The Rebel and the Rogue

by Grace Goodwin

  Fuck, she might as well have stabbed me with her blade, it hurt that much.

  I blinked, nodded, then left, headed for the transport room.

  And the rest of my life.

  16

  Zenos

  * * *

  “Fuck,” I whispered, my throat dry as the desert planet of Trion. I felt like shit. My head pounded, my mouth tasted as if I’d licked the backside of a sweaty Hyperion. I didn’t usually drink to excess, but last night had called for it. Ivy had walked out on me. Not just walked out, she’d pushed me off her and left mid-fuck. Mid-fuck!

  I was so blinded by my need to come that I’d watched her dress and then leave. My cock had been hard, throbbing, my balls aching with the obsessive need to fill her.

  But she was gone. Her pussy was not where I’d spurted my cum. No, it had been into my hand as I’d stood there and stared at the door. I’d only tugged a few times, and I’d cupped the crown and had the hot fluid fill my palm. The release had been incredible, but it had been lacking. The hot, tight feel of Ivy’s pussy, the way her inner walls milked me.

  Only when I’d taken the edge off had I been able to think clearly. Ivy had been pissed at me. When wasn’t she mad at me about something? We fought more than we fucked. It was our way. I hadn’t gone after her because I had no intention of repeating the same old argument.

  I wasn’t biting her.

  I loved her too much to risk her life. I was willing to sacrifice the need to claim her fully so I could see her smile. To hear her screams of pleasure. Fuck, even to bicker with her.

  She was an obsession. Ever since I’d first laid eyes on her across the bar at the Transport Station Zenith, I craved her. She was my drug.

  But I couldn’t give her what she wanted. No, biting her would never happen.

  I’d gone to the S-Gen machine and ordered up the strongest alcohol possible and drank it until I must have passed out. I woke on my bed, still naked, my hand gripping the base of my throbbing cock, my fangs descended. Even in my sleep I wanted Ivy. My body couldn’t go hours without fucking her.

  I climbed from bed and used the shower tube—emptying my balls again—and ran a fucking ReGen wand over my head to ease the throbbing. It surprised me Ivy had yet to return, to come in and tell me off with that sharp tongue of hers or push me onto the bed and use me for her needs.

  Her mission was complete. She’d found Gerian Eozara, the secret lab, even, fuck, Cerberus, avenged the death of her fellow fighters. It would take a while to get over the hatred toward Cerberus, but I had his death to remember, to know justice was served for what happened to Rhord, to all of us. And Gerian would be dead as well, the Coalition executing those who harmed their own. We all had Ivy to thank for rooting him out. For ending it all.

  She’d not only worked her way into my heart, but she’d worked her way into the legion itself. She was like us. Gods, she belonged here, not only with me but with all of Astra Legion. She might not be born on Rogue 5, but she was one of us.

  And she was mine. She would come to understand how it would be. She would stop questioning, stop pushing for more than I could give. It seemed she didn’t understand how much I loved her, no matter how many times we fucked, how often I showed her with my body. And that was the problem that I would fix now.

  I would tell her how I felt. Show her again. And again. Until she believed me.

  I dressed, left my quarters in search of Ivy.

  I followed the scents of food and the sounds of voices to the dining hall. When I entered, there were about twenty or so eating their morning meal. I scanned the space. No Ivy. I did see Astra, who was smiling.

  Smiling. What. The. Fuck?

  I stalked over to her, dropped into an empty chair.

  “What’s the matter?” I asked. I rarely saw our leader’s mouth turned up in amusement, let alone a full-on grin.

  “What do you mean?” she asked. She glanced to Barek, who sat beside her as usual. What wasn’t usual was the way he was looking at her. I was used to him watching her closely, fiercely. Now his gaze held the same possessiveness as always, but a… tenderness.

  I scratched my head, wondering if I still had alcohol in my blood.

  “You’re smiling,” I told her, then pointed at Barek. “What the fuck’s got into you?”

  He tipped his head back and laughed. My mouth fell open.

  “Nothing’s gotten into me, but I got into her.” He looked to Astra and stroked her hair.

  I couldn’t believe it, but Astra actually blushed, her cheeks turning a bright shade of pink.

  I glanced around the room at the others, no one paying us any attention, as if the moon base hadn’t shifted off its axis.

  I leaned forward, rubbed my temples. “Will you please fucking tell me what’s going on? Why you’re so damned happy all of a sudden? It can’t be because Gerian Eozara is in the brig. Is there an update about Cerberus?”

  “Gerian is dead,” Astra said plainly. “Jillela will take over Cerberus. I’m sure of it. And I’m happy because of this.”

  She yanked the collar of her shirt to the side, and I saw the marks.

  Barek’s mark.

  I stared. Then stared more at the red flesh.

  He’d been in love with her for years. Decades. He’d never once touched her. As far as I knew, they’d never spoken of how they felt. How their love was unrequited.

  Until now.

  Until the antidote.

  “It works.” The words fell from my lips as I thought them.

  “It works,” Astra repeated.

  “It sure as fuck does. Astra might be leader of the legion, but she’s mine. Marked and claimed.”

  “Holy fuck,” I whispered, then stood. My chair slid across the floor. My hands went to my hips. “You’re telling me the antidote works? That we have it, the serum that will save us?”

  Barek nodded but didn’t look away from Astra.

  I felt relief, happiness, so many things all at once. I dropped back into the chair, my legs giving out. We’d found it. We could mate. Have children. Keep our loved ones alive.

  I popped back up again as if I were some child’s toy bouncing up and down. “Ivy,” I said, looking around again. “Where’s Ivy?”

  “Gone.” Astra said the one word with such finality my head whipped around to look down at her.

  “What do you mean, gone?”

  Barek slowly stood, faced me. “Don’t speak to my mate in such a tone,” he growled.

  Yeah, the antidote worked.

  “I want to claim Ivy. Fuck, it works.”

  “You’re too late,” Barek said.

  “What the fuck are you talking about?”

  “She told you all along, since we were on Zenith even, that she’d taken the antidote and you could bite her. She told you to do it. You refused.”

  “Of course I refused. I didn’t want her to die.”

  “She wouldn’t have died,” Barek countered.

  “How would you know?”

  Barek tipped his chin down. He was calm as fuck, and I was coming out of my skin.

  “Because Astra is alive. She took the serum and I bit her and she didn’t die.”

  “Obviously,” I snapped, waving at a very serene Astra. Gods, a few orgasms and our leader went all soft.

  “I trusted the tests that were done. I trusted Ivy that the antidote worked.”

  “You were willing to risk Astra’s life?” I asked, stunned.

  “I was willing to risk my life for Barek,” Astra said. “For love. To finally belong to him.”

  “You could have died!” I shouted. Heads swiveled in our direction, the room went quiet.

  Astra slowly stood. Barek moved to her side as if they were magnets and nothing could keep them apart.

  “We have the antidote, Zenos. What we’ve wanted all along. You were too afraid to use it, to believe in it.”

  “I love her too much,” I admitted. “I won’t have her dead!”

  “Then you
won’t have her at all,” Astra added. “She’s transported off Rogue 5. You refused to bite her, even with the antidote. You didn’t trust her.”

  “Of course I trust her! I love her!”

  I was repeating myself, I knew it. But I was irrational. Angry. She was gone?

  Astra took a step toward me. “We’ve wanted the antidote all our lives. Generations before us would have killed for it. Now we have it. It’s ours, Zenos. And yet you’re still afraid to live, to claim the one you love. You must trust in Ivy. If you don’t, your love means nothing.”

  I looked at the sickeningly in love duo before me.

  They’d waited decades to mate. As soon as the antidote was available, they’d taken it. Not blindly, for it had been tested, but with faith nonetheless. They’d been willing to risk it all. For love.

  But I hadn’t. And now Ivy was gone. I’d given her everything she wanted except one thing.

  Me. Completely. Blind faith. Blind trust.

  “Fuck this shit,” I muttered, spinning on my heel and storming off.

  I’d had Ivy from the moment I first laid eyes on her. She’d been safe to claim with my fangs and cock. Willing. Perfect. And I’d blown it. At first she hadn’t wanted the bite, not wanting to be mated, but that had changed. She’d asked, begged even, for me to do it. She’d wanted to be my mate and I’d refused.

  No longer. I stormed into the transport room, scared the hell out of the tech.

  “Where did Ivy Birkeland of Earth go?”

  His wide eyes indicated he was surprised and a touch afraid of me. “Transport Station Zenith.”

  “Send me there. Now.”

  I took the steps to the raised platform two at a time, determined to claim my female. Fangs and all.

  IVY

  * * *

  Finding a bounty wasn’t anything like going to the 7-11 and looking at the job board by the bathrooms. There was no tear-off phone number to call. I’d have to reach out to Elite Hunter Sabir again, and I had a pretty good feeling I’d burned that bridge. I had no doubt that when I ended that comm call, he’d gotten his ass chewed out by Helion. I’d brought in Gerian Eozara, just as the bounty had said. It had also stated dead or alive, so letting Astra finish the asshole didn’t break the terms. I’d even had Sabir and Helion witness it. There was no question their own eyeballs were enough evidence.

  That didn’t mean they’d want to work with me again. I’d gone rogue. And that was a fucking hoot.

  I tugged the blanket over my body, stuffed it under my arms, stared at the ceiling of the small quarters I’d been given on Zenith. I had nowhere to go, not until I had something to do.

  Earth was out. No fucking way.

  I could crawl on hands and knees to Helion and grovel—a lot—and he’d probably give me a job. He’d get what he wanted, a superpower Earth female. But I’d rather stay in this backwater transport station slinging drinks than beg him for a job.

  Yeah, I’d totally gone rogue. I huffed and flopped onto my side.

  I thought of Astra Legion, of my never-knew-existed-until-now home. It was home, definitely. The people there, I understood, and it seemed they understood me. They didn’t care if I was a little wild, totally impulsive, loudmouthed, intense, bossy and even completely uncontrollable.

  I was just like them.

  I was wanted.

  By every single member of Astra but one.

  Zenos.

  I rolled to my other side, kicked the blankets off in annoyance.

  No, he wanted me. His cock didn’t lie. But he didn’t want me enough.

  I put my fingers to my neck where it was unmarked. Unscarred. I hadn’t wanted the scar that ran the length of my spine, but I did want one at my neck. One I would be proud to show off, because it meant I was loved. I belonged to him. With him.

  Someone pounded on the door, and I sat up, pushed my hair back from my face.

  “Go away!” I shouted, then flopped back in bed.

  The pounding started up again.

  “Go. The. Fuck. Away!” I yelled at the ceiling.

  An ion blast and the opening of the door had me popping up and onto my knees.

  “What the—”

  Zenos came in, ion pistol raised. He stopped just inside the room, legs spread wide, gaze squarely on me.

  He was the hottest thing I’d ever seen. But that meant nothing.

  “What the fuck are you doing here?” I snapped.

  He reached his arm out, slapped the wall, and the door closed behind him, not silently since his ion shot must have done something to the inner mechanism.

  “I’m here for you. I’m thinking I should stun you to keep you from running off. Sound familiar?”

  I arched a brow. “Oh really?”

  He said nothing.

  “You here for another quick fuck?”

  He stepped to the edge of the bed. “Yes.”

  I sat back on my heels, deflated. “Not happening. Not offering.”

  I was in my shirt and panties, I’d ditched my pants and boots on the floor.

  “You’ve offered what I want since the first time I saw you.”

  “It’s off the table. My pussy’s not available.”

  He opened his mouth, and I cut him off with a raised hand.

  “Neither is my ass or mouth, so don’t even think it.”

  He reached out, grabbed my upper arm and pulled me back up onto my knees. With his free hand, he tucked my long hair back over my shoulder, slid a finger down the length of my neck.

  “While appealing, that’s not what I had in mind.”

  I swallowed, took in his gorgeous face. His dark eyes were on my pulse point. His jaw was clenched. His grip, while sure, was gentle.

  “What… what did you have in mind?” I asked.

  “Your neck.”

  I licked my lips, a little startled, a little afraid. A whole lot confused.

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean to bite you, Ivy Birkeland of Earth. I mean to fuck you at the same time. Claim you. It won’t be gentle. It can’t be, not with my fangs piercing your flesh for the first time. Not with the mating fist locking us together. We’ll be fucking for hours.”

  I whimpered at the thought of hours.

  I tugged at his hold, and he released me. I flew off the bed, went across the room to put as much distance between us as possible, which wasn’t all that much. This wasn’t the Ritz.

  “Don’t mess with me, Zenos.”

  “I’m not.”

  “You didn’t get what you wanted, so you’re here like a petulant child.”

  “I’m not,” he repeated. “I’m angry.”

  “Don’t you dare put that anger on me. So you’re mad I left. Too bad.”

  “I don’t put anything on you.” He raised his hand to his chest. “It’s all on me.”

  I stared. Then stared some more. Had I heard him correctly? “What?”

  “It’s my fault. All of it.” He came over to me again. Now I was in the corner, Zenos’s large body blocking me in. His hands settled on the wall by my head. There was no escape. I could physically move him, we both knew that, but I wanted to know what he meant, what he would do. Why he was here.

  “Ivy… I love you.”

  I gasped. The sound fell from my lips as my chest ached.

  “Then why didn’t you—”

  “Because I love you.”

  “That doesn’t make any sense.”

  His hands came up and cupped my cheeks. “You are everything to me. I couldn’t stand the idea of you dying because of me. I love you enough not to bite you.”

  “Like Astra and Barek,” I replied.

  His thumb brushed over my cheek, and he smeared wetness. It was then I realized I was crying.

  “Until last night, yes. Barek has loved Astra for decades. He’s stood by her, watched out for her. Protected her even when she didn’t need it. But he refused to bite her.”

  “I don’t think they even had sex until last night
,” I guessed.

  “Yes, I agree. Barek refused to harm her by his bite. He loved her too much.”

  “But they trusted the antidote. You didn’t. You didn’t trust me.”

  I kissed her then, not able to wait a moment longer. “I didn’t trust me.” I clarified when I lifted my lips.

  “Oh, Zenos,” I whispered. “You can’t deny yourself what you’ve been waiting for so long.”

  “I haven’t until you came into the bar. I had been waiting for you. I hadn’t wanted to bite anyone until I kissed your lips, licked your pussy, fucked it good and hard.”

  I wiggled a bit at his dark words.

  “It’s been so hard to deny what was between us. How I felt. I was trying to be strong for both of us.”

  I waggled my eyebrows. “Haven’t you learned I’m pretty strong myself?”

  He growled then, lifted me up and tossed me onto the bed. I bounced but didn’t pop up to fight. I laid there, waiting. I was right where I wanted to be.

  “I love you, Zenos. I want you to bite me. To claim me. Make me yours. Completely.”

  He licked his lips, took in every inch of me. I waited one heartbeat, then another. Then he pounced.

  “Mine,” he breathed as he worked my shirt up and off my body, stripped me of my bra and panties.

  He stood at the foot of the bed, shucked every bit of his clothes until he was bare as well. His cock with thick and hard, pointed right at me. I couldn’t see any sign of the mating fist he’d spoken of, and my pussy clenched knowing how tight a fit he was normally.

  How was he going to fit when he claimed me?

  I licked my lips, eager for him.

  “Do that again and my cock will be in that mouth, mate, not that pussy.”

  I shook my head, curled my finger to beckon him to me. “Another time. Claim me.”

  “As you command,” he said and crawled over me. Kissed me. Everywhere. My lips, my jaw, my neck, my breasts. Down one leg and then back up the other. He even kissed my clit.

  “Zenos,” I said.

  “Mate,” he replied, settling on top of me, nudging my thighs apart. His cock slid over my thigh, pre-cum smearing into a wet streak.