Adiron (Corsair Brothers 1)

As my sister complains about how I've gone and got myself mated behind her back, I make it to med-bay. Jade's stasis pod is still untouched, thank kef, and I move toward it and put a hand on the surface protectively. "This is my mate," I tell my sister. "Isn't she beautiful?"

Zoey's expression softens and she peers at the female inside. "A human?"

"Well…yeah." I frown at her. "You thought she was mesakkah?"

Zoey flings her hands up. "We're surrounded by mesakkah constantly! Why wouldn't I think that?"

Excellent point. I activate the controls on the stasis pod, and the top peels back, letting out a puff of frigid air. Jade's bare skin looks slightly frosty, and I shrug off my tunic, because she's going to be cold. "I dunno. She's just so perfect that it never occurred to me that you thought she'd be anything else. She's just…Jade." I hover protectively over the pod, watching my mate's face carefully. I want to be the first thing she sees when she opens her eyes. "I wouldn't want her to be anything other than what she is. I hope you like her."

Zoey just sighs. "You big romantic dummy. Of course I'm going to like her. If you love her, I'm sure she's amazing."

"So amazing," I agree. I scan Jade's face. Is that a flutter of her lashes?

As I watch, Jade sucks in a deep breath, the same gasping, terrified sound everyone makes when they're coming out of stasis. It's like being interrupted out of a long, intense nightmare when you come out of stasis, and I'm sure she'll be disoriented. Her eyes open a crack, and she looks up at me with confused eyes, her pupils enormous.

My beautiful mate lifts one small fist…and promptly socks me in the nose.

71

JADE

The last thing I remember is Shaalyn's face smirking down at me as the cold rips through my veins. Then, nothing but ice and darkness.

When my lungs fill with burning air again and I wake up, I'm terrified and confused. My eyes are unfocused, and my entire body hurts. It feels as if I've been flash-frozen and then left out to thaw, and it's painful. A blue face looms in close again, and instinct kicks in.

I punch.

My hand explodes in pain and I bite back a whimper, even as the blue face falls back. Then, there's a low, familiar groan. It's the sound I've heard dozens of times before, usually in bed, though.

"Adiron?" I whisper, desperately squinting at my surroundings. "Where are you?"

"How is it all those tiny wiggly fingers can pack such a hit?" my big alien asks, his voice jovial despite the fact that it sounds like he's pinching his nose. His tone is muffled, but a moment later when the big, blurry blue face leans in again, I can just make out his familiar grin.

Oh. Oh. "Adi. I'm sorry." I reach up and touch his face, and he covers my hand with his. He's so damn warm and my fingers feel like ice. "I thought—"

"I know. It's okay. You're safe now. Can you sit up?"

When I nod, he puts a hand to the base of my neck and helps me sit. It takes a moment, but I realize I'm still in med-bay, still naked with dozens of tubes attached to my skin, and still in the hated, hated stasis pod. A whimper escapes me as bad memories flood back. "I want to get out of this thing."

"I've got you," Adiron says gently. He helps me yank the tubes off, each one leaving behind a little prick of pain as it exits my skin. Then, his big warm hands are on my back and he lifts me out of the stasis pod and into his arms. In the next moment, I'm curled against warm, familiar chest and he drapes fabric around me. "Did they hurt you?" Adiron asks, the protectiveness back in his voice.

I swallow hard. I want to whine that they did, that after I punched Shaalyn she had her goons hold me down and shove me into the stasis pod, kicking and screaming. That it was awful and traumatizing, because I could feel my body dying as the chemicals spread through my veins to put me to sleep. That she just smirked down at me as if it gave her great pleasure to fuck me over. But I'm alive, and I've woken up in Adiron's arms, so I can live with this. I can be fragile later, in private. "I'll be all right. Where's that bitch?" I peer around the room. "We're still on her ship. Where is she? I'm going to kill her."

"She's imprisoned," Adiron tells me, adjusting the blanket around me as a cocoon. "We've taken over the ship."

I shake my head, tucking myself against his chest. "I…I don't understand. How?"