Mated to the Beast (6 page)

“Nine is clear.”

I waited, expecting to hear from Seth, who was at the twelve o’clock position on the lower deck.

“Recon 4?”

I heard Seth’s voice, loud and clear. “You better get down here.”

I ordered my men to remain on the high ground and ran down the ramp to my brother. It wasn’t just the Hive that had my eyes widening as I approached.

“Holy shit,” I whispered.

It was this… this warrior who had transported in. He wore the coalition uniform, but it fit him in a way that had my mouth falling open. He wore no helmet, his face rugged but not what I would have expected from an alien. He looked almost human, just a lot bigger. There could have been ion blasts zinging over my head, but I wouldn’t have noticed. He was definitely tall—easily pushing seven foot, dark and handsome, but the size of a lumberjack. A bloody lumberjack, for he was covered in Hive blood, from a pile of dead, decapitated bodies that lay strewn about his feet like trash. He hadn’t even pulled his blaster free from its holster at his side. His arms had to be as thick as my thighs, and I was no waif. He made my heart skip a beat and my breathing catch in a way not even a Hive fight could muster.

He stood tall and confident, perhaps too confident, for he ignored the destruction around him and searched… for something. Or someone. Even from a distance, I heard his low growling and saw his entire body strung up tight as a bow, ready to take the head of the next idiot stupid enough to gain his attention. His dark eyes had an intensity unlike any I’d ever seen. I gulped when they were turned my way. I ignored him, thinking that it was because I didn’t want to have my head torn off. In fact, I didn’t want all that intensity focused on me.

Chapter Four

Sarah

With all the ion blasts that had been crisscrossing the area during the skirmish, he should have ducked, even pulled his own ion pistol from his hip, but he hadn’t. He scanned left, then right as I heard an all too familiar buzzing sound from the side.

Three more Hive transported into the room just a few steps from me and attacked. Seeing that one of the new Hive was going to shoot me, the Atlan didn’t even blink. I swear he grew in size, as if he’d been inflated like a balloon. He was angry. Furious even, for the tendons in his neck stood out and his jaw clenched. His eyes narrowed and he grabbed the Hive warrior and literally ripped his head off without even drawing his ion pistol. Blood spurted everywhere as he threw the body at his comrades before charging them.

I should have tried to help, but I rolled to the side and came up on my knee, rifle at the ready.

Too late, the three were already dead. More bodies at his feet like sacrifices to a bloodthirsty god.

I stared, shocked at the carnage. Two of Seth’s men came up to flank me, staring like I was. I was quite sure none of us had ever seen anything this brutal, on Earth or anywhere else. I had no idea why the alien was even carrying a weapon. Those hands, those huge hands, were weapons themselves. I knew it was an Earth saying that when someone was mad they’d rip your head off, but this… shit, this was the real deal.

Seth chuckled in my ear and stepped out from behind a cargo container as I stayed on my knee, my rifle now pointed at the alien growling like a bear.

“Welcome to our little raiding party, Atlan. I’m Captain Mills.” Seth didn’t raise his rifle, but he didn’t put it away either. I held mine steady, pointed at the warrior’s head.

The giant grunted and stood to his full height, which made me blink. Hard. His shoulders were massive, his chest big enough for a big girl like me to curl up against. I wanted to
touch
, and the urge was annoying. When the giant spoke, his deep, rumbly voice traveled straight to my core, my nipples growing hard. Sex on a stick. Good God, he was the hottest man I’d ever seen. Ever.

“You are not Captain Sarah Mills.”

Seth laughed and I felt my heart skip a beat.
Captain Sarah Mills?
This warrior knew who I was?

Choosing to remain silent, I met my brother’s gaze for a heartbeat of time and nodded for him to continue. If this big guy was looking for me, I wasn’t sure I wanted to be found.

Seth took off his helmet and held it under his left arm, his right still holding his ion blaster. “No, I’m not. That would be my sister, who got lucky on her ASVAB and learned how to fly. What do you want with Captain Mills?”

Instead of answering, the warrior clenched his fists at his sides as if fighting for control. All around me rifles were held steady as we waited to see what the Atlan was going to do. “She is not here?”

“Who’s asking?” Seth raised his ion blaster to make sure the Atlan knew to be on his best behavior. “I don’t know you, soldier. You transported into a live op, and endangered two units. I’ve got five dead because you blew our surprise. From where I’m standing, I should shoot your ass and get on with cleaning up your mess.”

The Atlan slumped, as if bothered by what my brother said. “I apologize for your loss. We did not realize I would be transporting into an active combat zone. It was a terrible mistake.”

“Why are you here?”

I tightened by grip on my rifle waiting for his answer.

“I am looking for Captain Sarah Mills.”

“Why?”

“She’s mine.”

My head was shaking a
hell, no
before I had even processed his words. Eyebrows raised, I stood and lowered my rifle. “Seven, keep him in your sights.”

A chorus of acknowledgments sounded in my ears as I lowered my ion blaster and tried to decide what to do. The giant turned at the sound of my voice and I removed my helmet, dropping it to the floor. He looked as if he would move toward me, and I raised my blaster to stop him. “Don’t.”

“You are Sarah Mills.”

“How do you know me? I don’t know any Atlans.” Meeting his gaze was a huge mistake as the instant lust I’d felt watching him earlier returned full force. I was tempted to lick my lips and tease him closer, which was just stupid. As I stared with as blank an expression as I could manage, a strange buzz danced over the skin of my neck and face. I tensed, my gaze flying to Seth. His eyes widened as he felt the energy building.

“Incoming!” I shouted, diving for the floor as a blast of energy cleared the center of the room.

When the concussion ended, three Hive soldiers stood in the exact spot we’d fled.

The Atlan roared, charging. My men opened fire from the upper decks at the surprise Hive. The soldiers did not attack as I feared, but nodded to each other and disappeared—transported into thin air—one by one.

The last, however, was inches from Seth. He grabbed my brother and spun, hoisting Seth into the air to use as a human shield as my brother’s ion rifle clattered to the floor at his feet.

Seth!

I lifted my pistol, but I couldn’t take a shot without hitting my brother. The Atlan looked at them and froze mid-stride. All my training kept me in position, my aim steady as we waited to see what the Hive soldier would do.

“Release him.” I yelled at the Hive soldier, but he ignored me, his gaze on the real threat, the Atlan giant just a few paces away.

Seth kicked, reaching for the injector at his side as he screamed at all of us. “Do it! Take him out.”

“No!” I screamed at my brother as the Hive stepped back, further away from us, my brother held to his chest like a shield.

In my ear, Richards’ voice was like the devil’s own temptation. “I can take the shot, captain.” He was above me, and a decent shot, but not perfect, nowhere close to a true marksman, and this was my brother’s life on the line. Richards would have about a four-inch window to kill the Hive soldier and leave Seth breathing.

“No. Not yet.”

The Hive warrior holding Seth lifted his weapon and aimed it at the Atlan. We were all frozen as the emotionless silver eyes of the Hive soldier scanned the room. Before we could do more, the Hive pressed a button on his uniform and he… he disappeared. So did Seth.

Gone. Poof. Into thin air. On Earth there was no such thing as transporting. It was something for old TV shows, but never in real life. Only those fighting with the coalition saw it in real life.
Beam me up, Scotty
. The first time I’d been transported, I’d been terrified. The technology was supposed to be cool and had been, until now. Now, my brother had been transported somewhere, somewhere Hive. Somewhere I knew they turned coalition fighters into machines, replacing body parts with synthetic implants until there was nothing of the individual left. He was there one second, gone the next.

Unless my brother chose door number two. All at once the memory of his hand reaching for the injector at his thigh played like a broken record in my mind. “Seth!” I screamed.

The crazy Atlan—the one who’d wrecked our op and caused the Hive to take my brother—turned his head and stared at me. Those dark eyes narrowed, his full lips thinning. He wouldn’t look away, not even when every ion blaster in the room was pointed in his direction. I felt something, something primeval and explosive flare to life in me as our gazes locked.

Holy hell. He was… and I felt… and… shit. My brain was misfiring. My body disregarding any notion of personal safety as I marched up to the man, ready to attack with every ounce of strength I had left. I raised my ion pistol and advanced until I had the business end pressed into the warrior’s armor, right over his heart. I stared up into those eyes and realized he hadn’t tried to stop me. He hadn’t touched me at all, instead his dark gaze filled with pain as he looked upon me.

Our gazes held and I couldn’t do it, couldn’t pull the trigger. I studied his hard jaw and full mouth, the dark eyes and the black, silken hair that fell to his chin. He was truly stunning to the senses, his strength staggering and overwhelming. Even with the rage pulsing through my body, I couldn’t pull the trigger. My brother’s capture wasn’t truly this warrior’s fault. It was no one’s fault. It was war. And war sucked.

“Captain!” Richards’ voice broke me from my trance and I lowered the weapon, but didn’t back away from the warrior.

“You will help me recover my brother.”

His eyes widened in surprise, but he nodded. “You have my word.” That voice, those four words, were like a rockslide. Harsh, rough, and deep.

Mollified for the moment, I took a step back.

“Coalition clear!” I shouted, signaling it was safe to stand. It was time to get the hell out of here.

The Atlan watched me closely, but didn’t move. We all knew by his uniform that he was coalition, but the way he’d behaved, the blood coating his hands? He was a threat and his silence helped us all calm down and not kill him.

“I want four of you to remain here and watch our back. Three Hive transported in and took Captain Mills,” I said, irate that they’d been able to infiltrate and take Seth.
He’d
let it happen. “And you.”

I pointed at the rogue fighter.

His gaze swept the room, then met mine. There was heat when he looked at me, desire. And that pissed me off. We were in the middle of a war zone. I didn’t need—or want to be—attracted to anyone in the middle of a battle. I was no skinny thing, but his gaze made me feel small and feminine. Feminine? That was crazy because I was anything but in my coalition body armor. The curve of my breasts was well hidden behind the chest armor. My hips were disguised under the black armored pants. No one else here saw me as a woman. I was their leader and that was all.

The fact that he’d made me think about sex right now caused my muscles to go rigid with fury.

“Who the hell are you and why are you looking for me?” I demanded.

“I am Warlord Dax from Atlan and I am your matched mate. You are mine.”

“Are you kidding me with this? Is this the mouse’s idea of a joke? I’m not a bride, Warlord Dax from Atlan. Sorry. You’ll just have to fuck off.” I threw my hands in the air and nodded to Seth’s team. With Seth gone, they were mine now. My responsibility. “Four of you stay here, stay sharp. Set up a transport block so we don’t get any more surprises.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Medics, secure the wounded, make sure we’ve done everything we can and get them transported out.” I walked toward the door. “Three of you with me to the bridge. Richards, I want you on system checks. My unit, grab someone from four and check the other decks. You guys know the drill.”

Both teams scurried to do as ordered and I ignored the big alien as he fell into step beside me. I felt like a cocker spaniel walking next to a Rottweiler. Still, we had three armed members of my unit at our backs, and I was still carrying my ion pistol.

“This term you use, fuck? It is associated solely with a man rutting a woman and bringing her pleasure, not with… battle.”

The men about me relaxed a little at his words, thinking Dax was joking. He wasn’t. Heat flared to my cheeks, but it wasn’t out of embarrassment. No, it was the instant mental picture of this warlord pressing me up against the nearest wall, ripping my pants open and rutting into me.

If I ever went back to Earth, I was going to murder a certain mouse.

“What is your problem?” It felt much better to divert my interest in him into frustration. “Didn’t they tell you I opted out of the bride program?”

“Yes.”

I stopped in my tracks at his admission and he took a step closer so I had to tilt my chin up to meet his dark eyes. I wouldn’t retreat. His gaze roved over my face, then lower down my body. It was not the look of any warrior I had ever worked with. This was blatant and sexual, full of a possessive heat I’d never seen before and… holy shit, my nipples just hardened. Thank God for the chest armor.

“Do you think that matters to me?” He arched a brow as if he expected me to bow my head and let him lead me away like a fairytale princess. That was so not happening. Nothing was happening until I got my men back onboard the Karter and my brother back from the Hive.

He reached out to grab my arm, but I lifted my ion pistol halting him, the hilt of it nudging his hard armor. My men also aimed their weapons on him. He paused, but didn’t seem the least bothered… or afraid that he was going to die if he made one wrong move.