Mated to the Beast (9 page)

“You can’t take them off?”

I shook my head, willing her to understand. “They mark me as yours, mate, until the fever is over. Then, then they can be removed, but we will still be mated. That will
never
change. With these on, it indicates I am claimed. Mated. Taken. I have chosen a female. You.” I rattled the smaller pair of cuffs dangling from my grip. “These are yours. Become my mate and together we can still save your brother.”

Her mouth fell open and I could practically see her brain working.

She crossed her arms over her chest, not from defiance, but for personal protection. She was upset and unsure and was practically hugging herself. Had she ever had someone hold
her
? Protect her? Shield her from the evils of life? Was she so strong because she wanted to be, or because the men in her life had left her vulnerable and exposed?

“The commander won’t allow us to go.”

“That is true, so long as we both remain officers of the coalition fleet. It is also true, mate, that a rescue mission for one soldier isn’t wise. But if you put on my cuffs, then it indicates you are a bride and I am a mated Atlan. We will both be released from all military service.”

“Just by putting on the cuffs?”

“If you put them on, you are committing to soothing my fever. Ending it. Remember, it’s
mating
fever and so you would be committing to being my mate.”

“The cuffs would end our military contract?”

I nodded. “We will no longer belong to the fleet, Sarah, but to each other. The rules and orders of the coalition commanders would no longer be ours to follow.”

She looked at the cuffs but refused to touch them. But she was listening, and that’s all I needed right now.

“I vowed to help you retrieve your brother. On my honor, I will assist you whether you choose to take my cuffs or not. However, if you do not declare yourself my bride and choose to go with me, you will be breaking a direct order from Commander Karter. If we are successful, you may retrieve your brother, but could very well serve several years in a coalition prison cell.”

“Why are you doing this?” Her gaze locked to mine, demanding the truth. “Why are you offering any of this to me? Why risk your life for my brother? You don’t even know us.”

“Nothing matters to me but you.” I spoke the words with vehemence, shocked to discover I spoke the truth. My desire to continue fighting the Hive had died the moment I saw her. Nothing mattered to me but winning her over, making her mine. I never would have imagined such a change of feelings in such a quick span of time. It had only been a matter of hours since I had said I didn’t want a mate. Now, now I never wanted to be free of her. I didn’t lower the cuffs, but kept them right where she could see them.

“I’m… I’m not like women from your planet, am I? How can you want me?”

“No,” I affirmed. “The women of Atlan are gentle, Sarah. They nurture and heal, they do not fight. They do not have your fire.”

“Is that what you want? A doormat?”

I frowned. “I do not know what a doormat is.”

“A woman who never argues, who does every little thing you tell her to. A meek female.”

Atlan women
were
meek. Meek not because they were forced to be that way, but because they were raised as such. They were happy in their roles, confident in their mates to care for them. But Sarah? She was most definitely not Atlan and I doubted she’d ever be meek.

I grinned. “You? Meek? I’ve known you all of two hours and I know for fact you are anything but.”

She pursed her lips then and I saw color stain her cheeks.

“I never said I wanted a meek Atlan woman.”

She didn’t say anything, but looked at me with obvious doubt.

“I don’t lie, Sarah. If you don’t trust me, you can trust in the matching protocol.
That
can’t lie. If I truly wanted an Atlan woman, I would have been matched to one. I want
you.
I want your fire to burn me from the inside out.”

The kiss hadn’t been enough. It had only offered a hint of what it would be like between us. Hot, volatile, passionate. I wanted to feel this woman beneath me. I wanted to feel the anger, the frustration, the intensity she carried about turn into passion. To have that passion directed at me. There was no doubt she was a fiery one and she’d be an eager, aggressive bed partner. I’d use that fierceness to bring her pleasure. There would be no gentle claiming. It would be rough and wild and I’d have to fight her every moment for control, but the battle would make her submission so much sweeter to taste. She’d fight herself, try to resist what she needed. That was a certainty. Not because I’d subdue her, but because I would test her limits, revel in making her squirm and discover her deepest desires.

I pushed now, leaning forward and taking her mouth once more, making sure she knew just how much I wanted her. I released my hold and slid my hands behind her back, pulling her body forward and higher on my thigh until we were pressed close and her stomach rubbed against my rock-hard erection. Her hands landed on my biceps, but she kissed me back, didn’t push me away.

A knock sounded on the door and I pulled away, reluctant to lose intimate contact with my mate. I held her to me, her much smaller frame safe in my arms. I tried to be gentle despite the beast raging at me to throw her down on the floor, shred her armor, and take what was mine. “Say yes, Sarah. Be mine.”

“You vow that you will help me find my brother if I say yes?” She flicked a finger against one of the cuffs, and they swayed beneath my hand.

“I do not lie. I would
never
lie to my mate. As you do not know this, or me, I offer you my vow.” I placed my right hand over my heart, the cuffs dangling between us. “I will help you whether you accept my claim or not.”

She looked at me for any kind of deception. There was none, for I would assist her, no matter her choice. If she refused me, I would simply go after her brother alone and save her from a coalition prison cell. I would perish, soon after. The beast within was close enough to taste. Without a mate, I would be destined for execution, but I would not force her decision. If I died, I would seek eternal rest on my own terms, with my honor intact.

If she said yes, if she placed my cuffs on her wrists, I had no choice but to go with her to find her brother, for not only had I given her my word, but once she put the cuffs about her wrists, we could not be apart, not until we were truly bonded.

Worse, if I betrayed her trust, she would never allow me to fuck her, let alone bond with her. Without it, I’d die.

She then, held all the power. We were both in a dilemma. We both needed the other. Each of us had a price that we were willing to pay. I would subject my mate to danger to find her brother. She would become my mate. Permanently. Based on the kiss, it would not be a hardship.

“Very well. I accept.”

I groaned then, low and deep. Hearing those words from her lips soothed the beast in a way not even the kiss had. It paced and nudged to escape, but hearing her agree to be my mate soothed it. Me. All of me.

I went to the door and opened it for the commander. I knew he hadn’t gone far. Not only was I a rogue ex-warrior who’d transported into a battle and ripped the Hive to pieces, but I was also the Atlan who wished to mate one of his top officers.

He entered and looked between the two of us.

“You can’t accept the warlord’s plan,” he said. He was a shrewd man, knowing exactly what I’d offered her and what it would cost him.

“I already have.”

“Captain, I have to question the wisdom of your decision,” the commander replied. “Be logical. Use that analytical mind of yours, Sarah. Your brother is gone. Don’t make this sacrifice when there is no hope of getting Seth back alive.”

“Seth’s still alive. I can feel it. I gave my word to my father. I can’t lose him, too. He’s all I have left. I’m sorry, Commander Karter, but I have to find him.” The last line was like a mantra falling from her lips. She tugged the bracers from her forearms and dropped them at her feet. Grabbing the cuffs, she pushed her shirt up to expose her forearms. Opening one then the other, she slipped the cuffs about her wrists. They sealed automatically and cinched securely about her delicate skin.

Flicking a gaze up at me, she tilted her chin then turned to the commander. “Now what?”

The commander sighed. “Captain Mills, you have donned the mating cuffs of an Atlan male, therefore effective immediately, you will be transferred to the Interstellar Bride Program. Your command position is relieved. You are no longer a member of the coalition fleet. You will hand over your ion pistol.”

With precision, she pulled the weapon from her hip and gave it to the Prillon. She did not seem to doubt her decision. In fact, the finality of it seemed to harden her resolve.

Commander Karter turned to me. “Well, I guess you got what you came for.” He ran a hand through his hair with a loud sigh. “Check in with Silva on the civilian deck. She’ll assign you temporary quarters.”

Sarah placed her hands on her hips. “We won’t be staying. We’ll transport immediately.”

The commander shook his head. “I’m afraid that’s impossible.”

“What? I promise you, once we transport to where the Hive took Seth, we’ll be out of your way.”

“There’s no more transport until thirteen hundred tomorrow, at the earliest.” When her mouth fell open in shock, he added, “Magnetic debris field is moving through. It’s too dangerous. The entire sector is shut down. No transport, no flights.”

“No!” There would be no transport, no battle, no movement for almost sixteen hours. Normally, everyone in the battle group celebrated these freak magnetic storms, allowing for rest and forced relaxation. Sarah’s gaze flew to mine and I could read her easily. She was worried about her brother, about the extra time the Hive would have to torture and modify him. But she was also wondering exactly what I was going to demand of her over the next sixteen hours while we waited.

If I couldn’t take her to her brother, I could provide a worthy distraction. Perhaps a good, hard night of fucking would clear both our heads.

Chapter Seven

Sarah

I grabbed my bracers off the floor, turned on my heel, and left the commander’s war room and my new
mate
behind.

So, I was mated to an Atlan warlord who kissed like a god? Whatever. Once I was out of the commander’s office, I tugged at the cuffs, trying to work them off. I might be Dax’s mate, I might have all but humped his hard thigh, but I didn’t need to wear these darn things. I had put them on as part of the show for Commander Karter, not that I was going to go back on my word. I wasn’t. Once Dax helped me get my brother back, I would try to be a good little wife. Based on the way he kissed, a one-night stand would be pretty darn hot. Until then? I didn’t need these… I tugged and tugged… visible signs that I was connected to the warlord. Owned by him.
Belonged
to him. My word was more than enough.

I tried to pry them open. Nothing. Shit. They were snug, but at least I could get my fingers beneath the gold bands. Regardless, there was no give. Where the hell was the clasp?

I nodded at two warriors who saluted me as they passed me in the corridor. They were probably the last two salutes I’d get, for I wasn’t in the coalition fleet any longer. I’d made it two months, not two years. At least I wasn’t dead. Although it’s possible that being mated to…
him
might be worse.

He was brash and bold and that wicked grin only indicated a cockiness that drove me crazy. Somehow he could just breathe and I’d be angry. And horny. What was it about him? What was it about his kiss that made me insane? And
horny
. God, he
was
sex on a stick. Somehow he’d gotten me to
want
him to touch me. He’d told me what he wanted to do to me, cavemen level, carnal things—and I was thankful he’d done it in private—as I’d all but melted at his feet.

Not only that, I’d kissed him like a woman eager for his advances. At first, I’d kissed him back because, what the hell? Why not sample what he was offering?
When his lips met mine, however, it was more like,
more. Give me more.
His rock-hard thigh had nudged between my legs and lifted me up so that he pressed perfectly against me. My pussy ached to be filled and my swollen clit had rubbed and awakened. Between his tongue in my mouth and the way I’d humped his leg, I’d been on my way to orgasm central. Shameless. He’d even growled as I’d gotten wet, like he could smell me or something.

No man had ever made me feel like that before. He’d had me pinned against the wall and completely at his mercy. I never liked being at
anyone’s
mercy, but with Dax, with his kiss and his touch and his whispered words and his… God, the hard feel of his cock against my lower belly where the body armor didn’t cover… I wanted it all.

But my decision to be his mate wasn’t made in a sex haze. I agreed to his bargain because I wanted to find Seth. He would help me do it, and I wouldn’t have to rot in prison for the rest of my life. With Dax’s size, his bravery, his brawn, I knew he was the best chance I had of getting my brother back.

I took a deep breath, then started down the hall toward the ship’s elevator. Dax was still in the commander’s room, and I had no idea why. He’d follow me eventually, because we had a deal. He’d said he’d die without me, which meant his species was seriously messed up. Hell, I’d lived twenty-seven years without a husband and I was doing just fine.

Sure, my vagina was practically dusty from disuse, but who needed a man, and all the drama, when a powerful vibrator was available? A vibrator never pissed me off. Of course, the vibrator didn’t have big hands, a rock-hard, muscled physique, or a very powerful demeanor. Nor kissed like there was no tomorrow.

Okay, fine. Dax was better than a vibrator. So far. I had no doubt I’d wish for the old reliable and silent dildo the first time I refused to act like a weak, silent wallflower.