“You are not Captain Sarah Mills.”
Seth laughed and I felt my heart skip a beat. Captain Sarah Mills? This warrior knew who I was?
Choosing to remain silent, I met my brother’s gaze for a heartbeat of time and nodded for him to continue. If this big guy was looking for me, I wasn’t sure I wanted to be found.
Seth took off his helmet and held it under his left arm, his right still holding his ion blaster. “No, I’m not. That would be my sister, who got lucky on her ASVAB and learned how to fly. What do you want with Captain Mills?”
Instead of answering, the warrior clenched his fists at his sides as if fighting for control. All around me rifles were held steady as we waited to see what the Atlan was going to do. “She is not here?”
“Who’s asking?” Seth raised his ion blaster to make sure the Atlan knew to be on his best behavior. “I don’t know you, soldier. You transported into a live op, and endangered two units. I’ve got five dead because you blew our surprise. From where I’m standing, I should shoot your ass and get on with cleaning up your mess.”
The Atlan slumped, as if bothered by what my brother said. “I apologize for your loss. We did not realize I would be transporting into an active combat zone. It was a terrible mistake.”
“Why are you here?”
I tightened by grip on my rifle waiting for his answer.
“I am looking for Captain Sarah Mills.”
“Why?”
“She’s mine.”
My head was shaking a hell, no before I had even processed his words. Eyebrows raised, I stood and lowered my rifle. “Seven, keep him in your sights.”
A chorus of acknowledgments sounded in my ears as I lowered my ion blaster and tried to decide what to do. The giant turned at the sound of my voice and I removed my helmet, dropping it to the floor. He looked as if he would move toward me, and I raised my blaster to stop him. “Don’t.”
“You are Sarah Mills.”
“How do you know me? I don’t know any Atlans.” Meeting his gaze was a huge mistake as the instant lust I’d felt watching him earlier returned full force. I was tempted to lick my lips and tease him closer, which was just stupid. As I stared with as blank an expression as I could manage, a strange buzz danced over the skin of my neck and face. I tensed, my gaze flying to Seth. His eyes widened as he felt the energy building.
“Incoming!” I shouted, diving for the floor as a blast of energy cleared the center of the room.
When the concussion ended, three Hive soldiers stood in the exact spot we’d fled.
The Atlan roared, charging. My men opened fire from the upper decks at the surprise Hive. The soldiers did not attack as I feared, but nodded to each other and disappeared—transported into thin air—one by one.
The last, however, was inches from Seth. He grabbed my brother and spun, hoisting Seth into the air to use as a human shield as my brother’s ion rifle clattered to the floor at his feet.
Seth!
I lifted my pistol, but I couldn’t take a shot without hitting my brother. The Atlan looked at them and froze mid-stride. All my training kept me in position, my aim steady as we waited to see what the Hive soldier would do.
“Release him.” I yelled at the Hive soldier, but he ignored me, his gaze on the real threat, the Atlan giant just a few paces away.
Seth kicked, reaching for the injector at his side as he screamed at all of us. “Do it! Take him out.”
“No!” I screamed at my brother as the Hive stepped back, further away from us, my brother held to his chest like a shield.
In my ear, Richards’ voice was like the devil’s own temptation. “I can take the shot, captain.” He was above me, and a decent shot, but not perfect, nowhere close to a true marksman, and this was my brother’s life on the line. Richards would have about a four-inch window to kill the Hive soldier and leave Seth breathing.
“No. Not yet.”
The Hive warrior holding Seth lifted his weapon and aimed it at the Atlan. We were all frozen as the emotionless silver eyes of the Hive soldier scanned the room. Before we could do more, the Hive pressed a button on his uniform and he… he disappeared. So did Seth.
Gone. Poof. Into thin air. On Earth there was no such thing as transporting. It was something for old TV shows, but never in real life. Only those fighting with the coalition saw it in real life. Beam me up, Scotty. The first time I’d been transported, I’d been terrified. The technology was supposed to be cool and had been, until now. Now, my brother had been transported somewhere, somewhere Hive. Somewhere I knew they turned coalition fighters into machines, replacing body parts with synthetic implants until there was nothing of the individual left. He was there one second, gone the next.
Unless my brother chose door number two. All at once the memory of his hand reaching for the injector at his thigh played like a broken record in my mind. “Seth!” I screamed.
The crazy Atlan—the one who’d wrecked our op and caused the Hive to take my brother—turned his head and stared at me. Those dark eyes narrowed, his full lips thinning. He wouldn’t look away, not even when every ion blaster in the room was pointed in his direction. I felt something, something primeval and explosive flare to life in me as our gazes locked.
Holy hell. He was… and I felt… and… shit. My brain was misfiring. My body disregarding any notion of personal safety as I marched up to the man, ready to attack with every ounce of strength I had left. I raised my ion pistol and advanced until I had the business end pressed into the warrior’s armor, right over his heart. I stared up into those eyes and realized he hadn’t tried to stop me. He hadn’t touched me at all, instead his dark gaze filled with pain as he looked upon me.
Our gazes held and I couldn’t do it, couldn’t pull the trigger. I studied his hard jaw and full mouth, the dark eyes and the black, silken hair that fell to his chin. He was truly stunning to the senses, his strength staggering and overwhelming. Even with the rage pulsing through my body, I couldn’t pull the trigger. My brother’s capture wasn’t truly this warrior’s fault. It was no one’s fault. It was war. And war sucked.
“Captain!” Richards’ voice broke me from my trance and I lowered the weapon, but didn’t back away from the warrior.
“You will help me recover my brother.”
His eyes widened in surprise, but he nodded. “You have my word.” That voice, those four words, were like a rockslide. Harsh, rough, and deep.
Mollified for the moment, I took a step back.
“Coalition clear!” I shouted, signaling it was safe to stand. It was time to get the hell out of here.
The Atlan watched me closely, but didn’t move. We all knew by his uniform that he was coalition, but the way he’d behaved, the blood coating his hands? He was a threat and his silence helped us all calm down and not kill him.
“I want four of you to remain here and watch our back. Three Hive transported in and took Captain Mills,” I said, irate that they’d been able to infiltrate and take Seth. He’d let it happen. “And you.”
I pointed at the rogue fighter.
His gaze swept the room, then met mine. There was heat when he looked at me, desire. And that pissed me off. We were in the middle of a war zone. I didn’t need—or want to be—attracted to anyone in the middle of a battle. I was no skinny thing, but his gaze made me feel small and feminine. Feminine? That was crazy because I was anything but in my coalition body armor. The curve of my breasts was well hidden behind the chest armor. My hips were disguised under the black armored pants. No one else here saw me as a woman. I was their leader and that was all.
The fact that he’d made me think about sex right now caused my muscles to go rigid with fury.
“Who the hell are you and why are you looking for me?” I demanded.
“I am Warlord Dax from Atlan and I am your matched mate. You are mine.”
“Are you kidding me with this? Is this the mouse’s idea of a joke? I’m not a bride, Warlord Dax from Atlan. Sorry. You’ll
just have to fuck off.” I threw my hands in the air and nodded to Seth’s team. With Seth gone, they were mine now. My responsibility. “Four of you stay here, stay sharp. Set up a transport block so we don’t get any more surprises.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Medics, secure the wounded, make sure we’ve done everything we can and get them transported out.” I walked toward the door. “Three of you with me to the bridge. Richards, I want you on system checks. My unit, grab someone from four and check the other decks. You guys know the drill.”
Both teams scurried to do as ordered and I ignored the big alien as he fell into step beside me. I felt like a cocker spaniel walking next to a Rottweiler. Still, we had three armed members of my unit at our backs, and I was still carrying my ion pistol.
“This term you use, fuck? It is associated solely with a man rutting a woman and bringing her pleasure, not with… battle.”
The men about me relaxed a little at his words, thinking Dax was joking. He wasn’t. Heat flared to my cheeks, but it wasn’t out of embarrassment. No, it was the instant mental picture of this warlord pressing me up against the nearest wall, ripping my pants open and rutting into me.
If I ever went back to Earth, I was going to murder a certain mouse.
“What is your problem?” It felt much better to divert my interest in him into frustration. “Didn’t they tell you I opted out of the bride program?”
“Yes.”
I stopped in my tracks at his admission and he took a step closer so I had to tilt my chin up to meet his dark eyes. I wouldn’t retreat. His gaze roved over my face, then lower down my body. It was not the look of any warrior I had ever worked with. This was blatant and sexual, full of a possessive heat I’d never seen before and… holy shit, my nipples just hardened. Thank God for the chest armor.
“Do you think that matters to me?” He arched a brow as if he expected me to bow my head and let him lead me away like a fairytale princess. That was so not happening. Nothing was happening until I got my men back onboard the Karter and my brother back from the Hive.
He reached out to grab my arm, but I lifted my ion pistol halting him, the hilt of it nudging his hard armor. My men also aimed their weapons on him. He paused, but didn’t seem the least bothered… or afraid that he was going to die if he made one wrong move.
“Stand down,” he commanded.
No one followed his order and I raised an eyebrow in silent pleasure, knowing my men would stand behind me.
“If my title of warlord isn’t enough, the stripes on my uniform indicate that I outrank all of you,” he said, pointing with a bloody finger to the symbol on his shoulder. “I am pleased to see you defend and protect my mate, but you will stand down or face military punishment.”
He was correct. While he was clearly from a different planet, a planet where the men ate lots of spinach like Popeye to grow so big, he wore the coalition uniform we all recognized. He was a higher rank than me and we were, technically, required to obey his commands.
My men remained with their weapons raised and I realized this all hinged on me. If I told my men to fight the big, bad alien, they would. But they’d most likely end up in some coalition prison because I couldn’t control my temper. I was not in the habit of asking my men to sacrifice themselves for me, especially for something this ridiculous.
Turning my head, I nodded at them to lower their weapons. This was a battle for Commander Karter’s ears. It would have to wait until we got back to our battleship.
He looked at me and it was his turn to arch a brow, for I had yet to move my weapon from his belly. While he was now in charge of the group on the freighter, it didn’t mean I wouldn’t continue to be mad at him. Grudgingly, I lowered the weapon.
“What are you—do you have any idea what you did?” I clenched my hands into fists at my sides so I wouldn’t hit him with them. “I lost good men today. And the Hive just took my brother!”
“I am sorry for your lost warriors. But your brother should have kept you safe on Earth, where you belong. A woman does not belong out here, in combat, fighting the enemy,” he countered.
“My brother has no say in what I do.”
“Obviously. I, however, do.”
My eyes widened then and I laughed. “You might outrank me, sir,” I placed a heavy influence on the last word, “but you are not my mate.”
“With all due respect, warlord,” my second-in-command, Shepard, moved to stand beside me. He seemed to give this… Dax more deference than I. But he wasn’t being called the big guy’s mate. “I have to question the… accuracy of your claim. Captain Mills has been with us for two months. Earth’s laws don’t allow a soldier to enter the battle battalion program if they are married. Or mated.”
Shepard was diplomatic, clearly fearful to call this warlord an idiot. But Dax had to be wrong, absolutely wrong, for there was no way I was mated to this overbearing brute. Even my subconscious wouldn’t be that cruel to me.
Instead of ripping Shepard’s head off, Dax replied, “This Earth female is my chosen mate through the Interstellar Bride Program and I am claiming her.”
Oh, shit. He was from Atlan. The planet Warden Egara said I’d be matched to. I shook my head. “I left the program because it was all a mistake. The warden said that I couldn’t be matched if I didn’t consent. I’m a soldier now, and I’m pretty sure there’s nothing you can do about it.”
“You will tell Commander Karter that you are my mate and resign your commission with the coalition fleet.” He was clearly ignoring everything I was saying.
I placed my hands on my hips. “I will do no such thing, you big oaf.”
He frowned. “I do not know that term, but mate will suffice.”
I took a step back, not because I was afraid of Dax, but because he might actually be right about this stupid mess. I remembered that little idiot of an assistant, Warden Morda, and how she’d messed up everything to start with. Could she have done something else to screw up after I was inducted into the coalition fleet? Something like not delete my profile, not take me out of the system?
Oh, crap.
“We have been matched.” He leaned forward, his gaze never breaking eye contact. “You are mine.”
I shuddered. I couldn’t be a mate. I certainly couldn’t go after Seth if I was forced out of the military to become someone’s bride. I doubted this huge hulk of an alien wanted me to do much of anything besides birth babies. He’d already said women didn’t belong in combat. That didn’t make me believe he would want me to take a team to a Hive integration center and save Seth.
Still, he’d already given me his word that he would help get my brother back.
More likely, he planned to pat me on the head like a good little girl and leave me behind while he went out to slay dragons. I got a very obvious overprotective vibe from him. And that was not my style.
Could he force me to resign my commission with the fleet? I didn’t know the rules. Since I’d been matched by their system, could he force me out of the military? Could this giant Atlan male force my hand?
Besides that, I didn’t want a mate. I’d had to deal with enough men in my life—a pesky father, three brothers, commanders in the military, fellow soldiers—I didn’t need a mate, too. And him? Him! God, this man was matched to me? So far, he’d done nothing but piss me off. So what if he was sex on a stick—sex on a very big stick. So what if my mind conjured images of him fucking me up against a wall, pounding into me hard over and over until I came all over his very large cock? And I knew it was large. It had to be.
I refused to believe my feelings were caused by any kind of mating… thing. More likely, I took notice of him due to the epic sex drought I was in. Two and a half years without sex would drive any sane woman to take notice of the huge male. I just wanted an orgasm or two and I wasn’t opposed to the idea of him giving them to me. Just because I was a woman didn’t mean I couldn’t fuck, then walk away. Hit it and quit it could work for me, too. Right?
“I’m not going with you, you’re welcome to come with us,” I told him, nudging him with the tip of my ion pistol. “Shepard, are we back in coalition space?”
Shepard checked his data pad and nodded. “Yes, sir.”
“Excellent.” My men would be safe now, the ship protected by coalition patrols and escorted back to the battle group for cleanup and reassignment. “Shep, you’re in charge of cleanup. I’m taking my mate—” I said the word with disdain and sarcasm, “—back to the Karter. We have business to take care of.”
Dax frowned down at me but I refused to look away. “You are coming with me to the Brekk.”
I raised my pistol and narrowed my eyes. “No. I’m not. We are going to go find Commander Karter, plan a rescue mission, and get a space divorce.”
I think he actually growled. What the hell? Was he part beast or something?
Chapter Five
Dax
It took an hour for my mate to debrief her commanding officer about the events of the battle I’d transported directly into. That done, we had been ordered to report to Commander Karter’s war room on the command deck. Now we stood opposite Commander Karter’s desk. My mate stood at attention beside me in front of the Prillon leader. Like all Prillon commanders, he was almost as big as I, with golden hair and eyes that stared at us both like the predator he was. There was no softness in his expression or empathy in his eyes. He sat stiff and at attention behind his desk, calculating and calm despite my mate’s growing irritation.
“I want to go after him,” she told her commander, her chin set at a defiant tilt. I stood, listening only. I bided my time, for my chance to speak would come soon. “I’ll take volunteers.”
Mated to the Beast Page 5
