Chapter 2
Lyra
“Someone’s here. I can feel it.” Ethan Blake stood, pulled his weapon free from its holster and then moved so his back was to the wall. Deadly intent filled his gaze as he scanned every nook and cranny, every corner, even the heavy metal beams crossing the open ceiling.
His deep tone made my body snap to attention.
The rumbling depth of his voice slid over my senses, sending an unfamiliar heat curling low in my belly.
The sharp intensity in his gaze, the way his eyes narrowed and swept the room, made my breath hitch in my chest. He couldn’t see me, I was sure of it.
But he felt me, reacted to my proximity.
Mine! The beast inside me practically purred with satisfaction, convinced the human could sense our presence. Scent us, perhaps. Somehow, he knew.
A worthy male with sharp instincts.
My pulse spiked, a sharp and unfamiliar reaction.
No one ever detected my nearness when I was on reconnaissance.
I was an officer of the Coalition’s elite Intelligence Core, trained to be unseen, untraceable.
And yet, he turned his head just slightly—his focus grazing over my position again, as if some primal instinct whispered a warning in his ear.
The humans were clever like that, their instincts still raw and untamed compared to the precision of my own Atlan species. The predator inside me stirred, curious, watching him as he inspected all the evidence in the room like a sleuth on the edge of discovery.
I swallowed hard, my breath shallow as I monitored his movements.
Six foot tall, he was lean, but strong. His muscles flexed beneath the dark fabric of his clothes.
His voice carried every time he spoke, low and rough, tingling along my nerves.
He was all sharp angles—jaw, shoulders, the slant of his nose—and yet there was something kind about him, too.
The way he had crouched beside the body, careful, almost reverent.
There was a wary precision in him, a quiet, restrained power that spoke of discipline.
Control. And yet, beneath that control, I sensed something else simmered. Something dark. Dangerous. Wild.
If I didn’t know better, I would wonder if he was an Atlan Warlord. A beast in disguise just waiting to transform.
Atlans recognized predators. We respected them. And this male… he was unique.
My heart raced as Jenkins and the others fanned out in formation around him to do another search of the building.
They wouldn’t find me unless I wanted them to.
Ethan Blake was human. He simply could not have the same keen instincts as an Atlan Warlord.
If he stuck his nose in my case, tried to take on the Silver Scions, he would be dead in a week.
Or so I believed until he walked straight at me.
I stumbled back until my shoulders bumped the wall, gasping for breath as I fought the urge to deactivate my armor and reveal myself to him.
No. No. No. This reaction was unacceptable. Inexplicable. He hated the Coalition. Didn’t trust us. Liars and criminals, that’s what he believed. Not that I could blame him when I was here, on Earth, to track down some of the worst, most evil creatures operating in Coalition space.
Worse than the fact that he hated aliens, Ethan Blake was human. Off limits.
My body didn’t care what he was. He was mine.
I wanted to hear his voice, rough and demanding, as he held me in place and fucked me from behind.
Shoved me against the wall and filled me with his hard length.
Buried his lips against my neck and pumped into me like a wild animal, completely out of control.
I wanted his scent all over my skin. His seed buried deep in my womb.
His rough hands holding my hips in place as he claimed me.
Made me his. Made me scream in pleasure.
What the fuck was happening to me?
I didn’t just want the human male. I needed.
No. I needed to go to medical the moment I got back to command.
I didn’t lust after males of any species.
The treatments the I.C. gave me were supposed to ensure that.
Damn it. I was going to have words with Doctor Mersan when I got back to base.
The DNA the I.C. medical teams integrated was supposed to make me stronger and faster, not sex crazed and out of control.
The detective stepped closer, and I nearly groaned. My pussy was soaking wet. My pulse pounded a rapid beat in my clit. My breasts were heavy. Sensitive. The nipples pebbled and tight, aching for his touch. His lips. His tongue.
Slowly, he moved past my position. Mind racing, I kept the male in my peripheral vision as I ran a diagnostic on my suit. When that came back clean, I initiated a full bio-medical scan.
Nothing.
Slightly elevated pulse rate. Body temperature within normal limits.
All I needed was some fresh air. Humans were slow. Did everything manually. Taking photos. Touching the dead man’s body instead of initiating a much more thorough scan. I’d already been waiting for hours. Gods be damned, how much longer was I going to have to hide in this suit?
“No one’s here.” The male with dirty blond hair—Jenkins—spoke to Ethan as the rest of the humans filed out, leaving the two detectives alone with the corpse. And with me.
“They’re here.” Ethan insisted and my nipples pebbled into hard, aching points. Gods he was fucking sexy. So sure.
Jenkins said something about the Feds again.
“They’ll disappear everything.” Ethan Blake cursed. “Sweep it all under the rug. Just like before.”
“You know the second any of this alien shit hits the system, it’s over.” Jenkins stroked his beard again, as if deep in thought. “Which is why I uploaded the video. Sent it to your burner, too.”
“Shh. Not so loud.” My detective was prowling again, looming over the dead Silver Scion’s corpse. He put his small, human pistol back in its holster. “Who’s working the morgue tonight?”
“No idea.”
Ethan rubbed his forehead. Scowled. “I’m calling Doc Pearson.”
“That’s not a good idea.” Jenkins’ sigh was loud, but based on his slumped shoulders and defeated tone, he wasn’t going to try to stop Ethan from his course of action.
I activated the data retrieval system in my armored suit.
Pulled up details on Doctor Arthur Pearson and scanned the information that appeared on my visor display.
Interesting human. Bit on the fringes. A rebel. I liked him instantly.
“I know. But who else is going to be willing to stick their nose into this mess and piss off the Feds?” Ethan asked.
“No one,” Jenkins confirmed.
“Exactly. We need to figure out what’s going on in our city, or more people are going to die.”
“You willing to risk your career over a dead asshole?” Jenkins asked. “He’s probably one of them.. Let the FBI handle it. They have a whole god damn alien division now.”
“Liars wearing neckties. They don’t care about this city. I do.”
The predator in me purred in approval at his protective tone, a deep, primal sound that made my hands shake. He’s strong, the voice said with satisfaction, his masculine scent teasing me through the suit’s filters. Strong enough.
Strong enough to hold me up against the wall as he fucked me. Strong enough to allow me to surrender to him. Make me feel safe. Protected. Cherished. Strong enough to claim. To desire. To respect.
Deep in my throat, my beast hummed in agreement.
I shook my head, banishing the thoughts before they could take root. No. This human wasn’t anything to me. He couldn’t be. I was on a mission. I served the Coalition. My life wasn’t my own, not anymore. I would finish the assignment and return to base.
My newly awakened beast didn’t care about logic.
Mate.
Mate? The word clawed its way through my mind, sharp and unrelenting, so much worse than the way she’d started with a simple ‘mine.’ Thinking this human was our mate was a completely different level of insanity.
I gritted my teeth, forcing my breathing to slow, the suit’s internal monitors suddenly flashing warnings at my abrupt distress.
Weapons automatically armed. Powered up. Targeting activated.
I’d been in shootouts. In battle. I’d never lost control like this. I was literally about to go berserk. Rampage. Kidnap the male just to appease my beast.
When had I become this touch starved, hungry thing? Standing here, cloaked and invisible, resolve slipped through my fingers like smoke. My instincts were louder than my training, snarling at me to get closer to this human male. Wanting to be closer. To touch. Kiss. Claim.
I forced my gaze away, locking onto the corpse sprawled at his feet.
The beast snarled at me. A warning.
I ignored her.
Syncing my armor to Ethan’s communication device—a human ‘cell phone’—I listened in on the comm as he contacted the doctor. An elderly male’s voice agreed to meet him at the morgue and inspect the body.
I waited. I watched. When they were done, I followed my detective outside and placed a tracking device on his vehicle seconds before he drove away.