accepted the bonding. General Aryk welcomed you to Velerion. The only missions left for you now are real ones.”
She popped to her feet, began to pace between her chair and the screen. “Let’s say this is real.”
“It is.”
She looked up at me, narrowed her eyes in a familiar gesture I’d seen during training. Irritation. “When I get there, I just live and fight with you to save Velerion from Queen Raya and the Dark Fleet?”
“Precisely.”
“Because we’re a bonded pair.”
“Exactly.” Now she was understanding. Perhaps this wasn’t going to be all that difficult.
“I don’t even know you.”
It was my turn to frown. “You were beside me in every one of those missions. I know how you think. How you fight. I love your bravery. Your sass. Your fearlessness. When you say I don’t know you, I beg to differ. You told your friends, Mia and Lily, that I was your ideal partner.”
She frowned; then realization widened her eyes. “You heard that? You heard everything we were saying?”
“As I said, the training is real.”
She stopped her pacing, faced me, and stared. Blinked some more. I wasn’t sure if she had something in her eye or if she was wondering if I would disappear if she did it enough. “You’re real.”
I closed the small distance between us and took her hand. Felt the softness of her skin, her warmth. She gasped.
“I’m real and I’m yours.” I still held the Starfighter crest but didn’t give it to her because she pulled her hands back again when I held it up for her to see. “This is yours, proof that you are an Elite Starfighter. That we are now a bonded, fighting pair. That we will work together to save Velerion.” I took another step closer, shifting so that our chests almost touched. “And so much more.”