Their Rebel Mate [Helan Universe 2] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (7 page)

Kerek stumbled into the small bathroom and shed his clothes immediately, stepping into the shower stall and pressing a button. A beam shot down from the ceiling, moving slowly over Kerek’s body, starting at his head and moving slowly down.

Kim didn’t know what to be more fascinated with, the display of technology from the showerhead or the display of utter maleness in the shower stall.

The huge man staggered out again, walking right past them and into the small bedroom on the other side of the living room. He fell onto the bed, naked as the day he was born, and buried his head in the pillow.

Thantos pulled on her arm. “Come, let’s give Kerek some time to recover. Why don’t we get you set up with a translator.”

Her breath caught in her throat.

This was it! Her journey was about to begin in earnest.

Thantos escorted his guest down the hall, enjoying the look of wide-eyed wonder on her face. It had been so long that he’d found anything on a star ship fascinating, and he was thrilled to be able to show it off to her, if only to see the smile that graced her face.

A visit to sick bay and the doctor was first on his list.

“How do you keep track of where everything is?” she asked breathlessly. “Everything looks the same.”

“All star ships are laid out the same way, and the symbols that you see above each door aren’t decoration. They’re signs.”

She looked up at the Helan letters as if trying to read them. “Will the translator help me learn to read Helan?”

Gods, this woman was smart. Not one human had asked that question, at least not to him. “Not directly, no. The translator works only with spoken words. But we’ll be able to teach you the letters of our language much easier with you being able to understand what we’re saying.”

She nodded her understanding as they entered sick bay. The doctor rose from behind his desk and smiled at them. “Good afternoon, Ambassador. May I help you with something?” His English was crisp, clear, and concise, not having had enough contact with humans to pick up the contractions and slang as of yet.

“Yes, thank you, Doctor. This is Kim, and she is here to receive a translator.”

The doctor nodded and gestured for her to sit down on one of the exam tables. “Of course. I am Dr. Tabar.”

Thantos briefly considered introducing Kim formally, but she was notorious on the ship, and he didn’t want any backlash from anyone, especially considering she’d come on board of her own free will, willing to learn about their culture.

Instead, he helped her up on the table, marvelling at how tiny she really was. He was on the small side for a Helan male, standing at only five feet ten inches, but she fit against him nicely as he lifted her to the table.

Her nipples scraped his chest as she settled comfortably, and she blushed to the roots of her hair. At least he wasn’t the only one who was cursed with a fair complexion.

Tabar held up the syringe that housed the tiny translator. “The translator is self-propelled and will attach itself directly to your brain in the exactly location of your speech center. It is suspended in a slightly acidic solution. It stings a little, but the discomfort is over quickly.”

Kim cast Thantos a nervous look and grabbed his hand. He didn’t think she even realized what she’d done, turning to him for comfort, but there was no way he was going to let go of her hand now. Not when she’d shown him a small crack in her vulnerability.

The syringe made a small hissing noise when Tabar placed it against Kim’s neck. The tightening grip on his hand was the only sign that she was feeling any pain. “You know,” he whispered to her, “Consort Varin told me that Queen Jacy swore up a storm when she was given the translator.”

Kim cracked a small smile, but her eyes never lost their focus on the far wall. “That is something I would have paid to see. Jacy was a firecracker, but she was never crude.”

Thantos smiled at the thought of his queen. Firecracker was certainly the right word for her. She’d certainly given her mates a run for their money, that was for sure. “You knew her well then?”

He already knew the answer to that, of course. He’d done a thorough check of her when he’d first landed on Earth. It usually paid to know who his main adversaries were, even if they were tiny and female. Kim was proving him right, too. The woman was wicked smart.

“No, not as well as you probably think. We met at college and went to a few philosophy classes together. But we knew each other well enough that when things started going down, she felt comfortable contacting me about funneling money to start the mass evacuation.”

Her eyes widened when she realized that he was speaking Helan to her. “This is so weird.”

“Yes, the sensation does take some getting used to. It’s actually easier if we speak Helan to you, since speaking in English will cause an echo. Queen Jacy found the echo quite disconcerting.”

Tabar looked up from the readings he managed to take while Kim had been distracted. “You’re in your most fertile time,” the doctor said in Helan. He looked at Thantos and smiled. “Chances are very good that your mate will conceive a child in the next few days.”

Before Thantos could correct the man, he started talking to Kim again. “The solution the translator travels in may give you a slight headache. I’ll give Ambassador Thantos some instructions, and he and Chief Kerek can take care of the headache for you. Most of the females love the cure for the headaches.”

Kim’s brown eyes were so wide, Thantos wondered if they would fall right out of her eye sockets. “Kim is actually not on board as a mate. She is here to learn about our culture.” He didn’t mention their deal that if she was mistaken in her beliefs about them, she would stop trying to sabotage their campaign.

Recognition crossed Tabar’s face, and his expression cooled considerably. “Ms. McManus, I presume?”

Kim looked taken aback by the sudden ice in the doctor’s tone. “Yes. Thanks for your help, Doctor.”

Tabar nodded crisply and turned away from them to sit at his desk again. “I hope you know what you’re doing, Ambassador.”

It was a good thing Kerek wasn’t with them. His mate would have had the doctor pressed against the wall by the throat for daring to question Thantos. Normally, it would have been Thantos soothing Kerek.

A strange, violent urge welled up inside of Thantos, and he advanced on the doctor menacingly. “Ms. McManus is a guest, Doctor Tabar. My guest and Kerek’s. It is not for you to question.”

A small, smooth palm landed on the bare skin of his forearm, instantly cutting through the rage that was threatening to overwhelm him. “It’s okay, Thantos,” Kim said. “I’m not surprised at the doctor’s reaction.” Her long, slender fingers stroked over the strained muscles of Thantos’s arm. “Would you maybe show me around the ship some more?”

Thantos took a deep breath. What was going on with him? He’d never before felt so violent before. Maybe this was what normal Helan males felt.

He bared his teeth at the doctor one more time, satisfied when the other male blanched considerably.

Once completely happy with how intimidated the doctor was, despite the fact that Thantos was shorter and slighter than the doctor, he offered his arm to Kim. “It would be my pleasure.”

He led her out of sick bay without a backward glance. Thantos was aware of the speculative look the doctor was giving him. He could feel his eyes boring into his back. Still, he didn’t stop to explain himself.

The first room he showed her was the arboretum. Women were always enchanted with the garden, and Kim was no exception. She wandered around for close to an hour, exclaiming over each and every flower and plant.

He reached out and plucked a bright-red blossom from one of the trees and tucked it behind her ear. The smile she gave him caused his heart to beat faster than normal.

“The flowers are so beautiful. Are they native to Helan, or are they collected from other planets you’ve visited?” she asked, fingering a fern leaf so softly it hardly fluttered.

His eyes caught on those fingers, and his mouth suddenly dried. He had to clear his throat a couple of times before he could answer her question. “Arboretums vary by the ship, actually. I believe this one contains only plants from Helan.”

Kim’s eyes became unfocused and a little misty. “What does it look like, Thantos? Seeing your world from above?”

Thantos could have slapped his head. Why hadn’t he taken her to the observation deck first? He took her hand and pressed her knuckles to his lips. “I’m sorry. I should have taken you to see Earth first.”

She shook her head. “It’s fine. The arboretum is fantastic, and I’m glad you brought me here.”

He smiled down at her. “I’m happy you enjoyed it, but let me take you to see your home.”

The hall and lift were deserted, which seemed a little odd. Then again, there were a lot of human females on board. Maybe they were keeping their Helan mates busy.

Luckily, the observation deck was as equally empty. Thantos remembered the first time he’d seen his own planet from space, and it had been an overwhelming experience. That was how Kerek had found him that first time they’d met.

Kim’s reaction was slightly different than his had been. She pressed her hands to the glass and stared at the blue-and-green ball beneath them. The window reflected her image back to him, and he rushed to her when he saw the tears streaming down her cheeks.

He gathered her close, cradling her to his chest without even thinking about whether she would welcome his touch or not. “Shh,
lira.
Whatever it is, I’ll fix it. Just tell me what’s wrong.”

She sniffled and rested her wet cheek against his chest for a brief moment. She was tiny and fit against him perfectly, her head fitting neatly under his chin. “Nothing’s wrong. It’s just overwhelming, you know? To see the planet you’ve lived on your whole life from space, I mean. It’s not something I ever thought I’d see for myself.”

The silence on the deck wrapped around them like a thick blanket, and he held her while she worked through her emotions. If only Kerek was here to hold them both.

Thantos knew Kerek was still conked out on their bed. Their mate bond was stronger than most Helans’, maybe because there was a defined submissive and dominant in their relationship instead of the inherent power struggle all other bonded males subtly engaged in. Whatever the case, while most bonded males could shield their mates from their thoughts and emotions, he and Kerek were connected at every level.

Still, it didn’t stop him from probing a little at their connection, just to make sure Kerek was okay. Thantos hated that he couldn’t help his mate through his motion sickness, and he worried about Kerek when the male was down and out.

Kerek was just sleeping, his stomach having totally settled.

Another stomach growled loudly, and Thantos snickered. “Hungry, Kim?”

She gave him a watery laugh and scrubbed her cheeks with the heels of her hands. “Starving, actually.”

He wasn’t surprised. It had been around one o’clock in the morning when they’d left Earth on the shuttle. At least four hours had passed since then, and if she’d eaten at the normal meal time for most humans, she probably hadn’t eaten for nearly twelve hours. He was surprised, however, that she was as awake as she was. She must still be flying from all the adrenaline her body had probably produced during the shuttle flight.

The dining hall was only a deck below them, and the chef had started serving several Earth dishes since the females had begun coming on board. By the time they got there, they were starting to serve breakfast.

The hall was packed with people, both bonded male couples who’d yet to choose their female mates, and a bunch of threesomes. The chatter, both in Helan and English, as well as a few other Earth languages, was distinctly different from the quiet of the observation deck.

It gave Thantos a thrill to see so many bonded triads. The news that Queen Jacy was pregnant had yet to work its way through the ship, as Kerek had not announced it here yet, but even just seeing this many people in love was wonderful. These females would do so much for Helan, and not just by bearing them the children they so desperately needed. They would provide that touch of softness, that femininity that Helan had been missing for so long now.

He made his way over to the counter where the chef took orders, towing Kim along behind him. This wasn’t his ship, so he didn’t know too many people, but they seemed to recognize him. He smiled at many of the women who grinned at him. The majority of them had probably attended one of his lectures in one form or another.

Suddenly, every single male in the room pounded his chest, right fist landing with a thud over their hearts. That could only mean one thing.

He turned to greet King Jaron and Consort R’oan with the same salute, although he didn’t pound his chest quite as hard as most of the other males. “Ambassador Thantos,” Consort R’oan said with a small smile.

King Jaron was more enthusiastic with his greeting. The king threw his arms around Thantos and gave him a hard hug. “It’s good to see you in person, my friend.”

Thantos hugged his friend back but pulled away quickly before R’oan could get that feral look on his face that he always got when someone else was touching his mate. “It’s good to see you, too, Jar.”

They chatted for a bit until the chef cleared his throat discreetly and nodded at Kim.

Shit. Kim was probably about to starve to death, and here he was blabbering on to his friend. “Kim, the menu says that scrambled eggs and bacon, pancakes, or
majtai
is on the menu this morning.”

Her eyes widened slightly. “The translator has no English word for
majtai.
”

The king leaned forward, his eyes twinkling merrily. “It’s a Helan dish. It’s creamy and sweet and quite nice to eat off your mate’s body first thing in the morning.”

Thantos burst out laughing. Every Helan male had tried eating the breakfast treat off another hard male body at some point. “It’s like oatmeal, but sweeter,” he explained to Kim.