All my life had been about fighting. Resisting. First at home, then in the military and Coalition ReCon. Even more when the Hive had caught and tortured me, turned me into what I was now. Arriving on the Colony had offered no relief, for as soon as I appeared, the males began fighting over me. Following me. Trying to seduce me. Win me over. Claim me for their own.
But I’d chosen Mak. I wanted his touch, his hands on my body. His mind attuned to my needs. I needed him to care. And right now, he trembled with emotions I didn’t dare name, even as he spanked my bottom. Made my skin burn and my heart explode with love and lust and trust. I’d never trusted anyone the way I did Makarios of Kronos, the rebel, smuggler, criminal. Because he was mine.
“This won’t be a full spanking because we don’t have time. I want to be balls deep inside you within two minutes. But you will know the feel of my hand, to know what will happen the next time you decide to run off to fight the Hive by yourself.”
Another spank landed.
“Got it?”
“Yes, sir,” I breathed. The sting was spreading, morphing into something different, something… primordial. A caveman claiming his woman. Well, this wasn’t a claiming, but it was going to be a good fucking. I was primed and ready. Needy. No doubt he could see my pussy was wet, practically dripping for him.
“Ah, I like the sound of that obedience.”
Looking over my shoulder at him, I could tell he liked it a lot. He wasn’t as restrained as I thought. His face was tense, but his gaze heated. Every line of his body screamed power. Even his cock, which stuck straight out from the dark nest of curls, ruddy, hard, pulsing. There was pre-cum slipping from the tip, eager for me.
“Please,” I whispered, hoping he’d fuck me. Now.
I needed it. The adrenaline was bleeding away and I needed it. Needed a release, needed to feel real. Human. Alive. I needed Mak.
He stepped up closer to the bed, hooked his right arm about my waist to pull me up so I was lifted completely off my knees. His cock prodded my entrance and he aligned his thighs to mine then thrust up in one hard stroke.
Impaled, I gasped, bucked. He didn’t give me time to adjust to his massive size. Just took. Controlled. Dominated. He pushed me away and pulled me to him like I weighed nothing. Fucked me. Filled me. The lower half of my body was in the air and I had no control, no traction, could only take what he gave me.
With a groan, he increased his pace, lifted my shoulders off the bed with his left hand, cupped my breast as he held my back to his chest. My head fell back against his shoulder. When I melted against him, he turned, walking us toward a smooth, cold wall. He pressed my body to the wall and moved both hands to the underside of my thighs, spreading me open, holding me up, fucking me from behind like he’d never get enough.
He fucked me like this, our bodies meshed together. Hard, wild. Rough.
The sound of flesh slapping filled the small room. The scent of fucking lingered in the air. My pussy quivered around him, not being given any time to adjust. My tender bottom was given no reprieve as his hips pressed into it over and over.
“You will come, mate.”
The idea of coming just because he commanded it would have been laughable. Before. I could barely come from a guy alone, not without some kind of stimulation of my clit. Especially like this. But I’d been primed, not just from the battle with the Hive, but the battle with Mak for dominance. Power. Control.
I might be powerful outside these walls, but here, now, his cock filling me hard and deep, unrelenting, filling me with his seed, he held the power. The harsh growl as he climaxed proved it.
And I was willing to give myself to him. Eager to surrender control, to stop fighting. Whatever he wanted to give me, I’d take. Whatever he asked, I’d give. Everything. And so I came. My scream bounced off the walls and loosened something in me, in my heart.
God, I wanted Mak. Forever. Even if it meant submitting to him. Because in the end, I was the one who received the greatest gift.
I forgot everything but him. The Hive, the governor, the Colony. Nexus 4 and even my blueness, the torture and pain. The war. I forgot everything outside the room because all that mattered was Mak.
Gwen, Hive Ship, Integration Chamber
“Come here, Mak.” I grabbed his hand and pulled him through the door into what passed as a mini Hive medical station.
The Coalition called them Integration Stations because these were the rooms where newly acquired biological specimens were fitted with new Hive integrations. A very diplomatic term for what the Coalition worlds considered torture chambers, the Hive who lived and worked on these ships considered their doctors and medical stations.
He stalled just outside the doorway. “I’m not going in there.”
“Yes, you are. I have a plan.”
He allowed me to pull him into the room without a fight, for which I was grateful. “This is our new medical unit, on our new ship, so you’d better get used to it.”
“I will use it when necessary,” he replied, his tone grim. “Other than that, I will never set foot in this room.”
“Fine.” I let him go and rummaged through several storage spaces until I found what I was looking for. With a happy smile, I walked back to my mate and held up the small glass specimen tube. “Bite the top of this.”
“What?”
“Bite into this. Stick one of those fangs through the seal and get some venom in there. I want to analyze it.” He took a step back from me, shaking his head. God, he was huge. And sexy. And so fucking hot I wanted to tear that armor off him and jump him again.
Thanks to the onboard S-Gen unit, we were both fully dressed in newly generated battle armor. His, a dark black and brown camouflage pattern that matched the rest of the Coalition Fleet. Me? I was dressed in armor as well, but it was a deep, striking blue, the patterns designed to match the exact flow of colors on my Hive skin. Mak didn’t want me going into battle again without armor, and this way, I could still tempt the Nexus with exactly what was underneath. If he just skimmed me with those creepy dark eyes, he might not even notice that the blue curves were armored, and not natural flesh.
But then, what was natural to a monster?
“Gwen, my bite is deadly. There is no reason for me to do this.”
“Humor me.” I walked to him slowly and melted into his body, pressing my lips to the center of his chest because as tall as I was, that was all I could reach when he was wearing his boots. “Please? Pretty, pretty please with a cherry on top?”
His entire body shuddered and I knew I’d won. “I don’t know what a cherry is, but I’ll take some pussy on top later as payment instead.”
Laughing, I lifted the specimen tube to his mouth, trying not to show how much his dirty words affected me. “I’ll go cowgirl on you anytime you want, Mak.”
He grabbed my wrist as I was about to stab his fang into the end of the tube. “What is cowgirl?”
I grinned at him and made sure he could feel my free hand exploring the stone hard muscles of his ass. “You lay down on your back and I ride your cock.”
“Like that first time?”
“Yes.”
A growl rumbled from his chest. “Yes. As soon as we’re done with this mission.”
“I agree with that.”
“I will also require you to be cowgirl on my lips, mate. I will taste you again before you come, and I will do it with you straddling my face.”
“Deal.” As if I’d ever say no to having his wicked lips and tongue working on me.
I shoved his fang into the vial and waited a few seconds for the vacuum tube to do its job and the venom to drip into the bottom. When I had several drops of the pearly liquid, I pulled it away from him and swatted his ass as hard as I dared, then scampered out of reach to the analysis station. Loading his venom into one of the small ports, I found myself humming. Happy. About to go into battle with an evil that had been at war with the Coalition for centuries… and I was happy.
The
data was immediate, the display clearly stating what Mak had said. His venom was poisonous. But, it also asked if I wished an antidote to be made and I quickly pushed the button for yes.
The ship could work on an antidote while we took care of a few small problems on the planet’s surface. And then? I’d take a dose, climb on his cock for that cowgirl ride and shove Mak’s fangs into my shoulder myself if I had to. He was mine. If he wasn’t leaving me, wasn’t heading home to Rogue 5 and Kronos, then he was going to claim me properly.
End. Of. Discussion.
Mak watched me, arms crossed, clearly not amused. But he didn’t try to stop me. That was one of the things I loved about him. He let me be me.
Once the machine was doing its thing, I turned to him with a smile, ran and jumped into his arms. He caught me, of course. I knew he would.
“Kiss me, Mak. Kiss me, and then let’s go kill monsters.”
“Whatever makes you happy, female.”
I smiled at him, stroked my hand down his rugged cheek. “You, Mak. You make me happy.”
He froze, staring into my eyes as if I’d shocked him. Before I could go all misty eyed, or start spouting I love you or other silly nonsense, I kissed him. Hard. Fast. With everything, telling him without words how much he meant to me. Because the truth was, I wasn’t sure I could beat Nexus 4. The Nexus units were powerful. Tricky. Evil. Completely without conscience or morals. Their minds were so strong, it had been a freaking miracle I’d escaped the first time. And now I was going back for more. Voluntarily.
But I was going to try. I was stronger now. A lot stronger. Plus, I had Mak.
I pulled back and turned away, heading for the cockpit and the co-pilot’s seat before he could say anything. I was a good pilot, but he was exceptional, and I wasn’t so proud that I couldn’t admit he was far better than I.
“Gwen.” His voice called to me, but I didn’t stop or turn around.
“Come on, Mak. We’ve only got fifteen minutes to get down there.” I didn’t want to hear words of love or devotion or the word mate right now. I needed to go into this battle with nothing to lose. I needed to focus my entire being on defeating Nexus 4.
I needed to protect Makarios.
Chapter 12
Gwen, Hive Ship, The Colony, Cave Entrance North of Base 3
I leaned over the instrument panel and placed my palm flat on the screen. Odd thing, being part machine. I could talk to the Hive ship without talking. It read my mind, which was just freaky, but came in very, very handy.
The first thing I’d done when I turned the baby on was reprogram the ship’s security protocols to the highest level. No one but me, Mak, or a Nexus unit could change any security setting on the ship. And to do that, the Nexus would have to be physically present. The ship was ours, mine and Mak’s, unless a Nexus unit happened to saunter on board and take control. I felt like I was on the Millennium Falcon and I was Han Solo. But that meant that Mak was Chewbacca, and while he was big enough, that was where the comparisons ended.
Maybe Mak was Han Solo and I’d be Princess Leia. And the Nexus were like Darth Vader.
Yeah, not quite. But no Nexus were getting on this ship. No fucking way.
If that happened, we’d screwed up somewhere along the way and we’d be fucked at that point anyway, so I didn’t worry about it. So long as no lower ranking Hive, pirate, smuggler, or Coalition warrior could steal our ship, that was good enough for me. And with the new settings, the ship wouldn’t even start for anyone else. No power. No navigation. Nothing.
“Okay, Mak, this baby is all ours.” I told him what I’d done as I rubbed my hands together. The Hive ship was small, meant to hold a group of no more than eighteen for extended periods of time. But that meant for just the two of us, she was massive. Three sleeping chambers, a full S-Gen unit with seating for eight in a dining room. Since the Hive probably worked on three rotations, it meant one third of them would eat at any given time. The Hive were nothing if not mechanized. “Our baby needs a name.”
My voice cracked on the word baby and I wanted to slap myself for being so stupid. Mak noticed. Of course, he fucking noticed.
“What is wrong, mate? Why are you upset?”
Okay. In for a penny, in for a pound, right? “I don’t know why I’m thinking about this now, but I don’t know if I can have children, Mak. I don’t know if you want that, but I don’t know if I can. Or even if I want to. I can’t promise you babies. I can’t give you that. I just can’t…”
He put his hand on top of mine. “I want you, female. I will fight for you, die for you, kill for you. Should you choose to have children, I will do the same for them because they are yours and mine. If not, I am perfectly content spanking your ass for your silly thoughts for the rest of our lives. I do not need children to be happy.”
“Okay then.” He spoke as if he were giving a lecture in a history class. Facts. Emotionless. True. And just like that I could breathe again. Why I had to tell him about babies now, I had no idea, but I felt better. “Okay. Let’s do this.”
Leaning over, I pressed the locator beacon that would signal Rezzer and the other Atlans to join us. We’d landed easily on the Colony’s surface, cleared by the governor so we weren’t shot to Kingdom Come. We were just waiting for the others and we’d get this show on the road. Get shit done and finally, and forever, get off this planet.
As soon as the beacon pinged, I placed my hand on the ship’s control panel and made contact with Captain Marz’s private comm line. His face filled the small screen before me and I marveled at how similar Hive technology was to that of the Coalition. Degrees of separation.
“Marz, can you hear me?”
“Yes. I have Maxim and Ryston with me as well.”
Marz stepped aside and the governor’s face filled the small screen.
“Governor.”
“No. I am Maxim Rone. First Mate to Rachel and we demand justice for the traitor Krael. I am not the governor right now, Gwen. This conversation never happened.”
I nodded once. “Good. Then the Intelligence Core will never know that you gave me Coalition flight codes in exchange for information on the location of the Prillon traitor Krael Gerton and a Hive shipment of transport mineral scheduled to depart your planet in less than an hour.”
The governor—no, Maxim—growled at me, his eyes almost glowing with his irritation. “You are a very difficult female.”
“And we both know you are going to give me the codes. I need to be able to travel through Coalition space without fear of being attacked. I can get to the other Nexus units, Maxim. You give me the codes, I give you the information you need to save the Colony, the transport system, keep us in the war and give you the vengeance you crave for Krael’s attempt on your life. It’s a win-win.”
Behind him, I heard another male voice, less controlled. More rage.
Ryston.
“Do it. Let her hunt the bastards. Let’s take care of our own. Think of Rachel and our son.” Their baby boy was beautiful, and only a few months old. And both warriors turned to jelly the moment the little one was placed in their hands.
Maxim’s eyes narrowed and he nodded to someone off screen. Moments later, at least a dozen flight codes arrived in our ship’s database, and in my head. They were too precious to leave behind. These codes would get me through Coalition controlled space without incident. The Hive codes buried in the ship would get me deep into Hive territory, if needed. And I had to believe that with Mak’s connections on Rogue 5, we could get anything else we needed to slip in and out of star systems like a ghost ship.
“Thank you, Maxim. And good hunting.” I signed off, simultaneously sending him the exact coordinates and layout of the mines where the Hive transport ship was located. I included guard counts and Hive Soldier locations as well as the countdown until takeoff with the stolen minerals.
He had less than an hour to take care of his tasks, but I had confidence he’d figure things out.
Nodding to Mak, I w
atched him shut down the ship to stand-by mode and we both grabbed our weapons, left our Millennium Falcon behind and headed for the cave.
Five minutes later, we walked to the entrance of the cave system to find not just Warlord Rezzer, but Braun, Tane, the Everian Hunter, Kiel, the silver eyed human, Denzel, and another massive Warlord I’d never seen before. He was as big as Mak, and he wasn’t even in beast mode.
I looked him up and down, to which he smiled.
“I am Warlord Bryck, governor of Base 2.”
My eyebrows shot up at that information. “Base 2? Then why are you here?”
“I am here because Krael murdered a good man, Captain Brooks, from Earth. He polluted our entire planet with Quell, a chemical that steals our minds. I am here for vengeance for all the warriors lost to his treachery.”
Okay. Hard core. “You’re in the wrong place. Krael is miles from here, in another cave. I can give you the coordinates, if you want. You might be able to transport there in time for the battle.”
“Who goes to the fight?”
I looked at Mak, not sure what I should or shouldn’t say. If Maxim wasn’t acting as the governor right now, would he want anyone to know he was in that cave? Another governor? I wasn’t sure how the politics worked. Mak was male, a warrior, and he’d been here longer than I had. I lot longer.
“Maxim and Ryston seek vengeance for the traitor’s assassination attempt, as well as his long ago attack on their mate,” Mak said. “The other Prillon warriors accompany them to eliminate Krael.”
The huge Atlan governor looked from Mak back to me. “This is your operation?”
“Yes.”
“Then I request permission to remain here with my Atlan brothers. I have faith that the Prillon warriors will see Krael dead.”
I had no doubt about that myself. “Okay. Let’s do this.” I turned to the six warriors, plus Mak. I’d never had this much backup before. Holy shit. They were all huge, and Rezzer was half in beast mode already, his face elongated, eager to kill Nexus 4. But a full frontal assault wouldn’t work. Not this time. “I’m going in. Give me exactly two minutes, and then come in with everything you’ve got.”
Rogue Cyborg (Interstellar Brides®: The Colony Book 6) Page 12
