by Abigail Myst
Fuck that. Fuck it all.
Odette was the first to wander off to bed, though Goru was already snoring where he sat. Athen knew he had imbibed freely, probably afraid to admit how much his leg still hurt, embarrassed by how he had let a flegan take a chunk out of it. A few days more and he would be healed enough not to need the reminder to be quicker.
Athen waited a few minutes more for his father to retire back to his ship. Then he slipped back into his module, his cock already pushing at his pants. Stepping in, he bumped into her ridiculous pink suitcase. Odette had packed. There would be no need for that now. She was already in bed and when he pulled off the sheet, he found her naked, eyes staring at him hungrily.
“I was worried,” she said.
“About what?”
“That you’d forget. Or find some stupid reason not to come to me.”
Athen crawled into bed next to her and immediately took possession of a nipple. It puckered under his touch and he transferred his fingers attention to her center while he used his tongue to play with first one sensitive nipple and then the other. Odette was already wet when his fingers skimmed her pussy lips then pushed into her clit. He moved up to catch her moans in his mouth.
“I need you,” she said, arching toward his hand.
“I know.” He smiled and claimed her mouth again.
Odette did not seemed satisfied with his pace. She tried to wrap a hand around his erection but he took her wrist and raised it above her head. When her other hand came up, he trapped both with one hand.
“Fuck me,” she begged. The word sent a pulse through him, but he would not be hurried.
“Sweetie,” he said, finger still moving inside her.
“Please. I promise. It'll mean nothing. I’ll go, if that’s what you want.”
On the contrary, it would mean everything. She would be his. No. Going. Back.
Athen mounted his mate, slowly guiding himself inside her. She was hot and wet and tight. Athen was thankful he already spilled himself once today. Now, deep inside her, he could gather the strength that would send her climaxing around him, instead of shooting inside her on the second stroke.
Athen withdrew, near to the tip and then plunged back inside her. He was rewarded with her cry of pleasure and her nails digging little semi-circles into his back. Athen set a rhythm that kept her moaning. Later, he would have her ride him. Now, he was too close to consider it.
He felt her close, tightening around him and he picked up speed. She arched against him and shouted out her pleasure as Athen found her shoulders and sunk his teeth into her. This act would release the chemical that would seal their bond and prepare her body for Mahdfel fertility.
Odette screamed out in pleasure and clutched at him in another orgasm that triggered his own, releasing his seed deep inside her. With a few licks, his bite marks sealed but Athen had to admit that he liked seeing the evidence of his final possession on her body.
“You bit me,” Odette protested as he removed his weight from her and gathered her in his arms.
“It is the Mahdfel way. Has no one told you?”
“It's not like you guys come with a manual. They just send us. One minute, we’re getting tested and the next, shot across the universe. I thought I was going to be living on a spaceship.”
“The vast majority live in the safety of the home planets. My family does not believe in bringing mates into battle. They all live on Etlon. But it is time to sleep.”
Athen was indeed feeling sleepy there with his mate in his arms. A slight breeze was blowing across their skin and kept the warm night from being stifling.
“So Etlon’s a safe place to live.” Odette stated.
“Odette. Go to sleep. Otherwise, I shall think that I have not worn you out sufficiently.”
She actually snorted in laughter. “I’m exhausted. Please don’t give me another orgasm. That would be torture.”
He was beginning to be able to tell when she was joking, even though he was at a disadvantage because he could not read her skin. His fingers slipped in between her legs.
It was quite a while later until either one of them got any sleep.
When Athen heard his com alarm go off, however, he was immediately awake. It was just before dawn. A patrol had spotted another flegan spawn sac.
He looked at his peacefully sleeping mate. A responsible commander would join his men in the early morning containment but it would be quite easy to lie back down and let her wake up with his fingers inside her. No. Having a mate was not going to change anything. He slipped away from her and out to his men. There would be plenty of time to claim her again later.
Kave
This whole thing made him nervous. Kave knew Athen and if Athen knew the real truth, there would be hell to pay, and despite the warlord’s respect for his father and his loathing to rule an entire planet, his rage might be too much to combat.
“He can’t know that you had anything to do with this,” Kave said, as he nervously fingered the upholstered chair aboard Etlon’s ship. It wouldn’t be considered a flagship by any means but it had more the feel of a luxury yacht. A craft with enough speed and comfort but meant more to impress than actually take into battle.
“You said he had changed his mind,” Etlon said as he looked grimly back at Kave.
“I thought he had. The noises that they were making. Any lesser man would have plowed her five times before now.”
“You mean a less stubborn man.”
“I mean right now he thinks this is all my fault. I suppose he credits me with extreme com skills or the right connections to submit a mating profile without direct consent of my warlord.”
“It is his duty to settle down and provide me with grandsons. I will not see my hard work go to nothing.”
“Well, there is always Bendon.” Athen’s only remaining brother was still safely at home, and probably much more amenable to pleasing his father.
“I am impatient,” Etlon sighed. “We are extremely difficult to match and the Terran blood is providing some strong possibilities. To waste a good Terran because of my son’s stubbornness? No. We shall take her back to Etlon. As such a high match for Athen, she will probably do for Bendon as well, when he is of age.”
Athen would not like that. Despite what he had said about not wanting a mate, Kave had seen the warlord’s colors. And Athen never colored.
“Go fetch her,” Etlon said. “As soon as the flegan are properly preserved and stored, we shall go home.”
It was nearing dawn and Kave was anxious to get Etlon gone before Athen somehow sniffed out that it was his father’s hand at the heart of the mate mishap. A quick check confirmed that Athen had gone to supervise the second flegan spawn. Although it was an entertaining hunt to kill flegan as they flew from the sky, it was much more efficient to find the spawn sac before it erupted and ejected its contents. The whole sac could be quickly electrified and then packed as a unit, rather than hundreds of leaky carcasses.
Odette was awake and dressed when Kave cleared his throat outside the door. She pulled back the mesh and her face fell when she saw him. He nearly didn’t have the heart to tell her.
“We shall leave as soon as possible,” he said.
“We?”
“Etlon has chosen to recall me.” He could see Odette taking strong breaths, attempting to calm herself as she wheeled her bag out in front of her.
“Oh, speaking of, really, what should I call him? I mean, is Etlon his first or his last name?”
“You shall call him ‘Father’.”
“But Athen and I-”
“He has another son. If the match is strong enough, you shall marry him.”
“Wouldn’t that just be a tad awkward?” Odette scanned the courtyard, as if looking for something. As if she expected Athen to magically appear and demand that she stay.
“If the match is strong, it will not be.”
“What about when Athen comes to visit?”
“Athen does not v
isit Etlon.”
“Why not?”
“Because both he and his father are stubborn asses. Your case is full?”
“Yes.” Odette watched as Kave picked it up. “What about my lab? I was just getting used to it. And all my samples?”
“The module will be put aboard the ship,” Kave told her, making a mental note to do just that.
“Okay.” Odette followed him out of the module and looked around again before she finally asked the question on her mind.
“Where’s Athen?”
“Athen will not return until midday.”
“Not even going to say goodbye?”
Kave had heard that Terran women went all weepy with goodbye, and he was glad he did not have to witness it. “He had pressing business.”
“Fine.” She practically marched ahead of him. “If that soulless bastard wants to leave things like that, then fine.”
Kave smiled. There were no tears. Anger was better. This was going more smoothly than he had anticipated. He should have known better. No sooner had he shown her to her cabin and the hatch had closed did Odette start spilling tears. It was rather eerie because there was no sound, except her repeated muttering.
“I am not crying. I’m not crying,” she repeated.
“But you are crying,” he pointed out, helpfully.
That’s when the real sobs started.
“You are not crying,” he amended.
“Yes, I am!”
Athen
“Where is Odette?” Athen asked his men.
The initial feeling of reLeif when he’d heard his father’s ship leaving the atmosphere was starting to circle into a chest crushing panic.
His warriors just looked at each other dumbly, as if no one was willing to tell him the truth. Cowards. Athen had already discovered that Odette’s clothes were gone and, more importantly, her lab module was missing.
“Didn’t she say something?” How the hell had Odette just gone with his father, leaving him after the night they’d shared? After they had bonded.
“You said you didn’t want her,” Leif spat out before trying to hide behind Goru.
Yes, he had. But that was before.
“Where’s Kave?” If there was anyone who could fix this fiasco, it would be the one who had caused it in the first place. He knew Kave had connections.
“Kave is gone too. Your father recalled him.”
“Without speaking to me?!” Athen roared. He looked down and saw his skin rippling with emotion. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When he opened them again, he still wanted to kill someone, but at least he was under control.
He could fix this. It would take a simple command to have Odette sent back to him via transporter. He’d simply need to wait the week or so that it would take his father to get her back to Etlon.
Of course, he’d have to do a bit of groveling. Yes. But he deserved that. He had wasted his father’s time. He sighed as he headed toward HQ. He could actually hear his warriors gossiping behind him but Athen chose to ignore this dishonorable behavior.
When he finally got connected on the vid screen with Etlon, the person on the other end was a gruff middle manager that seemed to have no idea who he was. By his heritage, he looked to be more Sangrin Mahdfel than Etlonian.
“I would speak with Etlon.”
“This is Etlon.”
“No. Etlon of Etlon.”
“I speak for Etlon of Etlon.” The buff warrior crossed his arm and gave him a cross stare.
“I do not want someone who can speak for Etlon. I want Etlon.”
“That is not the way things work. Have you no concept of the chain of command, Noven 90?” Athen heard the tone and the words behind his words. Stationed on the far side of nowhere was a cushy job, not worthy of a true warrior or commander. A job for cowards and rich men’s sons.
“I would speak to my father.”
“And who is that?”
“Etlon of Etlon.”
“Everyone knows Etlon has only one son left, and he is still at home.”
“He has two sons. I am Athen Etlon, sixth son of seven. I am not dead.”
The warrior continued to eye him suspiciously.
“I need a ship,” Athen continued.
“There are no ships available.”
“Then I need my father to return to Noven 90 immediately.”
“That would be very difficult as Etlon is not on Noven 90 right now.”
“No, he left a few hours ago. With my mate. I want her back.”
“Etlon has not left Etlon. Etlon never leaves Etlon.”
“Which is why I was surprised to see him here. But that is not the point. You are to tell him I want her back.”
“Who?”
“He will know who.”
Athen clicked off the vid screen with disgust. He did not count on his father getting the message to return her. In fact, knowing his father, Etlon was going to use Odette as a prop to lure him home into some bureaucratic position on Etlon.
All Athen had to do was find a way to get there and steal her back from under his father’s nose without having to make any concessions while doing so.
A scan told him there were very few ships in the area. Most of them were cargo ships trying to skirt any of the Suhlik patrols that probably meant instant death. Even escorted by Mahdfel warships, they were at risk. The Suhlik didn’t worry about taking prisoners and were more apt to blow a ship to pieces than they were to try and keep it whole for looting.
Lucky for Athen, he had something to trade. Time to go fishing with flegan and some very fine wine as bait.
Chapter Thirteen
Athen
“I am sorry but I make it a point not to take any passengers, especially not… soldiers.”
Athen looked at the short squat yellow poor excuse for a captain. He was a Noonian and a particularly ugly one at that. Noonian males were well known for their resentment of the Mahdfel. Even after the liberation of their homeworld from the Suhlik, Noonian women had continued to flee their planet in droves. After all, who wouldn’t prefer a strong protective Mahdfel to the ugly, and frankly rather noxious smelling Noonian males?
“Warriors,” Athen corrected.
“Like I said, I don’t take sides.”
Athen didn’t bother to point out that the Mahdfel kept him and his planet protected from the lizards who’d gladly enslave him or blast him out of the sky.
“So, we making a deal or what?” the captain asked, looking a bit nervous about the souring of negotiations.
He eyed the container of flegan flanked by five Etlonian Mahdfel. If the situation had not been desperate, Athen would not have been making this deal at all. He would have waited for another Mahdfel craft to swing by but another one wasn’t due to pass for at least 40 sols. And he’d be damned if he would wait that long, especially after he’d finally gotten ahold of his father.
“You said you didn’t want her,” Etlon had said stone faced.
“Didn’t she tell you I changed my mind?”
“Terran women are complicated.”
“All females are complicated. But you will send her back at the first opportunity?”
“Your mother likes her,” Etlon said casually.
“Good to know, that does not answer my question.”
“She thinks Odette and Bendon will be a good match.”
Athen took five breaths before responding to that comment. “She is mine.”
“Your mother doesn’t seem to think so. And I’d be inclined to trust her inclination. She’s seldom wrong.”
“If he touches her, I will kill him, brother or not.”
“And to do that, you will have to return home.”
With that cryptic comment, his father had cut the connection, and no further conniving or threats could get him back again.
The thought of Odette with that child. It made his skin crawl. It made his blood boil.
“This is intolerable!” Athen shouted. The Noo
nian took a step back but Athen pressed forward. “You will take us, or we will take your ship.”
“You wouldn’t dare.”
And that’s how Athen technically became a pirate.
There were only two Noonians on board besides the captain and none stood a chance against the five warriors behind Athen who read his cue and swiftly commandeered the ship. The three citizens would be kept in the camp until Athen could return with his cargo.
He planned to pay for the whole thing and pay well. He was a pirate, not a thief. The captain and his men were to enjoy a month’s unplanned “vacation”.
Once they were airborne and on their way, Athen’s men found a number of problems with the ill maintained craft. No Mahdfel would ever let their ship fall into such a state of disrepair so they began repairs in earnest. It was a good use of time and skills for men who had not been in space for nearly a year. The mission had put a pep in their step. Odette had managed to make herself popular.
Athen considered whether it was her sparkling personality or the fact that every single warrior, down to the last, had requested a mate. It had been an organized effort - they all had completed the requests and sent them within the same minute. He had yet to approve them but he knew that if he chose not to and he kept Odette, his men would no longer trust or respect him. Once she was safe and sound back on Noven 90, Athen planned to map out a master blueprint to expand the base and begin accepting mates. The Suhlik might still attack, but as far as that went, the Suhlik could attack any station or planet. Even Etlon was not completely safe.
It also meant that he and his men would definitely be out of the rotation for the front lines, though his father had probably seen to it that if their number were ever called, it would be promptly shuffled to the back of the list.
He still resented it. Just a little less, now that he accepted that his warriors were all itching for little Mahdfel warriors of their own.
The computer beeped at Athen. “What is it now?” Despite the lingering odor of Noonian, Athen had taken the extra shift in the cockpit. The meditation of the silence was very soothing and centering.
