Braxtyn (Mated to the Alien, #8)

by Kate Rudolph

  Claim. Oh. That should not have sent a thrill of excitement through her. No. Bad body.

  But she wanted Brax and she wanted him now. “Come to my quarters?”

  And as she opened the door to the ship, he followed.

  THEY DIDN’T MAKE IT to her quarters. Once the door was closed behind them and Vita stole a second to turn up the heat, she pushed Brax against the wall and kissed him again. He tasted sweet and a bit like the wine and dessert they’d been eating. She pushed the jacket off his shoulders and cursed as it caught and refused to move. She had to stop kissing him for a second to get the clothes off him, and it was a second too long. He was there and she wanted him now.

  But the jacket was gone and then so was hers. And she ripped at his top with desperate hands until the buttons popped and exposed his sexy blue chest to her questing fingers. She’d seen the dark marks on his chest and arms before, but she hadn’t taken the time to explore. Now she did, her fingers and tongue tracing over the thick flesh. Brax groaned as her tongue laved at his nipple and she grinned up at him. Yeah, she liked hearing him make those noises.

  She laced their fingers together and pulled him down the hall, stumbling into her quarters. She pushed off the rest of her clothes in a rush and watched as he disrobed. It never occurred to her to keep anything on. She wasn’t exactly sure what the “claiming” entailed, but she trusted Brax not to go too far. And she wanted to be skin to skin. She’d never wanted anyone as much as she wanted him, and she’d never trusted anyone as much either. But it was like a switch had been flipped and she couldn’t not trust him. It was just ingrained deep in her bones. That might worry her later, but not now, not when he was standing beside her bed, a hand casually stroking his cock as he watched her with eyes that burned a blue bright enough to burn.

  She stepped right up to him and placed her hand on his chest, pushing him back with the lightest of touches until his legs hit the bed. He didn’t resist, and Vita realized that he was giving her all the control. “How does the claiming thing work?” she asked.

  He sucked in a shuddering breath and shivered as if he was imagining it. “Penetration and completion.”

  “Any penetration?” Cause she wanted to get her lips around him, but if having part of him in her sealed this thing between them, she wasn’t ready for that.

  “Not just any,” he said to her relief. “Won’t let it get that far.”

  She had more questions, but they were theoretical, and the closer she stood to him and the more the heat of his body brushed against her the less she cared. There would be no riding that thick cock of his today, but she had more she wanted to do. Like watch him fall apart. She pushed against him more until he fell back against the bed and laid back, propped up by his elbows, watching as she knelt in front of him and continued to kiss his chest. She let her fingers splay out against the outline of his abs and trail down over his thighs, but she didn’t touch the thick organ laying between them. He made little breaths and cursed, and she was pretty certain he was ready to beg, but he said nothing, waiting to see what she would do.

  Oh, this kind of power could be a heady thing. Vita wasn’t sure what she was supposed to do with it.

  But she wanted to bring him to the edge of pleasure, wanted to see if his eyes could get any more blue. Wanted to see what he’d do to her when he was mad with want. Would he snap? Would he break his promise? She already knew he wouldn’t, and it was the only thing that gave her the confidence to keep going.

  His cock rose up out of a thatch of dark hair and Vita took her time to study it. The same markings that covered his chest and arms were there, and there were bumps and ridges that made her want to get him inside her and see just how he felt. But they weren’t doing that now. She wasn’t ready for all that it meant.

  But she could taste him. She needed to taste him.

  And she did. Swirling her tongue around the head and taking him fully into her mouth, smiling around him as he groaned and begged her for more, doing his best not to thrust up into her and choke her. She used her hands when her mouth wasn’t enough and played him like an instrument, loving the noises he made and the way he moved beneath her. He tasted salty and a little sweet, and she let herself get lost in it. She could stay in bed with him for days and revel in the thought of bringing him pleasure and being pleasured by him with no worry for the outside worlds. What did they matter when she was here with him?

  She’d never imagined a perfect moment, but this had to be close.

  But she needed to be closer. She wanted him inside her. She wanted to feel him claiming her, his hot release bringing her over the edge. And it was on the tip of her tongue to beg for it, but Vita wasn’t going to let her desire-drunk mind steal that decision from her.

  When Brax moaned out a warning she pulled away, letting her hand do the work while she watched him come undone, his back arching off the bed as he came, his hot seed landing on her hand and his chest.

  A small part of her expected that to be it. He’d had his pleasure and that was enough, but he didn’t collapse into a sated pile of manliness. Instead he took a breath and sat up, flipping her over and capturing her mouth with his. And then it was his turn to feast on her, spreading her legs wide and letting his tongue and fingers delve into her depths until she was whimpering and rippling around him in sated pleasure.

  The man knew how to use his mouth. And his hands. And his body. And it might have been the pleasure talking, but Vita was sure in that moment that she’d give in to him one day, if only to keep him in her bed. If he was this good at sex, how could she let him go?

  But even that thought sent a pang through her. She definitely liked the sex Brax could give her, but he was so much more than that. And she’d barely known him a week. How would she feel after a month? More time? The safest thing to do would be to send him on his way and let her heart recover from the fall it was threatening to take. Instead she burrowed in close to him and threw an arm around his middle.

  “You can sleep here tonight,” she mumbled against him, her lips brushing his hot skin. Tonight and many nights to follow, she was sure.

  Maybe he was onto something with this mate thing.

  Chapter Twelve

  BRAX DIDN’T RECOGNIZE the bed he woke in, and for half a second the warm body pressed against him was a mystery. And then the night before came rushing back to him and he grinned. Oh, yeah. Vita. He nuzzled against her, hair brushing his face as he dragged in her scent. Sleeping in her bed had wrapped the smell of her around him, but he wanted more, wanted it imprinted deeply on his soul. He could feel a faint hint of the bond sparking to life deep within him, but the threads that connected them were gossamer thin. More than nothing, but barely.

  Still, Brax had hope. Vita had come to him, had invited him into her bed, and hadn’t kicked him out when all was said and done. Perhaps his expectations were too low, but he was calling that a win for now.

  She stirred and arched back into him, pressing her body fully against his. And the rest of Brax’s body woke up and wondered if they could sneak in another round before heading off on their hunt.

  “We weren’t supposed to stay the night,” she muttered. And then he could hear her grin. “Worth it, though.”

  Brax placed a gentle kiss on the back of her head. “So worth it.”

  Before anything more interesting could happen, she pushed away and sat up. Brax trailed his fingers across her naked back and did his best not to wince at the scars she wore so casually. She’d shut him out if she thought he pitied her, and he didn’t. She was a survivor. But that didn’t mean he felt no sorrow for the childhood she’d been robbed of.

  “We’ll leave once we shower,” she said, not bothering to reach for clothes for the short trip to the shower room. The heating system kept the ship nice and warm so neither of them was bothered by the nudity. In fact, Brax appreciated it.

  He was going to be good. He wasn’t going to push. But when Vita cast a look over her shoulder and raised an eyebrow
he was out of bed in a flash and following her to wash.

  A sated hour later they were still drying off while they sat in the cockpit and Vita prepared to launch. Brax studied her and appreciated the practiced ease with which she went through her procedures. In no time they were lifting off from the frigid little planet and on their way to Tendrit.

  “Do you think we’ll find Ygreen there?” he asked. “And do we have a plan for that?”

  Once they were free of orbit, Vita switched over to autonav and gave her attention to Brax. “I’ve got the computer looking for all the info it can find on Tendrit and cross referencing it with the profile I’ve created for Ygreen. If Kasko’s information is good, there’s a chance the thief is hanging out there. And Kasko had no reason to lie to us, at least not one that I know of.”

  Brax wanted to trust the crew, if only because he’d been able to talk to a Detyen for hours as if they were old friends. Kiran had known nothing about the Detyen reemergence on Earth and had seemed intrigued when Brax told him about the Detyen Legion. And he’d been incredibly satisfied when Brax revealed that they’d discovered who had destroyed Detya and brought their home planet the justice it had been denied. He didn’t want to think Kiran’s crew had led them astray, but the only person he trusted right now was Vita. “And if he’s there we just do, what? Nab him and throw him in the hold?”

  Vita nodded. “That part is pretty simple. Get close, slap the cuff on him, get him to the ship. Or get close, knock him out, get him to the ship if the cuff doesn’t fit. Return him to Roski, get the payment, get my job back, and get—” she cleared her throat, “and figure out what’s next.”

  And get you home. She hadn’t said it. It had been the plan, hers if not his, and that plan seemed to be changing. Brax couldn’t help the hope that surged inside of him. His mate liked him. She might not have fully accepted him yet, but she liked him. He could work with that.

  If only he didn’t have his doubts about Roski.

  “What if something goes wrong? Or if this is another wrong guy?” He would have figured there was some sophistication to the plan, but Vita’s method was as basic as it came. That was good in its own way. The fewer moving parts, the less likely it was to fall apart. But it also relied on a lot of assumptions about what they’d find on Tendrit.

  “Then we keep looking. Coyl Ygreen is holed up somewhere and half the bounty hunters on this side of the galaxy are looking for him. We’re going to find him. We just have to be patient.” She looked at him like she was daring him to contradict her.

  Brax wanted to ask at what point they called off the hunt. He knew she had money troubles. The state of her ship broadcast that loud and clear. They couldn’t afford to spend too long looking for Ygreen before fuel and food became an issue. Brax had some credits of his own, but not nearly enough to keep a ship running. But Vita didn’t seem like she wanted to contemplate what would happen if her plan to get back in Roski’s good graces fell through. And Brax wouldn’t push. Not yet. But in the back of his mind he was trying to come up with what happened if.

  But they weren’t there yet.

  Tendrit wasn’t that far, lucky for them. And though it took most of a day to get there, the place they’d decided to land was just rounding on morning. Brax and Vita had taken turns snoozing between bouts of swapping stories and flirting. There were things he could have been working on, repairs he could have been making, but he’d rather steal one day away with his mate, especially when she seemed happy to tell him about herself. There were the jobs that had gone comically wrong, the stupid contests in bars that she’d won to everyone’s surprise, and the proof in story after story that her life was her job and she didn’t know what else to do.

  In response, Brax shared stories about life on Honora Station. He shared the scrapes he’d gotten into with his brothers and the one time he and Dekon had tried to swap places and failed miserably. They might have looked identical, but apparently they acted nothing alike. When he’d mentioned Shayn and Naomi, Vita seemed briefly interested until she quickly changed the subject. Mated pairs were out of bounds, apparently. So Brax talked about other things, and before he knew it they were approaching Tendrit.

  Vita put them into orbit while she pulled up the last of her calculations about Coyl Ygreen.

  “It looks like he favors the southern continent and I have it narrowed down to a hundred kilometer radius. That’s still a lot of ground to cover. There are two resorts located in the search zone, and I’m thinking he’ll be at the... okay, that has to be a translation error.”

  “What?” Brax asked, trying to look over her shoulder to see what she was reading.

  “The Soggy Sands? Sounds... moist.”

  Brax scrunched up his nose. “And abrasive. Why would he go there?”

  “There’s a high limit gambling den. If Ygreen is anywhere, he’s there.”

  “Then let’s go get him.”

  THE SOGGY SANDS COULD have been worse. It sat near a beach on a tropical island, and the climate control indoors made everything feel pleasant. The walls were painted a rich blue and the floor color undulated like the sea floor. It might have been pretty if the place hadn’t been inundated with the oppressive feel of the masses losing their money. The resort seemed more geared towards gamblers and pleasure seekers intent on losing their fortunes than anyone seeking wholesome fun, and there was a seediness to the place that permeated every step. Vita had already been offered three types of drugs and two sexual propositions, one from a prostitute and one seeking to procure her services in bed.

  The second man was lucky he hadn’t lost a hand... or another organ. She’d let the escort down easy. He was just doing his job, and there was sure to be more willing prey.

  She felt strangely alone without Brax, but they’d decided that he’d cover the back exit from the high stakes gambling room in case Ygreen made a run for it. And neither of them mentioned that really, Vita just wanted him out of the way. She appreciated Brax’s way with a screwdriver, but he wasn’t a fighter. And she could see the hesitance in his eyes every time she talked about capturing Ygreen. No need to risk it.

  And they’d be together again soon.

  Was that another part of the stupid mate thing? Vita hoped not. She’d have to send him on his way eventually and she didn’t want to contemplate feeling like there was a hole right below her heart. And she wasn’t going to think about sending him away just yet. Not until this mission was done and she had the credits to make everything up to him properly. Besides, he hadn’t actually mentioned wanting to go home since he stopped being her captive and had become her partner.

  But she wasn’t going to let that hope bloom. Hope just led to disappointment, especially from a man who said he was promising forever. All she had to do was bind herself to him and accept whatever consequences that entailed.

  She shook her head to refocus. She couldn’t get distracted on a hunt. That led to injury, death, or loss of her meal ticket. No, thank you.

  Unlike her normal hunts, tonight she was dressed to fit in. She wore the one tight-fitting suit she owned, the clinging, black synthetic leather fabric hugging her every curve. Her hair was braided tightly against her head and her boots looked sexy even without a heel. She was sex incarnate, but still had the range of motion necessary to win a fight. But the suit didn’t provide much in the way of protection from a blaster or a knife, and she hated that her face was exposed. But there would have been no hope of getting inside the resort if she wore her normal gear. She drew eyes for being one of the few humans in the place, and for being dressed like she was, but the smarter people saw the hunter in her and kept away. And she’d already dealt with the dumb ones.

  The high rollers room was a different story. Only a few of the players looked at her when she came in, those who’d already folded their hands or were taking breaks to drink. The others were too focused on the game to care about a sexy woman, and lucky for her, one focused individual was Coyl Ygreen.

  He’d trie
d to be smart, she could tell. He was close to the main entrance of the room with a straight shot to the door and his back to a wall. If he’d been paying attention to his surroundings, he might have been able to make an escape without her catching him, but he was too dedicated to his game and had lost sight of the danger.

  Vita spotted an empty cart and quickly rolled it between two tables to cut off an easy escape route and crossed until she was standing behind him. “Mr. Ygreen? My boss sent me over.” She made it as sexy as she could, breathy and edgy and over the top.

  “I noted on my reservation I’m not interested in working girls. Or boys. But thanks.” He didn’t look up at her, but then just as suddenly his head snapped her way. “Ygreen isn’t my name,” he tried to recover.

  And Vita’s grin turned predatory. “We both know that’s not true. Coyl Ygreen. You owe a debt. Now come with me or I make this difficult.”

  “My debts are all paid!” He said it loud enough to catch the attention of security and Vita had to act quick. She pulled out the control cuff and had it around his hand in a second.

  “Fold your hand and excuse yourself. Then follow me.”

  The fight went out of him and he did as instructed. Vita put a hand on him to lead him towards the back entrance where Brax was waiting. The chances of Ygreen throwing off the influence of the cuff was nearly impossible. Nearly. And she wasn’t going to take the chance, not when she finally had him.

  And just like they planned, Brax was waiting. He looked from her to Coyl and raised his eyebrows in silent question. She confirmed Coyl’s identity with a nod.

  The trip back to her ship was a tense one. She was sure security would catch them mid-abduction, or perhaps that Ygreen might have friends waiting somewhere. But it didn’t happen, and in no time they were in the ship. Vita shoved Ygreen into the makeshift cell and was ready to take off when Brax stopped her.