Sadies mate, p.5
Sadie's Mate, page 5
It didn’t take Sadie long before she too was sound asleep against him.
Chapter Five
There were a lot of survivors, thank the stars. Sadie was doing what she did best after the crew had done a few double takes her direction, and Bracken had given out orders to everyone. He’d left her, reluctantly, in engineering to go do what he needed to do.
She’d heard rumor that General Daykin’s destroyer had also arrived to assist in the rescue. The plan, according to one of the engineers, was to collect all the survivors and ferry them to one of the larger moon bases. There was one only two days away so it was the most convenient and logical of choices. From there the crew would get a lift back to Craegin on one of the destroyers that was coming back in from patrol.
Tensions were high around the ship. While Bracken had plainly told everyone that it hadn’t actually been an Imarian attack, but a subterfuge, the crew was nervous. And things only got worse once the crew started to carry rumors from the survivors.
A hand touched her arm lightly. “Hey, it’s only me,” Bracken said when she nearly came out of her skin. “I thought you heard me say your name. I’m sorry, little one.” He passed her a bottle of water and ran his hand over her hair. Every couple of hours he’d made the rounds to check on all departments. In engineering he ensured that everyone was drinking plenty of water and eating the snacks the dining hall had sent down for them. “How are you doing?”
“I can’t believe they did this,” she admitted and took a deep breath. “Our people are trying to incite a war against our own people. I’m just beside myself. We have to somehow stop this.” She moved so that she could wrap her arms around him and hugged him tightly. “I’m making a couple of upgrades to the range scanners and then we will be able to differentiate between our ships and the Imarians’. The true ones.”
“We will stop this, Sadie. I have no clue how at this point, but thank you for doing what you can.” He wrapped his arms around her and just held her for a long time. “I’m sorry, little one, but I need to get moving. I’ll come check on you again soon. Drink the water. It’s getting bloody hot down here and you don’t need to get dehydrated.”
“Okay.” She pulled back and touched her fingers to his cheek. “You’re taking care of yourself and drinking enough, aren’t you? And the general and his wife, they’re okay?”
“I’m drinking plenty of fluids, as are the rest of the crew. Fintan is doing his part on his ship, and I have no idea what Adira is up to. Knowing her she’s in the thick of things and driving her husband to distraction.” Tipping her chin up with a finger, Bracken leaned in to kiss her. “Be good, and if you need me, call the command deck. Draven knows where I am at all times.” Another kiss to her lips and he released her. “Drink your water, woman,” he ordered as he headed to the other side of engineering.
Sadie shook her head and grinned. When he walked out one of the lab techs come up and reminded her once again to drink her water. She had to laugh at that. She couldn’t believe he even had the techs telling her to drink her water.
****
Hours later, the recovery done and the destroyers on the way to the moon base, Bracken came to find her one last time. He looked as tired as she felt, and as tired as everyone else around her looked. The entire crew had been going non-stop for hours. While the engineering crew was down to the bare minimum, she knew those there would have a bit of a wait before they too could go and find their bunks.
Sadie didn’t hesitate. She wrapped her arm around his middle and led him out of engineering. “Tomorrow I need to get aboard the general’s ship so I can install the new software for them as well. Do you think he will let me?”
“He’ll let you.” He wrapped an arm around her shoulders as they walked along slowly. “Fintan wants to meet you, and so does the woman in his life. They’ve invited us over for a meal. I hope you don’t mind but I accepted.”
“I don’t mind at all.” She looked up at him and nodded. “I look forward to meeting her as well. For now, why don’t the two of us go and grab a bite to eat and then go to our quarters?”
“Sounds like a good plan.” Squeezing her closer to him, he led her into a lift. “Something quick, though. I don’t think either of us will manage to stay awake for more than that. Even the thought of chewing sounds exhausting.”
“Agreed.” She was beyond exhausted. “The sooner we can get home the better.” Home. Their quarters were already what she thought of as home. “Maybe we can just pick something up and take it back to our rooms? That way we can eat naked and don’t have to worry about much else?”
“You had me at naked,” he told her. When the lift stopped they headed toward the dining hall. Bracken opened the doors and let her go through first. The lights were dimmed, and there were only a few people in the room. Most seemed to be sleeping with their heads on the tables.
“This has been exhausting for everyone involved, hasn’t it?” she asked as she moved to the line to grab a tray. “Now then, what all do you want?” She pulled a few items from the line, sandwiches and pie. “Bracken?”
“Sorry, I think I may have dozed off for a moment. Uh, the same as what you have there, love. And maybe one of the juices too. If I drink any more water or coffee I may need to throw a fit.”
“Sounds good.” She doubled the food that they had on the tray already and once it was full she turned to him. “Ready?”
Nodding, he took the tray from her and gave her the bottles of juice he’d collected. He let out a big yawn and slipped his arm back around her shoulders while they walked. “If I could get away with it, I’d sleep for a week after today. Unfortunately, I think the crew might grow suspicious if I don’t at least put in an appearance at some point.”
“True. They might think I’m keeping you away from everyone.” She had seen more than one of the people looking at her as if she were a mutant or something.
Giving her a squeeze, he tipped her chin up with his free hand. “What’s going on, Sadie? And don’t tell me nothing. I know you. Plus being able to see your true face helps with figuring out what’s going through that head of yours. Tell me what made you look like you just bit into something sour.”
“Just getting used to the looks is all. It’s been years since I’ve had anyone look at the true me so to see the looks, it’s just taking a little to keep from turning away from them,” she admitted.
“You are beautiful, Sadie. I know you don’t feel like you are, but believe me when I say you are beautiful.” He pressed a kiss to her temple, near the scar. “This doesn’t take away from it, little one. I would protect you from all this if I could, you know that right?”
“I’m glad you think so.” She brushed her cheek to his. “I’m glad it doesn’t take away from what we have. It’s part of me.” She took a deep breath. “It’s life, right?”
“We all have scars, Sadie. Some of us have them on our flesh, others have them deep inside where no one knows they exist. They all mark us, change us, and make us stronger.”
On their floor they made their way quickly to their quarters. She didn’t say anything else until she was finally once more alone with him in their quarters. Setting their food on the table, she turned to face him. “Now then, food is here and so are we. Naked, right?”
“Yes, you need to get naked,” he said with a grin. “I’m planning on putting on a pair of pants so I remember to behave myself around you. Though it will be a test, especially after yesterday with all your lovely, soft, warm curves pressed up against me.” He let out a groan and shifted on his feet. “I now need a very cold shower.”
“So do I,” she grumbled. “Maybe we should take one together?” She liked the way that sounded. A lot.
Bracken let out a low whimper. Scraping his fingers through his short dark red hair, he eyed her up and down. “It really isn’t conducive to the purpose of the cold shower to have you in there wet and naked with me.”
“I know it’s not but I can’t seem to help myself. I want to be around you. I want to feel your hands on my body and I want to know how perfectly we will fit together because I know that we will. Fit, that is. I already fit you so well. When we’re sleeping together don’t you feel just how well we fit?”
“Of course I do, Sadie. I’m also trying to behave myself until we have our contract settled and we’re married. After that all bets are off, though, and I will remember all of this teasing you’re doing. There will be payback.” Reaching out, he pulled her into his arms, his hands landing on her ass to haul her up against him. “I’m only a man, Sadie. You can only push me so far before I snap. Not something I want happening for our first time together.”
“And when will we work on our contract and be married?” She was anxious to have everything with him, needed it. “I trust you, Bracken, completely. I know you would never do anything that would cause me permanent harm or cause me pain just for the sake of causing me pain.”
He looked a bit taken aback by her words but nodded as he said, “Of course I wouldn’t. You are my everything, Sadie. We will work on the contract as soon as we wake up tomorrow. We’ll have our ceremony as soon as we drop off our guests at the moon base. I trust many of them but not all as I don’t know them all. And your safety is always my first priority.”
“I trust you,” she told him with a nod and stepped back. “Okay, then. You go and shower and then I will. And tomorrow, we’ll start our lives together.”
“Absolutely correct.” After giving her ass a squeeze and pressing a kiss to her lips he drew back. “Why don’t you eat while I’m cleaning up? I won’t be very long but you should get going on that since I doubt we’ll both be awake for very long.”
“You have that right.” She put her hand over his heart and nodded. “Go before I ask again to shower with you.”
He brushed his fingers over the back of her hand. Then he stepped away from her touch and headed into their sleeping rooms. She could hear him moving around for a time before the water started.
Once she knew he was in the shower, she began to eat. She listened to the noise in the bathroom and when it sounded like he was almost done she put her dishes back onto the tray and moved toward the bathroom to wait for him to exit so she could enter.
When he stepped out he was only wearing a pair of loose pants low on his hips. He didn’t even see her right away as he was using a towel to dry his hair and it partially obscured his face. Tugging it away, he blinked at her, then smiled slightly. “Impatient, are you?”
“Yes, because I want to get into bed with you.” She wanted to curl against him and get warm once more. “Eat. I’ll be out in ten minutes, at most.” She touched her fingers to his lips and pulled away so that she could get cleaned up for sleep as well.
“Hurry,” he called after her. He said something else but it was too low for her to hear, and maybe he didn’t want her to hear whatever he’d said.
Chapter Six
It had taken them hours to get the survivors shuttled off of the destroyers and onto the moon base. Once that was finished she’d been taken to the general’s destroyer. Thankfully she and Bracken had woken early so that they could hammer out the kinks in the contract they wanted to draw up between them. It had been a bit more detailed than she’d anticipated, but in the end it was what they both wanted and needed. It put a clear definition to what they wanted in life, together.
She was seated on a bench in the guest quarters on the general’s ship with his wife, Adira, talking to her. She liked the woman a lot more than she had anticipated she would. “How is it that the general is such an imposing man, one that scares the crap out of me but then he looks at you or your children and he’s a marshmallow?” Sadie wondered if one day that would be her and Bracken, with children.
“Oh he’s a very tough man, but he’s also a man that loves his family deeply.” Adira was smiling as she spoke. “And then he looks at those babies and all I can see is his love for his family. Bracken is a good man. He’s family.” Adira changed the subject quickly. “He’s like a brother to me. You are going to be good to him, right?”
That took Sadie by surprise but she nodded. “I’ve been in love with him all of my life.” Even though they had spent very little time together Sadie had known that Bracken was the one for her. She shifted slightly, the facial film firmly in place because she didn’t know this woman or the men on the general’s ship. Thankfully, Bracken had understood. He didn’t like it, but he had understood. Bracken had gotten her to face herself once more. Bracken had pulled her out of that shell that she wrapped around herself and there wasn’t anywhere else that she would want to be.
“Bracken is a good man. Sadly, however, there were things that his family kept from him.” Her, for one. “But no more. I’m never letting him go.”
Sadie watched Adira smile and stand. “Then come and give me a hug, sister, and then we will get you married. Have you worked out the contract yet?” the woman asked as she hugged Sadie.
“Yes, we have.”
“He’s a very dominant male. You are okay with that, right?”
“Very.” Mostly because Sadie was a serious submissive. She had waited for him to take her and show her just how good it could be.
Adira looked at the clock and nodded. “Time to go and get you married, then. I’m sure if we wait any longer Bracken will come looking for you. Are you ready?”
Sadie looked down at herself and nodded. She didn’t have the body suit on, so she was showing her true body, and the gown she had on showed a great deal of skin. The back was fully covered but the front plunged between her breasts and to the top of her pubis area. The breasts and pubic area were barely covered by just a bit of fabric, whereas her back was fully concealed. She wouldn’t show her back to anyone except Bracken.
“Are you sure he’s going to be okay with this gown?”
“Yes, I’m sure. You should have seen the gown he procured for me to marry Fintan in. Trust me, he will be okay with it.” The gown wasn’t what mattered. What mattered was being with Bracken at the end of all of this. Every moment she spent in his company made the bond between them grow. She could practically feel his soul now reaching out for hers and she loved it.
“They won’t notice that the gown is backward, will they?”
Adira sighed and shook her head. “I’m not sure. Why did you want it on this way, anyway? The plunge is supposed to accentuate your back, so why wear it backward?”
“Because that’s what I needed.” Sadie couldn’t tell the woman. She liked her but she wasn’t to the point she could trust. Not yet. No one but Bracken. “I’m ready to get married now, please?”
“Of course. Come on. I’m sure that your future husband is about to come searching for you now.”
That had Sadie smiling and she nodded, happy to finally get this show on the road.
Together the women walked out of the room and moved toward the command deck where Bracken and the general were waiting.
****
When they entered the room, Bracken’s back was to her. But he either sensed she was there or his friend said something, because his head whipped around. His body followed at a slower pace until he was facing her. The look on his face said he was stunned as his gaze moved over her body. When his eyes met hers she could feel the heat in them even though they were still several feet apart.
Sadie smiled at Bracken, moving toward him and watching as Adira moved to her husband’s side. She looked up at him and whispered, “Hey, you. Are you ready for this?” She squeezed his hands, then looked down and asked, “Do you like the gown?” She knew he didn’t like the facial film she wore, but at least she was in her real skin, so to speak. Her happiness was there for all to see and she didn’t mind. She allowed people to see how happy she was and smiled when she saw the look on Bracken’s face. He was just as happy as she was.
He swept his gaze over her again. Tugging on one of her hands, he turned her upper body enough to see the back. His lips were twitching a moment later. “Not quite how it was designed to be worn, I think,” he said softly.
Fintan cleared his throat and gave them both an imperial look of disdain. With a sniff he began the ceremony. Thankfully Craegin marriage ceremonies were short. A few words, a vow from each party, and the one conducting it pronounced them bound under the laws of their world.
Even before Fintan finished speaking Bracken was tugging her into his body to kiss her.
Sadie had her arms around Bracken’s neck and clung to him as he kissed her. When they pulled back she licked her lips and smiled. She leaned in for another kiss and was moaning before they parted once more.
“You may want to adjust your gown a little, Sadie. Otherwise these here folks are going to get one hell of a show,” he muttered. “How long do we need to attend the party before I can take you back to our rooms and have my way with you?”
“Five minutes, at most. Get our toasts and then leave?” She adjusted her gown slightly and took in a deep breath. “I couldn’t wear it the other way, you understand that. Right?” She hoped that he understood, because he was the only one who she would allow to see all of her, the real her.
“Shh, I understand, Sadie. Just promise me that you won’t attempt to bend over to pick anything up. If you do I might very well die of heart failure. Which will completely ruin all the plans I have for us tonight.”
“Don’t plan on it,” she assured him and nodded. “Now, let’s have our drink, allow them to toast us and then go back home.” Home, Bracken’s destroyer and their rooms. She just wanted to be alone with him now that they were married. For a moment Sadie thought about the way that her life would have to change. She thought of the things she would have to switch up so that she could continue to work and of course keep Bracken and his friends safe. It was only a matter of seconds that she thought of the changes before she was smiling. For Bracken she would change anything. He was priceless and she wouldn’t change anything that would come their way for anything because they would be facing it all together.
