“That is very straightforward.”
“I thought it best to avoid confusion. Even if you don’t learn your identity, if you wish to, we can live on Reska and start a new life.”
“You don’t know my name.”
“You don’t either.”
She smiled. “You have got me there.”
He dropped a quick kiss on her lips and she lifted her head to increase the pressure. She let out a sigh into his mouth and he stiffened against her with a groan.
“That is cheating, lady.”
“I am learning as I go here. What happened to you?”
“Nothing that a few hours in a bedchamber wouldn’t cure.” He took one of her hands and gently pressed it against the crotch of his suit.
The column of heat that she felt called to her fingers and she curled them around it as best she could.
Rejik kissed her again as she stroked him and with that one kiss his features burned into her memory. He was hers. Her perfect man. For any other women, he might be a good match, but for her, he was perfect.
She quivered with eagerness to be alone with him, but Helain’s voice reminded her that this was not the time.
“We have a match. It is ninety-nine percent on the blood typing and your nose piercing makes it a perfect match.” Helain smiled. Instead of reading the name out loud, the doctor handed the readout to Pet.
With trembling hands, she read her own name for the first time since it had been taken from her. “Bronwyn Undermark, Siren of the Silver Clan.”
Hearing her own name unlocked the life that she had lost and something surprised her. It had not been the Marcovians who took her memories.
Looking up at Rejik, she smiled. “Bronwyn. That is my name.”
He caressed her face. “It is a lovely name, Bronwyn.”
Helain looked between the two of them. “What happened while I was running that test?”
She looked up at her true match and smiled. “Nothing happened, but a few things became clear.”
“I see. Well, if you wish, the file has an estimated account of how you came under Marcovial control.” Helain smiled.
“I would be fascinated to see it. My name was the block that I needed lifted and now, I can actually start to see a fair amount of my life before I became Pet.”
“It is sealed and in the possession of the captain.”
Rejik sighed at the mention of the captain. “I will take her.”
Helain looked from one to the other again. “Yes, I think you will.”
Bronwyn grinned. “Let’s see this file. I want to compare it with everything that is coming back to me.”
Rejik took the hand that had been tapped for the sample, pressed the tiny mark to his lips and threaded his fingers through hers to lead her to the captain.
Bronwyn looked from their hands to the clear-cut features of his face. “You seem very sure that I will choose you.”
He grinned and pressed a kiss to the back of her hand. “Reska and Edinar came from the same parent species. We know our mates when we see them. I knew the moment I tore that hole open to find you that you were the perfect woman for me.”
She chuckled. “Yeah, you glow when I look at you.”
The captain smiled when he saw them. “Welcome, Bronwyn Undermark, Siren of the Silver Clan.”
“Thank you Captain Harrir.”
“Rejik, what are you doing here?”
Bronwyn smiled. “I wanted him here. We are a good match and we are getting to know each other.”
Captain Harrir’s eyes widened in shock. “Rejik? He is your match? Well, hell.”
Rejik chuckled. “Thank you for your enthusiasm, Father. Your happiness is touching.”
“I am just surprised. I thought she would wait until on the planet surface before she made her choice.”
Bronwyn chuckled. “It isn’t that kind of choice. When I see Rejik, he glows. I can’t stop staring at him. Even you must know what that means.”
Captain Harrir nodded. “I do. Wow. An Edinar in the family. Who would have guessed?”
Bronwyn raised a brow. “Are you pleased?”
Harrir grinned. “Very. Now, let’s try and piece your last day on your world together.”
In reflex, Bronwyn clutched at Rejik’s hand. From what she remembered, it had not been a good day.
They went to the captain’s office and sat down as snippets of transmissions, reports and images were displayed outlining the fall of Edinar.
Bronwyn lived out the last day on her world with Rejik’s hand as her only lifeline to reality. Her memories overwhelmed her and she remembered it all.
She had been running an evacuation, using her voice for crowd control, and was trying to get a shuttle past the incoming forces when a panicked mind wiper broke from the queue and ran into her, her talent surging out of control. Bronwyn tried to fight the woman’s talent, but fear gave the talent extra power and Bronwyn was lost, a blank slate on the planet of the Edinar.
The next memory was asking her name and being told it was Pet, over and over. She had no idea how she got from the surface to the Marconian ship.
The images of tiny ships making forays to the surface explained how she had ended up on display. The invading force blew several up, but dozens made it past the attack and into the space beyond. She had been on one of those ships.
“Whew. That does explain a few things. How long was I with the Marcovians?” She tilted her head.
Harrir cleared his throat. “We estimate that it was close to nine years.”
“Ah. Well, I am thankful for the mind wiper then. I would never have made it otherwise.” Bronwyn sighed and smiled softly.
A soft feminine voice spoke. “I am very glad to hear it, Bronwyn. It was a bad day for all of us.”
Bronwyn turned in her chair and saw the mind wiper from almost a decade in her past. “Ro-shah-na, if I recall. It is good that you made it.”
She got to her feet and hugged the woman, feeling the tight embrace returned and sobs broke out of the woman’s throat.
“I am so sorry, so very sorry.”
“It all turned out well. Don’t worry. I am hale and whole.” Bronwyn pulled back and smiled brightly.
“But all the others you could have helped onto the ships. Perhaps more could have survived if I hadn’t panicked.”
“The past is fixed, we can control our future. That is where you need to focus your energies now. Do you have a family? Friends?”
She sniffed. “I do. Two little girls and a community who cares for me.”
“Then put your energies there and let them be your mark on the world. Don’t let one moment of fear destroy everything you could become.”
Tears formed in the woman’s face. “You were kind back then, too.”
Bronwyn stroked Ro-shah-na’s face. “There is never a good reason to be cruel.”
Harrir cleared his throat. “Rejik and Bronwyn have declared themselves. I believe it would be best if their union were formalized before we land.”
The mind wiper nodded with wide eyes. “Definitely. The colony would be pissed if she went elsewhere after she landed. Ratifying it on the ship is the safer option.”
Bronwyn was confused. “What?”
Ro-shah-na explained. “Because there are so few of us, the colony that the Reska helped us organize is very concerned with our bloodlines continuing. While you declaring for each other is traditional, the colony will want to arrange a suitable match when you land.”
“Fuck that.” Bronwyn crossed her arms and scowled. “Rejik, are you amenable to a consummation?”
He raised a brow, walked to her and pressed a kiss to her throat. His lips moved against her skin. “Yes, I am amenable and quite a bit more. Father?”
Harrir had tears in his eyes, but he cleared his throat. “Stand two feet apart and face each other with your hands touching, palm to palm.
Bronwyn stood and followed the instructions, her neck still tingling from the kiss. She was breathing more rapidly than normal. Rejik’s blue eyes stared into hers and they waited for Harrir to speak.
“Bronwyn Undermark, Siren of the Silver Clan of Edinar, do you take Commander Rejik Eslir Harrir of Reska as your bonded mate?”
She smiled. “I do.”
“Commander Rejik Eslir Harrir of Reska, do you take Bronwyn Undermark, Siren of the Silver Clan of the Edinar as your bonded mate?”
He smiled. “Gladly and freely.”
Harrir exhaled. “As captain of this vessel, I am authorized to formalize your bond. Do you wish to say any other words to each other for the records?”
Bronwyn nodded. “Rejik, I knew the moment that I saw you that you were my mate. While I did not know myself, I knew you. Whatever is brought to us in the future in terms of life, family or children, I will meet them with you gladly and happily.”
He blinked rapidly to clear his vision and she smiled as he prepared to speak. “Bronwyn, you were mine from the moment I ripped your shelter away. While there were others with us, you looked only at me and that kind of focus in the face of the unknown is something I want with me for the rest of our lives. I will offer you my wealth, my life and my love if you will take me as your bonded mate and mate of your soul.”
She teared up and would have kissed him, but Harrir’s hand separated them. “I now pronounce you bonded mates and by the witness and my own eyes, we bless what we have seen. You may now kiss your partner.”
He removed his hand and they met half way. His lips filled her with heat and she moaned into his mouth, her control wavering and causing a cascade of lust to run through him.
He shook and his muscles tightened under her sonic caress.
Harrir cleared his throat. “Permission granted to seek privacy.”
Bronwyn squeaked as Rejik lifted her to carry her to her quarters. They passed a few folk in the halls, but Bronwyn only noted them absently. Watching Rejik’s aura flare wildly as his arousal grew was hypnotic. She wanted to stare at it all day.
Inside her quarters, she tore at his clothing and he ripped at hers. When they finally were naked, she took in every inch of him and hummed her approval. As he closed his eyes, she leaned forward and blew a stream of sound across his flesh.
He groaned and she pressed her advantage, using her mouth and hands to direct him to the bed. Rejik fell back and she followed him onto the bed.
Rejik ran his hands over her skin and she shivered while trailing lower and lower.
With her mind restored, she knew all about her talent and just how to use it in this kind of situation. When she hummed across his pressure points, his hands gripped her shoulders and as she neared the straining stalk of his cock, she changed her pitch.
Precum was slowly coursing out of him. She flicked at his cock with her tongue, learning his taste and running her lips over him with a special song just for his shaft.
“Bronwyn, please.”
She looked up at him through heavily lidded eyes. “What is my name?”
Her tone vibrated with the desire that was coursing through her and he grabbed her and flipped her to her back. He whispered her name against her flesh as he sucked at her breasts, trailed kisses down her belly and nestled his mouth against her core.
She arched into the stroke of his tongue, the caress of his fingers and the heady sound of her name coming from his lips, over and over.
When she was on the edge of release, he surged up her body and between her trembling thighs. He pressed a kiss to her lips and whispered her name as he pushed against her opening, widening her by tiny increments.
She repeated his name as he rocked into her and when he was firmly seated, she moaned, wrapping her legs around him. He slid against her, sweat easing the slick rock of his hips against her. They surged and thrust together until their voices let out the other’s name on a moan.
With Rejik still inside her, she started to whisper to him in a wordless mantra.
He looked down at her with surprise when his cock jerked inside her again. “You could have asked.” He shifted and slowly rocked back and forth in a relaxed rhythm.
“You might have said no and I have always dreamed of having a man of my own.” She circled her hips against him, luxuriating in the feel of him moving inside her.
He smiled and pinned her hands above her head, causing her breasts to press against his chest. “You only ever have to ask.”
She twisted against him and leaned up, whispering, “I will remember that, Rejik.” She put all of her seduction into her voice. “But move a little harder now, I want this to be a night we both remember.”
His laughter and the full shudder as her voice stroked his nerves from the inside out warmed her. Her lover, her life, her future was here in his arms.
Hours later, she woke covered in cold sweat. She turned to him and asked him desperately, “What is my name?”
He stroked her spine and murmured, “Bronwyn, my love, my heart,” until it was written on her soul and then she returned to sleep secure in the knowledge that he would always know her name…even when she didn’t.
She would never have to doubt that she had a name and that she had a man and that both were hers until she died.
About the Author
Viola Grace was born in Manitoba, Canada where she still resides today. She really likes it there. She has no pets and can barely keep sea monkeys alive for a reasonable amount of time. Her line of day job tends to be analytical which leaves her mind hopping to weave stories. No co-worker is safe from her character analysis. In keeping with busy hands are happy hands, her hobbies have included cross-stitch, needlepoint, quilting, costuming, cake decorating, baking, cooking, metal work, beading, sculpting, painting, doll making, henna tattoos, chain mail, and a few others that have been forgotten. It is quite often that these hobbies make their way into her tales.
Viola’s fetishes include boots and corsetry, and her greatest weakness is her uncontrollable blush. Her writing actively pursues the Happily Ever After that so rarely occurs in nature. It is an admirable thing and something that we should all strive for. To find one that we truly like, as well as love.