Page 4 of The Naga Princess's Soldier Mate

My mind flashed with a pair of warm brown eyes—eyes that belonged to a human face. Rugged, despite not having any scales to cover his features and protect his fragile skin. Powerful, even though he had no tail and appeared to be lying dying inside a medical nest aboard the medical skyship. Reid. I wanted to see him, but I didn’t want him to see me. It was stupid, but I was filled with fear over meeting him. What if he saw me again, and he didn’t look so full of admiration? And was it vain to want that? It wasn’t something a Naga female ever concerned herself with. I was convinced that if he saw me again, he’d see the Sazzie everyone else saw: the violent female who conquered all those who challenged her, the Queen’s favorite heir after Astrexa’s fall from grace.

“Khawla has already sent back messengers to Thunder Rock. You can’t put this off, Sazzie. Before long, challengers will start to show up here. We can’t have that.” Elder Chen sounded stern as he said this, and I felt a deep sense of shame wash over me. I was putting off the inevitable by not facing Khawla and his warriors—hiding like a coward again, seeking a shield to protect me from what fate seemed to have in store for me, despite how hard I tried to deny it. Zathar had taught me that no one in this world could shield me except me, and dread over what the future held clawed deep into my flesh.

“But not yet,” I said to Chen, and it was the lack of bite, of fire, that made him snap his mouth shut and nod. I liked the elder very much, even when he pushed me to act like the Naga I was. His eyes were kind now, very gentle, and the laugh wrinkles at the corners made it obvious he was rather merry than fierce. It was with kindness that he looked at me now, understanding dancing in his eyes, that made me feel hollow inside. He saw my weakness. And, being of Thunder Rock originally himself, he knew well the challenges a female there faced.

“All right, Sazzie. Not yet,” he agreed. “Are you going in today?” He gestured at the doorway to the primary healing room. I hissed, upset when I realized just how much the Elder Shaman had seen, but my hiss only made his smile grow wider. He was not a male easily intimidated, as my mother had discovered to her great frustration the previous week. My stomach flipped as I recalled the events that had taken place—the shift of my world as I ended the one female who had controlled my life, and that of many others. No, I was not going in. There would be no kindness or admiration from the human male once he learned what I’d done.

The temptation to steal a glance was too much, though, and I ducked my head around the corner. Our eyes locked, drawn by an impossible force. His eyelids dropped slowly, fluttering as though he was fighting to keep them open, and then he was out, asleep—his warrior body tense, like he was in a battle even when he was supposed to be resting. His fists curled into the furs, his head tossed back to expose the corded column of his throat. He looked like he was in pain, and, throwing all caution to the wind, I hurried into the room.

My hands found his balled fist, and it was instinctive to stroke my fingers over his heated skin, smoothing out the tension. It seemed to help when I uncurled his fingers and ran my palms up his arm to his even tenser shoulder. With several deep, shuddering breaths, his body eased. Rolling to his side, with his face aimed my way though his eyes remained closed, he finally appeared to be resting peacefully.

“Remarkable,” Elder Erish murmured, his hands lying on the blinking panel on the other side of the nest. His white gaze was aimed at the wall, but I could see from the tilt of his head that he was listening to every move I made. “That seems to help him, Sazzie. He hasn’t rested this peacefully before. I think I might finally be able to try the next part of his treatment. Could you stay?”

Stay? I didn’t want to leave. It felt good to help, and it was very obvious that what I’d just done had helped. There were days when it felt like all I did was destroy things; this was a novel change, and it felt good. “He will remain asleep?” I asked, and when Erish confirmed this, I settled down on the edge of the cot. “Then I’ll stay.”

“Good,” Erish nodded. “I must boost his native nanobots—juice them so they start to replicate and overtake the invaders.” None of that made sense: replicate? Invaders? And what in the blazing suns was a nanobot? They had used that word a lot around Reid, but I still had no explanation for what it was or why it was harming him. I didn’t ask, though—partially because it was ingrained not to, but also because I feared I wouldn’t understand anyway.

“He wanted me to pass on a message, by the way,” Erish said with a thoughtful hum in the back of his throat. He shifted his head and looked at the doorway, though his white eyes wouldn’t be able to see that Elder Chen was still there, observing us. My scales shivered along my spine, nerves fluttering in my belly. Erish expected me to ask what, but I could not bring myself to speak.

“He said he’d protect you. That you’d be safe with him,” the Shaman eventually said, unable to keep the words to himself. I saw the smile that flitted at the corner of his mouth and felt a surge of instinctive, protective anger. Protect me? He thought that was funny, did he? A Naga female who needed a protector? But I swallowed those feelings as quickly as they rose, because neither Shaman would mock me—it wasn’t in them. That was a female thing to do, and I needed to unlearn those instincts if I wanted to be allowed to stay here.

“Thank you for letting me know,” I said as politely as I could, my throat dry. It wasn’t until he nodded and returned his focus to whatever he was doing on the strange, ancient machine that the words sank in. Protect me, keep me safe? That’s what Reid had said to Erish? It was such a strange, unheard-of offer that I struggled to wrap my head around it. Had I seen Corin andZathar’s protectiveness of their human mates? Yes. Had I envied that? Also yes. But I was Naga and though it was my greatest wish, I was deviant for desiring that kind of thing. How had Reid known to say that? To have an answer to the biggest desire that weighed on my heart?

As soon as he started to stir, I had to leave. I couldn’t stay around a male who tempted me this much. I couldn’t put him in danger, and I couldn’t let him discover that I wasn’t who he thought I was.

Of course, nothing ever went as planned. It seemed that this human in particular liked to throw us for a loop, doing the unexpected—the impossible. Erish had only just finished the next stage of his treatment and left when he blinked open his eyes. He caught me in that gaze, and I felt unable to move, trapped. “Ah, angel. You’re here,” he said, his voice low and husky, but every word perfectly clear. My hand was still around his wrist; that was why. I knew what it meant, but…it was impossible.

Chapter 3

Reid

Whatever Erish had said to my angel, it had worked. There she was, sitting at my side, and I hadn’t felt this good in ages. My body felt easier, lighter, and some of the constant burning had faded. When I wriggled my toes beneath the furs, it didn’t cause agony to spike up my spine. Progress: good. Pretty soon, I’d be out of this bed and back in fighting shape.

Thoughts and obligations filtered in now that I felt better. How were the others doing at Haven? Had I imagined Corin and Min-Ji at my side throughout some of my illness? And had everyone safely escaped the chamber we’d been locked up in for over a week? Damn, I was behind on everything. I had no clue what was going on, but those worries faded to the back of my mind when I focused on my angel’s blue gaze.

“God, you’re so fucking pretty. How’d you get to be so beautiful? I can’t believe you’re real.” Those words might have been embarrassing as they tumbled from my mouth, but then I recalled that she probably didn’t speak my language. I’d quickly gotten used to the mated males understanding everything back at Haven, thanks to the mate bond. Then we’d gotten the translator updates. Chen and Erish had gone through that procedure, but I couldn’t expect everyone here to have done the same. They had no reason to...did they?

“Can you understand me? Do you have translator implants?” I asked her, but though her gaze never wavered from my face, she did not reply. Her blue eyes were a mystery to me, and I wasn’tused to being unable to read an expression. Still, I was pretty sure she had not understood a word I said. That only deterred me for a moment; my desire to speak to her, to learn about her, was too great to contain.

“I’m Reid,” I said, and I carefully raised my right hand to tap it against my chest. I didnotmove my left hand, where her fingers rested gently against my wrist. There wasn’t a chance in hell I’d break that contact voluntarily. The soft brush of her scales set my blood on fire, her hand warm and proof that she was really here. She would not slip from my grasp this time. “What’s your name, angel?”

She did not answer, but her blue eyes grew wider in her face, her mouth dropping open in a lovely O. The expression made my thoughts spin straight into the gutter, but I wrangled my wayward feelings back under control with a little effort. Everything she did turned me on, and I was grateful the thick furs that covered my lap hid the evidence. The last thing I wanted was to scare her away again. “Okay, angel it is. It suits you. I felt like you were watching over me before, calling me back to the land of the living. The transition has never been this…smooth.”

My mind flicked to the previous times I’d escaped the clutches of death. The labs had been horrible; they had wrenched my body from the jaws of death and forced it back into their molds, reshaping me until I became the ultimate weapon—a weapon that had been matched against many different aliens who should have been too strong for a normal human to face. That included the Naga here, all their warriors big, powerful. They would joke when we faced each other on the training field, but they always slithered away humbled.

The nanobots coursing through my veins made it so. I touched my chest again, rubbing against the triangles and squares that lay just beneath the surface. I could feel them, and they felt… they felt as if I were supposed to control them, but I couldn’t. It was like something blocked me from accessing their power. The foreign Naga nanobots—they’d done too much damage.

I feared that these weird shapes beneath my skin would be the only evidence that remained of the strength the UAR had once bestowed on me. No, not bestowed—cursed, maybe. I hadn’t asked for it, and it hadn’t been a blessing so far—not until I’d gotten to Serant. Even then, it was debatable. I wouldn’t be in this med bay if not for the experiments the UAR had performed on me.

I hadn’t meant for my thoughts to slip like that, to get caught in the memories again. When my angel shifted her small fingers against my wrist, it pulled me back to the present with a rough shock. Right—med bay, Shamans, my angel, and fire in my veins—not all of it related to my sickness. There was a soft tilt to her mouth, almost a smile but not quite. It occurred to me that she looked sad, and that made my chest ache in new ways. She shouldn’t look so sad; she should be smiling fully, with a cute baby in her arms or one of those pets the girls back at Haven went all gaga over. I couldn’t help but think that maybe she looked sad because of me, because I was still hooked up to electrodes and an IV right now while these two competing types of nanobots duked it out inside me.

“I’m going to be okay,” I said to her, my voice rasping roughly in my throat. “Last week, I was comatose; today, I’m here, talking to you, gorgeous. I couldn’t be better.” When I smiled, she smiled back slowly, just the barest tilt of her lips. There was ascar across her face, bisecting the ridge of her eyebrow, crossing her eye, and digging into the upper curve of her cheek with a little divot—a claw mark. There was no mistaking it for anything else.

My brain grew hot thinking about that, but the mark looked old and well-healed. Naga females fought, that’s what all the males at Haven said—which was why they liked the human girls so much. Earth girls enjoyed their protection, being coddled, hugged, loved, and all that. Naga females weren’t supposed to do any of those things, but I was certain my angel was different. Call me stubborn. Heck, that was my middle name. Still, I was certain that she needed me as much as I needed her right now.

“That’s better,” I agreed with her smile. “Fucking beautiful.” A million stupid, lame pickup jokes suddenly tumbled through my mind, one after the other. The kind of stuff I used to hear Harrington spout when we were on leave. Somehow, it always worked too. I doubted it would work on my angel. Besides, she deserved much better than a “Hey, did you fall from heaven?”

It should have been awkward: me lying there in bed, her sitting quietly at my side while I blabbed on. But it was nice to compliment her, to say the things I felt, because she couldn’t understand. She was so sweet, letting me talk while she listened, keeping me company. Earlier, Erish had exhausted me, but sitting with her had the opposite effect. I felt stronger by the minute.

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