Priestess? So the princess had seen through my disguise?
Most saw what I wanted them to see, what I had programmed into the holograph producing mask; a tall man’s face with a crooked nose and short, oiled hair that was a completely unremarkable shade of mud brown. Hidden beneath the technology of a 5-S holographic mask I stood, a thin blonde woman, a priestess of Zatari. I caressed the daggers strapped to my thighs like a man would stroke his lover’s lips. The metal of the blades was cool beneath my fingertips… Comforting.
Deadly.
But I did not want to kill the princess, I wanted to use her to track down the Delti prince who had taken my friend and somehow seduced her, brainwashed her, made her his prisoner. His name was Markus Angelus, and the woman standing before me was his sister.
“Why did you come here, Priestess?” she asked.
I frowned, lifting my hand to the base of my neck to deactivate the holographic image protecting my identity. The woman’s face shimmered for a moment before the mask turned off to reveal my green eyes and long golden hair.
She would know who I was. Everyone on Zatari knew my face. I wasn’t just any priestess, I was a tracker and assassin in service directly to the High Priestess. I’d been bred to hunt, to protect the Zatari people with every breath in my body. I’d been called both beautiful and severe, my gaze too serious, the thin line of my mouth too harsh, cruel. I was hard. Political intrigue and an eye for treachery had been bred into my blood as surely as the color of my skin or the green of my eyes. From the cradle I’d been groomed and honed by the fires of court, by hundreds of tutors and those who pretended to be my friends.
Except Octavia. She was true and innocent and I would not leave her to rot with these Delti deceivers. I had defied my queen and my people to come for her. She was my friend, my one true friend. I had to find her.
“I came for Octavia.” There was no room within me for subterfuge or patience. My head ached, the pain having grown more severe for several hours. Noise bombarded me. Voices. Pain. Lust. I had no way to control the flood of thoughts that crowded into my head. I did what I’d been doing for the last two days onboard this moon base, I gritted my teeth against the ache and fought through the roar to concentrate on the small woman moving toward me.
Her white gown flowed like water to the floor, the color pristine and beautiful in such a foul environment. She stepped close, too close, and reached for my arm.
I knew better than to allow a Delti princess to touch my bare skin, but the ringing in my head lessened as she drew near, so I didn’t resist.
The moment her fingertips made contact with my wrist, silence descended. Not absence of sound, but absence of psychic noise. My headache lifted and my mind felt washed by a cool breeze. After the psychic roar of the station, of hundreds of slaves writhing with Fier-induced lust, the quiet peace was deafening.
Blinking in wonder, I stared at Princess Selene, shocked at the level of her power, her mastery over me, and suddenly I understood why our peoples had been at war for so long, why my people feared hers.
Power. There was so much power in her royal blood. With this kind of skill she could as easily have scrambled my mind as soothed me.
“Octavia is happy with her new mate.”
“With Markus?” I scoffed. “He is not her mate. He isn’t her anything. She’s a priestess of Zatari.”
Selene tilted her head, her dark, delicate eyebrow arching as if she scolded a child despite the fact that I towered over her petite frame. “Octavia is very happy. She and Markus were Fated. And she carries his son.”
That last was a punch to the gut and I struggled to draw air into my lungs. Pregnant? With a son? And happy about it?
“Larissa will have her killed.” The truth slipped from me before I could censor it. Larissa was the High Priestess, Octavia’s sister, ruler of our people. And what Selene spoke of was treason punishable by death. None could mate and breed with a Delti, especially not a prince. Octavia’s son could one day rule our enemies, murder his own blood. It was forbidden.
“And will you kill her then? When you find her?” Selene asked.
I laughed, but the sound was bitter. “I will find her and take her home. That is all.”
“I see.” Selene’s dark eyes narrowed, studied me. “Then I won’t have to kill you.”
I believed her. For some reason, there were no lies between us. “What are you doing here, Princess? Lunar One is not a safe place for you. Your brothers are practically starting a war trying to find you.” For that was how her brother, Markus, had come to us. He’d been caught snooping around Zatari in the growing fields, tracking slavers, looking for his sister.
“Setting a trap.”
“For whom?”
“It matters not, but I won’t leave until he’s dead. Tell my brother to stop interfering before he gets us both killed.”
“I don’t know Markus.”
“Not that one. Hunter. I’m talking about Hunter.” Selene’s smile widened, her teeth perfectly aligned and white. “He’s been following you for two days.”
No. Not possible. “I don’t know Hunter, either.”
“Not yet, but you’re going to.” Her laughter was so filled with glee I nearly smiled in response. “You just bought him from Nine.”
“What?” That dark-haired warrior with bulging muscles and a huge cock was her brother? From Delti? “Your brother? A prince?”
“More pirate than prince. Now he lives to irritate our father.” Selene was practically singing with glee. “My brother is a Mindjack, but I’m going to give him a gift.”
“What gift?”
“You, of course.”
My heart stuttered in my chest. I’d never met a Mindjack, but I’d heard of them. Everyone in the solar system had heard of them. Psychics so powerful they could not only read one’s thoughts, but enter the mind without detection, search through memories, relive experiences. Some were so powerful they could enter the minds of the dead. Others could witness things through the eyes of someone else across vast distances.
The Delti courts used them to dispense justice. No one could lie or hide the truth in a court of law with a Mindjack present. None dared try.
But rogues were dangerous and highly sought after. They could influence the mind of a child or a king with equal ease. “Nine has no idea what your brother is.”
“No, he does not.”
“I was going to set him free.”
“Of course you were.” Her smug tone had jolts of fire racing through my system.
“I do not lie.”
“No.” Her smile was obnoxious and I decided then and there to stop smiling in future. The look was intolerable. “But you want him. I can practically taste the desire exploding from your mind.” She sniffed slightly. “And other places.”
Enough. “Enough of this. Will he lead me to Markus and Octavia?” I feared no one, prince or not. I’d bought him. Paid for him. He was mine, and he would lead me to Octavia whether he wanted to or not.
“No. He will not.” Selene had a delicate angel’s face, but her eyes conveyed both intelligence and deadly menace. The princess was no angel; she was a warrior.
That determination was something I could both understand and admire. I just couldn’t cooperate. “Why not?”
“Octavia and Markus are extremely happy, and pregnant with my nephew. You cannot be allowed to interfere.”
“Octavia needs to go home.” I kept my voice neutral.
“You believe she wishes to return to Zatari with you?”
“No.”
“Truth. What a novel concept.” She smiled and lifted her other hand from the many folds of her clinging white gown. Her small hand lifted to my shoulder and a jolt of raw power blossomed like a solar flare in my chest. Like a bomb, the explosion of energy roared through our connection in one massive surge.
“I’m sorry, Priestess. This is the only way.”
Soft, melodious, and impossible to resist, she spoke to me
and I listened. Later, I could not recall what she said to me. In fact, for a long time, I had no memory of her at all…
Chapter Two
Mira
I stood facing the reptilian trader, Nine, across his oversized desk as he counted my credits. My head ached, the pain worse than ever and I used years of training and discipline to prevent myself from wincing with every loud noise in Slavers’ Bay.
Somewhere behind me a slave rattled his chains, pounded his manacles on the floor, groaning and roaring for attention. From my right screams echoed, screams of pleasure and pain as the sadists worked their dark arts on a group of slaves trained to crave pain.
I’d heard of these things before, read about Lunar One’s dark side in intelligence reports, but I’d never been here. I’d never seen Slavers’ Bay for myself.
Oddly, I had no memory of walking here or placing my credits on the table. I couldn’t remember the details of my assignment. Only two certainties remained. One, I must take the slave I was buying, a Delti pirate and spy named Hunter, and make the journey back to Zatari. And two, I must, at all costs, ensure he came to no serious harm along the way.
Now, eight thousand in coin shined before me on the table, and the reptile still refused to give me what I’d purchased. Any wicked eyes the sparkling fortune didn’t attract, a raised voice would.
“Is there a problem, Nine?” I spoke quietly, ignoring the low growl of my synthesized voice. I watched, willed the deceptive little bastard to cooperate. Big, brutal male guards wearing nothing but beast skin and microbot-infected knives were closing in on the table. One move, one word from Nine and I’d be in trouble. I didn’t want to have to kill half the men on the station just to keep my new prisoner alive. No male was worth that much trouble.
Screaming into my empathic awareness, I felt the violent darkness of impending bloodshed spread through the collective consciousness as everyone turned their attention toward me. Cutthroats and thieves, dealers and smugglers, all shifted their evil focus onto the reptile and my credits. Nine’s men were all that held them back. What was on the table would feed most of the bastards for several years. Like carrion, they circled the room, watching… waiting…
Nine counted it again, clinking the large golden discs together loudly, drawing even more attention. “It’s not enough.”
“We agreed on the price.”
He nodded and stroked his chin in a way that made my blood boil. “True. But that was two days ago.”
Two days?
I slammed my palm down on the table so close to Nine’s fingers he would feel the movement of air as my hand whistled by. “It was two hours ago. What kind of game are you trying to play?”
He stood, and the brute guards wearing dead animal hide as a fashion statement moved closer. “No game, Master. Two days. I get many offers. Many. But I wait. I wait for you. Now you pay me. Five thousand extra for my trouble.”
Nothing would save my coin now. Should I pocket it and walk away, the bastard thieves would follow and ambush me. They’d slit my throat before I could make it to my cruiser in the docking station.
One of the guards brought Hunter forward. He’d been clothed, as I’d requested. He had a chain around his neck, his wrists locked in place by cuffs. I allowed myself one last, leisurely perusal of his body. Tall, his bulging thighs were shown to perfection beneath tight brown pants, massive shoulders beneath a lighter brown shirt, and wavy black hair that begged to be touched. He was even more desirable than the man I’d ridden at the breeding ceremony, and at the time, I’d thought him nearly perfect. Heat drenched my core at the memory. But this male was perfect; something about him called to me in an elemental way.
“No.” I turned back to Nine, who nodded solemnly. “And you will release him now.”
I looked up into Hunter’s eyes and my pussy clenched at the hot, burning rage simmering in his gaze. Reluctantly, a small modicum of respect for the male crept from the deep recesses of my soul. Bad humor I understood all too well. I suffered from the same malady. Violence swirled in him. He welcomed it, welcomed the battle as an outlet for his rage. As did I. Anger had become a difficult habit to break.
Perhaps he could handle himself in battle, but taking that chance and starting a fight here would mean disobeying my queen’s orders.
A sharp spike of pain wedged its way behind my eyes and I squinted against the sting. I couldn’t remember my orders, exactly. But I knew this man was important. I was to deliver him to Zatari unharmed.
Moving with deliberate slowness, I turned my head this way and that, searching the edges of the main trading bay, looking for official Zatari guards that would have been assigned to maintain order in the area. Seeing none, I sighed and pulled my 5-S mask from my neck to reveal my true identity and stuffed it in my pocket.
“You will accept my original offer, Nine, or you will be replaced by Ten this time tomorrow.” Mask gone, I lifted my face and shook my head from side to side to free my wild mane of hair.
Nine paled, his green skin turning a sickly yellow as he sat back down in his chair. “Forgive me, Mistress. Forgive me.”
Time to take what was mine and go. At the thought of having Hunter all to myself, my nipples rose to attention beneath the silken glide of my shirt. After I fought off this need to kill something, got away from this place, and forced the last of its negative energy out of my system, I could have a little fun. Hunter was just the thing I’d been craving since the last breeding ceremony. If all I was required to do was see this man safely to Zatari, that left plenty of room for interpretation. No one said I couldn’t play with this male a little on the long ride home.
Or allow him to play with me.
Smiling at the thought, I loosened my golden hair, raised my chin in challenge as it tumbled down my back, and ignored the chaos of the market. Deep in my pocket, I wrapped my left hand around a small injector. The drug would dampen Hunter’s psychic power for a few hours, but do no lasting damage. Unlike the poison riding the daggers strapped to my thighs, the drugs in the injector weren’t designed to kill.
You’re a fool and you’re going to get us both killed! Sharp and insistent, the reprimand stung. My fists tightened around my weapons as I searched for the source of that psychic voice.
Who are you? I shot back. Who was speaking to me mind-to-mind?
If you don’t know, why did you buy me?
Hunter?
Taunting laughter flowed through me, caressed my body, wreaked havoc with my control. Standing there, wearing manacle and chain, he taunted me? There was no fear in his voice, no shame.
Something wasn’t right. Had I been played? Was he working with Nine to deceive me? Lure me into a trap?
Well, he had a thing or two to learn about Zatari women if he thought to control me this easily. The male would be trussed up and stowed away on my cruiser for my pleasure…
I assume you have a plan to get us out of here alive? Because playing the pretty princess card only works in public.
Goddess, he was irritating, but he was right. A plan? Not really. Just an idea…
No? Have you thought of anything other than riding my cock?
I could feel his smug smile and it annoyed me.
Demand a gift. Hunter turned to stare at me as the huge guard next to him removed his chains, and the brilliant blue of his eyes stole my breath.
He was right once more. I was from the temple of Zatari. My people controlled this station. My troops lined the outer walls. If I didn’t act like a queen, I was going to be in trouble. “I demand a gift for your insolence.”
Nine, his guards, and every vicious thug in the market turned their complete attention to me. Struggling to keep from slapping the sleazy smile from Nine’s face, I closed the distance and leaned over his desk. “Two slaves, or your head. You decide.”
* * *
Hunter
An angel of death bartered for both our lives with fury simmering in her eyes. Yes, I’d been following her since her arrival o
n Lunar One two days ago. But I’d had no choice. This priestess was the one my sister Selene had agreed to speak to. She was the one who’d been inside, seen Selene, talked to her. I couldn’t take the chance of losing Mira’s trail.
But now, seeing her face, even I was shocked. This priestess was Mira of Zatari, the High Priestess’s personal assassin. In her element she’d be powerful, formidable. But here, in Slavers’ Bay, credits were the only true power. Luckily for her, it was one her family line had in abundance. She was richer even than my asshole of a father, King Thadron of Delti.
When I’d been caught and shoved in a cage, I’d waited patiently. I’d spent the last few years pirating slaver vessels and cargo shipments from Zatari. I’d made a fortune for myself, not that I needed it. And I’d spent many long hours in worse cages than this one. I’d allowed them to capture me, trying to draw my sister out of hiding. I could have used my psychic power to be free at any time. Instead, I hoped my sister might reveal herself. I’d suspected that Selene would send someone to free me from the slaver’s cage, and I’d been right.
I had hoped my sister would come herself, finally reveal her location and whatever insane plot she was weaving among these smugglers and thieves, but she’d managed to elude me.
A savior had never, ever looked so good. Flaxen hair flowed in waves to her waist. High firm breasts teased me from beneath the flowing cape she wore. Long legs begged to be spread wide and then wrapped around me. She was tall, strong, a graceful predator with striking features and sea green eyes. Without a doubt, she was the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen. Even better, I caught glimpses of her thoughts. Thoughts of riding my cock, of offering her round bottom to my firm hand as I pushed her to the ground and filled her without hesitation. She was a dominant, powerful woman, yet in her mind she craved a stronger lover, someone to whom she could surrender control.
I’d fill her with my cock. I’d spank her ass and ride her until she begged for mercy. The body part in question rose to attention in instant agreement.
Conquering His Mate (Mates of Zatari Book 2) Page 2