Page 61 of Shae’s Bounty
“I understand,” Raela says as she nods. “We’re going to need your help if we’re going to take down Kurrahstka. The Federation is already in motion, and my team is moving in as we speak. As soon as you retrieve Volethos, I need you to meet us at the Section B docking bay.”
Zell holds her eyes for a moment, then gives her a tight nod. His eyes flick to mine, and his expression softens. “I’ll get him, I swear. Then I’ll bring him back to you.”
Suddenly my throat closes, and I feel the sting of tears behind my eyes. “Thank you,” I choke out.
Zell nods, and then the hologram blinks out.
Tucking the comm into a pocket, Raela strides over to our bags and starts digging around. A moment later, she tosses me some clothes. “Get dressed, and then we need to go meet my team.”
I drop the clothes onto the bed and start to untie the wrap dress, shrugging it off. I’m just about to pull Volethos’s tunic over my head when Raela hisses like a snake behind me. A moment later, her fingers dig into my shoulders as she spins me around.
“He claimedyou?” she practically screams at me.
“What the fuck?” I stagger back, landing on my ass on the edge of the bed, holding the tunic to my chest. “What are you talking about?”
Raela grabs my arm and drags me through the room and into the bathroom, where she shoves me at the mirror. “He gave you his claiming bite.” Her voice is still hard, but not quite as pissed as it was a moment ago. Instead, she sounds…sad.
Sure enough, at the juncture of my shoulder and neck are two angry, red crescent-shaped bites. It’s sore to the touch, and I wonder how I’m just now noticing it. The bite is deep, and there is a good chance it will scar.
Behind me, Raela sighs, “Part of me always imagined that someday he would givemehis claiming bite. Silly as that seems now.” Her eyes are sad when they meet mine in the mirror. “You’re a lucky female.”
“What the hell is a claiming bite?” I ask her, leaning in closer. When I rub my finger over the raised mark, shivers skitter down my spine, and my pussy clenches.Weird.
“When a Vesen finds his female, he gives her his claiming bite. Bonding her to him,” Raela explains.
“Bonding?” I spin around to face her, completely uncaring that I’m butt-naked. “What kind of omegaverse shit is that?”
Raela sighs and takes the tunic I still have gripped in my hands. She straightens it and then pulls it over my head, as if I’m a child needing help getting dressed. “It’s their way. It’s how other males know to stay away. When it’s between Vesens, sometimes they can feel each other through the bond, but that’s more myth than fact.”
I turn back to the mirror, where I lean in to look at the bite more closely.
Claimed. Bonded.
It’s a lot to unpack. And just what do I think ofthat?Did he mean to do it? Or was it a heat of the moment thing? Since he had much more history with Raela and never claimed her, I have to wonder if he did it by accident. And if not, then why me?
“We need to go,” Raela reminds me, pulling me from my thoughts.
I push myself back from the mirror and turn away from her, making my way into the bedroom. My stomach is knotting, knowing Volethos could be slowly suffocating inside a metal tube, floating in space right now. If we really are bonded, will I know if Zell and Danielle don’t get to him in time? Will I feel it if he—if— No, I refuse to even think that.
I snatch up the leggings Raela pulled from our bags and step into them. Then I lace the front of Volethos’s peasanty tunic so my boobs aren’t hanging out.Where are my shoes?I find them neatly placed by the door, where I left them when we arrived. There hasn’t been much need for them since.
Finally dressed, I pick up the holo-suit collar.
“Leave it,” she tells me.
I look down at it before letting it drop to the ground. The cat is out of the bag; I guess there is no point in hiding anymore. I turn to Raela and place my hands on my hips. “Alright. What’s the plan?”
CHAPTERTWENTY-EIGHT
ADRAZELL
Back on the cruiser…
I’m still drawing greedy gulps of air into my lungs, and my body is buzzing with the vestiges of orgasm when my comm starts to go off.
Danielle groans from where she’s draped across my chest, her hair a curtain of intricate braids all around us. “Ignore it,” she whines. “I’m not ready to move yet.”
A low chuckle rattles deep inside my chest. Being thrown together with this human female has been an unexpected boon. For one thing, I was surprised to discover that she is my fated—something I haven’t disclosed to her since I’m still not sure what to think about it. I wasn’t prepared to ever find my true mate. It’s a rare enough occurrence among my own kind, let alone to find my fated in another species altogether. And ahuman, no less.