Assigned a Mate

by Grace Goodwin

  Nodding, I replied, “I do. I can, for a fact, Warden Egara, say that your matching program is indeed very good.”

  The woman puffed up with pride and I could see she was eager to ask me questions about my time on another world, but her job took precedence. “That is good to hear.” She looked down at the screen she held and swiped at it a few times. “You are ready to transport to Trion and are permanently matched to High Councilor Tark. There will be no changes allowed.”

  I grinned and gripped the armrests of the chair. Anticipation unlike I’d ever known before coursed through my veins. Come on, woman. Push the fucking button. “No. There will be no changes allowed.”

  “Goodbye, Eva.” Agent Davidson gave me a reassuring nod.

  Warden Egara pushed the processing chair toward the wall, but this time I was excited to see the small room appear beside me. I welcomed the bite of the needle in my neck and the bright blue light that meant I was going back to Trion. I looked over and caught Warden Egara’s eye. “Thank you.”

  She actually smiled. “Your transport will begin in three, two, one.”

  * * *

  “This concludes the meeting of the council. We will meet again next year. During that time, safe travels and peace in your region.”

  I stood, the men before me did as well. Even though we’d spent a week together working through the agenda, councilors stood and chatted, milling about. All I wanted to do was get the fark out of Outpost Nine. It only held memories of Eva. I saw her everywhere I went. And, knowing that she was not a murderer but instead a healer, everyone stopped me to ask after her. I’d finally forced Goran to post a notice of Eva’s return to Earth so I did not have to repeat it again and again.

  Warning squawks came from the guards’ communication units. Everyone froze in place, awaiting word of the danger.

  “A transport, high councilor.” The lead guard approached me, then looked down at his unit. “Unscheduled.”

  “Origin?” I asked. While the guards could defend against attackers on Trion, defending an outpost against transport attacks directly from other worlds was much more difficult.

  “Earth.”

  The man looked up at me and I knew his thoughts.

  “Eva,” I murmured. “It has to be.”

  “No matching has been recorded from that planet. I believe you are right.”

  “How long?” I asked, already running to the lone transport pad on the outpost. It was close.

  “Thirty seconds.” The guard ran beside me, the rest following behind.

  I’d make it in ten. “Switch your weapons to stun. If it turns out to be my mate, I don’t want anyone to shoot her.”

  The guard nodded and I glanced at the others.

  “Stand back,” I boomed. “No one moves until we assess the transport.”

  Hope swelled in my chest as I stopped inside the tent and watched the empty spot before me. Slowly, a body materialized and it was, indeed, Eva. Sprawled on the dark black transport pad she appeared to be asleep, she looked… fark, she looked like the most amazing thing I’d ever seen.

  The two guards who had entered behind me stood down and put their weapons away. I knelt beside her and scooped her up into my arms. She wore the slip dress and nothing else. With her pressed against my chest, I could feel the rings in her nipples and the gems I’d put there before she’d returned to Earth.

  The soft feel of her, the scent of her skin, the silky feel of her hair, fark, it was hard to believe she was in my arms. I’d thought I’d never see her again and yet… how had she been able to return?

  I carried her back to the main tent, eager to share the good news. I wasn’t sure what to expect from those gathered, but instead of disdain or hostility on the faces of the councilors, they all looked pleased and perhaps even amazed at her return.

  Stroking her hair back from her face, I talked to her, whispering in her ear and waiting for her to wake. It had taken hours the last time so I had to assume—

  “Tark?” she murmured, shifting in my arms.

  “Shh, gara, I’ve got you.”

  Her eyes opened at the sound of my voice and she stared at me, her body stiffening. “Tark!” she repeated as she wrapped her arms around me and gripped me tightly.

  Even though I could hear whispers all around us, my focus was solely on my mate.

  “You came back,” I whispered into her ear.

  She nodded against my chest.

  “May I ensure she is well, high councilor?” Doctor Rahm asked, standing a respectable distance away.

  “Gara, will you let the doctor ensure you are well after your transport?”

  She stiffened. “Not another probe.”

  “No. No probes. I will hold you the entire time. You traveled across the galaxy not once for me, but twice.”

  “All right.”

  I gave a slight head nod and Doctor Rahm held up a sensor and moved it above her body. He didn’t touch her, didn’t even look at her, only at the display on the medical unit. His eyes widened, then did another pass, then turned it to face me. I read the display and my heart leapt into my throat. Pride filled me and my chest ached.

  “Gara,” I growled.

  “Hmm,” she murmured.

  “You… you’re—” The words caught in my throat.

  “Yes.”

  I didn’t want this moment when I discovered my mate was carrying my child to be shared by anyone. There was a roomful of councilors to contend with first, and then I would have her to myself. The meetings were over. We would leave Outpost Nine as soon as she was well enough to travel. Now that she was with child, I wanted her safe in the palace more than ever.

  “I am well, Tark. Please, let me stand.”

  Carefully, I placed her on her feet, yet kept a possessive grip about her waist. She laid her head against my side and I forced myself to look away from her and at the others in the tent.

  “Lady consort,” Councilor Roark said, lowering to one knee before her. It was the traditional position of respect and honor when offering allegiance. All members of the council offered it to me at the death of my father and during my investiture.

  “Lady consort,” the other members repeated together, also lowering to one knee before her.

  Eva glanced at them, then up at me. “They are giving you their respect.”

  “But—”

  “We are glad of your return, lady consort.”

  Commotion at the entrance to the tent turned everyone’s heads. Davish stepped inside with Mara. The woman ran to the stage and dropped to her knees as well.

  “I am sorry, Eva—”

  “Lady consort,” Roark advised.

  Mara licked her lips and looked contrite. “Lady consort, I am so very sorry for how I treated you. I owe you a debt for saving my life.” Mara sounded remorseful, looked it even, however I knew her to be duplicitous.

  “I treated you as I would any other person, here on Trion, or on Earth. I hope that your life debt is not the only reason you now offer your friendship. I hope that any friendship be willingly given. I do not know very many women here on Trion and I will need friends that I can trust.”

  Mara looked surprised by the words, but I understood. Eva needed those about her, the people who would care for her, to know who she really was. She did not want Mara to take a bended knee out of gratitude or debt. A small smile formed on Mara’s mouth, for once it seemed given without malice. “Yes, my lady, I would like that.”

  “Then you must call me Eva.”

  “Enough,” I said. “I assume, Councilor Bertok, that there is no need for another ceremonial fucking?” Since Eva was already carrying my child, the twisted old bastard would have to find his pleasure elsewhere.

  The older man looked at the ground. “No, high councilor. There is no question she is the rightful lady consort.”

  I nodded. “Good. As Doctor Rahm has cleared her from her transport, my mate and I will bid you farewell. Safe journey to all as you return to your homela
nds.”

  Many of those gathered murmured replies, but I scooped Eva up into my arms and fled the group, practically running to my tent. Eva had returned, her belly filled with my child, and I wanted her all to myself. Forever.

  * * *

  “How did you return to me?” Tark asked as soon as he’d placed me on his bed. I grabbed his hand, pulling him down with me when he would have stepped back. I didn’t want space. I wanted to revel in the feel of him, the scent of him. I wanted… everything.

  I’d spent weeks longing for him as I waited for Agent Davidson to finalize my transport. As he sat beside me, I told Tark everything about my time on Earth.

  I shivered as I talked about the trial and how I’d felt staring into the eyes of a killer. I told him how lonely I’d been without him, and how they’d tried to give me a hollow shell of a life in witness protection. I described the details of my lonely and very empty apartment. I’d told him about Warden Egara’s seemingly endless list of questions as we’d waited for the DNA results to confirm my story.

  I’d answered her honestly, especially when she’d asked me about my match with Tark. I wanted everyone to know that the bride program’s matching program really did work. I’d even agreed to film a small advertisement for the program before I left. Warden Egara was desperate to get more brides from Earth, preferably more volunteers, not criminals. She felt very strongly that the warriors protecting Earth deserved true happiness and worthy females as mates.

  Looking at my mate, I felt completely happy with everything I’d said in that recording session, and I hoped some lucky Earth girl would take a chance on love on another world.

  “Did you know about the baby when you… left?” He looked at my body as if I were a fragile piece of glass, perhaps worried that he’d hurt me or the baby.

  “No. Only when they assessed me for transport.” I paused.

  He tilted his head, then dropped to his knees before me.

  “The first time, I let the matching program decide,” I told him. “This time, I named you, High Councilor Tark of Trion, as my permanent match. No trial period. No processing. You aren’t ever getting rid of me. This time, I claimed you, Tark. You’re mine forever.”

  “Oh, Eva,” he groaned and pulled me in for a kiss. It was rough and desperate and full of heat and love and I needed all of it so, so badly.

  “I missed you,” he murmured against my mouth. “Fark, it was like my heart was ripped out of my chest when you transported.”

  “Time is different on Earth. While I was only here a few short days, it had been four months on Earth. Tark, we were apart for weeks.”

  “It was just yesterday,” he said, thinking. “That was long enough.”

  “It was torture.”

  “Oh, gara. You’re here now and I swear I’ll never let you go.”

  “About that ceremonial first fucking,” I said, biting my lip.

  He arched one of his dark brows and smirked.

  “Yes?”

  “I think since I’ve left and come back, another may be in order.”

  “You want me to call Goran in to witness? The council?”

  I shook my head and came up onto my knees, grabbed the hem of my slip dress, and lifted it over my head.

  A sound similar to a growl erupted from Tark’s chest. Instead of pouncing on me as I’d perhaps expected—I wanted to jump him—his hand came out and flicked over the gem on my left nipple.

  “Your breasts are bigger. I would have learned the truth of your pregnancy just by looking at your body.”

  The idea that the man knew my breasts so well only validated our match even further. That direction of thought was quickly lost when he cupped them and continued to run his thumbs over my now tender tips.

  “It didn’t work,” I said, pouting. When he frowned, I added, “The vibration.”

  “You mean this?” He waved his hand over my breasts and the gems began to vibrate.

  “Oh, yes,” I cried, thrusting my breasts into his palms.

  He knelt on the bed and forced me to lie back, then came down on top of me. He kissed me, long and deep.

  “I want to fuck you.” He pressed his cock against my center. “What about the baby?”

  “You think fucking me will hurt the baby?”

  He looked so unsure of himself, so vulnerable. He was in charge in the bedroom, but in this moment, the baby was. He might be dominant and commanding, tying me down and spanking me, but he would never hurt me.

  I could feel how much he wanted me, could see it in his eyes, hear it in his voice, feel it in his kiss, but he was willing to sacrifice for his child.

  “As a doctor, I can assure you that fucking will not hurt an unborn child.” I shifted and Tark let me up. I reached over the bed to look for his small trunk. It was exactly where it had been before I left. I found the toy I wanted and looked at him over my shoulder.

  “Or you can use this.” Was I being too forward? Would he be shocked by my boldness? I’d come across the galaxy for him. I wasn’t going to hold anything back now. “Perhaps you might find taking me here less worrisome.”

  His narrowed gaze slid down my back and landed on my bottom.

  “You want me to fuck your ass, gara?”

  The idea had my nipples hardening impossibly more. I could feel my wetness between my legs and my thighs were slick with it.

  “Maybe not now, but you can prepare me.”

  His eyes went impossibly black and his jaw clenched. I could see his cock pressing against the front of his pants. He stood beside the bed and stripped. “Get the oil,” he commanded.

  With eager fingers, I reached back into the chest and found a vial of the almond-scented oil. I poured a little onto my fingers and put the container beside the toy on the bed.

  Swiping my fingers together, I warmed it and the scent I’d grown to love, to obsess about, drifted to my nose. Almonds. I coated one hard nipple, then the other, with the glistening liquid. Tark stopped and just stared at me, watched my fingers.

  “I dreamed of this scent when I was gone,” I said.

  Tark grabbed my hips and flipped me over onto my back. He spread my thighs wide and settled between them. His breath fanned over my pussy. “I dreamed of this scent, this taste, while you were gone.”

  He lowered his head, put his mouth on me, and made me come. It didn’t take long, for I was eager for a Tark-induced orgasm and he was voracious.

  I lay sweaty and limp, my legs splayed wide and my fingers tangled in his dark hair. I had no shame, no modest bone left in my body. He came up over me to place a soft kiss on my still flat belly.

  He angled his head. “Roll over, Eva.”

  I eagerly complied. Scooping a hand around my waist, he pulled me back and up so that my ass was high and right before him. Reaching for the vial of oil, he parted my cheeks and I felt the slow, warm glide as drop after drop of oil fell onto my back entrance. Using his thumb, he circled slowly and carefully, watching me.

  “I won’t go away this time,” I said.

  His thumb stopped, but didn’t move. I wiggled beneath his palm urging him on. I reached up and touched behind my ear. There was now an indent in the bone of my skull, where the transport nodule had been before. “See, it’s not there, Tark. It’s gone. I’m not going back to Earth. Ever.”

  For a flicker in time, I saw anguish on his face, but when I pushed back against him again, it was replaced by a gaze so filled with heat I sucked in a breath.

  His hand lifted, then struck my bottom. I jolted at the contact. “Tark!”

  “I was so mad.” He began to spank me in earnest, one side then the other. It wasn’t the hardest spanking he’d given me, but it was pretty darn close. I remained on my forearms and held still, allowing him to unleash the pent-up frustration. I, too, needed this rough handling, needed the focus that the spanking gave me. I reveled in his attention, felt each stinging swat and thought only on the next one. It was a short-lived spanking and when he was done, he cupped m
y bottom with both hands, stroking the warm skin. I felt my pussy dripping with need.

  Glancing over my shoulder at him, I said, “You punished me for leaving, master. What reward will you give me for coming back?”

  His eyes narrowed and he clenched his jaw. He held up the orbed toy.

  “This, then this.” He placed the toy on my lower back like he had with the U toy before I left and grasped his cock next, began to stroke it. Clear pre-cum dripped from the tip and slipped down the flared head. I licked my lips, wanting to taste it. I hadn’t had an opportunity—yet—to do so, but we’d have the rest of our lives.

  Picking up the vial of oil, he placed the opening of it at my entrance and carefully inserted it. I felt the warm oil fill me slowly, deeper and deeper. When done, he tossed the empty container to the side and picked up the toy, coated it with oil on his hand before pressing it to my back entrance.

  “Relax, gara. Good girl.” He was gentle, yet persistent, yet so was my body fighting it. I wasn’t used to having something stretch me there and I clenched down. He tried and tried, but it was too much.

  I was breathing hard and I had my face buried in the blankets. Tark stopped trying to work the toy into me and let it rest against me. And then, he turned it on.

  “How about now?”

  Of course the darn thing vibrated. Everything on Trion vibrated… and I liked it all.

  I gasped at the feel of it, the echoes of the object moved through my body, sparking nerve endings to life. It mixed with the painful heat that radiated from my spanked bottom. I relaxed and Tark slid the toy in until the first orb shape disappeared inside me. The sensation was foreign, and exciting, and so naughty that of course my pussy grew even wetter. Panting now, I arched my back and looked over my shoulder at Tark. I wanted him, inside me, too. Right now.

  He pushed my thighs wide, spreading me open. “You’re so wet, gara. My cock is aching to get inside you.”

  I cried out at the feel of his fingers in my pussy and the vibrating top of the toy in my ass. As he continued to stroke me, he worked the toy in further and further until it was fully seated. Tark gave it a little tug to ensure it was seated well before he flipped me onto my back.