“We go.” I didn’t have time to argue or explain myself. Bahre was right. First, get her to safety. Once we were on The Colony, I would explain everything.
As for Commander Helion and the Intelligence Core? She could tell them where the images were, and they could send a Hunter, or one of their human allies, to acquire them. Later.
Not my fucking problem. The only thing I cared about was right in front of me, soft skin exposed, the full swell of her breasts above the neckline of her barely-there nightgown causing an internal struggle I barely won. She was mine. I wanted to touch her, feel her, taste her. I couldn’t do that with the Hive practically on top of us.
I stepped forward, placed a transport beacon in her hand and activated hers and mine both.
Pulling her small, soft body into my arms, I turned to see the Hive Scouts enter her apartment as the freezing sensation of transport crystallized inside my cells. Ice. Pain.
We vanished before the Hive could fire a single shot.
Warlord Kai, The Colony, Five Hours Later
* * *
The clear cover of the ReGen pod slid open. The hissing sound of the air release stirred me from slumber. As I woke, the distinct sound of voices—including my mate’s—filtered to me through the lingering haze of healing sleep.
“No. You have to take me back.” That voice. Female. My mate wanted to leave?
I fought my way to consciousness. She could not leave. No!
“We will discuss the situation with Warlord Kai once he wakens from the ReGen pod.” Governor Maxim’s deep voice settled over me from the adjoining room and I took a calming breath. Thank the gods. Maxim knew the way of things. When we arrived, I had uttered one word before I collapsed on The Colony’s transport pad… ‘mine’.
“When will that be?” Larkspur Linton. That was her name. Her voice carried clearly in the mostly silent medical rooms. They’d left the door between the ReGen pod and their room open. Smart. Had I awakened not knowing exactly where she was, things would have escalated to violence quickly. She was mine, but I had yet to claim her. I did not wear the mating cuffs. My beast was still a risk. Had they kept my mate from me, the killing rage would have been instant and out of control. Even with her so close, I had to fight to remain in control. My beast was strong. Furious. Still in pain.
I needed my mate.
I inhaled, tried to pick up my mate’s scent in the medical unit. Odd. Her fragrance came to me, but it was muted. I caught a second feminine scent, but it wasn’t quite right, was not my mate’s. Perhaps another male had taken a mate since the group of Atlan warlords I was with had gone to Earth. We’d been sent to Earth months ago to participate in the humans’ Bachelor Beast entertainment program. The way the humans intended us to find our mates was comically impossible, but none of us complained. Many of the group had, indeed, found the females destined to be theirs. And now I had as well.
Larkspur. What an interesting name.
“I do not know when Warlord Kai will regain consciousness. His injuries were severe.” That voice belonged to Doctor Surnen, his tone one I was exceedingly familiar with due to my frequent participation in the fighting pits. Before going to Earth, I’d been treated here several times a week.
No more. Now that I had a mate, I would release my energy in much more pleasurable ways. Kissing every part of her. Sucking and teasing her clit until she screamed. Caring for her. Bathing her. Holding her. Filling her with my cock over and over until she begged for release. What did she taste like? I needed to know. Badly. Now.
“Miss Linton, I promise, you are safe here.” Governor Maxim tried to assure her. I trusted him with my life, and the life of my mate. We were home. “I will ask my mate, Rachel, to show you around and get you some clothing and food. She is from Earth as well. Are you hungry?”
“No. I mean, yes, but it doesn’t matter. I need to go home. Those things are in our apartment and my sister doesn’t know. She’ll be in danger.” My mate did not sound afraid, but adamant. Stubborn. Insistent. Demanding.
Gods she would be pure fire on my cock. The thought triggered the expected response, my cock growing long and hard. Aching. For her. Only for her.
Mine.
Yes. We found her. Now we will claim her.
Yes. Mine.
I didn’t bother arguing, not when we were of one mind in that regard. Larkspur was our mate. We would claim her immediately, place the mating cuffs around both her wrists and ours, a matching set. We would care for her, protect her, fuck her into mindless pleasure. We would finally live a life that had nothing to do with killing. War. Solitude. We found our home at last. Thank the gods. We’d both been hanging on to our sanity by a thread, mating fever burned in our blood like acid. Boiling. Pushing us to violence.
The governor was speaking. “They were after you. Once you were brought to us, they would have no reason to remain in your living quarters.” I had to focus to remember what they were discussing.
Oh yes, the Hive at her apartment. Apparently my mate had a sister whom she feared would be injured. I would contact Bahre at once. The female sister would be protected as well. He and the others would see to it.
The thought forced my sluggish limbs to action. I shoved the ReGen pod’s cover completely out of the way and swung my heavy legs over the edge of the medical bed. Small spaces made my beast rage, despite the frequency of my visits to medical. Good thing the beast was unconscious when they placed me into that tube. The ReGen pods were built to accommodate the Coalition Fleet’s largest warriors, the Atlan warlords’ larger cousins, the Forsians, rare as they were in the Fleet. There was ample room for my beast’s frame, but that didn’t mean I enjoyed being trapped inside a translucent coffin. Sometime during the healing I had resumed my natural, Atlan form, still large, but at least I could speak in complete sentences.
My mate did not back down as I prepared to go to her. Her protective nature made me want her more. My cock jumped. A drop of precum gathered on the tip. My balls ached with a need so dark and primitive I had no hope of relief until she was filled with seed, claimed, begging me to make her come over and over again. I would thrust in slowly, watch her eyes go wide as I filled her. Watch her mouth open, her head drop back. Feel the soft whisper of her sigh on my naked flesh as she accepted us, deemed us worthy. Claimed us as her own.
“How do you know? What if they’re still there? I need to go home. Now. Right fucking now. I demand you take me back to Earth.”
