“This is an Elder in Cerberus Legion, a female Xeriman hybrid. Her name is Ulza, and she arrived at the station about an hour ago. She is the cousin of the current Cerberus leader. She is his most trusted ally and has been sent to inspect and acquire the human female—” He glanced at me. “Quinn. To acquire Quinn from Lukabo and return with her to Rogue 5 for the mating ceremony.”
“Mating ceremony?” My beast’s voice was so low I could barely understand the words, and they’d come from my own throat.
“Yes. As we said, Cerberus is very serious about taking a human female for his mate.” Helion nodded in the two Hunters’ direction. “Those two are going to make sure Ulza misses her meeting with Lukabo. Meanwhile, we—” Helion indicated himself, Tane and me. “We are going to go take out Lukabo and make sure Quinn is safe.”
Styx stood up and stepped forward. “At the same time I am going to make it known that I am interested in purchasing the female from Lukabo. We will make sure Cerberus must come to the station himself. With his goal in reach, he will not be able to tolerate the thought that I might steal his prize. We are mated, but he knows we would do it out of spite alone. He will come.”
Blade’s lip curled in disgust. “He believes he is invincible.” His snarl turned frightening, and I reassessed the threat posed by the two hybrid males. “He is mistaken. He is our enemy, and we will see him finished.”
“I am out of patience, Helion.”
The other Quinn, the Elite Everian Hunter, slapped me on the shoulder. “Don’t worry. You go get your mate. We’ll take care of Ulza. Redirect her temporarily until the first part of the mission is complete. Helion?”
Dr. Helion nodded. “You all know the plan.”
I was going to kill him, slowly, if he made me wait one more minute.
He looked at me. “We will have Quinn safely in our custody and Lukabo will be dead. Cerberus will think Styx is trying to steal his prize. Your only job will be to take care of your mate and keep her out of sight until Cerberus arrives on the station and we can kill him. Think you can handle that?”
Me and Quinn? Alone? Out of sight?
Fuck yes. I needed her safe and naked and in my bed where I knew nothing would hurt her. “Yes. Agreed.”
“I thought so. And then I will speak with her.” Fuck, Helion was a smug bastard.
He was walking, moving toward the door. Finally. Thank the gods. I didn't bother arguing with the Prillon. He would not get near Quinn unless I allowed it, and I had no intention of subjecting my soft, beautiful female to him or his schemes.
“Let’s go,” he said. He walked past me and handed me a key for one of the most expensive suites on the station. “Consider it a mating gift. And stay out of sight.”
I tucked the key into my pocket and said nothing. All I could think about was ripping Lukabo’s head off his body… and holding my mate.
10
Quinn
Lukabo paced. And paced. And paced some more. He checked an alien gadget on his wrist every few seconds like he was waiting for a call. Or message. Whatever these aliens called it.
My head didn’t hurt quite so much now, which was nice. My captor hadn’t said anything else since our initial conversation, which had been—I checked the delicate gold watch on my wrist—almost three hours ago.
I was tired of sitting and staring at the wall. Or him. Or my feet. Or the weird, bolted metallic ceiling. The room was smaller than my bedroom, which meant Lukabo had to turn around every three steps.
If the whole situation hadn’t been so damn scary, his long legs moving back and forth in the tiny space would have been funny.
Unfortunately the longer I sat here, the more I’d realized exactly how horrible a situation I was in.
First, I’d been kidnapped by an alien criminal who wanted vengeance for the deaths of his family members. Like some kind of mafia king.
Second, I was on a space station. In outer space. Outer. Space. Even if I got away, how was I going to get home? It wasn’t like I could catch a rideshare or hitchhike. How was Bahre going to find me?
Third, I was hungry, thirsty, and if I didn’t get out of here soon, I was going to embarrass myself because as far as I could tell, they didn’t have toilets on this station. At least, not in here.
Lukabo ran his hand through his hair. It was a shame he was so evil. He wasn’t bad to look at. Too pretty, actually. Like Jeff Randall. Gorgeous on the outside, rotten on the inside.
“How long are we going to be here?” I asked.
“Be quiet, female.”
No. Not going to happen. “I’m hungry. I’m thirsty. And if you don’t want a mess in here, I need to use the facilities.”
“Facilities?” He turned to face me. Frowned.
“You know. Bodily waste.”
He winced. “Fucking primitive. Gods be damned. Why the fuck does Cerberus want you?”
Was he actually expecting me to answer? I wasn’t sure. And Cerberus? Like the mythological dog with three heads? I knew my Greek mythology, and not once did any book or teacher mention aliens or outer space. Not. Once.
Lukabo stepped forward and grabbed my chin with rough fingers, forcing me to look up at him. “Doesn’t matter, does it? Cerberus himself is paying for you, enough to set me up on a new world.”
Before I could decide what to do next, the thing he’d been checking on his wrist made a pinging noise. He looked down at once, released me, then cursed.
“Fuck. He’s coming. I knew he would come for you.”
My heart skipped double time. “Bahre? He’s here? He’s coming? How do you know?”
Lukabo laughed and the sound made my skin crawl. “Helion is not the only one with spies.”
Who the hell was Helion?
Lukabo grabbed me by the back of the neck and shoved me into the corner of the small room behind him. I couldn’t see over the brute’s back, but I held my breath when he pushed a button and a large, thick wall slid forward like a shield. Attached to the back of the divider was a very large space gun of some kind. As big as my leg from hip to thigh.
“Fucking Atlan,” he snarled. “He won’t be able to dodge this.”
“Hey!” I tried to push around him. “What are you doing?”
Lukabo shoved me back, and my head hit the wall. My headache, a dull throb, came roaring back to life as I stumbled and lost my footing. Asshole.
The alien lifted the space gun to the top of the movable wall and hunkered down like we were in a bunker. He ignored me, which wasn’t hard to imagine. I was half his size, unarmed and…
No, not unarmed. Reaching down slowly, I slipped the shoe off my right foot. Gripping the shoe tightly, sharp heel facing out, I kept quiet, just like he wanted.
The door to the small room opened.
Lukabo’s shoulders tensed, and I figured he was getting ready to blow Bahre away with the monster gun.
Lifting my shoe, I swung the spiky end of my high heel as hard as I could.
Bahre roared as he leaped into the room. Lukabo screamed, my heel buried in his shoulder. The huge space gun fired, blasting a hole in the wall next to the door, clean through. I could see the outer corridor through the newly created space. He’d tried to vaporize Bahre.
Jerk.
I was reaching for my left shoe when Lukabo’s body was lifted over the wall and thrown across the room.
“Shield her.” Bahre’s voice was distinct, but I’d never heard that tone before. I didn’t question when Tane came to stand before me, his big chest blocking my view of whatever Bahre was doing to the creep who’d kidnapped me.
I hoped it was nasty. Deadly. I was so tired of men trying to bully me, intimidate me, threaten me. Manipulate me. I was done.
I wished I’d had a chance to stab that jerk with my other shoe and give him a matching hole on the other side.
“I should have gone for his balls.” I muttered the realization to myself, but Tane heard me and chuckled.
“You did well, my lady. Let me es
cort you out of this room.” I resisted, wanting to stay with Bahre. He must have sensed this because he said, “Your mate will join us in the hallway momentarily. I will not take you from him.”
At his words, I relaxed. I knew him from Earth. He was a good guy. “Okay.”
He took my arm, gently, and led me toward the door. I had to pass a stern-looking Prillon—I knew he was a Prillon only because I’d read up on the various alien races, although it hadn’t included anything about Hyperion hybrids—and past two other males who looked like large human men but moved faster than I could track. One second they were out in the corridor; the next they were standing between me and the room I’d been in.
Whatever my mate was doing, they really didn’t want me to see it.
I discovered that I didn’t want to see it either. Bahre was going to take care of that creep, and that was good enough for me.
The Prillon handed Tane a wand that had a blue glowing light. Tane held it before me. “A ReGen wand, which I move in front of you to ensure you are healed from any harm.”
“I’m uninjured,” I told him.
“May I?” he asked, either not believing me or wanting to ensure for himself I was well.
I nodded.
Tane waved the wand in front of me with slow precision. A couple minutes later Bahre emerged.
“She is unharmed,” Tane said. He pushed his thumb on the wand, and the glow ceased. “There was a minor wound behind her ear where an NPU was inserted. The wand has healed the insertion spot.”
Bahre nodded and took his place. My Atlan crushed me to his chest, and I clung, the shock and calm deserting me now that he was here, holding me. Now that I was safe.
“Bahre.” I breathed him in. Felt the heat of him, the hard muscles of his huge body.
“I will not leave your side again, mate.” He lifted me into his arms and held me against his chest.
“I can walk.”
“One of your feet is bare. I will not have any part of you touch this filthy corridor.”
“Okay.” I agreed. I was shocked to discover I meant it. All of it. Not leaving his side. Allowing him to carry me like I was a damsel in distress. My beast had come for me and killed the terrifyingly beautiful monster who had intended to sell me like a piece of property.
Bahre leaned down and placed a kiss on my head. I cried the second his lips touched me. I’d known he’d come for me. Deep down, having him rescue me was the hope I’d clung to, to hold myself together. That vampire alien creep had been scary. Despite the fact that he hadn’t touched me other than to put that weird dot on my clothes and then to shove me into the corner. His intentions, his cold-blooded disregard for life, that’s what had frightened me to my core.
My beast carried me, and we took an elevator up—I felt the movement—then exited, then followed another corridor before Bahre led me into an area that could only be described as a penthouse in space. He set me gently on my feet, and I made quick use of the facilities, washed the alien vampire’s blood off my hands, and splashed water on my face. I had stabbed an alien with my spiked, high-heeled shoe.
For some reason the absurdity of the entire situation made me want to either lay on the floor and sob or burst into hysterical laughter. I refused to do either. And Bahre was waiting for me.
I left the small bathing room, and Bahre entered behind me. Perhaps washing the same creep’s blood from his own skin. I was a bit shocked to discover I did not care that Bahre had killed that alien. In fact, I was relieved. If someone had taken out Jeff Randall about three years ago, I would have had a different life. But then I wouldn’t have been in Florida or met Bahre.
Not wanting to poke too much into the psychology of my past, I walked to stare, with wonder, at the view. There were windows, actual windows—maybe screens, I wasn’t sure—but there were stars outside. Planets. Swirling galaxies and ships moving to and from what I could see of the massive space station. I could see them all, like some kind of sci-fi movie.
I. Was. In. Outer. Space.
The jerk who would not be named had told me we were on a space station. However, being told while sitting in a tiny, shed-sized room with metal walls, and seeing stars and moving spaceships outside the window were two very different things.
“Where are we?” I asked, glancing around when I heard Bahre move behind me. The walls were coated in soft fabric, and I assumed the metal of the ship was underneath. There was lush carpet under my feet and a large, gorgeous bed made up with bedding that, when I leaned over to touch, was soft as the finest silk. The other furnishings, a small sofa and chair and several small tables scattered around the area, looked to be of high quality. I had an eye for details, and this place reeked of money.
“Safe.”
11
Quinn
Bahre’s gaze raked over me as he leaned down and took off my remaining shoe and dropped it, forgotten, to the floor.
“This is Transport Station Zenith. We are in Sector 436 of Coalition space. We are in designated quarters while here. We will not be disturbed.”
I couldn’t help the shiver of excitement and fear that raced up and down my spine. It was one thing to meet an alien and have a wild night of uninhibited sex with him, it was another to be kidnapped by some kind of space bandit and transported to the far reaches of the galaxy. People didn’t just go to space. And get luxury hotel rooms on space stations. And float around on a metal thing held together with what? Bolts? Welding? Was this place made of steel or some kind of alien material? How many people had been breathing this air? For how long? Decades? And were there aliens on this station? Like green ones and furry ones and cute ones that didn’t have fangs? Did I even want to know?
I looked at Bahre. No. Right now, I did not want to know. I just wanted to feel safe.
“This is real, right?” An insane question after everything I’d just been through.
He’d looked so serious, until now. The corner of his mouth tipped up, all the reaction I thought I was going to get from him. “This is real.”
Settling one knee on the bed, he reached for the side zipper on my skirt and slid it down, then worked it down my legs. It joined my shoes.
His fingers moved down the delicate buttons of my blouse as he spoke. “It is my fault you were taken. I proclaimed that you were my mate too vehemently, and my enemies took notice.” When the delicate fabric parted, he stilled, his gaze lifting to meet mine.
I saw anguish there. Torture.
Sure, I hadn’t wanted to be taken. God, I’d probably have nightmares for a long time. But I knew people—even aliens—were crazy. Jeff Randall wasn’t right in the head. His obsession kept him following me. This space guy, he had an obsession with Bahre. Acted on it.
I pushed up and onto my knees so we were eye level. I clasped his cheeks, felt the soft rasp of his whiskers against my palms. “This isn’t your fault.”
“It is,” he countered. “You would be safe on Earth if not for me.”
“Do you wish we had never met? Would it be better if you had not found your mate?”
His jaw clenched and he growled. “No. You are mine.”
I sighed and gave him a soft smile. “I love that you are all growly and possessive.”
“You are mine. I protect what is mine, but I didn’t protect you.”
I stroked a hand over his hair, down his shoulder. “You saved me. You came all the way across the universe to rescue me.”
“Of course.” He sounded offended.
“I know Lukabo is gone, but… will they come after you again? Someone in his family? Or friends of his?” I was smart enough to know that while the guy had kidnapped me, he’d actually wanted to hurt Bahre. I was collateral damage, or profit, as far as Lukabo was concerned.
Bahre’s eyes narrowed, and he captured my hand in his, kissing the palm. “No one will harm you again.” He closed his eyes as if in pain. “He was the only surviving son. I should have killed him when I eliminated the rest of his family.”
> “Why didn’t you?” The question was brutal, but I wanted to know.
“He was not of age. I hoped he would find a new path.” He looked into my eyes, and I knew he expected me to judge him for killing so many people. “His family was powerful. They sold weapons and Quell all over the outer regions. They owned half of Omega Dome.”
I had no idea what any of that was, but I didn’t care. “You gave him a chance. He made his own choice.”
“But he put you in danger.”
“And you came for me.” I leaned forward and kissed my beast on the lips. My big, monstrous, soft-hearted beast who had given a child a chance to choose a better life.
Gently he lowered my hands to my sides, then slid my blouse from my shoulders. “I will see that you are never in danger again.”
“I’m not hurt,” I breathed. The way Bahre looked at me, his gaze filled with such reverence, it touched my heart. Last night he’d held himself back because he’d been a gentleman, or whatever an alien gentleman was called. Only when I’d consented, coaxed him into more, did he let himself go. Become wild.
Now he looked at me again, cautious.
“I am not hurt,” I told him again.
He didn’t look me in the eye, only stared at my body. He growled again. “Mate, what is this?”
His large finger traced the edge of my lacy bra. Back and forth he caressed, and I arched my back for more of his touch.
“My… my bra and panties,” I whispered. I’d put them on with the intention of seducing Bahre, but I was the one all hot and bothered. If he slid that finger along my panties instead of my bra, he’d find them drenched.
“I have never seen anything like them.” He raised his finger to one of the thin bra straps and slid it off my shoulder. It dangled down my arm, the right cup falling away from my breast.
Beauty and the Beast: Interstellar Brides® Program: The Beasts - 3 Page 9