Fighting For Their Mate
Page 9
She squeezed my fingers tightly and I pulled her into my arms once more, uncaring who watched, and whispered in her ear, “I love you, Commander. Stay out of trouble.”
“I love you, too. Now get the hell out of here so I can do my job, Captain.” Her smile made me grin and I nodded with respect to Commander Karter before stepping back.
Chloe was fire and sass and I loved everything about her.
The door slid closed, locking her away from me and I turned back toward our private quarters. I needed to shower and prep for the day, be ready if I got pinged. I’d rather stay and wait for Chloe, but I’d be nothing more than a parent dropping a child off for the first day of kindergarten. I was whipped. Completely. I admitted it. At least to myself. Dorian was, too, but he wasn’t here for us to commiserate. We were probably the only two male fighters in love with a commander.
I grinned even as I picked up the pace. Chloe wasn't the only one with a job to do.
Dorian
* * *
I was awakened by Seth stirring in the room. I heard a boot hit the floor, then the other. He stuck his head in the door to the bedroom.
“Where’s Chloe?” I asked, finally awake enough to realize I was alone in bed.
“I just walked her to the control deck. You sleep like the dead,” he replied.
“Chloe wore me out.” I couldn’t help the grin that spread across my face or the way my cock swelled. “Why don’t you get some more sleep?”
He raised a brow, shook his head slowly. “I’ll share a bed with you, but only if Chloe’s between us.”
“I can’t believe she’s our bride and she’s off on her first day of work as Commander Phan,” Seth replied. “Not Lady Mills.” The words were tinged with bitterness.
I climbed from the bed, grabbed my clothes off the floor, worked them on. “We can’t be angry with her for being smart and successful in her career.”
I was quite proud of her, actually. But that didn’t mean I wanted her going out into battle any more than Seth did. Good thing she couldn’t. For once, I was thrilled with the rules and order of the Coalition.
“I hate that we can’t know her past. It’s like there’s this fucking gap of four years about her we’ll never know.” He unstrapped his thigh holster, set his ion pistol on the table.
Someone was a cranky bastard this morning. Considering we’d fucked our mate into exhaustion last night, Seth should have been a whole hell of a lot happier than he was. He didn’t look or act well fucked. He was behaving like a child whose favorite toy was taken from him.
“Fuck, this hard-on isn’t going down. I kissed her in the hallway and, shit, I’m ready to have her again.” He sighed. “I can’t go to a briefing like this. My superior would have my hide. I’d never hear the end of it.”
I could relate. My cock was wide awake this morning and ready for another round with our mate. We’d worked her hard, but she’d loved every minute of it. We’d dominated her all night long. I said as much to Seth. “I bet she’s squirming in her desk chair.”
“I took the plug out before we left.”
The thought of her with an ATB plug in her ass, stretching and preparing her for our claiming, had pre-cum drip down my cock head. “Still, I’d be surprised if she’s walking right.”
That got a grin out of Seth. “She said she’s achy.”
I groaned. She wasn’t the only one. My balls were going to ache all damned day until I could sink into her again.
“I have to go shower and take care of my dick before I can go anywhere.” He tugged his shirt over his head, let it fall to the floor as he strode out of the room. I heard the bathing tube kick on. He was out of sorts. I couldn’t blame him. We had a mate, a mate who wasn’t between us in bed, all meek and tame. No, Seth had to be matched to a feisty, submissive commander of the fucking Coalition.
She was perfect for him, for us. The fact that she was strong-willed, independent and full of sass just made us both want her more, made her surrender in the bedroom that much sweeter.
So we’d check on her, but let her do her job. Then when she finished, we’d strip her bare at the door, leave her role as commander there, too, and clear her head of everything but us.
“Get moving,” I shouted into the other room. “I want to see our mate. I don’t give a shit what Karter thinks.”
Seth stuck his head out of the bathing room. “No fucking way. Trust me. We’re totally pussy whipped. I’ve admitted it and you need to as well. We can’t just go barging into the control deck looking like Chloe has us tied by a string to our balls.”
Shit, he was right.
“Fine,” I replied, not thrilled. I picked up my pillow, dropped it back on the bed to get it just the way I liked it, then rolled over onto my belly. Shit, my cock was not going to let me lay that way so I turned on my side. “I’m going back to sleep. I’m sure I’ll get called out soon enough.”
Chapter 9
Chloe
* * *
I'd been sitting at my new post for several hours scanning for high frequencies, listening for anomalies. Four years of training came back to me slowly, bit by bit. I could still do the job, the experimental NPU in my skull assured that. But without the adaptive headpiece unit, I was at a disadvantage. Since there wasn’t one on the Karter, and he hadn’t mentioned it, I had to assume no one here was aware of the technology. It wasn’t my place, or rank, to share something that was top secret.
No matter, I'd make this work.
I was excited to be back at a post, feeling like a member of the team. I'd never been good sitting idle, and I was more than relieved to discover that I would have a place on this battleship doing a job that mattered. Helping to fight the Hive.
At the same time, I could satisfy my mates. Not just sexually, which was pretty darn amazing, but emotionally as well. I knew how much they didn’t want me going on a mission. I felt it through the collars, saw the way they’d behaved with Commander Karter the day before. Heard them say the words. I’d compromise, meet this need in them to keep me safe. And in return, they’d give me what I needed. A safe place to relinquish all control, to be protected and cherished as I did so. I could just be me. Chloe Phan, or Lady Mills. Not Commander. They’d mated me, not the high-ranking officer.
The constant hum and buzz of activity on the command deck was comforting. I'd missed it. Missed the consistent routine of a well-oiled machine, of officers who knew one another so well they could anticipate each other’s moves in the eye of the storm.
Commander Karter stood like a statue of marble in the center of the room. Nothing seemed to faze him. But I recognized the mantle of command that settled on his shoulders as he let his teams do their jobs. He was what the crew needed him to be and so I would be, too.
I returned my attention to the communications panel. The provided headset I wore was so ancient, I had removed it in frustration for the third time when I looked up to see Commander Karter standing before me holding a small box that I recognized. I gasped. Not so top secret after all. “How did you get that?”
“I don't know what you're talking about, Commander Phan,” he replied, his voice deep.
“But isn't that what I think it is?”
Commander Karter placed the small box in front of me carefully, delicately, as if he knew exactly how valuable the tech inside was. He left the box and lifted his hands away. “I don't see anything at all, Commander. I'm quite sure that Dr. Helion, of the Intelligence Core, wouldn't see anything either.” He lifted a brow and grinned, one eye moving oddly, in the closest thing to a wink I had ever seen from a Prillon warrior.
I grinned back and opened the box with shaking hands to find my old I.C. headset, the most advanced of technology. Even among the fleet. So rare that no one outside my division at I.C. had ever seen one, at least not that I knew of. But Commander Karter seemed to be rewriting all kinds of rules, just for me. He cleared his throat. “I trust this will make your job easier.”
I could only
nod as I slipped the odd earpiece over my head and waited for the metallic click and familiar hum in my head as it connected with the NPU implanted in my skull, just beneath the skin. I felt like a walking computer when I wore it.
The device amplified sub-human frequencies and slowed down encrypted codes and Hive communications to give me time to hear them. It was as if I had turned on the radio and could hear a familiar and comforting song. “Yes, sir “
He nodded and seemed pleased with himself. Although, it was no wonder why. My division in the I.C. only had about a dozen codebreakers like me. And it was a very big war, spanning hundreds of star systems and Coalition worlds. “Only you are allowed to touch it, Chloe. It will be kept in my safe when you are off duty. You will give it to me or to the officer on deck at the end of every shift so that one of us can lock it up.”
“Yes, sir.”
“That device doesn’t exist, and it doesn’t leave this room. Meaning, your mates can’t know.”
I bristled at his words, having him think I would ever betray a job-related secret. But I remembered he’d never had one of his commanders mated to fighters before. I was the oddity and the connection I shared with Seth and Dorian was close. Perhaps too close, especially with the collars. He was wise to offer the warning, but it was unnecessary.
“I understand, sir.” And I did. This was dangerous technology. I was shocked they’d allowed Commander Karter to get his hands on it.
But then, not every battlegroup had an ex-I.C. officer who knew how to use it. Like me. And not every Coalition sector was locked in daily battle with the Hive, like Karter’s battlegroup. Sector 437 was notorious for being a living hell, the one place most sane warriors dreaded to go. The only warriors happy to be here were glory hounds or trigger-happy adrenaline junkies.
Ironic that for me, it was the opposite. I was happier than I’d ever been in my life, and it had nothing to do with the war, and everything to do with my mates.
I sat down and started my work again from the beginning, this time deciphering exponentially more of what I heard. The complex computer software that the Coalition Fleet used for standard operations could decode most Hive transmissions on their standard frequencies, ship to ship, or across space. But the internal connections of their Hive minds were more intuitive and less machine-like than one would guess. There was a rhythm and flow to them. Something I instinctively understood, something their computer systems had not yet been able to crack because it was too organic. Not illogical. Too human.
I sat back in the chair and continued to work for several hours, comfortable knowing my mates were occupied. It felt odd to be in space again, yet with mates. I was surprised how often my mind turned to them. Dorian, I knew, was sleeping. After they’d fucked me into exhaustion, I’d heard a ping calling him to a late flight mission. I didn’t know how long he’d been gone, but when he climbed back in bed, he’d kissed me, wrapped his arms around me and promptly fallen asleep.
And now, while I worked, Seth was heading out with ReCon 3 on a mission. I monitored his activity, could hear the reports from the communication station across the room. I would know instantly if anything happened to ReCon 3 or Seth. I realized I would be spending a lot of time in this room, waiting for news when one of my mates was out on a mission.
How I had fallen in love with both of them in just a few days? I couldn't begin to explain, even to myself, but I had.
I craved their touch. I craved Seth's intensity and Dorian’s protective embrace and not because I felt it—them—through the collars. I raised my fingers to mine. I had become addicted to their strength, their dominant alpha male attitudes and to the way they touched me when we were alone. The way they made me feel. I had never known anything like it. And I knew instinctively that I never would again.
They were mine, just as I was theirs.
A strange humming in my head pulled me from my wayward thoughts and I focused all of my attention on the task at hand, scanning for high frequencies and trying to decipher any communications I might come across.
But this wasn't stumbling upon anything. This was like a cannon blast in my head and I doubled over in pain. Crying out, I bent over on top of the control panel, everything spinning and cutting into my mind like a tornado of sharpened blades slicing through my skull.
Every eye on the room turned to me in surprise, but I could not lift my head. The pain was building, not receding, like a dagger had been shoved through my ear drum into the center of my skull.
“Commander Phan?”
I tried to lift my head, tried to sit up straight, reached for the NPU attachment on the side of my head and covered it with my hand before Commander Karter could take it from me. “No. Don’t touch me. “
The commander stood before me, hands on his hips, no hint of amusement in his face. “Talk to me.”
I tried, but the problem was, I had no idea what was going on. It was as if I had suddenly stumbled into a Hive communication hub. So loud and so filled with traffic that it was like standing in the middle of a rock concert. Except I couldn't plug my ears. And I was standing right in front of the speakers. “It's loud.”
“Commander Karter, medical needs you.”
Commander Karter turned and nodded “Put it on screen.”
A Prillon warrior I did not recognize filled the display. His green uniform the only indication of his rank. Behind him, a human woman, a doctor in a dark green uniform and Atlan mating cuffs, was trying to calm an Atlan that I had never seen before.
The doctor on screen wiped his brow. Panting as if he had run a marathon and was out of breath. “The Hive is doing something, Commander. Warlord Anghar sat bolt upright from a ReGen pod, screaming and clutching his head. And he’d been unconscious.”
I wedged myself up onto my elbow for a better view of the Atlan. The pain inside was like a knife in my skull, but no longer a surprise. I could endure.
Commander Karter studied the doctor and the Atlan and I wondered if he worried the warrior would turn beast. “How much Hive tech is still inside the warlord?”
“I've taken out everything I can,” the doctor said wearily. “He'll have to live with the rest...”
“Is he himself? Am I looking at Warlord Anghar, or am I looking at a Hive Drone?”
The doctor shook his head and ran his hand through his auburn hair. “I don't know, sir. He's been unconscious in the ReGen pod for two days until now. He popped up and scared the hell out of all of us. No one has spoken to him yet.”
“Can he hear me?”
The doctor nodded. “I'll put you on, sir.” He turned away from the screen. “Warlord Anghar, the commander would like to speak with you.”
The Atlan lifted his eyes to the screen and it seemed that everyone on the command deck was holding their breath, waiting to see what we would be dealing with. A sane man? Or a beast that could rip the entire ship apart. His hands were fists at his sides. “I hear you, Karter.” His voice was a deep rumble, but sounded sane.
Commander Karter leaned forward, as if he could get closer to the Atlan. “Excellent. Be on the command deck in five minutes.” He turned to me, narrowed his gaze. “I want you in my office, now.”
He walked into the officers’ meeting room. I rose to follow, but dizziness swamped me and I had to stop for a moment. Palms on the control panel, I regained my balance as the Prillon warrior next to me stood and held out his hands to assist. But I waved him away.
“I'm fine, thank you...” I took three deep breaths and ignored the pain. I walked into the meeting room and took a seat next to the commander. We waited in silence at the large oval table until the doctor and the beast known as Angh entered the room. The Atlan barely cleared the doorway, he was so big.
The commander indicated that the warlord should sit at the opposite end of the table. Before I knew it, the room filled with other warriors I did not know, but whose command insignia made it clear that they were the commanding officers for each section of the battlegroup crew.
I, too, had a variation of Hive technology implanted in my body, but it was Coalition controlled, specially modified by the Intelligence Core, and, at the moment, driving me completely insane. Luckily, despite the constant buzzing, the pain had faded to a dull headache. Yay, me.
The commander must have said something to the doctor when I wasn’t looking, for he walked over to me and placed an injector to my neck. Within moments, the pain was gone. I breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank you, Doctor.”
The doctor nodded and sat in the empty seat next to me. The dark circles under his eyes and the lines around his mouth indicated that he was utterly and completely exhausted by his forty-eight-hour ordeal with the beast.
Commander Karter looked to the warlord at the end of the table.
“Thank you for attending, Warlord. Since you are well enough to be out of the ReGen pod, what do you know about what's going on?”
I didn’t know what was going on and was eager to find out. I was a little confused, as if I’d missed something big. But, it was my first day on the job, so I definitely had some ramping up to do.
The Atlan blinked slowly, watching everyone in the room as if seeing them for the first time. His eyes weren’t totally silver, like some I’d seen on those who’d been integrated, but they shimmered from the inside. The poor man was looking through eyes that were no longer his own.