Epilogue #2
I needed to know exactly how long I must hold on to my tenuous control.
Ten hours, twelve minutes, forty-three seconds.
Forty-two.
Forty-one.
The beast within screamed his rage at my choice. The excess of fury did nothing but affirm I was making the correct decision. I was out of time. We were out of time.
I sat as I had been for most of the last few days, unmoving.
Uncaring. The guards came each day, forcing me to eat, bathe and change clothing.
I did what they told me to do with no argument.
The beast inside me pounded the inside of my body, tore at my will, fought to break free, but outside I remained calm, icy control frozen on my face.
He’d been fighting me for years. I wasn’t going to be able to hold him back much longer.
Why could the ten hours not be ten minutes?
I was so fucking tired of fighting. Battling my beast. The Hive.
The Intelligence Core. Mating Fever. Hope.
The last was the worst of them all. Three years in the Interstellar Brides Program matching system and nothing.
I had finally bested the most powerful enemy I had ever faced. I had killed hope.
I had no mate. Mating Fever was coming for me. I made this choice now before I lost the ability to decide for myself.
If I had to die, I would die with honor. I would die helping someone else. I had no regrets.
Down the long, echoing corridors of the facility that doubled as both research hospital and prison, I heard visitors speaking quietly. My senses automatically flared out to process the threat. Two warlords. Three…females?
What the fuck were fragile females doing in this horrifying place? They must be terrified. The males who escorted them had no honor, bringing them here, exposing them to so many dangerous monsters more than capable of killing them all without thought or control.
“No honor.” Frustration at their stupidity forced a grumble from my throat.
The grumble increased to a growl, the growl to a roar.
“They claim to be warlords.” They would not hear me, but the words needed to be said. Fools. Incompetent. Disgraceful. The males did not deserve the company of a single female. But three? Were they trying to get the females killed?
Another loud grumble escaped me. I had not fought in the Hive war, served in the I.C. and made this sacrifice so fools could escort innocent females around inside a death trap.
I roared, hoped the males would hear me and at least take the females under their protection to a much safer location. This floor of the prison was reserved for the worst cases, beasts so out of control they would kill their own family members with zero recognition or remorse.
Not so with me. I was here for the severity of my crime, not because I couldn’t control my beast.
My beast would stay safely locked away until I did not need to worry about him—or anything else—anymore. Until I was dead. If I had to slice my own throat to prevent his escape, I would. By the gods, I would die with honor.
A quick glance at the little black box made me sigh. Two minutes had passed.
The next ten hours were going to be both the last, and the longest, of my life.
I settled into position on my bed, lying on my back, hands linked over my stomach and stared at the soft tones of gray and green meant to be calming.
Right. Nothing about this place was the slightest bit calm. We were all waiting to die.
That wasn’t calm, that was fucking depressing.
“Stop, Adrian! Do not!” The loud command echoed down the corridor outside my cell. I sat up and swung my legs over the edge of the mattress. Motionless, listening to the faint pitter patter of what had to be very small feet.
A female? Walking toward this end of the facility? What the fuck was she thinking?
“Baby girl? What are you doing? Get away from there.” A concerned, very feminine voice called out.
Baby? A female infant was here as well? Was that why the sound of the feet was so faint? They allowed an infant to wander freely? What. The. Fuck?
I would report these idiots to the Atlan council before my execution. This could not be permitted. The males in these containment cells were deadly. Out of control.
I rubbed my eyes with thick fingers and bit back a sigh. Had Atlan honor changed so much in the time I had been away that they no longer protected not just their females, but their young as well?
“I can’t.” The quiet confessions snapped my head around and I stared out into the dimly lit corridor, expected to find it empty.
A small female stood before me, watching me through the transparent energy barrier.
Her eyes were green and gold, framed by long, dark lashes.
Hypnotic. Her arm was raised into position as if her hand hovered over the control panel that held me locked inside.
She wore a traditional Atlan gown the color of pale cream, but she was far too small to be one of us.
Her hair fell in waves around her shoulders in a vibrant shade that reminded me of both rubies and copper, depending on the light and shadow that fell upon her.
Her round breasts and curved hips entranced me.
Her lips glistened in invitation, as if she’d painted them with liquid sugar, just to temp me.
Our gazes locked. My cock rose to attention. My beast rumbled deep within, where I’d buried him weeks ago. My beast, the rage I’d battled so vehemently to control, swelled and filled my mind with lust for this female. Need. Want.
Mine.
No! I denied him. I had no choice. This could not be happening. Not now.
“Adrian? What’s up? Talk to me.” A third female voice called out, this one younger. Brittle sounding. Anxious. Perhaps frightened.
Adrian turned her body to face those speaking to her, leaving her delicate face in profile. Gods be damned, she was beautiful. The masochist in me wanted her attention focused on me. Only me.
Mine! The beast wasn’t just aware , he was insistent. Clawing at my thoughts, fighting to take control. To take her.
Yes. Claim. Fuck. Mine. Bastard was persistent.
No! My mind yelled back.
“I can’t leave him here.” My mate—no, not mine, not mine—the female spoke with a calm, clear voice that seemed to soothe my beast, at least for a moment. She wasn’t leaving us.
“Who?” The other female asked. “Can’t leave who?”
Adrian shrugged. She turned her head to look at me over her shoulder. I looked into her eyes and nearly fell forward from the bed. Sheer force of will kept me locked in place, safely away from her. From touching her. Kissing her.
My cock jumped in response to the images playing in my mind. If she were truly mine, I would lift that gown to her hips, press her to the wall and my beast would slide his cock deep. I would devour her, eat her sweet core until she shuddered and sobbed her release. Then do it again. And again.
Pre-cum leaked from the tip as my entire body shuddered.
I didn’t dare blink. Could not tear my gaze from her, not for the smallest fraction of time, afraid I would miss something.
I didn’t have time to savor her as a beast should.
I must be greedy now. Take the smallest gesture or expression and stow it away.
She licked her lips and I nearly groaned.
“I don’t know. I don’t know who he is.”
Kovo, my lady. I am Warlord Kovo and I am yours.
“Then what are you doing?” The elder female, whom I now assumed must be my mate’s mother—since she’d referred to this fully developed, seductive female as baby girl—sounded closer. Much closer.
Adrian stepped forward, still holding my hungry stare, and rested her forehead against the energy field. She was not Atlan. She was too small to be anything but human. From Earth. How was this possible? How did a human female end up inside an Atlan research and containment facility?
She lifted her hand and pressed her palm flat, as if she wanted to touch me.
I nearly ripped my clothing from my body in invitation. Jaw clenched, I did not move.
“They can’t kill him, Mom.”
“Daughter, he is here because he has mating fever.” This voice was deep. Factual.
Finally, a male who spoke sense. The Warlord spoke in a soothing voice I’d heard my father use many times with my mother when I was young.
A voice meant to calm. “He is dangerous. Out of control. He’s probably not even aware of where he is or what he is doing.
Do not release him from that cell. He could kill you, try to kill all of us. ”
I thought, perhaps, I should roar for good measure, prove his point. Scare this small female. At the very least, trigger the protective instincts of the male who accompanied her.
Her eyes bored into mine with knowledge.
Somehow, she knew. She knew she was mine.
How the fuck was that possible? The male always recognized and claimed the female.
My beast was more than ready to accommodate that need.
However, that would provide no answer to my question.
How did she know? I had neither moved nor spoken since she’d appeared.
I stared at her because I could not look away.
“No. No, he won’t.” Adrian shook her head slowly, rolling her forehead back and forth against the energy field, looking at the monster within, looking at me. “He’s mine.”
I didn’t move, barely dared breathe as a large warlord stepped into view with two additional females and one Atlan doctor I recognized all too well.
The females were, indeed, all humans. Small.
They all wore traditional Atlan gowns, the elder in a dark, metallic color that nearly matched both her, and my mate’s, hair.
Definitely her mother. She wore mating cuffs that matched that of the Atlan with her, a male renowned for his time in the war, and infamous for his battle to be free of one of the Nexus units.
Had I been on duty, I would have asked him for more details. Fuck that, for every detail. But fighting the Hive was no longer my mission. My final mission was here. Now. Nearly complete.
I could not have a mate.