Branded By Kesh by Lee-Ann Wallace Page B

by millimetre, creeping across the scanner screen towards the centre and our location.
    The lights on the control panel of the ship flickered and danced. Warnings that we had a serious problem. Warnings that had been flashing for four days.
    “It should take us two hours to reach you. Gather everyone in the cargo bay and we will dock directly with your ship. You should gather everything you want in the time it takes us to get to you. Fallen Star out.”
    The relief was overwhelming. Tears gathered in my eyes, slowly trickling down my face.
    “We’ll be ready, Fallen Star. Thank you.”
    Now we just had to hope that we were still there in two hours. I scrambled up out of my chair.
    “Papa! There’s a ship coming!”
    I raced for the door and clattered down the walkway, my hasty footsteps echoing through the ship.
    “Papa!”
    My father appeared at the bottom of the stairs, hope shinning on his face.
    “A ship?”
    “Yes,” I replied, “We have to move everything into the cargo bay. They’re going to dock directly with us and they said to wait in the cargo bay.”
    “How long, Magnolia? How long until they get here?”
    I stepped off the stairs and saw the hopeful faces of my family and the few people who travelled with us. They might as well have been my family, we were so close.
    “Two hours. We just have to hold on for another two hours.”
     

Chapter Two
     
     
    The woman’s voice had shimmered through him, lighting him up like a beacon, lilting and musical. He’d never heard a voice so sweet. Instinct told him the woman was the one he’d been waiting for. The woman Destiny said was his. The one who could complete him, bring him peace from the endless searching and the constant pain of being without his mate.
    Kesh needed to find the woman who belonged to that voice. She was one of the refugees they had just rescued, and he planned to find her and make sure she knew she was going to be his. He didn’t care what he had to do. He would kill, maim, or fight to the death. Whatever it took, he was going to have her—and soon.
    “Where are you going?” Tor’Arr asked him as they almost collided on their way to the pressure lift.
    “To the cargo bay,” he replied.
    Tor’Arr gave him a knowing look, “Has the time finally come, my friend? Has Destiny finally caught up with you?”
    “It looks that way.”
    They stepped onto the lift together and Tor’Arr flashed him a grin.
    “Well, I hope she makes you work hard for it.”
    Kesh grunted. He expected she would. Nothing that was worthwhile having was ever easy. The best cargos were also the most heavily guarded. The best markets were the hardest to reach. He expected no less of this woman.
    In fact, he was looking forward to it.
    He hadn’t chased a woman in a long time. He was used to them being all too happy to come to his bed, sometimes for a price, a promise, his word that he’d return for them when he was ready to settle down.
    He hadn’t been ready to settle down—not until he’d heard her voice. The sweet music of it made him think of long afternoons spent in bed together, of shared meals, of a future that involved more than just fleeting dalliances.
    He and Tor’Arr stepped off the lift and headed down the corridor to the cargo bay. It took up most of the floor and was the largest cargo bay Tor’Arr could have built on a ship this size. It wouldn’t make for very comfortable quarters for the refugees, but it was all they had to offer them. They had a full crew, and there wasn’t a bed vacant in the crew quarters.
    The wide doors to the cargo bay slid open, and they walked through. There were men everywhere, moving their cargo around, stacking boxes, and shifting things to make room for the people they had rescued. A small group of people stood to one side of the cargo bay, bags and belongings piled at their feet, arms around each other, hugging and talking softly.
    He could understand them, since Tor’Arr had updated all the crew’s