Hunted

by Grace Goodwin

  My meeting.

  Shit.

  Cadets had returned to campus the day before and were settling back in. While they were prepping their uniforms, tablets and weapons for the months of classes and training ahead, the staff was an hour into the pre-term meeting. The thirty-four head instructors, twelve military commanders from various planets and two representatives from Prime Nial’s version of a presidential cabinet were in attendance and we were less than a quarter of the way through the jam-packed agenda.

  Twice a year we gathered. The military commanders updated the academy instructors on what they were seeing in the field, recommending changes to the training protocols and getting information from Prime Nial’s closest military advisors on what might be coming down the pipeline. Every once in a while, an I.C. commander or scientist would show up and demonstrate a new weapon or advancement in technology.

  This meeting spanned several days, none of them short. Every topic was important. While we were steeped in tradition, we also had to adapt to change, to what the Hive was using against us.

  I was the facilitator and had to present high-level data on the previous term’s cadet training outcomes. Each of the instructors would share the findings of their specific work areas. I might be in charge, but I wasn’t a micro-manager. Everyone had their tasks, their goals, and were expected to achieve them. If they didn’t, this was the meeting to hash out why. The current topic was appropriate stun settings in battle simulations. It was important for cadets to be stunned, to know what it felt like and how to respond to a stunning, but there was a careful balance on success versus incapacitation. I was listening, but I let the conversation swirl around me.

  To say I was distracted was an understatement. Ever since I’d returned, I’d been scattered. I couldn’t focus. Couldn’t get motivated for the new term. It wasn’t because of the break. It wasn’t because I went to The Colony to visit Kira and Angh. It wasn’t because I’d been part of a team who had shut down a secret Hive prison and delivered a Nexus unit—alive—to I.C. No.

  That was all straightforward and simple. It was Quinn. Quinn had completely messed with me. Maybe it was that the sex and the orgasms had scrambled my brain, because I craved more. Constantly. It wasn’t like I’d mated three Vikens and come in contact with their seed power. God, if that made a female hornier than I was, I felt for her. I’d touched myself, made myself come in the shower tube at least once a day since I’d been back. And another time in bed before I rolled over and tried to sleep. I was a total orgasm slut now. And why? Because I could hear Quinn’s voice in my head. You might be vice admiral in that uniform, but out? You’re mine.

  I squirmed in my chair. Subtly, so no one would notice as this wasn’t the first time. I was mated. But I was on Zioria and he was on the Battleship Karter. Or I assumed he was. It had been a week. A week! Where the hell was he?

  Was taking the Nexus unit from him really so unforgivable? He was a Hunter. An Elite. He knew what was at stake in this war.

  And if that wasn’t the case, then things were even more depressing. If it wasn’t the Nexus, it was simply me.

  I’d told him. Told him I couldn’t be what he wanted. Fine, he didn’t want kids either. Great. One hurdle down. But I was I.C. He’d learned that damned quick when I had to take the Nexus unit to Core Command instead of letting him kill it. God, I wanted him to tear that blue monster into pieces. I wanted to kill the Nexus unit myself for the torture and pain the big blue enemy had inflicted on my mate. No one fucked with my mate.

  Orders were orders, and this war was a lot bigger than one Hunter’s torture. Bigger than a few dozen Coalition fighters integrated on that base. For Quinn—and for me—this Nexus unit was a personal enemy, which made things difficult, but getting that Nexus unit to Doctor Helion to analyze might save a thousand more Hunters. Millions of people. Still, I understood Quinn’s desire for vengeance, his need to finish it.

  The I.C.’s need to study and defeat the Hive trumped a single Elite Hunter’s need for justice and revenge.

  Being a vice admiral trumped everything else in my life, including having a mate. Looking around, I outranked everyone in this room. I took orders from I.C. command and Prime Nial himself. There were a few admirals who ranked higher than me, but they were generally far from here, either out on the front lines or on Prillon Prime serving on the war council. And this war didn’t give a shit I was mated. Didn’t gave a shit that Quinn was stationed light years away from me. I couldn’t quit, not with so much at stake. I couldn’t just up and walk away. Transport to some vacation colony and have sexy times with Quinn until neither of us could walk right.

  God, that sounded incredible. I squirmed some more.

  The stun setting conversation resolved, and I moved everyone on to the next item on the agenda. One of the representatives from Prillon Prime spoke of a program for elite cadets happening mid-term. A mock battle to take place on the Battleship Zeus.

  Again, I tuned the voices out, wondered if my testing match was really just a one-night stand. Because that’s all we’d had. Hell, it hadn’t even been one night. It had been a day. Less than a day. Six hours of fucking and eating and talking and fucking some more.

  “What’s your take, Vice Admiral?”

  I blinked, stared at the Prillon warrior who was obviously waiting on my answer. All eyes were on me. I glanced at my tablet, at the notes that had been audibly generated and recorded. My brain processed the information at lightning speed. “Five female, five male. Two sessions, not one. Lower the stun rating for the mock battle to three and ensure that vids are sent to I.C. They are always interested in new recruits.”

  The Prillon warrior nodded, seemingly content with my additions.

  “Next on the agenda is—”

  “Being introduced to the group.”

  I spun my chair around at the voice. Quinn.

  Whispers erupted down the long table at the interruption. At the unfamiliar face… at least to them. For me, the face was very familiar. I remembered the long, wheat colored hair, the strong brow, the eyes that seemed to be able to look into my soul. The Roman nose, the full lips. I remembered all of it.

  I stared at him, mouth open.

  He grinned, ignored everyone in the room and gazed at me. Took in my uniform, the way my hair was pulled back into a bun at my nape. The way I sat at the head of the table. How long had he been standing there?

  I didn’t need to ask how he sneaked in so quietly. He was a Hunter. So was I, dammit. I should have heard him. Sensed him. Instead, I’d been lost in my thoughts. About him. I breathed deeply. Yes, I smelled him now. I focused my mind away from the meeting and to him. Heard the beat of his heart. I noticed everything.

  The Atlan who taught hand-to-hand fighting stood, ready to prove his skills if Quinn were a threat. It was almost laughable because I was the only other Everian in the room. No one else was as fast or ruthless as Quinn. The Atlan might be huge and could rip Quinn’s head off, but there was no way he’d catch him to do so.

  “Thank you, Warlord,” I said as I rose from my chair, holding out my hand to stop him. I moved to stand beside Quinn. “I apologize for the interruption, but perhaps now is the time to take a break.”

  “You’re not going to introduce me, mate? I’ve come all the way from Sector 437.”

  The word mate wasn’t missed by anyone. In fact, everyone smiled and began talking at once. A few clapped even.

  Smiling—I couldn’t help it, I was so happy to see him—I turned to the group. “Everyone, may I introduce Elite Hunter Quinn of Everis.”

  The room erupted into a chorus of greetings and murmurs, no doubt speculating about that word… mate. Mate. I wasn’t sure if they were so enthused because I had found a mate or because it was a happy event. I was pleased to see Quinn. Stunned, even. But he’d interrupted my meeting, messed with my order. My routine.

  Prime Nial’s lead representative came around the table. “Congratulations, Vice Admiral.” He tipped his head at
Quinn. “Elite Hunter.”

  Quinn nodded in response and the Prillon returned his gaze to me. “Vice Admiral, if you wish to excuse yourself, I can lead the remainder of the meeting.”

  “That won’t be—”

  “Thank you, Warrior,” Quinn said, cutting me off.

  I narrowed my eyes. Glared. How dare he! This was my meeting. My work. “I am able to continue and—”

  “No, you’re not,” Quinn said. “The warrior has offered his leadership and we shall take him up on that.”

  He took my elbow in a firm grip and steered me toward the door.

  “Quinn,” I hissed quietly, but he didn’t even turn to look at me. I knew he could hear me. He could hear my heart beating in my chest. His name as a whisper on my lips, he would hear as clearly as a shout.

  Cadets in the corridor stopped and saluted as I passed, but I knew they were wondering why I was being led from my own building.

  Once outside, Quinn finally stopped. “Where are your quarters?”

  “Now you’re paying attention to me?”

  He frowned. “I’ve always seen you.”

  I huffed. “Seen me, but listened? That was my meeting.”

  He shrugged. “It’s just a meeting.”

  My eyes bugged out. “Just a—”

  Two cadets walked past, saluted.

  God, this was a nightmare. Word of me being mated was no doubt spreading like it was middle school, not the Coalition Academy. I’d been odd when I was thirteen, and I felt the same way now.

  I didn’t say more, because I couldn’t go back into the meeting. That would stir up even more confusion and talk. I turned and walked toward my quarters. As vice admiral, I had the perk of my own house. It was set back from the main dormitories and classroom buildings, with trees surrounding it. While I didn’t share the space, it wasn’t large. That suited me fine because I didn’t collect things, didn’t need much and I lived simply. I was content.

  Until now. Now, I was pissed.

  “This works,” Quinn said, looking around the inside of my quarters. The wood floor, the white walls. Plain furniture. The bed in the other room. “Good, now you won’t have to be quiet when I make you come.”

  “Are you kidding me right now?” I shouted.

  He grinned. “There she is.”

  I looked around. “What the hell are you talking about?”

  “My feisty mate.”

  I pointed to the floor. “You come here, out of the blue, and pull me from an important meeting. To what, argue?”

  “I came here for my mate.”

  I thumbed over my shoulder. “Yeah? Well that was your mate back there in the meeting.”

  He slowly shook his head, looked me over from head to toe as if remembering me naked. I shouldn’t be wet, but I was. Why did I want to strangle and jump him at the same time?

  He moved over to me in the blink of an eye, then slowed, stroked a knuckle down my cheek. My eyes fell closed at the touch, but I popped them open, grabbed his wrist and torqued it. How dare he lure me with sweet gestures. He leaned to the side to alleviate the pressure of the lock, but spun the other way, taking me with him in a circle so he was behind me, his arm about my waist. I felt the heavy prod of his cock against my lower back.

  “I came for you.” His breath fanned my ear.

  “You came to piss me off.” I dropped my weight so his arms held me up, stomped on the top of his foot. His hold loosened, and I moved across the room at a Hunter’s pace. He didn’t follow.

  “I came because you’re mine.” He curled his finger, beckoning me back over to him.

  I set my hands on my hips. “You can’t pull me out of a meeting.”

  “You shouldn’t have taken away my kill.”

  My gaze narrowed. “So that’s what this is about? You’re fucking with my job because I took the Nexus unit away from you?”

  “It was my right to destroy him.”

  “That meeting is my duty. We weren’t discussing cookie recipes. We were discussing training protocols, changes in Hive fighting strategies, how to keep more fighters alive. Training cadets so they don’t panic on the battlefield, so they can hold their own in this war. That’s my job. That is my right.”

  “I’m your mate. They can plan and gossip without you for a few hours.”

  “I’m the vice admiral! That was my meeting.”

  His jaw was clenched, his muscles tense. And from across the room, I could see the thick bulge of his cock pressing against his uniform pants. Attraction wasn’t our problem. Everything else was.

  “I’m not going to repeat our argument from Latiri 4,” I said. “You have to understand, Quinn, that my job is my life.”

  “It shouldn’t be. You need more than meetings and duty. We are mates. It’s my job to take care of you now.”

  I sighed. He wasn’t behaving this way to be annoying. He sincerely believed everything he was saying. Maybe he was too used to operating in a small unit of Elite Hunters with nearly complete autonomy. The Hunters chose which missions to accept and which to refuse. Once on a hunt, they lived by their own code of honor, their own rules. They served the Coalition, and Everis sent regular fighters to the war, but the Elite Hunters were a whole different level. They were not normally in the direct chain of command, didn’t report to someone like me. They bypassed the bureaucracy, the red tape. The meetings. I sighed.

  “How do I make you understand? No one does, that’s why this is so hard. No one has ever understood me. On Earth, I was so different. Everything I did screamed freak. Then on Everis, I didn’t fit in. I behaved like a human. I didn’t like Everian food. I didn’t know the customs. So I left. When I joined the Coalition, I finally felt like I had a place where I belonged. Everything I did was accepted. My differences made me better. I understood what to do, how to do it. When, where, why. It was all laid out for me. I thrived. Excelled.” I pointed at the shoulder of my uniform. “Vice Admiral at thirty-six.”

  “And now you have me,” he repeated.

  I nodded. “I do, but in order for you to have me, you get a vice admiral, too. Do you know who I report to?”

  He shook his head.

  “Prime Nial. Who’s above him?”

  He frowned, then said, “No one.”

  “Exactly. No one. While there are a few admirals, and Doctor Helion at I.C. Core Command, I report directly to the Prime. Everyone reports to me. Everyone else in the Coalition Fleet is under my direct command. Everyone. Think about that.”

  He crossed his arms over his broad chest, looked down at the floor. When he didn’t say anything, I kept talking, blurting more words.

  “Commander Karter is in charge of one battlegroup. I’m in charge of training cadets who go to hundreds of battlegroups all over the Fleet. I’m in charge of operations on multiple fronts, including I.C. missions.”

  “Like the Nexus unit,” he said, tilting his head so he looked at me with intense, pale eyes.

  I nodded. “Yes. Like capturing the Nexus unit. My job never stops, because the people who report to me never stop. The fight never ends.”

  “You have to rest sometime,” he replied. “You have to take off the uniform at some point.”

  I nodded. “I do. I did when I was bride tested. It was between terms, and I was on The Colony visiting friends. Then you happened, the whole hot mess with the Hive prison. But now the term is beginning. That doesn’t wait because I’ve been mated. I have a job to do, Quinn. An important job. Thus, the meeting you interrupted.”

  He shook his head. “I apologize for disturbing your meeting.”

  I stared at him, wide-eyed. Those words were unexpected.

  “But I think you need disturbing. You might be vice admiral, but I’m your mate.”

  I wanted to find the nearest wall and beat my head against it. And I hadn’t even brought up the way he’d answered for me when the Prillon warrior had offered to take over the meeting.

  One fight at a time.

  “Quinn—” />
  “It is my job to see that Niobe, not Vice Admiral Niobe, is fed, rested, safe, happy. Healthy.”

  “Fine, but I have to get back to my meeting.”

  “No, you don’t. The Prime’s guy can handle it.”

  “But—”

  “No. Strip.”

  I stepped back. “No.”

  “Yes,” he countered. “Strip.”

  “I heard you the first time.” I took another step back.

  “Then do as I say.”

  “I’m too mad to have sex with you.”

  His pale brow went up. “Oh really?” When he took a deep breath, his nostrils flared. “You’re wet.”

  I was. Damn it.

  “You can’t boss me around. Drag me out of meetings and tell me what to do.”

  “I apologized for the meeting. As for the rest, yes, I can boss you around. I can tell you what to do. Take off that uniform, Vice Admiral, so I can see Niobe. I want my mate.”

  Oh. I wanted him. Wanted sex. God, that hard cock I’d felt… I wanted it in me. Filling me. We could argue all day long, but that wasn’t going to get me a single orgasm. Or Quinn’s skin on mine. His lips… everywhere. My desire fought with my mind, and since I’d already been dragged out of the meeting, the damage was done. What was the saying? The horse was already out of the barn.

  He’d apologized. It was time for me to bend a little. Or strip.

  He didn’t move, barely breathed as I took off my uniform. Every bit of clothing until I stood bare across the room from him. I looked at him, waited. Watched as his eyes heated, his jaw tensed, his cock grew beneath the pants.

  “Show me how wet you are.”

  His rough voice had my nipples pebbling, had my heart rate picking up.

  I palmed myself, slid fingers over my wet folds, then held up my hand for him to see. My wetness glistened on my fingertips.

  He shook his head. “Not like that. Turn around. Bend over.”

  Holy. Shit. He was filthy. And I loved it.

  The wood floor was cool beneath my feet. Good thing since I was hot all over. I turned and did as he said, leaned forward so my butt was up. So my pussy was right there for him to see.