“Is Rebecca as intriguing as you?”
My mouth fell open. How the heck was I supposed to answer that? “She looks a bit like Silver.” I glanced down the table at the woman who was deep in conversation with the male beside her. “Pale skin. Light hair, but not silver, more gold. And her disposition is like…like this drink.” I picked up the cup, took a big gulp. “Sweet.”
“Yet she is light years away and you are before us. I could make you our queen.”
I laughed with true humor this time. Me? A queen? “Don’t let the dress fool you, Styx. I’m not royal material.” Several people turned to look at me. I ignored them, kept my eyes on Styx. “A queen? I thought you were Styx, the leader of this legion, not a king.”
“Are you finished?” he asked.
I glanced down at my plate, my food half gone. When had I eaten that much?
When I stood, he and Blade did as well. Big, formidable, handsome. And they only had eyes for me.
Styx put his hand out, indicating the direction I should go. They joined me at the far side of the long table. “I would treat my mate as our queen, the one person in all the universe that rules me.”
His dark eyes were liquid pools of sensual promise and I felt a shiver race over my skin as Blade studied me with the same intensity. “We would bring you much pleasure, Katie. No one would ever threaten you. No one would touch you. You would be safe with us.”
Chapter Eight
Katie
They stood on either side of me as we walked out of the room and down the corridor.
“Us?”
“Styx and I often enjoy sharing a woman,” Blade explained. “And once you were his mate, you would be under the protection of the entire legion. More powerful than anyone here but Styx himself.”
Sharing a woman? Me? With both of them? My nipples hardened at the idea, picturing them on either side of me as they were now, but naked. Their mouths would be on my shoulders, kissing and licking, then biting.
“Is this the rule for Rogue 5? Do you always share your women?” I’d heard mention of other planets in the Coalition where it occurred, I was just surprised because these two were virile enough on their own. Together, the woman didn’t stand a chance. I swallowed, realizing I might be at their mercy right now.
Styx stopped in the hallway and when I turned to face him, he lifted his huge hand to my cheek. “No. We have no rules, Katie. We do whatever brings us pleasure, whatever our mate enjoys. Some males can’t stand the thought of sharing—but I…” His gaze dropped to my lips and remained as he spoke. “I like to watch my woman come. I like to hear her scream and beg and break with the pleasure I can provide.” His thumb moved to my lips and Blade stepped up behind me, a heated blanket scorching my skin through the back of the thin gown. “Sometimes, I use others to help me provide that release. And sometimes, I enjoy being greedy and keeping a woman on the edge all by myself.”
I swallowed. Hard. Holy shit these guys were intense. No unmated woman would stand a chance of resisting when Styx looked at her like that. Fortunately for me, I already had a mate, yet he wasn’t here.
He needed to be here. Like—now.
I lifted my chin and pulled my face free of Styx’s touch, a subtle rejection, but he took the hint and dropped his hand to his side. “Do you know something about Bryn’s mission that might keep him from returning alive?” I asked, walking along the middle of the hallway once more as they fell into step beside me. “Something I don’t know?”
“Come.” Styx took my elbow and led me a few more feet to a door. It slid open at his presence and he led me within. These were his quarters. The space he’d provided for me and Bryn was opulent and luxurious, but this was even more so. A large window showed the full expanse of Rogue 5, the barren rock surface of the moon on display both up close and in the distance, ugly, desolate crags, boulders and fragments as far as I could see. Rogue 5 in all it’s glory. The moon of Hyperion. It was striking in a cold, stark way.
But his space, it held all the warmth the view lacked. Thick carpets on the floor, a large bed with gold and black sheets. Plush blankets. The lighting was soft and subdued. I expected sharp lines and harsh angles for a man as powerful as Styx, but it seemed in private there might be more to him.
He lowered himself down on a plush couch, large enough for two full-sized Hyperion men to lie down and sleep. Perhaps two and a woman between them? His arms stretched out across the back, one leg bent, foot tucked over the knee of the other. He looked too at ease, like a fox in his den.
“I only know the previous Hunters didn’t come to me first. They did not seek permission to find Garvos. Because of this, they were not protected, as your Bryn will be. Any danger he encounters will not be from the members of my legion. I have given orders that he is not to be touched. But I can’t control Garvos himself, or the other legions.”
“Is Garvos in your territory? Do you know where he is?”
Styx nodded. “Yes. He is mine. His hit on the Everian councilor was unsanctioned. Bryn will be doing me a favor executing him. He acted without permission and brought danger to the entire legion.”
“And Bryn promised you the bounty. Win-win.”
“Exactly.” Styx’s smile was genuine.
I sighed in relief. Garvos was inside Styx’s territory and his people had been ordered not to touch my mate. Not that I wasn’t confident in Bryn’s ability, but this was not exactly the Touchstone at Everis. I was afraid I was in love with my mate and his stubborn honor, but I really, really didn’t want it to get him killed.
“I did not do any of this for him.” He shifted one hand to indicate I sit. I moved to do so, leaving plenty of space between us. But Blade settled on the other side of me. Very close. Too close, so I shifted, putting me closer to Styx. His hand came up and brushed softly over my hair. “I did it for you.”
“Me?” His touch felt good. Gentle. A complete surprise from someone as ruthless as he was.
“You seem to like him alive. As an Elite Hunter, the Everian will live or die because of his own abilities. If he dies, it will be with honor.”
Blade slid closer, ran a finger up and down the side of my neck, the slope of my shoulder. “If he dies, know this—we want you, Katie, naked and wild between us. But we want you willing. Receptive.”
I tried to move, but gentle pressure kept me in place. They were barely touching me and I was getting warmer by the minute.
They were so intense, overwhelming. Completely different than Bryn, who was possessive. Here, on Rogue 5, he was also obsessive. That felt completely different than the energy these two were directing on me. I felt like Bryn was aware of every beat of my heart, every pulse and flutter and movement. But trapped between Styx and Blade their only impulse was to consume me, control me. Not listen to my heart beating, but dictate its pace. There was no love here, just raw animal lust. That was the difference.
“I never was into vampires, guys. Sorry. I don’t like biting.”
Instead of responding, Styx sat up and leaned in, his nose brushing along my neck. “You would beg for my bite,” he rumbled. “I’d make sure of it.”
Placing a hand on his chest, I pushed them both back, stood, spun about to face them. Man, they were hot. Both of them looked up at me as if they were ready to pounce. All I had to say was yes. Any other woman in the universe would be jumping them right now.
But the mark on my palm pulsed, a very physical reminder I belonged to another.
I didn’t want them touching me. I wanted Bryn. “I’d like to go back to my room now.”
“You don’t want to see what it would be like, with the two of us?” Styx asked, licking his lips. “A test, perhaps?”
I shook my head. “No, thank you.”
“No biting, I promise,” Blade added. “We have yet to bite a female.”
I crossed my arms over my chest. While my mind said, “no way,” my nipples didn’t seem to be as selective. I wasn’t going to advertise the indecision within
me.
“No, thank you.”
A pinging came from Styx’s wrist. “Lord Styx?” A male voice followed.
“Yes,” Styx replied.
“We have news of the Hunter.”
My heart skipped a beat and I stepped toward Styx, as if I could grab his arm and get the information faster.
“Speak.”
“He was ambushed by Astra forces.”
“Where?” Styx demanded.
“He was in the core.” The voice coming through was rough, broadcasting anger even as Styx’s entire body seemed to turn to stone. Cold. Hard. Unforgiving. Even his eyes seemed to chill, his every movement slow and deliberate as if he had true ice in his veins. It was terrible, and reassuring at the same time. He was pure predator, pure alpha male, and he was furious.
Furious about something to do with Bryn.
“I’ll gather a team,” Blade was already walking toward the door, and nearly as cold as his leader.
“What about Bryn?” I asked.
The silence stretched and Styx looked at me but spoke to the faceless voice coming from the communicator. “Do you have the surveillance footage?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Send it to my personal quarters.”
The screen on the wall flashed and the rocky moon surface disappeared to reveal a place I’d never seen before. Somehow, I felt cold, as if their gazes dropped the temperature in the room. Rubbing my arms to ward off the chill, I stepped closer, inspecting the scene before me. It was a collection of metal and stone buildings lining a dark street on one side. On the other, a sort of open area appeared to be lined with odd tree structures and some kind of tall grass. “What is that place?”
“The core. It’s the heart of our territory, surrounded by several blocks of ground and my people. It’s deep in our territory. A park that surrounds our farms and biological systems, the area is sacred. Untouchable.”
“Well, it sounds like someone touched it.” I wanted to scream as I studied the recording and saw nothing of my mate. I knew he was there, and I knew whatever I was about to see was bad. “Where is he?”
Styx stepped closer and pointed to a barely discernable shadow on top of a building and I gasped. Bryn was still as death itself, watching as the others in Styx’s legion walked and moved around below. If I didn’t know exactly where to look, I never would have seen him.
“Your mate has skill.”
I swelled with pride that lasted all of two seconds as I watched him move, dropping to the ground below with the stealth and skill of Spiderman and went inside one of the buildings.
Styx stepped toward the screen and used some kind of touch-control to fast forward until I stiffened as Bryn hurried out of the building and moved like a whisper of night wind toward the sacred section, the core.
The angle changed to an aerial view and I realized that this new camera must have been on the dome of the base itself, like a satellite taking pictures of the surface. How many cameras did they have? Was everything captured? Was there any kind of privacy on this moon?
Bryn didn’t see the others moving in from the shadows. Surrounding him. Trapping him. But I did. I could see it from the aerial view and wanted to shout to him, to warn him. My skin prickled, adrenaline flooded my bloodstream.
The voices came through clearly. Garvos’s threat. My mate’s silence. The sound of them firing at Bryn.
The dead weight of his body as he fell to the ground.
The sick laughter in Garvos’s throat as he stood over my mate, placed his boot on Bryn’s chest, fired straight at Bryn’s heart…and shattered mine.
* * *
Bryn
Pain woke me. Not the quiet, dull ache of training.
A fist punching my gut.
Blood in my mouth, some old, some new, the taste of iron and salt coated my tongue and teeth like dew on morning grass.
Every muscle in my body ached with fatigue caused by the electrical current shot through my system by those damn blasters, the effect on my body like I’d suffered a dozen muscle seizures. Early training had all Hunters subjected to the non-kill shot from an ion blaster, but this was so much worse. They hadn’t fired just one shot, but many. Garvos hadn’t wanted me dead, but he wanted me in pain. I’d thought I would die, that he would fire a kill shot and be done with me.
Not yet.
“Do you know what you’ve done?” Garvos ranted like a lunatic. I vaguely remembered his shouting, his harsh words. Apparently, he’d been at it for a while and now that I had the pleasure of his company while conscious and processing thought, my mind was determined to remember more than I wanted to.
If I didn’t need to get back to Katie, I’d be tempted to slip back into unconsciousness and let him go on talking to himself.
Instead, I spit on the floor at his feet and opened my eyes. They had me tied to a post like true primitives, a stool under me to keep me off the ground and layers of rope wrapped around my trunk and the pole to keep me upright, in place to be Garvos’s punching bag.
No blindfold.
My hands were bound, but loose enough that given time I could work my way free.
Idiot.
I should keep my mouth shut, but he’d threatened my mate. That I remembered all too well. “I’m going to kill you, Garvos.”
My voice was rough, dry.
He laughed and punched me harder, the pain barely registering among the other aches, the burns along my skin from the blasters. “She’s going to kill you, Hunter. You ruined everything, showing up here. She wasn’t ready yet.”
“Who?” I asked, now confused. Maybe I should pass out again, gain more strength. “Ready for what?”
“War.” Behind me, a rustle of movement drew my attention, followed by a scent I’d ignored until now.
A woman’s scent.
She came around from the side and into my view. She was Hyperion, the sharpness of her gaze and her sheer size evident immediately. Her face was lined with age, but the faint wrinkles made her look severe, hard, not feeble or old. She was an alpha female in her prime, and I knew that face. I’d studied the profiles of every legion leader when I’d been assigned this mission. And this formidable woman was as cruel as they came, the leader of Astra, a legion of assassins, spies and thieves, dealers in slaves, information, and death. Where Styx’s group was known for brute force, mercenaries and weapons, Astra’s legion walked in shadows. Shadows that killed.
“Tauthe of Astra.” Her fair coloring marked her as a hybrid of the cold wastelands on Hyperion and the images I’d studied were only a few months old. She hadn’t changed much. Perhaps the cruelty in her eyes was easier to see because she stood before me now, alive and breathing.
“Just Astra now.”
“Astra.” She’d become their leader and, like Styx, was now known by her legion, not her given name. Still, she was keenly intelligent and would not waste any chance to turn things to her advantage on this horrible moon. Perhaps there was a way out of this for me, a bargain to be made. Garvos was a known element now, a liability. Just how much loyalty would she show him if it meant more Hunters coming to her territory, more attention from Styx and the other legions?
“Hunter Bryn of Everis. I can’t say I’m happy to see you.” Her voice was soft but deep, and reminded me of a coiled snake, ready to strike.
I grinned, then spit again, the blood in my mouth making it difficult to talk. “Stop murdering my people, and I’ll gladly stay off your playground.”
Garvos acted as if he would strike me again, but she waved him off with a barely visible flicker of her wrist and stood before me. Seated as I was on the stool, we were at eye level, her blue eyes cool as glaciers. “Why are you here?”
“Hervan. His mate. His sons.”
She tsked but denied nothing.
“Why did you do it? Why was he a target?” While Garvos had been the one to complete the gruesome task, she had been the one to hire him. Since he stood beside her, it seemed she still had him in h
er employ. Loose cannons were not tolerated, not among these ruthless legionnaires. If Garvos was hers and had taken down such a high-profile target as Hervan, one of the Everian Seven, even I would feel sorry for the slow death he would suffer at her hands.
That hope was dashed as her casual shrug made fire uncoil in my gut. “He was a job. The order came in from off-world. I take the money. I do the job. I don’t ask questions.”
Fuck. I could hear the truth in her words and my heart sank. “What world?”
She raised her brow, lifted a towel from a nearby basin and wiped at the blood I could feel running down over my eye as if she were acting on something akin to maternal instinct. At least that was what I thought, until she licked her lips, and I saw the fangs. “I hear you have a mate, Hunter. A Marked Mate.”
There was no sense denying it, so I said nothing.
“Pity.” She ran her hand over my thigh, her touch like acid on my skin, the invitation obvious. If she bit me, I would be in her thrall, in a completely different way than Garvos. One I could never break free from. I narrowed my eyes and jerked my thigh free of her touch. Katie. Even my skin knew who it belonged to and rejected any other.
“Katie. Her name is Katie. And I want her. A delicious Earth female.” Garvos was practically purring from where he stood a few steps behind her, watching us with a Hunter’s eyes. “Styx has her locked up inside his base.”
“Has that ever stopped you before?” Astra wiped at my cheek again, a bit too hard, breaking open a wound, making it burn. “Go, Garvos. Have your fun. I’ll take care of our Hunter friend.”
I lunged at the door, the bindings holding me in place as the ruthless Everian backed away from me, a sick smile on his face. “Don’t worry. I know how to make ‘em choke on a thick cock. You break her in yet? Or do I get to claim that sweet pussy for myself?”
His Virgin Bride (Interstellar Brides: The Virgins) (Volume 2) Page 10