Mated to the Beast (17 page)

“My rear end is sticking out!” I could feel the cool air and knew
everyone
could see
everything.

He stopped, gripped my gown and tugged it together, keeping one of his big hands on my bottom. I was thankful he was possessive, for we were down the hallway before I could think more.

“Where are we going?” I asked, watching the floor change color from green to orange, the only way I could tell from my perspective that we’d left the medical area and had entered the living quarters of the ship.

“To our room.”

“Wait, the others. Are they well?” I asked. “Dax, put me down. I can’t talk while I’m staring at your ass.” I pounded it once with my fists.

“Everyone is fine.”

“And Seth?” I held my breath as I waited for him to answer.

“Fine.”

I sagged then, relieved. “Take me to him. Please,” I added.

Dax paused at a junction of two hallways. “Very well.”

He turned and walked down a long corridor and came to a door. Lowering me down, he wrapped his arm about my waist as he pressed the button, which on Earth would be called a doorbell.

I tugged at the gown. “You could have at least let me change before you carried me out of there. You really are a caveman,” I grumbled.

“Wait until we return to our room.” He gave me a pointed look. “Then you’ll get to see what me being a caveman is really like.”

The door slid open and Seth stood before me, clearly whole and well. Also clearly angry at Dax, for he couldn’t have missed what he’d said about what he was going to do to me.

To stave off any latest verbal blows, I wrapped Seth up for a hug. It felt good to hold him again, to know he was safe and whole and… what? I loved him. I did. He was my brother and I looked up to him and listened to him and hated him when he was bossy. But…

I stepped back from the hug and looked back at Dax. He was looming there—there was no other word for the size of him just outside the doorway—waiting for me. He’d take Seth’s annoying behavior because I was his mate. Heck, he seemed to do
anything
for me. He’d gone into a Hive prison ship to rescue a man who hated his guts because I wanted him to.

Dax was the bossy one for me now, not Seth. He was the one whose hugs I wanted. He was the one who I worried about—not that I didn’t worry about Seth, but
this
,
this was different.
I
was different. I’d used Dax for my own gain, to get Seth back. I’d made a deal with him and he’d followed through with his end of it.

“I can’t believe you mated with this hulk,” Seth muttered. “Do you have any idea what you’ve gotten yourself into? I can’t save you this time, sis.”

My mouth fell open and I stared at my brother wide-eyed. Then they narrowed as I swear my blood pressure soared to stroke point. I stepped up to him and pushed my finger into his chest.

“Save me? Are you fucking kidding me? When the hell have you saved me?” I shouted.

Dax stepped into Seth’s room and the door slid closed.

Seth looked uncomfortable now, running his hand over his hair. “From Tommy Jenkins in fifth grade when he wanted to look up your skirt. From Frankie Grodin when he only wanted to take you to prom so you could be another notch on his high school bedpost. From that jerk drill sergeant who made you do extra push-ups.”

“First of all, Tommy Jenkins messed with me when I was ten and I punched him in the nose. Frankie Grodin had a rude awakening when Carrie and Lynn got a picture of him with his dick hanging out and emailed it out to the entire senior class. As for the drill sergeant, he made me do those extra push-ups because you kept coming to check on me. As for saving, who the fuck do you think saved your ass from the Hive, big brother?”

I crossed my arms over my chest, uncaring that the back of the gown was open and Dax could easily see my butt.

Seth turned redder and redder during my tirade and pointed to Dax. “He landed in the middle of that fight and had me taken.”

“He did, but that was an accident. Any one of the guys could have been grabbed. Hell, you could have been grabbed at any of the other battles we’ve been to. Why the hell are you pissed at him when he went in and rescued you?”

“Because he let you go with him!”

“So he should have gone in and saved you alone?”

We were shouting full out now and when I glanced at Dax, he was leaning against the wall with a smile on his face. For once, he wasn’t butting in.

“He got you into this mess in the first place with that whole bride match thing.” Seth waved his hand in the air as if he couldn’t figure out what to call it.

“So us being matched is the reason all this happened? Jesus, Seth, you’re a dumbass. If you want to blame someone, then go after Warden Morda back in Miami because she put me through the bride testing program instead of the coalition induction by mistake. You know what, you’d be perfect for each other.”

I shook my head and exhaled a pent-up breath. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Dax stiffen. Shit, those words probably pissed him off.

Seth’s shoulders drooped. “I just want you to be safe. With Chris and John gone, that falls to me now.”

I shook my head. “No, that falls to Dax.”

I walked to Dax and wrapped my arms around him, pressed my cheek into his chest.

“I can see your bare ass, you know,” Seth grumbled as he looked off to the side, clearly averting his gaze.

Dax’s hand shot to my lower back and gripped the two sides of the gown together.

“Now I can see his hand on your ass.”

“Jesus, Seth,” I complained, then ignored him. I reveled in the hard feel of Dax, his scent, the lub-dub of his heart beneath my ear, even his hand on my ass. “All this mess made me see that I was living my life in your shadow, doing dad’s bidding. I even went into the military trying to make dad happy, because of you and John and Chris.”

He looked at me, completely surprised. “What? I thought you wanted to do that?”

“What, take karate at ten when everyone else was doing ballet?
That’s
why I punched Tommy Jenkins in the nose, because I knew how to make a solid fist.” I paused, then continued. “Look, Seth, I love you. I’m glad you did all that stuff with me, with Chris and John, but I’ve always been going through the motions, looking for what
I
want.”

Seth tugged on his ear. “And what’s that?”

“Dax.”

I felt Dax tense beneath me, then relax. He spun me about so my back was to his front, his hands on my shoulders. I couldn’t see him any longer, but I knew he literally had my back. I doubted he knew that Earth term, but the actual gesture was telling.

“Seriously?” Seth asked, shaking his head slowly.

“Seriously. I’m going to Atlan once his mating fever is finished.”

“You are?” Both men asked the same thing at the same time.

“I am.” I was. I felt good about it, too. “I don’t need to be beside you for you to know I love you, but Dax does.”

I felt a growl rumble against my back.

Seth waved his hand as he sighed. “Go, Sarah. All I ever wanted was for you to be safe and happy. That’s all any of us ever wanted. Live happily ever after and have ten kids with—” Seth studied Dax for a minute, weighing his next words carefully as I balled my hand into a fist at my side, ready to punch him in the face if he insulted my mate one more time. “This very large warrior who, I’m sure, would die to protect you.” Seth held out his hand to Dax, who looked confused.

“I would.” Dax’s deep, rumbly vow made my pussy clench beneath the robe and I heard Dax take a deep breath, drawing in the scent of my arousal. He growled then, pulling me closer. My brother stood silent and stoic with his hand out with his peace offering.

“Shake his hand, Dax.” I pulled Dax’s hand forward and placed it in Seth’s so my brother could shake it. I smiled then, pleased to know that Seth understood. Maybe he, too, was looking for a mate.

Smiling, I wiggled my eyebrows at my brother in a suggestive manner. “You know, you’re a captain now.”

“I know.” My brother released Dax’s hand and looked confused.

“You can request a matched mate from the Interstellar Bride Program. She’d be perfect for you in every way, your perfect match.”

Seth burst out laughing and I grinned, suddenly thrilled with the idea. Seth shook his head. “I don’t think so.”

“What, you afraid you’re going to get a slimy, green alien wife?” I shook my head. “You won’t. They test you, Seth. Hook your brain up to sensors and play mating ceremonies inside your head until you’re so hot you think you’re going to lose your mind. But they match you to someone who has the same kink in their head that you have in yours.”

Seth looked from me to Dax, and back. “So you wanted big and scary, huh?”

Dax growled at him in warning, but I threw back my head and laughed as joy filled me. “Yes. I guess I did.” I patted Seth on the cheek and grinned. “Now, if you’ll excuse us, I need to tend to my space alien, for he’s got a fever.”

Seth groaned. “Jesus, sis, I don’t need to know this shit. TMI.” He went over to the door, opened it. “Go. Cure him. Whatever, but not in front of me.”

Dax stepped forward then, once again his hand held out to my brother in an offer of friendship that surprised me. “I am taking my mate to Atlan, Seth. You will be welcome in our home any time.”

Seth stared at the outstretched hand, then grasped Dax’s forearm in a grip between warriors. “Take care of her.”

“I intend to, starting with a hard spanking for lying to me about her injury, then… well, then—”

Seth released Dax’s arm, holding up his hand as my mouth fell open at Dax’s words. He was going to do what?

“Again, brother, too much information.” Seth shook his head, chuckling as I blinked hard, trying to process what Dax had just said.

“You are
not
going to spank me,” I sputtered, my cheeks heating. “I saved your life, Dax. I saved us all. If I’d told you how badly I was injured, you wouldn’t have let me fly. You would have pulled me out of that pilot’s seat and—”

Dax cut me off. “And found someone else to hold the damn controls still so you didn’t bleed to death. You risked your life without reason, Sarah. You lied to me to do it. I will turn your ass a bright red so it does not happen again.”

“You sure as hell better,” Seth said, wearing that brotherly protective face. “You scared the shit out of me, too, Sarah.” He nodded at Dax. “Add an extra swat for me.”

Dax raised an eyebrow, but agreed immediately. “Done.” He tugged me backward and out the door.

Before it closed, Seth said, “Warlord, if you hurt her, I will hunt you down and kill you.”

Dax rubbed his thumbs over my shoulders. “I would expect nothing less.”

* * *

Dax

A few hours later I stood on the balcony of our new home next to my mate and breathed in the scents and sights of Atlan. It had been ten long years since I’d seen the rolling gold and green hills, the towering trees with wide purple and green leaves, the flowers of every color that lined the streets like the most delicate spun glass, their transparent petals glistened beneath the light of our star like a million twinkling lights.

Beside me, Sarah looked breathtakingly lovely in a gown of the finest weave to be found in this sector. The pale gold draped from her lovely shoulders and molded to the tops of her breasts. It fit her curves to just past her hips before falling in a shimmering wave to sway just above her ankles. I reached around her and placed a large pendant around her neck, the oblong gold engraved, as our cuffs were, with the markings of my family line.

We’d arrive via transport, still wearing coalition body armor, Sarah’s former rank as a captain on full display to the greeting party from the Atlan senate. The gasps and curious gazes had begun immediately, and I knew, even before our message comms began lighting up in the living quarters below, that my bride would be a celebrity here, a unique and intriguing woman who had fought beside her mate, a female warrior. Atlan might never recover.

She clasped the pendant to her chest and spun in a wild circle, laughing. I had never seen her so light and carefree. “I feel like Belle, from
Beauty and the Beast
.”

I frowned. “I don’t understand what that means, mate.”

She stopped and smiled up at me. “It doesn’t matter. I’m happy. I’ve never felt like this before.”

“Like what?”

“Beautiful. Soft.” She spun again, watching her skirt rise in a flare around her knees. Her hair hung loose, the dark waves falling around her shoulders. “I feel like a princess. And we are living in a castle. Good God, Dax. Are you rich, or what? This place is ridiculous.” Sarah smiled and threw her arms around my neck, lifting her face for a kiss, which I eagerly provided. When she was panting and breathless with need, when I could smell the sweet scent of her arousal, I set her back on her feet and looked down at the woman who was about to become mine in every way.

“Wealth is irrelevant here. I am an Atlan warlord, and you are my mate.”

It was her turn to frown. “I don’t understand.”

I traced her cheekbone with my thumb, simply enjoying her happiness, the carefree light in her eyes I’d never seen before. “Not many Atlans return from the war. Most are executed when they enter berserker mode in battle. Those who control their beasts, those strong enough to return, are rewarded with wealth, land, castles.” I gestured to the massive structure surrounding us. The home was more than we needed, with nearly fifty rooms and a full staff of mated Atlan attendants to see to our every need. I traced her bottom lip, my cock growing harder with each passing second. “I am happy to provide for you, princess.”

She inspected me then, taking in the formal dress of a retired warlord, the tight lines of the jacket that did not hide my massive chest or shoulders, the jacket designed to display the bright mating cuffs that encircled my wrists, that marked me as hers forever. Her smile faded and a dark, sad look stole the joy from her eyes.

“What are we going to do now, Dax? I don’t know what to do if I’m not fighting. I feel worthless, like a bauble placed on the mantel left to collect dust. There are good men out there fighting and dying, and I’m twirling around like an idiot. I don’t know how to be this—” She gestured at her gown and looked back up at me. “I’m not a princess, Dax. I don’t know how to do this, how to be happy when I feel like I should still be fighting. When good men are still out there dying.”