Page 34 of The Alien's Stolen Rebel

The giant laughed, lifting some of the tension in the room with his obvious joy, and I turned to my mate. She scanned the crowd, and I realized I’d left her in an unenviable position. Aside from me, she’d never met anyone here—even the crew I’d pulled together to rescue her were strangers.

But she barely hesitated before choosing. “Hey, um, you with the knives? Sorry, I don’t even know your name, but will you be my maid of honor?”

Kyria blinked and looked around, as though ‘you with knives’ could mean anyone else here. Finally, she faced up to the fact Rachel was talking to her. And she smiled, wide and joyful and eager.

“You honor me,” she said in a rush, taking this moment more seriously than she had any of the life-or-death of the assault. “I, Kyria eja-Obrn, will gladly stand as your warmaiden of honor.”

“That’s not…nevermind.” Rachel gave up halfway through correcting Kyria and grinned. “That’s fantastic.”

I remember verylittle of the ceremony that followed. Between my injuries and the intense emotions runningthrough me, I could hold on to little of what happened. All I remember is that it was beautiful.

Oh, objectively, I’m sure it was a mess. Perhaps even unrecognizable to the humans whose culture it came from. The bride wore a white, blood-stained dress, torn in several places. The groom? I still wore the costume of a slave-warrior, and I doubt gold-painted leather kilts have ever been the fashion on Earth. Especially not given the wounds I carried, which threatened to overwhelm me at any moment.

At my side, the best man helped by taking some of my weight while doing his best not to show he was holding me up. His combat armor was probably better than my mostly bare skin, but it was still an…unorthodox look.

Not as unorthodox as the guest list, though. Thugs, gangsters, and warlords we’d tried to escape, all constantly wary of each other and resentful of me. At any moment, this could descend into violence again—but each of them would rather see Rachel married to me than one of their rivals, so they had an interest in witnessing the ceremony.

This was the most dangerous wedding I’d ever heard of, especially as injured as I was. It might be the stupidest, worst plan I’d ever tried, and it had some stiff competition.

It was all worth it for one look at my mate as she walked down the aisle toward me. I refused to believe any female in the universe could rival the beauty of Rachel on the day of our wedding. It wasn’t her dress,as stunning as it was, clinging to her curves, torn to reveal deliciously tempting skin, and trailing a floating train that made her look like she had wings of white fabric.

The dress helped, but the true beauty came from the imperfections. Her long red hair was in disarray, scrapes and cuts marked her arms, and her crooked smile lit up the room like a nova. My beloved was every bit the warrior, the pirate queen, we’d claimed she was. What began as a convenient lie had uncovered the steel in her heart and become the truth.

I couldn’t have felt more love than I did at that moment. My heart would have burst from it.

Music filled the room from hidden speakers, filling the hall. She walked in time with it, making her way to me, and everything else vanished from my attention. From the moment Rachel arrived, all I can remember is her smile. The love in her eyes. The touch of her hand. Her kiss.

I know there was more. Ellara read from some text on her tablet, and we exchanged vows. I know, because others saw, heard, and recorded it for me to watch later.

All I remember is my beloved.

21

RACHEL

My husband towered over me. Myhusband,the alien pirate! A month ago that would have been unthinkably bizarre. A week ago, a nightmare. Now? I couldn’t keep the goofy smile off my face.

He held my hand in his, squeezing gently, powerful muscles holding me tight. I squeezed back, the pounding in my ears drowning out everything else. Everything other than him, as he leaned in and breathed a single word.

“Mine.”

My breath caught, and I squeezed his hand tight as a wave of joyful anticipation ran through me.

“Yours,” I agreed, and his smile outshone the sun.

The smile didn’t waver as his legs gave out and he fell with the slow majesty of a silver tree. I grabbed his arm in both hands but knew at once I’d be unable to take his full weight.

His best man caught him under his other arm, taking most of the strain off me. My maid of honor took the rest, grinning at me as she lifted him. “Men, right? Always so dramatic.”

“Jokes later, leave now.” Kreel’s best man—Arzak? I thought that was his name—said, a voice of reason in an unreasonable time. Kyria rolled her eyes, her every movement broadcasting ‘see what I mean?’ energy, but she didn’t argue.

A glance back at the room was all it took to convince me. The various warlords and their minions bristled at each other already, just waiting for someone to make the first move. As dangerous and brave as my husband was, in this state even he couldn’t take them on.

Everyone in the Guildhall had a reason to see us married, which gave them a reason to keep the peace. Now the ceremony was done, though, the room became a bomb with a fuse measured in seconds.Time to go while we still can.

“Where do you think you’re off to, human?” Okay, maybe it was a little late. The Guildfather glared at me with the kind of hate only a petty man with injured pride could manage. Exactly the combination I’d hoped would get me killed when I thought that was my best option. At least I’d judged him well.

Small comfort now it was about to bite me in the ass. The knowledge that he wouldn’t survive the fight he started wasn't too uplifting, either. The Guildfather held a flimsy-looking weapon in one hand, a constructof wire and jewels. It looked like a harmless decoration, but in the hands of an officer of the Guild of Criminals and Allied Trades, it was safe to conclude it was both deadly and banned in half the galaxy.

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