Assigned a Mate (12 page)

I knelt down and carefully fed the bottom of the pole through the gap between the chain and her body and jabbed it into the ground, watched as it sank and secured itself into the sand. I tugged on it to ensure that it was well placed.

The pole was placed within the circle of the chain and her body. Eva was not going anywhere, unless she decided to shimmy up the long pole to unhook her chain. I doubted she wished to rip her nipple rings from her body. This arrangement allowed her to be confined, yet completely unbound. She was by my side—and modestly covered—where I wanted her and I could easily release her if danger came upon us. A swift yank on the pole and she’d be free.

“Satisfied?” I asked Councilor Bertok.

He pursed his thin lips, but nodded and returned to his seat. He could do nothing else and he knew it. I’d met his requirement, although he had most likely expected me to strip her bare and shackle her in chains. The old
fark.

The crisis was averted and yet the cost was solely heaped upon Eva. She kept her head down throughout the remainder of the meeting. She was, no doubt, embarrassed and very angry. While I focused on the agenda at hand, I monitored Eva carefully, assessing she was comfortable. While I was high councilor, I was also her mate and she was my top priority. I had committed myself to my role my entire life. It was time to commit myself to Eva.

As I brought the meeting to a close, one of the head guards ducked into the tent. By the urgency on his face, the sweat that dripped from his brow, something was wrong.

“High councilor, there has been an accident. Several are dead and we have injuries.”

* * *

It was possible I’d been more embarrassed when Goran had watched Tark fuck me, but it had been eased by arousal and ultimately an amazing orgasm. Being forced to sit on the raised platform beside Tark, not as his equal, but clearly as his… woman, or worse, a chained pet, was beyond mortifying. While he hadn’t actually tied me up, handcuffed me, or shackled me as that awful Bertok had wanted, I had been truly trapped. The chain attached to the nipple rings had kept me by the pole just the same. Tark was being considerate, but I was bound nonetheless. I’d fumed over it for the first few minutes of the meeting, but then realized my mate was doing his job.

Variation in custom occurred across Trion as well and Tark had to meet these differences of the councilors. Instead of shackling me, he’d devised a way for me to subjugate myself while providing me some dignity. I knew Tark’s strength and he could easily remove the pole from the sand as quickly as he’d placed it.

It had been the look in the men’s eyes that kept my head lowered, that made me feel inferior, not Tark. I didn’t want to see the leers, the arousal, the eagerness, even the curiosity that I’d seen when I first came into the tent. I only wanted Tark’s gaze on me. I liked it when I saw his eyes flare with heat. I liked knowing he was eager for me, that his curiosity rivaled mine for him. I didn’t mind any of it with Tark because I’d brought that about and I felt powerful, not slutty.

Was this what he had been trying to prevent by keeping me in seclusion? I’d hated the feeling of being hidden, kept from everyone else around me. I wasn’t used to it, but now I knew why. Outpost Nine was… uncomfortable, even for Tark. He’d had to make accommodations of his personal beliefs, his customs and convictions with the other councilors—it was obvious now with Bertok and a few of his followers—and I would have to compromise with mine. I’d been outspoken and he had spanked me to teach me the laws of the land. I was fortunate I’d been chastised before now, for I had learned to hold my tongue. If I hadn’t, surely Tark would have been forced to spank me in front of the entire council. His position not only as my mate, but as high councilor, would demand it. He’d talked about the palace, the city where he lived. Fortunately, our stay in this encampment was temporary.

But when the guard came in sharing the news of an accident, I didn’t want to keep my head down or remain hidden. I wanted to do my job.

Tark stood immediately and yanked the pole from the sand, releasing me from my pseudo-confinement. I jumped to my feet. Tark grabbed my arm and dragged me toward Goran.

“Take her to the harem.”

As Goran nodded, I said, “No! I might be able to help.”

The room had broken out into pandemonium. Everyone was talking at once, many leaving the tent with guards surrounding them.

“You mean your medical training?” Tark asked, his voice pitched low so only Goran and I could hear.

I nodded. “Besides, we don’t know if the accident was truly that or some kind of attack.”

Tark’s jaw clenched, but he was considering. He hadn’t said no yet. I didn’t want to be sent back to the harem, twiddling my thumbs and idly letting the world pass me by. Someone might die if I didn’t help and that went against everything inside of me.

“Consider that it could be a distraction to steer everyone from the harem,” I added. “You must admit there are many who do not like me. Hurting me means hurting you.”

Tark didn’t like my comments, but I could see he knew them to be a very distinct possibility.

“Please, Tark,” I begged. “I am of more value to this planet, to you as high councilor, to you as a mate than just a breeder. You may think me a murderer, but I am skilled at what I do. Let me help.”

He took another moment to decide. “Very well. You will stay beside me at all times. You must obey, Eva. Do you understand?”

“I do.”

My heart leapt into my throat as I realized he was going to allow me to join him. He was trusting me, allowing me to be more than what was normally expected of a mate. I could not sit idly and make woodcraft and he knew it. The matching, God, it was incredible, for Tark knew deep down things about me that other men would never see or take time to discover.

“Extra guards. Now,” Tark commanded to the men outside the tent. “Follow us.”

Tark gripped my arm and followed the man who’d interrupted the meeting. Goran followed closely on my heels. We weaved through people agitated from the news. As we walked, I was able to observe more of Outpost Nine than I had before. I’d been correct in my assumption. All of the men were large. Only a few women were about, all accompanied by a male escort. I looked down a long line of tents and saw stalls similar to a bazaar or fair at the far end. Smoke wafted and scents of cooking meat, almonds, and strange spices permeated the air. As we walked, I became winded, my skin beading with sweat. The sun was intense, but I did not wish to block my view with the robe’s hood.

“What has happened?” Tark asked the guard.

The man looked back, his face grim.

“Davish and his contingency were headed toward the leader’s section to the south when they were raided. They’d only gone part of the way when the attack occurred. Those who survived turned back, knowing the best chance for aid was here. The sentinels saw their return and called for help.”

“Drovers?” Tark asked.

“Most likely. They are long gone, but a squadron was sent to hunt for them.”

The differences between Tark as a lover and as high councilor were impressive. While he was dominant and commanding with me, his touch, his voice, even the thrusting of his cock, while deliberate, were quite gentle. I never feared him. Now, though, looking at the tense lines of his shoulders, the awareness of power about him, made him almost a different person. His guard was up, his defenses ready for whatever we would face.

We came out of from between two tents and the land opened up. Looking left and right, the outer edge of the outpost was visible, made up of a long line of identical temporary structures. It was a vast town in the middle of nowhere, if the vista before me was any indication. I’d been to the desert southwest with a friend from college one holiday break. The landscape was arid and scrappy. There were no trees as I’d been used to where I’d grown up outside of the country’s capital. The sky in Arizona was big and blue, the rock formations orange-red. That was the only desert I’d seen, the only thing I could compare this to. But the desert here, on Trion, was completely different from anything I’d ever seen before.

The sand was white, like the beach, an endless ocean that went on for miles and miles in every direction. Scrubby purple, red, and brown plants dotted the rolling landscape and a few jagged gray rock formations broke up the straight horizon. What made me gasp were the two moons I could see in the sky, one white and one blood red. Holding my hand up over my eyes against the glare, I just stared. But not for long.

The guard pointed and to our right was a small group of people and large animals. I thought immediately they must be like camels, since we were in the desert, but they actually looked more like longhaired horses. Men held the leads for the animals, who had been placed in a protective circle surrounding people who lay sprawled across the ground. Tark pushed his way into the center and tugged me with him.

I counted quickly, my training kicking in. The familiar adrenaline pumped through my veins. Eight people lying on the ground, men and women both. Some thrashed about, clearly injured and in pain, others lay still. One was obviously dead from where I stood, brain matter seeping from a crack in his skull.

One of the men saw our arrival, stood from beside an injured woman and closed the distance between us swiftly.

“High councilor.” He nodded in respect. “We have one dead, three on their way to death, and the remainder have injuries that are not life-threatening. Unfortunately, our probes and scanners can’t fix the severity of some wounds.”

“Something’s wrong. She’s bleeding profusely!”

We turned toward the shout. Another man knelt before the injured woman. “It just started and I can’t get it to stop. The ReGen wand doesn’t work!” He was panicking, his eyes wide as he watched the blood pump from the wound in her thigh. The man waved a small device over it, but there was no blue light this time, and I noticed no improvement.

“That’s an arterial bleed. I have to help.”

A hand on my arm stopped me.

I looked up at Tark. “You can spank me all you wish later, but I need to help. Now. She will be dead in a minute if it’s not stopped.” I tugged at the grip.

“The severe cases can be taken to the med unit,” Tark said.

“They will die before they arrive and there are no revitalization pods,” the man countered. Had he even seen an arterial bleed before?

“
Fark
,”
Tark whispered.

I yanked even harder at Tark’s hold as I watched the blood begin to soak into the sand beneath the injured person. “I can help, you idiot mate. I’m a fucking doctor. It’s my
job
to help.”

“You?” the other man asked, stunned.

Either Tark loosened his grip or I’d been able to break free. I didn’t respond to the man’s remark, but instead said, “She needs a tourniquet immediately.” I dropped to my knees in the sand assessing the injury. I didn’t look up when I called out, “Find me some simple pliers and a needle and thread.”

The three men paused briefly.

“Now!” I shouted.

“Get her what she needs,” Tark commanded and they moved to do his bidding.

I grabbed the long hem of my robe and tore a strip from the bottom. Pushing it beneath her leg, I wrapped it around her thigh above the large gash, blood spurting from it. How she’d survived since the attack, I had no idea. My only thought was the woman had been injured further in rough transit. Yanking on the strip, I made a tight knot above the cut, the blood flow tapering off.

“Her femoral artery has been nicked. Perhaps moving her made it worse and it tore.” It didn’t matter how it happened, it just had to be fixed. I was thankful for the short length of the customary slip dress she wore, this time the lower half covered in blood. The robe on top was similar to mine, but did not cover her, instead was spread out beneath her on the ground.

I stuck my fingers into the gash and quickly found the nicked spot. “Get me the pliers.” I looked up and Tark was above me, shielding my eyes from the sun. He was a dark silhouette above me, but I knew it was he. “Pliers,” I repeated. “Some kind of clamp or a way to hold the artery closed while I sew up the hole.”

Before he could move, the man who’d met us came running up and handed me something similar to pliers. “This should work well.” With slippery fingers, I clamped off the artery. “I need someone to hold them.”

Tark knelt beside me, our shoulders bumping, and held them in place. “Keep them closed.”

“Needle and thread?” I asked.

It appeared to my left, the needle already threaded and ready to go. Leaning forward, I carefully and methodically sewed up the small hole. It only took a few stitches, but those small knots were the difference between life and death.

“Release the clamp, but don’t remove it. I need you to be ready to put pressure on once again if the sutures don’t hold.”

Tark loosened his grip on the clamp and we watched as the stitches held. I knew men stood above us, but I was not interested in them, only that the woman’s artery would hold.

“Can she be repaired with that… wand thing in the med unit?” I asked, my hands directly above the gash, ready to add more sutures if need be.

“Yes, now that the blood has stopped.”

I didn’t know who spoke, but he stood to my left.

“Use the ReGen Wand on her here before you try to move her. Get as much healing done as you can so there’s no chance it will open again. Only when the artery itself is repaired can you remove the tourniquet. But be quick, or she’ll lose her leg.” I waved my bloody hand in the air. “Either heal that artery, or be very, very careful when you take her to the pod thing you talked about.”

Several men took my place beside the patient. It was only then that I saw her face—that I paid attention to something besides the dire wound—and recognized Mara. I was covered to my forearms in her blood. I was glad to see she would make it. She might have been a total bitch, but that didn’t mean she deserved to die.

I turned away from her since she was stable and being tended. “The patients have been triaged, so who is next?” I glanced up to wait for the answer. When no one responded, I looked at the other wounded. “Who will die if they aren’t treated immediately?”