His Virgin Bride (Interstellar Brides: The Virgins) (Volume 2)

by Grace Goodwin

  “Proceed to dock seven. Prepare to be searched.”

  “Affirmative. Dock seven.” The scout ship zoomed away, out of my view, back toward the asteroid belt now far behind me.

  Hyperion rose in my view screen, a giant green and white orb with flashes of orange fire in the sky. The lightning storms on the surface were legendary and usually happened over the vast freshwater oceans. Half the planet was covered in water. The rest was little more than rumor. No one went down to the surface, no one except the planet’s rulers, the descendants that made up the legions on Rogue 5. Their breeding with the native species had created something truly terrible. The hybrids had all the speed, strength and agility of the planet’s native population but with the intelligence of the Coalition races. They were brutes. Very, very smart brutes. Dangerous. Lethal.

  One more reason to keep Katie safe and secure on Everis, as far from these lawless fuckers as possible.

  I hadn’t even said goodbye. I knew I wouldn’t be able to look her in the eye, taste her sweet mouth and walk away. So, I’d left her asleep in my bed. Naked, warm and sated. If things went badly, that was how I wanted to remember her. If I had woken her, she would have argued. She wasn’t mine yet, but I was familiar with her enough to know she would have tried to stop me. Argued with me to find a replacement.

  That I could not do. Not even for her. I would not send another Hunter to his death while I laid in bed next to a woman, would not send another to suffer and bleed while I found pleasure burying my cock balls deep in my mate’s perfect curves.

  Had the mission been standard, to any other world, I might have considered it. But this was Hyperion. Worse, I had to infiltrate one of the legions on Rogue 5, the outer moon where democracy and civilized government didn’t rule. Instead, outlaws and pitiless lords held control. I was an Elite Hunter, one of only a few given that status among my own kind. And there was still a chance I would not make it out alive.

  The assassin Garvos was ruthless. The brutal bloodbath left behind in Councilor Hervan’s home indicated he didn’t just kill, he enjoyed it.

  Even that may not have been enough to lure me away from my mate, but Garvos wasn’t a Prillon or a Hyperion. He was ours. One of our own.

  An Everian Hunter gone rogue. An elite, like Von…and like me.

  Faster than the others. Stronger. Whether by DNA or divine intervention, we were the best of our kind. Nearly impossible to track. Even more difficult to kill.

  The council of Seven sent the Hunt request to our new home at Feris 5. They’d sent for Von. But I knew he’d already begun sharing dreams with his Lexi, the dark beauty from Earth who now shared his life and his bed. If he hadn’t claimed all her virginities by now, he would accomplish the carnal task within hours. I’d taken the assignment and left him ignorant—the decision made when I had been unaware that I, too, had a mate waiting for me at the Touchstone.

  He would have sacrificed his happiness for me. And he would have possibly died.

  Von was the born leader and I respected him. I followed him without question. But his honor made him vulnerable. Weak.

  I did not have such sentimental notions. My soul was black. Dark enough, ruthless enough to survive Rogue 5.

  The danger wasn’t only Garvos, but also with the legions that ruled Rogue 5. Garvos was one male and I could hold my own. But the information we had from our spies indicated that Garvos was hiding in the Styx Legion’s territory and they were a very dangerous group. Cunning. Deadly.

  And their leader, called Styx himself when he killed for the title, was rumored to be both cold-blooded and efficient, running his territory with an iron fist.

  The chance of making it out of Rogue 5 alive, with or without Garvos, was small. And that was why Katie’s arrival at the Touchstone was almost cruel. Dangle the sweetest, lushest thing I’d ever seen before me, taunt me with the hot dreams and the burning of my mark when I had already been assigned a Hunt.

  Fate was cruel. I had everything I ever wanted, ever hoped to have, placed in front of me. Beautiful, witty, wild Katie. But I’d had to push her away, to hurt her. Not with my hands—I’d never see her physically harmed—but with my words and actions. I saw it in her eyes, the way she tilted up her pert chin to hide the wounds I’d inflicted. I had to hope a night spent between her parted thighs, my mouth tasting and learning every bit of her sweet flesh, was enough. I couldn’t claim her. Not until I finished my mission, until I was safely back on Everis.

  The Sevens had been Hunting Garvos for two months. No one else could do it. I would not risk another’s life just so I could sink into the tight, hot body of my mate. That would make me little better than a coward. And that was not the man I wanted to be, nor the mate I wanted Katie to have.

  No. I’d complete my mission and hopefully, come back alive. Then, and only then would I give over to my body’s need to sink into her. To claim her by first fucking her ass, then lastly filling her pussy with my seed. I shifted in my seat, my cock pressing uncomfortably in my uniform pants. Shit. I was going to have a hard-on until I returned to the Touchstone and had Katie in my arms. Under me.

  As if my lustful body conjured her, I swore I could hear her voice calling my name.

  “Bryn. Where are you?”

  I groaned as I pressed a button to withdraw the shuttle’s weapons. If I approached Rogue 5 armed, I wouldn’t even get close.

  “Bryn?”

  There it was again. My Katie. She’d taken me into her mouth. At first, I’d thought it was another dream share, but more intense. I hadn’t even let her touch me in the dreams, but she’d had my throbbing cock deep in the hot recesses of her mouth. I couldn’t resist and settled in to savor the sweet, wet heat of her mouth. But then it had been real. She’d been real. And so was the pleasure. Hot, sharp, intense. Fucking perfect. I knew she was a virgin, even in her oral skills, but she’d been perfect. I’d come too fast because she’d been too good. I shifted in the command chair again. My balls ached for her. After her sweet mouth and that virginity claimed, I thought of little else but how I would claim her ass next.

  I could still see her as I woke up, my cock deep in her throat, her mouth opened wide to take all of me. The slick feel of her tongue as it licked along the flared crown. If I closed my eyes, I could still see her flushed cheeks as she came with my mouth on her clit. I could still hear the sounds of her pleasure, the breathy moans, the scream. I could feel the sharp tug of her fingers in my hair, the tight milking of her dripping pussy around the finger I’d slipped inside. The taste of her on my tongue.

  Another sensor lit up on the display. This time, marking movement within the ship. I pressed the button, reset it. Nope, still flashed.

  I was too far from Everis now to return for some kind of malfunction. If something were defective on the ship, it would have to be fixed at Rogue 5. I gritted my teeth at how that was going to happen. They weren’t keen on allowing me landing access; I doubted they’d offer supplies to fix a broken part. Nor did I wish to linger assuming I had Garvos in custody. And if I left him dead? Even worse. Better to fix the ship on my own before I even docked. They knew I was coming, but I didn’t expect them to welcome me with any fanfare.

  Setting the auto-pilot, I unclipped the harness over my shoulders and about my waist and went to find the problem.

  Holy fuck.

  The problem was Katie. In my bunk. Reclining, one elbow propping her torso up off the bed, wearing a warrior’s clothes. Where she’d acquired the black pants and snug armored shirt, I had no idea. Nor could I comprehend the fact that an ion blaster rested within the holster at her thigh. Her hair hung long and sleek, unbound and wild down her back. Every curve outlined, from the top of her head to the knee-high black boots. She looked like a pirate’s fantasy. And if that weren’t enough, it was the knowing smile on her face that had my cock going hard and panic filling my gut.

  I’d never seen that look on her face before. Confident. Ruthless. Katie as an innocent was mesmerizing. But the woma
n before me? There was nothing innocent or naïve behind her eyes. My mate staring at me now was hard, pragmatic. Broken and transformed. Fearless.

  Fuck. She needed to be bent over this fucking bed and rutted into like a wild animal. One hand fisted in her long hair, holding her just as I wanted as I tamed her with my thick cock. Tempered.

  Conquered. Oh, she’d submit beautifully when I claimed her virgin ass.

  I was so hard I couldn’t think, couldn’t breathe.

  This explained why she’d refused to wait, had sneaked into my room and my bed and taken me into her mouth. Even if her body was innocent—she—apparently—was not. And that dichotomy fascinated me. I wanted her. All of her. The fighter and the virgin. The reality and the pretender. She was mine and yet while we dream shared and the mark on my palm throbbed with the same intensity as my cock for her, suddenly I realized I did not know her at all.

  And that scared the shit out of me.

  “What the fuck are you doing here?” I shouted, my voice bouncing off the solid walls of the small room. The transport ship wasn’t meant for comfort. It wasn’t spacious. While it could hold three Everian Hunters, it was close quarters. Perfect if I wanted to be as close to my mate as possible, but now? When I tried to keep half a galaxy between us to protect her, it was downright claustrophobic. And deadly, since our course was set straight for the Rogue 5, only two hours away.

  “Saving your ass,” she replied, her tone firm and confident.

  And I’d save her ass right back by transporting her off this damn vessel. I grimaced, realizing we were too close to the asteroid belt for it to work. The magnetic alloys in the asteroid field were strong enough to jumble transport signals. I couldn’t backtrack now that I’d been given landing approval. I couldn’t get her off this ship.

  Fuck.

  I took a step back, curled my fingers into tight fists. My breathing was ragged, but I took in the sight of her. I couldn’t stop looking, couldn’t stop my gaze from tracing every curve. Even the blaster at her hip made me hot. What the fuck was wrong with me? I was supposed to be in love with an innocent, fragile flower. A tame, sweet virgin. Why did the idea of her threatening me with the blaster make my balls ache and my chest burn?

  I wanted to grab her, strip her, not only of her weapon but her clothes, make her lose control and get her to submit.

  This wasn’t right. Something was off. My instincts were off. I’d spent too many hours—days—with my new Marked Mate. If she were this—this…fierce—surely I would have seen through her facade. This new female before me had to be the ruse.

  Drawing a lungful of the cool air into my body, I tried to make her see reason. “I am a Hunter, Katie. You are a female. A small, weak, delicate, beautiful woman.” She should be kept in a glass cage, perfect and protected. Safe from the Hyperion hybrids on Rogue 5, but also from me and my hard cock, my body’s ruthless urges. If I touched her, I wouldn’t be gentle. While fucking her ass for the first time, claiming that virginity, was the ultimate submission for a mate, I had to take her with tenderness or I would hurt her. And I wasn’t feeling tender or patient at the moment. “You shouldn’t be here.”

  Her eyes sparkling, she lifted her chin and laughed out loud, laughed as if I were the crazy one. I crossed my arms, my mind cataloguing and discarding possibilities as quickly as I could come up with them.

  I could turn around and take her home, where she belonged. But I’d already addressed the Rogue 5 scout. Been assigned a docking bay. If I turned around, I’d never make it out of the solar system. They’d attack the ship before I was halfway back to the asteroid belt.

  I couldn’t take her with me on the mission. The very thought of her walking around the corridors of the moon base made me shudder. She was too perfect. Too fucking beautiful. Every lord and member of their legion would want her. I’d be fighting them on two fronts instead of just one. The fact that I was here to eliminate one of their members was bad enough.

  I couldn’t hide her. The legions always searched the ships that came to do trade. And they were smugglers. Thieves. There was nowhere I could hide her that they would overlook. That the sensors wouldn’t detect.

  I was so frustrated, so fucking hot for her I could barely think straight. I was the one who was supposed to be in charge. Not her. My balls felt as if she had them in the palm of her hand and she was squeezing.

  A groan slipped from my lips. “You’re trying to seduce me again,” I said, my tone accusatory.

  “You have to use what you have,” she countered. With me, I wasn’t sure if she was referring to her delectable body or her brains. She’d gotten aboard my vessel without me knowing and now she had me completely distracted.

  “You were to remain on Everis.”

  She just shrugged, clearly not caring for her own safety or my wish for her to remain safe, naked and sated in my damn bed.

  “That’s it,” I bit out, taking the two steps between us and lifting her up by the waist. She wasn’t a small female, but I could easily maneuver her, position her as I wished so I sat on the edge of the bed and she stood between my parted knees.

  Her eyes widened in surprise by being manhandled, but I could see the heat flare, meaning she liked it. Good. She needed to learn her place: over my lap.

  “You disobeyed me, mate.” I’d never taken the pants off a Coalition fighter before, but they were easy to strip off, even the boots. I grunted when I tugged off her panties as well until she was bare from the waist down.

  I’d seen her pussy before, up-close, but in the full brightness of the vessel, I could see the creamy color of her thighs, the trimmed dark hair that barely hid the wet and pink lips of her sex. I wanted her completely bare, but it would be too much. Seeing her swollen and glistening for me was almost my undoing. But I was on a mission and I had a task to complete.

  Hunting Garvos, yes. But now, in this moment as the vessel moved closer to Rogue 5, it was to punish my mate and ensure she knew who was in charge.

  “You need my help,” she countered.

  “Wrong answer.” I wanted her apologetic. I wanted her to know the seriousness of her actions. With an easy tug, I pulled her over my lap so her perfect heart-shaped ass was up in the air, her armored-shirt-clad torso on the bed beside me.

  “Bryn!” she cried, finally struggling, realizing my intent.

  Hooking her legs with one of my feet, I secured her in place as I lowered my hand and spanked her. A fleshy globe compressed and jiggled with the contact and I watched as my handprint bloomed bright pink.

  “I am in charge.”

  “No, you’re not,” she countered.

  “Who is from Everis? Who knows the kind of evil Garvos unleashes?” With each question, I spanked her again, each time in a different spot. “Who knows about Hyperion, space travel, ion blasters?”

  She was yelling my name, bucking against my firm hold, not answering.

  “Who is the one who will keep you safe? Who will give you what you need, whether it’s a stern punishment or a powerful orgasm?”

  “You!” she cried. It was then that I stopped, settled my palm over the heated skin, soothed it. Katie was breathing hard, her hands fisted in the blanket on either side of her shoulders.

  “That’s right. Me. Your Marked Mate. Feel the heat on your palm? That’s mine.” I released the hold on her legs, nudged them apart with my foot. “Feel that heat in your pussy? That’s mine.”

  I stroked the tips of my fingers over her plump lower lips, her arousal coating them instantly. She stilled and whimpered, then tilted her hips up offering more. Lifting my fingers, I licked them, her taste coating my tongue once again. She was sweet. Addictive. Mine.

  “Your orgasms? They’re mine.”

  I circled her entrance, around and around so she was squirming, eager to take more. I wouldn’t give it to her.

  “What’s the matter? Frustrated?” I asked, brushing my thumb over her clit, careful to only make her more desperate. She wouldn’t be allowed to come.
Not yet, not until she knew for certain who her master was.

  I’d slipped from my bed only hours ago and I wanted her again. She was as insatiable as I, but I would not claim her. No. I had to Hunt Garvos and while I wanted to fuck her ass and pussy until she was so claimed she couldn’t remember her own name, that would happen later. If things went wrong on Rogue 5, being mine would place her in more danger. She’d be punished or worse, used to control me. If she were mine, they’d have the ultimate weapon to use against me. She was my greatest weakness.

  “Do you want me to fuck your sweet pussy? Fill you up? Make you come?” I could not claim her without putting her in more danger. Not here. Not yet. What I could do was teach her a lesson. Punish her for her foolishness. Make her submit. Make sure that while we were on Rogue 5 she understood that I was in charge and she would follow orders.

  “Yes. Bryn, please.”

  I loved watching her hips wiggle, her pussy lifted and offered in a delectable welcome. But it wasn’t just her pink virgin petals on display. No. The dusky rosette of her ass, untried and completely mine, was winking at me with every eager pulse of her inner muscles.

  “Please, what?”

  “Fuck me.”

  I gathered her arousal on my finger, slid it back, let it hover over her back entrance. “No. This feeling, mate. It’s how I feel seeing you here. Out of control. Frantic. Only I will soothe your ache. As your mate, it is my job to see to your needs.” I brushed over her untried flesh, coated it. She gasped and bucked. “Punishment or pleasure.”

  There was no doubt she felt my cock, hot and throbbing against her hip. There was nothing for it now. It had to stay in my pants. I was an Everian Hunter and she had no idea her true power over me.

  That thought had me collecting more of her juices, painting her ass hole with it, then began to work it in. Pressing, stretching, patiently allowing her to flower open to the persistent invasion of my finger.