Page 10 of The Naga Princess's Soldier Mate

I stroked my thumb down her cheek, along the curve of her jaw, and the delicate point of her dainty chin horn. When I touched her throat, she shivered, and I could hear how it made the scales along her spine whisper as they brushed together. I grinned as I traced her collarbone. “Fine. Now, tell me why they were challenging you. Tell me everything, Sazzie.”

Her eyes narrowed on my face, her fist tightened around my dogtags before she released them, and I could see how her pulse picked up in her neck. “I don’t want to tell you,” she said after a long silence. I quirked an eyebrow at her, inviting her to keep talking, and that worked. She was smiling, but it was a soft, tremulous thing—nervous. “I’m afraid you won’t look at me the same afterward…”

“Impossible,” I burst out, and that made the smile grow wider, startled, but also hopeful. “I see you, Sazzie. The real you, the one you don’t dare to show to anyone else. I see you, and you don’t have to be afraid. I’ll keep you safe. Don’t you know that?” If I was feeling a mate bond, then so was she, I was certain. Even if I wasn’t sure of that, I was sure of her need for a protector, her need to feel safe.

“I was made to be a warrior, a shield,” I told her. “That’s all I’ve ever wanted to do: keep people safe, protect.” I raised my arm and flexed my fist, the ink that marked my skin growing tight. “Let me be your shield, Sazzie. I need to be yours.” Her shield, hers in every way. I had often been called impulsive; I was not a patient man, going with my gut rather than my mind most days. If my fellow humans had trusted their Naga counterparts to take the plunge so wholeheartedly, then how could I not put the same trust in my angel?

She raised herself on her elbow, daintily leaning on my chest. It brought our faces closer together, and I was tempted to kiss her again. “We both nearly died yesterday. How can I ask you to put yourself in harm’s way for me?” She shook her head, her expression turning grim as she recalled yesterday’s events. I felt anger roll over me as I recalled them too, the way that one female had struck her in the back, clawed her pretty blue scales. That cowardly bitch… I did not finish that thought, wresting control of the rising need for violence that coiled through my body.

The nanobots inside me responded to that call to action. I could feel them shifting beneath my flesh, as if they wanted to bubble to the surface and coat my skin like armor. Once, I had worn silver nano-armor in my duties as a Shadow Unit soldier—armor that self-repaired, could morph at will, and withstand any heat or cold. But the nanobots inside me had never been designed to do the same; they were there to repair damage and enhance my strength and senses, not to protect.

Shrugging off the strange sensations of my weirdly evolved nanobots, I focus on my woman. “You’re not asking; I’m offering,” I said, and then I shook my head. “No, I’m demanding.It’s my choice, angel. I’ll protect you whether you say yes or no.” Somehow, those words made her laugh rather than ruffle her feathers. She sounded relieved by my persistence, and when she sobered, I could tell she wasn’t quite so worried about sharing what was going on.

“When your friends brought you here,” she said, “I was visiting the Shaman camp with my mother.” A mother, huh. I had not gotten the impression that there was much love lost between Naga females and their offspring. Zathar had certainly described his mother as a cold-hearted bitch. Zathar… It clicked in my brain, very belatedly. I was certain, it had practically been spelled out to me yesterday. Zathar was Sazzie’s brother. That’s why the blue of her eyes was so familiar to me. Oh, fuck. Did that mean the Thunder Rock Queen was here? Haven had an uneasy truce with her, but that meant nothing if it didn’t suit that woman.

“Corin and the Queen, they have history, and…” she faltered mid-sentence, swallowing roughly. Her eyes flicked nervously from my face to the med bay’s exit, as if she expected someone to be listening in and judge her for what she was about to say next. “My mother did not want Corin to be happy. She tried to kill his mate, so I…” Another rough swallow as she hesitated, and I found myself reaching up with a hand to pet her along her spine. Sazzie wore very little, and cold did not seem to bother her the way it would a human. It was very tempting, being able to curve my palm along so much of her bare body.

“I killed her,” she admitted at last. “I killed the Queen. I killed my mother.” Her eyes locked onto mine, and whatever it was she was looking for, I knew she wouldn’t find it. She was a little calmer when she continued talking, but her hand flickedthrough the air between us for emphasis. She talked about how they decided who got to be the next Thunder Queen, that it was her by default unless she was defeated, because she was the crown princess. The heir apparent. So that’s what all that shit in the woods yesterday had been about. Now it made sense.

“You don’t think they’re going to stop, do you?” I asked when she fell silent. She nodded, her sharper canine teeth digging into her bottom lip. Cupping the back of her head, my fingers tangled with her long, silky blue hair, I pulled her down so I could kiss her. “Bring it,” I whispered against her lips. “I’m ready. I’ll lay waste to the entire village if that’s what it takes.”

“You can’t do that!” she said, incredulous. When I winked, it made her eyes twinkle, and her sharp cheekbones darkened again into a beautiful lapis lazuli. “You’re joking?” I rolled a shoulder, not quite willing to admit that, if it came to that, I absolutely would. That kind of thing was a bit intense, and I did not want to frighten her. She had started to relax, and I adored the open, warm expression on her face and the light in her eyes.

The sound of voices in the distance indicated we were about to have company. I focused on the sound with a hint of trepidation, but I had much more control this time. It was like twisting a volume dial; when I wanted it, the sound got louder until I could hear what was being said. It sounded like Chen and Erish, along with a third voice I did not recognize. They spoke to each other in a familiar, friendly manner, on equal footing.

“We must move the camp today, Chen,” said one voice. “With Bitter Storm so close, we cannot afford to wait.” They had paused in the hallway outside the med bay, because I could no longer hear the sound of scales sliding against metal. Erish wasmaking a heated argument about my health, that I needed more time to heal, but it was soon clear that they were waiting for the Elder Chen to make the final call.

“We move today,” he agreed at last, his voice sounding heavy, weary. He clearly did not like having to make that decision, which meant Sazzie and I were about to see some changes. Were they going to kick her out? For bringing the challengers to their doorstep? Challengers that Bitter Storm had followed to get here? As the technology-hating Clan, it was no surprise that Sazzie had told me they were not supposed to know the location of the Training Grounds.

I carefully shifted Sazzie off my chest and rose to my feet beside the round medical cot. Shaped more like a padded bowl than a bed, it wasn’t entirely comfortable for me to stretch out in, and it was slightly awkward to get out of. Rubbing my hand over my stubble-covered chin, I wished, not for the first time, that I could get a good shave. At this point, it couldn’t really be called stubble anymore; it was practically a beard.

Unshaven or not, I was ready for them when the three Shamans glided into the med bay. Protectively positioned in front of Sazzie inside the nest, my arms out at my sides. If they were going to kick her out, they’d have to kick me out too. I was strong enough for it now—even if I might collapse afterward, it would be worth it. Of course, the kind expression on Erish’s face made me feel like an ass for acting hostile. Erish was a good guy—a healer through and through—and he didn’t want to see Sazzie or me come to harm.

“You heard us, did you, boy?” Chen said. His voice was pitched sternly, but I could see the twinkle in his blue eyes. Okay, so nokicking was about to happen. I straightened slowly and twisted my head to glance at my angel; I wanted to know what she was up to. Was she worried like I had been? She looked calm, serene, as she sat with her tail in an elegant loop inside the nest. She looked like the fucking royalty she apparently was, with her chin at a haughty angle. When she looked like that, I felt, more than ever, that I ought to be her bodyguard, her protector.

“I heard. You are moving camp. Does that mean Sazzie and I overstayed our welcome?” I could understand it. If they didn’t want Bitter Storm to know about the ships, then they needed to move them. The technology-hating Clan might tolerate the Shaman Artek on their border out of necessity, they wouldn’t tolerate this.

“Not overstayed so much as… You are well enough to leave,” the third Shaman said, the one I hadn’t met before. He was white-scaled like Artek, but his opalescent sheen had dulled with age. I was pretty sure I had heard Erish argue that I was not healthy enough yet, but he did not object to what his colleague said, so maybe I was wrong. I opened my mouth to question this myself, but Sazzie’s hand on my wrist halted me in my tracks.

She curled out of the nest in an elegant move and rose beside me, forming a unit. With her fingers against my wrist as an anchor point, she confronted the three Shamans with a warm, gentle smile, very at odds with her supposedly volatile nature. “And we will go, of course.” She fished a leather cord with a silver disk from a pouch at her hip and held it out to the Elder Chen. I did not know the significance of that odd little piece of jewelry, but I did recognize it. Corin wore an identical disk around his neck, and he never took it off.

“No, keep it,” Chen said, and he pressed the disk back into her hand, carefully folding her fingers around the small metal object. “You should know that you may always find sanctuary with us. Before we leave, I also want you to talk with Avrish. No more dodging her, understood?” I hated being out of the loop, and I was starting to feel more and more like I was. Avrish was an unknown entity to me, and female from the sounds of it, I did not trust it.

“Where are you taking the camp? To the crash site?” Sazzie asked as she lifted the string around her neck and patted the disk close against her chest. It was clearly precious to her, so it had to be very significant indeed. My attention sharpened when she mentioned a crash site. Chen did say a spaceship had crashed to Serant a few days ago. Was that the crash site?

It was the unknown male who answered again, unexpectedly taking the lead while Chen smiled serenely at us. “That is correct. Our scouts have reported numerous survivors. We must pay close attention.” Hang on, survivors? That was huge news. As far as I knew, my fellow humans and I were the only survivors of a crash—ever. What were the odds that more had made it?

“Humans?” I demanded, stepping forward in my eagerness. All of us thathadmade it to the surface alive had been tricked by the UAR, our government. We’d been accused of crimes and executed, a court marshal in my case, but normal court in the case of the others. Then we’d been put in stasis and shipped out of the Alpha Quadrant, where Earth was located, to be used as currency. When I thought about it, the odds were extremely low that more humans had crashed to Serant and survived, and yet I was hoping for it all the same. If they were here, they would be out of the UAR’s reach and safe. It would mean a chanceat happiness for more of the good, outcast males that lived at Haven—many of them my friends.

“No,” Chen said with a shake of his head. “The beings our scout reported seeing were not human; he would have recognized humans. These were beings on two legs, yes, but with tusks and particularly unappealing features—very crude and mean. Many of them lived and are now building fortifications around their ship cutting down whole swaths of trees to do so.”

I did not know of any alien species that matched that description, and my hope quickly plummeted. The survivors sounded like a menace to Serant, but at the same time, it sounded exactly like something a UAR ship might do after a crash landing. They’d need to survive and repair their ship, and, depending on the damage, that could take a very long time. Maybe they were waiting for help, but another ship might not want to risk attempting a landing. They’d just as easily suffer the same fate.

As exciting as this sounded, it wasn’t nearly as important as the risk that Sazzie faced, so I put it out of my head. “Okay, good luck with them. You can call on Haven if you want assistance, maybe someone there knows more about these aliens.” Kalani had seen much of the universe, like I had, but the truth was that we were all newcomers to this part of the universe. I did not even know what quadrant Serant was in. Though maybe Min-Ji knew more. Actually, the more I thought about it, the more I was certain Min-Ji might know more. I said as much, and the bossy Shaman, whose name I did not know, assured me they’d reach out to her.

“That leaves us with a choice to make, doesn’t it?” I said to Sazzie. “Where do you want to go?” It was entirely up to her, butif we were left behind, we would likely have to go another round with those challengers for the throne and evade Bitter Storm while we were at it.

“What do you mean?” Sazzie asked, her voice clearly conveying her uncertainty. “Don’t you have to go back to Haven?” she added when I waved my hand at her to elaborate. She looked confused, and the Shamans looked amused, as if this little break in communication between us was funny to them. No, not funny—endearing, maybe. Chen smiled like my grandfather would when I was little and my parents had a little argument—say, about directions—and then made up again.

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