Mates of Zatari 01 Claiming His Mate

by Claire Conrad

  I bit my lip to hold in my sobs of relief, my begging, while his rough voice and the scent of sex in the room combined into a wave of raw power that poured over us both like a tidal wave of lust.

  “Don’t move until I give you permission.” His free hand traced the curve of my ass, the dip of my spine above my buttocks. “I know what you need.”

  I writhed, moaned, fought against my own body and his as I struggled in his hold, testing the strength of his grip and his understanding of a need I didn’t fully comprehend myself.

  His hand was an iron band, my struggles futile, and the knowledge made me burn. My brain shut down and all that was left was need. His mind fed a constant barrage of erotic images to mine, stroked the fire and drove me farther and farther from reality into a place where nothing mattered but him.

  In that moment, I wanted forever.

  “Markus.” The sound of his name vibrated through the air, added to the barrage of sensual hunger. The room spun on the edge of my vision as dizziness threatened.

  “Master, please.” As much as I hated myself for it, I couldn’t stop my body from clenching hotly at his correction. Goddess, what was he doing to me? A shiver raced up my spine, equal parts fear and surrender.

  He drank in the sight of my quivering body like a dying man would stare at a cure.

  I closed my eyes and fought back the wild woman rising within, the sensual vixen threatening to overcome all logic, the forbidden dark heart of me that wanted to shout at him to tell me what he wanted, what he needed. I couldn’t be what he needed until he allowed it.

  Nothing mattered, not my past, my future, my honor. I fought like a wild beast just to remember my own name. Every conscious thought left me.

  Markus pulled my hips forward and stretched me over him in one powerful, ruthless thrust. Every muscle in my body went taut in welcome. I arched my neck, head thrown back, and struggled to break free of the hand that held my arms as I tried to take more of him.

  His free arm settled around my hips, lifting me slightly, slamming me down on top of him. He pulled me forward, my clit rubbing on the hard ridges of his abdomen as he lifted me over and over, just enough to drive us both to release.

  The sound of our racing heartbeats resonated through the air, amplified by whatever strange awareness invaded my body. Faster and faster, harder and harder, Markus’s hips rocked below me, my breasts bouncing up and down with each powerful thrust.

  Markus lifted me until he was nearly free, and then held me still, poised above him. I was beyond resisting anything he wanted. I didn’t beg or demand or ask for anything. I waited, trusting him to give me what I needed.

  “Come for me. Now.” He pulled me down, hard and fast and my body responded. My pussy clenched and squeezed him as I bucked on his lap, each movement pushing him deeper inside me. Power arced between us like a hundred tiny bolts of lightning, welding us together in an electric storm of flesh. Markus shouted my name, his body so deep within me that I knew I’d never really get him out. He pierced all the way to my soul. Liquid fire filled my veins.

  Every muscle in my body exploded in mind-blowing pleasure. Markus followed me over the edge, flooded my mind with his body’s release, rocketed us both out of reality into an endless orgasm. An overwhelming swirl of power shifted between us, fused us on a psychic level, and shattered my mind into a thousand beautiful, glittering pieces.

  Arms locked behind me, I didn’t think to resist when he pulled me down on top of him and we slept.

  Chapter Seven

  Octavia

  I awoke naked in a strange room, Markus spooning me, his arm possessively flung around my waist. Markus’s soft, even breathing in my ear let me know he slept. I didn’t move, just looked around the room trying to get my bearings.

  We were enfolded in soft blue sheets. A strange symbol was woven into the fabric with silver thread. Faces that resembled Markus’s smiled at us from a small collection of still-lifes on one wall, his family. Rugs woven by Zatari machines littered the otherwise bare metallic floor. Hydrogen crystal lanterns burned at regular intervals in the recesses of the dark blue walls. The smell of calming herbs and man invaded my lungs. I had no doubt this was his personal room, his sanctuary. How did we get here?

  The last thing I remembered was rutting like a mindless animal and falling asleep on the cruiser. So, why was I here? And where, exactly, were we? Had he flown us to Delti territory while I slept? Had he drugged me?

  Had he needed to? I’d been exhausted, my pussy so sore I feared I wouldn’t be able to sit for days. My bottom was sore too, but not like my woman’s core. That had been well used, and the ache there made me strangely content.

  The memory of our mating flushed my skin. My pulse raced with both anger and lust. Raw animal sex was not normal for me. I was a high priestess, a diplomat, and a skilled strategist. He’d removed me from a cruiser, from the safety of a private ship, and brought me here? Why?

  Perhaps he truly thought to keep me forever? My traitorous heart leapt at the thought until my mind dealt a cold blow. I was a powerful and prominent leader in Zatari. My people would not understand. To be held against my will, a prisoner, would be unacceptable.

  But I wasn’t here against my will. I recognized that truth, no matter how difficult it was to accept. Sure, it had begun that way, but then Markus had kissed me. Touched me. Mastered me with his body and his dominant nature. Did I truly wish to leave? The pleasure I’d found, the searing joy in our joining, had completely undone me. Could I live without experiencing it again? Did I want to?

  Even now, with his heat pressed to my back, I did not feel like a prisoner, I felt safe, cherished… protected. The feeling was odd, like a drug to my limbs. I didn’t want to move from his embrace. I wanted to stay here, in a cocoon of his protection and warmth.

  Something was happening. I was different. My blood flowed like fire, as if each cell floating in the river of my veins was a microscopic flame. My palm tingled and energy flowed from Markus’s body into mine. Markus.

  Yes, mate. I am here.

  I gasped when he answered me. I hadn’t meant to wake him. I’d merely been thinking about him and somehow, he’d heard me. “How did I do that? Wake you up?” He’d contacted me in the past, held the telepathic connection. But he’d been asleep this time.

  “The power has always resided within you. Now that the Zatari poison is out of your system, you can summon me, or anyone you know, with nothing more than a thought.” Markus’s deep voice rumbled through my back, warmed my skin, sent my pulse racing. “Now that I’m awake, I think you should greet me with a kiss.”

  I chose to ignore that request. I couldn’t think about that right now. If I kissed him now, I wouldn’t want to stop. But I did need to look in his eyes as I questioned him, so I rolled over to face him.

  Too late, I realized my mistake. We were close, so close he couldn’t hide from me, not the slightest twitch or change in expression. Nor could I. And he was in front of me, with his strong jaw and intense gaze, the massive wall of his chest a beacon I couldn’t resist, so I didn’t. I lifted my hands to his shoulders, touching him, petting him. The soft glide of skin over powerful muscle was fascinating and… addictive.

  He closed his eyes and let me touch him, the contentment on his face nearly as powerful a lure as his flesh. “Where are we? And why am I here?”

  Markus opened his eyes and studied me for a moment, clearly debating how hostile I was likely to become. As if calming a wild animal, he found my thigh beneath the covers with his right hand and slowly slid his palm up and down my leg, gently caressing my skin. Petting me, as I did him, and my entire body relaxed, pliant and accepting of his touch.

  “I have flown the cruiser to my voyager vessel, my home.” His hand, the look in his eyes, every ounce of his power screamed possession of me, but instead of revolted or upset, as I should be, his calm assurance had the opposite effect. I longed to burrow closer and let him take care of me. “Once we arrived, I carried yo
u to our private quarters, to our bed.”

  “Why?” I didn’t understand any of this. Why was I in a luxurious bedroom aboard one of the most expensive classes of ship on the planet? Why wasn’t I in a prison cell? Or worse?

  “You are mine now. We are one. Where else would you be but my bed?”

  “I am not yours to keep. I am not a pet.”

  “You are mine. My Fated Mate. I will not give you up.”

  “I don’t understand this. I freed you. I saved your life. You should let me go.” Would I be forced to kill him if I ever wanted to escape? He’d called me mate. What if his words were true and we were Fated Mates? And how could I even consider such a preposterous idea? That was nothing more than a child’s fairytale. Such a thing did not exist.

  “You are my bride, Octavia. We are joined. One in body and mind.” He kissed me softly, and I let him. “I will never let you go.”

  If Fated Mates were nothing more than an ancient legend, why did I believe him? Why did my body feel tuned to his every mood and desire? Why did the thought of leaving him behind create a painful, gaping wound where my heart should be? Yes, the sex was incredible, but exactly what had he done to me last night? “This is insane.”

  He caressed my skin, made small circles with his thumb where his hand rested on the curve of my hip. “It is fate, female. And you are not a pet, you are my bride. You are mine to keep, as I am yours. We are Fated Mates. We are bound, Octavia. There is no escape, no second chances for either of us.”

  Then I remembered the details of what I’d read during my studies. Fated Mates! Now that I was free of the frenzy of lust, full knowledge flooded me. A permanent mating bond forged by the call of blood and old magic, the psychic connection so strong they became of one mind and body to the extreme that one could no longer survive without the other. Everything I’d read about the Delti legend of Fated Mates stated the bond was impossible to break.

  Forever.

  Suddenly I couldn’t get enough air into my lungs. “Undo it.”

  His thumb stilled on my thigh. His dark eyes promised me he spoke the truth. “We would not survive the separation. Already the bond between us is too elemental, too strong.”

  Remembered pieces of text scrolled before my eyes. One dies, the other dies as well. Bound for life.

  I was trapped.

  “Why? Why did you do this when I saved your life? I saved you!” I should run, find a way to escape. I wanted to punch his gorgeous face until he set me free, but the sex-crazed woman inside wouldn’t allow me to harm him. Not a single hair on his head. Just like I’d been in that breeding chamber watching him struggle against his bonds, watching him bleed. I couldn’t allow him to be hurt. Old instincts I had no hope of combatting insisted he be looked after, cared for. Obeyed. Loved.

  He’d seduced me and stolen my future. My life. I should want to kill him, not roll around in bed and taste every ounce of his forbidden flesh.

  Never had I been so torn. My heart and mind at war.

  Why? What about his man made me want to throw away my life, turn my back on my people, on years of training and discipline to be a Temple priestess?

  It had to be the dark paradise of his eyes, the pleasure of his kiss, and the sensual glide of his fingers over my skin. I’d saved him, but did I care for him? Want to spend the rest of my life with him? Did I love him?

  Self-hatred forced me from the bed, away from him. I needed to think, not lie naked in his arms reveling in the feel of his strong hands, eagerly awaiting the next tender stroke of his hands on my flesh, the soul-shattering pleasure of my pussy stretching around his cock.

  He let me go, didn’t so much as twitch while I backed toward the door. His gaze bored into me as if he could read my mind, read my soul.

  I can read your mind. Remember? And you can read mine, if you desire.

  Stop it.

  Octavia, come back to bed. He smiled at me without fear. I clenched my teeth to repress the violence swirling in my stomach.

  “No.” I shivered, felt ripped in two. Two halves warred within me. I’d either run like hell or crawl back in bed and beg him to take me, to spank my ass red and turn my blood to fire, to force my mind to quiet until there was nothing left inside me but lust. I wanted to shatter into a million pieces with his cock buried deep. I wanted to feel possessed and protected… conquered.

  “Where will you run?” I felt his arousal in response to my thoughts, the heat behind his eyes as he stared at my naked body. His desire tempted me. His control nearly drove me mad with lust and I longed to test it, to push him and see just how strong he could be.

  Was he strong enough to break me open, to see the truth of my soul and accept my needs? Could I trust him completely, with my deepest self? With the woman who longed to be with a man strong enough to carry the burden for me, strong enough that I could let down my guard?

  “There are many worlds that would welcome a wealthy Zatari woman.”

  “Aye.” He threw the sheet off his body and rose from the bed, stalking me. A supreme effort was required to keep my gaze away from his… “And just as many would sell you for top dollar on the slaver’s market.”

  “Zataris embrace death over slavery. It is a well-known fact. None would dare take me.”

  He stalked forward and I backed away until there was nowhere else to go, the cold blue wall at my back.

  “I dared.”

  Towering over me, he was so close the heat of his body enveloped me. But he did not touch, just stared down into my eyes, waiting for something… a sign? A word? Permission?

  “What do you want, Markus?”

  “You.”

  I looked down at my naked body and his. His hard cock strained toward me; all I had to do was reach out my hand. As if it had a mind of its own, I watched my palm move closer. Closer.

  “No.” His harsh tone stopped me, but I didn’t wonder about it for long. When I raised my face to his in surprise, his eyes had gone dark, nearly black. “Your mouth, Octavia. Drop to your knees and let me fuck your mouth.”

  He needed me to obey him, his entire body gone tight with anticipation. I inspected him slowly as I dropped to my knees and saw his pulse race at the base of his neck, noticed his hands tremble, and I felt powerful. All his strength and control, mine to test, to command. To break.

  His scent made my stomach clench with heat as my knees sank into the soft rug.

  Licking my lips, I teased him, nudging the round head of his cock with my cheeks and chin, rubbing his hard length over my skin as I licked the edges and underside, getting a feel for the length and breadth of him. Inhaling deeply, I drew his musky scent into my lungs and lifted my hand to palm his balls.

  His swift intake of breath was all the encouragement I needed and I opened my mouth, taking him deep in one smooth movement. Sucking and pulsing forward and back, I played with his balls with one hand and raked my fingernails over his naked ass and thighs with the other.

  With a shudder, he buried his hand in my hair moments later. “Enough.”

  If I could have smiled, I would have, but my mouth was spread wide over his cock. My response was to take him deeper, my cheeks hollowed out as I worked him harder and faster than I had been.

  “Octavia. Stop, or you’ll earn another spanking.” His hand was a fist in my hair, but I pulled against him, welcoming the sting as I refused to release him. My hand tightened on his balls when he tried to step back, but he pulled away from me with a deep groan and forced me to let him go, his hand in my hair his only means of control.

  I licked my lips slowly, my gaze riveted to the shiny wetness coating his cock. I wanted him back in my mouth. I wanted to make him lose his mind, shatter like I did. I wanted to know what his cum tasted like as I conquered him.

  With a twist of his hand, he denied me, angling my head up so that I was forced to meet his gaze.

  “I warned you.” Markus looked at me with an intensity that should have frightened me. Instead, something dark rose up, dark
and needy and determined to test him.

  “I don’t take orders from you.” The words tumbled from my lips, each sound distinct and clear as I held his gaze, unblinking. And every word a lie. I teetered on the brink of giving him everything, but I couldn’t. Not yet. I needed something more, something I couldn’t define. Markus had to be what I needed him to be.

  If he betrayed my trust now, showed weakness, I would be lost, a ship at sea in a storm with no anchor.

  “I don’t take orders from you, sir.”

  “You’re not my sir.”

  His grin made my pussy clench with heat. “Are we back to this, mate?” Lifting me to my feet, Markus pressed me to the wall. “I’m going to bend you over and spank your ass for disobeying me.”

  Air whooshed in and out of my lungs in rapid succession, and still I couldn’t get enough to make my head stop spinning with his hard cock pressed to my stomach, his body closing me in. I was so in tune to him, I could feel the press of every muscle and my pussy was swollen and heavy, and so wet the moisture coated my upper thighs.

  Lowering his head, he kissed me hard and fast, his tongue pushing past mine in a show of aggression that made my entire body clench with need. But it wasn’t enough and I pushed back, my hands flat on his shoulders even as my tongue dueled with his.

  Satisfied that he was breathing heavily as well, I waited to see what he would do next.

  He looked into my eyes for a moment and I stared back, defiance in every fiber of my being. If he wanted me, he had to conquer me. If he couldn’t do that, he wasn’t worthy of the gift he demanded. Trust. Surrender.

  Submission.

  Chapter Eight

  Octavia

  Without hurry, he walked to the bed and grabbed a pillow, pulling me along behind him with his hand in my hair. When he reached a small table in the corner, he bent the pillow over the edge and pushed me forward until my hips pressed into it.