Tamed By The Beast (Interstellar Brides Book 7)

by Grace Goodwin

  “Tiffani!” Sarah called.

  I glanced up at her with wide eyes. “What?”

  “What are you doing?”

  Dax came up behind her, put his hands on her shoulders and looked at me with a frown.

  “What? There was a spot of dirt on the floor and it needed to be cleaned. The whole floor needed to be cleaned. There are germs. Bugs. Everywhere.” I returned my attention to the task at hand. Sweat ran down my forehead, dripping on the marbled tile. With a gasp, I wiped it away immediately, but another followed the first. Then a third. After that, I scrubbed and scrubbed, not sure if I was wiping away sweat or tears.

  Seranda had his cock now, too. She had everything.

  Sarah’s eyes widened. “Are you okay?”

  I shook my head. “He’s fucking Seranda right now. This very second. I can feel it.”

  Dax’s soft rumble of disapproval did not help my mood. “You should not have left him.”

  “They’re going to kill him. Kill him. Kill him.” God, was it eight hundred degrees in here, or was it just me? Annoyed with my robe, I ripped it from my body and tossed it onto the floor. The skin of my arms and hands was a bright pink.

  Hah! I knew it. Too damn hot.

  Sarah crept forward as I returned attention to my scrubbing. “How much wine did you drink?” she asked.

  “Wine? No wine. I was thirsty. I had water. I need more water.” I stood, filling the cup for a fourth time. I drained it all at once, pouring a small amount on my chest and neck. So fucking hot. “It’s hot in here. Don’t you aliens have air conditioning?”

  Sarah glanced at Dax, then back at me. “The temperature is fine, Tiff. Why don’t you get up? I’ll take you back to your room.”

  “No. I have to clean the floor.”

  “You hate to clean,” she prompted me. I did. Ever since the restaurant, I didn’t like to do it. Deek had servants to clean and so did Dax. But here I was on the floor, scrubbing it. Why?

  I stood slowly, looked down at the cloth in my hand, saw that my hands were both shaking. Forget the four cups of high-octane coffee. This felt like half a case of Red Bull. My heart was racing so fast beneath my ribcage that it actually started to hurt.

  “There’s something wrong with me.”

  Chapter Twelve

  Tiffani

  Sarah approached then, took the cloth from me, tossed it onto the table. She looked at me closely, took my chin in her hand.

  “Did you take something?”

  “Take?” I asked rubbing my hands over my bare arms, itchy. Tense. My heart was going too fast. Too fast. I needed ice water. More water. Did they have ice cream on this stupid planet? Chocolate chocolate chunk? Something. “Is it hot in here?”

  “Tiffani, what did you take?”

  “Take? What do you mean? Like an aspirin?”

  Sarah nodded.

  “Nothing.”

  Sarah looked over her shoulder at Dax.

  “Are you sure?” Dax asked.

  “Yes. I was in bed crying, and then I started to feel weird. God, there’s something wrong with me. I can’t settle down and my skin feels creepy, like ants are crawling all over me.”

  I shivered, tugging at the seams of my dress, twitching. Ants? Maybe. Did they have little tiny spiders on this planet? Maybe it was spiders. I shivered, rubbing at my skin as if something truly was crawling all over me. But I saw nothing. I was so confused. “Do you have spiders? And why am I scrubbing your floor?”

  I looked down at the clean white tile. I’d seen one tiny little speck of dirt and freaked. I’d tackled piles of greasy pans and cleaned restaurant fryers. This was nothing. Nothing. A speck of dirt?

  Was it moving? Was it a spider?

  I stepped back, looking for something to crush it with from far away. Did they have cast iron here? A broom? A broom might work.

  My empty glass caught my eye.

  God, I was still thirsty. “I’m thirsty, Sarah. I’m sorry. Can I have another glass of water?”

  “How many have you had?”

  I had to think for a minute. “I don’t know. Three. No, four. I think I’ve been roofied.”

  Sarah didn’t roll her eyes at me. “Well, roofies would put you to sleep, not make you hyper.”

  “Right.” Shit. I knew that. I’d seen it happen once at the restaurant. What was wrong with me?

  “What is roofies?” Dax asked.

  “It’s a drug that puts a person to sleep. Out cold, and when they wake up, they don’t remember anything that happened. It’s used on Earth, at least where Tiffani and I lived, as a drug to rape women.”

  “Gods,” Dax growled. “Has anyone touched you, Tiffani?”

  I shook my head. “Only Deek, but that was before his fever hit at the party. After that, he refused to touch me. Although we did share a bed in the cell. He wrapped his arms around me and I fell asleep. But that’s it.”

  “Did you eat or drink anything anyone strange gave you at the party?” Sarah asked.

  “Only from Deek.”

  Dax went to a wall unit, took out an odd-looking black object with a strange coil at the top and returned to me. He pressed a button on it somewhere and a blue light lit the coils.

  I frowned and tilted my head back away from it.

  “It’s okay,” Sarah said. “It’s a ReGen wand, remember? Got rid of your headache. It heals wounds and stuff.”

  Right. My headache from the NPU when I’d first arrived. That felt like a hundred years ago.

  I just stood there with a funny look on my face as Dax waved the wand in front of my head, then lower, working his way all the way down my body, then back up again.

  “Well?” he asked, when done. “Feel better?”

  I shook my head. “No. I don’t feel any different.”

  “What do you feel like?” Sarah asked.

  “My heart is racing and I’m hot. Every spot I see in the floor is making me crazy. I’m thirsty. My skin is tingling. Look, it’s pink.” I held out my arm for Sarah’s inspection, but Dax looked me over as well as I continued. “And I’m…” Shit, I couldn’t say it.

  “Horny as hell?” Sarah finished for me.

  I blushed then, but Sarah wasn’t laughing. “Yes. I can’t stop thinking about Deek, about… what we did together.”

  Dax studied me. “If it wasn’t something you ate, then who did you come in contact with?”

  I thought about the party, began pacing the kitchen, letting some of my restless energy bleed off.

  “I came in contact with everyone at the party, but no one touches here. You guys are all too macho or whatever. So crazy. You guys are crazy, you know that?” God, Deek was so possessive, so growly when another man even looked at me, and I loved it! Loved the feeling of being cherished. Desired. Wanted.

  And now, he wanted Seranda.

  Dax growled. “Yes, no one touches another’s mate.”

  I thought back. “Engel does. He touched me. He made Deek go crazy. He’s a jerk. I don’t like him.”

  I blurted the words and immediately felt contrite. He was Deek’s cousin. Family. I shouldn’t disrespect Deek’s family.

  “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.” I looked at Sarah, pleading. “Please don’t tell Deek I said that.” Not that it would matter, because he wasn’t mine anymore.

  I moaned in pain and turned away.

  “Tiffani, it’s okay. We won’t tell him,” Sarah whispered.

  Needing to believe her, I turned my head and watched her nod solemnly at me. Good. She wouldn’t tell. The relief was immense and instant and I felt like a three-year-old who’d just been handed a lollipop.

  Dax tilted his head, watching me. “What did you mean about Engel touching you?”

  It was hard to think, but not to recall the creepy feeling of Engel’s hand. “I put my hand out for Engel Steen, Deek’s cousin, uncle, whatever he is. He didn’t take it, but I shook Tia’s hand. I guess she knew it was an Earth thing.”

  “Tia?” Sar
ah asked. “Why would she do this to you?”

  “She wouldn’t,” Dax said. “But we were talking about Engel Steen, Tiffani. Try to remember. Did he touch you?”

  I shook my head slowly as I continued to pace. “The only time was when Engel touched me at the end. I didn’t like it, but Deek was already crazy with his fever. Remember, Engel touching me was what got him all fired up and out of control.”

  I stopped moving and clenched my hands into fists, furious all over again about Deek.

  “Are you sure there’s not anything else?” Sarah asked. “Close your eyes and think.”

  I did as she asked, working my way through the timeline of the party. “The first guests arrived and Deek actually reminded me that Atlans didn’t shake hands, but bowed in greeting, so I was thinking of that at the beginning. There was that ridiculously tall guy, remember him?” I asked, keeping my eyes closed.

  Sarah laughed. “Yeah, he could have played basketball, huh?”

  “After he left, Engel and Tia came. That was when I shook her hand. Engel gave me Deek’s family necklace.”

  My eyes popped open and I touched the links that still rested at the base of my neck.

  “Oh, God,” I said, tugging at the clasp at the back, trying to take it off. “It’s the necklace. Of course, it’s the fucking necklace.”

  “What are you talking about?” Sarah said, coming over to help.

  “Don’t touch it!” Dax yelled, grabbing Sarah. He took a breath when she jumped away from me. “I’m sorry for yelling, but if it is the necklace that’s making her act this way, I don’t want you touching it.”

  He leaned down and kissed Sarah’s brow while I fiddled with the clasp, then got it off. I held it in the air as if it were a dead snake.

  Dax retrieved a small wooden box and I dropped it inside. He placed it on the table and picked up the ReGen wand. “I’m going to change the settings. If you’ve got poison in your system, this will analyze the chemical and program your cells to begin to produce an antidote.” The blue coils turned a strange shade of orange as he waved it over me again.

  Within a couple of minutes, I started to feel better. My skin stopped being so sensitive, my breathing slowed and I didn’t feel as on edge. I no longer felt as if I wanted to run a marathon or scrub their house.

  I took a deep breath, then another. “Holy shit. That’s so much better.”

  Dax looked at the ReGen wand, growled. “I fucking knew it.”

  “What?” Sarah and I asked in unison.

  “It’s Rush.”

  “What’s Rush?” I glanced down at the box and the necklace most likely coated in the stuff.

  “It’s been banned for decades. Highly illegal. It speeds up our metabolism and makes it nearly impossible for us to control the beast. They used to use it at sex parties, until the males lost control and started to kill each other. It’s been banned for a long time, but there is still an illegal trade off-world.”

  “Like Earth?” I asked.

  “No. Not Earth. It doesn’t affect you like it does Atlans or other planets.”

  “That’s why I didn’t go into a rage when Deek did, why I acted neurotic when he got angry.”

  “Exactly. We’re not sure exactly why you react differently. Scientists know that some aliens—sorry, but you both qualify as aliens to Atlan’s scientists—respond in different ways.”

  “Perhaps it’s good then, that I was drugged too. Otherwise…”

  I didn’t finish that sentence. Didn’t even want to think about it.

  “You will be fine. The ReGen wand took it from your system. But for Deek, for an Atlan, even as big as he is, this drug will bring forth the beast, make him feel as if he has mating fever.” Dax picked up the box and we all looked down into it at the tainted necklace. “In the other races, like yours, it makes the heart race. It brings heat and thirst and it…”

  “Horny,” I supplied. “It makes you horny.”

  “Oh, shit.” Sarah put her hands on her hips. “So this drug must have been used on Deek.”

  I nodded. “It had to be. Deek touched it when he put the necklace on me. He went crazy right after that. So, he must have gotten enough on his skin to react.” I looked up at Dax. “That means—”

  “Deek doesn’t have mating fever. He was drugged.”

  “And he’s mine.” Rage rolled through me at the thought of what had almost happened. “Engel drugged him. But why? I thought they were family.”

  Dax’s frown deepened. “I believe Engel was on board Battleship Brekk when Deek was first struck with the mating fever.”

  The implication was obvious, but I was so ready to scratch someone’s eyes out that I couldn’t help but seethe. “He’s been drugging Deek from the start, trying to get him executed.”

  Sarah crossed her arms. “Or mated to his daughter.”

  I took a deep breath and tried to think. Think! “Why would Engel do this? They’re family, right? What does he have to gain? Even if Deek had mated Tia, I don’t get it. It’s not like that much would have changed.”

  Dax put the box down and paced the kitchen, his anger making his eyes darken. I recognized the signs of the beast rising in response to his rage, and quickly stepped out of the way as Sarah rushed to his side to calm him.

  “Let’s all settle down, call the guard, and go over to Engel’s house and ask, shall we? We have time.”

  I did a quick calculation. “Five and a half hours.”

  Dax’s shoulders were a bit larger than they’d been moments ago, but he allowed Sarah to run her hand up and down his back, help him maintain control. “Councilor Engel is a very powerful man. When Deek turned him in for illegal arms dealing to a non-member planet, he was free in a matter of hours.”

  “What?” Sarah gasped and I was right there with her. “What arms deals? What the hell are you talking about?”

  Dax braced his hands on the island countertop in the center of the room and stared at the necklace as he spoke. “Deek told me about it in his office the other day, when you two were visiting.”

  “Told you what?” I asked, stepping closer.

  “Engel was on board the Brekk, overseeing a special shipment of food and medical supplies to a war-torn planet called Xerima. They are a primitive people, scavengers and barbarians who still fight like ancient warlords over territory and females. They are smart, fierce fighters, and are very good at stealing technology from other races.”

  “So? What does this have to do with Deek?” Oh, I really, really wanted to strangle Engel now.

  “Deek caught him hiding top-grade ion blasters and sonar cannons in the medical supplies. Xerima is protected by the Coalition Fleet, but they are not a full member planet. Giving them arms, transport technology or ships is expressly forbidden by the Interstellar Coalition.”

  Sarah’s breath left her body in a long, slow hiss. “So, Deek caught him and turned him in.”

  “Yes. But Engel was freed within hours and never faced an inquiry.” Dax looked disgusted. “He has friends in very high places.”

  God, did this political bullshit have to be everywhere? I thought Earth politics were bad. “So? So what? He drugged my mate and was going to let him die. He has to pay.”

  Dax nodded. “I agree. But we’re going to need proof. We need to get the guards involved now, before we try to take him down.”

  Sarah and I looked at each other. She shrugged. “Okay. So call them or whatever. We’ve got the necklace.”

  Dax shook his head. “I know. But Deek had several crates loaded with weapons as proof and it wasn’t enough. Engel’s going to have to confess, and we’ve got to trick him into doing it.”

  As he raised his gaze to mine, I saw worry there. “You’ll have to get him to admit it, Tiffani. If we can get a recording of him admitting what he’s done, we’ll release it to the news monitors for planet-wide broadcast. He won’t be able to bury it, like he’s done everything else.”

  Shit. Confessions were not my area of s
pecialty. I was a waitress, not a cop. Still, I’d do whatever it took to save Deek. “I want Deek home and Engel dead.”

  “Amen to that,” Sarah added.

  I looked at Dax and squared my shoulders. “Just tell me what to do.”

  Seranda and her big tits could just go fuck some other big Atlan warrior. Deek was mine, and I was going to get him out of that fucking prison. Right after I helped Dax kill the asshole who put him there. Well, maybe not kill him, but I was going to kick him in the nuts so hard he wouldn’t be able to use his junk for at least a month. And then I’d let Dax have him. Based on the rage practically shimmering all around Dax’s body, I wouldn’t have to worry about justice for my mate.

  And I was very, very grateful that Deek had such loyal friends. “Thanks, guys. I won’t forget this. Ever.”

  Sarah reached over and took my hand. “We Earth girls gotta stick together.”

  I nodded, both relief and hope forming tears in my eyes.

  Sarah squeezed. “Let’s go gut that asshole and get your man.”

  Dax led us over to the table where we all sat like generals planning an upcoming battle. “All right, here’s the plan…”

  Chapter Thirteen

  Tiffani

  I took a deep breath to settle my nerves. Everyone said it felt like butterflies, but for me, it felt more like a heart attack. My palms were sweaty, my heart was beating frantically and it was almost impossible to remain calm. But the plan required me to be super chill, so when the vid screen connected with Tia, across town in her father’s house, I pasted on a brilliant smile.

  “Tiffani!” Tia said, sitting down in a chair in front of her screen. “Are you all right?”

  Her gaze raked over me—or what she could see of me through the screen.

  “It took me a few minutes to figure out this stupid machine to call you, but yeah, I’m fine. Great, in fact.”

  She frowned.

  “You look really… excited.”

  “Yes,” I replied, for once thrilled that I was antsy. It came across as excited. I was excited that we’d found the reason for Deek’s rage and that Dax had sent men to the jail to stall the execution, if needed.