Page 25 of Commander's Mate
“One of the slavers told me. They travel up and down the rim stealing people to sell to the Sargan Empire,” he said. “He showed me a star map once. I think he was bored and I interested him.”
“Could you draw the map from memory,” I asked.
“Not with accuracy,” he said. “I am not an astronomer. If I could look at some holographic maps, I might be able to recognize some stars that would help me pinpoint the location. The coordinates would be useless without the reference points in space. Unlike road maps, star maps are three dimensional.”
“What is your name?” Nora asked.
“Sahvin Kazza,” he said. Then he looked up at Nora and sniffed, then gasped in wonder. He stood abruptly and backed away.
“Is something wrong,” I asked he as looked at Nora and sniffed.
“Nora from Earth, you are meomee! My soul mate,” he said, looking directly at her
“What does that mean?” she asked.
He looked at her, his feline eyes filled with longing. “Can’t you feel it? It means you are my fated mate.
“It sounds like solmatu,” I told her. His eyes took a little getting used to, but he was otherwise gorgeous with a muscular build and pale golden skin.
“Oh, my!?” Nora gasped.
I had a pretty good idea what was happening, but from the look on her face, it seemed a bit more intense.
“How can this be happening?” she murmured uncertainly. “I just met him for ten minutes and I feel like I want to push him down and have my way with him.”
I chuckled as I stole a glance at our new feline acquaintance. “He’s kind of looking at you the same way,” I whispered.
“I have a feeling you aren’t going to have much choice in the matter. You might as well go talk to him. He seems very nice,” I encouraged her. “This fated mate thing hasn’t turned out so bad for Zared and me.”
She glanced briefly at Sahvin, and sighed. “He is pretty, isn’t he?” she smiled wryly.
“He is.” I laughed softly.
In my peripheral vision, I caught a movement that drew my attention. Zared strode into the cargo bay. “Zared’s back,” I told Norma. “Talk to you in a bit.
I was so glad to see him alive and walking, I wanted to run to him and fling my arms around him and cling to him---to wrap myself around him and kiss him until we were both breathless with desire. But I didn’t.
I strolled out of the crowd and walked up to him and smiled up at him, reaching for his hand. “You scared the crap out of me,” I said quietly.
“I know,” he said softly. “But, I’m fine.” His hand closed around mine and he brought up his other hand caressed my cheek with the back of his fingers.
“You sure look fine.” I grinned at him and winked.
He gave me that familiar smirk that told me I would probably be getting some personal attention from him a bit later when we were alone.
