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But when he looked at me like this?
It tugged at my heart, and it felt like way more than the mate bond.
It felt like falling in love.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Wrin
Vivv’s fierceness blazed bright as the sun, and I stared, transfixed, at her glory.
We’d spent the last two days in endless meetings. The first day, we’d dealt with the fallout of my actions on Zaar. Mother had been brutal in pushing for Glovar and Slev to be prosecuted. Then she’d made a formal announcement about the discovery of Hyoo-mons and that Zaarn sent to Roam were finding their fated mates among them.
To say it had caused quite a stir was the understatement of the century. We’d needed to be scanned again to have our mate bond confirmed, only this time by the ship doctor sanctioned by the government.
Then we’d turned our attention to all the activity at Breyva, filling in both Vivv and my mother on all the developments.
I’d had no time alone with my mate, no time to get to talk, just the two of us. And we’d be swept up in even more chaos once we got to Breyva.
Fortunately, I’d arranged a surprise.
“Come.” I took Vivv’s hand in mine and stepped out into the corridor, where I turned left.
“The mess hall’s this way.” She gave me a tug toward the public rooms of the ship.
“We’re not going to the mess hall.”
She shot me a questioning glance but offered no further protest as I led her to a door that opened onto a large space containing a living area, a private dining table, and a lavish kitchen. Deep blues and purples decorated the space, echoing the colors of Zaarn skin, ofmyskin.
Vivv stood out against all that cool color, a bright splash of golden-tan skin clothed in a rich red shirt. She was different, but I didn’t care. She was beautiful.
She wasmine.
My mate gasped, her eyes going wide as they took it all in. “What is this? It’s huge for a spaceship!”
“It’s one of the senatorial staterooms,” I said. “Since my mother is in the other, I talked her into letting us use this one.”
We’d spent the previous nights in a regular cabin—perfectly nice, but little more than a shower and a bed.
“You liked it when I cooked for you before, so I wanted to do so again.” I also wanted to do some of this “wooing” Hyoo-mons seemed to prefer. We might have mate bonded as Zaarn did, but my Vivv deserved the rituals she valued as well.
The door chimed, and when I opened it, Max darted into the room, meowing and heading straight for Vivv. She laughed and crouched down to greet him, running her hands over his back as he pranced back and forth in front of her.
While they caught up, I pulled out several fresh ingredients and set them on the wooden countertop. The grivwood had been stained with the tree’s needles, and the light-blue wood sealed with a protective coating. It was a lovely reminder of the world we’d just left behind.
I should probably feel sad that I might never see it again. Mate bonding Vivv might have been enough to save my life, but the arguments and shock at my mother’s announcement made it clear it would take time for all of my people to accept that the banished could find fated mates among “aliens.”
Yet sad was the last thing I felt as I laid thick krinar steaks on the electric grill. Vivv and Max came over, pulled by the scent and sizzle of the cooking meat, her expression eager.
I loved that about her, her hunger for life.
I set a bowl of water on the floor for the kreecat, then added another containing chopped raw steak.
Vivv laughed as Max gobbled down a piece. “He says thank you. This is the best ‘not moving’ food he’s ever had.”
I didn’t admit that the feline had grown on me. He brought my mate such joy, how could I feel otherwise?
“Can I do anything?” She caressed the hilt of the butcher’s knife.
