Chapter 4
4
M ikos
My mate’s eyes drifted closed and I stepped closer, breathing her in. My cock grew painfully hard in the thin, green pants the doctor had supplied. Thank the gods I wasn’t in my armor.
“Commander Karter, there’s one more thing I forgot to mention.” Doctor Moor’s tone caused Breanna’s eyes to flicker open, but she didn’t pull away from my touch. I wondered if her nipples were hard peaks beneath her Coalition armor.
I glanced up to find the doctor watching Breanna lean into me with concern in her gaze. She was about to speak things my mate did not need to hear. I interrupted before the doctor could continue. “Commander Karter, I need to speak with Breanna. Alone.” I wasn’t asking.
Commander Karter took one look at the two of us and dipped his chin, acknowledging what I would not say. He knew the signs. Every male on this ship would know she was mine the moment they scented her blood. I was already inside her, my essence changing her very cells. She was my mate, my match, the one female in the universe I would die for, kill for. She was coming with me to Rogue 5 whether she wanted to or not. The only person in the room not aware of this fact was the female whose full breasts rose and fell with increasing speed, her breathing fast and shallow, her gaze locked on my lips.
Gods help me, she was beautiful. Her skin smooth and dark. Her expressive eyes a rich brown I could drown in. The short, black curls that covered her delicate head made me wonder if she would have similar curls covering her sex. The scent of her wet pussy called to me. Would she allow me to taste her feminine heat, fill her with my cock, make her scream her release? Desire was there, in her gaze. Languid. Submissive.
Mine.
Fuck. She was mine, but I could not keep her. The moment I set foot on Rogue 5, the hunt would begin. The demands for justice, for my execution, would not cease. I would not be able to stay with her, protect her. I had a plan, but no guarantee of success. No assurance I could give her that I would survive, especially if forced to modify my strategy and face my enemy on Rogue 5 rather than on Xerima, where I could have ambushed him, set my trap. On Rogue 5, he held the advantage. Facing him there was a risk I had not accounted for.
None of that mattered now. She was my mate. My essence circulated in her delicate, feminine body. I could get her to Astra, to the antidote. I could still save her life. Breanna Parks was the only thing that mattered. My life was inconsequential. I should have died on that Hive ship, would have, if she had not found me and set me free. Every moment I spent with her now was a gift I was not worthy to receive.
Worthy or not, I was going to take every moment, every look, every touch, and every soft sigh and savor it like the merciless, greedy fucker I knew myself to be.
If she’d have me like this. No promises. No commitment. No formal claiming.
I would save her life, and should I die on Rogue 5, Astra would return her to her people. My mate would never suffer, never know what she was to me. Never learn what I sacrificed to save her.
She could never know. As her mate, I would protect her in all things, including this. Neither my life, nor my death, would be her burden to bear.
“Everyone out.” Commander Karter glared at everyone in the room as they slowly shuffled toward the exit. He turned to the doctor. “Note in her record I am granting thirty days medical leave.” He looked at me. “You bringing her back?”
I choked on the words, hated speaking them. “If I cannot, our leader, Astra, will assure her safe return. You have my word.”
“Bree?” Henry hadn’t budged, not an inch. My head still ached from his blaster. If he tried to interfere, I would eliminate him. No one would prevent me from saving my female.
Luckily for the small human male, Breanna did not move away from me when she responded to the human. “I’m good, Henry. I promise. Go ahead.”
Relief flooded my system, and I nearly smiled. She was not afraid to be alone with me. It was a start.
“You sure?” Captain Mills spoke this time. She smiled. Her human friends were loyal, a quality I appreciated. The other human, Collins, held his position at the door, presumably so they could all make a quick exit. Intelligent strategy. Gods knew they would not be able to stop me, not even with their armor and blasters. I did not require weapons, nor armor, to tear every single one of them in half.
“I’m sure.” Breanna’s soft whisper saved all their lives.
Commander Karter’s gaze caught mine. “You have an hour, then I expect both of you in transport. I’ll see what I can do about getting you a decent ship.”
I nodded. One hour to convince my mate to trust me, to leave this ship, travel with me to one of the most dangerous places in Coalition space, take an experimental antidote that had only been tried and tested on three other females in the universe, none of whom were fully human, and return her to Battleship Karter unharmed.
I caught a glimpse of my reflection in the now empty doctor’s monitors.
A brute stared back. Aged. Weary. Scarred. What sane female would willingly accompany me on such a perilous journey? She would be safe. I would die to protect her. But my mate did not fully understand what she was to me. She could not know that I would kill every Prillon warrior, Atlan beast, and fighter on this ship if they tried to stop me from saving her. Every fucking one of them. They were nothing.
The door slid closed on the last of our company and I looked away from the monster in the reflection to take in my mate. She watched me with curiosity, perhaps even desire. I saw no fear. Thank the gods. Still, my heart skipped a beat at her question.
“Why did you save me?” She wrapped her fragile fingers around my wrist and appeared to be holding me in place rather than pushing me away. “You could have let me die. You were half dead yourself. Why would you do that?”
The truth seized hold of my mind, its icy claws pierced my mind like a predator striking prey and would not relent. My pulse pounded. My cock hardened and wept precum as she stared at me, waiting for an answer to her simple question. I could not tell her she was my mate. I could not fully claim her, fuck her with my mating fist, not when I knew possible death awaited me on Rogue 5. There was only one answer I could give her, a half-truth I hoped would appease. “I am a male of honor. I could not allow a female to die when it was in my power to save you. I protect females and children. I protect my people. That is my primary purpose.”
“But I’m a soldier, a fighter. I volunteered to serve in the Fleet. I knew the risks. I’m just another soldier. No one. A random stranger.” She blinked slowly and took a deep breath, the pause somehow important. “Doctor Moor said if you’d given me any more, you could have died.”
Would this female have mourned me? Was that possible after just one volatile meeting?
I should not give in to my desire, I knew this, but I could no more resist rubbing my thumb over her lower lip than I could stop the erotic images flooding my mind. By the gods, she was soft. “Wearing armor does not make your strength equal to mine. Shooting a blaster does not make you what I am.” She smelled of flowers and exotic fruits, the taste of her a torture on my tongue I would never be able to forget. “You will never be no one. You are fragile. Beautiful. Female.” Mine. The word was there, on the tip of my tongue, yet I did not speak it.
Essence leaked from my fangs to flood my mouth, and I suppressed the urge to growl. My body knew what to do. Remove her armor. Fuck her. Bite her. Claim her forever. My body, however, was not in control. I was no young fool to be led around by my cock. I was one of Astra’s chosen few, hardened by blood, war and killing. Keeping the truth of what this female was to me hurt me in a way I’d never been wounded before. Strangely, I celebrated the ache in my chest, the vice squeezing my heart into bloody pulp. I found her, my mate, and if I died, I would die knowing I saved her life on that Hive ship, protected her and cared for her in every possible way, for as long as I lived.
“You don’t say much, do you?” Breanna tilted her head and watched me without blinking. “Did you ask everyone to leave so you could convince me to go with you to Rogue 5?”
Until the moment she asked the question, I had believed what she said to be true. Now I could not lie to her, or myself. “No. I will take you and ensure you have the antidote whether you agree or not.”
“You can’t fight your way off this ship. You can’t kidnap me.”
“I can and I would. Do you intend to force me to kill so many?” I held her gaze as my lust for her shifted and intensified into battle readiness. A primal urge to take her and get the fuck off this ship fogged my mind with rage. Fuck. I’d never felt anything so primitive and difficult to control. No wonder my Atlan cousins lost their minds to mating fever.
“Jeez. You’re intense.” She stepped back, breaking contact. My hand curled into a hard fist at the loss.
Reluctantly, I lowered my arm to my side and studied the rapid rise and fall of her chest. Feminine heat filled the air, teasing my senses. My mate was aroused, by my threat to kill for her, or the natural pull between mates? I couldn’t be sure, but I needed clarification of her intentions. Every moment I delayed, remained outside the healing pod, I would become weaker. If I would be required to fight my way off this ship, I needed to know now. Commander Karter gave her leave from her military duties. However, if she chose to protest, I had no doubt I would be forced to fight if I wanted to leave with her.
“Answer the question. Will you accompany me willingly?”
Her mouth opened and closed several times, her plump lips forming an adorable oval shape I longed to taste. “No. I mean yes. Yes, I will go with you. No to killing all my friends.”
She licked her lips, and I wondered if I was making her nervous, or if her shallow breathing was desire, if she, too, imagined my cock filling her body, pumping into her as I held her hips, fucking her until she fought for every breath, clawed at my skin, begged me to stop, to continue, to make her wet pussy spasm again and again.
“If you were just going to kidnap me anyway, why did you ask to talk to me alone?”
For a moment, I considered lying to her, pretending to be gentle and seductive, rather than a brute, a monster. I inhaled deeply, the spice of her arousal filled my mind with a haze of lust. Need. The urge to tear her clothing from her body and take her rode me like a dark phantom I could not shake. I would not be able to function properly, to protect her, until I assuaged this need. “I smell your wet pussy, female. Your taste lingers on my tongue. My body craves yours.” I reached for the top of the green pants I wore and rested my thumbs along the edge, pulling them down just enough to give her a glimpse of what I offered. “I want to fuck you. Bite you.”
“Now?” Her gaze dropped to my offering, and she gasped. “Holy shit. You’re huge.”
She sounded neither frightened nor displeased at the size of my cock. “There is only now. Time is an illusion. Now is all we have.”
“Why me?” Her gaze lifted to meet mine once more. Confusion flashed behind her eyes, but it was not strong enough to hide her desire, or the increased speed at which her pulse fluttered at the base of her neck.
“You are beautiful. Soft. Curved. I have already bitten you. There is no danger to you from a second bite. I can fuck you, bite you, give you my essence and watch your face as you come all over my cock.” I rubbed the hard length with one hand, pleased when her gaze followed the activity with rapt interest.
“God, you aliens are direct.”
“Yes or no, Breanna?”
“My friends call me Bree.”
“I am not your friend.”