by Ivy Barrett
Everyone went back to work, but the sound kept repeating. Each low rumble made Celeste more restless, and soon her pussy started aching again. Maybe she could calm him down, keep him from distracting everyone, or harming himself as he tried to escape the restraints.
Scooting near the foot of the table to avoid the rails, she slipped to the deck and looked around. No one was paying attention to her, so she calmly walked the short distance to Galzar’s room and ducked inside. Concealing her body with the partition, she looked out into the clinic. Everyone was still focused on their tasks. Galzar’s scent was strong, and she immediately inhaled, needing that smell desperately. She tried to pull the partition across the opening, but it wouldn’t budge.
“Mate,” Galzar muttered, his voice barely intelligible.
She moved to his side and touched his abdomen, slipping her hand up inside his uniform top. He rubbed against her, obviously eager for her touch. His gaze, the color of polished pennies, glowed with intensity. The same shimmering copper threaded through his dark hair. She pushed her fingers of her other hand into the short strands, wanting to know every inch of him.
He turned his head sharply and kissed her wrist, lips hot against her skin. He inhaled, then licked her and made the rumbling sound again. “Kiss me,” he commanded. “Must taste you.”
Without hesitation, she bent and pressed her mouth over his. His lips parted, and his tongue slid against hers. Oh, God, he tasted even better than he smelled. She deepened the kiss, wanting to be naked, needing his hands running all over her. She pulled her hand out from under his shirt and slid it along his arm to his wrist. She fiddled with the restraint without separating their mouths, but couldn’t find any sort of release. “How do these unfasten?”
“Don’t know.” He arched, trying to capture her lips again.
“Why did they restrain you? You’re a guest, not a prisoner.”
“I need you,” he told her, gaze burning into hers. “They knew I’d tear this place apart.”
Angry now, she looked out into the main room of the clinic. Everyone was busy. No one had even noticed that she’d left her bed. “I need you too,” she said with a naughty smile and crawled onto the table with him.
“Yes,” he moaned, eyes wild. “Open my pants and put me inside you.”
No power in the universe could have stopped her. She needed him more than breath. Ripping open the front of his pants, she took out his long, hard cock and then straddled his hips. The table was just barely wide enough to accommodate her knees. She guided him to her entrance, then slowly sank down onto her second mate.
He groaned her name, and she whispered his, then leaned forward so she could kiss him. He arched into her as she rode him with a smooth rocking motion. Bliss. It felt perfect, so damn amazing.
Jerking against his restraints, he grew restless and frustrated.
“I’m right here, Galzar. Concentrate on my pussy, how good it feels sliding up and down on your cock.” She shivered. Dirty talk had never been her thing, but fuck that was hot.
“Harder,” he growled out. “Fuck me harder.”
So she did. She slammed down onto him over and over, grinding her clit against his pelvic bone.
“Prime Medic,” someone called from right outside the room.
Celeste ignored them and went right on fucking her mate.
“Should we... interrupt them?”
“Hurry, Galzar,” she urged, squeezing her inner muscles as hard as she could. “Come, baby. I need your cum.”
With a furious roar, he obliged her, but it was obvious he was not satisfied. She felt his seed spurt and came around him, but she was frustrated by their audience.
“Celeste?”
She tensed and closed her eyes. Even in her muddled state, she recognized Lorna’s voice.
“Are you all right?” her sister asked.
“Go away,” Celeste cried. “Tell everyone to leave us alone!”
“Look at me first,” Lorna persisted.
Without getting off her mate, Celeste turned her head sharply and looked at her sister.
“You’re safe.” Lorna’s eyes were tear-bright and filled with concern. “You know that, right?”
“Yes. Now, go away.”
“Are you sure that’s what you want? We’ll protect you from him if you don’t want—”
“I need him, Lorna. You have two mates. I know you understand.”
“All right. We’ll leave.” She shot Belton a meaningful look then added, “Everyone will leave you alone.”
“The commander might have something to say about that,” Belton argued but motioned for everyone to back off.
Lorna started to leave too, but Celeste called, “Wait. His hands and feet. Tell them to release the restraints.”
Noj moved into view but quickly averted his gaze. “If I release him, I’ll have to lock you in. He has to be secured until the commander says otherwise.”
“So lock me in,” she said firmly. “He’s not going to hurt me. I’m what he wanted all along.”
Noj accepted her decision with a tense nod, and she heard the restraints release.
Galzar had her beneath him, legs spread wide before the privacy partition snapped shut. “Mate,” he growled against her parted lips, as his still-hard cock surged even deeper into her pussy.
She wrapped her arms around his neck, and pulled her legs up high against his sides, lost in the smoldering depths of his copper-colored eyes.
* * *
Ram woke up with a roar, every cell in his body screaming for Celeste. “Where’s my mate?” he shouted even before he opened his eyes. He tried to sit but found his movements limited by wrist and ankle restraints. “What the fuck? Release me right now!”
“Sir, please calm down. There has been a serious complication,” Noj pleaded, all but wringing his hands.
“Where is Celeste?” Ram tried to sound calmer, but he instinctively jerked against the restraints, making the table creak and groan.
“She is with... that is, it appears the Ventori is also...”
“She’s fucking Galzar,” Moxtel said, snapping Ram’s attention to the other side of the small room. “Are you awake enough to hear the details, or do you need a few minutes to clear your head?”
Ram generally reacted better to candor, and his first officer knew it. Dragging air into his lungs, Ram forced more of his anger back with each exhale. “What happened?” He wasn’t as calm as he sounded, but information might help with that. “Why is my mate fucking another male?”
Noj moved a bit closer to the bed as he explained. “Someone altered the injection Vikrin gave her. The coding had been carefully, and masterfully, engineered to trigger bonding fever.”
Why did Noj sound surprised? “That’s what it was supposed to do.”
“The injection contained DNA segments from both you and Galzar,” Moxtel stressed. “This was an intentional biologic trap set for you and the Ventori.”
That part was definitely new. Ram paused, starting to wonder if he was awake enough to deal with this or not. “Can you reverse it? I authorized tests and simulations, not this. Never this.”
“No, sir,” Noj told him emphatically. “Someone looped the security feed of Celeste’s holding cell. This began shortly after she arrived. The mutation is much too advanced to even attempt a reversal.”
Ram released a frustrated sigh, then looked at Noj. “Are the Tavorians capable of this? Vikrin brags about their expertise, but I know your team has been responsible for all the meaningful advancements.”
Noj inclined his head, acknowledging the praise, but he stressed, “For the most part, I agree. However, there is one member of their team far superior to the rest.”
“Pryar?” Ram growled inwardly. Vikrin bragged about the geneticist incessantly, treated him more like a celebrity than a scientist.
Noj nodded. “I’ve been trying to convince him to work with my team directly ever since Vikrin brought him aboard. Without Pryar, the Tavo
rians have no hope of ever accomplishing what Vikrin promised.”
Ram fought back his impatience. Noj had a tendency to ramble. “Did Pryar do this to me, or not? Did he do it to Celeste and Galzar?”
“Pryar is the only person I’ve ever encountered capable of producing this result,” Noj admitted.
Moxtel shook his head. “Even if he has the skills, it doesn’t make sense. How could Pryar have known Galzar would be here today and how did the Tavorians get their hands on both Ram’s and Galzar’s DNA? Pryar has been on this ship for less than two weeks. There is no way he did this alone.”
“There’s a question even more fundamental than that,” Ram said. “Why force a relationship between a human, a Ventori, and a Yashonty? That sort of alliance is what the Tavorians are trying to avoid. They would rather not interact with anyone.”
“That’s what Vikrin is trying to avoid,” Moxtel said thoughtfully. “Maybe Pryar feels differently.”
“Find out,” Ram directed Moxtel. “Is Vikrin still aboard or did he gate back to Earth?”
“He ran like the coward he is right after he left Celeste’s holding cell,” Moxtel told him. “I honestly think he has no idea anything went wrong. Pryar must have accomplices, but I don’t think Vikrin is one of them. It’s in our best interest for Vikrin to think he’s still in control. I’ll convince Pryar that keeping Vikrin out of this is in his best interest too.”
Ram nodded. “Do whatever it takes to get to the bottom of this.”
Moxtel inclined his head. “Consider it done.”
“Now, let me up before my mate bonds so completely with another male that she no longer wants me.” Ram jerked against his restraints, muscles straining, teeth clenched. He needed Celeste, and he needed her now.
Noj cleared his throat, looking intensely uncomfortable. “You only fucked her a few times, sir. If you prefer not to share your mate, you should be able to dissolve your link without damaging either you or—”
“Never,” Ram sneered. Just the thought of living without her made his entire body ache. He had given up any hope of being chosen by a life-bringer when the Skarilians attacked Yashontara, but the Tavorians—despite their many flaws—had changed all that. It didn’t matter that Celeste was from another planet, or that she’d chosen a Ventori as her other mate. Ram’s hope for immortality had been reignited, and he had no intention of giving up his dream again. “Where are they?”
“They calmed down enough to be moved to a cabin,” Moxtel told him. “I put them in the one across the corridor from yours.”
“Are you sure he didn’t force himself on her?” If Galzar did, he was dead. Ram didn’t care if he started a war with the Protectorate or not. No one would ever harm his mate.
“She went to him, sir,” Noj insisted.
“The first time he was still in restraints, so there’s no doubt about her willingness,” Moxtel added.
“I’m calm,” Ram lied. “Release me.”
Noj started to comply, but Moxtel stopped him. “He’s lying through his teeth. I’ll release him once he’s worked through the worst of his emotions. You’ve got patients who need you a lot more than Ram.”
With another tense nod, Noj returned to the outer room of the clinic.
“Summon Vikrin and Pryar,” Ram ordered. “They must pay for this treachery.”
“Not yet. You need to hear me out first.”
“Then release these fucking restraints,” Ram snapped. “That’s an order.”
Reluctantly, Moxtel triggered the release on the wrist restraints.
Ram sat up, waiting for the ankle restraints to pop open as well. He glared, but Moxtel just grinned.
“Half now, half after,” Moxtel explained.
“Fine.” Sensing his position, the intuitive table adjusted its shape, allowing him to relax while remaining upright. “Explain why I can’t kill them?”
“Like it or not, we need them.” True to his personality, Moxtel kept his explanation honest and to the point. “Vikrin is Prime Gatekeeper, and without those arrogant pricks, we can’t reach the Skarilians. Judging from your reaction to Celeste, Pryar is well on his way to creating a transformation program for all the Yashonty males devastated by the Skarilians. Besides, Pryar didn’t do this alone. We need to find out who else is involved and why they defied Vikrin.”
“All valid points and that’s why I asked you to investigate.” Ram clenched his teeth and took several deep breaths. “Let me off this table. My mate is in the cabin across from mine, fucking another male.”
“You’ve shared females before,” Moxtel pointed out. “I know this because you’ve joined Belton and me a time or two before we met Lorna. Had you decided you didn’t want to share your mate?”
“He’s Ventori,” Ram sneered, “a godsdamn Ventori!”
“I researched him as you asked. If he’s half the warrior his record indicates, he’s damn impressive. We’re both frustrated with Savator because he’s become so mired down in rules and procedures. Galzar is what Bron Savator was ten years ago: savage, aggressive, fearless. Yet he’s also reported to be level-headed and fair. Galzar is exactly what we need to help us win this war.”
Ram shook his head with a harsh laugh. “You can be as manipulative as a female when you want to be, Magister. How long have you been practicing that little speech?”
Despite the seriousness of the situation, Moxtel smiled. “A couple of hours. Noj thought it wise to keep you sedated until we understood what happened.”
Ram stretched his back and shoulders. “Release my legs. I need to go get better acquainted with my female’s other mate. I was actually starting to like him until he tried to kill me.”
“He’s considerably calmer now, thanks to Celeste.”
Ram felt Moxtel scan him one last time then the ankle restraints released. After swinging his legs to the deck, Ram walked out of isolation. He waved to Noj as he walked from the clinic, Moxtel at his side. “How is Lorna taking this? Have you told her yet?”
“She knows, and she’s really upset, but she just went through it herself. She knows how fast it can happen and how intense it becomes.”
Moxtel returned to the command deck, so they headed in opposite directions as they got off the lift. Ram found his steps dragging as he approached the cabin Moxtel had assigned Celeste and Galzar. As commander, Ram could enter any doorway on the ship whenever he wanted, but he told the computer to announce his arrival. After a quick pause, the door slid open, and he came face to face with his rival.
“I’m not here to fight,” he said firmly. “I’m here to talk.”
Galzar, who had obviously pulled on a pair of pants to answer the door, motioned him inside without a word.
Celeste came out of the bedroom in a knee-length robe. Her hair was tousled, her mouth kiss-swollen. Or had those lips become swollen and flushed sliding up and down Galzar’s cock? The image was easy to picture, and oddly it wasn’t as upsetting as Ram expected. Moxtel was right. He’d fucked more females with other males present than while he was alone. But all of the males had been Yashonty, and none of the females had been his mate.
“You said you didn’t want to be shared,” he reminded Celeste. “You seemed really frightened by the idea.”
“I was frightened by a lot of things when I first met you.” She fiddled with the belt on her robe, but he didn’t sense or smell fear.
Determined to remain calm and resolve this as quickly as possible, Ram focused on Celeste. If she could give him offspring as they’d been led to believe and she had chosen Galzar willingly, nothing else mattered. Ram would swallow his pride and learn to share with a fucking Ventori. But first and foremost, Ram had to be absolutely sure that this was what his mate wanted. “It wasn’t just when we met,” he persisted. “You said it today when I told you to come to the officers’ dining hall.”
“I didn’t think I wanted this. It’s nothing I’d ever considered before, but I saw Galzar, and I just knew. He is just as much my mate as y
ou are.”
This wasn’t her fault any more than it was his or Galzar’s. They were all being manipulated by something they didn’t yet understand. Well, he understood why they felt this way, but he still needed to learn what Pryar gained by setting this drama in motion.
“Can we sit down?” Celeste suggested. “This feels confrontational.”
Ram was too restless to sit, but he motioned the others toward the padded benches. Rather than sitting side by side, Galzar and Celeste sat facing each other, which left Ram pacing in between.
“Has anyone told you what happened to us?” Ram asked.
“I’m in rut and so are you,” Galzar said. “There is no real mystery here. Spontaneous rut has happened with human females before. We just—”
“There was nothing spontaneous about this.” Ram glared at him and felt his hands clench into fists. The Ventori were such disagreeable bastards. How in damnation was he going to share his mate with one? “She was given an injection that was supposed to make her compatible with Yashonty males. Why did it send you into rut?”
“And why did none of the other Yashonty males react?” Celeste wanted to know. “I only want you and Ram.” She dragged her gaze away from the Ventori and looked at Ram, eyes wide and curious. Conflict twisted through her, but Ram was unable to decipher the exact emotions contributing to the tangle. “Was the coding manipulated for this specific result?”
“Yes,” Ram told her. “Noj is convinced it was Pryar. It’s possible Vikrin knew nothing about the changes.”
“That doesn’t excuse what Vikrin did to me,” she stressed angrily. “It was wrong. End of story.”
“You did not volunteer to be their test subject?” Menace pulsed through every syllable of Galzar’s question.
“Oh, my God, you are both such hypocrites.” Celeste shot to her feet and positioned herself facing both males, but she started with Ram. “You have no problem kidnapping females and turning us into sex slaves. Thank God you draw the line at genetic experimentation!”
Ordinarily, he would not allow such an outburst, but she was suffering from bonding fever. It heightened emotions and made everyone more aggressive. He could review the specifics of Yashonty culture, explain all the reasons they believed what they did, but she was too angry to listen. Besides, he knew enough about human females to understand her reaction. If the situation were reversed, he’d be angry too.
