He walked over at a human’s pace, taking his time to look at me. I watched him, even upside down, watched him look at my very center. Knew it was wet, open. Swollen and ready for him.
Even though I saw him move, when his hand settled on my bottom, I startled.
“Shh,” he soothed, stroking his big palm over my skin. “Put your hands on the wall.”
He held my hip as I straightened to do as he said. Now, I looked straight ahead at the white wall, my ass out. “Good girl.”
“I’ll have you know I’m a vice admiral, not a go—”
He spanked me then, one slap to my bottom.
“Shh,” he repeated. “I know what you are. Out there, you command. In here, with your gorgeous body on display just for me, you’re mine, and you’re being very, very good.”
I gritted my teeth, willing myself not to wiggle my hips for more.
“Then why did you spank me?” I questioned, glancing over my shoulder at him.
He was fully clothed while I was bare, bent over. Vulnerable. Letting him spank me. I should turn around and kick his ass for wanting to spank mine. But the truth was, I loved the sting. The shock of it. I loved letting go, just a little, allowing someone else to be in control.
“Because you need it.”
I laughed. “Need it?”
He spanked me again, this time on the other side of my ass. It wasn’t hard, but it held a lot of sting. I gasped, then groaned when he drew a finger up my slit.
“See? You need it. Clears your head.”
“What are you talking about?”
He spanked me, one side, then the other. Harder. Then slid a finger inside my wet core. I groaned. Yes, that was what I needed. But his finger wasn’t long enough, or thick enough. I needed his cock.
He spanked me three times in a row, swift and hot with that one digit inside, not moving. Heat engulfed me. The sting morphed into warmth, fire. A glow that spread, made my pussy all but melt.
“Quinn,” I panted.
“What was your meeting about?”
“What?” I asked, frowning.
“Your meeting,” he repeated, then gave me another swat.
“I… I can’t think when you do that.”
Leaning forward, he whispered in my ear. “Exactly.” He stepped close so that his cock and hips pressed into my heated ass through the material of his uniform. Why wasn’t he naked?
He moved back and I whimpered, missed the feel of his uniform against my bare skin. The discrepancy between us was so noticeable. Everything was melting away but him. But Quinn.
He dropped to his knees behind me. Breathed, then licked.
“Quinn!” I cried at the touch of his tongue. There, on the entire length of my pussy, then settling on my clit. Flicking it, circling it. I couldn’t help shifting my hips, practically fucking myself on his face. My palms pressed into the wall, but they became slick. I could barely keep myself in the right position, but I was so close to coming.
Quinn must have sensed it because he sat back on his heels, then pushed to standing.
“Quinn,” I said again, in the most desperate, needy voice I’d ever heard come from my throat. He was turning me into an animal. I turned, faced him, wondered why he stopped.
He walked toward my bedroom, stripping as he went. He turned in the doorway. “Come.”
“I was trying to,” I grumbled. My nipples were tight peaks, my pussy so wet that my thighs were coated. I was so sensitive, so ready to come all I had to do was rub my thighs together.
The sight of him, naked and… god, incredible. His long hair brushed his broad shoulders. Abs so hard a quarter would bounce off. A cock he used for very magical orgasms. And he was all mine.
I started to go to him, ready and eager for that huge cock, but he held his hand up.
“Kneel.”
He went into the bedroom, sat on the edge of the bed so I could still see him. He gripped the base of his cock, stroked it and looked at me.
“Are you serious?” I asked.
“Submit, mate.”
There was a soft rug on the floor at his feet where he wanted me to kneel before him. Kneel. Submit. Give him complete control in order to get the good, hard pounding I wanted.
“Niobe,” he said when I didn’t move. “The only one here to see you give yourself to me… is me. There’s nothing to worry about. No one to command. To consider. No orders to give. No meetings to run. I am going to take care of you. Fuck you. Make you come. Make you scream in pleasure. Don’t think, just listen to my voice and do as I say.”
While I had Everian senses and could hear, smell, see everything in fine detail, it all shut down to just him. His voice. His breath. His words.
We were alone. There was no Academy outside the door. My uniform was a pile of clothes on the floor. The clothing meant nothing without the body to fill them.
Right now, I was just Niobe. Quinn’s mate. Could I do this? Could I kneel for him, give over to what he wanted so I was under his power? He was making a point, negotiating the dynamics between us… telling me what he wanted. He was a Hunter, an Elite. Strong. Fast. Controlled. A predator. Dominant by nature. The question was, could I give him control in this? Did I trust him enough to let go? Surrender? Submit?
The human side of me was arguing with everything happening. Indignant. Irritated. Furious that he’d interrupted my meeting. But the Everian half? God help me, she was so fucking hot I was having trouble holding her back. All I could think about was the fact that Quinn had dominated me on the Karter, he’d hunted me down, chased me, fucked me and filled me with his cock as my Hunter’s nature had craved from a worthy mate. The Everian half of me was more than happy to give him anything he wanted, now that he’d conquered me in a mating hunt—even on a battleship.
I was at war with myself. Logic versus instinct. Need versus my human idea of the perfect man.
Growing up on Earth I thought I’d wanted someone reserved. Careful. Quietly supportive. We would never argue, I’d thought. Never fight. Never fuck like mindless animals.
Quinn was far from reserved or careful. I knew we’d argue, a lot. And I was on fire just looking at him.
He continued to sit there and stroke his cock. He was as turned on as I, but he was being patient. Waiting. All I had to do was go to him and we’d both get what we wanted. Needed.
“I see you, Niobe.” While his voice was deep, full of need, it was calm. Almost… comforting. “I see who you are. What you need. Just for me. Submit. Let me take care of you. Stop thinking. Just feel.”
Those last two words held more heat than I could process as I focused on his strong hand moving at a steady pace up and down his cock. I wanted that cock. It was mine.
Slowly, I lowered myself to the floor, got on my knees. Looked up at him. I didn’t look away, just breathed and waited, my pussy clenching. So wet.
“You’re so beautiful,” he murmured. “So perfect.” His free hand came up, tugged my hair from the bun so it fell over my shoulders. Unable to wait, I leaned forward and licked the pearly drop of pre-cum from the blunt tip of his cock. Tasted his salty flavor.
He hissed and I knew that while I was on my knees before him, bare and exposed, he was right there with me. I held power over him. No one else could make him buck his hips with desire or feel the need to thrust and fuck. I made him an animal, subject to his base instincts. Just as he made me eager for him. Wet. Ready. Aching to be claimed.
I blinked and the next thing I knew, I was on my back on the soft bed. He’d used his Hunter speed and strength to put me there. He crawled up my body, nudged my knees apart with his as he went.
I looked up at him, all lethal Hunter, but his touch—besides the spanking—was gentle. Reserved. As if I were precious to him. “Gods be damned, Niobe, I don’t think I can wait.”
I bit my lip. Nodded. My bottom was hot and aching where it was pressed against the bed, but the extra heat only added to my overloaded senses.
Settling one hand bes
ide my head, he pressed his forehead to my stomach. Breathed deep. “I don’t scent my cum on you anymore.”
He growled, found my center and thrust his fingers into me with no warning. No foreplay. A blatant, aggressive thrust of possession. I gasped, arched my back. Wanted more.
Moving his fingers in and out of my body, he fucked me with them as he spoke. “If you’re going out there in that fancy vice admiral’s uniform, then underneath, you’ve got to be covered in me. Marked. Scented.” His fingers slipped out and he moved over me, aligned his cock to my entrance. He didn’t wait, thrusting deep in one stroke. “Mine.”
“Quinn,” I whispered, gripping his sides with my knees as my pussy adjusted to his size.
His body covered mine completely, all heat and scent and wild male. He moved in and out of my body, holding my hands above my head as he fucked me so slowly I thought I would die.
“Every time you’re sitting in one of those meetings and commanding your troops, you’ll know you’re mine,” he continued.
My pussy clenched around him and I groaned, clamping down, locking my knees behind his hips. God, his dirty talk would be my undoing.
“No one else will ever see you like this.”
I shook my head as he began a steady pounding rhythm, harder. Faster. My toes curled and my muscles began to shake as if I were losing control, not just of my senses, but of every muscle and fiber in my being.
He locked both of my wrists in one firm hand and used the other to push my knee wide and out toward the bed, opening my body to his fucking, giving him the angle he needed to go deeper, to rub against my clit every time he bottomed out inside me. He moved with the precision and control of a machine. Fast. Deep. Over and over and over…
“You want to come?”
“Yes.” The answer was out of my mouth before I’d fully processed the question. Yes was my answer to him. Yes to anything. I needed him. Yes.
“Ask.”
I licked my dry lips, arched up as he drove deep. I was so close, had been since he had his mouth on me where I stood against the wall. Now, thinking of him waiting for me to kneel before him, pushed me to the edge. I loved giving him control. Loved to forget, to only see him. To only hear him. Scent him. Feel him. “Please, Quinn. Let me come.”
His hand slipped between us, brushed over my clit. “Now.”
That was all it took. One word. His command. I obeyed.
And doing so, I sank into bliss. Into pleasure that made me see colors behind my closed eyelids. Made me scream his name. My pussy clenched and milked his cock for all his cum. His cock grew, tightened, swelled, exploded deep inside me. And through it all, he was there with me, his power and control a balm I hadn’t realized I needed, but my soul drank him in like I’d been dying of thirst for years.
Trust. This was trust, and I’d never really given myself to anyone else.
The scent of fucking, of his cum, my arousal, was heady. He was right. I was going to smell like him. Feel the sting on my ass, the swelling in my pussy, the boneless pleasure of my release long after I put my uniform back on.
But for now, I reveled in Quinn, in being a woman in love.
In being just Niobe.
12
Quinn, Coalition Academy, Three Days Later
* * *
My mate was busy. She was always busy. Meeting after meeting, disciplining the cadets, and the instructors—meeting with a constant stream of Coalition Fleet personnel fresh from the front lines with reports on new battle techniques.
I’d pulled her into a few locked classrooms, bent her over a desk or two and reminded her who was in charge… but I was beginning to doubt she was really listening to me in that regard.
Wandering the grounds, I watched the cadets’ battle simulations from one of the control stations. They were damn good. Accurate. Meant to get the fighters ready for battle, and they did a great job of recreating the environments and terrains the Fleet fought on every day. But watching cadets scream and shoot and fake kill one another was not entertainment. At least not for me. The sounds hit too close to home, reminded me of things best forgotten. I’d seen enough battle and death to last a lifetime.
I was not Coalition Fleet. I didn’t have to be here. Technically, I answered to the rulers on Everis, and no one else. I’d put together a unit and we’d served the Coalition, done our part in the war. But now, thanks to that Nexus unit, every member of my unit was dead. It was just me left, and I could either put together a new Hunter unit, join a unit looking for a member, or I could make a permanent change.
I could stay here on Zioria. But the idea of roaming the grounds of the Coalition Academy like a guest who had overstayed his welcome did not sit well with me.
I didn’t belong here. I was accepted, spoken to, but otherwise ignored. I was not part of this machine. This was not my planet, my people, my life.
What I wanted was to take Niobe to Everis. I had a home there. Family. I could tuck her safely into the family estate and take missions as they came my way, knowing she’d be protected and secure while I did what needed to be done.
I was an Elite Hunter. Wealthy. Respected on every planet in the Coalition.
And yet, I couldn’t control my own female. Couldn’t protect her. Couldn’t provide for her, or keep her safe, or watch over her like I needed to. And while I could dominate her in the bedroom, the moment she put the vice admiral’s uniform back on those curves, she wasn’t mine anymore.
She was theirs. Every single living being who transported on or off of this planet required her attention. Needed her to make decisions, keep things operating. And gods be damned, but I was proud of her. Vice Admiral Niobe was a hard-nosed, no-nonsense commander. She didn’t take insubordination, rarely showed any emotion, and always… always… remained in control.
And watching her do this to herself was making me insane. I knew the real Niobe, the woman who knelt before me quivering with need. The mate who crawled across the floor to me, who begged to come, and wrapped her legs around me, kissed me like she’d never be able to stop.
The two versions of her were at war in my mind, and although logically, I could reconcile them, my instincts were screaming at me to throw her over my shoulder and run.
Elite Hunters were known to be primal. Possessive. Protective.
And I had a mate who would not allow me to possess or protect her.
The situation was tearing me in two, and I could see no solution. I would never ask Niobe to step away from her position. She was good. Damn good. The Coalition Fleet needed her.
But so did I. More than half the day she was locked behind closed doors, where I couldn’t get to her. Couldn’t see her. Being a Hunter was what saved me, for I could still smell her. Hear her heart beating. Know she was well. Whole. Yet still removed. My obsession only grew each time I took her, filled her with my seed, marked her with my scent. Obsessed was too tame a word.
And yet, the idea of retirement, of resigning my duties as a Hunter, living a quiet civilian life did not appeal. I would lose my mind cooped up in Niobe’s small house like a pet with nothing to do. Sitting around skulking wasn’t in my nature either, but I’d been doing a hell of a job of it the last couple days. I was moody like a growing youth.
I was coming out of my skin, unable to protect her, unable to leave.
So I fucked her. Hard. I gave her the only thing I could, pleasure. Orgasms. Relief, if only for a short time, from her duties to the rest of the universe. And in between? I tried not to rip the head off each and every cadet, instructor or visitor who tried to speak to me. I was too raw to be civil, my need to protect my mate driving me to the brink of an Elite Hunter’s legendary self-control.
I’d been on hunts in Hive territory that had been easier than letting her walk away and close her office door on me every day. Every. Fucking. Day.
“Elite Hunter Quinn?” A young cadet jogged toward me from the main administration building where Niobe was—at this very moment—locked inside a room
with eight Atlan warlords, discussing Atlan training techniques.
More secrets. More details I wasn’t allowed to know, but could hear clearly.
“Yes?” I turned to watch the young male approach. He was Prillon and looked barely of an age to fight. But then, maybe I was just getting old.
“Vice Admiral Niobe issued orders for you to report to transport immediately, sir.” He added the sir as a sign of respect, not because it was required by Coalition protocols. I was not, technically, part of the Coalition Fleet. I had no official rank. No Intelligence Core clearances. No right to be next to my mate in her meetings. No right to protect her.
But that’s all I wanted to do. Protect what was mine.
“The vice admiral ordered me to report?” She was in command of the entire planet, but the idea still rankled. I was not Coalition. I was not hers to command. She was mine.
“Yes, sir. She said it was urgent.”
Fuck. My irritation faded instantly. What else was she supposed to tell this cadet? Please go ask Elite Hunter Quinn to come to the transport room when he can? No. That wasn’t her way. She was a vice admiral. She would give this cadet an order and not think twice about it. Especially if the matter were urgent. I had to gain control of my emotions where my mate was concerned. I was not rational. Hadn’t been since I’d met her. Fuck, I was mentally whining. Constantly. Thank fuck I wasn’t an Atlan because if I felt this protective without an inner beast…
“Thank you, cadet.”
The young Prillon nodded and ran back the way he had come. Urgent?
My heart skipped a beat with worry and days of raw frustration bubbled to the surface at the thought that my mate could be in danger.
Moving with Hunter’s speed, I was inside the building before the cadet had made it halfway down the path. Moving as nothing more than a blur, I sped to Niobe’s side, my pulse roaring, my entire body raging with the instinctive need to protect my mate.
“Niobe? Are you well?” My voice carried, echoing off the walls of the transport room as I came to a halt at her side. She stood speaking to a Prillon I had the displeasure of meeting on a prior mission, years past. The sight of him didn’t improve my mood. Where he went, pain followed. “Doctor Helion.”
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