Dax escorted me to the prison transport and I was assisted into the back by one of the guards. I didn’t look him in the eye. I didn’t look anyone in the eye. I didn’t want to see pity there, or judgment. And if I saw even a hint of sympathy, I was going to lose it. Tears. Big, fat ugly cry.
I loved my mate. I loved him. He was big and brutish and all fucking man. He’d made me feel beautiful and worthy and wanted for the first time in my life, and I didn’t want to give that up. I loved the way he fucked me up against the wall. The way he shouldered his head between my thighs and licked and sucked until I screamed his name. I loved the way he stared at my body, at my breasts and belly, as if I were a delicious treat. I loved being with him.
And now, because of me, he was going to die.
I sat in silence for the short ride to the prison, where I was helped from the vehicle with Deek close behind. He was still panting, his skin flushed and his eyes darting around like every shadow held an enemy.
With a sigh, I followed the small column of warriors who walked us down the long, cream-colored hallway and back to the same cell he’d been in when I arrived. Block 4. Cell 11.
I walked into the cell and straight to the bed where I climbed up onto the mattress and curled into a ball on my side.
If Deek came for me, I would try my best to soothe him. But even if I fucked his brains out, sucked his cock, made him grunt and growl and say my name with a reverence I’d never heard from anyone else, it wouldn’t matter.
I could fuck him silly, but I couldn’t control his beast. Only his true mate could do that. Only his true mate could save him. And if that female appeared now and took him, mating with him, easing his beast, my heart would break into a million tiny little pieces. He was supposed to be mine. Forever.
I heard the force field they called a grav-wall turn on, but I ignored it. I kept my back to Deek as he paced and growled. I couldn’t bear to look at him. It hurt too much.
Tears slid in silent streams from my eyelids and into the bedding. Deek didn’t speak to me, but after a while he climbed onto the bed and lay down beside me, pulling me into his arms. My back pressed to his overheated chest, his monster-sized arms wrapped around me. I was mentally exhausted, but refused to sleep.
If we only had a few hours left, I didn’t want to waste them oblivious to the warmth of my Deek’s arms around me.
The heavy golden chain around my neck suddenly felt like a curse, like a taunt, a tease. That gold represented forever, my place in Deek’s family.
And now it meant nothing but lost dreams and regret.
* * *
I must have drifted off, for when I next opened my eyes, it was to hear women’s voices. I thought it odd, then remembered what Sarah had told me about Atlan women parading through this prison they called a containment facility to offer the Atlan males one last chance at finding a mate. Their presence filled me with rage as I considered the possibility that one of them might be a match for Deek.
He was mine.
Except he wasn’t. Or we wouldn’t be here.
Lifting my hand, I ran the sensitive tips of my fingers along the gold and dark gray carved links around my neck. They were a symbol of my claim on Deek, my status as his matched mate. They were a visible declaration of my hold over him, of my ability to control his beast.
Except, I’d failed.
Perhaps one of those women would be more beautiful, more desirable. Perhaps one of them could save him.
Unfortunately, there was only one way to determine if any of them coming through the facility could offer solace to the males condemned to die. That, of course, included fucking to see if the beast was compatible.
I shifted beneath the heavy arm thrown over my waist and scooted from the bed as quietly as I could. When Deek stirred, I murmured for him to go back to sleep. Which, to my extreme shock, he did.
He never slept this deeply. Every night, all I need do was shift beneath the covers and he was instantly on alert. He’d claimed it was due to too many combat missions, too much time spent on the front, where the extra few seconds it took to wake could cost you your life.
But here, now? He barely lifted his head, the blink of his eyelids slow, as if they were heavy.
Shaking my head, I walked to the grav-wall to find several Atlan females slowly moving from cell to cell down the corridor, peeking into each one and seeing the prisoners, deciding if one was appealing.
One female stopped in front of me. I inspected her on the other side of the shimmering force field and tried not to show how much I was hurting. She was tall, like all Atlan females, almost a foot taller than me. Her hair was a light summer blond with shimmering highlights and the mass fell past her waist. Her breasts were larger than mine, but her waist was trim and defined, and the muscles in her arms and legs would have qualified her for a bodybuilder competition back home.
And, as if that weren’t enough, she was gorgeous. Pale blue eyes and pink lips. She looked like a giant edition fashion model.
No fucking way I could compete with that.
“Hello. I’m Seranda.”
Even her voice was soft and lilting, beautiful.
I nodded in reply.
“I am here to help,” she said, looking around me to Deek.
My pulse pounded, but I tried to keep the panic from rising. “Help with what?”
“I heard of you on the media and I’m sorry things didn’t work out between you and Deek. He’s a fierce and highly respected warrior.” Her voice held more than a little awe as her gaze left me and traveled to the bed behind me, where my mate, my Deek, still slept. Her gaze was more than interested, and I fought back the scowl I knew would form between my brows. I didn’t have a right to that scowl. I didn’t have the right to Deek. Not anymore.
When her gaze returned to me, there was pity in her pale blue eyes. “He is gorgeous, Tiffani Wilson of Earth. I’d like to help you save him.”
I arched my brow at what she was insinuating. “You… you want to fuck him and see if his beast likes you.”
“Likes me?” She shrugged her perfect shoulders. “His beast needs to recognize me as his mate.”
I pursed my lips. “Yes, I’m well aware of that. What if it doesn’t work?”
“Then I will have tried, won’t I? And you will have lost nothing. His execution was announced not long ago.”
My heart skipped a beat, agony like a pickax buried in my chest. “When?”
“Today. He has eight hours.”
I wanted to poke her eyes out, but it wouldn’t make a difference. I wasn’t Deek’s mate. I had no sway over him, no say in who he should be with. I was nothing to him now.
But I loved him. He was a gentle, caring lover one moment, a demanding animal the next. He always took care of me, made me feel like I was his sun and stars, like he’d do anything for me. Die to protect me. He made me feel wanted. Beautiful. Whole. He made me feel whole.
“What if it doesn’t work?”
“Then he dies.” She shrugged. “But at least you’ll know you tried to save him. If you say no, your selfish jealousy will mean his death.”
Wow. The claws had come out. The bitch was insinuating that I would be killing him if I didn’t let her come into the cell and fuck him, try to calm his beast. I imagined him with her and nearly threw up all over my pretty slippers. Deek was good in bed, no, incredible, but it was our connection that made it that way. We’d connected, perhaps not as mates, but in a way I never had before, with any other man. And that was why my heart was broken. I loved him. I’d given him more than my body. I’d given him my heart. My soul.
And now I had to watch him die.
Or, I could let him see if any of these Atlan females, including Seranda, were his real mate. If I was not his true mate, remaining within the cell with him was only guaranteeing his execution.
Instead of helping him, comforting him, I was condemning him.
I looked down at the cuffs about my wrists. I’d grown accustomed to
the heavy weight of them, for they were a constant reminder of my connection to Deek.
Now though, they were like shackles, keeping him connected to me when I wasn’t the one for him. When my presence would mean his death.
I looked to Seranda. I was just like her. Yes, heavier, less pretty, and definitely not Atlan. I’d been brought to the cell by Dax and Sarah in the hopes that I would be a match, that my body would soothe the beast. The Bride Program had assured me of the match, but it was a computer program and certainly not infallible.
I was the same as Seranda, only less. A failure. The cuffs didn’t belong to me.
Deek didn’t belong to me.
I fiddled with a cuff, trying to figure out how to open it. Frustrated, I tugged and pulled at it, tears streaming down my face. I hadn’t cried before now, but the cuffs were all that was left between us. And now I was getting rid of them. Of us.
Finally, I found the strange indentation that released the latch and the cuff gave way. The second was much easier to remove. I placed them on the floor at my feet and wiped the tears from my cheeks.
“Call the guard, Seranda. Have the grav-wall dropped. Try to save him.”
She nodded, her expression grave, not victorious. She truly was sorry for me. I believed that she respected and admired Deek, that she truly wanted him, wanted to save him. And that made the whole damn thing hurt even more.
I waited for the grav-wall to be deactivated, then walked down the corridor. I glanced over my shoulder and saw Seranda tug the straps of her dress off her shoulders. I caught a glimpse of her perfect breasts before she stepped into Deek’s cell. I could envision her, naked and perfect, waking Deek from his sleep.
I turned and fled, knowing I belonged there no longer.
Chapter Eleven
Deek
I was exhausted, so weary that I didn’t wish to wake up. But Tiffani was in my arms. No, she was on top of me, kissing my neck and slowly unbuttoning my shirt. I made a sound of satisfaction, but my beast prowled, nudged me. It had prodded me to wake. Why? Why would my beast not settle and preen beneath Tiffani’s attentions?
“You’re so big.”
I stilled at the voice while my beast practically howled with rage.
The scent of turins, the seasonal flower that appeared at the beginning of the warm months on Atlan, was cloying.
I opened my eyes and saw pale hair. Someone, not Tiffani, was on top of me, sucking at the skin on my neck.
Finally wide awake, the beast growled and my chest rumbled. Grabbing the female about the waist—her bare waist—I lifted her up and off me, placed her on her feet to stand beside the bed.
I leapt to my feet and walked across the cell to get as much distance from her as possible. Raking my hand through my hair, I saw then that she was completely naked. She didn’t hide her body, but rolled her shoulders back and lifted her chin so I could see all of her… assets.
“Commander, I’m here to serve you,” she said, and there was no mistaking the manner in which she intended to serve.
“Where the hell is Tiffani?”
The cell wasn’t big. It wasn’t as if she were hiding beneath the bed.
“Gone.” She seductively ran her hands down her sides and over her hips, then bringing them back up her flat belly to stroke over her breasts. I watched as her nipples tightened. Any Atlan male would be aroused by her, but I was disgusted by her flaunting. She wasn’t what I wanted. I wanted brown hair and green eyes. I wanted soft and round, a woman to sink into, to dominate, not wrestle with in bed.
“Gone?” I asked as I went back to the bed, ripped the sheet off it and tossed it at her. “Cover yourself, female.”
“My name is Seranda, and I am here to soothe your beast,” she repeated.
She fumbled with the sheet and held it up in front of herself. Most of her body was hidden, but it still offered tantalizing glimpses of the curve of her hip and a bare shoulder.
Her words gave me pause. My beast was prowling and growling because an unmated female was in my cell. Naked. On top of me and licking my neck. It wasn’t riled because of the fever. That affliction was gone.
For now.
“My beast needs Tiffani.”
“Your beast needs a mate, or you die.” She tilted her head, annoyance making her purse her lips. “In less than eight hours.”
She was beautiful, her body lush and perfect… for someone else. She was also a bitch.
“Tiffani is my mate,” I ground out through clenched teeth.
Seranda slowly shook her head and pointed to the cuffs that were on the floor by the grav-wall. “No, she’s not. Who do you think let me in? She left you, Commander.”
Crossing to them, I picked them up, stunned.
The cuffs were cool to the touch. Empty. “Fuck.”
Spinning on my heel, I faced the Atlan female. Her name was already forgotten. If she left the cell, her face, her body, would be forgotten. My beast wanted Tiffani and no other. She was my mate. I knew it. My beast knew it.
But I still was afflicted with the fever. It made no sense to me. To my beast, it was simple. It wanted Tiffani.
“Get out,” I growled.
“I am here to soothe you.”
“I do not want to be soothed. I want Tiffani.”
“I could be your mate,” she countered.
My beast snarled and snapped at the idea.
“No.”
“You will die,” she said again. “You should at least try, Commander. Touch me. Let me touch you. Give me a chance to save you.”
She took one step toward me, but I held up my hand.
“No.”
“She took the cuffs off to save you.”
I looked at her then to see if she was lying. “What?”
“She doesn’t want you to die. For an alien, she is… nice. She took the cuffs off so that you could fuck me. To see if your beast would be soothed, your mating fever gone.”
“She wanted me to fuck you?”
For the first time, the Atlan female looked less than confident. “No, I think she wanted to tear my eyes out. But she knew she wasn’t your mate, that she couldn’t save you, couldn’t control your beast. She was crying, Commander, but very brave. She left to save your life. Don’t let her sacrifice be in vain.”
I wasn’t sure if I wanted to take Tiffani over my knee and spank her until her ass was too red and sore to sit for a week or pull her into my arms and kiss her senseless for being so selfless, so brave, so damn stubborn.
Either way, it didn’t matter. She was gone and I was stuck with an Atlan female who wanted to fuck my beast. My cock was flaccid in my pants. Neither man nor beast was interested.
Fuck. I was going to die.
***
Tiffani
Sarah and Dax were kind enough to allow me back in their home. I had nowhere else to go on Atlan. Deek’s house was no longer mine. While I was told I was quite famous for bravely entering Deek’s jail cell and saving him by mating with him, I was now infamous for the entire thing failing miserably.
I had no idea how to turn on the Atlan version of a TV, but I didn’t want to. Whatever was being said about me was nothing I wanted to hear.
With no friends and no prospects, I had to wonder what would happen to me. Per the Bride’s Program rules, if a match didn’t work for whatever reason, I could find another. I couldn’t leave Atlan and return to Earth per Bride Program rules, but I could accept the next mate that was an acceptable match. But the match wouldn’t be as strong, it wouldn’t be the same. It wouldn’t be Deek.
But it looked as if I had no other choice. While Deek would be fucking every willing Atlan female to find a mate and save his life, I would have to be matched to someone new. I’d either have to live nearby and watch him with some other female, or worse, live knowing Deek had been executed.
I hated the thought of him touching someone else, loving someone else. But I loved him too much to let him die. Either way, I lost. I cried myself to slee
p, at least fitfully. I’d walked away. I’d been strong enough to do that. What girl could do anything else?
I couldn’t settle at first because I was crying so much. My nose was so stuffy I could barely breathe and I couldn’t relax knowing Deek was probably fucking Seranda six ways to Sunday. But then I became restless for a different reason. I couldn’t keep my legs still, couldn’t get comfortable. I felt like I’d had four cups of high-octane coffee and while my brain was exhausted from overthinking, my body was wound up.
I got out of bed and started to pace. My skin tingled and I rubbed it, as if the cool air in the guest bedroom was irritating. The light became too bright, so I turned it down. My mouth became dry and I was thirsty. So very thirsty. I ran to the kitchen and remembered how Sarah had retrieved a glass and filled it with water.
I guzzled it down, filled it again.
I imagined Deek fucking that other woman, pinning her to the wall as his beast thrust into her without mercy. I imagined the intense look of pleasure I’d often seen on his face, the darkening of his eyes. His growl.
God, that sound. My pussy clenched and grew wet, which just made me angrier. Tears streaked from my eyes as I drank a third glass of water. My breasts tingled now, and I imagined Deek’s mouth on them, sucking them deeply into his mouth, kneading their heavy weight until I moaned and begged him to take me.
Seranda. She had his mouth on her breasts now, on her skin, her hot, wet…
Nope. Couldn’t go there. I needed a distraction. Something to do.
Glancing around the kitchen frantically, my heart racing like a hummingbird’s, I spotted my salvation. A speck of dirt on the white tile floor. That couldn’t stay there. It looked wrong and it made the floor dirty, probably teeming with germs.
Frantic, I found a cloth and poured water from my cup on it. Dropping to my hands and knees, I began to scrub Sarah’s floor, first removing that spot of dirt, then moving farther and farther across the hard floor. My knees hurt like hell, but I didn’t care. Anything was better than focusing on the feeling of Deek’s cock inside me…
Tamed By The Beast (Interstellar Brides Book 7) Page 11