Mated to the Alien Pirate: Celestial Mates Read online

  Mated to the Alien Pirate

  A Celestial Mates novel

  Leslie Chase

  Mated to the Alien Pirate

  Editing by Sennah Tate

  Copyright 2019 Leslie Chase

  All rights reserved

  This is a work of fiction intended for mature audiences. All names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are products of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  Created with Vellum

  Contents

  1. Marcie

  2. Arrax

  3. Marcie

  4. Arrax

  5. Marcie

  6. Arrax

  7. Marcie

  8. Arrax

  9. Marcie

  10. Arrax

  11. Marcie

  12. Arrax

  13. Marcie

  14. Arrax

  15. Marcie

  16. Arrax

  17. Marcie

  18. Arrax

  19. Marcie

  20. Arrax

  21. Marcie

  22. Arrax

  23. Marcie

  24. Arrax

  Epilogue

  About Leslie Chase

  Sci Fi Romance by Leslie Chase

  Paranormal Romance by Leslie Chase

  1

  Marcie

  “She went this way,” someone shouted, and I heard running footsteps behind me. I swore, ducking into an alley and hoping it led somewhere useful.

  Nothing in my life had prepared me for being hunted like this. My lungs burned as I sprinted, ducking around overflowing dumpsters and listening for the sounds of pursuit.

  Should have kept my head down, I told myself for the thousandth time that morning. How stupid can you get, Marcie? No one likes a whistle-blower.

  I’d expected trouble when I figured out that the firm I worked for laundered mob money. Maybe if I’d realized it was the Antaran mob’s money, I wouldn’t have been so keen to raise a fuss. Or at least I’d have been more careful about who I told.

  Someone shouted and I glanced back to see a green-skinned alien pointing my way. Fuck. Finding strength I didn’t know I had, I sprinted faster, skidding around the corner and back onto the street. Shoppers swore at me as I wove around them, but the crowd wasn’t thick enough to vanish into. It was only a matter of time before the mobsters caught me and then…

  Nope. Not going to think about that. All I knew about the Antaran slavers was what I saw on the news and on holo-dramas, but that was bad enough. They ran the most violent organized crime gangs in this part of the galaxy, so of course they were the ones I’d pissed off.

  If I was lucky, they’d just kill me. If not, I’d end up sold as a slave on some distant planet and then — I said I’m not going to think about it.

  I rounded a corner, then another, trying to put distance between me and my pursuers. Fear lent me speed, but my legs ached, breathing hurt, and I didn’t know where I was running to. Home? They knew where I lived. The police? Sure, they’d protect me for a little while, but the Antarans had a reputation. They’d killed witnesses in custody before and I didn’t want to be another entry on that list.

  Collapsing against a wall and ignoring the stares of passersby, I tried to think. So far I hadn’t done anything they had to kill me for. Maybe if I bought myself some time, this would all blow over. Yeah. That was it… not a great plan, but the best I had.

  The question was, did I have anywhere to go where they wouldn’t find me? If I hid with friends or family, it would drag them into this mess. I didn’t have much money, so staying on the move was out of the question.

  First things first. Get off the street so I can think without worrying about them spotting me. I staggered in through the first door I came to, not even checking the name of the business. Anywhere would do as long as I was out of sight.

  “Good afternoon,” the woman behind a reception desk greeted me. “Do you have an appointment?”

  For a moment I stared at her, stunned. She was an alien, her skin silver and hair gold, shining in the bright lights. Her voice was musical, soothing. I looked around the reception area, wondering what kind of business I’d blundered into. Aliens weren’t that common on Earth.

  The photos mounted on the walls showed distant worlds, alien forests, strange and unfamiliar stars. And in each of them a happy couple, always one human and one alien. I blinked again, glanced behind me, then back at the alien receptionist. If I got kicked out of here, it would be right into the arms of my pursuers.

  “Um, no,” I said, speaking quickly and edging closer. “Do I need one?”

  Whatever they’re selling here, if it gets me out of sight I’ll listen to the pitch.

  The woman smiled brightly, metallic skin reflecting the lights almost blinding-bright. Picking up a tablet, she glanced at it and nodded. “I can fit you in right now if you like. Just take a seat and I’ll ask a few questions to get us started. I’m Ellarixa, by the way. May I have your name?”

  “I’m Marcie Cole,” I said, instantly regretting giving my real name. I really didn’t have the instincts to be a fugitive. Ellarixa gestured to a chair and I sat down, glad of the chance to rest at least.

  “A pleasure to meet you, Marcie,” she said. “Now, what are you looking for in a mate?”

  A mate? I blinked, trying to look thoughtful rather than confused. A quick look back at the pictures, the happy couples smiling back at me. Is this a dating agency?

  Fine. Whatever. Anything to keep me off the streets until the Antarans stop looking for me.

  “I’m not sure exactly what I’m looking for,” I said tentatively. “This is a whim, you know?”

  Ellarixa nodded, a reassuring smile on her face. “Not to worry, we’re here to help. The Celestial Mates Agency prides itself on finding a match for anyone who comes through these doors. Let’s start with the basics: do you want a humanoid mate?”

  “Yes!” I answered before I even thought about it. A few of the pictures showed other kinds of aliens, and sure that woman looked happy with her tentacle-monster boyfriend but nope, not for me.

  Ellarixa took my outburst in her stride, checking a box on the tablet and moving on without comment. “Do you have a gender preference?”

  “Um, yes. Male please.” She nodded and made another note on her tablet, then reached into a desk drawer. The device she removed looked like a golden crown — if a crown had contacts mounted on the inside and circuity wrapped around it.

  “That’s a good start. It lets me narrow the field enough for the scanner to do its work.”

  I took the scanner dubiously, turning it over and over in my hands. Not sure if I wanted it reading my mind, I looked up at Ellarixa who smiled reassuringly.

  “Don’t worry,” she said. “It works by interpreting your subconscious reactions to the images it projects. That lets it get a grip on what — on who — you’ll be happiest with. It can’t see anything else.”

  I doubt it’ll get a great read on me, I thought. My mind wasn’t in the room, it was focused on the mobsters looking for me and the horrible things that might happen if they caught me. Not exactly the best time to figure out which alien I’d match up with, but then that didn’t matter. Anything that kept me in here helped keep me alive.

  So I put the crown on my head, feeling the contacts adjust to grip my scalp with a gentle, almost pleasant, caress. Ellarixa smiled at me and pressed a button on her desk.

  The world vanished into a flickering maelstrom of images and sounds. Faint voices, hundreds of them, spoke in an overlapping hubbub so rapid I didn’t make out any of the wor
ds. Dozens of aliens flashed in front of my eyes, none of them there long enough for me to get a good look. There were some common features, but not many.

  Each of them was male and roughly human shaped. Aside from that, everything seemed fair game. Some had four arms, some two. Some had tails, wings, tentacles even. Their skin colors varied wildly, from human tones to bright green like the Antarans or even stranger shades. I thought I saw one with transparent skin, but he flickered past before I was sure.

  The pictures weren’t all of alien guys, though. Other images came and went — an alien sunset, a cold star scape, a tropical island with weird crystal growths where I’d have expected the trees to go. Foods, strange geometric patterns, things I didn’t recognize before the images vanished to be replaced by something else. Things that judged my emotional response, I realized. I hoped that meant the machine didn’t simply match women to the hottest man in its databanks: I’d met plenty of attractive men who thought good looks gave them the right to be an asshole.

  The range of images narrowed quickly. The scanner read my reactions faster than I did, rejecting one after another of the aliens, and I started to see a pattern in those who remained. Tall men, strong and muscular, with fierce, intense eyes. The pictures slowed, giving me a second to look at each one before moving on.

  And then at last the final image vanished and I blinked across the desk at Ellarixa, wondering how long that whole process had lasted. A glance at the clock told me it had only been a few minutes.

  “That’s it?” I asked, bewildered. It seemed ridiculous that even alien technology could form a judgement based on so little — and I’d hoped that the process would keep me here longer.

  Ellarixa frowned, just a slight crease to her perfect silver brow, and looked at the tablet without answering. I sat up straight, reaching for the crown, and she blinked before plastering a smile across her features.

  “I’m sorry, Marcie,” she said. “That took longer than it’s supposed to, and the result is a little unusual.”

  “Is something wrong?” I asked. Not that it mattered, I’d only come in here to hide, I reminded myself.

  “Oh, nothing to worry about,” she told me. “It’s just, well, the scanner had to dig deep to find a match for you, and I’ve never seen a compatibility mark so low. Only 96% when we usually get over 98%.”

  I almost laughed at that. Did she really believe her technology was that accurate? If Ellarixa worried about having a 4% chance of failure she was doing better than I ever had.

  Thinking about that was better than worrying about why the alien machine had so much trouble finding me a guy. That stung. It’s probably the fact I’m worried about being murdered as soon as I leave, I told myself. Not that there’s no one for me in the whole galaxy.

  “But it found someone, right?” I asked, feeling foolish for worrying about something so unimportant. Ellarixa’s smile grew and she nodded confidently.

  “Of course, Marcie, we always do,” she said. “It’s just that this contract is old and hasn’t been updated in…”

  She trailed off and I saw the effort she made to hide another frown as she flicked through the file on her tablet. I bit my lip and stayed quiet, letting her work.

  “Ah. For six years.” Her fingers flicked across the tablet and she looked up at me. “But the contract is still open, so he’s still looking for a mate and I’m confident you’ll be a great match for each other.”

  “Sure. He’s such a great catch you haven’t been able to find him anyone in six years.” I crossed my arms and glared. That was ridiculous of me. It wasn’t like I was really looking for a mate, but it still hurt to be assigned the dregs of the Celestial Mates roster.

  Ellarixa put down her tablet and looked me in the eye. “I understand that this doesn’t sound ideal,” she said, “but I’ve never seen our system make a mistake. And there’s no risk to you, of course — the agency will pay your travel expenses and cover your return in the unlikely event the match doesn’t work out. You have nothing to lose by meeting him, and you came here for a reason.”

  That much was true, though not for the reason she thought. Maybe the scanner was smarter than she realized? Right now my one desire wasn’t for the perfect man, it was to get the hell away from the gangsters chasing me. If the Celestial Mates Agency would pay my fare off Earth, that made for a better hiding place than I’d ever find here.

  Whoever the alien guy was, he was far away from my troubles. That made him Mr. Right for the moment.

  “Okay, fine,” I said. “Tell me about him?”

  Ellarixa’s smile lit up like the sun and I realized that she genuinely liked helping people. It made me feel a little guilty about taking advantage of her agency and spoiling her perfect record, but I had no choice.

  “Let me see. His name is Arrax vo’Kinto Belvic, and he’s… a mining supervisor on Atreon Station in deep Kadran space. I’m afraid we don’t have a current image to show you, but here’s what he looked like six years ago.”

  She held out her hand and a sheet of what looked like paper appeared in it. Text and images flowed across the page as she handed it to me, and I looked at the mate the computer had chosen for me.

  Okay. Not bad at all. After the scanner I shouldn’t have been surprised that he was good looking, but wow. Intense eyes looked out at me from a strong, blue-skinned face. A rugged jaw, expressive lips… yeah, that was a face I wouldn’t mind looking at. The picture zoomed out slowly, showing me his torso, and I bit my lip. Double wow.

  Despite the job title, a mining supervisor must do some hands-on work, or maybe Arrax was an exercise fanatic, because by human standards he was incredibly ripped. Or possibly that was normal for his species? Whatever, he was certainly fine to look at. My cheeks heated as the image zoomed out further, revealing his whole body. Revealing everything, because it was a naked photo.

  Arrax was huge. In every way. I blinked, blushing brightly, and tore my eyes from the image with an effort.

  Ellarixa grinned at me, which only made the moment more embarrassing. I quickly turned the page over, looking at the other details on the back. A map of nearby space, colored blobs showing various interstellar alliances and factions in a bewildering array. It still didn’t make much sense but I understood enough to see that whatever ‘Kadran space’ was, it was a long way from Earth. Better and better.

  A mining supervisor didn’t sound glamorous or exciting, but maybe that was for the best? I’d spend a quiet time out there on the edge of known space and then come back once the heat had died down. A perfect hiding place. Yes.

  “When can I leave?” My question interrupted Ellarixa mid-flow, and I realized I hadn’t been taking in anything she’d said. Didn’t matter, it would all be in the paperwork, right?

  She flicked ahead through her files, blinked, looked at me again. “Well. Atreon is a long way from the main routes so shipping there isn’t common, but you’re in luck. There’s a ship leaving this evening. I’m afraid you’ll have to rush to catch it, there’s not much time to get you to the spaceport.”

  I grinned. “Don’t worry, I’ll head straight there.”

  “But your luggage?”

  “I’ll manage,” I said. Not that I had a choice — going home would be suicide. “I can buy a few changes of clothes in the spaceport, right? I don’t want to risk missing my flight.”

  Los Angeles Interplanetary Spaceport was a confusing mess of a place, and I stared at the crowd, wavering. My phone held a ticket now, one that should pay my way on the Jester’s Last Laugh and get me to Atreon.

  But I had no luggage, and I was dressed for meeting a client not for a dramatic getaway. Or for a romantic meeting for that matter. I had nothing with me, no spare clothes, none of my personal possessions, not even a toothbrush. Could I really walk away from my life so easily? It wasn’t as though I’d have a job to come back to: the flight alone would take months, and I didn’t exactly have time to arrange a leave of absence.

  Stop dawdling, M
arcie, I told myself firmly. You won’t have a job to go to either way, because if you stay, you’ll be dead. Or worse.

  I didn’t want to think about what ‘worse’ meant. Everyone heard rumors about the Antaran mob and what they liked to do to their victims, but I didn’t want to find out how accurate the stories were first hand. Taking a deep breath, I marched forward into the spaceport.

  Instead of having to rush, I was early. Taking a taxi straight from the Celestial Mates offices got me there with time to spare, or at least, time to shop.

  Shopping was a risk, of course. As soon as I used my cards to pay for anything, it would be traceable if the mobsters had the right contacts. But I didn’t have choice, and I didn’t have much time, so I hoped that I’d be long gone by the time they followed the trail here. Buying overpriced and ill-fitting clothes, a bag to hold them in, and the basic toiletries I couldn’t do without used up most of my available money. The rest I blew on a translator implant that promised to let me speak all the languages I’d need. It left me penniless, all my accounts in the red, but at least I‘d be able to understand my mate when we met. And shopping used up the time before the Jester’s Last Laugh was ready to board.

  Taking me off Earth for the first time, and out into the endless dark of space.

  I hadn’t taken it in yet, not really accepted that I’d be leaving Earth for at least half a year. But there was no help for it, not if I wanted to live. I took a moment to record a quick goodbye message to my friends — I didn’t want them to worry. Not that my message would keep them from worrying. Who gets a message saying “Hey, sorry, I’m going to be out of contact for half a year or so” from a friend and doesn’t get concerned? Bad friends, that’s who.