“What is cop?”
“Um, the police. Law enforcement?”
Deek nodded and pumped slowly, so slowly, in and out of me, as if fucking and talking were completely normal. “He was a warrior. A protector? That is why you are so brave.”
“I’m not brave, Deek. But, yes, I guess I learned a lot from him. I respect the law. My mom—”
He shifted his hips and rolled my nipple in his fingers. With a gasp, I tried to finish my sentence. “My mom worked odd jobs, but mostly stayed home to take care of me when I was little. At least until he died.”
In. Out. He lifted my leg a bit higher, thrust three times hard and fast. When I closed my eyes, he stopped moving.
“Tiffani.”
“Hmm?”
“Tell me more. I want to know you.”
“I can’t think when you…”
“Do this?” He started fucking me again, moving slowly.
“Yes.”
He chuckled in my ear and nibbled on my jaw. “Good. But keep talking anyway. Consider it a personal challenge.”
I smiled, and my heart melted a little for this stranger. At least he appeared to have a sense of humor. I’d never had anyone play in bed before. The few lovers I’d had had been much more interested in getting in, getting off, and getting out. This was a new experience for me. And it was… fun.
God, I’d never once thought sex could actually be fun.
His deep voice rumbled through me as he cupped my breast, kneading the soft mass in his huge hand. “Do you accept my challenge, or should I stop?”
“Stop what?”
“Fucking you.”
Oh, hell no. “Don’t stop.”
“Then, please, tell me more.”
“My dad had a heart attack when I was fourteen. My mom started drinking and I barely finished high school before she kicked me out.”
“That is not honorable.”
I sighed. “She was broken. It was a rough few years, but we got over it. She’s gone now, too.”
“You were alone on your Earth?”
“Yes.” Alone didn’t even begin to describe the long, lonely nights after a hard day’s work. The back-stabbing, skinny bitches at the diner talking shit about me even though I worked circles around them. Watching my friends from high school go off to college, get married and start having kids. The mean comments I got for being big when I went shopping, or walked down the street. Alone? Isolated? Lonely? Yeah. You could say that.
His touch gentled and he stroked my stomach, petting me as if trying to take my pain. I had to admit, it was totally working and I melted into his body, completely relaxed, languid as he took me, filled me, made me feel like I was important, beautiful. Loved.
A tear slid, hot and wet, down my cheek into the sheets and I ignored it, biting my lip to stop the coming flood. I had no idea feeling loved would hurt this much.
He prompted me out of my silence. “What did you like to do on Earth?”
“I was a waitress.” I had no idea if he would know what that meant, so I clarified. “I served people food.”
“A caregiver. I am not surprised. Did you enjoy this work?”
I choked on my laughter. “No. Not really.”
“Then you will not do that work here.”
Just like that, as if he could solve all of my life problems with his will alone. At the moment, I didn’t care about any of that. My body was spiraling higher and higher. My core was so sensitive, so swollen, that each stroke of his cock was like a jolt of electricity through my body. I needed him to focus here. Enough talking. I tightened my inner muscles and felt a small shudder pass through the massive muscles of his chest where they pressed to my back. So, I did it again.
“I’m… I’m your matched mate, Deek. You’re mine.”
“Mine.” His deep growl sounded much more like beast than man.
Yes! His fingers moved to my other nipple and I watched as he lowered his head, gently licking my shoulder, burying his nose in my hair, breathing me in as his hand slid back down to my clit, teasing me with a gentle exploration that I had no hope of resisting.
He stroked my clit, plucked my nipples, rubbed my body without hesitation, learning every inch of me, branding me as his, all as his cock thrust deep, in and out, fast, then slow. And every moment he watched me as if fascinated.
My orgasm rolled through me out of nowhere, my body languid and relaxed in his hands one moment, lost to the fire of my orgasm the next. And still he watched, his fingers relentless now, forcing another orgasm from my sated body as he thrust hard and deep, his pace lost to frantic thrusting that pushed me over the edge as he came deep inside me, his seed coating my pussy with his claim.
He held me still, trapped in front of him as our breathing returned to normal. I lay with his cock still inside me, his massive frame making me feel protected and feminine, wanted.
And still, a question burned through the sensual haze fogging my brain. A very important question. “Are we mated now? Are you… is your beast… are you all right?”
The harsh light from the cell reflected off the metal locked around his wrist and I lifted my hand to grip his cuff. He lifted his head from my shoulder and our eyes met. “Yes, we are mated now. My seed filled you while I was in beast form. The family cuffs are on our wrists. There is no question as to that. But how did you get here?”
“I can answer that.”
Deek moved quickly, too quickly for me to comprehend, sliding his cock from my body and shielding my nakedness from the man who’d answered Deek’s question.
“Dax,” Deek said.
I sucked in a breath, realizing that the other Atlan warrior stood just outside the force field and could see me. Had. He had been able to see me, but no longer. Deek’s body shielded me entirely.
“Turn away, Dax. I would cover my mate.”
“Of course.”
I couldn’t see what was happening, but Dax must have turned his back. Deek reached over onto the floor and picked up my discarded cloak. When he had the garment open and ready, he wrapped it around me.
He looked down at me, his eyes once again honed to a warrior’s sharp attention. “No one will see you. Your body belongs to me.”
His words only made me hot. I shouldn’t want to feel possessed by someone else, have someone stake a claim on me, for it went against every feminine principle I’d held dear. But from Deek’s lips, they were protective and… God, perfect. I wanted to be possessed by him, for there was no question he was possessed by me. A mating was different than picking up some hot guy at a bar back home. I could sense our connection, could feel it in my pussy and down my thighs.
He spun back around once I gripped the cloak about me, covering me once again from head to toe, only this time I was naked beneath, my dress still a small pile on the floor.
“Warlord, explain yourself,” Deek commanded, his shoulders back, his bearing that of a true leader. Even naked, he was magnificent and demanding. While I held tightly to my modesty, it seemed Deek had none.
“While on the Battleship Brekk, before your transport here, I put you through the Coalition Bride protocols for testing. Just as you did for me. If you were to be executed, I knew there was only one woman in the universe who could release you from your mating fever.”
Deek pulled me forward so I was by his side, his arm wrapped securely about my waist.
Dax and Sarah stood on the other side of the force field, appearing just as they had when they’d left. How long ago had it been? They seemed more relaxed now, less tense, but their eyes held questions.
“Tiffani,” Deek replied. “My matched mate.” I liked the way my name sounded in his deep voice.
Dax nodded. “She is one feisty female. She forced the Bride Program to transport her, adamant that she could—and would—save you.”
He looked down at me with a hint of awe and respect in his sated gaze.
“Which she has.”
When Dax exhaled loudly, I turned to l
ook at him. Sarah took his hand and she smiled. He did, too. I realized then that they hadn’t known the mating had succeeded in soothing the beast, in ending the mating fever. They only knew that I was their friend’s last chance for survival.
“I see the cuffs on your wrists.”
Deek held one up at Dax’s statement, stared at it, then grinned. “My beast is soothed. I am—” he glanced down at me with a look of reverence, “—claimed.”
“Guards!” Dax shouted, his voice booming and echoing off the walls. “Guards,” he repeated once again until he heard their heavy footfalls approach.
“Do not fear,” Deek murmured in my ear. “You were so very brave. It is now my turn to take care of you.”
I had never heard a man utter such words to me before. The comfort and shelter that they provided was like a balm. I hadn’t realized how alone I’d been, how much I’d had to bear and handle without the support of… anyone. A lump formed in my throat as I blinked back tears.
The guards came then, turning Deek’s attention away from me.
“Commander Deek’s mating fever has been relieved. Release him at once,” Dax ordered.
There were four guards similarly dressed in form-fitting armor like none I’d ever seen before. The strange material looked impenetrable, but it molded every muscle and plane of their bodies with amazing detail. The black and brown swirls, some type of camouflage I assumed, made them look immense and indestructible. I tried to imagine Deek’s massive frame in such armor and very nearly groaned with desire. God, he’d look fucking hot.
Two guards approached, but the one with the most stripes on his chest and wrist stepped forward. He looked to Dax, who had issued the command, then to Deek. His eyes widened when he took me in on the wrong side of the force field wall.
“Commander,” the man said.
Deek held up his free arm, showing him the cuff. “It is true. My mate is here and we have completed the mating bond. Summon the doctor to confirm my mating fever is gone.”
The guard’s gaze assessed Deek for a second, then flicked to me. I stared straight back at him, daring him to deny me. I wasn’t leaving this cell without my mate.
He held my gaze for a few seconds before nodding. “Yes, Commander.”
The doctor was quickly summoned and the force field was dropped to allow him access. Deek was quickly assessed by various objects with lights, but deemed well.
“You are quite lucky, Commander,” the doctor said. He was not nearly the size of Deek, and his uniform was a dark shade of green that reminded me of pine trees and moss. The design was similar to the armored guards, but the material did not look hard, made for battle. It moved and flowed around his body with much more ease. His light brown hair had begun to turn gray at the temples and his dark gray eyes, as they assessed Deek, were completely focused and professional. I had no doubt this man had, at some point in time, been a warrior as well.
Deek returned to my side, wrapping his arm around my shoulders to pull me close. When he looked to me, he smiled. His formidable appearance shifted and I saw the gentle man beneath the commanding façade. “Yes, I am.”
He kissed me then, in front of the doctor, the guards, Dax and Sarah, everyone, as if he was proud to be seen with me, eager for the world to know I belonged to him, and him alone.
Shock held me in place for long seconds before I responded. When I did, I let it all go, wrapping my arms around Deek’s waist and pulling him close. His growl earned a chuckle from Dax, but Deek simply buried his huge hands in my hair and held me in place for a more thorough exploration.
The doctor cleared his throat. “I will sign the appropriate papers to repeal the order of execution. You are free to go.”
Deek finally released me and I swayed, watching as the doctor looked over to where his guard stood at the edge of Deek’s prison cell.
“Release him immediately.”
My heart nearly leapt out of my chest with excitement and relief. I’d done it! Holy shit. I came to another world, seduced an alien and saved his life.
He was mine. All mine. The thought brought equal parts joy and anxiety. I had no idea who he was, what he thought, how he felt about anything. The warden at the bride processing center had promised he’d be perfect for me, and I really, really hoped she hadn’t been lying.
What if he didn’t like me? What if he thought my sense of humor was stupid. I loved wearing bright colors, lots of colors. What if he only wanted me to wear red, or black, or eat salad every day? What if he hated music? What if, now that he wasn’t in mating fever, he decided he didn’t want me?
I realized, truly realized for the first time, that I was about to go home with a complete stranger.
Chapter Six
Deek
I followed my little mate as she walked through her new house. I’d barely been in it, for I’d been stationed on Battleship Brekk for ten long years. Only on leave did I return. Until now, the large house had just been a place to sleep. But with my mate here, it suddenly felt like home.
Mine.
That one word seemed to be on a repeating loop in my mind. Every time I looked at Tiffani, caught a hint of her sweet scent, or remembered the tight heat of her pussy riding my cock, the word became a chant. Mine.
The beast might be soothed, I might now be able to control that part of me, but he lived within me still. Every time Tiffani drew near, he rose from the depths of my soul and fought to reach her, to touch her, to fuck her and mark her with his scent and his seed.
I’d heard other warriors speak of the beast’s fierce devotion to their mates, but I’d never truly understood the overwhelming and primitive urge to protect, to fuck, to lie down at her feet and surrender my battered soul into her keeping.
I’d even shaken my head at the change in Dax since he’d been matched and mated to Sarah. Their connection was touching and the way the big warlord doted on his Earth mate was… endearing. And yet I’d assumed it would never happen to me. But here I was, mated to my own Earth female, and I realized I would do anything, anything, for her.
She’d already proven herself brave beyond belief. She’d refused the no-transport order and come across the galaxy. She’d risked breaking into my cell when she could have been arrested herself. She’d done it all to save me, a battered warrior she’d not yet met.
I’d never met anyone with so much compassion, such courage. I was quite sure I did not deserve her, yet knew I would kill to keep her by my side. She was mine, and I would never give her up.
Still, I was the commander. I was the one in charge. I did the saving.
But this woman had already humbled me in so many ways, and so had my beast.
The beast had seen many battles. I’d killed hundreds of Hive soldiers, ripped them limb from limb, watched them writhe and bleed and scream in agony. And the beast had felt nothing. Nothing but satisfaction as they died in pieces at my feet.
Now… now the cold-hearted monster within felt everything. For her. A woman I barely knew, an alien bride from a faraway world. A stranger.
“Do you like your new home, Tiffani?”
“It’s beautiful.” Her smile was shy as she ran her soft hand along the back of a large sofa in my bedroom suite and I realized it was one thing to fuck with mindless intent, to give the beast free rein over her body. But it was quite another to stand beside her, a man learning his mate, and try to set her at ease, to learn about her home, her past, about how she’d come to be mine.
The beast didn’t care, his primeval heart not capable of such finesse. He saw. He wanted. He fucked. But that primitive nature would also protect her, for the beast would die to protect her, kill without a moment’s hesitation to keep her safe.
As would I.
I walked to the window and the small table nestled just below. A bottle of our finest wine sat open and ready—a servant had prepared for our arrival—and I poured two glasses of the dark purple liquid, turning to offer one to my mate.
Our fingers grazed as
she took it from me and the beast stirred with joy at that lightest of touches.
This woman had already wrecked me. I was hers, utterly and completely. I didn’t need the cuffs about our wrists to convince me. Although she did not yet appear to understand the depths of their significance, or of my complete and unyielding devotion.
“Anything you want, mate, all you need do is ask.”
“How about a superhero cape?” Her green eyes brightened with humor and I wished I knew her better, understood why she laughed.
I did not understand her reference, but would do what I could to please her. “I’ll summon a tailor. I do not know to what you refer, but if you can draw it out, or explain it to him, he will make it for you.”
She laughed, and the sound made something tight unravel in my chest. “That’s all right. I wouldn’t have anywhere to wear it.” She sipped at her wine and looked up at me over the rim of her cup.
“Sarah has said she wishes to hold a party in celebration of our mating.”
“You blush,” I said, stating the obvious.
“I’m… embarrassed.”
“For a party?” I asked.
She shook her head. “Because everyone will know what I did. What we did.”
I frowned then. “No one will shame our union. They will think you brave and courageous, as I do.”
She flushed even brighter, but she smiled.
“I’m not usually so brave,” she admitted. “I usually just let things go, let people have their own way.” She bit her lip and stared down into her wine; the sadness in her eyes made my heart ache. “Especially men.”
“What are you talking about? Men on your world hurt you?” I asked, my eyes narrowing as the beast stirred, upset by her obvious hurt. The beast wanted to kill anything and anyone who’d dared hurt her. Ever. Which was stupid, irrational, and completely illogical, especially when those men were halfway across the galaxy on another planet.
She shook her head. “Not like you think. But I’m not a virgin. I tried—I wanted sex to mean something. But the men I chose, they had other ideas. I was never what they wanted.” She looked up at me then, her deep green eyes haunted by the pain of rejection. Idiots.
Tamed By The Beast (Interstellar Brides Book 7) Page 6