“Ride our fingers, mate. Make yourself come,” Blade whispered against her neck.
I kept kissing her as she began to undulate her hips back and forth, pressing my finger deeper, then Blade’s. She didn’t stop, instead picked up her pace as she got closer to her climax.
I lifted my mouth from hers so she could breathe, but I whispered a reminder. “Shh. No one hears you but us.”
“Such a naughty girl,” Blade murmured, nipping her earlobe. “Getting yourself off while all the leaders of Rogue 5 are just beyond that door.”
That did it. Perhaps it was the chance of being caught, or the fact that she loved being double penetrated, or the fact that she was just so fucking responsive, but she came.
She bit her lip and her eyes flared wide, staring at me as she rode out her pleasure.
I grinned at her and my fangs showed. I couldn’t hold them back, but would not sink them into her here. Not now. She couldn’t miss my need for her even as she milked my finger, wanting more.
As she came back to herself, I praised her. “So beautiful. All ours. Soon it will be our cocks filling you like this. When you beg us to bite you, we’ll do it.”
“Styx,” she breathed. “I want it.”
Elation shot through me at her admission. She’d seen my fangs, knew what they looked like, how sharp they were, how they’d have to pierce her tender flesh. Even so, she wanted them. She wanted us.
I wanted to toss her over my shoulder, tell everyone in the other room to go fuck themselves while we claimed our mate and bit her. But no. We couldn’t do that.
I shook my head, brushed her hair back from her face. “Good. When we get you alone, really alone, we’ll talk about it again.”
I slipped from her, brought my glistening finger to my mouth, licked her sweet essence. My mouth watered for more, to drop to my knees and get it right from the source.
I sighed. “First, we must present you to Rogue 5.”
“Then, mate, you’re ours,” Blade agreed, pulling his hand from the back of her pants, reaching around and buttoning her back up.
* * *
Harper
The aliens assembled in the formal room looked almost human.
Almost.
It wasn’t the silver hair on multiple heads, like Blade’s, that made them look different to those on Earth. It wasn’t the too vivid, too bright colors of their eyes that made me shiver as I stood between my mates on the raised platform at the front of the room.
They were different. It was in the way they moved. The way their eyes focused with absolute, complete attention. Half the time, as someone from one of the various legions approached to greet me, I felt like I was being stared at by a caged tiger, or a mythical shapeshifter, something wild forced to exist in the flesh and blood prison standing before me.
With Styx and Blade, that wildness was intoxicating, sexy. But facing the others, the natural predator in these people, this strange alien race, flooded me with adrenaline as my instincts kicked in. The fight or flight response was automatic, and strong. And screaming just one thing…
Run.
But I wasn’t an animal, so I told my pounding heart and sweaty palms to shut-up and smiled like I didn’t have a care in the world. I knew Styx and Blade would let nothing happen to me. They’d keep me safe even from my wild feelings.
Despite the fact that a member of one of their legions had tried to kill me on Latiri, had ambushed my MedRec team, had leaped onto the transport platform ensuring his own death, none prevented me from doing what I was doing right now. Standing here. On Rogue 5. Alive.
And they were still out there. Whomever they were. Styx had said Ivar and some Everian Hunters were looking for the bad guys, but it had been a week. A week of me doing nothing but enjoying the attentions of two very hot, very skilled aliens. No, they weren’t aliens here. I was the alien. Yet they’d accepted me, even tattooed their skin and pierced their nipples for me. I was slowly weakening when it came to them. No, I was completely theirs. How could I not be? I couldn’t count the number of orgasms they’d given me. And the ways they’d done it? Wow.
I was ready for their bite and that scared me. I was ready to be bitten on the shoulders by two aliens I’d only known for a week while they fucked me at the same time. Yeah, I was crazy. Crazy in lust. Was I being brainwashed to forget my team? To forget what had happened to them, what was possibly being done to them all week long while I’d fucked with abandon?
While Ivar and the others were out hunting, I knew Styx had to play politics, had to stand around and chat with the other legions, perhaps learn things about why the group with the red armbands—Cerberus, they’d said—had gone after me. There was more than one way to get answers. This was more hands off than the Hunters searching, but we might learn something. And by the uncomfortable look on Styx’s face, I had a feeling it had less to do with the fact that he hadn’t come in the hallway than his dislike for parties.
And they’d given me an incredible orgasm. It had helped, a little. I wasn’t as nervous. Hell, I was like melted wax, pliable and soft. I just wanted this to be over, but until then, I smiled and nodded as I met them all. Savored the tingles in my girl parts from my mates’ eager attentions.
None were allowed to touch me. For that, I was grateful. Not that Styx or Blade would allow it. Only one had even tried, the older woman, the leader named Astra, and she reminded me so much of the overly protective, aggressive helicopter mothers who used to get too much bad press back on Earth, that I held out my hand and shook hers before I thought better of it.
Apparently, it was a big deal, maybe even a political mistake for Styx, because the room went silent when I did it. Maybe shaking hands wasn’t a thing on Rogue 5. Maybe it meant something different here like, “I hate you” or something. But Astra looked up from our joined hands into Styx’s eyes and nodded at him like some kind of secret was being shared.
Maybe I’d done Styx a favor?
I had no idea. I didn’t know these people, didn’t know their rules. I didn’t know who was friend, who was foe, or who he trusted. Who I was supposed to trust. Which, apparently, was no one. I, at least, knew not to trust those with the red arm bands. I’d probably have nightmares for the rest of my life about the one who’d had a hold of my leg. I felt like a fish out of water—a well taken care of, sexually spoiled, extremely satisfied pet, but still not one of them. I didn’t belong. I was the alien here, and I felt it in every bone in my body.
“Welcome, legions.” Styx cleared his throat and Blade’s hand came to rest on the small of my back. The size and heat of his touch were comforting and reminded me of what we’d just done in the back hallway. Styx stood slightly in front of me to protect me from those in the room. They both did that. Protected me. All evening, they’d placed themselves subtly but effectively between me and everyone else. Part of me argued that I should be offended, but I told that old Earth-girl to shut up. We were on an alien moon in a room full of predators. I was very grateful, and more than a little turned on, to have two of the most dangerous males in the room openly declaring their devotion to me. I didn’t need to see the ink or the piercings to feel it.
Styx waited for complete silence to linger until I shifted on my feet, uncomfortable as the lack of sound grew heavy and expectant. I recognized the play for what it was, a show of dominance. A demand for respect.
When he was satisfied, he reached back, took my hand, and pulled me up to stand beside him. Blade followed, and I was sandwiched between their muscled frames, each of them pressed to one of my shoulders. “This is our mate, Harper, of Styx legion.”
The silence was not broken, and I bit my lip, wondering if I was supposed to say something. Do something. They hadn’t needed the verbal introduction. They all knew who I was. It was a proclamation.
Until Astra raised her glass and her enforcers followed suit. Seconds later, every glass in the room was held high as she spoke. “To Harper of Styx.”
“Harper of Styx.”
The room chimed in perfect unison.
Everyone drank. Blade released a breath I hadn’t been aware he was holding in a rush of sound, and Styx’s shoulders relaxed. He squeezed my hand gently, and I squeezed back. I had no idea what that was all about, but I’d ask them to explain it to me later.
My stomach rumbled, and the scent of fresh fruits and cheeses, some kind of delicious spiced meat almost made me dizzy.
Blade smiled down at me. “Hungry, mate?”
“Starved.” I leaned in, whispered, “You gave me quite an appetite.”
Styx’s arm slid around my waist from behind, and I found myself pressed to his hard heat. No, melting into him was more like it. When it came to these two, I had absolutely zero self-control. It had been all of ten minutes and yet I wanted them again. I knew they were waiting for me to beg them to bite me. That the bite was forever. Sacred.
The idea of those two things had scared the shit out of me in the beginning.
Now, I found I wanted them so badly I was afraid to admit it, even to myself. I’d blurted out the request for their bite a short time ago, but they didn’t seem to believe me. Or the timing was horrible. Or both. Maybe they thought my arousal had me spouting anything just to come. Maybe it was true.
Maybe being delirious with pleasure simply allowed me to admit a cold, hard truth I couldn’t face when I had myself under control.
I wanted them. I wanted what they were offering me. I wanted forever. And that fact scared the hell out of me.
Chapter Ten
Harper
Simply put, this wasn’t going to work. I was still Coalition. My contract not yet fulfilled. Technically, right now, for the entire past week, I’d been A.W.O.L. Missing. That hadn’t been brought up because I didn’t think Styx and Blade would alter their course. One thing I’d learned on Rogue 5 was that they made their own rules. They didn’t follow the Coalition’s. In fact, they seemed to all out avoid them. Which meant Styx didn’t give a shit that his mate was breaking a whole bunch of Coalition laws. They were considered outlaws and, now, so was I.
Since they didn’t seem to worry about pissing off an entire fleet of Interstellar Coalition warriors, I pushed the worry aside. I had bigger problems than being sent to prison for going A.W.O.L. At least I would be alive. My MedRec team might not be so lucky. They were out there somewhere, prisoners or worse. I couldn’t forget. I felt helpless trying to solve the mystery of the attack, or helping to bring back my missing crew. I knew nothing of this planet to know where to start a search. I couldn’t contact anyone within the Coalition. My hands were tied. I had to rely on others to find them. Styx and Blade assured me the Hunters were searching, that all I had to do was sit back and wait.
Easier said than done. Patience was not my thing. Not when people I cared about were hurting or in danger.
Still, I’d been here, on Rogue 5 getting my mind blown by two skilled, very attentive alien lovers while my team suffered somewhere at the hands of our enemies. I had no choice but to trust in Styx’s team, that they would do their job and do it well. If I were to remain here as their mate, it was something I would need to get used to.
In the meantime, Blade leaned in and placed a quick kiss on my lips. I turned from him when an odd sound reached my ears. Like a baseball dropped on hardwood. A thunk. The sound of rolling. I saw the object, metal and round, rolling across the floor. More the size of a softball, but shiny. I followed the path it came from, saw a man staring at me. I sucked in a breath, instantly recognizing him from the Latiri battlefield. Silver hair, pale eyes, empty, indifferent gaze. I’d only seen him for a matter of seconds, but I knew. I would never forget his face. Never.
Something bumped the side of my foot. The softball. When I glanced back up, I saw the grin on his face. Wicked. Menacing.
That was when I heard the beeping. Quiet. So quiet I could barely hear it.
“Styx!” Blade bellowed the warning, kicking the object away from me with the power of a pro-soccer player.
My gaze tore from the familiar face of the stranger, watched Blade’s motion. “What—”
Before I could finish my sentence, Styx lifted me and threw both of us to the side, his back to the room, his body curled around mine protectively as the world exploded. I landed hard on my hands and knees, felt Styx’s heavy weight against my back.
The boom shattered windows and made my ears ring with pain. Behind me, Styx grunted as the force of the blast hit him in the back.
No one screamed.
Not one fucking person screamed. Shouts came as soon as my hearing returned.
I smelled blood. Not quite human. No heavy metallic tinge of human blood. This was earthier, heavier.
It smelled like death.
I shoved at Styx’s hands where they held me to him, but he refused to release me as I heard movement. Scrambling. Orders given in harsh, rough voices by people who were used to fighting. Used to bleeding. Dying.
“Let me go!” I fought him with all my strength, but my muscles were no match for his. I felt the heat of him, the hard lines of his muscles, all taut and tense.
“No.” He curled around me even more tightly. I felt his breath on my neck, the hammering of his heart against my back. “Not until Blade gives the all clear.”
“Blade could be hurt, you big jerk. Let. Me. Go.” I slammed my closed fist into his forearm. Whether he released me or not, there would be no escaping his determination to protect me. “Now. Let me help. If something happens to Blade, I’ll never forgive you. Never.” It was a low blow; I knew it. But I was shocked to my core to realize it was also true. Blade was mine. He mattered. Not that the others in the room who were injured weren’t important, but I spoke the truth. If Blade died because Styx held me back, I’d never forgive him.
Hells bells, I was in love with him. In love with both of these dominant, protective aliens.
Styx’s arms loosened, and he rolled away from me. He was on his feet before I’d even turned around. Protecting me. Again.
I stood on shaky legs, ears still ringing, and had to look around Styx’s big frame to take in the room. What had happened. There was no fire, only black smoke that rolled toward the ceiling.
Bodies on the floor. Blood. Looks of shock and resignation and pain.
This was a world I knew well. My world for almost two years. Shoving at Styx’s shoulder, I pushed past him and yanked a pretty cloth from one of the table decorations. It was clean.
I handed it to Styx, coughed from the smoke. “Tear this into strips, and get me a ReGen wand. Get as many as you can. We’re going to need them.” I hopped down from the platform and searched for Blade. He groaned, but he was moving. His eyes opened, and he looked up at me from where he was prone on the floor.
“Blade!” I dropped to my knees next to him and ran my hands over every inch of his body with well-practiced efficiency. When he smiled and tried to pull me down for a kiss, I knew he was all right. Styx and Blade were okay.
I could breathe. The world flooded my senses once more, loud and stinking of smoke and chemicals and blood. But I was here. Present. I could think.
Blade reached for me again. “Harper. Harper. Harper.” My name was a chant on his lips, and he lifted his head, tried to kiss me.
I pushed him back down, his head bumping the floor with a thump. He grinned.
“I’m not feeling you up, you big oaf. I’m making sure you’re not hurt.”
He looked down his body, and I followed his gaze, saw the thick outline of his cock beneath his pants. Yeah, he was fine.
Something dark and twisted in my chest loosened and tears gathered on my lashes. I fought them back, kept myself together. I did not lose my shit during triage. Period. Instead, I forced myself to grin down at him, tears in my eyes, and leaned over to kiss his cheek. “Don’t ever do that again,” I ordered. He’d saved me. His David Beckham kick had sent the bomb away from the center of the room, away from most of the people in attendance.
“I will do whatever
I have to, Harper, to keep you safe.”
That proclamation earned him another teary kiss, but I had to move on. My nursing instincts were screaming at me to get moving. People were going to bleed out. Die.
I nodded in response, then turned from him, scanning the room. “Others need my help.”
Without waiting for him to respond—since he might decide to keep me from helping—I went to the nearest legion member not moving. Yellow. Blue. Green. Red. Silver. I ignored the arm bands as I triaged, assessing wounds. Right now I didn’t care what political bullshit this moon base had going on. People were hurt.
Blade struggled to his feet as Styx followed me, handed me makeshift bandages from the cloth I’d given him, dutifully tearing it into pieces for me. When a ReGen wand appeared at my shoulder, I reached for it and smiled my thanks up at my beautiful, powerful mate. He never left my side. He assisted me in my tasks, but didn’t hinder.
Even when I came to him. I gasped. “You,” I breathed.
He was conscious, sweating, his face devoid of color. The reason was obvious. Blood spurted from a large cut in his thigh, high. Thank god the blood wasn’t spurting with every heartbeat, but the amount of blood seeping through his fingers was telling. If I’d had to guess, I’d say his femoral vessel had been cut. And while his hands covered it, tried to tamp the flow, that wasn’t going to stop him from bleeding out in the next couple minutes.
“Do you know this Kronos male?” Blade asked from my opposite side.
I ignored his question. It was irrelevant to my patient’s survival. “Give me a strip of cloth or a belt. Now, or he’ll die.”
Her Rogue Mates Page 10