Conquering His Mate (Mates of Zatari Book 2)

by Claire Conrad

  “It’s not the drugs.” Daring to meet her gaze, she gasped at the desire I knew she saw there. Although my body was on fire, my power was surprisingly quiet, watching and waiting for a chink in her mental armor. My mind was working just fine, my abilities nearly at full power, but I didn’t want her to know that. Not yet. “How long will my telepathy be knocked out by your drugs?”

  “I’m not sure. A day. Perhaps two.”

  Two days I could play with her before she realized the truth. Green as the sea near my home, her eyes stared down at me, asking questions I wouldn’t answer. Soft and wet, her tongue darted out to lick her lips in an invitation I couldn’t resist, didn’t want to resist, for at least one day. Hopefully two.

  For two days I could satisfy my craving for her. Two days of total carnal bliss. That was if I could convince her to stay here, to let me suckle her, bury myself in her body, and play her until she screamed. For two days I was going to break every rule my society laid down for the royal family. No, for any Delti warrior. Zatari women were forbidden, a dangerous temptation, as likely to kill one of us as take us as a mate.

  But I was not dealing with any Zatari female. This one was mine. My Fated Mate. I could feel the pull between us as easily as I could feel the beat of my own heart or count my breaths.

  Aye, it was time to seduce her, to take what I wanted. When I had conquered her completely, made sure she knew she was mine, I’d round up my insolent baby sister, Selene, take my mate and get off this gods-forsaken moon base and go home.

  Delti. I hadn’t been to the home world in years but I yearned to return with my mate, show her the wildness of the canyon lands with their colorful flowers, or the endless sea of sand in the northern desert. I wanted my seed in her womb, giving me strong sons and beautiful daughters. She was mine, and the promise in her presence was one I’d never thought to have.

  I wasn’t going to give her up.

  * * *

  Mira

  His thoughts were too chaotic for me to read, or guess at, but his desire pounded through my skull like a storm pounded the surf. I had no idea what he thought or believed. All I knew was that he lay in my bed, his body hard as a rock beneath a soft silk sheet, watching, waiting for me to reveal my plans. My intentions. My desires.

  I couldn’t move, was fascinated by the play of his muscles beneath my palm where it rested on his stomach. I shouldn’t touch him at all, shouldn’t want to rip the sheet away and press my body against his, to taste him. My body shouldn’t remember what it felt like to allow a man’s touch while I rode him, yet somehow, from some deep, dark buried memory, it did.

  Of its own accord, my hand moved toward his chest, feasted on the texture of his skin, the warmth of his flesh. More than I needed my heart to beat, I needed to taste him. Haunting and seductive, the thought whispered to me… Just one taste.

  I shook my head. And then what? This male, this perfect male, would still be forbidden. Looking at him sent a sharp stab of desire through me so I closed my eyes.

  “Hunter?”

  “Yes.”

  “Where’s your cruiser?”

  “I’ll tell you, for a price.” Hands fisted in my hair, he pulled my mouth to his. I could breathe again. My fourth kiss.

  Ecstasy beckoned with the thrust of his tongue into my mouth, and with the palm of my left hand resting lightly on the daggers strapped to my thigh, I allowed his embrace. I held nothing back. The taste and texture of his tongue intrigued me. Wanting more, I closed my mouth around it, sucked rhythmically to match the tempo of his fingers that now plucked and played my nipples through my thin shirt. Goddess, he was good at making me writhe with need. How many other women had felt his expert touch?

  I released his tongue and pulled away. Other women. The stark reminder couldn’t have come at a better time. We came from different worlds. As much as I wanted him, there was too much at stake to waste time here. Duty before self. That was a mantra the elders had pounded into my head every day of my life.

  Even though I ached, I tensed my muscles to stand. Hard as iron, his hand clamped down on my thigh, refused to let me leave his side without a struggle. “I’ll tell you anything you want to know, for a price.”

  Temptation… and I was dismayed to discover how weak I truly was. “What do you want?”

  “Two days.”

  “What?” The man made no sense, but still, my legs refused to move, refused to carry me away from the greatest threat to my soul that I’d ever faced.

  “For two days, I want you to forget our people are enemies. I’ll demand your total surrender to my touch. I’ll make you scream with pleasure. And when the two days are over, you agree to tell me about my sister and return to Zatari. I’ll go my own way.” The entire time he spoke, his hand stroked my thigh, incapacitated my ability to think.

  “I can’t do that.”

  Hunter’s smile sent a rush of adrenaline through my system, made my pulse race. “Yes, you can.”

  Goddess, how could I resist that offer, that body? No one would ever know. “No.” I had a duty to my High Priestess, to my people. Duty took precedence over everything else. It was the reason I was here, the reason I refused to carry a child, the reason I existed.

  Hunter’s hand wandered from my thigh to my waist, then higher to squeeze my breast. He pinched and pulled my nipple, sending a fresh wave of moisture to the space between my legs. Sitting up in the bed, he crowded me with his body heat, his scent. Smooth and magnificent, his chest was a hand span from my famished lips.

  I should be reaching for the daggers strapped to my thighs, but for some reason I was frozen in time, unable to do more than imagine… and feel. It took every effort just to remember to breathe, to fight the urge to shove him down on the bed and ride him until I passed out. I wanted him so badly it was almost painful. And still I couldn’t move, couldn’t stop imagining the way his tongue would feel inside of me.

  The next moment Hunter ripped my shirt open, then threw it across the room. Torture would have been more merciful than his hot mouth just hovering over my naked flesh. His next words seared me as his hot breath wafted over the crest. “Don’t fight it. You’re mine.”

  “I can’t be.” Regret laced my words, but I would not lie to him. Not like this.

  “You already are.” He rose from the bed and pulled me onto his lap. I should have resisted as his massive frame dwarfed me. The hand on my back lifted to cup the back of my head and tangle in my hair as he kissed me. He held me still, helpless, and my body hummed with awareness but didn’t fight.

  His free hand skimmed my thighs but it wasn’t until I heard the sound of metal hitting the floor that I realized he’d taken my daggers from me and thrown them across the room.

  I shoved at his chest and tore my mouth from his. “What are you doing?”

  “It’s time for your punishment, mate, and I prefer not to be stabbed in a fit of female temper as I do it.” The hand in my hair pulled tighter, angling my head up to look into his eyes as his free hand skimmed my stomach first, then my breasts, finally coming to rest at the base of my throat in a display of dominance my body recognized even if my mind refused to listen.

  “What punishment?” What was he talking about? “You have no right to punish me.”

  “I have every right.” His lips grazed my ear as he held me still, his hot breath teasing the sensitive skin there. “You’re mine.”

  The word ‘mine’ was barely more than a growl and my pussy clenched. I fought to draw air into my lungs. My entire body was trembling in anticipation and anxiety, denial and need.

  His hand left my hair and traced the curve of my spine, my hip, and dipped lower, cupping my bottom in his hot hand. “You tried to poison me. You lied to me. You risked your life and didn’t allow me to protect you.” His grip was like a branding iron as he kept me in place with the hand around my neck.

  “What are you going to do?” I closed my eyes and bit my lip to swallow the moan that worked its way from the deepest
part of me to my throat. I couldn’t give him that sound, that signal of surrender. I wanted him to dominate me. I needed him to conquer me, to be strong, so much stronger than any other man I’d ever known.

  He needed to be strong enough to make me feel safe. And to do that, he had to best me physically as well as mentally.

  I shouldn’t want to lose, but I did.

  “I’m going to strip off all your clothes, mate.” He lowered his lips to mine and spoke against them, his soft voice so gentle, so soft it seeped into my body like heat from the sun. “And then I’m going to put you over my knee and spank your naked bottom until you cry and scream and beg me to stop.”

  I was panting now, needing this. Needing him.

  “I don’t cry.”

  He kissed me, his hand squeezing my ass as I moaned into his mouth. “You will today.”

  Nothing that was happening made any sense. I was strong. I’d always been strong, born to lead. I’d been fighting and training with weapons since I was old enough to hold a stick. But this?

  Something was wrong with me. I shouldn’t melt at the strength of the hand at my throat. My pussy shouldn’t clench with need when he tugged on my hair and held me still for his kiss. And I shouldn’t have been fighting the urge to squirm as his hand rubbed my bottom like he was petting a precious pet, a treasure.

  Our gazes locked and he shifted. His hands moved to my waist, lifting me into the air.

  I fought him, I kicked and hit him, pulled his hair. But it was no use. Nothing fazed him. Unless I wanted to truly hurt him—which I was shocked to discover, I did not—I was helpless.

  He overpowered me easily, like I was little more than a child, and I realized how much he’d been holding back before. For me.

  I’d only thought I was holding my own, fighting the scum on this base. The whole time he’d been holding back, letting me take the lead, humoring me?

  The thought made me burn with shame, with rage. I was not weak. I was not a child to be punished. I redoubled my efforts, further enraged when I struggled for breath and he looked as if he could have been taking a nap.

  “You’re an ass.”

  “That insult will earn you five extra swats.”

  “Fine.” I would not show weakness or fear. And since I didn’t want to gouge his eyes out or go for his jugular, and I did want his cock inside me later, I was stuck.

  Before I could gather my wits and decide what to say next, I was face down over his knees, my hair a waterfall of gold draping around me like a cocoon all the way to the floor. “You really think this is going to do any good? Spanking me like a child?”

  “You tried to poison me, mate.” His hand caressed my ass through my pants, the touch so hot I stopped kicking, stopped fighting. His touch calmed me as if I were a pet eager for attention. “I’m going to bare your bottom, mate, and spank it a fiery red.”

  “I’m not your mate.” I squirmed, but his hand gathered the loose waist of my pants and pulled them down and off so quickly I froze in shock. The air hit my heated flesh and the wet lips of my pussy like a cool breeze and I realized just how open I was like this, how exposed. I tried to roll off of his lap, but his hand came down on the small of my back and prevented my escape. My breasts hung heavy, the nipples tightening into hard peaks as his other hand stroked the backs of my thighs like he was studying my form. Learning me.

  It was erotic, and dangerous, and I should have hated him. My mind raged, but my body ached for his touch, the sharp sting of his hand on my tender flesh. I was at war with myself. Confused.

  “You are my Fated Mate, Mira. If you lie to me, try to hurt me, or place yourself in danger, you will be punished.”

  “That’s ridiculous.”

  “No, those are my rules.” He removed my pants completely, pulling them free from my ankles. He tossed the fabric and they landed without sound on top of my daggers. “I’m going to spank you until you realize what you did was wrong.”

  “I wasn’t.”

  Running up my leg in a slow glide, he used his fingers to tease the crease between my legs and I moaned, spreading my thighs just a bit, eager to feel him inside me. Forget this stupid punishment, I wanted his cock filling me up. I needed him to fuck me hard and raw until I lost control. I needed to lose control.

  “I’m going to spank you until you surrender.”

  “Never.”

  He leaned down, his body covering me as the heat of his breath warmed the back of my head. “And then I’m going to fuck you until you know who you belong to.”

  Yes. Yes. Yes.

  That was what I wanted. Earn my faith. Earn my trust. Be strong enough. Please, be strong enough.

  I craved what he was offering me, somewhere to belong, someone to share with. Someone I could count on, trust with both my heart and my life. But I could never admit it. Not out loud. Perhaps not ever.

  “I don’t belong to you. I am a warrior, a priestess of Zatari.”

  “Not tonight.” His hand struck hard and fast on my bare bottom, fire streaking through me like a bolt of lightning that raced up my spine and scrambled my thoughts. Pain burned away the fog in my mind and I twisted in his hold as his open palm landed again and again.

  I was helpless, overpowered, and as much as I knew I should hate it, he made me burn. My pussy was dripping wet, my arousal running between my thighs, my chest heaving as he spanked me again and again.

  “Hunter.” I bucked my hips as tears gathered in my eyes. No. I would not cry. I refused to cry.

  “You are mine, mate. Look how wet your pussy is.” The hand on my bottom stilled, rubbing the heat away before dipping low, between my cheeks. I clenched my thighs tightly, but a sharp swat on my thigh made me cry out. “Open for me, mate. This wet pussy is mine. It’s dripping for me, for the hot hand on your bottom.”

  I blushed crimson but didn’t deny it. There was no reason to try, not when my arousal was so clearly on display. He slid two fingers deep and fucked me with them, just three times, moving in and out so slowly I wanted to scream in frustration.

  “This bottom is mine, too.” Hunter used his fingers to rub my pussy juices up between my cheeks. I jumped when his fingers touched my back opening, swirling around the entrance. “Yes, this is mine.”

  Using both hands, he pulled the lobes of my bottom apart, exposing my pussy to the cool air and my wet back entrance as well. “This is all mine.”

  Holding me open, be bent over me, running his tongue from the lips of my pussy to my virgin ass.

  “I’m. Not. Yours.” I was panting now, the lie a joke, even to my own ears. Hunter actually chuckled and dipped his fingers into my pussy again.

  “Your pussy disagrees, mate.” Rubbing the fluid around my back entrance, he worked a finger inside me, the invasion freezing me in place as I whimpered. His thick finger was inside me, a place no one had ever touched before. He worked me with that finger, fucking my bottom with a slow, deliberate glide of his finger that made me want to scream.

  “Who do you belong to?”

  “No one.” He wasn’t mine. I wasn’t his. I didn’t believe a word coming out of his mouth, but my body did. Like a foreign entity, my body wanted more, burned for him, my pussy growing wet and heavy. His dominance called to something wild and hungry I’d kept buried deep, and she was greedy. Starving for his attention, his strength and control. Even his voice made me shiver, the deep timbre never raising no matter the words he spoke to me. He was calm. Immobile. Indestructible.

  “You are my mate. You’re mine, now and forever.” His words were cruel, a dark and forbidden promise of safety, of belonging that could never be. Tears gathered in my eyes as he pulled his finger out of me, leaving me empty. Aching. Needy.

  He spanked me again and again, the sting racing through my body, lighting me on fire. The burn faded to a hot, pulsing ache that wrapped around my hips and made my pussy wet and swollen, my clit pounded with my raging pulse as he held me in place for the sharp slap of his hand.

  “Y
ou will never do that again, Mira. Do you understand? I can’t protect you if you drug me.”

  “I don’t need your protection.” I nearly shouted the words, but knew them for a lie. Odds were, without him, I would be on a slaver’s block right now. Or worse. Four men had come after me in that tunnel. Perhaps I could have taken them all down alone. But… perhaps not.

  His hand roamed my burning bottom and I bit my lip to hold back the moan rising in my throat. I needed him like this, dominant and demanding. I couldn’t let go, not on my own. I needed him to command me, conquer me. I was so tired of being in control all the time, but no one was ever strong enough to take away my burdens, to allow me to simply… need.

  “Spread your legs wider, mate. Show me your wet, greedy pussy.”

  “Make me.” The challenge was spoken before I could think better of it.

  “With pleasure, mate.” The hand on my back slid down over my bottom and two fingers filled my pussy from behind. With his free hand, he worked the thin leather belt free from his pants.

  With a flick of his wrist, the leather strap landed on the back of my thighs and I cried out in pain. He fucked me with his fingers, using a finger to stroke over my clit as he punished me.

  The second strike made my eyes burn and I gripped my hands into fists, bringing one to my mouth. “That the best you can do?”

  Inside me, his fingers curled, stroking my inner walls. “This pussy is mine.”

  Not yet. I shook my head and he brought the leather down again, this time higher on my legs, right where the curve of my bottom met my thighs.

  I clenched my thighs as the first hot tears fell, landing on the floor.

  “You’re mine now. Say it.”

  “No.”

  The leather landed with a sharp sting on my upturned bottom. “Mine.”

  “Hunter.” His name was a sharp gasp as his fingers worked my pussy and plunged deep. The heat of the spanking spread through me like lava and just that quickly I hovered on the edge of an orgasm. I needed more. More fucking. More spanking. More of his demanding voice and dominant grip.