The doctor came over and handed me a white sheet, and I laid it over my lap.
“As you saw, I’m fine.” I looked to the doctor. “What about integrations?”
He looked to the tablet he held. “The data shows a multitude of microscopic integrations. There is only one other warrior on record with this type of integration, a Prillon male on The Colony. His name is Tyran. I have reviewed his file, and the type of implant you and he received does not appear to affect your mind until complete saturation level is achieved. Your cellular saturation is at eighty-five percent.”
Fuck. One or two more injections from that blue fucker and he would have had me.
The doctor was still talking. “The integrations will make your muscles much stronger and more resilient than before. Your bones as well. I believe the Prillon, Tyran, has been tested and is stronger than the integrated Atlans on Base 3. As long as you do not receive any additional integration treatments, you’ll be fine. Stronger. Faster. But fine. As to your general health. You were sleep deprived, malnourished and dehydrated, but the ReGen pod did its job.”
“Thank you.” He spoke true. My body hummed with vitality. Life.
Need.
I looked to my mate, unchanged from when I’d seen her earlier. But we were no longer in a fight for our lives with the Hive. We were safe on the battleship. I was healed. Nothing but a commander stood in the way of me making her mine.
That and a fucking shower tube.
“I need to bathe. Commander, if I may…”
“Not yet. How many days have the Hive controlled our base?” The commander’s gaze was dark, unrelenting. I recognized fury when I saw it, and the Prillon commander was vibrating with rage, every muscle taut, shaking with a barely controlled need to attack.
“At least a week. I counted eight days in my cell, but I could have been off in either direction. There was no clock or changes in lighting. I had to guess based on their shift changes.”
He paced in front of me, every few steps blocking my view of Niobe, but she was no longer focused on me. Her frown was nearly as severe as the commander’s. “Commander Karter, how is it that you had a Coalition base captured by the Hive more than a week ago, and you had no idea the attack had happened?”
He growled and whirled to face her, but his voice was respectful, even if filled with anger. “Vice Admiral, we received reports, at the scheduled intervals, from the base. They had the correct passcodes and relayed expected information. We had no way of knowing. They mimicked our procedures perfectly.”
Her gaze drifted to me, the heat returning, if tempered by our circumstances. “Am I to infer that this could be occurring at other Coalition bases and we would have no indication that anything was wrong?”
He stepped back. Nodded. “Yes.”
My gorgeous mate cursed and stepped away, moving toward the door for some illusion of privacy. “I need to report this. It had to be the presence of the Nexus unit.”
Commander Karter froze. “What did you just say?” He turned to look at me. “Is there a Nexus trapped on that base?”
“Yes.” When I confirmed the news, Commander Karter’s tension slipped into something cold and measured. Calculating. “Take your shower, Quinn. Spend time with your mate. You have two hours, and not a moment longer. Do you understand me? If you two are one minute late to the the command deck for the debriefing, vice admiral or not, I will personally pound down your door.”
The idea made me chuckle, until I looked up into the face of a seriously enraged Prillon warrior. He was ready to tear things to pieces, to rend and pound and kill. Tick-tock. If he didn’t need time to assemble the assault teams, we’d probably be heading for the transport rooms in attack formation now. “I understand. Those are my men down there, too. He already killed my entire Hunter unit. No one wants him dead more than I do.”
Commander Karter tilted his head, as if listening to Niobe’s conversation with someone. She said she had to make a call. Report. But to whom?
The doctor pointed. “A shower tube is there.”
I climbed from the unit, stood before my mate with just my hand holding the sheet over my hard cock as she ended her communication. I had no idea who she was talking to, and I didn’t care. I tucked her hair back from her face as I took in every inch of her features. Dark eyes. Freckles on her pert nose. Full lips, but in a severe line. She looked tense. Worried. Oh, that would change as soon as I fucked her. “Soon, mate.”
“Elite Hunter, get your ass in that shower tube,” Karter commanded. “And cover it on your way there.”
After so many days of suffering, of pain, this unexpected turn of events was akin to being reborn. I had survived. I had a gorgeous mate, and vengeance would be mine in a matter of hours. The warmth I felt when I looked at Niobe was a spark of joy I desperately needed. I winked at my mate, then walked over to the shower tube, ignoring the commander. I could hear my mate’s intake of breath, could smell her arousal.
“Doctor, get a tech to S-Gen that fighter a uniform. Stat.”
Stepping under the hot water, I sighed. Laughed. Fuck, it felt good to be free. To know my mate awaited me.
Five minutes later, I was dressed in a full Elite Hunter uniform, a newly generated one that no longer smelled like misery. Karter stood just where he’d been, arms crossed over his chest. I saw that out of the corner of my eye, for I wasn’t looking at him. I was looking at my mate. Niobe.
“Two hours,” he said.
I didn’t look his way. She wasn’t a small female. Long-limbed, her body was lush and full. Toned and well-muscled, even beneath the uniform’s armor. I wanted to peel off every bit of clothing and learn her, inch by inch.
“Elite Hunter,” the commander said.
“Yes?” I asked, taking in the full swells of Niobe’s breasts, the way they raised and fell with her every breath. She was aroused. I could scent it. Her cheeks flushed and that was the only outward sign she offered that she was anything but the serious vice admiral she let everyone see. The pink in her cheeks let me know that she’d been caught. She was just as eager for me as I was for her.
“Elite Hunter,” Karter repeated.
“Yes?” I asked him again.
“I’m over here.” He sighed. “If I had not learned from the vice admiral that you were recently matched, I would throw you in the brig for insubordination.”
“Thank you.”
“I don’t want your appreciation; I want your attention.”
I met Niobe’s dark gaze. Held it. Mesmerized. “With all due respect, Commander, I can’t give you my attention right now.”
He sighed again. “Yes, I can see that. You have two hours off-duty and then I expect to see you both on the command deck.”
“How long will Zan be in his ReGen Pod?” I asked. He’d been all over the Hive-controlled base where I’d only made it as far as the cell by the transport room. He knew what was going on there better than me. Better than anyone alive.
“Zan?”
“The Atlan we brought in.”
“Six more hours,” the doctor told us.
“Then I have six hours with my mate. Zan was fully integrated. While I was locked in a cell, he was everywhere. He’ll know how many guards they have, where they are stationed, how many prisoners remain. We need him healed. We need his intel on that base. First, Zan heals. Then we debrief and get back down there. Save everyone who’s left.”
Niobe frowned. Yeah, she didn’t like leaving fellow fighters in a hell like that either.
“Fine. Six hours,” Karter repeated. “While you two are… getting to know each other, I’ll get a ReCon team to examine the plans we have for that base, get the assault teams ready.”
When neither of us looked his way, the commander grumbled to himself, something about mates and insanity.
“Six hours, Vice Admiral.” Now he was speaking to my mate, perhaps hoping he’d get more of her attention. Not happening. “I remember being in your place. Erica would kill me if
I didn’t give you two time.”
But he’d only give it to us now since we had to wait for Zan to recover. I understood. Claiming my mate would wait until the search and rescue was over under any other circumstances, but the gods were being kind today… and I would taste her.
We had six hours. Six. Hours.
He stalked off, left us. We were alone in the ReGen room—besides Zan, who was healing in one of the pods—but I didn’t care if there was an entire battalion of fighters behind us.
I had Niobe in front of me. I could do nothing while the commander readied his teams. Nothing but fuck and get to know the female of my heart. It was time to have her.
5
Niobe
“I have been waiting for you,” Quinn said. The admission was revealing, exposing the inner core of an Elite Hunter which I had no doubt was never shown. Only with…
A mate.
We barely knew each other. We’d met just a few hours ago. Hours. A lot had happened to me today. I’d been on The Colony and been tested, bickered with Kira and Rachel. Then transported to a secret Hive integration center and rescued not only my matched mate, but other fighters as well. Another transport had us on the Karter where I’d stared at my mate inside a ReGen pod while speaking to Commander Karter and planning an attack on the base I’d just left behind.
I should be weary from a battle, double transport, the adrenaline dump, meeting a mate… but I wasn’t. Far from it. I felt alive and invigorated in a way I’d never imagined. Was it this male’s amber colored eyes boring into me? Was it the way his muscles shifted and played beneath the lines of his fresh uniform? Was it the connection, the invisible threads that connected us, no matter how much I fought the instinct to snip them and bolt?
I wasn’t baring my soul to him. I didn’t do that with people I’d known for years, let alone a few hours. It didn’t matter that he was my testing match, that I should share everything with him. My body, my heart, my soul. I didn’t know him. Not yet. But I wanted to. Longed for a deeper connection, for someone who was mine.
“I was waiting for you. You were the one in a ReGen pod, unconscious.”
“Before that, mate. I’ve been waiting a lot longer than that,” he replied. It wasn’t the words that made stupid leap out of my mouth, it was the look in his eyes. Possessive. Hungry. Impatient. A look that made my legs tingle and my nipples go hard. The look in his eyes was a challenge, and the Everian in me was rising to meet it. To run. Just like in my matching dream, I wanted to force him to prove himself worthy. Fast. Strong enough to catch me.
To conquer me.
Shit. Where had that thought come from?
“You had no idea I would arrive at that prison.” I said the last few words as if they were poison. That place… god, it had been awful. I didn’t want to think about what would have happened to him or the others if I hadn’t ended up there. At that exact moment. How long would he have survived if I hadn’t taken the Interstellar Brides’ Program test?
“I wasn’t referring to your timely transport and you know it,” he replied. He was so calm, so… even. I breathed in his clean scent, even underneath the medical unit’s strong soap.
Hunters resolved problems with a demeanor of ease, of confidence. They didn’t go beast like the Atlans or have a second like the Prillons. We were independent. Smooth. Deadly.
With Quinn, I was far from smooth. I felt… frazzled now that he was whole. Wary. Off kilter. Uncomfortable because I was out of my element. No, that wasn’t it.
It was six hours. We had six hours to play. To make love. To get to know one another.
And even though my body was screaming “yes-yes-yes!” my mind didn’t like giving up control. And I felt guilt creeping in, guilt that I was alive and whole and full of desire for my mate when there was an unknown number of warriors suffering on that base. Waiting. For me.
For us.
It seemed Quinn could shift his focus easier than me. My mate was looking at me as if I were his dinner. And that had my body responding. Panicking. I had no control. A mission? Yes. A mate? Hell, no. I was grasping, trying to cling to the last shreds of calm that I could find, and that completely messed with my mind.
“Mate, your need is nothing to fear, it is a need we share.” His deep voice was even, almost soothing.
“We don’t share anything.” I held up my hand so he could see my palm, the mark there. “We’re not marked mates. Just matched.”
Even as I said the words, I didn’t believe them. We shared quite a bit, I just didn’t understand it, and it was a bit scary.
He shrugged those big, brawny shoulders and it made my nipples go hard. Traitors. I crossed my arms over my chest.
The corner of his mouth tipped up. He breathed deep, nostrils flaring. “You are mine. You know it. I know it. Everyone on this ship knows it. Why are you resisting?”
Why was I? Oh yeah, I didn’t need a bossy male. My pussy was arguing with me about that, but I was in control… at least of my body.
Except my nipples ached and lower, I was wet for him. And he knew it. Could smell it. That rough tumble of a voice wasn’t helping me fight my libido at all.
“I can’t give you what you want,” I told him. I didn’t have to bare my soul, but I had my reasons. This was a mistake. It had to be. I didn’t want kids. I didn’t want to give up my life, my freedom, my career. I made a difference in this war. I trained cadets, made sure they were ready for the Hive. I tried to save lives, and my work was important to me, too important. I never should have given in to a moment of weakness, of loneliness. Elite Hunter Quinn of Everis probably wanted a submissive little wife and ten babies running around the house chasing each other and screaming up a storm.
That life wasn’t for me. I wasn’t meant to be with someone. Shit. I screwed this up. “I never should have taken the bride testing.”
His pale gaze raked over me some more, from the top of my head to the boots on my feet. Leisurely, as if he had all the time in the world. As if he had every right to do so.
“I disagree. You are perfect and I can’t wait to bury my cock in your body, make you come. Make you mine.
Oh fuck. I may have just come a little bit. “You don’t know me.”
“This is true, mate, but I will.” His words weren’t a threat, they were a vow, a promise. He was a Hunter and I was beginning to fully understand what it meant to have the full attention of an Elite male from Everis. He would never stop. Never give in.
The thoughts spun in my mind like a tornado. This couldn’t be real, could it? Was he really mine?
No. No way. He didn’t even know me yet. I had thirty days to reject the match and go back to my old, predictable, responsible life. Thirty days, too, for him to decide he wanted fifteen babies and someone ten years younger.
Whatever. This was bullshit. Mental, emotional, physical bullshit. I never should have let Kira talk me into this. I should have said no, gone home and opened a bottle of Atlan wine. A vibrator didn’t want children or demand submission. Demand secrets. Truth. Trust.
What had I been thinking?
Spinning on my heel, I strode for the door. It slid open silently and I walked out. Didn’t stop once I exited the medical unit.
He didn’t follow. Over all the sounds of the battleship, from the low vibration of the engines to the clinking of dishes in the cafeteria on the floor below, I could hear Quinn. His breathing, the slow beat of his heart. He hadn’t moved.
Down the hall, I pushed the button for the lift not knowing where I was going. I just needed to get away, to get control again. The closer I was to him, the less I had of it. Damn him!
“You can run, mate, but I will catch you.”
My eyes fell closed at the sound of his voice, my entire body coming painfully, vibrantly to life with the need to run. He was still in the ReGen room. His voice was not much more than a whisper, for he didn’t need to speak loudly for me to hear. A whimper escaped me at the idea of him catching me. I’d done the one
thing, the only thing, that would guarantee this wasn’t over. Instead, it was just beginning as I’d tempted the male in him with a challenge he would neither deny nor resist.
I’d fled. To a Hunter courting his female, I’d thrown down the ultimate challenge. I had run, dared him to catch me…no, demanded he catch me, prove himself worthy.
He would follow.
Clenching my thighs together, I realized my instinct to flee was a female Everian’s instinct to challenge a potential mate, require him to prove himself worthy. Force him to dominate in the hunt.
It was a mating dance of sorts. I’d called to Quinn’s inner beast, if he had one. I was his mate. I was here. I was fleeing. And he would find me and claim me and make me his.
He had not been able to do anything a mate would normally do when I’d transported to the Hive controlled base. He’d been imprisoned. I’d saved him. I didn’t doubt he was thankful for it. But now that he was safe, and the ReGen pod healed him entirely, he was taking over. Taking control.
And I’d given it to him.
The chase gave him power.
And on a battleship? It was like child’s play. I had nowhere to go. I couldn’t run. I couldn’t hide.
He would find me.
I wasn’t sure if I should be eager or annoyed.
When the lift doors slid open and I stepped within, I was both.
“I don’t want a mate,” I said. Thankfully, the lift was empty or people would wonder why I was talking to myself. But I wasn’t. I heard Quinn’s chuckle, which had me practically growling in frustration.
“You were tested. Only Atlans in Mating Fever are forced to submit to the matching test. You are definitely not an Atlan.”
The lift doors opened and I stepped out. Based on the color of the blue stripe on the walls, I was on the engineering floor. I went right.
“My job is at the Academy. I run the place. I will not quit.”
I heard his heavy footsteps, knew he was now on the hunt. For me.
It was like Hide and Seek and he’d given me a count of one hundred before he started his search.
Hunted: Interstellar Brides® Program- Book 17 Page 5
