Cecilia's Mate (4 page)

“Sounds
like a plan. You go and do what you need to do. Don’t worry, I’ll stick close
to here. Knowing my luck, I’d get lost and walk out of an airlock or
something.” She didn’t have the best of luck most times, except when it came to
this man. She had hit the gold mine when it came to her bond mate.

He
smiled and shook his head before disappearing through the large doors. A few
minutes later he came back out with another officer. Draven was giving him
instructions. The young man shot her a curious look but nodded to Draven and
returned to the bay behind them. “Ready?” he asked, holding out his hand to
her.

“Yes.”
She placed her hand into his and moved to his side. She allowed him to take her
bag and slipped her arm around his middle to let him lead them away from the
bay and further into the destroyer itself.

His
arm wrapped around her shoulders as he directed her to the lifts. When he led
her back off he explained they were on the topmost deck, the command deck.
“There are a few offices up here, some storage, but the majority of the floor
is for this room.” When he pressed his hand to a scanner a large set of doors
slid open to reveal the command deck. “This is where all the fun happens.
Everything on the destroyer is controlled from up here. There are areas below
to manage each section, but this is where the crew does all the navigating
from. And of course, big brother’s chair.” He pointed to the large padded seat
in the middle of the room.

She
took a seat in her brother’s chair and wiggled slightly. “I don’t like it. It’s
too hard,” she grumbled and rose to her feet. “What about you? What do you do?
I know you are his right hand. He’s many times said that he wouldn’t know what
to do without you, so where do you sit?”

“Me?
Sit?” He snorted at that. “Not likely. I have to be mobile at all times when
I’m on the command deck. Bracken doesn’t even sit down all that much. Sadie
usually gets the chair whenever he’s up here and she’s visiting. The only time
I really sit is in my quarters, or in my office when I’m tending to the
mountains of paperwork involved in keeping this beast going.” He put his hand
on her back and led her to a door off the command deck. It was tucked out of
sight on one side. “Your brother’s office has a door leading off here on the
opposite side, plus one into it from the corridor. Same with mine.” He keyed
them in and let her go through to his office first. All in all it was
relatively neat. For a disaster area, that was.

She
walked into his office and closed her eyes, the scents of the man pulling her
deeper into the room. “I like your office. You could use a little help with
organization, but you have a wonderful office. The colors are very you,” she
told him and walked to one of the stacks of paperwork. “Can I help you with
anything? I’m a professional when it comes to organization and filing.”

“Are
you actually saying I don’t have a system? I’ll have you know that I know
exactly where everything is in here. So don’t go getting any ideas of
reorganizing anything.” He set her bag down on a chair before walking toward
her. Taking her hands in his, he pulled her around to face him. “If I let you
go and mess up my system how would I find what I need, when I needed it?”

“Have
me
find it for you? Would give me an excuse to spend
time just milling around your office with you at any given moment of the day.
Right?” She moved so that she was pressed front-to-front with him, her arms up
and around his neck.

“I
see, an ulterior motive,” he said with a smile. “All right, I’ll let you organize
my office. As long as you swear to me you’ll be able to find everything in here
again when I need it.” His hands moved to her hips before slowly sliding down
to cup her ass. Pulling her up tighter against him, Draven lowered his head so
his lips hovered right over hers. “Your brother’s going to demand my balls for
this, you realize. Even knowing that it’s chemistry that connects us he’s still
going to go off on me.”

“He
would never really hurt you. Bracken loves me and I adore him. He wouldn’t do
anything that would make me sad. You know that. Now he might give you a bit of
grief from time to time, but he would never really hurt you,” she told him and
brushed her nose to his. “I like when you touch me, when you hold my butt like
that. When you squeeze it too. It makes me wet,” she blurted, her face suddenly
feeling hot.

His
eyes lit up at her words, and his fingers flexed on her ass. “It does, does it?
Good to know for future reference.” He gave her another squeeze, grinding her
against him so she could feel the outline of his cock pressing to her belly.
“You make me fucking hard with barely a look so it’s nice to know I have some
tools to get you in a similar state.”

“All
you have to do is look at me and I feel myself getting wet. I want to learn
everything. I want to know all parts of being with you and all parts of being a
person’s bond mate.”

“My
bond mate, Cecilia. Not just anyone’s, but mine. There is no other for me, and
definitely no other for you so don’t go thinking otherwise, young lady.” With another
squeeze he slid his hands up her back. “Let’s keep going. I’ll show you the
officers’ floor, and the quarters you can have if you wish.”

“And
if I don’t like them?” she wanted to know. “If I liked, say, your quarters
better?” She didn’t want to be without him, not now that he was there with her
and they had finally told each other how they felt. She wanted to have him with
her and at her side for the rest of forever.

“If
you don’t like them, then I’m sure I could show you a few others.” His lips
twitched. “Or you can stay in mine. I definitely wouldn’t mind. But I also want
you to be okay and comfortable with it, with me. Yes we are bond mates, and yes
we know a good deal about each other, but there is still a lot we don’t know
and that takes a little bit of time. Let’s go look at the first set of rooms.
Then I’ll show you mine and you can make your decision.”

She
looked up at him, his profile intriguing to her as it always had been. “I have
a feeling that I’m going to prefer yours over any others. Yes, we have a lot to
learn about each other but I want to get to know everything there is to know
about you. We’ve put off our bonding for four years, since I’m assuming you
were waiting for me to come of age, so shouldn’t we have that time together?”

“Damn
straight I waited for you to come of age,” he muttered. “I had to, at the very
least.” Brushing a kiss to her nose, he took her hand and tugged her out of the
office and led her to the lift. A couple minutes later he was leading her up a
corridor. He pressed his hand to a scanner, then stepped aside to let her enter
through the door that slid open. “Standard quarters for our guests.”

She
walked into the room and frowned. The room was bland, sterile and boring. There
was no view to the stars and the space was confined and made her feel closed
in. Making a fast turn, she shook her head. “No, thank you.” She hoped his room
would have a viewing portal at least. She would love to be able to see out of
doors or in this case out of the ship. “Do you think maybe I can use this space
for projects?” She needed to tell him what she did, but she wanted to tell him
when they were in private. She laughed at herself. Yeah, they were in private
now. “I have something to tell you.” She wet her lips. “Something Bracken doesn’t
even know. I paint and draw. But my paintings
…
”
She began to flush and whispered, “Have you ever heard of D.A. Mann? That’s
me.” The play on the name was his name.

He
didn’t say anything, just took her hand in his. He led her directly across the
hall to open another door. The scent that reached her told her it was his
space. He tugged her inside and turned her to face one of the walls. A wall
with several of her paintings on it. “I knew all along, Cecilia.” He spoke
softly from behind her. “Though I may need to have words with you for the
pseudonym you’ve been using.”

“How?
How could you have known? I don’t understand.” She turned to look at the
paintings, then him. She could only grin. “And the pseudonym was because you
are the singularly most important being in my world. Now and for all time.
That’s the truth.”

“I
didn’t right off, but a couple felt familiar to me. Then I saw this one.” He
moved around her to tap one of the paintings before moving his finger to a
corner. “You were doodling this little piece right here one of the times I was
with Bracken at the house. As soon as I saw it on the painting I knew it was
you.”

“I
didn’t think you saw that,” she whispered. “Everyone has always thought my
drawings were the ones that the four-year-old child made for me. No one ever
knew I had talent. This one was originally called
My Heart
but the dealer changed it to
Destiny.
I painted it when I thought of you. Odd, I know.”

The
painting was awash with blues, silvers and grays but it also had hints of
yellow, the same colors that swirled in her eyes and his, respectively. She
touched the corner of the image and smiled. “You were both so taken with the
lake. I think it was seven years ago?” She tilted her head to the side and
shrugged. “That’s the first time I really looked at you like a woman would look
at a man she wanted and you took my breath away. It was just after this
painting sold that I had your name forever emblazoned on my chest. The moment
that this was sold to an unknown dealer, it felt like a sign from the cosmos
that maybe one day, like the painting, all of my wishes would come true.” The
boys had wished that day for a clear and warm day to swim. They had wanted to
let go of the shackles of manhood for an afternoon and their wishes were
granted, which was why she had painted the waterscape as she had.

“I
always saw everything you did, Cecilia. Hard not to when your very heart is in
the same room as you are.” He leaned back against the wall of paintings to
watch her, his arms crossed over his chest. “You haven’t looked around yet.
Need to know if I have to get creative and find you somewhere you’ll want to
rest your head or not, little one.” He reached out and tucked a stray lock of
her incredibly long, bright red hair behind her ear.

“I
don’t need to look around.” She moved to him and laid her hand on his forearm.
“You’re here. That’s all the convincing I need. You are it for me. Where you
are is where I belong. As long as the bed is big enough for both of us, I’m
good with it.”

“Pretty
sure you’ll find the bed satisfactory. But since you seem concerned about it,
you should go take a look. Through the sliding doors behind you,” he said. A
corner of his mouth was curled up, giving him a slightly bemused look.

There
was something she was obviously missing. She began to smile along with him,
though, and moved back from him. She walked toward where the bedroom was and
the moment she stepped into the room she stopped dead in her tracks.

Chapter
Four

“Oh.”
Suddenly the squeezes he’d given her ass had nothing to do with how wet she was
between her legs. That was all to the bar that was hanging from the ceiling
with the silk bindings on the edges and to the massive bed with the soft cuffs
at the head and foot. “Please tell me those are for me and no one else has been
in here?” She would likely have to melt and die if he’d had others here before
her.

He
came up behind her, slipping his arms around her waist to pull her back against
his body. “No one else has ever been in here. Only you, Cecilia. These are for
you, and you alone. I purchased them and some other items when you came of age.
They’ve been here since that day and never once touched.”

“And
will we use them?” She was leaning back against him now, loving the way it felt
to have him holding her like this. “You’ll show me how they all work?”

“Of
course. We’ll use them—often, if I have any say in it. Once we have a contract
in place between us so I know what you’re interested in, and what you don’t
want. And I can purchase more items to satisfy all your needs.”

“I
don’t know what I might or might not like.” Her face was turning red if the
heat she felt was any indication. “I’ve never been with a man before. But
seeing these makes me very, very wet and needy. Can we have in the contract
that we will explore all options and add the things I don’t like after we
experience it, if I don’t like something?”

“We
can do whatever we want, Cecilia. The contract is for us, and us alone. No one
will ever know what is or isn’t in our contract. We can amend it as many times
as we want so that it’s perfect for us.” Moving her hair to the side, Draven
pressed a kiss to her neck. “How are you doing, little one? You’ve had a
horrible day so far but you’re holding up surprisingly well, I have to tell
you.”

“Because
of you,” she admitted. “That’s the one and only reason I’m feeling as well as I
am right now. Perhaps you’ll be able to make me feel a bit better?” she asked
and tilted her head to the side automatically. “How long will it take for us to
draw up our contract?”

“Shouldn’t
take too long since it will mostly be open to addition. We can start it right
now if you want. Then we can decide what to do for the next couple of days
while we finish resupplying, and prior to the crew returning to the ship. For
the most part it’s us here alone except for a skeleton crew to keep things
functioning and keep watch.”

“Especially
since Bracken will likely have to remain planetside to keep my mother from
coming after me. He’s going to have his hands full, sadly.” She nodded then.
“I’d like to get started. I want to experience everything with you. As long as
you are willing?”

“Like
you even have to ask,” he muttered. He bit her neck, scraping his teeth over
her skin gently before pressing a kiss to the spot. “Hop up on the bed while I
grab one of my data pads. When we’re done we’ll grab a quick nap because, and I
hate to tell you this, but you look exhausted right now.”

“It’s
been years since I’ve slept more than an hour at a time. They removed the locks
to my door so I was never able to lock it and I’ve been too terrified of what
they might to do me when I slept to spend much time sleeping.”

“No
one can get to you here. They’d have to get through me first even if they
managed to get through that door.” Leaning over, he pressed a kiss to her temple,
then gave her a gentle push toward the bed before turning and walking back into
the other room.

She
trusted him in that. She trusted him with everything. Once she was alone in the
bedroom she pulled off her clothing and folded it neatly before pulling back
the bedding and climbing into the massive and surprisingly comfortable bed.

Draven
walked back a couple minutes later with a data pad in one hand and two bottles
of water in his other. He stopped dead in his tracks when he spotted her
clothing on the chair. Slowly his head turned toward the bed, and up went an
eyebrow. “Comfortable?” he asked, his voice a little rougher than she’d ever
heard it.

“I
am. Thank you.” She was sitting up in the bed with the blankets pulled around
her body. “I hate sleeping in clothes. Will this be okay?”

“Uh,
sure that will be fine,” he said. She could hear him swallow as he got closer
to the bed. Holding out the pad and one of the bottles of water to her, Draven
set the other on the side table. “Give me a minute and I’ll be right with you.”
He spun away and walked into what she guessed was the closet given the hangers
she could see.

She
took a drink of the water and simply smiled. Life was going to be interesting
she was sure and to be honest, she couldn’t wait. She looked forward to every
moment in time with him.

This
time when Draven came back into the room he was only wearing a pair of loose
pants low on his hips. The first thing she noticed was the tattoo over his
heart. Her name in an elaborate design that vaguely resembled a heart. Slipping
onto the bed next to her, he sat facing her, his knees bumping her leg as he
crossed them and leaned his elbows to his thighs.

She
moved so that she could reach out and touch the tattoo over his heart. She
tugged at the blanket so that she could bare her skin to his eyes, and said, “I
had this done to remind me that I could be loved. To remind me that there was
happiness waiting for me.”

His
fingers traced over her tattoo. “No more waiting, Cecilia. Now we live.” He
cupped her cheek, leaned in, and kissed her lightly. “We can do whatever you
want now, little one. But first let’s get our contract started, okay?”

She
nodded, then pulled the blanket back up and watched him. Before she could even
stop herself, she said, “Never ask me to dominate you in bed, please. After
what I saw in my mother’s vid diary I know I never could do that. I want to
have you be the stronger partner. The one that will lead our sex lives. Please?
I also never want to share or be shared. I couldn’t do that.”

Frowning
at her, he nodded. After a moment he shifted around so they were sitting side
by side. He took the data pad from her and looped an arm around her shoulders
to bring her in closer. “I’m naturally dominant anyway, little one. That you
never have to worry about. But this doesn’t mean you can’t have some fun too. I
will always be fully in charge, Cecilia. But I like the idea of you being able
to touch, to learn, and to have a little time to learn your own power. Doesn’t
mean you’ll be dominating me in the least. It just means that I’m giving you a
chance to explore at your own speed instead of whatever I decide. Do you
understand?”

“Yes.
That I understand but what that woman did I will never understand.” She leaned
into his touch and sighed. “I never want to sleep alone again. If you have to
go out, can I come with you?” She didn’t want to be left alone.

“Of
course you can. You are always welcome to come with me wherever you’d like. The
only place you may not want to be for any length of time is the command deck.
It’s normally very loud, very chaotic, and I’m always on the move. But you can
always sit in my office where I can come visit you, or you can pop onto the
command deck.” Tipping her chin up, he smiled at her, then dropped a kiss to
her nose. He laughed when she wrinkled it up. “All right, so we have our
Dominant and submissive guidelines laid out. What all are you interested in,
Cecilia? Here,” he muttered. He pressed a few options on the screen and handed
her the pad. “This is a list of various things we can try. They all have
descriptions and if you touch your finger to the item it expands to let you
read it. If you like it hit accept, or consider. If you don’t like it hit
decline and it will be a no on our list of things to do.”

She
carefully viewed the items he had selected and by the end was panting slightly.
“Is it bad that I want to try all of them? Especially the ones where I’m bound
and wearing a blindfold while you swat me with a hand or soft crop.”

“Not
a bad thing. But pick carefully because they get a lot more intense from
there.” He rubbed his hand up and down her arm. “The next few pages are more
intensive than this first one. Page one is pretty mild in comparison to page
four, let alone what’s on page six.”

“Can
we try them all and then whatever I can’t do or don’t like we will strike it
off of the contract? I want to try everything with you, at least once. You’ll
always know just how hard you can push me, or when I might need a break,
right?”

He
gave her a squeeze. “I know you, Cecilia, so it won’t be that hard to gauge
what you can and can’t take. But read the list. As I said, there are some very
extreme items on the last page that might even make you wary.”

She
began to read through the list and finally said, “Okay, the ones with the
blood, and the stuff with urine and feces, I can’t and won’t do. Same with
being humiliated and used as furniture. I think that’s about it, though.
Honestly.” She was for the most part open to all of this.

“Mark
them off,” he said. “Those are what we call hard no’s. We’ll add in anything
else as we come across them. Now I’ll take this from you for a moment.” He
pulled the pad from her hand and propped it against one of his legs. He put a
few more in as hard no’s, she saw. One that involved fire and another that
involved knives. He also ticked off the one with a vicious-looking whip as a
no. Next, Draven went to another page at which point he handed the pad back to
her. “Put in our names, add in the date, and we’ll each sign it. Since we’re
leaving it open for now we don’t need to worry about anything else right now.”

She
nodded and did as he instructed. She signed her name to the document and passed
it back to him with a grin. “Your turn. Then I guess that you are mine and I am
yours?” She liked that idea, a lot. That she might just belong in some fashion
to him and
he
to her.

He
scrawled his signature on the document, then pressed his thumb to it. “That’s
it,” he told her. Setting the pad aside, he turned back to her. “Now you are
mine. I should warn you, I fully intend to marry you one day soon, Cecilia
Kauller. Don’t worry, I will ask you properly after getting your brother’s
blessing. Which I may need to do prior to him coming on board and discovering
you’re not logged into one of the guest quarters. Which also reminds me I need
to put you on my door’s security scan otherwise you’ll never get back in here
without me.”

That
had her snickering and she nodded. “You know what my answer will be time and
time again. As for Bracken.” She shrugged. “He might be a little upset that
I’ve moved right on in with you but if anyone should understand, it’s him.
Right?”

“One
would think so, yes. But he is your big brother so who knows how he’ll actually
react. I’m not too worried. After all, what’s the worst he could do to me?”
Groaning, he dropped his forehead to her shoulder. “I shouldn’t have put that
out in the universe. Now I’m a goner.”

“No,
you aren’t. Like I told you, he loves me and as long as I’m happy he will be
too.” She would be well loved with Draven. Everything about their relationship
to date made her ecstatic and now that he was acknowledging her and
she
him it would only get better.

“I
want you to be pleased with me, Cecilia. And I’ll do everything in my power to
make and keep you that way. But you also have to let me know when I’m not doing
so well so I can make it better. Deal?”

“Now
that I know I can discuss anything with you at any time, yes, we have a deal.
Just don’t be surprised when I tell you absolutely everything there is to know
about everything. I want you to be a part of my life, all of it.”

“Cecilia,
little one, you can tell me anything you want at any time. I
want
you to
talk to me.” He planted a kiss to her temple. “Drink some more of your water,
and then settle down in the bed. You need to get some real sleep. No more
little catnaps for you. Lots of rest, plenty of food, and all the loving you
can handle.”

“I
like how you think.” She finished off her water and passed it back to him. Once
he had disposed of both bottles she yawned and shrank down into the bedding.
“Stay with me? I feel safest in your arms.”

“Of
course.” He slid under the sheets with her. Reaching over their heads, he
pressed a button to turn the lights off in the room, leaving only a soft glow
around the perimeter. Then he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her in
tight to his body as he curled around her. “Sleep well, Cecilia.”

“I
will,” she whispered. Then, with a yawn, she was sound asleep for the first
time in far, far too long.