Glancing over my shoulder, I walked toward the door. One golden god—who was tossing his robe back around his shoulders to cover himself—and one frowning, armored warrior hovered protectively right behind me. I had no doubt they would brutalize anyone who even looked at me sideways. This was reassuring and oddly humbling at the same time. They didn’t even know me, and yet they weren’t going to fuck around.
No one had ever had my back before. I’d been the law breaker, the ballbuster, and that had landed me in jail. I’d only had myself. No one had stood up for me or the reasons behind my actions. Not even my parents. They’d hovered and prodded in equal measure when I was small, but once I’d grown beyond their ability to control, they’d pretty much pretended I didn’t exist unless I was sitting at the dinner table with them making small talk or asking my mother about her day. This had been less and less often as I grew more and more rebellious, my actions more dangerous. My father’s disapproval had been harder and harder to take, and partly because I realized he was right.
I probably shouldn’t have blown a hole in those ships. No, I definitely should not have done what I did. But would I do it again? Perhaps. Yes. Most likely. Even now, how many whales were swimming with their calves because I had broken the law?
My choices were my own, and I’d made peace with them while melting from boredom in that jail cell. I hoped, as I looked at the two fierce aliens hovering behind me now, that they would be another decision I could live with.
My father had tried to turn me into a successful surgeon. My mother had tried to turn me into a submissive wife who served the community. They’d both been protective because I was their only child.
With Surnen and Trax, they didn’t need a reason to be protective. The just were.
“Stop.” Surnen’s sharp order caused my feet to stop moving, and I froze in place. “You will not leave this room without a collar, female. It is not safe.”
Was this rule for me because Surnen was a bossy fucker or because that was how Prillons did things? There was a difference between his comment about colors and this. Surnen’s tone had changed from alpha male to… pure command. This was not a request.
The strangest thing was, my body reacted to that tone. A shiver of lust ran down my spine and shot bolts of lightning to my core. I went from wet and aroused—who wouldn’t be after staring at these two?—to throbbing with need between one second and the next.
Damn it. My pussy was all about that heated tone. Definitely not what I was expecting. No one talked to me like that. Not even my father.
My mind flashed to the testing dream. Those guys had been commanding, and I’d lost control during the dream. I’d loved how they’d behaved, how they’d handled me.
No, it hadn’t been me. It had been a dream. But had it? Who had the best orgasm of her life from a dream? Why did I secretly love what those dream aliens had said and done? Why did I ache now because of Surnen’s similar tone?
Why did I fight not to sway toward Surnen as he walked over? Why did I crave the heat of his hands as they came to rest atop my shoulders for the first time? The hard feel, the… comfort.
“Mate, it is not safe for you to leave this room unadorned,” he said, his voice coming directly behind me. “Other warriors will interpret the lack of a collar about your neck as your rejection of the match. They will assume you are free to take another mate, and will issue a warriors’ challenge. They will try to take you from us.”
I glanced over my shoulder at him. “How? I thought the matching program was it. Done deal for at least thirty days.”
“Officially that is true. Within the Coalition, the collar is a sign of belonging, of protection offered to a female and of worth when worn by a male.”
“Wait. I understand the protection thing, but worth of a male? That doesn’t make sense.”
Trax joined Surnen, and I was surrounded by heat, a wall of alien muscle on each side of me. His hand settled at the base of my neck in a heavy caress. “No male considers himself worthy until he has a mate who has chosen to be with him. It is an honor for us to win your heart and your trust, Mikki. When you choose us, every male who sees the collars about our necks will know you found us worthy, that you chose to love us and gift us with your life and your body. Prillon warriors fight for the right to claim a bride, and to woo her.”
His words finished me, and I did sway backward, right into Surnen’s heat. “Are you… you can’t be serious.”
“He speaks true, mate. We will never lie to you.” Surnen’s hand dropped from my shoulder to the curve of my waist to steady me, and I bit my lip to stop the moan from escaping my throat. Holy shit, these guys were lethal sex gods. Surnen’s other hand moved from my shoulder to stroke the left side of my neck as he spoke gently into my ear. “The collar will remain black until the official claiming, until you accept us as yours and allow us to claim you forever. Until then, the black collar is a known custom. A sign that you are being courted by two powerful, possessive and protective warriors who will destroy anyone who dares to hurt you or try to take you from us.”
“Like an engagement ring.”
“I do not know this Earth custom, but if it is a sensible comparison to you, then yes. The others will challenge Trax and me to combat in the fighting pits if my collar is not about your neck. You are beautiful, Mikki. Soft. Passionate. Full of fire. They will want you.” Using a gentle touch, Surnen turned me to face him, and I was oddly disappointed he now wore the long cape. Too bad. His body was… worth admiring.
Trax stood close so I could see both of their earnest expressions as he spoke. “We are contaminated, Mikki. We are not perfect, and we know you could choose to go to another, less damaged warrior in the Fleet. But we want you. We will fight to keep you, if you let us. We will fight to prove our worth, female, if that is your wish. We will fight them all and prove our capture and imprisonment has not hindered our ability to protect you.”
He was one hundred percent serious. Shocked, I looked to Surnen. His expression was too serious by far. “Is this true? You’d fight for me?”
“Yes. We would be honored to fight for you, if that is your desire.” Surnen assured me as Trax stepped forward, his dark skin pulling at me like a magnet. I had to clench my free hand into a fist to keep from touching him, from reaching up and tracing the line of his full lips with my index finger. My tongue.
God, the testing must have broken me, because I was a horny slut. The attraction was instant and insane.
My hand moved almost as if it had a mind of its own, but I pulled back at the last moment, lowering back to my side so as to resist temptation. “I don’t know what to say. I don’t want either one of you to get hurt.”
Trax stared at my hand as if I’d broken something inside him, and my lust mellowed into wanting to comfort him. I was definitely flawed somehow. The mood swings I’d had in the last five minutes were enough proof of that.
“We are not perfect males. We know this to be true,” Trax sighed. “The Hive implants make us hideous and contaminated, but they also make us strong. We are not afraid of the challenge if you wish us to prove ourselves.”
Hideous? Was he out of his damn mind? I’d seen the silver implants on Surnen’s body, and they weren’t that bad. Weird, but not a turnoff. Definitely not a turnoff. Did Trax think they were that bad? I hadn’t seen much of his yet, but it was obvious by his words that he worried about my reaction, that he found the silver bits to be hideous.
“None would take you from us, mate, even an Atlan beast,” Trax continued. “Do not fear the outcome. We will not be the ones to die in the pits.”
“Stop.” Who said anything about fighting and dying in pits? “No fighting. No one dies because of me. That’s ridiculous.”
Surnen stopped caressing my neck, and I realized he’d been touching me the entire time and I had accepted his touch as if it were familiar. Calming.
Mine.
He pulled one of those strange metal collars from a deep pocket in
the robe he wore. “Will you accept my mating collar, Umiko Tanaka of Earth? Will you grant me thirty days to win your heart?”
“No one calls me Umiko except my parents, and we don’t get along all that well,” I grumbled.
“It is your name, and it is beautiful. I have made a formal request, mate. Do you accept my collar and our protection?” Surnen eyed me with a well of patience that was clearly very deep. He was pretty insistent. I had to answer him, or we weren’t leaving the transport room. It was either accept the collar or they fought other aliens in something called the pits. I didn’t need much imagination to fill in the blanks on that one.
I sighed. “Yes, if you promise to call me Mikki.”
He tipped his head. “I give you my oath.”
Surnen lifted his hands to my neck, the collar poised above my skin. This time I didn’t need to lift my hair, for Trax moved into place behind me and lifted the long, heavy mess off my neck so Surnen could place the collar.
It was black and cool to the touch. It clicked into place, some invisible locking mechanism moving against the back of my spine like a caress. Then, like magic, the collar adjusted itself, shrinking to fit perfectly about my neck. It wasn’t heavy, but it was the symbol of a binding oath. Significant, which made it weigh a lot more than it should have.
Both males stared as if hypnotized by the vision of that collar around my neck. As if it were the most amazing thing they’d ever seen.
“Is that it?” I asked, lifting my hand so I could run my fingertips along the edge.
“No. Now we will become one in mind, if not in body.” Surnen pulled out two additional collars, offering one to Trax. They both lifted the collars and put them about their necks at the same time.
“Now you will know how important you are to us, mate,” Surnen said.
Surnen had only said I had to wear a collar so everyone knew I belonged to them. But he I had assumed they would only put them on if I decided to stay with them permanently. They seemed relieved, as if wanting everyone to know they belonged to me. I wasn’t the only one giving something to this… relationship.
Their collars clicked into place, and it was my turn to stare, admiring them, knowing that the presence of those collars meant they were mine. At least for now.
Mine. These two big aliens were all mine. What a strange and thrilling—
Holy shit.
Lust. Need. Obsession. Protectiveness. Relief. Desire. Fear. Pain. Longing.
Somehow their emotions rolled over me. Through me. I cried out at the intensity of it.
“Control yourself.” Surnen barked the order to Trax, and the noise inside my mind quieted to a manageable hum. All the emotions were there but blocked somehow, muted by Surnen’s iron will. His presence was like a steel wall in my mind, blocking the wind during a hurricane. I felt the press of Trax’s emotions, but Surnen’s snapped words had somehow tamed them.
“Thank you,” I replied, struggling with the intensity of feeling. I’d instinctively reached for Surnen when the overload hit me. Embarrassed, I released the tight grip I had on his forearm. My small words felt inadequate for the level of power he had rolling off him. The level of absolute control. Not only could I see it in his stance, the fierce lines on his face, but I sensed it through the collar. His will was pure steel. Unbending. Unyielding. Unbreakable.
And the alien computer matching thing thought he was the perfect mate for me?
That was just crazy. Wasn’t it?
So why did that iron will make me feel so… safe?
“You are mine, Mikki,” Surnen stated, focusing once again upon me. He’d heard my wish to be called by my nickname and was honoring his word. Feeling his emotions within me now, I had no doubt that keeping his oath was paramount to him. A matter of honor. “You will not suffer while I can prevent it.”
Such simple words, but so powerful an effect on my heart. How did he irritate me and make me want to curl into his lap at the same time?
The idea brought back memories of the testing dream, and another Prillon warrior’s lap. Would Surnen’s cock feel that good inside me? Would Trax want me to suck him off? Or would they take turns filling me up? Which would I prefer?
I didn’t know. Decisions, decisions. All I knew was that the blast of lust from Trax combined with Surnen’s iron control had me so hot and needy that I struggled to form words.
Maybe we could just…
I glanced around. Nope. No privacy. The transporter guy was still standing there, pretending to adjust something on the panel in front of him. I wasn’t buying the act. A new bride arriving on this planet must be quite an event. If he was like the men back home, he’d be the center of attention later when the rest of the base tried to get details out of him. Me screaming as Surnen and Trax fucked me was not something I wanted as the topic of conversation at dinner tonight. Or any night, for that matter.
“Can we go now?” I didn’t want to stand around, thinking about riding their cocks, when they could probably feel me lusting after them through these collars. Now I understood what Trax had meant about sharing emotions. Perhaps this was oversharing? Didn’t a woman need to keep some secrets? The way they looked at me, with heated gazes, it was obvious they knew exactly how I felt at the moment.
“Yes, mate. We will show you to our private quarters.” From one breath to the next, Trax lifted me in his arms, cradling me like I was precious. “Your new home.”
Home. That word had meant a lot of different things to me over the years, but I’d never felt at home anywhere but riding a wave or floating in the water. Still, being in his arms and sensing Surnen beside us, I realized perhaps home might not be a place. I was ready for whatever came next, especially if it was anything like the testing dream.
6
Surnen, Personal Quarters, The Colony
* * *
I could not believe the female Trax carried into my quarters truly belonged to me. To Trax. To us. A female all our own. Forever—if she didn’t reject us in the next thirty days.
She’d seen me. All of me. She knew of my Hive integrations. She looked upon them all. I was not the warrior I’d been in my youth. I was still strong. In fact, I was stronger, thanks to the Hive.
But were Trax’s fears my own as well? Would this small human reject me because of what I had become? Would she reject Trax for the silver that circled his neck, that made him look… different? I was accustomed to what the Hive had done to me. Trax, however, had never made peace with his integrations, to how he’d changed. Worse, to the way his own family had reacted to his altered visage. Trax was more guarded about his integrations, even on a planet where everyone had them.
The interest Mikki had shown, the desire in her gaze, had not been influenced by my needs or wants as her mind had been completely her own. When she’d looked upon me, I had noted no signs of disinterest or disgust. The opposite, in fact. When I bared myself to her, she had not yet been wearing my collar, and I’d watched her closely, saw her gaze scan every inch of me, then stall on my cock. I was eager for her, and she’d seen the evidence. I hadn’t lied. How could I when the proof of my desire was evident in the thrust of my cock, the ache in my balls with the need to fill her with my seed? Marking her flesh with love bites wasn’t a Prillon custom, but I had a strange urge to do so. The collar around her neck wasn’t enough. I wanted the Atlans and Everians on the planet to scent me and Trax on her skin. To know she was well pleasured and protected.
Mine. They were both mine now, Mikki and Trax. My family. Mine to protect. Trax was emotional, aggressive and tended to react without thinking. He was also honorable, strong, nearly as fast as an Everian and absolutely ruthless in battle. He was a good choice as a second for my female, but I had no doubt that it would be up to me to protect them both, to keep us together as a cohesive unit. They were my responsibility and one I was honored to bear. I felt Mikki’s delight at the way Trax carried her. My forearm still burned where she’d reached to me for comfort when Trax’s emotions had
overwhelmed her.
That small action on her part sealed her fate. She had reached for me. Me. That one instinctive act of trust had nearly made me throw her to the ground and fuck her in the transport room. She was mine, utterly and completely mine, whether she knew it or not.
I had no idea of the depth of my possessiveness until now. A fierce protectiveness overcame me. I would not see her harmed. I could not survive something happening to her. Not like what happened to my mother. My fathers hadn’t followed protocols on an alien world, and that oversight had killed them all. I could not risk this human’s life because I was lax in my role as mate. Emotions I’d held at bay were now appearing. Hope, for one. A second chance at a real life. The deaths of my parents had happened over two decades ago. A different time, long before I joined the Coalition. But my mother’s wild innocence and my fathers’ tendency to indulge her had changed my path. It had led me here and, ultimately, to Mikki.
I would be fierce for her. I knew nothing else, felt nothing but protectiveness and desire. Even greed. Yes, I was greedy for this female to be all mine. I would share her only with Trax.
The collars’ connection between all three of us was intense. I had heard of what would happen when we wore them, but the reality was beyond expectations. I’d never had this mental bond with another. I could feel Trax’s eagerness for our mate amplifying my own desire. His thrill of having her here. His worry that she might reject him. That he might fail me as a second.
I hoped his worry would prove futile, but his doubts had become mine and contributed to my decision to bare myself to our female upon our first meeting, as had been done in the old ways. I wanted her to see me, all of me, silver and gold, Prillon and Hive, and know the damaged male she would have as her own.
If she were to reject me, I would survive the pain if the act was done early, at first sight, before I knew anything about her.
Her Cyborg Warriors Page 6
