Her eyes bored into mine with knowledge. Somehow, she knew. Sheknewshe was mine. How the fuck was that possible? The male always recognized and claimed the female. My beast was more than ready to accommodate that need. However, that would provide no answer to my question. How did she know? I had neither moved nor spoken since she’d appeared. I stared at her because I could not look away.
“No. No, he won’t.” Adrian shook her head slowly, rolling her forehead back and forth against the energy field, looking at the monster within, looking at me. “He’s mine.”
I didn’t move, barely dared breathe as a large warlord stepped into view with two additional females and one Atlan doctor I recognized all too well.
The females were, indeed, all humans. Small. They all wore traditional Atlan gowns, the elder in a dark, metallic color that nearly matched both her, and my mate’s, hair. Definitely her mother. She wore mating cuffs that matched that of the Atlan with her, a male renowned for his time in the war, and infamous for his battle to be free of one of the Nexus units.
Had I been on duty, I would have asked him for more details. Fuck that, foreverydetail. But fighting the Hive was no longer my mission. My final mission was here. Now. Nearly complete.
I could not have a mate.
The third female looked very similar of face to my Adrian, except her hair was a rich, dark brown. Same gold and green eyes. But she was not mine. Her body did not call out to me. Her attention did not freeze me in place as if I were the lock and she the key.
“You are not to open that cell. He is not here for mating fever. He is one of our most dangerous criminals.” The doctor spoke with authority. I both hoped Adrian would listen to him and dreaded the same. Perhaps, if I asked nicely, they would allow me to simply look and admire my female for the next few hours. That would have to be enough.
“What did he do?” Adrian asked.
The doctor began to lay out my crimes. Kidnapping. Treason. Murder.
I listened without reaction or remorse. I heard all if this too many times to count.
Adrian gasped when the doctor provided a few too many gory details about the murder scene. She would discover who and what I was. Her attention would be drawn elsewhere…
“That is more than enough, doctor.” The warlord interrupted. Had I been capable of movement, my shoulders would have slumped in relief. As it was, my female looked into my eyes. I could not look away.
“I don’t believe it.”
“My daughter, all the doctor has told you is true. Warlord Kovo has been found guilty by both civilian and Coalition investigation teams. We neither accuse nor punish warlords without incontrovertible evidence. In fact, Kovo is the first warlord in prison for a crime—rather than mating fever—in a very long time.”
“More than thirty years,” the doctor confirmed the warlord’s warning.
“Shit.” Adrian turned her face from me and my entire body reacted. I shook with the need to ram my body into that energy field to get to her. I needed her.
No.
“We need to get to the lab, ladies.” The mother waved her hands in small circles as if she could move her daughters with the slightest of breezes.
Adrian sighed. “You go ahead. I want to stay here for a minute.”
“I’ll stay with you.” The young female in a soft, yellow gown offered her arm to Adrian, who slid her hand through and wrapped the two together.
“No.” The warlord denied them. I wanted to kill him and congratulate him for being the only sane one here.
“Fine.” Adrian didn’t look at me, not once, as they all walked away.
I glanced at the countdown.
00:10:01:33
Fuck. Ten minutes ago I was ready to die, to do what I could to help Helion and the I.C. team accomplish their goal before I succumbed to mating fever. I was close to losing control of the beast. Too close.
Now all I could think about—all my beast could think about—was Adrian, hot and wet, her pussy bare and open and mine. Filling her up. Running my fingers through her hair. Tasting her mouth. Her skin. Her core. Putting mating cuffs on her wrists and filling her from behind as my beast was freed. Telling her over and over again that she was mine. That I was hers. That I would die to protect her. To keep her. To care for her.
I would do none of those things. I would die in ten hours, one minute, and thirty-three seconds.
Angry, frustrated, alone, I paced my cell, no longer able to remain stoic. Calm.
Time passed. I did not look at the countdown again. Too slow. Agonizingly slow.
