His By Command (Primarian Mates Book 2)

by Maddie Taylor

  Knowing what she needed, he slid two fingers deep, rotating his hand to add friction to the sensitive spot he’d discovered just inside and in the front of her wet, warm passage. He pressed there as he stroked, keeping up the motion of his tongue on her clit, and very quickly brought her to the verge of flying apart. And he planned to send her over the top, though not quite yet. Not in this way.

  Rising over her, he quickly released his straining cock.

  “Hurry,” she whispered, the need in her voice so stirring that he knew when he got inside, and felt the grip of her tight, hungry pussy, it would take every bit of his control not to leave her behind.

  “Maggie,” he groaned as he slipped through her wetness and sank into her silken, hot bliss that was incomparable.

  “I can’t wait,” she cried as she welcomed him, her arms sliding around his shoulders, hanging on tight as her legs encircled his hips, drawing him nearer.

  “Don’t wait, love,” he urged, as he began to drive into her, surrounded by his mate, her heat, the divine wetness, her body gripping him every way that she could, except for her mouth. He took care of that quickly, taking her lips with his own as they worked furiously toward completion.

  Maggie found hers first, her muffled cries as well as her body shuddering and tightening around and beneath him making it beautifully clear. And he followed, needing only a half-dozen more powerful thrusts to find the stunning heights of bliss that he had ever only found with this woman, his fated mate.

  Resting in comfortable silence afterward, their damp skin and bodies fused into one, a knock on the door, broke their shared peace.

  A voice calling out loudly soon after couldn’t drown out Roth’s grumbled, “Faex!”

  “Commander, the general asks that you join him on the bridge.”

  “Tell him I’ll need a few moments.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Roth!” Maggie protested as she heard the warrior chuckle as he moved on.

  “Mate,” he sighed against her damp temple. “It’s not like they don’t know what we’re doing in here. Why else would we lock a conference room door?”

  “Roth!” she repeated, her pitch noticeably higher.

  “Maggie, love, we’re newly mated. Everyone understands; in fact, they expect it.”

  “What, for us to hump like rabbits on any available flat surface.”

  “I’m not sure what a rabbit is—and when we get to your planet I look forward to seeing these creatures you constantly mention—but yes, flat surfaces and raised, standing, lying, sitting, in every which way that we can. If we did it while suspended upside down in the engine room, no one would be surprised. It is the way of mates, especially fated pairs.”

  He pressed a kiss before rising over her, his arms bracing his upper body aloft as his hands bracketed her body on each side. That’s when he noticed the glint in her eyes and grinned. “What was it? Standing? Or suspended upside down?”

  Chuckling at her fiery blush, he lowered himself until he was hovering a minute fraction over her lips. “That last one, my insatiable mate, would be helper’s mate position seven.” He dropped a quick kiss on the corner of her open mouth. “We’ll try that one tonight.”

  Roth rose over her, slowly easing out while still halfway erect. He shook his head, one to talk about being insatiable. “I need to get to Trask.”

  “I need a nap.”

  “You don’t want to come with me?” he asked, as he tucked himself into his pants, while watching her watch him. Ah, yes, she was his perfect mate, matching him hungry need for hungry need.

  “A nap, a shower, and food. Perhaps in reverse order.” She frowned up at him. “I wasn’t sick, how do you have so much energy?”

  “Muscle reserves,” he said with a grin. “I’m twice your size and strength. It’s not surprising such a delicate flower as yourself would need extra time to bounce back.”

  “Leave it to me to get matched with a comedian wannabe,” she grumbled—though without much heat—and put her slipper-covered foot to his gut and playfully pushed him away. Sitting up, she straightened her gown, adding, “Beware big guy, this delicate flower happens to be a rose, which has thorns.”

  He leaned in, unperturbed, his hands catching the edge of the table by her hips. “I’d much rather join you for that nap, purrada, but duty calls.”

  Palms on his cheeks, she smiled up at him. “I gladly pass that mantle of responsibility over to you.”

  He quirked a brow. “Weren’t you just complaining about not being put in command?”

  She shrugged. “I saved your asses, working 24/7 while you were lollygagging in bed. Now it’s my down time.”

  “Lollygagging?”

  Blushing prettily, she lied. “A clinical term on Earth for recovering.”

  “Mm-hm.”

  “You don’t believe me?”

  “Should I?”

  “Heck, no,” she grinned.

  “Kiss me, mate, before I have to go.”

  “Aye, aye, Commander.”

  “Smartass,” he said softly as he leaned in.

  “Roth…” she protested, although it lacked bite from her softly parted lips, eagerly waiting for her kiss.

  It was his turn to fib, which he did, with a barely-there brush of his mouth. “A term of respect on Primaria, mate.”

  “Mm-hm.”

  “You don’t believe me?” he murmured, echoing her earlier question.

  “Heck, no,” she repeated, leaning up on her tiptoes. “Now kiss me, for real,

  Commander,” she whispered, “then you may go.”

  His tongue came out and flicked across her lower lip, before he teased, also in a whisper,

  “Aye, aye, Captain.”

  It was more than a few moments before he made it to Trask on the bridge.

  27

  That same evening, she entered sickbay for two reasons. First, to check on the remaining warriors still in the infirmary, and to ask Juna a few unanswered questions. As she made a quick round through the warriors, she was at the next to the last bed, and the next to last patient, when she stopped with her hand on the partition, surprised to hear Eryn’s voice.

  It was weak and she was in obvious discomfort; still, Maggie had known her for years and would recognized her voice anywhere.

  “Kill me, doc,” she was saying. “Take a photon blaster and put an end to my misery.”

  “No one is going to shoot you,” a deep voice replied.

  Maggie hesitated, as did Eryn, for there was a long silence.

  “Ram.” She practically choked on his name, such was her surprise. “What are you doing here?”

  “I heard you were sick.”

  “No, I mean here. On the Odyssey.”

  “I traveled with the commander on the Dauntless.”

  Another pause, then she replied in a bitter tone. “I’m surprised that you care.”

  “I do not.” Maggie’s breath caught in her throat at his matter of fact response. Eryn wasn’t exaggerating when she had shared that there was no love lost between them.

  “However, when I learned you were the only female that had sickened, I became curious. Did you drink the vilo too, or is it something else? Is it separation sickness? I need to know.”

  The bed creaked. Through a break in the divider, Maggie saw Eryn roll over and pull the covers up to her chin as a shiver hit her. “For me to be ill from separation would have required a bond. We both know that didn’t occur.”

  “You’re certain? I’ll want the medical team to confirm it.”

  “That isn’t necessary.”

  “I’m afraid it is,” he insisted.

  “What’s with you distrustful Primarians?”

  “My experience with Earth females hasn’t given me much reason to trust, Eryn, in particular, you.”

  “You’re off the hook, Ram.” All emotion had leached out of her voice. “My doctor has

  determined it to be a case of stomach flu. Something we humans get from
time to time. So, you can stop worrying and forget all about me. Our torment is ended. Go on with your life, as I will with mine.”

  “That is the only nice thing you’ve ever said to me.” His words dripped with sarcasm.

  “No, it isn’t.” Eryn’s did not.

  He stared at her, and Maggie could tell by the expression on his face that he was remembering whatever it was that Eryn referred to, and he was not pleased.

  “Maggie,” the man in the bed behind her called out, distracting her. “Did you need something else?”

  She twisted with a finger to her lips, hoping he would understand the universal signal for silence and give it to her.

  “It’s best if you don’t mention that to me ever again,” Ram was saying in a scary, angry voice. What in the world had gone on between them?

  “Agreed. And, since I’ll be remaining on Earth when we get there, it should be something easy to do.”

  “Maker willing, for your sake, our paths won’t cross again in the future.” With that last awful declaration, he left, striding from the sickbay without looking.

  “What are you doing?” the warrior in the bed inquired.

  This time when she answered him, she was more precise. “I was listening and needed you to be quiet.”

  “You we’re eavesdropping?” he asked, patently shocked.

  “No, we’re, um… investigating. You know, to find out why everyone got sick, and I thought this might be important.”

  He raised a brow at her obvious lie, yet didn’t say anything more.

  “You didn’t tell him.” Another voice in Eryn’s cubicle had Maggie spinning around again. Juna now stood beside her bed.

  “No, and I don’t plan to,” Eryn responded vehemently. “And that means you can’t tell him either.”

  “It isn’t right,” the doctor argued.

  “That’s up to me to decide, don’t you think?”

  “Unfortunately, Eryn, it is up to you. And you have the law on your side.” She also left, her words confusing Maggie all the further.

  Eryn sighed heavily and rolled over in her bed. Facing her now, Maggie noted her pallor, and how her features were set in a painful grimace, which Maggie didn’t think came from her mysterious illness, because she spotted a tear on her cheek. In the ten years that she’d known her, she’d never seen Eryn cry.

  Totally puzzled, she moved away from the partition.

  “Well,” her reluctant warrior accomplice insisted. “Did you learn who was behind it all?”

  “No,” she grumbled, “and now I have more questions than before I walked in here.”

  It was her turn to leave someone in confusion as she too made her way out of the sickbay. First Lana, now Eryn: two of her crew’s matings hadn’t taken, and both women, and their former mates, were miserable, Eryn so much so she was ill. She didn’t believe for a moment she had the stomach flu; the woman hadn’t been sick a day since the Odyssey launched.

  Something was terribly wrong, and her frustration was that she didn’t have a clue what to do about it, or an inkling more about who was set on sabotaging their mission. Lost in thought, she wandered through the halls, not acknowledging, and barely noticing, the others who called to her in greeting.

  28

  “Magnify, Captain Dayne?”

  “And enhance,” he agreed, nodding his head to the nav-com technician. “We all get a bit emotional seeing home after years away, Maggie.”

  “Thank you,” she whispered as the screen zoomed in on North America.

  “Is it as you remember it, little one?”

  Worried eyes lifted to meet his. “Sadly, Roth, no. It’s bluer.”

  “That’s bad?” Dayne wanted to know.

  “It’s not good. We’d have to ask one of the scientists to run an analysis to be sure, but our planet has polar ice caps which have been steadily shrinking due to the rise in our ocean temperatures.”

  “They are melting.” Roth observed, his brows gathered as he too stared at what, from their vantage point, was a beautiful blue and green world with swirling white clouds.

  “Yes, which means that sea level is also rising. Global land mass is decreasing and when I left, we were having record-setting flooding. Other severe weather disasters have been occurring, mudslides, tsunamis, earthquakes, from other ways we have been unkind to and careless with the place we call home.”

  Discerning the sadness in her voice, Roth’s arm slipped around her shoulders as he pulled her into his side.

  “See that wide circular cloud formation over the ocean?” she asked, as she focused in on the mid-Atlantic coast. “We call that a hurricane. It can be deadly, with 150 mph destructive winds, high waves, and widespread flooding which can wipe out residential and commercial structures. Other dangers that can kill include downed trees, lightning, and tornadoes.”

  “These are common now because of the rising oceans?” Dayne questioned further.

  “More and more so, although that’s not what has me worried.”

  “What does, mate?” Roth murmured.

  “The storms rise out of the Tropics, which is a section in the middle of the globe with year-round warm temperatures. When they travel north and hit the cool waters, they usually weaken and dissipate.

  “What makes this one different?”

  “This one isn’t doing that and it’s only early February.”

  They glanced at one another, then back at her, both shaking their heads, not understanding.

  “That means it’s the middle of winter. It should be snowing, with temperatures dipping down to near freezing in the mid-south. I’ve never heard of a hurricane this far north in the dead of winter, which can only mean one thing.”

  “It’s much warmer than when you left over three years ago,” Roth concluded.

  “Yes, but it shouldn’t be happening this quickly. We should have years, perhaps decades. This isn’t good, except in respect to the treaty. I think what you are offering is going to be deemed a lifeline by the nations who understand what this means.”

  Roth glanced at Dayne. “You have made first contact?”

  “Yes, they want a vid-conference with you, the general, Maggie, and several of the females. They want to see them and hear from their lips that we are who we say we are and that our offer is genuine.”

  “When?” Maggie asked.

  “Two o’clock, which is in one of your Earth hours.”

  She nodded, moving closer to Roth.

  “It’s time to do your very important job that will save two races, Madam Ambassador.”

  Glancing up, she gave him a hesitant smile. “One that you nominated me for. It wasn’t out of guilt, or in an attempt of repayment, was it?”

  “Absolutely not. However, if it earns me make-up points—and more make-up sex—after my asinine move, I won’t complain.”

  “Roth.” With his teasing—which was more truth than fiction—her lips curved more fully as she looked up at him, seemingly unaware of the captivating picture she made when she smiled.

  “In all seriousness, who better than you, Maggie? Trusted and respected by both crews, no one else could represent us both so effectively.”

  “Let’s hope for the Earth’s sake that I’m up to it.”

  The next week was a whirlwind of activity, and for Maggie, quite stressful. After that first video conference with a contingent of high-ranking military officers and top level government advisors, including the Secretaries of State and Defense, the next step had been a meeting with the POTUS himself.

  “Ohmigod, Ohmigod, Ohmigod,” Maggie muttered as she paced the length of space left between the wall and the long table in the overcrowded room—not an easy feat—as they waited for the conference to begin.

  “You’re wearing a path in the floor, mate,” Roth said as he pulled out the chair beside him. She couldn’t sit there and maintain her composure. It was hard enough to calm her nerves, knowing in seconds she’d be face to face with the leader of her country, who was als
o the most powerful man on Earth. In her lifetime, she hadn’t expected that to happen. How was she supposed to do it in the same exact spot where Roth had fucked her only a few weeks ago? She couldn’t possibly sit there with a straight face while remembering how she had spread herself open for him to drive her to the breaking point with this mouth. And when she was crying out in her rising passion to the ceiling, how he had surged into her and fucked her until she came, screaming his name.

  “Maggie,” he called impatiently, raising that damn supercilious eyebrow.

  She shook her head. No, she simply couldn’t do it, especially when the culprit who had made her mad with lust, who could do it with merely a look or a touch, was seated right beside her.

  With an aggrieved sigh, he rose, took a few steps, which were long strides by her estimation he was so damn tall, and stood in front of her the next instant.

  “What is wrong with you?” He shifted so he was blocking her and their conversation from the room. “You’re agitated, flushed, and completely coming apart. Are you ill?”

  “No, I’m not, but I can’t go through with it.”

  “With what?”

  “Meeting the president. Good God, Roth. Keep up!”

  His head jerked like he’d been struck. “Me? I’m not the one digging a groove in the floor with my pacing.”

  She glared up at him. “Can’t you see I’m freaking out?”

  “Yes, mate, that is why I asked you to come sit with me, to get you to calm down.”

  “But that’s the problem.”

  “What is?”

  “Sitting down.”

  He blinked. “Sitting down is the problem?”

  “Finally, he’s getting it.”

  “No, Maggie, I’m not.” His patience was obviously wearing thin and for the life of her, she couldn’t figure out why.

  “Roth!”

  “What in the name of the Maker is wrong?”

  “You fucked me on the table in front of that seat,” she finally hissed.

  He twisted his head, staring at the only vacant spot. His chest began to quiver and a low rumble rolled up until his head fell back and he roared his laughter to the ceiling.