“So you were on Trion because of a friend, not because you’d been matched to a warrior from that planet?”
She shook her head, then studied me. “No. I wasn’t matched to Trion. I was matched to you.”
Those words from her lips… gods, they made me want to make her mine even more. I had to get my collar on her. Now. I wanted to know exactly what she was feeling when I saw that look in her eyes.
“It is customary for Prillon warriors and their mates to wear mating collars.”
Her gaze dropped to my neck again and she reached up with delicate fingers to trace the material I’d placed around my neck. “I know. I read about it.”
“Once I place my collar around your neck, our official mating trial will begin. You will have thirty days to accept my claim or choose another.”
“I know.”
“Your collar will remain black—unnamed—until you are officially claimed. Once you accept me and my second, your collar will turn green, to match mine, and you will be mine forever.”
She bit her lip, the warmth of her touch barely skirting the edge of my collar. That small touch had the muscles in my neck tensing in reaction. Wherever she touched, I burned. “Okay.”
“Yes? You accept my right to you for the thirty-day mating period?”
“Yes, Trist. I want the collar. I want to be with you. We were matched. I trust in that. I’m ready.”
Shaking at her simple words, I lifted the second collar and placed the slim black band about her neck. When it clicked in place, I felt her.
My chest felt as if it swelled. My uniform was too tight. I couldn’t breathe. And yet, I held on, allowed the chaotic rumble of her emotions to fill every empty place inside me. She was beautiful. Courageous. Passionate. Lust roared through her as it did me, and I knew her link to me would enhance her desire until her need matched mine. Her emotions moved through me in a sensual slide inside my mind. She was soft, feminine, loving, even in her thoughts. Gentle. Vulnerable. Unsure.
That last feeling was not one I liked. Not only did I need the males in this battlegroup to know she belonged to someone, I needed her to know that truth as well. She was mine. My match. My mate. No one else could have her. The collar proved my claim, even though the colors did not yet match. They would. I would do whatever was necessary to secure and protect what was mine.
The sight of that black band around her throat brought me great satisfaction, bordering on physical pleasure. I sighed, relaxed almost. She belonged to me now and no one else could, or would, ever have her.
She gasped and her eyes flared wide. “You’re… glad I’m here.”
I smiled. “Yes, mate. Very glad.”
“How do I know that?”
“The collars, they connect us.”
Her hand lifted to her own neck, her small fingers sliding along the smooth surface. “I’d heard about the collars, about Prillon life, from the warden on Trion. She said Prillons mate in pairs. That I would have two mates.”
“I am now and forever your primary male.” I paused. “But, the warden on Trion was correct. You shall have two warriors to adore and protect you.”
Desire spiked through the collar and I nearly groaned. Gods, yes, she wanted that as badly as I. With a small frown, she looked about. “Who is my other mate?”
“I was not expecting your arrival and currently, I do not have a second. I did, but I released him from his oath to me.”
She looked down and I felt her sadness. Disappointment. Guilt? Her desire wilted like it had never been, replaced by a painful darkness that was not acceptable to me. “Because of me?”
I tipped her chin up, made her look me in the eyes. “No, mate. You are perfect in every way. Sensual. Beautiful. I am honored to be yours. I released Nevo from his oath several years ago. I tested a long time ago and had lost hope I’d be matched. He was asked to be a second by a fellow warrior who had been mated. His second was killed by the Hive. He didn’t wish to leave his female unprotected should something happen to him, so he asked Nevo to join their family. It is an honor to be trusted as a second, to protect and love a female. For Nevo, it was a chance to have the family he longed for. I released him from our agreement.”
“So, do you not want a second?”
I sensed her disappointment, knew she was most likely well matched, at least to Prillon, if she truly needed two mates.
“Do not fear, mate. I will take care of you, including finding a second so you are never left alone. I will find one worthy of you. Of us, as a family.”
I felt peace sweep through her. Contentment. The ability to ease her mind made me feel powerful and fueled my need for control. Yes, she needed my order. She needed the security I would provide. “You are mine now, Miranda. I will not let you go, unless you demand it of me in the next thirty days.”
“Until then?” she asked, shifting her hips and pressing into my hard cock.
“Until then, we can learn each other. I would like to kiss you.” I did. Desperately.
“Yes.”
I leaned down, tasted her for the first time. Her lips were soft. Plush. A little breathy gasp escaped her throat, and the sound made me eager for more. So I took. Plundered. Ravaged, all the while she was upon my lap.
She was mine. Before the day was through, she’d know it in all ways.
Oh yes, it seemed having a mate was better than I ever imagined.
“I am desperate for you. We must fuck now.”
Instead of dropping the blanket to the floor, she stared at me, then burst out laughing.
I arched a brow. “What is humorous?”
“No foreplay? Just… get it on?” She glanced down at the front of my uniform pants. “You’re ready, obviously. Don’t you want to see if I’m wet? Eager?”
The thought of her pussy slick with her need for me made me even harder. She was correct. I was ready. Just seeing her naked on the transport pad had made me want to drop to my knees and fuck her then and there. But the transport tech was not my second, and I would not share the sight of her desire, the sound of her pleasure, with anyone but my second or those chosen to honor our mating ceremony.
“You are ready.”
She bit her lip as she slid from my lap to stand before me, the blanket wrapped protectively around her body. The tilt of her lips made it obvious she was trying to smother a smile. “I am ready because you dictate it or because you are sure I am wet?”
I wanted to sigh, but remembered she was a primitive Earth female. “Because we were matched with almost perfect accuracy. You would not be my mate if you weren’t eager to be taken the way I want to take you.”
She cocked her head, eyed me. “That actually makes sense.” She dropped the blanket so it pooled around her bare feet.
Ah, a bold mate. My cock loved it.
“And how do you want to take me?”
“I want to be deep inside you when you come. I want to make you scream.”
She shivered and licked her lips as if she needed another taste of me. She said something else. I didn’t hear a word of it.
Holy fuck. She was lovely. Beautiful. Incredible. Pre-cum seeped from my cock just looking at her. Her dark locks fell over her shoulders, her hair so long that it fell to the tips of her breasts. The nipples there hardened before my eyes into tight pink peaks. They were full and lush, more than ample to slake my lust sucking and laving them. Her waist, while soft and curved, tapered and then flared into wide hips. She was not a small female, but well-padded, perfect for a male to grip onto as he fucked her. Not any male. Me. My second as well, whoever the gods fated him to be.
“What?” I asked, when my eyes finally met hers, and I realized she was waiting for me to say something.
“I asked if this is the case for every matched mate?”
I shrugged. “I do not care about others. Only you. Your needs are mine now. You need to be touched, and it is my job to do that. You need to come and your pleasure belongs to me.”
“What about y
our pleasure? Is it mine?”
“Yours, mate. As I am yours.” Fuck, I would come just standing here before her. I walked toward her, took her hand and led her into the bedroom. If we were going to talk, we could do it lying down. With her beneath me. Or with my head between her thighs.
If I had already chosen a second, we would both take care of her, use two mouths to arouse her, four hands to seduce, two cocks to fuck. Until then, I had her all to myself. I would give her myself in every way she needed. I paused, felt her. “Yes. Can you sense my answer? The collar about your neck connects our thoughts. I sense your desire. Your need. Can you not feel mine?”
Her hand went to the black collar, her small fingertips tracing the solid black line where it rested against her skin. Just seeing it about her neck set off a flare of possessiveness I never before imagined. Mine. This female was mine. If I were this eager for her now, what would I feel, how would I handle the feelings once my desire was echoed by my second? When we both ached to be with her. Fill her. Fuck her. Care for her?
“That’s from the collars? I thought… I mean, wow. Yeah, I can feel your need. God, that’s intense. It makes me… hotter.”
It was my turn to grin. “Yes, mate. That is how it is. How it will be. My need feeds yours, and in turn, yours feeds mine. I can sense your mood. Happiness. Sadness. Pain. Need. It is all there to be shared between us.”
“No doubts. No lies,” she added.
“None. I give you everything I am, female. And I demand the same from you.” I stood now, rising to stand before her naked body and touch what was mine. “You are mine. I will not tolerate secrets between us. I do not play games. I am a warrior of honor, and you are my mate.”
The declaration flared between us, the collars turning my simple statement into a feedback loop of surprising intensity. My female had needed to hear those words, needed them with a raging hunger I had not anticipated.
If it was reassurance she needed, I was more than happy to oblige. She would never doubt me, or my desire for her.
Turning both of us so that her back was to the bed, I gave her a gentle push between her breasts so that she fell back onto soft bedding. I dropped to my knees, and with my palms, opened her knees. Wider, then wider still. I could see her pussy now, the pink flesh that was wet for me. I felt her burst of arousal at being handled roughly. At me taking possession.
Gripping her slim ankles, I lifted her feet so they rested on the edge of the bed, splayed wide.
Leaning forward, I licked up her slit. She was too far away. Growling, I tugged her hips to the edge. “There. Now I can eat your pussy.”
“Trist!” she cried. “We’ve… god, we just met.”
I looked up her naked body and met her startled gaze. Her head was lifted so she could look at me. She tugged at my hold on her ankles, but not to escape. I didn’t sense any fear or panic. Only need. Surprise. Longing.
“Yes, and I am going to meet your pussy right now. With my mouth.”
I didn’t say more, only settled between her thighs. Licked her from puckered asshole to clit. Her hands went to my hair, tangled. Tugged. Her need went from a simmer to an inferno within seconds. Her hips shifted and rolled against my mouth. I settled one hand across her belly, pinning her in place. With the other, I slipped a finger inside her. Tight. Hot. Wet. Perfect. I worked her, listening to her sounds to see what she liked. Felt her tremors when I flicked her clit, when I curled my finger over a specific spot inside her.
“Trist… holy shit.”
I grinned against her swollen flesh, breathed in her musky scent. I felt her through the collars, knew how she smelled, how she tasted, and I could sense how she liked to get off. She was mine to learn, to play like an instrument.
I gently licked her pussy as I reached down, opened my pants and pulled my aching cock free. It was too big for the snug confines. Pre-cum dripped onto my fingers, and I thrust my hips, eager to fill her. I would give her my seed. All of it, but she would come first.
“You will come, mate. Now.”
I went back to sucking and playing with her clit.
“You are so bossy, telling me when to…”
I interrupted with a soft swat to her inner thigh and deepened my voice to the one I used during the middle of an intense battle, the voice hardened warriors didn’t dare defy. Neither would she. “Now.”
With a wild cry, her pussy fluttered and squeezed my fingers as she let go. I shared the intense pleasure of her release through my collar. I’d never felt anything like it, the connection we shared because we were mates. It made me come as well, thick cum spurting from me, landing on the floor between my knees. I didn’t care. I was proud of the fact my mate could make me lose control. But even after my balls emptied, I was still hard, still ready to take her. I would not be satisfied until I filled her completely. Gods, I would not be satisfied… ever.
“Captain Trist.” The deep voice came through my quarter’s comms system directly following the notification bell.
“What?” I growled, my voice loud and harsh. I’d just come, my face was directly between my sweaty and sated mate’s thighs and I was being commed.
“Captain, you are wanted on the command deck.”
The voice was one I knew well, a support officer in the engineering department. I felt Miranda’s body tense beneath my palm where it rested on her belly. She looked down at me and I was angry. I felt her confusion, her sense of… resignation.
Unless Commander Zakar himself started pounding on the door to my private quarters, the rest of the ship could take care of itself until I'd seen to my mate. I was busy. Very, very busy. “I am with my mate. Tell your superior I am occupied and that she should consider me unavailable until I inform her otherwise. That goes for the rest of the crew as well.”
There was a pause. “Understood.” The notification bell sounded again, letting me know the call was over.
“Don’t you… don’t you have to go?”
“Go where?” I stood then and she came up onto her elbows. Looked up at me. Gods, she was gorgeous, a pink blush went from her cheeks all the way down across her breasts. She looked well-sated, but disappointed. In my skill? In the pleasure I gave her? That would not do. I would not allow her out of my bed until she was completely satisfied.
“Don’t you have to help run the ship? You’re an officer. Don’t they need you?” Her small frown of confusion was adorable. Vulnerable. I felt the uncertainty in her, the aching hurt, the fear that I would cause her pain in some way. That was unacceptable.
“Not as much as I need you, mate.” I toed off my boots, then stripped, throwing my uniform on the floor without care where anything landed.
“Aren’t you going to go? What if something goes wrong? Don’t you have a duty to everyone on the ship?”
The emotional turmoil blasting me through the collar caused an ache in my chest that would not go away. Not my pain. Hers.
What idiot had made her feel this way? As if she were not a priority? As if I would have any duty beyond caring for her. I would serve on this ship. I would fight the Hive. But where I’d been fighting for my people before, now I would fight for her. Kill for her. “My only duty is to you, Miranda. You are mine now. You wear my collar. I will fight for you. Kill for you. Die to protect you. So, go? Leave you naked and vulnerable in my bed because someone wants me to look over engine maintenance updates? Absolutely not. My priority is you. The moment you accepted my claim, mate, you became the most important thing in my world.” I flicked my gaze to her dripping, swollen pussy. “You, mate, and sating this very greedy pussy.”
I sensed all her worries slip away and felt… surprise. Yet I knew she needed to hear it again. And again. “Nothing is more important to me than you are, mate. Nothing.”
Lowering my lips to the top of her foot, I kissed her there. Then on her calf. The inside of her knee. Her thigh. Her skin every bit as soft as I’d ever imagined.
“Trist.” She said my name and I growled, sucking h
er clit into my mouth, claiming her again. Gods, she tasted like the sweetest nectar. Mine. She was mine. And nothing would tear me away from this moment, from tasting her, touching her, fucking her. Filling her with my seed.
Her fingers wrapped in my hair, pulling with a sharp sting that drove me wild. She arched her back and moaned as her desire flooded me.
Desire. Lust. Need. An agony of arousal I had given her.
But beyond that, the subtle pain lingered like a ghost haunting her mind, a ghost I was determined to slay. She was mine now, and no one would ever hurt her again.
6
Miranda
* * *
Staring up at my new mate, I couldn’t believe this was really happening to me. He’d just told off the entire ship. For me. Stripped naked, shed the uniform of the Coalition to be mine. He couldn’t go save the world naked.
I couldn’t believe he was mine. Really, truly mine. I’d met him less than an hour ago, and yet I knew he was wholly devoted to me. The completely insane psychic link between us through the collars was like some kind of miracle. I could feel what he was feeling. Knew he meant every word he said. Knew exactly how much he desired me.
Only me. The truth of it was undeniable and I’d never felt anything like it before. No one had ever wanted me the way he did. No one. Not even…
No. I wasn’t going to think about him. Not now, with this beautiful Prillon captain between my thighs.
And god help me, he was gorgeous. Tall and golden and pure muscle on top of muscle. He looked like what he was, a warrior. An alien, with his sharp features and intense eyes. But that intensity made my body burn like it never had before. And it was all focused on me. On my pussy. Oh shit.
What would I do when there were two mates looking at me like that? Needing me. Wanting me and touching me and fucking me.
I nearly came again just thinking about it. I could wait. Trist Treval, captain and Prillon warrior, was more than enough for me right now. His emotions were drowning me... in the best way possible.
Was this what Natalie felt like with Roark? The center of his world. His everything? She didn’t have a collar to sense his emotions, but it was obvious every time I caught a glimpse of him looking at her. Of course, they’d gone through so much, being separated when she’d been transported back to Earth, thinking he was dead. Their bond had been tested… and held.
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