by V T Bonds
He glares up at me in shock and terror.
No doubt the massive purple alien standing a few feet behind me intimidates him enough to keep him still, even though I just flattened him without the help of my lifemate.
“What planet were you last stationed on?”
His pupils shrink and his mouth opens in shock.
He didn’t expect an interrogation in the middle of a busy market.
Too bad. We’ve been hunting him for weeks and need this one snippet of information from him.
He’s the only one still alive from the last incident.
When he clamps his lips shut in a mutinous line, I sigh and step closer.
Stroking my lifemating bond to stop my mate from destroying the sad piece of meat on the street before me, I drop to my haunches and lay the razor edge of my blade along the crease of the Alpha’s thigh.
“What planet were you last stationed on?”
He swallows.
I watch as he wars with himself.
His sense of self-preservation wins.
“It wasn’t a planet. It was a ship in the Aeon sector of Junitan Galaxy.”
I remove the blade from his thigh and press the tip to his trachea.
His eyes widen impossibly further as I whisper in his ear.
“One word of our meeting today, and you’ll wish for the quick death I offered before.”
I stand, grab his arm, and lift him off the ground.
He stares at me in shock.
“I have eyes and ears everywhere. Tread carefully, lest the ISC thinks your cavorting with the enemy.”
And on that terrible bombshell, I turn my back on him and disappear into the crowd.
With my Alpha two steps behind me and the violet sheen my flesh gives off, it should take more effort to blend in, but we’ve done this before.
Many times.
And we’ll continue until we find all the components we need.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Alpha
I grab her vibrant red hair and pull her to me.
“You still stink of him,” I snarl into her nape.
“And you smell of every skank in that marketplace,” she snaps back, obviously upset.
This pleases me.
I love her jealous and possessive tendencies.
My Omega shines with perfection, even as she speaks crass words and destroys men’s lives.
I step forward and force her against my front, ushering her across the room with my bulk.
Lifting the hem of her shirt, I peel the fabric off her and toss it onto the floor, grabbing her hair again and burying my face in her nape.
When we step into the hygiene alcove, I stop in front of the mirror and meet her reflection’s eyes.
Her pupils dilate, but my gut clenches as memories flash through her blue irises.
Even after five years of kicking ass and taking names, my Omega still battles the horror of that terrible night.
My little firecracker shoves her thoughts under the mound of blankets she keeps stashed in her soul.
“Minette,” I rumble, resting my cheek on her head.
She sighs and waves her hand as though to dismiss me.
I catch her wrist and hold it in the air.
“No, my little Red. You cannot fight so many battles at once. Your attention cannot be so divided.”
Using her captured wrist, I tug her around before grabbing her waist and setting her ass on the counter next to the sink.
“This isn’t a battle, Draukir.”
I tilt her chin up with my fingertip.
“Do not lie to me, Minette.”
She grinds her teeth together and squints at me. When she opens her mouth to speak, I intercept her snarky response.
“You are. You’re lying to me because you lie to yourself. You were raped. You suffered through the worst thing a female can endure, and you’ve never dealt with it.”
I lean my forehead against hers and marvel at our size differences.
She’s too strong for someone so tiny.
“You cannot pretend like it didn’t happen,” I say, brushing her fiery locks behind her ear.
“It’s worked this long,” she says, her body stiff and her voice cold.
“Because I have been here, every step of the way, protecting you.”
“I can handle myself. I didn’t freeze when that scum pinched my ass today.”
I snarl at the reminder of another Alpha’s touch.
“No, but you took your anger out on him.”
“How is that a bad thing?”
I frame her delicate face with my hands.
“Do not pretend to be so naïve. We both know you aren’t.”
She glares at me, trying to hide the wriggling ball of terror in the pit of her soul.
For all the universe knows, she has no weaknesses, besides a hulking lifemate trailing behind her.
I see the true her. No corner of her soul remains a mystery.
Not even the coveted nest belonging to her one and only childhood friend.
I was too quick to jump to the worst conclusion, back when we first freed ourselves from our torture.
She has no offspring. No parents. No lost lover.
Only one person means anything to her, besides myself.
The Omega on the other side of the connection provides purpose for our lives.
“We can’t go to the Junitan Galaxy with such a weakness.”
“I have it under control.”
“You do not.”
She squints again and a little rumble leaks from her chest.
I grab her hair in a vicious grip and force her head back.
“You accept me because I’m your mate. You ruin any other male who lays a hand on you, not only because our instincts demand you to, but also because your hate fuels you. But what happens when you find yourself in a delicate situation? Where a little tact, or finesse, will have a much better outcome than violence?”
She swallows, my hand in her hair holding her hostage as I reveal her soul.
With each word I emphasize her vulnerability, peeling back a layer of blankets and breaking her defenses.
“Your pain fills me when you sleep.”
Her breath stutters as she holds back a sob.
Tears form on her lashes, but I don’t yield.
She hasn’t cried since I spread ointment over her wounds so long ago.
I’ve let her avoid this for too long.
Her body may have healed, but the injuries in her soul have festered.
Lancing the putrid lesion proves just as heartbreaking as finding her hung up like a butchered piece of meat.
“Say it,” I demand, sensing the turmoil rising in her.
Her lip lifts in a half grimace, half snarl, but she refuses to form the words.
I dig my fingers into her hips, remembering how black and blue her flesh was once the water washed away the remnants of her horrible ordeal.
“Tell me what they did to you,” I snarl, yanking her head back further and hardening my heart against the betrayal shining in her eyes.
She pushes at my shoulders, the growl leaking from her chest so broken it doesn’t sound human.
Pulling my comfort away from her soul tears my heart to shreds, but she must exorcize her demons.
Forcing her legs apart, I wedge my hips between her thighs and leave her stuck in the vulnerable position, refusing to rub my cock against her, but letting the threat hang in the air.
When she refuses to speak, I wrap my fingers around her throat, ignoring her fists as they strike my sides. Holding her wrenched backward by her hair, she has no choice but look up at me.
“Tell me, Omega, did they hold you like this? Maybe a little tighter?”
Ice forms in my soul as she fights me. As she fights herself. As she struggles against the memories returning to her, fresh as the day she lived through them.
Keeping my expression cold, I treat her with as much clinical detachment as I c
an, morphing the fury I hold for her captors and exuding the hatred they no doubt showed her as they tortured her.
Increasing the pressure on her windpipe, I turn into a heartless beast, ready to do almost anything to break her resolve.
“Did they snarl and call you a slut as they penetrated your body?”
I grind my teeth together as her growl loses all power, uncaring how my fangs shoot agony into my gums from the brutal movement.
Her exhale holds the slightest hint of a whimper, yet her tormented eyes hold mine in defiance.
The first tear spills from her left eye, trailing down her pale temple and wetting her hair.
“Did they threaten to sink their teeth into your flesh and leave you writhing in agony over their incomplete bonds?”
She cracks.
Sobs wrack her body as tears flow down her temples, yet when she closes her eyes to escape my scrutiny, I growl and jerk her hair.
Her eyelids open, slowly revealing the suffering she’s kept locked away for years.
“Words, Minette,” I demand, lifting her head so she isn’t stretched so taut.
Through her sobs, she lands a few painful jabs to my abdomen and wriggles her hips to find some leverage to get away.
“They raped me!”
Her scream, full of sorrow and hatred, bounces around the hygiene bay with the force of a rocket.
“I fought them, but they won.”
Despite the fortitude and self-sufficiency she’s shown the last five years, she crumbles in my arms.
I release my cruel grip and wrap my arms around her, surrounding both her body and her soul with my comfort.
She rails against me, sobbing and screaming, letting the thoughts she’s harbored for way too long tumble free.
Her words etch themselves into the walls of my mind, each syllable rearranging my view of the universe.
She tells of how she fought. How she wanted to hurt them and get away.
She failed.
She failed me.
She failed herself.
I frame her splotchy face with my palms, begging her to listen.
“You lived, my little Omega, therefore you did not fail.”
“I did! They broke me. They ruined me. I’m no good for anything anymore!”
I plaster my lips to hers, flicking a harsh note of disapproval through our bond.
After delving into and claiming her mouth with every ounce of passion I feel for her, I pull back.
We both pant as we catch our breath.
“You took out his eye.”
Her lids widen in shock before she freezes. I continue.
“When I saw the orange alpha alive in the hallway, he was missing an eye. You did that.”
She swallows a few times, nausea rolling through her as she replays something in her mind.
“So?”
“And you broke the green male’s jaw. One side was hanging down, completely out of socket.”
Her wide eyes stay trained on mine as she swallows a few more times.
“But the blue male… my little firecracker, you did not fail.”
I lean my forehead against hers and close my eyes, reliving both the utter hatred toward her torturers and intense pride I’d felt in her when I first scented her on them.
New tears track down her face, but neither of us bother to wipe them away.
“You fought. You maimed and kept surviving, even when all hope seemed lost.”
I stroke her temple, falling into her bright blue eyes.
“You saved us both, for without your call, I would still be in my cage of needles today.”
Her breath hitches on a quiet sob.
“You saved me. I’m here today because of you.”
I swipe my thumbs across her delicate cheekbones, smearing the proof of her distress.
“I love you. Every part of you, even the broken ones. I need you,” I growl.
She digs her nails into my chest and pulls me closer, trying to tuck her head against my chest.
I don’t let her, sliding a finger under her chin and tilting her face up to mine.
Knowing how stubborn and resilient she is, I reach into her soul and flood the dark recesses, scooping out the remainder of the putrid sludge and cleansing her with my own will.
“I will follow you, no matter where this journey leads us,” I declare, realizing I’ve never pledged my intentions aloud.
Her lips tilt in a little smile, even as fresh tears streak down to her neck.
She opens her mouth as though to speak, but no sound emerges.
Still too worked up to form words, she swamps my heart with love and tenderness.
I soak it up, feeling the callouses in my soul growing soft in her wake.
Our lips collide, tongues dancing and breath mingling as we cling to each other.
In my life, I’ve found some moments fulfill the body while others satisfy the soul.
This one does both, for even though my cock begs to invade the heaven of her body, pleasure as fierce as releasing my seed into her depths electrifies every cell in my body, despite how little bare flesh we touch.
Clear, pure joy races between us, the tangling of our tongues unimpeded by hidden grief and uncertain guilt.
I should have forced her to speak of her trauma long ago, but life seemed too tremulous to force her hand before.
Now, with the information we gained from our latest target, we begin a new stage of life.
No longer can we chance having any weaknesses.
We still have much to learn. Our trials will not end anytime soon.
I’ll follow her anywhere. Face any foe she meets.
Destroy her enemies.
Protect her loved one.
And love her without conditions.
She’s mine, and I’m hers.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Minette
Elation gives me wings, making me fly within his kiss.
The second we part for breath, exhaustion settles in my bones. Weariness flashes through me, the permeating sense of depletion following an extreme release of energy weaving through my joints and infecting my muscles.
Need fills me, not the lust-ridden flames of passion, but the soul deep yearning for comfort and shelter.
I want a nest. A proper nest, with heaps of soft blankets and overstuffed pillows, where I can press against my lifemate and ignore the worries of life.
My heart feels raw and open, too exposed to handle the harsh light of reality.
I’ve had enough of the cruel galaxy for a few hours.
I want comfort and safety.
Draukir’s rumble rises in pitch as he strokes my scalp with his thick fingertips.
“Come, my lifemate. I’ve stashed away some clean nesting materials.”
“The soiled ones had better still be on the bed,” I mumble.
I mean it as a tease, but don’t have the wherewithal to conjure the proper inflection, so it sounds more like a demand than anything else.
“Of course, my filthy little firecracker. I love how you crave my scent, even if it’s a few days old.”
We haven’t been back to the Space-Flyer we procured almost five years ago in over a week, since we didn’t want to reveal its location while in the midst of tracking the most recent Alpha on our list.
Returning gives us a sense of homecoming, even if it is a small ship.
Sleeping in random hotels in the city, and in even worse locations in the backwaters of this planet, proved to be nicer than the last world we plagued, but I’ve been without a nest since we left our ship.
It’s only a few feet away, but the thought of standing makes me want to weep.
I sigh into my lifemate’s muscular chest and lean my weight on him.
“Draukir?”
When he rumbles an ascending note, I wrap my arms around his waist and do something I haven’t done before.
I ask for help.
“Will you carry me to our nest? I don’t think I c
an make it.”
“Anything you need. Shower first. You still reek of others,” he growls.
A smirk tugs at my lips as I enjoy the possessiveness rolling through him.
Skimming my fingers along his waist, I fill my lungs with his pheromones and purr my contentment.
He moves me this way and that, taking off my weapons and placing my preferred blade and handgun on the other side of the sink, close enough to grab while we’re in the shower, before pulling my shirt off.
His purr arrows lust straight to my womb, but neither of us act on it.
Despite my exhaustion, I help him peel off his weapons and run my palms over his sculpted chest once he tugs his shirt off.
Little crescents from my fingernails slowly fade away as his rapid healing makes his skin meld together.
Despite five years of seeing his violet glow, it still sends awe through my soul. It emanates from my flesh as well, but no matter how many times I look at him, a bolt of wonder electrifies my heart.
He drops to his haunches and unbuckles my boots, careful to avoid the hidden mechanisms, and shucks off my socks too.
His gigantic shoes join mine on the floor, and as he rises to his full height, he undoes his pants and lets them drop to the deck as well.
I ogle him, enjoying the view more than I can say.
His diabolical ridges look just as intimidating as the first time I saw them. I know I’ve taken them innumerable times, but with his girth and incredible knot, he’s an extraordinary sight to behold.
He’s too big to be perfect, and yet he’s the only male I want to enjoy ever again.
I worship him with light touches as he unsnaps my pants, only to moan in pleasure when his musk assaults my olfactory senses.
After a chaste kiss on my forehead, he slides me off the counter and onto my own feet.
Grateful for his iron self-control, I push my pants down before propping my ass on the edge of the sink.
He lifts each of my legs in turn, peeling my tight pants off my calves and subsequently making them turn inside out. Before dropping them to the floor, he corrects them, knowing I’ll get an eye twitch if he leaves them askew. I need to know they’ll be ready to pull on in case of an emergency.
He scoops me up and steps into the shower, closing the door behind us and selecting a quick cycle. I kiss his pectoral and lay my head on the rock-hard surface, letting him shift me around so no scent lingers on our flesh.
