4
Captain Trax Lorvarz
I’d heardof the Prillon tradition of presenting oneself to a new mate the way Surnen was now. Naked. Even on our home world, Prillon Prime, the custom was rare as far as I knew, and only practiced by a handful of the oldest, most traditional families. But no one had followed the custom for decades. Especially not in space. Especially not in the transport room.
None of the mated Prillons on The Colony had ever done it. We’d have all heard if Maxim had bared himself for Rachel. This was such an old tradition that Surnen was making it new again. Back on Prillon Prime, where there was less danger than on a battleship where I’d been raised, some of the wealthier noble families still followed the old ways. But even they were considered out of touch. Anyone under the age of ninety years would be laughing at Surnen right now.
I was not laughing. I expected Surnen and I to both be very naked—well, perhaps I’d be able to dim the lights so my integrations were hidden, or better yet, leave my shirt on—when we claimed our mate, fucked her until she screamed with pleasure. But this? In the transport room?
Our female was not laughing either. She was staring. At Surnen’s cock. At his chest. At the silver that streaked his forearm and legs. He was not shamed by his integrations. They didn’t affect him as mine did me. They didn’t cause him a deep sense of panic at the idea of being seen as lesser. Damaged. Worthless.
It was what I’d heard more than once when I’d been a boy growing up on the battleship. Some of our best warriors had been taken, integrated and recovered. But my fathers, even my mother had refused to look them in the eye once it was done. They had been very traditional, had feared that even one touch by the contaminated warriors would somehow infect them—or worse, infect me. Their son. Their dark, perfect warrior son.
I still remembered the day my mother had run toward me and yanked me off my feet, into her arms, and covered my body with her own as she shoved past the contaminated Prillon who’d been showing me how to properly attach my armor.
I’d been eleven, and he’d been a hero of mine for years, one of the fiercest fighters and one of the best pilots. He’d been my idol and a good friend of both of my fathers—until he wasn’t.
Once he’d been rescued, my parents, all three of them, refused to speak to him. He’d become a pariah on the ship. Unseen. Feared. It had taken two days for our battleship to transport him to The Colony.
I’d never forgotten the lesson. Damaged meant worthless. To my mother. My fathers. The entire crew.
When I returned from being a Hive prisoner, my mother had called me once on comms. Standing between my two fathers, who had said nothing, she had cried so hard I could barely understand her words, told me she loved me and good luck on The Colony.
That was it. My fathers had simply nodded as if they were proud of me, wished me luck and signed off as well.
I’d been forgotten by my own family for less integrations than Surnen currently had on display. Mikki was new to us. A human. Small. So small and delicate looking, her black hair like the soft shimmer of a night flower. She was ethereal, still more phantom to me than a real, live female. A dream. Perhaps an apparition.
Then there was the dumb bastard next to me flaunting his integrations and his cock both.
Fuck. He was going to scare her. I’d seen her look at my ear, at the silver integrations circling my neck, and had felt heat creep up my neck and into my face. Shame. She hadn’t walked away, but she hadn’t seen my shoulders yet either. And I didn’t want to lose her or, worse, have her remain and be repulsed once she saw all of me.
I’d planned to fuck her in the dark, to pleasure her until she was too lost in her body’s needs to notice the silver imperfections in my flesh. I didn’t know how many orgasms that would require, but I was up for the task. As was my cock, rock-hard and weeping under the restrictive uniform I’d worn to hide as much of my contamination as possible.
Yet here was Surnen, fucking ruining everything.
I’d had no idea he would do this. By the gods, she seemed to gasp for breath. His silver hand and wrist were attached to his forearm by twisted silver streaks that ran from his wrist to just below the elbow. He had similar silver streaks running from hips to knees on both legs and also from the backs of his knees to his heels. His face appeared unaffected but for the slight glint of silver in the very backs of his eyes. On Prillon Prime—or Battleship Lorvan, where I had been born, had grown into a warrior and spent several years serving the Coalition Fleet—the hand alone would be enough to frighten a gentle female. But to stand here, streaked in silver? Naked?
I knew transported brides arrived without covering, but I’d assumed it was more because of transport than anything else. Earth was a long fucking way. Although I’d transported hundreds of times, and not once had I lost my clothing or weapons in transit. Perhaps it was specifically a bride protocol? I had no idea, but the glimpses I’d seen of Mikki’s petite, naked figure had made my cock instantly hard. The only thing that could dampen my arousal was seeing Surnen bare-assed.
“What are you doing?” I asked him.
His eyes remained on Mikki. “Following Prillon protocol and custom.”
“That requires you to prance naked in the transport room?” I could see the young Everian transport tech standing at the control station, looking anywhere but at Surnen. Surnen didn’t blink, didn’t even blush at the idea of being bare. Or showing our female his contaminated flesh.
“I do not prance. My mate shall know what I am. I will not hide.”
I shook my head. “Nothing’s hidden. In fact, your cock’s aiming right at her.” Why I felt the need to prod Surnen when I had already accomplished my goal of getting him out of his medical lab, I couldn’t say. But seeing him this way, out of sorts, unstable, awake made me want to push a little further. He’d been behaving like a half-dead corpse for far too long. Years.
This custom he was following was awkward and strange, of course, but had to admit, he’d heard he had a mate and responded. He was presenting himself to her in the only way he knew how. In the most reverent of ways. Odd but reverent. He was trying to do this right, no matter how wrong it seemed. This gave me hope that maybe he wasn’t as dead inside as I’d begun to suspect.
“I am not ashamed to be attracted to my mate. I am honored by the way she arouses me. You please me, mate,” he said, his tone a touch softer, just for her, ensuring she didn’t doubt his cock stand. “Trax, put your collar away before I kill you. It is my collar she shall wear. You, as well.”
I moved from behind Mikki to stand perpendicular to both of them, my collar dangling from my hand at my side. I wanted to see Mikki’s face, but I didn’t want to turn my back on Surnen. “It’s about time you got your head out of your ass,” I murmured.
He ignored me, his gaze locked on our female as he spoke. “I shall allow the blanket, for there is a chill in the room, but from now on you shall cover your body in gray and only gray, mate.”
Our female’s mouth dropped open with an adorable oval shape. As I was not yet familiar with her reactions, I chose to focus on Surnen.