Chapter 9 Julie
Halcyon Station stretched before us, a labyrinthine mess of towering metal structures and flickering neon signs.
The docking bay buzzed with life. I was surprised by the number of children and families present until I remembered that in addition to being a place for commerce and trade, it also boasted one of the largest shopping complexes in the sector.
There were shouts, laughter, the hum of machinery, and even the occasional barking of a dog. I tried not to stare at the imported Earth hound, even as its owner tried—and failed—not to gawk at the cooki poking its head out of the sling I wore across my chest.
I adjusted the sling, feeling the warm weight of Tatertot shifting inside to get a better look.
It turned out that she wasn’t just a thief, she was a girl thief.
Ashtrr had pointed it out when he’d come to sit with Annabel, Kat, and me yesterday at dinner, or whatever the meal was, considering that all our circadian rhythms were a mess from being in space.
Who hadn’t shown up since that day in the mess hall? Our friendly neighborhood medic.
Grtirr had completely disappeared after he’d dropped to his knees, silently announcing to everyone who’d been in the mess hell at the time that I was his mate.
The memory of it made my skin prickle, and if I closed my eyes, I could still sense the pheromones thickening the air.
He hadn’t even come back for Tatertot, sending Trsak out instead, who told us in not too many words that the little critter was our responsibility now.
After the jump to hyperspace, which had me puking up my guts—if I never had to survive another hyperspace jump, it would be too soon—Kat and I rigged up a cage for her.
She only needed it when no one was around to keep an eye on her.
Since the station allowed pets, we’d brought her along, even fashioned a tiny harness and leash in case she decided to come out of the safety of the makeshift sling pouch we’d made for her.
She now sat in her pouch, which I wore around my body, her head sticking out as she surveyed the station. Her adorable little ears twitched at the chaos around us, curious at all the noise.
The population was mostly human; it was a human space station after all, though there were some aliens I didn’t recognize.
Some of them shot us dirty looks, their eyes lingering on the Kadrixan warriors and Aak like they were waiting for an excuse to start trouble. Others were more curious than hostile.
We’d flown in all piled into one of Ellaston’s shuttles. Then as we got checked into the station, Sergio, the former rebel who had been one of the first to join Chris and Mark at the settlement, had gone to unload our luggage and our transport.
The big Kadrixan warship still floated up there with two people on board, though no one would ever know it wasn’t fully crewed. Ashtrr had assured us that they’d be perfectly fine. I hoped he was correct.
Soon we were all piling into the transport; it was a tight fit, but better than walking.
Halcyon Station was enormous. Its sprawling layout encompassed several shopping concourses, assembly halls, a large cluster of hotels, and even a giant park.
And it was all connected by a maze of street-like corridors, walkways, ramps, and elevators.
It was a long trek from the docking bay to the hotel on foot, and while station transport was available for hire, none of us trusted it.
The only problem? I was stuck wedged right up next to Grtirr, his huge leg hot against my own.
I refused to acknowledge him. Somewhere in the back of my head, I knew that mate bonds couldn’t be fought, but I didn’t care.
He’d spent the past two years simultaneously helicopter medic-ing me and antagonizing me.
And yet he was somehow never there when it counted, like the ruts.
Had he known we were mates since the beginning? Did that mean he’d chosen to share it with other women instead of me?
Bile rose in my throat, and I gritted my teeth.
I didn’t give a damn if fighting the mate bond was impossible. I didn’t care that I’d end up with him eventually. That wasn’t going to stop me from resisting for as long as I could, if only to make him suffer.
Call it payback.
Then, when we were fully bonded, I wouldn’t be stuck with him, he’d be stuck with me! Ha!
“Everyone’s been assigned a partner for this trip,” Chris said from his place next to Trsak. “Rules are simple. Do not leave your room without your partners. Keep your devices on your person when you’re out. And call one of us right away if anything happens. Don’t try to fix things on your own.”
There was a round of nods and “Yes, sirs.”
“Nova Vita didn’t know about this trip when we started, but they do now. So we have to be extra careful. They won’t like us being here.”
My device buzzed from my pocket; it was one of the reasons why I loved the comfy sets made by the Vokiren. They looked presentable, felt like sleepwear, and had pockets.
“There are the partner assignments now.”
I dug my device out. My stomach dropped the moment my eyes met the screen. My partner was Grtirr. And we’d be sharing a room. But what the hell was I expecting anyway? Everyone on the mission now knew we were mates; there was no one else they could logically pair me with.
Tatertot let out a soft chirp, her tiny paws reaching for my device.
She’d already decorated it with a brand-new bite mark the other day, and I wasn’t going to let her have it again, so I reached down to scratch behind her ears.
I made the mistake of stealing a look at Grtirr at the very same moment he chanced a glance at me.
Our eyes locked, and something dark and hungry flashed in his gaze.
It had the butterflies in my belly starting a dance party, and an insidious warmth spread through my body.
It took all my willpower to tear my eyes away.
And even then I could feel his pheromones soaking in through the thin fabric of my sleeves.
He wasn’t wearing anything on his arms, and his biceps bulged enticingly.
Take a bite. You know you want it.
Ugh! Stupid libido. How was I supposed to survive being stuck in a room with him when my body was acting like a sex-starved hussy?
I lifted my chin and schooled my features. I wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of knowing he affected me. I focused my attention outside the transport windows instead as we traveled through the station toward the hotels.
You’d think they’d put the hotel close to the docking bay, but no, they wanted us to travel through the central vein with the shopping concourses, right through the middle of the massive casino, and between the towering assembly halls.
They’d built entire buildings inside the multi-deck station, some of them fitting inside one single deck, and others spanning several.
Our hotel was one of the buildings that spanned several levels.
The thing was huge and covered in lights and advertisements.
There was a particularly large one for Vossell Industries that featured a beautiful woman about to dive off a diving board, wearing their newest neural-linked ocular implants.
Her implanted eye glowed, and on the screen it showed all the extra things she could see, like the water temperature and depth.
It caught Igor’s attention, and he pressed his hands to the window.
“People pay to have their eyes replaced?” he asked, shocked. He hadn’t had a say in the matter when Exotech had taken his eye and replaced it with an implant.
“Apparently.” Annabel shook her head. “You can’t pay me to put that in my head. I bet they can see everything you see. And what’s stopping them from using it to deliver a shock to control behavior?”
Igor nodded, pulling the copper-lined helmet tighter on his head to protect him from just that. He’d experienced those shocks before.
It wasn’t long before we were all checked in and Trsak was handing out keycards to our rooms.
“Is that all you have?” Grtirr’s voice rumbled between us.
I held up my bag in one hand and Tatertot’s jury-rigged cage in the other. I was lucky that Tatertot had gotten tired from all the new sights and sounds and had fallen asleep in the sling. I didn’t know what I’d do if she decided to make a run for it now.
“What else do I need?”
He didn’t answer. Instead he set his pack down, reached over, and took both things from me, his fingers brushing mine and making my body light up. Then he transferred them to one hand and picked up his own luggage. “Follow me. And try not to lag behind.”
I glared at his back as he strode down the hall. Follow me. And try not to lag behind. Gah, why was he so bossy?
The station’s dim lighting did nothing to soften the tension coiling in my gut.
The room was decent if you didn’t look too closely.
It was prettily decorated but small, and with only one bed.
One! There was a separate bathroom, but the door was see-through and frosted with an ornate pattern.
This room was clearly meant for one person.
I turned to Grtirr. “Oh, hell no.”
He set our bags down. “What?”
“What?” I gestured at the bed. “There’s one bed.”
“We are mates. We will share.”
“No.” I stepped closer, jabbing a finger into his chest. “That’s not happening.”
His tail twitched behind him, a sure sign that he was irritated. He was irritated with me often. Which begged the question of what the hell his body was thinking, choosing me as a mate?
“You are my mate. We will share the bed.”
“No. No way. I don’t care if we are mates. We are not sleeping together.” I got all up in his face. Or tried to. Even at my tallest, I was staring at his chest. “It’s not possible for me to be your mate anyway. You’ve touched me before. And even if you hadn’t, it’s still impossible?”
“And why is that?” he asked.
I poked a finger at his chest, cursing silently at had fucking hard his pecs were. “Because. I. Hate. You.”
He let out a feral growl and caught my finger in his hand.
His gaze dropped to my mouth, dark and hungry, and the air between us practically sizzled.
He bent his head and pulled me up onto my tippy toes.
Before I could stop myself, I was kissing him, hard, angry, like I could swallow him whole and burn the frustration out of my system.
His hands gripped my hips, hauling me against his rock-hard body as his tongue swept into my mouth with a growl.
He walked me backward, his hands like a steel cage around my body, until my back hit the door. The cold of the metal portal was a stark contrast to the fire of his touch. I gasped into his mouth, and he swallowed the sound, his tongue sweeping in to claim me, possess me.
Then he was lifting me up and pinning me against the door, his tail coiling around my thigh, pulling my leg up to hook over his hip. The thick ridge of his cock seared against me through his pants. And my hips, traitorous things they were, bucked against the hard length. I was burning up alive.
I gasped when he finally let me up for air, my nails raking down his back.
But there was no reprieve. He bit down on my lower lip just hard enough to make me whimper.
His fingers tangled in my hair, tilting my head back, his teeth scraping down my throat.
Firm, hot lips suckled and nipped at the sensitive skin until I was trembling, my body arching into him, desperate for more.