“No one is in the air shafts now. The exhaust expulsion occurred two minutes ago. Any heat signature the intruder left behind is long gone.”
We stopped not far from the fighting pit. I could hear the shouting, the fighting from here. The other two warriors assisting with the search, Prillons, looked to me. They knew my skills, knew I could find the trail of someone or something where no one else could see. Or sense.
“Which opening did he use to escape?” I asked, my wrist lifted.
“The south side of the pit.”
“Of course,” I muttered, the most crowded area here. More scents to track. I turned to the Prillons and wished I had my normal team with me, but Captain Marz was being tested for the Interstellar Brides Program, Kristin was spending time with her mates, and Rezz? Well, I was pretty sure the Atlan was down in the pits blowing off some steam. “Let’s go. I’ll have to pick up his trail at the vent.”
“What about the fights?” I was asked.
“The less distraction from us, the better. I don’t want everyone to know we’re hunting.”
They both nodded and we moved quickly to the fights.
“What the fuck?” one of the Prillons said, stopping and putting his hand on the ion pistol in his thigh holster.
I stopped as well, not only because I was surprised by what I was seeing, but because my mark flared as if a blade had been shoved through my palm. The sensation so painful it made me hiss out a breath. Instead of readying for danger as the Prillons were with their hands on their weapons, I pressed my thumb against my mark in the hopes of easing the burn.
“This is insane! I don’t belong to you,” a woman shouted.
I heard the feminine, melodious voice and I was forever changed. It was as if the ions in my body rearranged and I became someone else. My mark flared with erotic heat, sending a pulse of lust straight to my cock. My heart flipped, then settled. I felt as if those uttered words settled over me like a heavy cloak wrapping me in heat. Lust. Need. An instinctive drive to possess and protect.
Lindsey. She was here. She was mine.
My mate.
And then, with the same swiftness that brought about this knowledge, I picked up the scene before us. The two fighters—one of them was Rezz, my Atlan friend who had arrived on the Colony the same day as me. The other, I didn’t know, but he was Atlan as well. With sweat on his face and torso, red skin in spots where blows had landed, blood trickling from a cut above his eye, it looked like Rezz had been fighting challenge matches for a while. But no one was battling now. No, they weren’t even circling each other. Rezz was facing another Atlan and two Prillon warriors. Everyone else around the arena settled in with a quiet expectancy not common in a pit fight. This was something else, something much more serious than the normal chest pounding tests of strength and skill that the warriors used to vent some aggression and relieve hours of monotonous boredom.
I could see pushing and heard raised voices and somehow I knew she was in the middle of it. The cause.
I didn’t need to be a Hunter to know where she was.
“She is mine.” The huge Atlan facing Rezz was in full beast mode, and I recognized him now. His name was Braun, and he was strong. Fast. Like all Atlan Warlords.
I didn’t fucking care how many of these warriors I had to take down, Braun was wrong. Lindsey didn’t belong to him. Lindsey, with her golden hair and blue eyes, those full pink lips and her sassy mouth…was mine.
I stalked forward, heading for the center of the pit, not waiting to see if my team backed me up. I didn’t need them. Not for this. Anticipation surged through my blood. I hadn’t had a real fight, a good fight, in weeks. Not even the Atlans could stand against me as long as I stayed out of their grasp. If one got ahold of me, they could rip me in two. But first, they’d have to catch me. Which, when I used my Hunter’s speed and strength, was damn near impossible.
Pushing through the growing crowd I heard her again. “This is not what I wanted. Just take me to your leader, or whatever. I’m sorry.”
Rezz, equal in size to Braun, roared out over the crowd. “The female is under my protection. None of you will touch her.”
I knew Rezz, knew he’d never touch her. He was still too broken. He’d refused to go through the Interstellar Brides processing protocols even after Kristin arrived from Earth and became part of our hunting unit. The two human females who had arrived on the Colony loved their mates, despite the contamination the Hive had left behind. Captain Marz had practically begged the Atlan to submit to testing.
Rezz refused. Said he was not fit to serve any female of worth. Whatever the fuck that was supposed to mean.
I didn’t care about Rezz’s personal demons at the moment. All I knew was my friend had stepped between Braun, the two Prillon warriors, and the female who was mine. He was protecting her, a fact that I would not forget. Seemed I would owe the Atlan a favor.
“Get out of my way, Rezz.” The deep, growling voice belonged to Braun but I heard Rezz chuckle in response. By the gods, that Warlord loved to fight.
“As I said, she’s under my protection, Braun.”
Braun roared in frustration, but must have decided that the small female wasn’t worth the clash with Rezz, who was well known for being king in the pits since his arrival. Even Tyran, Kristin’s mate, couldn’t stand against him. And Tyran had more Hive implanted technology than almost any male here. He was stronger than anyone I’d ever seen.
Anyone but Rezz, riled up in beast mode. Still, the fight between Tyran and Rezz had been epic. In the end, I was convinced Rezz won not because the Prillon warrior was weaker, but because Rezz was meaner, especially since the male, Tyran, had been mated to the human, Kristin, of Earth. A small, curvy female that looked similar to Lindsey. Golden hair. Heart shaped face. So small, so damn small but fierce. I couldn’t wait to discover what type of fire burned in Lindsey’s delicate frame.
’Stop talking and get naked.’
The memory of the sensual demands she’d made in the dream riled me further and I rolled my head on my neck to ease the tension, to remain in control. Mine. She was mine. That voice was mine. Her body was mine. Her pleasure was mine. Her heart was mine. I never thought I’d take a mate, had given up on the idea the moment I’d been sentenced to life here, on this gods forsaken planet we all pretended wasn’t a prison.
But now? She was here, and I’d rather die than give her up.
Braun leaped out of the middle of the pit to take a seat in the crowd, which left Rezz standing to face the two Prillon warriors. I cleared the edge of the arena just as Rezz stepped forward to stare down the two Prillons.
“Move aside, Rezz. We all know you don’t want a mate.” The larger of the two Prillons spoke, Captain Voth, his second nearly growling in agreement beside him.
Rezz pounded his right fist into the flat of his left palm and the sound was loud. Threatening. “You two want to spend the next twelve hours in a ReGen pod, that’s all right with me.”
“Please, don’t. This is crazy.”
I saw her then, for the first time. Yes, I’d seen her in the dreams, but I’d know her anywhere. As she spoke, she tried to hop down off the edge of the pit wall where she sat wearing standard issue Coalition battle armor. Her hair fell around her shoulders in a golden halo, more beautiful than even in the dream. Big green eyes stared out from a heart-shaped face that was too delicate to be real.
She tried to move, but two of the warriors standing directly behind her placed their hands on her shoulders to hold her in place.
I didn’t recognize the growl that rose from my throat, but my Hunter took over.
Her soft cry sounded as I moved faster than a blur to shove the three men at her back away from her.
Rezz turned around to look up at where I now stood behind her, towering over her small frame. Her scent drifted up to me and my cock hardened instantly at the sweet scent of flowers and honey. This I’d missed in the dream. I wanted nothing more than to toss her over my s
houlder and carry her back to my rooms, but I knew I’d never get her out of here without fighting at least one challenge.
“Kiel.” Rezz’s deep voice was like a crack of thunder through the arena and Lindsey gasped, her head whipping around to face me. But I didn’t dare look down into those blue eyes. If I looked, I’d want to touch, and taste. And fuck.
“Warlord.” I hopped over the side of the chest-high wall and into the pit, landing silently on my feet. I moved to my right, keeping both Rezz and the two Prillon who hadn’t backed away in my sights. “Her name is Lindsey and she’s mine. My marked mate.”
A collective grumble rolled through the spectators as Rezz looked from me to the Prillon warriors who stood primed and ready for battle. His grin was amused, but he nodded to me before turning and looking at my mate. “Do you know this warrior, female?”
Lindsey’s bright blue eyes flashed to me and she blushed, her cheeks turning a delicate and beautiful shade of pink. The way she gazed at me had my cock pulsing. Throbbing. My fingers itched to grab her. Touch her. Kiss her. Taste her for real. I’d never needed anything, but in that moment, I needed her.
“I’ve….I don’t…” she stumbled over her words looking from me to Rezz and back again. I stepped forward, only too eager to remind her of our last encounter, but there was no need. Her gaze locked on me and I saw desire cloud her gaze. She looked me over, taking her time, inspecting every inch of me and I stood tall, thrilled as her breathing sped and her attention lingered. She was devouring me with her gaze, caressing me with her attention. Yes. She was mine.
I feared she would lie, deny me in front of all those gathered here. The air in my lungs stilled, even my heart seemed to stop beating as I waited for either salvation or rejection. It shouldn’t matter. I hadn’t even met her, not really. I’d only shared one dream with her. One. And suddenly I was terrified that wouldn’t be enough. If she refused me now, something in me would break, something that, until this moment, I hadn’t known existed. A soul? Love? I didn’t know, but it was deep and instinctive. The Hunter in me was vulnerable to her in a way I’d never imagined possible. I was bare, exposed. Weak.
Everything in me teetered on the razor’s edge as I willed her to save me. To claim me. To want me as badly as I wanted her. She licked her lips slowly, her eyes going soft as she studied my face as if shocked that I was real. Gods knew, I was shocked by her presence as well. Shocked, but grateful.
When at last she nodded, my heart stuttered then raced twice its normal pace. “Yes. I know Kiel.”
Rezz’s laughter broke the silence as those gathered roared their approval. But Rezz’s roar of amusement was like thunder and he walked to me, slapped me on the back, hard. “Good luck with this one. I relinquish her protection to you.”
Just like that, he was gone, sitting next to Braun in the stands. I looked at Warlord Braun, held his gaze, a question in my expression. Did he intend to challenge now that Rezz was out of the way?
Braun grinned at me and shook his head. No. I’d never fought in the pits, but Braun had seen me fight, really fight, when we took down a Hive Scout team a few days ago deep in a cavern. He was one of the few here who had seen me let the Hunter DNA loose in battle. I was fast, silent. Deadly.
Hunters of Everis were known across the entire galaxy as killers, hunters, assassins. We were assigned the most dangerous missions by the elite of the Coalition planets. We were feared and respected for being both merciless and deadly. That was why Governor Maxim called me in to find the intruder and track the Hive spies hiding deep in the caves on the Colony. Our unique gifts gave Hunters the ability to track anyone or anything anywhere in the universe. It was an instinctive pull, the call of prey, and no amount of time nor distance would dull it once a Hunter set his sights on a target.
There was nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. And right now, the only person I cared about in the universe was sitting on the edge of this fighting pit. And two Prillon warriors were determined to take her from me. Even though I said she was my marked mate, they would not stand down.
Fools.
Captain Voth stepped closer. “We challenge you, Hunter. The female belongs to us.”
I heard Rezzer roar with laughter yet again. That beast and I were going to have to have a conversation later about his sense of humor. Still, I couldn’t stop the answering grin that lifted the corners of my mouth as I crouched to attack.
* * *
Lindsey
Oh. My. God.
He was here. Not just here, but right in front of me. So close I could feel his heat. Smell him. He’d been closer in the dream, but that hadn’t been real. I frowned. Had it? I’d dreamed of someone I’d never met, saw him in detail. No, I’d fucked him in detail and now he was standing before me. Bigger, hotter and better than ever.
Next to the huge aliens Rezzer and Braun, he was moderately sized. But even then, on Earth he would’ve been considered big as a linebacker, at least six-six. His hair shone, a soft blue-black that I longed to run my fingers through. The color was more vibrant, more real than in the dream. His skin was fair and looked human, not golden like the two sharp-featured aliens standing across from him in challenge. He wore a uniform not unlike mine, the armor looked a helluva lot better on him, hugging the defined muscles of his shoulders and tapered down to six-pack abs that made my mouth water. But it was his eyes that made my heart stutter, dark and almost…desperate. I couldn’t deny him, not with those eyes, those lonely eyes.
When my gaze roved back up, I saw his hands. Big hands. Not dinner plates, but strong. Blunt fingers that I knew could touch my body and bring me intense pleasure. I knew what they felt like on my breasts, brushing over my nipples. And lower down, I knew what they felt like deep inside, curling over my G-spot.
I hadn’t seen it in the dream, but I couldn’t miss it now. He had a mark on his palm. It was in the same place as mine. From here, the shape appeared to be identical. His mark was a little darker, but his skin was ruddier, as if he’d been outside in the sun.
As if my body knew what I was looking at, the mark on my palm chose that moment to flare to life and pulse, sending shockwaves of need straight to my core. I held onto the edge of the pit for dear life as my body tensed in response and my breasts grew heavy. Suddenly, everyone around us faded and all I could think about was hopping down off this wall, going up to him and throwing myself in his arms, demand that he take off his clothes and shove me against the wall of this arena…make me his. Forever.
That thought stopped me cold.
No. Not forever. This could not be forever. I had a little boy to get home to and Earth expressly forbid underage citizens from travelling off world. It was part of the coalition agreements and widely advertised. No woman with children could join the Interstellar Brides program or volunteer to serve as a warrior in the Coalition Fleet. It was forbidden.
Wyatt.
I took a deep breath and blinked away the fog of desire looking at Kiel caused. His chest heaved and he rubbed his palm on his thigh as if the mark on his hand had flared as well.
Was that what he meant when he told the big fighter we were ‘marked mates’? Was it because we shared a birthmark? The mark?
While I definitely wanted him to get me naked and fuck me again—for real this time—I didn’t want to belong to him. I didn’t want to be his marked mate. I didn’t belong to anyone, couldn’t belong to any man. Only Wyatt. I lived and fought and breathed for my son. Nothing could change that.
I’d completely forgotten that golden warriors had spoken a challenge until Kiel answered them.
“I accept,” he said, his deep voice new and yet familiar all at once. His eyes remained on me, but I knew he spoke to the two aliens behind him. “But she belongs to me.”
I gulped at that, squirmed too, at the finality of his tone, the searing look in his gaze.
“Then prepare yourself.” The two lookalike aliens behind him eyed me as well. I had to guess they were some kind of pair, perhaps cousins,
for their golden coloring was identical and so were their features. Only the silver Hive additions were different. One had his left arm mostly replaced by the smooth robot-looking elements. The other had that silver eye and a silver hand.
He moved to stand directly beside me where my legs hung over the edge of the fighting pit, then turned to face his opponents. I could feel the press of his shoulder against my thigh. “I will not leave my mate unprotected as I fight.”
“She will be guarded.” I glanced over my shoulder, saw that the giant called Rezz spoke. He’d moved seats, positioning himself directly behind me.
Mr. Dinner Plate, Braun, was right beside him. The big man nodded. “Yes. This challenge is sacred. She will be well guarded as you and the Prillons decide the outcome of your claims.”
They were like an organized bunch of Neanderthals. There was honor among them, although they were going to fight—I hoped not to the death—for me. Did this mean that if Kiel didn’t win, the cyborg twins would be dragging me off by the hair to their cave? And both of them wanted me? Did that mean that they would take me together?
I glanced at Kiel, saw the determination in his gaze. He was not worried about fighting two partially mutated aliens. No, he was very confident as he took out his weapon and dropped it on the ground next to him. Next he unbuckled the holster from his thigh. Oh yeah, that was hot.
But I almost fainted when he reached behind his head and tugged off his armored shirt exposing his bare back inch by delicious inch.
I whimpered. I did. I couldn’t help it. My ovaries practically jumped for joy at seeing his bare torso. I’d thought the other aliens’ shoulders were broad, but Kiel? He won the hot man contest.
Cyborg Seduction (Interstellar Brides: The Colony Book 3) Page 5
