Elise cocked her head to the side as if puzzled. “No. I wish to know the man my daughter is about to mate.”
“There’s very little to know, my lady,” he said blandly. “I am a warrior. I am being commanded to take Shasta Pasquel as a mate. She will find the mating to her advantage,” he said, trying to infuse as much arrogance into the statement as possible.
The woman who confronted him said nothing for a moment. Then, “But yesterday—”
“My lady, I must go into the chamber. Shasta will be waiting.”
She frowned, but stepped out of his way.
The sight in the council chambers was bittersweet for him. His Shasta, the woman he’d taken so tenderly in his dream, was kneeling in front of the large bench in the center of the room. The council sat in the raised seats around the chamber, their gazes impassive. How could they remain unmoved by her? She was beautiful, her golden blonde hair bound in the traditional Dormrelian braids, her naked form perfectly displayed.
Though he wanted to savor this moment, take her the way he’d taken her the night before, he had a job to do here. He took a deep breath and stepped into the chamber.
“Andev Juno, do you accept Shasta Pasquel as your mate?” Nera Tommas said.
He gazed at the council and stated his part. “Do I have a choice?” He said it bitterly, hoping they would believe that he was reluctant.
“No,” Shera Patel stated. “You do not.”
Shasta shot him a glance over her shoulder. Her gray-blue eyes were filled with pain, humiliation and resignation. Stars, he hated this. But the part must be played. “Then, let’s get this over with, shall we?”
It was then he noted that Shasta was naked but for one thing. She wore her mechanical interpreter. Of all days for her to remember it. She would remember his words and hate him for them. And he couldn’t blame her.
She tensed when he stripped and strode toward her. He couldn’t help that his cock was hard and he was ready for her. That was just what she did to him. He wondered what she thought of his naked body. Her skin was smooth and soft. His had scales in several places, the same color as those on his cysuit. He set those thoughts aside. This wasn’t the time for them. Roughly and without finesse, he clamped his hands on her hips.
He leaned down close to her ear. “Brace yourself.”
“That’s it?” she whispered back, her eyes narrowed.
“Yes.” And without warning, he thrust his dick inside her. She was dry, clearly frightened, and completely tight. He wanted so much to touch her, coax the response he knew was buried beneath the surface. Instead, he played his part as a first class asshole.
But something changed on the second thrust. She softened, relaxed, accepted. Stars, she was an amazing woman. Bent over her back, he rhythmically thrust inside her, hating that he caused her pain with every stroke, wanting to give her the tenderness he had in their dreams.
The words were there, in his mind. In your dreams, I’m real. But here? Here, I must convince these politicians that I don’t care, that I’m doing what I’m ordered to do. By the stars, I wish I could tell you the truth and spare you this.
But for some reason, the connection they’d had on Asberek didn’t materialize, and he felt no answering touch of her mind. Angry at himself, he wrapped his hand around her hair and yanked back. She growled, a sound of fury that actually made him want her more. He jerked her head to the side and bent down to take possession of her lips. He practiced no coaxing touch, no sweet tenderness. He took, ravaged.
And to his sweet surprise, she gave. He reached his hand around her waist and pinched her clit. Unlike the slow strokes of their dream loving, he quickened the pace, driving her toward pleasure whether she wanted it or not.
She gasped, the sound captured by his mouth, and squeezed his cock with her tight pussy muscles. His dick was flooded with her release, and he let go of the control over his own release, joining her.
But he got no joy from the joining, no satisfaction from the possession. His taking had been clinical, demanded by the council. He’d used his knowledge of Shasta’s body to get the desired response, but he didn’t enjoy it. Not in his heart. Not the way he had when they’d collided in their dreams.
Shasta’s breaths came in pants, and she remained still beneath him. He pulled out and lifted her to her feet. She kept her head lowered and her arms crossed over her breasts. What had he done to her?
“Are we done?” he said harshly to the council. He avoided Shera Patel’s gaze, certain he would find understanding pity there, and he didn’t want to see it.
“Shasta Pasquel has not spoken the words,” Cheron Mayna said softly. Ah, there was one council member who didn’t want to see Shasta Pasquel safely mated.
His new mate’s head snapped up. “I accept him as my mate. I offered him my surrender. We have consummated publicly. What more can you ask of me?” She lifted her chin, and he stared at her. She was his equal in all, and he wanted to cheer.
The strain was telling on her face. White and trembling, Shasta was about to break down. How he knew it, he didn’t care. He stepped in front of her, ostensibly to address the council, but in reality to shield her from their cold gazes. “The ritual is done. Are you satisfied?” he asked harshly.
For a moment, the council chambers were silent. Finally, Shera Patel nodded. “We are satisfied, Andev Juno.”
He turned and gazed briefly at Shasta. He wanted to take her hand and lead her to his home. What he wanted to do was tell her he was sorry. Instead, he pivoted on his heel, naked, and strode toward the door. “Let’s go, mate.” He sneered the last word knowing how it would sound to her and to the council.
*
Bastard. Asshole. And she was stuck with him. She could have run away, balked at the whole mating idea and flouted Dormrelian law as not her own. She could have caused an incident of interstellar proportions. Her mother clearly expected her to.
But every time she thought about it, two visions would stop her. One was the many dead warriors she’d seen over the weeks they’d protected her colony. The second was Andev Juno’s small child’s face staring at his dying sister.
Right now, however, she wanted to deck the bastard. Still, as a human, he was good looking. Scales dotted his skin, but they enhanced his build rather than put her off. He had tight muscles and moved like a fucking cat. Her pathetic defensive training wouldn’t compare to what he could do. It irritated her.
In terms of power, he held all the cards. He’d been forced to mate with her as a matter of duty, whereas she’d done it to clean up her own mess and keep the peace. He had military training vastly superior to hers. He’d been born and raised on Dormrela, and she was a stranger, an alien.
She stopped, suddenly her legs wobbly and weak, and hit her knees. It didn’t matter. There was no one there. She was alone. Vaguely, she wondered where her mother and sister were, where the council had gone. The large atrium was lit by sunlight, and she stared at the ceiling. What had she done? Mated to a creature she didn’t know to save…what?
Tears blurred her eyes, and she dashed them away. Damn it, she was no fucking crybaby. She’d chosen this to prove to herself and to the world that her life had a purpose, that she wasn’t a useless party girl.
But it wasn’t easy.
She rose to her feet and lifted her chin, staring at a portrait of some magnificent Dormrelian warrior on the wall. It suddenly struck her that the painting depicted a female warrior, tall, proud, unbeaten. Shasta gritted her teeth and dragged herself forward. Whatever happened, she was no fucking coward. She would face it.
From the shadows, a large Dormrelian hand reached out, holding a pretty dress, one she’d never seen. She glanced up and noted her new mate’s cold gaze. “Perhaps you should cover yourself,” he said in an icy tone. He was back in his fucking disguise she noticed.
“Fuck you,” she snapped.
“Been there, done that,” he said without missing a beat.
“You certainly did,”
she said with an edge in her tone. “No one could have called that anything else.”
Something flickered in his eyes and then the ice was back. “I take it you’re complaining.”
“Oh no,” she said sarcastically as she jerked the dress from his hand. “Every woman likes to have somebody’s cock jammed in her pussy with the only foreplay being the words ‘Brace yourself’. I mean, what woman wouldn’t?”
A ghost of a smile lifted his lips. “Dormrelian law doesn’t require pleasure, but you can’t deny I brought you to an orgasm.”
With the memory of her intense orgasms in her dreams fresh on her mind, she laughed at him. “There are orgasms, and there are orgasms.” She closed her eyes and relished the memory of her dream lover. “You obviously don’t know the difference.”
He shrugged, seemingly unconcerned. “I don’t need to. I’ve done my duty and mated with you. Nothing else is required.”
She stared at him. “That’s it then?”
“What else is there? You don’t want me as a lover, do you?”
“I had hoped to create…something out of this mess, Andev.” Could he be serious? Was he really going to let that…travesty in the chamber be the extent of their association?
“We have created something,” he told her. “We’ve appeased the council.”
A frozen layer of ice seemed to encase her heart. This was all her effort had gone for. This was her sacrifice. A loveless, cold mating that meant nothing to either of them.
She pulled the dress over her head. “Thank you for the dress,” she said politely.
He winced, and she wondered what for. She’d been courteous. That seemed to be all he wanted. He turned away from her and held out his arm. “There is a crowd waiting. I will take you to my home.”
“We’re going to live together?” She was puzzled. He had acted so cold, yet he still attempted to follow the form.
“It would seem odd if we didn’t.”
She blinked. Odd? What the hell about this whole thing wasn’t odd? When she took his arm, he glanced at her and she couldn’t read his expression. It seemed…regretful, but it was hard to read him since he had his cysuit back on. “Just a minute,” she demanded as he attempted to lead her to the exit. Outside, she could hear the throng of people waiting for them.
He sighed. “What is it?”
Apparently, being impatient was also one of her new mate’s attributes. “I read the agreement,” she stated. “I’m supposed to have children. Exactly how am I supposed to do that?”
One of his shoulders lifted and fell. “I don’t care.”
She opened her mouth and then snapped it shut. She ground her teeth and glared at him. “Well, I do. I made a commitment, a promise. I don’t renege.”
“Then I suppose you will be a frustrated woman.” The man dragged her toward the door, his stride long and fast.
Before they reached the exit, Shasta twisted in front of him and threw a well-placed blow to the neck area she knew the cysuit didn’t cover. Andev’s head snapped back, and he lost his balance. Shasta tried to get out of the way, but he grabbed her around the waist and yanked her down with him.
They hit the floor so hard Shasta’s teeth rattled. “Let go of me, you fucking oaf,” she said.
He yanked her back toward him when she tried to get up and pinned her to the cold floor. She glared at him, struggling to free herself from the grip of his four viselike hands. Then, his head swooped down, and he pounded his lips on hers.
This wasn’t like the kiss they’d shared in the chamber or on Asberek. There was something desperate, needy, intense about their collision.
When their minds touched, Andev’s surprise swamped Shasta. “I don’t want you in my thoughts, Shasta Pasquel,” he whispered in her mind, and a wall slammed between them. She didn’t want to be in his mind. Why should she? Why would she want to read the thoughts he clearly had about her?
But her own mind whirled helplessly. Why was he kissing her? And why the hell did it have to feel so right, so fucking good? Beneath him, she relaxed slightly, willing to give a little to get.
His words came back to her. “Then I suppose you will be a frustrated woman.” With all her might, she heaved her body against him, trying to dislodge him. His grip loosened, and she lifted them to shove him away. There was no way she was going to let him control her that way.
Finally, she managed to squirm away from him. Breathless and angry, she glared at him. She lifted her hand and scrubbed her lips. “Since you have no intention of honoring the agreement you signed, you keep your fucking paws to yourself.”
He was on her in a heartbeat. Stars, he was fast! He thrust his nose against hers, his hands wrapped around her wrists. “Then don’t touch me, Shasta Pasquel,” he snapped.
“Gladly,” she responded bitterly. “I can’t trust you at all, can I?”
Again, his features were unreadable. “That wasn’t part of the agreement.”
“Get off me,” she said dully. It was clear that she had traded her pointless partying existence for a pointless political existence. Nothing mattered anymore. Once, she’d had hope that she would be, if not loved, at least respected.
Not with him.
He slowly slid away from her, and she stood up, brushing the material of her dress. She squared her shoulder and gave her new mate a cold look. “Shall we go?”
Andev’s lips tightened, and he held out his arm. She ignored it and swept out the door. Fuck him. She was her own person. She didn’t need his arm, or anything else from him. She would make something out of all this.
* * * *
What the hell had she gotten herself into? Andev was distant, cold, a complete stranger. He shoved her into a hovercar parked and ready for them outside the council building. Inside the vehicle was another Dormrelian warrior, one she knew.
“You’re dressed for the occasion,” she said.
His grin was a welcome warmth, and Shasta drank it in, needing it after the cold ceremony and the less than happy aftermath. “I actually own my ceremonial robe. Didn’t even have to rent.”
She chuckled and shot a glance at Andev.
He was silent. Tylan didn’t seem surprised or restrained by their tension. He just talked over it. The topics ranged from local political scandals to the newest vids gone viral, all light and shallow, nothing serious.
Eventually, Shasta relaxed and listened to his banter.
“Andev was going to take you to his disgusting apartment, but I convinced him the error of his ways. That place is a pit.” Tylan rolled his eyes, and Shasta’s lips twitched.
“In my defense,” Andev began in a cold tone, “I didn’t know I was going to be mated this week.”
“I have a difficult time believing you’d bring any woman into that sludge pile,” Tylan said with an exaggerated frown. “Don’t you clean it up for the Hadaji?”
Andev shrugged. “What for?”
Shasta snorted. “I’m shocked,” she said sarcastically.
Her mate raised his eyebrows. “I see no reason to clean up my residence to fuck a woman.”
“Well, if you fuck them like you fucked me—” She stopped, appalled at herself. What was wrong with her? She’d attacked him, furious that her experience on that bench was so…brutal. Yet, they both knew a part of her had gotten off on it.
Tylan stepped in. “I always knew he was all talk and no action.”
A muscle ticked in Andev’s cheek. “This is a ridiculous conversation.”
“I agree,” she immediately said. “Discussing something so inconsequential usually is,” she quipped and turned a thousand watt smile on Tylan. “Tell me about the music on Dormrela. I heard some the first day I arrived, and I wondered if it was typical.”
Shasta was a party girl. Charming people was something she understood. So, she set out to charm Tylan. Their previous conversations had been fairly tame, teasing and kisses aside. Now, she made an effort to get to know the attaché. She was surprised to find he was so
knowledgeable about Asberek and its culture.
Andev wouldn’t be drawn into the conversation, but he seemed to be pissed off. She noted two of his hands were clenched into fists in his lap, and he shot a glare at Tylan a few times. She wondered why. After all, he didn’t want her and had made it clear she was on her own.
She glanced at Andev and back to Tylan. Maybe that was it. Maybe they were lovers, and she was the third wheel. Perhaps the stress of the day had gotten to her, but she decided she wasn’t going to continue on in ignorance.
“So, Tylan, were you and Andev friends with benefits? Is that why Andev is being such an asshole about this mating?”
Tylan blinked, and Andev’s head whipped toward her. Then, Tylan threw back his massive scaled head and laughed. “Oh, ansha, that is priceless.” He doubled over and kept laughing.
Andev’s eyes narrowed. “Tylan is my best friend. That is all. You just have difficulty believing a man doesn’t want to fuck you every second of the day.”
Ouch. She struggled not to flinch, to show him the hit scored. Instead, she tipped her chin. “Not every second, but perhaps I’d like to believe there’s a reason a man would dry fuck me.” Okay, her mother would be ashamed of how she talked to her mate, but damn it, the man was being a complete dick about all this.
“You weren’t dry by the end,” he pointed out like the bastard he was.
She snorted. “Good thing.”
Tylan stared at his friend. “That doesn’t sound like Andev.”
Shasta didn’t drop Andev’s gaze. “So, I’m not screwing up something special with Tylan?”
Andev winced. “No. I was completely unencumbered.” He turned his face to the window.
Was that it? Now, he was burdened with a mate. When she glanced at Tylan, she caught a bleak, hurt twist of his features before he dropped all expression. He seemed to object to Andev’s assertion that he was “unencumbered”. Well, shit, it wasn’t her fault.
But as soon as she had that thought, she had to correct herself. She’d rushed in, thinking that all she had to do was arrive on Dormrela and all her questions would be answered. Arrogant. Was she any better than Andev? Not really. She’d expressed her bitterness at being forced to mate Andev even though she’d created the situation in the first place.
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