Rebel Mate (Interstellar Brides® Program Book 20)

by Grace Goodwin

  “You mentioned something about Ulza, the wicked witch of the west—although she’s blue instead of green—taking credits back?”

  He leaned against the wall and slid down it, so his butt was on the floor, his knees bent up before him, his wrists resting on them. Since I was on the bed, the only other place to sit was the floor. We were more eye level than before. “Ulza was my primary buyer. I sold her some Hive integration pieces right before I heard about you. Once I helped you escape, she retracted the credits.”

  “That sucks. She shouldn’t be able to do that. Can’t you complain to the bank? Or whoever you aliens use to hold your money.”

  “Banks? We don’t use banks. Not for hundreds of years. Too much power in one place, too much corruption. We exchange credits in a free market system.”

  “So what, you’re like Bitcoin all grown up?”

  He shook his head, his gaze oddly intense. “You say such strange things. We trade in credits. The payment systems are maintained by the Interstellar Coalition of Planets. Every planet answers to Prillon Prime if they do not maintain the security of the credit system on their planet.”

  More than I needed to know, but I was sorry to hear that he’d been screwed out of his money. “I’m sorry you lost your money, but I’m glad you helped me. Thank you.”

  He lifted a hand to rub the back of his neck. “There was no other option. During my transaction with Ulza, I heard about a human female being under the dome.” He was quiet for a second then added, “I finally had enough to buy an upgraded ion cannon.”

  “That sounds big,” I said, not sure how to compliment him. The only cannons I knew about were on pirate ships or shooting out T-shirts at sporting events. But… if he was a space pirate, then I had to go with the first.

  He turned his head, looked at me. “Not big, but powerful. One shot could destroy an entire asteroid field while traveling at high speed. The targeting software is supposed to be able to lock onto cloaked Hive vessels as well. Take them out.”

  He sounded like an Earth guy talking about a muscle car.

  “Wow,” I replied, not having a clue about most of what he’s said.

  His eagerness at the man-toy slipped away as he sighed. “I gave her three months’ worth of Hive tech. For nothing. Now she’s not going to do any kind of business with me. Instead, she’ll most likely shoot me.”

  “Yeah, sorry about that,” I replied.

  “I should spank your ass like I would a misbehaved Trion female.”

  Um, what? My eyes narrowed at his words. “Misbehaved? I didn’t ask you to help me. Hell, I was doing pretty darn fine on my own back there.” I cocked a thumb over my shoulder. “I saved your ass as much as you saved mine. You can spank my ass because it gets your cock hard but not for anything else.”

  His eyes widened, and he stayed quiet, which made me more uncomfortable than if he bickered back. With a dinner plate sized hand, he reached out and took hold of my wrist, yanked me off the bed and to my knees beside him. Grabbing my waist, he lifted me up and over his lap, so I straddled him, my body cradled between his sturdy torso and his powerful thighs.

  “The idea of spanking you makes my cock hard. I don’t have to be doing it to be in such a state,” he countered, and I felt the hard length of him against my pussy. His gaze dropped to my breasts and chain linking them. “The idea gets you hot, too.”

  “It’s cold in here,” I countered. Traitorous nipples.

  He tipped his head back and laughed. “Are you always so argumentative?”

  “When someone calls me bad,” I countered without hesitation.

  With a surprisingly gentle touch, he stroked my hair back from my face, his thumb brushing over my cheek.

  “You were matched to Trion as an Interstellar Bride, which makes you a Trion female. While you may not think you are submissive, and your behavior certainly shows you otherwise, the testing isn’t wrong. You want someone to dominate you, to take control, to allow you to let go of all your troubles, to give them up.”

  His deep voice made me want to strangle him. It also called to me. I’d been taking care of myself for so long, trusting no one, the idea of sharing a struggle or a burden with another was ridiculously appealing. I’d love to let go of all my troubles. But how? With Isaak?

  He was insane.

  There was no way I could submit to any male. I didn’t trust anyone—not even him. He’d gotten me off Occeron and out of that horrible dome city, but I hadn’t even asked where we were going, and that was stupid.

  I wasn’t going to let him take the upper hand here. He had to know I wasn’t going to go meekly anywhere he wanted. Do anything he said without question. “Give them up? No fucking way.”

  He arched a brow in denial or… male whatever.

  “I don’t need a guy to dominate me. I like being on top just fine.” With that, I reached down between us, palmed his cock and squeezed. He hissed because that got through loud and clear. I grinned. “I’ll show you.”

  7

  Isaak

  By the gods, this female played with fire. And my cock. But now that I knew the truth, that she had been matched to a male on Trion, I was not fooled by the bravado and challenge in her eyes.

  Quite the opposite. I recognized the frantic need for the truth in her gaze. Zara was desperate.

  Alone.

  Afraid.

  She rubbed my cock, and I allowed the touch because I would not deny myself this pleasure. She had something to prove to herself more than me. I knew the truth, and she would soon. First, though, we’d both get the pleasure we craved.

  Her lips parted, and I resisted the urge to reach up and rub the plump flesh with a fingertip. I didn’t want to touch her lips, I wanted another taste. Now that we were alone and there weren’t Cerberus fighters ready to kill, I took what I wanted, claimed her mouth and explored the hot depths. I tasted her fully, took her breath as she touched me, stroking my cock until I groaned.

  Too long. I had gone without a female for far too long, and this one? Gods help me, she was too fucking sweet. I didn’t dare tell her that, or she’d probably grab my balls instead and rip them off.

  Yet she was soft. Defiant. Beautiful.

  I hoped her mate found peace in death because I was going to take this female and make her mine. Bury my cock in her core and watch her shudder with pleasure as I filled her. I would make her beg. And scream. And forget who she was. Where she was. Forget everything but me.

  Let go.

  But not like this. Not until she admitted what she wanted, what she needed... and asked me to give it to her.

  Reaching between us, I grabbed her wrists and secured them at her sides. I felt her resistance, her fight. “What are you doing, gara?”

  She shook her head and twisted her wrists in a half-hearted attempt to break my hold. If she had fought fully, I would release her immediately, but I knew—hoped—that was not what she desired. Not at all.

  “Let me go,” she hissed, her eyes narrow. Heated. Furious.

  “Tell me what you are doing.”

  Surprisingly, a tear gathered in her eye, slipped down one cheek. Yet she remained stubborn in stony silence. I moved to secure both of her wrists behind her back in just one of my hands and used the other to gently wipe the tear from her cheek.

  And just like that, I found the chink in her strength. She’d been through so much since her transport from Earth. More than any female should endure, especially alone.

  She was not that way any longer. She didn’t need to be so brave. So… strong.

  “I will give you anything you desire, gara, but only if I know what you need.”

  She choked back an angry cry and twisted. Hard. Ah, she was not yet ready.

  I released her at once, and she scrambled away from me on hands and knees, chest heaving like she’d run a long race. “I don’t need anything. I want—”

  I waited in silence. I would not take advantage of a female who did not know her own mind. Or couldn�
�t voice her needs aloud. I would not guess with her, and I would not push. She would need to discover it on her own, for it was within her, this need she didn’t realize she even had.

  What had her life on Earth been like to hide such desired beauty?

  She was an Interstellar Bride. Her mate was dead, but she was a true prize, a female who not only longed for the comfort and safety a dominant Trion mate could provide but hungered for him. Needed to surrender control.

  She’d volunteered to be matched. The testing had plumbed her subconscious, found her deepest needs and desires. Matched her to Trion, the planet where females were the most submissive in the galaxy.

  Zara struggled to her feet and wiped at her eyes, where I assumed more tears streaked her soft cheeks, tears I could not see. Or perhaps the tears were imagined. Emotional wounds. Invisible to my eye.

  Our gazes locked, and I rose slowly as well, not even attempting to hide the bulge of the hard cock in my pants. Proof of my desire. Lust. I had needs of my own, and she was stirring everything primitive within me to a dangerous level. She’d felt it in the palm of her hand. “What do you want, gara?” I asked, my voice soft. Soothing.

  She used trembling hands to rub both of her arms, as if cold. The ship was anything but sensing our body temperatures and adjusting the environmental controls accordingly.

  “Don’t call me that,” she hissed.

  One of these days, she’d preen and be soothed by that endearment, know it was honest and filled with desire.

  Taking a step forward, I approached. Another. The room was small, and in moments, I stood toe to toe with the defiant female. Using every bit of tenderness I could summon as my body raged at me to turn her around, shove her against the wall and make her mine, I grazed her chin with my fingertips and angled her face up so our eyes met. Held. “Anything, gara. But I do not take what is not freely given.”

  Her tongue traced a rapid line across her lips and her breathing hitched. A flush heated her cheeks, but she did not pull away. “What do you want me to give you?”

  Everything, I realized. I wanted this female to be mine. Her fire and courage, her sass, the flash of defiance in her eyes. More, I wanted her heart and her body and her trust. I had never encountered another female like her, not even Ivy, with her Hive implants and mate, Zenos, by her side. Never had I met a woman, a human woman, who could escape Jirghogis and steal his titan stick, face down Ulza of Cerberus legion, and stand toe-to-toe with a thief and smuggler she barely knew but instinctively trusted not to hurt her.

  She was remarkable. One of a kind.

  Mine.

  “Isaak?” Zara’s prompt made me realize I’d been staring. I needed to maintain control. Never had I been so close to giving in to my body’s demands for a mate. The need to bury my cock deep drove me with a sharp, knife-edged pain that I welcomed. Embraced. I would ride my need for hours if she would allow me to pleasure her, glory in the fire building in both mind and body until my release was an agony of bliss.

  But my desire was built on a lie. Out here in space, I had no home to offer a female. No family name, no riches, no security. I would never take a female into Hive controlled territory on one of my raids. And I could not leave a mate unprotected in this sector of space long enough to go on my own.

  I wanted a mate, but I did not deserve one. Not living like I did. If I returned to Trion… there I had everything for a mate, but my parents had made it clear I did not belong. That I was not wanted.

  “I want many things, gara. But for now, I want you to take off your clothes and let me look at you.”

  Her lip trembled. “And then what?”

  She had not denied me, and that was all the encouragement I needed. “Then I will pleasure you, gara, with my hands and my mouth.”

  Her lips parted and a pink blush darkened her cheeks further. The signs of her interest were visible, but I needed the words. “Is this what you want? I must hear the words.”

  She blinked, and I could practically see her mind debating her body’s desires. “Yes.”

  Fark, yes. My cock pulsed in my pants, eager to get to her, to get in her. I would take her, but I would do it as the Trion male I was. I would dominate. Give her what she needed. Her needs would not be denied, even ones I would have to show her she had.

  I cleared my throat, dropped my voice into a deep timbre. “You will obey me while we are in this room. I saw your strength. Your bravery. Here, you do not need to be strong. Or brave. You only need to listen. To obey. To feel. I shall protect you in all ways.”

  She nodded, and I continued. “Should you disobey, I will spank your bare bottom then fuck you until you scream your pleasure.”

  She shifted from foot to foot, clenched her thighs together. Would she allow me to touch her? To thrust my fingers into that wet pussy and bring her relief? I’d voiced her desires aloud, and I saw her needy response.

  Her gaze darted to the side, where she’d left the titan stick, and I stepped back at once. “Is that what you need to feel safe? A weapon within reach to trust me? If that is the case, I will deny us both what we both truly desire. I will go.”

  She reached for me, her fingers curling into the fabric of my shirt. That one touch sealed her fate. “No,” she whispered then went on, her voice stronger. “I just, I’m sorry. I want you. This. What you said. Here. In this room.”

  Meaning she would relent to my control in this moment, in this ship. And this ship alone.

  “Just no kinky stuff, okay?”

  I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her close, as I had longed to do for too long, and held her pressed to me. Nothing more, just held her, comforted her with touch. With the feel of my body, so different from hers. Where I was hard edges and muscled, she was so small, so fragile. So soft. Feminine. Perfect.

  Fark.

  “What is kinky stuff?” I asked, murmuring into her silky hair. “I do not know this term.”

  She pressed her forehead to my chest as if embarrassed. “You know, no handcuffs. Don’t tie me up or beat me with anything or cut me or stick needles in my skin. Electricity. Whips. Stuff like that. I don’t like pain.”

  My body had become more rigid with each word from her mouth. This kinky stuff did not interest me. In fact, it made me furious. Burying my fist in her hair, I angled her face up to mine, so I could look in her eyes. “I do not bring pain, gara. Only pleasure.”

  “You said you’d spank me,” she said.

  “I also said I would fuck you after until you screamed with pleasure.”

  Her blue-green eyes met mine, held, as if assessing. “If I say stop, you’ll stop?”

  “I am a dominant male, not a monster. I do not force myself on a female. Ever.”

  She shuddered and melted into my arms. Fark, it felt perfect, like she was exactly where she belonged. I had never been tested for an Interstellar Bride, but something inside me insisted—despite all logic or odds to the contrary—that if I had, Zara of Earth would have been mine. I hadn’t even known she existed when I landed on Occeron earlier, parked my ship in Omega Dome. And now...

  “All right.” Too soon she pulled away from me but stopped when the backs of her legs bumped against the small sleeping area. Gazes locked, she reached for the hem of her tunic and pulled it off over her head. She’d remembered my initial request to bare herself.

  My fingers itched to touch her, my mouth watered to taste. Her skin was pale, creamy. Her breasts were small, yet a handful. Pink nipples were adorned with simple golden rings, the lightweight chain running between her nipples was bare. Her mate had been killed before he could adorn her properly, make her his. If her mate had not adorned her body, then he had not claimed it. I would be the first male to give her her deepest desires.

  Around her neck she wore an elaborate golden collar with an oval shaped pendant hanging at the perfect height to form a triangle with her pert nipples. I did not recognize the design and assumed the collar was something personal to her.

  If she loved
the item, I would allow her to keep it. If not, I would replace that collar with one of my own. One sparkling with jewels and linked to the rings piercing her breasts. I would see the triangle I imagined come to life on her body, make her sparkle like a very well-kept female.

  If she were mine, I would adorn her properly.

  She looked ripe to be claimed, and I would do that. Claim her.

  Licking her lips, it had my cock punching against my pants to get out and have that tongue on it.

  “I will do what you say, but shouldn’t we have a safe word or something?” Her light hair fell over her bare shoulders in a thick cascade of gold and soft brown.

  “A safe word?” I had never heard of such a thing. “What is the purpose of this word? You are safe.” I glanced around the ship, wondering what she found to be dangerous.

  Her hands crossed her chest in a defensive gesture I immediately hated. “If I say it, no matter what we are doing, you stop. A safe word.”

  “I see.” I had given her my assurance I would not harm her, but she still did not trust me. I did not like it, but I understood. This need for a word gave her some control still although it was tied to what she feared not what she desired. She wasn’t denying herself with this… safe word. She was protecting. When she was mine, truly mine, I would make sure she never needed to use such a word. Ever. “Very well. Choose your word, female. I will abide by your choice.”

  “Hurricane.”

  I waited a moment for my NPU to process the strange Earth term. “Ah, a storm on your planet.”

  Her smile made my cock ache. “No, a really amazing drink in New Orleans. I had a few too many at Mardi Gras a couple years ago. I was hungover for two days.”

  I stepped forward, only understanding about half of what she said, but it was enough. It was the word of her choice, so she felt safe with me. I would not forget, no matter the reason for her selecting it. “Take off the rest of your clothes and place your hands over your head.”

  She grumbled as she removed her shoes, socks and pants, but I did not interrupt, too eager to see what would soon be mine. When she straightened, still mumbling about this strange beverage, I opened my mouth to interrupt when the sight of a golden bar piercing her naval brought me up short.