Her Viken Mates (Interstellar Brides Book 11)

by Grace Goodwin

  She narrowed her eyes at me, remained quiet.

  “You don’t believe me,” she said finally, her voice cold. She tried to get past me, but there was no way I was letting her out of this chair. With one hand still on the armrest, I used the other to push her back, placing my palm between her breasts and holding her in place. Gently, but I would not relent.

  “I believe you are convinced your words are the truth.” Tears slid from her eyes again. I kept her gaze, ensured she was looking at me as I spoke. “But your words are serious and I wish to know what proof you have seen. You are intelligent. You have honor, mate, and wouldn’t make false claims without reason.”

  She relaxed then. I kept my hand on her, not to hold her in place, but to feel the beating of her heart.

  “Evon took me down to one of the command stations. It took me a few hours, but I hacked your security system.”

  I smiled. I couldn’t help it. My beautiful, brilliant mate.

  “I found out it was Thalia who used your security codes. Evon and I watched her do it. He saw the video. He got angry and ordered me to turn it off.”

  “Video?”

  “The security footage, the moving images. I told him it wasn’t you.” She sobbed again as she continued. “It wasn’t you, it was Thalia.”

  My eyes widened and I sat up. My mind began to spin with possibilities. More questions. My mate had broken into Viken’s security system? Pride filled me at my mate’s cleverness even as an unfamiliar ache squeezed my chest for the man I called friend, for our fragile new family.

  Evon would be devastated. His sister had betrayed us all, betrayed her family? She was responsible for the security breach? The illegal transports? The death of the guard? Why? I lifted my hand to Bella’s face and cupped her cheek. “I’m so proud of you, mate. But I don’t understand. You said Evon and Rager are in on it? And Thalia? Fuck. Thalia?” I was about to add more, more about how broken Evon would be at this betrayal, but Bella yanked her face from my touch and turned away from me.

  “No. That was Rager’s job.”

  I frowned. “What?”

  “Fucking Thalia.” She tipped up her chin, her tears now gone. In their place was steely resolve, a woman scorned. Pain. Soul-shattering pain that would harden her heart against us forever.

  “Explain.”

  “Rager is fucking Thalia.”

  I stood then, paced the small room, ran a hand over my long hair. I wanted to blurt out it was impossible, that Rager wouldn’t do something like that. He thought of Evon’s sister as his own sister. He wasn’t interested in her. If he had been, he would have mated her years ago, the first time she asked him. She’d been after him for years. Her obsession with Rager was well known to everyone at IQC. But Bella was new here, didn’t know the history.

  How could Bella not feel Rager’s devotion as her matched mate? Hell, his head had been between her thighs earlier in the day as I worked her ass. How could she question him? A few hours ago, I’d seen something in her eyes that made my entire body sigh with contentment. Love. Trust. Tenderness. Things I’d not had from a woman before. From my woman. Rager and Evon were as entranced as I. I had served with them for years, knew them almost as well as I knew myself. They were devoted to Bella, as I was.

  “Bella, there must be some mistake. You are our mate. We would die for you. Kill to protect you. Anything for you, mate. What you are saying is truly impossible.” I glanced at her, looking for doubt in her gaze, for weakness. There was none. Instead I saw pain, the same pain that had begun to twist through my gut at the thought that she might leave me.

  “Rager is fucking Thalia.” She said it slowly this time, deliberately pronouncing every word. It wasn’t a question. She had proof.

  “You saw them together?” There was no other explanation.

  “After Evon dumped me at our quarters, I went into our suite. Rager was in the shower so I walked over to close the door so I could think and…”

  “And?” I didn’t want to hear this, I really didn’t, but I would be strong for her.

  “I heard Rager and Thalia in the bathroom. Together. So I peeked around the door—” her voice faltered and she wrapped her hands around her stomach as if she were in horrible pain. She bent forward, rocking slightly back and forth like a hurt child.

  “You saw them.” I was trying to keep up. Rager and Thalia together in the shower? Evon growing angry with her for her discovery? Leaving her abruptly without explanation? None of this made sense to me, but Bella’s pain was real. The look in her eyes was undeniable. She was not a fool, nor prone to hysterics, as she’d proven in the hearing yesterday. She’d faced off with Evon’s father and held her ground. I had no choice but to believe what she said.

  But nothing made sense. Evon had no love for his family, the tension between them had grown for years and came to a peak when Evon chose his new mate, his new family over the old. If Rager hadn’t punched Dravon at the hearing, Evon would have. And Thalia? A traitor? A killer? No.

  Rager and Thalia together?

  “She was naked, Liam. Rager was in the shower already, and she was naked.” Bella closed her eyes, a fresh tear sliding down her cheek. “And I heard her.” Disgust was so thick on the words it was like acid to my ears.

  “You heard them together?”

  She nodded. “Thalia said, and I quote, ‘Give me that big cock, Rager. Don’t make me beg.’”

  It made no sense. None at all. I was trying to get my mind around all of this as she continued. I dropped back to the chair beside her.

  “Evon’s choosing Thalia over me. He forced me to turn off the displays, to shut down my access to the back end. He didn’t want me looking any more into it. He blew me off and told me not to worry about it, to let him handle things, before dropping me off at our suite like I was so much garbage, a terrible inconvenience. And you should have seen his eyes, Liam.” She took a breath, then another, glanced up at me through her damp lashes. “Evon was so angry. I thought he was mad at me, that he was angry at Thalia for getting caught. Maybe he was trying to figure out how to protect her. But then I heard Thalia with Rager, and I figured it out. Everything clicked, you know?

  “They’re all working together. Evon and Thalia and Rager. They’re all in on it together.” Bella lifted her small hand and cupped my face, the expression on hers no longer full of rage or anger or even hurt. No, all I saw was pity, and it was directed at me.

  “They’re working together. They framed you for murder, and the rest. I had to warn you, Liam. I had to warn you and I’ll tell the commander the truth. I can’t let them execute you. But after that, I can’t stay. I just can’t.”

  Pulling her close, I held her for long minutes as she sobbed into my chest, her pain soaking every cell in my body with dread. I ran my hand up and down her back, and when she calmed, I pulled away and took her face in my hands.

  “I’m going to find out what’s going on, Bella. I promise you.” I kissed her softly, hoping it wouldn’t be the last time I tasted her sweetness. No. It wouldn’t be.

  Decision made, I pulled away and held her gaze. “Stay here until the hearing. I’ll let Warden Vora know that you’re not to be disturbed. I’m going to find out what’s going on. And if what you say is correct, I’ll take you away from here myself, Bella. But you’re mine, and I’m not giving you up.”

  Chapter Twelve

  Bella

  Liam was gone. Evon was gone. Rager was…well, probably still balls deep in that bitch, Thalia.

  All the pain I’d felt had hardened inside me into steel. Liam, sweet Liam, still wanted to believe in his friends. I hoped he was right. But I was a realist, right? And there was no arguing with cold, hard evidence.

  Evon was prepared to lie and hide the truth to protect his sister, perhaps even to the point of seeing Liam falsely executed.

  Rager had never truly been part of our family. He’d never been mine. All I could do now was wonder if he’d been thinking about her every time he’d been
touching me.

  That thought made me shudder.

  And Liam. Well, I’d help him clear his name. Perhaps something could be salvaged from this? Perhaps not.

  Would he be able to let go of his past? If I refused him, I’d be taking everything from him at once, his most trusted friends and me. His entire world would shatter and I’d be at the epicenter of the explosion.

  I groaned, my head aching. I’d been trying to keep track of the time, but I knew time twisted in moments like this. Minutes seemed like hours, an hour like an eternity. I’d spent time in prison. I knew.

  Pacing, I had my back to the door when I heard the soft whisper of it opening. I turned, expecting to see Warden Vora, who’d returned to check on me, bring me food and drink and try to keep me company. But I hadn’t been much for small talk. After a few minutes of my monosyllabic responses followed by strained silence, he’d given up and left me alone.

  “Yes, Warden. I’m fine. Thank you.” The words were out of my mouth before I turned to smile politely and shoo him away.

  “I’m not the warden, Bella.” Thalia stood in the entryway. Behind her, I saw the limp form of Warden Vora. I gasped.

  “Did you kill him, too?” I asked.

  She raised a brow, and her space gun at the same time. “He’ll be fine. I set the ion blaster to stun. I don’t kill innocents.”

  I scoffed at that. “What about the guard that ended up dead?”

  Thalia walked into the room and helped herself to a swig of the lightly sweetened juice I hadn’t finished. She chewed slowly on several pieces of fruit and cheese as I watched. Waited. She wanted me to know we were on her time. Her schedule. She was in charge here. The whole while she barely blinked, and never took her eyes off me. “He was one of ours, turned informant. He was going to turn me in, so my friends took care of it.”

  “You have shit friends.”

  “No. I have true friends. Loyal friends. Friends who would die for me, kill for me.” Her gaze grew heated and I finally noticed the disheveled state of her uniform, as if she’d put it on in a hurry and never quite straightened herself out. Her hair wasn’t braided as I’d seen it every other time she’d been in uniform. It hung loose and tangled around her face, as if she’d been running her hands through it.

  Or Rager had, as she’d given him a blow job and swallowed his seed power down like the lying bitch I knew she was.

  “What do you want, Thalia?” I crossed my arms over my chest, cocked a hip. She might think she had the upper hand, but she’d fucked my mate and I was pissed. “You won already. You won. Why are you even here?” I had to ask. She had Rager. Evon was on her side, protecting her. The only thing standing between them and their goal—was me. Oh.

  “You came here to kill me.”

  It wasn’t a question, and she didn’t deny it.

  “Not exactly. But I do need to get rid of you. I can’t have you around turning Rager’s head.” She moved toward me and swung her gun to the side. “Let’s go, Bella. Out the door, take a left in the hallway. If you do anything stupid, I’ll kill you, and then I’ll kill Liam just because you made me angry.”

  I’d seen this scenario in a dozen movies, seen hostage situations on the news. In the past, I liked to think I would have been brave, stare down the barrel of the gun and tell the kidnapper or attacker to go fuck himself. Or herself.

  But the moment she threatened Liam, I was hers and she knew it. Rager? She’d never hurt her lover. I wouldn’t have believed the threat. Same with Evon. He was her brother, family.

  But Liam? They’d already proven they were willing to sacrifice him, and I couldn’t bear the thought.

  I went where she told me to, my head held high. I was wearing the same style of cream-colored clothing and boots I’d worn before. They were fur lined and warm enough to keep the chill of the station away from me, but with Thalia at my back, I shivered anyway. What could I do? That wasn’t just a gun, it was a space gun. She said she’d stunned the warden. It had settings, not just a bullet. And I’d shown up on Viken and gotten in the way of her having Rager. Or I was diverting his attention, at a minimum. The thought of sharing Rager with her made me nauseated. I had to assume she felt the same way, especially since we were actually mated. What I shared with him legally trumped whatever passion they had. That meant she was deadly.

  I had to think of something. Wait for my chance and wrestle the weapon away from her.

  God, I didn’t want to kill her, but what if it was kill or be killed? Perhaps it was still set to stun?

  I was running out of time and I knew it. But when we reached the final door at the end of the hall, my mind drew a blank. Nothing on the maps I’d seen came to mind.

  “Open the door, Bella.” She jabbed me in the back this time for good measure and I tried to hold in the gasp of pain as I did what she asked.

  The door slid wide and I realized why I had no idea what was on the other side.

  Nothing. Nothing but outside. Bitter cold. White.

  “Go. Keep walking or die right here.”

  Blinking against the blinding reflection of light on snow, I took my first tentative step onto the planet itself and tried not notice as my tears instantly turned to ice on my cheeks.

  * * *

  Evon, IQC VIP Guest Quarters

  “You made yourself clear earlier, Captain.”

  My father’s voice was its usual bland tone, but with it came an indifference I’d not seen before. We were in the large guest quarters. While I stood just inside the doorway, he sat in a comfortable chair positioned for the best view out of the large window onto the frozen vista. I doubted he noticed the stark beauty laid out before him. The way the wind lifted whispers of snow into the sky, creating endless tiny rainbows of color. The way the snow glistened like an infinite sea of small stars on a white canvas. The sky was crystalline blue and so clear I could actually see other planets winking and sparkling in the heavens during the middle of the day.

  I could name them all, had loved everything about outer space since I was a boy in school.

  This place fit. I was content serving the Royal Guard here. The dangerous splendor of the icy tundra appealed to something inside me I’d never bothered to analyze and didn’t care to explain. The air itself tasted wild, like risk and freedom locked in a never-ending dance.

  My father? He loved Viken, but his tastes ran to large cities teeming with people and power politics. Public service was in his blood, and in mine as well. The entire family was expected to serve, although a Coalition fighter wasn’t what he’d anticipated from me. Ours had been a tenuous relationship since I joined the Interstellar Fleet as a scout pilot. But that shock had worn off years ago.

  He’d never truly forgiven me when Thalia followed in my footsteps and left Viken behind. That had been years ago. I’d thought long and hard about the decision to join the Fleet, and understood the risks. I survived. And although my father was reluctant to forgive, there had been a grudging respect in his eyes when we spoke. I was my own man, not a pawn to be moved on the family game board. I’d served Viken in a truer manner than people like my brother would ever understand. I’d served to fight for Viken, protecting it from an outside enemy too terrible to ignore. In joining the Fleet, I was keeping my family safe.

  My father never saw it that way. He never would because unlike myself—and warriors like Rager and Liam—Dravon and my father had never seen the Hive firsthand. Never could grasp our enemy’s true horror, the ugliness and evil of their true existence.

  With Bella’s arrival, my stance had become solidified. I believed in my family, loved them and their altruistic service. But I would continue to serve in my own way, with my own family. I believed in them. First.

  Liam was no traitor. Bella had proven that. But now we faced a new problem, a bigger threat. My sister would not have acted alone. And though my heart was breaking for her, I knew her dissatisfaction had been festering for long months.

  I was heart-sick, but not surprise
d. And that fact alone told me everything I needed to know. Now we needed to lure out the rest of the traitors. The IQC Array and surrounding station was critical to Viken’s prosperity and safety. Nothing could put that at risk. Especially not my sister.

  “I did, Father. And I haven’t come here with a different stance. My family comes first. You preached that as a core command of our youth. I must have heard you say it a thousand times while I was growing up. And Bella is my family now. Bella, Liam and Rager.”

  “You are still a Tyrell,” he countered. “This family must come first.”

  “Not anymore. You can either accept my family into the fold or not. They are my first priority.”

  “Then why are you here?” Dravon came into the room from one of the bedrooms, a petulant scowl on his face when he saw me. His nose looked fine, as if Rager had never broken it, no doubt thanks to a few minutes with a ReGen wand. But the narrowed gaze and clenched jaw was all the indication I needed that his opinions hadn’t changed.

  “Because he’s my son. Show some respect.” My father twisted in his chair to frown at my younger brother. “Or should I call Rager in here to break your nose again?”

  “Thank you, Father.” I bowed my head slightly out of respect. His support wasn’t a hug, like Rager’s father would have gladly given his son, but it was no less than what I’d expected. His honor was intact, it was part of the very fiber of his being.

  Thalia’s betrayal would hurt him the most.

  “I am here to discuss a discovery Bella has made. She broke into our system, Commander.” I changed my address here so he would know I was serious, and this was about more than just family. We were doing our jobs.

  “Did she?” He leaned forward, clearly interested now that the uncomfortable discussion about family and loyalty was out of the way.

  “Rather easily, sir. Took her less than four hours to have access to our entire planet-wide security network.” I knew there was pride in my voice, but I didn’t even try to hide it. My mate was brilliant and highly skilled. Watching her mind work had been fascinating and I admired her all the more for her intelligence and abilities. When she’d turned on me and informed me that she was not a soldier to be ordered around, my cock had been so hard I was about to explode in my pants like an untried youth. Gods, she was beautiful. I couldn’t wait to claim her, to make her ours forever.