Mated to the Beast (7 page)

“Stand down,” he commanded.

No one followed his order and I raised an eyebrow in silent pleasure, knowing my men would stand behind me.

“If my title of warlord isn’t enough, the stripes on my uniform indicate that I outrank all of you,” he said, pointing with a bloody finger to the symbol on his shoulder. “I am pleased to see you defend and protect my mate, but you will stand down or face military punishment.”

He was correct. While he was clearly from a different planet, a planet where the men ate lots of spinach like Popeye to grow so big, he wore the coalition uniform we all recognized. He
was
a higher rank than me and we were, technically, required to obey his commands.

My men remained with their weapons raised and I realized this all hinged on me. If I told my men to fight the big, bad alien, they would. But they’d most likely end up in some coalition prison because I couldn’t control my temper. I was not in the habit of asking my men to sacrifice themselves for me, especially for something this ridiculous.

Turning my head, I nodded at them to lower their weapons. This was a battle for Commander Karter’s ears. It would have to wait until we got back to our battleship.

He looked at me and it was his turn to arch a brow, for I had yet to move my weapon from his belly. While he was now in charge of the group on the freighter, it didn’t mean I wouldn’t continue to be mad at him. Grudgingly, I lowered the weapon.

“What are you—do you have any idea what you did?” I clenched my hands into fists at my sides so I wouldn’t hit him with them. “I lost good men today. And the Hive just took my brother!”

“I am sorry for your lost warriors. But your brother should have kept you safe on Earth, where you belong. A woman does not belong out here, in combat, fighting the enemy,” he countered.

“My
brother
has no say in what I do.”

“Obviously.
I
,
however, do.”

My eyes widened then and I laughed. “You might outrank me,
sir
,” I placed a heavy influence on the last word, “but you are not my mate.”

“With all due respect, warlord,” my second-in-command, Shepard, moved to stand beside me. He seemed to give this… Dax more deference than I. But he wasn’t being called the big guy’s
mate
. “I have to question the… accuracy of your claim. Captain Mills has been with us for two months. Earth’s laws don’t allow a soldier to enter the battle battalion program if they are married. Or mated.”

Shepard was diplomatic, clearly fearful to call this warlord an idiot. But Dax had to be wrong, absolutely wrong, for there was no way I was mated to this overbearing brute. Even my subconscious wouldn’t be that cruel to me.

Instead of ripping Shepard’s head off, Dax replied, “This Earth female is my chosen mate through the Interstellar Bride Program and I am claiming her.”

Oh, shit. He
was
from Atlan. The planet Warden Egara said I’d be matched to. I shook my head. “I left the program because it was all a mistake. The warden said that I couldn’t be matched if I didn’t consent. I’m a soldier now, and I’m pretty sure there’s nothing you can do about it.”

“You will tell Commander Karter that you are my mate and resign your commission with the coalition fleet.” He was clearly ignoring everything I was saying.

I placed my hands on my hips. “I will do no such thing, you big oaf.”

He frowned. “I do not know that term, but mate will suffice.”

I took a step back, not because I was afraid of Dax, but because he might actually be right about this stupid mess. I remembered that little idiot of an assistant, Warden Morda, and how she’d messed up everything to start with. Could she have done something else to screw up after I was inducted into the coalition fleet? Something like not delete my profile, not take me out of the system?

Oh, crap.

“We have been matched.” He leaned forward, his gaze never breaking eye contact. “You are mine.”

I shuddered. I couldn’t be a mate. I certainly couldn’t go after Seth if I was forced out of the military to become someone’s bride. I doubted this huge hulk of an alien wanted me to do much of anything besides birth babies. He’d already said women didn’t belong in combat. That didn’t make me believe he would want me to take a team to a Hive integration center and save Seth.

Still, he’d already given me his word that he would help get my brother back.

More likely, he planned to pat me on the head like a good little girl and leave me behind while he went out to slay dragons. I got a very obvious overprotective vibe from him. And that was not my style.

Could he force me to resign my commission with the fleet? I didn’t know the rules. Since I’d been matched by their system, could he force me out of the military? Could this giant Atlan male force my hand?

Besides that, I didn’t
want
a mate. I’d had to deal with enough men in my life—a pesky father, three brothers, commanders in the military, fellow soldiers—I didn’t need a mate, too. And him?
Him!
God, this man was matched to me? So far, he’d done nothing but piss me off. So what if he was sex on a stick—sex on a
very big
stick. So what if my mind conjured images of him fucking me up against a wall, pounding into me hard over and over until I came all over his very large cock? And I knew it was large. It had to be.

I refused to believe my feelings were caused by any kind of mating… thing. More likely, I took notice of him due to the epic sex drought I was in. Two and a half years without sex would drive any sane woman to take notice of the huge male. I just wanted an orgasm or two and I wasn’t opposed to the idea of him giving them to me. Just because I was a woman didn’t mean I couldn’t fuck, then walk away.
Hit it and quit it
could work for me, too. Right?

This attraction was purely biological. He made my nipples hard, so what? Cold weather did the same thing and being from Florida, I hated snow, too. Dax was obviously bossy and blatantly chauvinistic and domineering and overwhelming… and on and on. I’d lucked out, choosing the coalition over him. Mated… to him! Ha!

“I’m not going with you, you’re welcome to come with us,” I told him, nudging him with the tip of my ion pistol. “Shepard, are we back in coalition space?”

Shepard checked his data pad and nodded. “Yes, sir.”

“Excellent.” My men would be safe now, the ship protected by coalition patrols and escorted back to the battle group for cleanup and reassignment. “Shep, you’re in charge of cleanup. I’m taking my
mate
—” I said the word with disdain and sarcasm, “—back to the Karter. We have business to take care of.”

Dax frowned down at me but I refused to look away. “
You
are coming with me to the Brekk.”

I raised my pistol and narrowed my eyes. “No. I’m not.
We
are going to go find Commander Karter, plan a rescue mission, and get a space divorce.”

I think he actually growled. What the hell? Was he part beast or something?

Chapter Five

Dax

It took an hour for my mate to debrief her commanding officer about the events of the battle I’d transported directly into. That done, we had been ordered to report to Commander Karter’s war room on the command deck. Now we stood opposite Commander Karter’s desk. My mate stood at attention beside me in front of the Prillon leader. Like all Prillon commanders, he was almost as big as I, with golden hair and eyes that stared at us both like the predator he was. There was no softness in his expression or empathy in his eyes. He sat stiff and at attention behind his desk, calculating and calm despite my mate’s growing irritation.

“I want to go after him,” she told her commander, her chin set at a defiant tilt. I stood, listening only. I bided my time, for my chance to speak would come soon. “I’ll take volunteers.”

Her commander sighed and continued to ignore me. “I can’t sanction a rescue mission to an integration center for one coalition fighter. Things are precarious enough around here, captain, as it is. I can’t risk warriors for a mission that is most likely doomed to failure. We’re holding this sector by sheer force of will. I can’t risk the lives of good, strong fighters on a suicide run for a man who is probably already lost.”

And there it was, the truth my mate didn’t want to hear. I could see the mix of fury and sadness flicker across her face, but she disguised it well. “I have to try. He’s my brother.”

Her pain made me ache to pull her to me and hold her close. The strength of the urge to hug an alien female, to soothe her emotions, only confirmed that I was at the mercy of the mating connection. I studied her now, at my leisure, as she stood before her commander and tried to hide her hurt with a fierce pride I admired. She looked so much more vibrant and beautiful than the image I’d seen on the doctor’s tablet. That image had been flat, without her fire or the stubborn tilt of her jaw. In reality, she looked like so much… more.

She wore the familiar uniform of a coalition fighter, the body armor easily disguising every one of her curves. Perhaps it was because she was my mate, or because she was so damn attractive, but I wanted her with a ferocity I’d never experienced before. I had to focus to listen to her conversation with the commander as visions of ripping her armor to shreds and exploring her curves with my tongue nearly overwhelmed me. She was
all
woman, and she was mine. Her dark hair was pulled back in some kind of snug ball at the back of her neck. I had to wonder what it would feel like tangled in my fingers as I tugged her head back for a kiss. Her skin was pale, so much fairer than mine or anyone else’s on Atlan. I doubted she reached more than my chin, but she was large for a female. She wasn’t delicate or dainty, but obviously brash and bold and sassy as hell. My inner beast loved all that fire and my cock wanted to taste it. The beast in me clawed to come out, toss her over my shoulder, and carry her away.

I knew any man who looked at her would be instantly attracted and I fought the primal urge to mark her with my scent, rub my skin and my seed all over her flesh to make sure every male who came close to her knew exactly who she belonged to. She was mine and I needed everyone to know it, including the stubborn female who, even now, was trying to figure out a way to rid herself of me. All I could think about was burying my cock inside her, and all she wanted was to force me to leave her side.

The challenge riled my beast in a way I had not anticipated, and I felt myself eager to taste her teeth and claws in the bedroom. How she’d ended up unmated until now was beyond me. How was it possible no male on Earth had desired her, or claimed her? It made me think that there was something wrong with that species of males. Human men must be idiots.

“I’m aware that he is your relation.” Commander Karter held up his hand as she was about to speak again. “I’m also aware that two of your brothers already died at the hands of the Hive. I’m sorry for your loss, but there is nothing I can do.”

Two brothers died at the hands of the Hive? That explained quite a bit. How many more brothers did she have? Were Earth families close like they were on Atlan? Was there a kinship, a love, between siblings that drove her need to rescue him? If this was the case, I understood, for I had one brother as well. If he were captured, I too would try to rescue him. But she was female and my mate. If she needed to know her brother was safe, I would take care of it for her.

I grumbled and both she and her commander turned to me.

“I will go after her brother. It was my interference that led to his capture.”

I shouldn’t be impressed by her warrior abilities, the tactical skill I’d witnessed on that freighter. Females didn’t fight. They placated, soothed, nurtured. They weren’t stupid; in fact, quite the opposite. A female was the only one who could tame her mate’s inner beast and that took keen intelligence. The initial mating fever was depleted by the bonding, but the beast’s unpredictable rage never truly went away. Our mates knew how to soothe the angst that raged within, often silently. I had never known such a level of anger and rage as when she was in grave danger.

I wanted to protect her, fuck her, care for her. But Sarah Mills didn’t want a mate and she didn’t seem like much of a soother. So, I would win her heart the only way I could, by getting her brother back for her.

The commander leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms over his massive chest. Were I human, I may have been intimidated, but I was Atlan, and even larger than the Prillon warrior glaring at me now. I welcomed his ire, happy to redirect his irritation away from my mate. “You are another problem entirely, Warlord Dax. What the hell are you doing in my sector without authorization?”

“I came for my mate.”

“I’m a warrior, not a mate. I told the bride program that. I’m sorry you didn’t get the memo.” She looked at the commander. “Can you assign me to a squadron that is perhaps at least fighting in an area around their closest integration center?”

“Do you want to be captured and turned into a cyborg?” I asked, my voice loud in the small room. She refused to relent and I refused to leave without her. I couldn’t. While the cuffs were not on her wrists—yet—I would not abandon my mate. She was mine and I would protect her—even from herself—with my life.

She rolled her eyes. “No, but I have to save my brother.”

“No, you do not. I shall retrieve him for you.”

She opened her mouth, her gaze spitting fire, but the commander rose from his seat and slammed his hand down on his desk. “Neither one of you is going into Hive territory to rescue a dead man. Captain Mills, your brother is dead. If they didn’t kill him outright, he’s been integrated into their Hive mind, his body altered with synthetic technology we will be unable to remove. He is dead. I’m sorry. The answer is no.”

The commander turned to me. “And you, Warlord Dax, will get back to the transport room and leave my ship. From what I heard of your actions, I don’t need you to go into berserker mode and be put down. Get to Atlan and find a new mate.”