“Bradi.”
“Yeah, baby?”
“I think he’s dead.”
He closed his eyes a moment. He thought so too.
Chapter Four
Marisa woke with a start and barely held back a scream. The nightmare she’d had was too vivid for her to maintain her composure. She looked around the small POD, remembering what had happened, and wondered if real life wasn’t actually worse than her dream. Lieutenant Commander Janelle snored softly in his sleep, and his long body looked slightly cramped in the confined quarters.
The PODs were designed to maintain minimal life support requirements to allow for maximum amount of travel time. Marisa exhaled and swore that she could see her breath before her face. Freezing, she moved closer to Bradi for warmth.
“At least the brute’s good for something,” she said as she snuggled in close to him. Still cold, she butted her body to his and almost jerked back when she felt a rush of heat go through her. Thinking that Bradi might be ill, she reached up and touched his cheeks gently. As hard and aloof as she wanted to appear when it came to Bradi, the idea of losing him terrified her.
Then there was the fact that he’d come for her. He’d refused to leave her behind and had risked his life for her.
Closing her eyes, Marisa activated her chip and requested a check of Bradi’s vitals. His core temperature was a good ten degrees hotter than a normal person’s and when she went to access his medical records, pain ripped through her head. The chip fizzled and left her with a migraine.
“Bradi?” She touched his face again, needing to know that he was okay.
He shifted slightly and mumbled something in his sleep. Leaning down, she listened closer as he repeated it.
“I am horny and tired. Fix the first or let me sleep.”
“Oh, you…you…animal!”
The smirk that had spread over his features died quickly. He put his back to her and winced. She knew that his shoulder still hurt him, but until he let her examine it, she’d take what little satisfaction she could get from the fact that he was uncomfortable.
“How did I get stuck with you?” She attempted to get comfortable again by putting her back to him as well, and failed. “Brr. It’s freezing in here.”
Bradi shifted again behind her and let out a groan before wrapping his large body around hers. Everything in her mind told her to shove the big jerk off her, but her body sizzled under the weight of his touch.
*
Marisa’s body was tense and Bradi knew that she was thinking of tossing him off her. In truth, Bradi kind of hoped she would. His bad arm was vulnerable if she decided to inflict pain and he didn’t think he could handle her calling him an animal again. If she only knew how close to the truth she was.
The feel of her curvy backside snuggled close to his body made his cock jerk. Even after narrowly escaping with their lives, Marisa still managed to smell wonderful and make his body hungry for hers. She always had. The first day he’d met her, he’d been drawn to her like no other female before. Something about her called to him on a primitive level, and he didn’t want to think too hard about it.
To his kind, that type of attraction could only mean one thing. And that wasn’t something Marisa would ever want to believe to be true. Bradi was having a hard enough time juggling the idea around in his head. Asking Marisa to believe she might very well be his mate, born to be his lover, his wife, the mother of his children, was insane.
The woman couldn’t stand him. She barely tolerated him and she’d only kissed his cheek because emotions had been running high.
*
Bradi woke slowly, his joints aching and his body on fire. It was normal with his condition for his body to react to changes in the temperature automatically. It was also common for him to run several degrees hotter than a human. That was just one of the reasons why he’d refused to allow Dr. Marisa Langston to evaluate him. Hell, he hadn’t ever allowed any Commission doctor to examine him. It’d cost him a pretty penny to pay others to forge his documents, but it was necessary all the same.
Marisa was still sleeping and he didn’t want to wake her. She looked like an angel lying there with her arms pulled up close to her chest and it took everything in him not to reach out and touch her. The cut on her arm had finally stopped bleeding but the slightest bump could easily break it open. Rolling on his side, Bradi winced when pain radiated through his shoulder.
Peeking out the POD window, his stomach dropped.
There, in the far distance, he saw the telltale aquamarine color of Margaidia, their original destination, and the destination that had been programmed into all the escape PODs, should there be trouble.
The POD had overshot the planet and was headed on a direct path for Sargaidia, the uncharted sister planet to Margaidia—and the last place in the universe he wanted to go back to.
Bradi checked the computer and found it frozen over. Looking around the POD, he realized that the entire thing was covered with a thin frost.
Marisa.
Dropping down next to her, he touched her lightly. Her body was rigid and extremely cool to the touch.
“Doc?” he asked, shaking her gently. She didn’t respond and his gut twisted. The thought of her freezing to death before he was able to get the POD operational again was a very real possibility.
“Come on, babe,” he said, hoping to goad her into responding. The faint blue line around her lips told him that no amount of prodding would help. She’d been hurt when they’d entered the POD and now she was dying.
Acting quickly, Bradi pulled his shirt off and reached for her. Groaning softly from the pain shooting through him, he covered Marisa’s body with his own. “This isn’t enough.”
Bradi worked his boots and pants off before reaching for Marisa’s uniform. He’d been dying to get her out of her clothes from day one, but this wasn’t exactly what he’d had in mind. He worked her shirt over her head and did his best not to stare at the luscious pale globes before him. Her pink nipples looked good enough to eat and everything in him wanted to sample them. The faint light from the navigational controls reflected off her pale skin and he had to be closer to her.
The nasty cut on her upper arm seemed to be holding, but the fear of breaking it open left him moving slower than he should to warm her body. Working her boots and pants off, Bradi lingered a little too long near the top of her panty line.
Placing his body over hers, Bradi willed himself to be hotter. His body reacted to his command and he felt his core temperature rise. If he had to, he’d shift forms, but the last thing he wanted was for Marisa to wake and find herself under a partially changed man. Somehow, he didn’t think that would go over so well. Fully shifting wasn’t an option either. It wouldn’t make it any easier on her to find herself pinned beneath a black panther.
Marisa moaned, and he looked down to see if she was awake yet. Her eyes remained closed, but she moved her hands slightly. Bradi tensed when he felt her fingers running over his back.
“Doc?”
“Mmm,” she whispered, grinding her hips upwards.
The sweet scent of her cream filled his head. His erection, which he seemed to permanently sport while around Marisa, ached to dive into her, sample her flesh and claim her for his own. The tiny silken barrier of her panties served as a reminder that he couldn’t—or rather shouldn’t—take her.
She shifted a bit. “Mmm, I want you in me.”
Bradi froze as she grabbed his ass. “Doc, wake up.”
Cool lips met his and he fought to keep his body from responding. The minute her tongue pushed through and found his, he lost all control.
If I’m going to die out here anyway, I might as well die making love to her. Marisa is the closest to heaven I’m ever going to be.
Marisa’s hands pushed between their bodies. She wrapped her fingers around his cock and he nearly came on her bare stomach. Never before had a woman’s touch brought him so much pleasure so quickly.
Reason
fought its way through to him. “Doc, baby, wake up now! You don’t want to do this. It’s not right.”
Her lips fastened onto his as she pushed her panties to the side and rubbed the head of his cock in her wet juices. “It’s more than right. I want you. I’ve dreamed of touching you from the moment I boarded the ship.”
Bradi wanted to take the time to love her as she should be loved before entering her, but he was no longer in control. The beast within could smell her cream, her sex, and the desire to mate with her was overpowering.
Marisa’s erect nipples rubbed against his chest as he pushed a bit farther into her. Meeting with slight resistance, Bradi hesitated. Could it be?
He stopped. She’d been with Pete for months, they had to have had sex—right? There was no way she was a virgin. Not the sexually charged doctor who made him weak in the knees. No.
Marisa dug her nails into his arms and thrust her head back. “More!”
Any concerns he had flew away at the sound of her command. Thrusting into her, she cried out as he brought himself to the hilt. Somehow, she’d managed to accept all of him, her channel fisting his dick to the point he wanted to come, and he’d only just started.
“Gods, baby. You’re perfect.”
He gritted his teeth at how tight she was. Inching in a bit more, she cried out and grabbed hold of his arms. The pleasure of her tight channel wrapped around his dick overshadowed the pain in his shoulder as he worked himself into her more.
“Oh…yes,” she whispered, kissing his face feverishly.
He savored the feel of her. “You’re so fucking tight, Doc.” This was his moment to be inside Marisa—the woman who called to him on a primitive level.
Her body eased slightly as he worked his cock almost out of her. Her pussy clenched around him like a vise as he dove back in. Each swipe, each thrust, left him growling and fighting the beast within. It wanted him to shift. It wanted to mark her.
Claim her.
Keep her forever.
Bradi had never had the urge to claim anyone as his mate before and he wasn’t sure how to handle it. He fought to stay in control as he continued to slide in and out of her body. The beast within him pushed back with a vengeance and surfaced quickly. His incisors lengthened and his fingertips sprouted claws. Bradi was able to fight a full change, but unable to resist the lure of Marisa’s milky-white skin, the pumping of her blood as it sped through her veins.
“Mine,” he growled out.
Bradi tried to fight it, but as he felt his teeth sinking into her shoulder and his cock begin to release his seed, he knew it was too late—he’d lost himself in the paradise of her body and the beast within him had assured that they would never be apart again. She was his.
Marisa’s body jerked beneath him and at first, he assumed her cries were from his teeth, but when she fisted her hand in his hair, holding him to her, he knew it was something else. Coppery, sweet liquid filled his mouth as he continued to deposit his come within her womb, filling her to the brim and twitching with each new spurt.
Bradi forced his mouth from her body when he felt the tremors pouring through her. Her already pale skin seemed to glow with an unnatural shimmer. He stayed above her, still nestled deep in her body, watching in awe as the light seemed to encompass her.
The light moved over her body and covered his quickly. It didn’t hurt so much as it felt like someone running a million fingers over his skin. His cock jerked to life and even though it should have been sated, it wanted more. Never one to not listen to his dick, Bradi moved his hips and began to ride Marisa’s tight body once more.
She grabbed hold of his shoulders and it dawned on him that no pain followed. Glancing down, he saw that the bite mark he’d given her was completely gone. The cut on her arm was gone as well and he couldn’t sense pain coming from her side any longer.
The light around them grew so bright that Bradi had to shut his eyes. Marisa cried out and wrapped her legs around his waist. She bucked beneath him, driving herself up and his cock in deeper.
“Uh…”
The soft moan she let out left Bradi thrusting into her more, pummeling her glorious body and paying extra attention to his lower abdomen, making sure it rubbed her clit just right. Marisa cried out as another orgasm hit her. The feel of her pussy milking him was too much and he let his body release again.
“Mine,” he whispered as he filled her with even more of his seed, his essence.
The light around them died slowly. The tiny pinging noise from the system computer sounded, indicating it was at least on, if nothing else. Reluctantly, Bradi withdrew from his mate’s now-warm body.
Marisa’s eyes fluttered open and she looked up at him. A smile appeared slowly on her face. “I love you. Peter?”
Peter?
Bradi froze and waited for her to take it back, to claim that it was a slip of the tongue, but she didn’t. Her eyes closed slowly and he heard her breathing grow shallow.
He rolled off her quickly and sat up. Running his hands through his hair, he tried to make sense of it all.
Marisa hadn’t been awake at all. She’d been dreaming of Pete when it was his body pleasuring her. Dreaming of another man when he’d taken her as his wife. Given her his seed. His essence. A kick to the solar plexus would have been less devastating than that.
Reaching for his pants, Bradi stopped when his gaze flickered over Marisa’s legs. The smell of her blood filled his nostrils and he leaned down to find a faint line of it running down her inner thigh.
Everything clicked then. Bradi fought to keep from vomiting as the enormity of the situation hit him tenfold. He’d made love to a woman who thought he was her fiancé, who just so happened to be his best friend, and now he’d taken her maidenhood from her on top of everything else.
Could it get any worse?
He thought harder about making love to her. Thought about how he’d bitten her and how he’d said the word mine.
His stomach sank more.
He’d laid claim to her.
She was now his mate.
It had managed to get worse.
Chapter Five
Marisa opened her heavy eyelids slowly and looked up to find Bradi staring out the window. “Great, so it wasn’t a dream, was it?” Sitting up, she adjusted herself. Her clothes were wrinkled and she noticed that her boots were off. Glancing at Bradi to ask him about it, she saw the look of shock on his face. “What’s the matter?”
“I’m so sorry, Doc. I thought you were awake. I did not know… I wouldn’t have…”
Marisa blinked a few times in an attempt to clear her head. “Of course I was awake. I don’t run around a ship that’s blowing up with my eyes closed.”
“Right, you were talking about the ship exploding and being a smartass before. I knew that.” The tension in Bradi’s body seemed to leave him. It was a shame. She really enjoyed watching the muscles in his thick neck move.
Surprised by her own lustful thoughts, Marisa stood quickly, her body feeling totally and completely rejuvenated. She hadn’t felt this good in years. As her gaze went to the arm with the knife wound, she paused, lifting her tattered uniform shirt and seeing only smooth skin.
She gasped. She’d healed herself? Had Bradi seen it happen?
She watched him, looking for a sign that he’d seen her do the impossible. None came.
“Shouldn’t we have landed on Margaidia by now? We weren’t that far from it and the PODs were set to make—” She stopped talking when she noticed the forlorn look upon his face. “Lieutenant Commander?”
His blue gaze found her and she drew in a breath under the weight of them. “Buckle up, sweetie. We’re about to enter Sargaidia’s atmosphere. And you can call me Bradi, Doc. I think you’ve earned it.”
Earned it?
“You mean Margaidia, right?”
He grabbed hold of her waist and set her down in the POD seat. Ignoring her protests, he buckled her in anyway. “Janelle? What’s going on?”
/> He climbed into the control seat and buckled himself in as well. The POD thumped hard against an unseen force and she screamed out. Bradi’s eyebrows went up as if to say, you ain’t seen nothing yet.
Another scream caught in her throat as he lifted the protective visor, allowing her a full view of what was before them.
Shades of red, green and blue were everywhere. Although Marisa had only been off Earth a few times in her life, she knew enough about landings to know that something wasn’t right. “Bradi, aren’t we going a bit fast?”
“You can say that again.”
“W-What?”
“Nothing. Umm, the POD’s controls froze for a bit. I barely got them up and running before we got trapped in the planet’s atmosphere.” He pulled hard on the steering shift as the POD began its rapid descent.
Marisa’s stomach lurched as the bottom seemed to drop out from under them. The speed at which they were traveling would most definitely kill them upon landing. She said a silent prayer under her breath and reached out for comfort. Finding Bradi’s arm, she settled and held tight. Something about the man made her feel safer.
*
Bradi risked a quick glance at Marisa and saw her reaching out for him. He thought it was to punch him, and was surprised when she not only laid her hand on him, but gave him a gentle squeeze too. His loins burned again to be buried in her and he shifted awkwardly in the seat.
You’re about to die here, buddy, he thought to himself, stealing a glance down toward his cock. Do you think you could get your head in the game and off her for a moment?
The red sea that bordered the jungle came into focus and Bradi cursed himself for not figuring out a way to land the POD sooner. He’d misjudged and thought that if he waited another hour, they’d be closer to the inhabited compounds of the planet and closer to help. He’d been wrong.
Bradi: Paranormal Shifter Fated Mate Galactic SciFi Military Romance (Interstellar Alphas Book 2) Page 4