Interstellar Brides® Program Boxed Set - Books 17-20

Chapter 5

5

Niobe

“I have been waiting for you,” Quinn said. The admission was revealing, exposing the inner core of an Elite Hunter which I had no doubt was never shown. Only with…

A mate.

We barely knew each other. We’d met just a few hours ago. Hours. A lot had happened to me today. I’d been on The Colony and been tested, bickered with Kira and Rachel. Then transported to a secret Hive integration center and rescued not only my matched mate, but other fighters as well. Another transport had us on the Karter where I’d stared at my mate inside a ReGen pod while speaking to Commander Karter and planning an attack on the base I’d just left behind.

I should be weary from a battle, double transport, the adrenaline dump, meeting a mate… but I wasn’t. Far from it. I felt alive and invigorated in a way I’d never imagined. Was it this male’s amber colored eyes boring into me? Was it the way his muscles shifted and played beneath the lines of his fresh uniform? Was it the connection, the invisible threads that connected us, no matter how much I fought the instinct to snip them and bolt?

I wasn’t baring my soul to him. I didn’t do that with people I’d known for years, let alone a few hours. It didn’t matter that he was my testing match, that I should share everything with him. My body, my heart, my soul. I didn’t know him. Not yet. But I wanted to. Longed for a deeper connection, for someone who was mine.

“I was waiting for you. You were the one in a ReGen pod, unconscious.”

“Before that, mate. I’ve been waiting a lot longer than that,” he replied. It wasn’t the words that made stupid leap out of my mouth, it was the look in his eyes. Possessive. Hungry. Impatient. A look that made my legs tingle and my n*****s go hard. The look in his eyes was a challenge, and the Everian in me was rising to meet it. To run. Just like in my matching dream, I wanted to force him to prove himself worthy. Fast. Strong enough to catch me.

To conquer me.

Shit. Where had that thought come from?

“You had no idea I would arrive at that prison.” I said the last few words as if they were poison. That place… god, it had been awful. I didn’t want to think about what would have happened to him or the others if I hadn’t ended up there. At that exact moment. How long would he have survived if I hadn’t taken the Interstellar Brides’ Program test?

“I wasn’t referring to your timely transport and you know it,” he replied. He was so calm, so… even. I breathed in his clean scent, even underneath the medical unit’s strong soap.

Hunters resolved problems with a demeanor of ease, of confidence. They didn’t go beast like the Atlans or have a second like the Prillons. We were independent. Smooth. Deadly.

With Quinn, I was far from smooth. I felt… frazzled now that he was whole. Wary. Off kilter. Uncomfortable because I was out of my element. No, that wasn’t it.

It was six hours. We had six hours to play. To make love. To get to know one another.

And even though my body was screaming “yes-yes-yes!” my mind didn’t like giving up control. And I felt guilt creeping in, guilt that I was alive and whole and full of desire for my mate when there was an unknown number of warriors suffering on that base. Waiting. For me.

For us.

It seemed Quinn could shift his focus easier than me. My mate was looking at me as if I were his dinner. And that had my body responding. Panicking. I had no control. A mission? Yes. A mate? Hell, no. I was grasping, trying to cling to the last shreds of calm that I could find, and that completely messed with my mind.

“Mate, your need is nothing to fear, it is a need we share.” His deep voice was even, almost soothing.

“We don’t share anything.” I held up my hand so he could see my palm, the mark there. “We’re not marked mates. Just matched.”

Even as I said the words, I didn’t believe them. We shared quite a bit, I just didn’t understand it, and it was a bit scary.

He shrugged those big, brawny shoulders and it made my n*****s go hard. Traitors. I crossed my arms over my chest.

The corner of his mouth tipped up. He breathed deep, nostrils flaring. “You are mine. You know it. I know it. Everyone on this ship knows it. Why are you resisting?”

Why was I? Oh yeah, I didn’t need a bossy male. My p***y was arguing with me about that, but I was in control… at least of my body.

Except my n*****s ached and lower, I was wet for him. And he knew it. Could smell it. That rough tumble of a voice wasn’t helping me fight my libido at all.

“I can’t give you what you want,” I told him. I didn’t have to bare my soul, but I had my reasons. This was a mistake. It had to be. I didn’t want kids. I didn’t want to give up my life, my freedom, my career. I made a difference in this war. I trained cadets, made sure they were ready for the Hive. I tried to save lives, and my work was important to me, too important. I never should have given in to a moment of weakness, of loneliness. Elite Hunter Quinn of Everis probably wanted a submissive little wife and ten babies running around the house chasing each other and screaming up a storm.

That life wasn’t for me. I wasn’t meant to be with someone. s**t. I screwed this up. “I never should have taken the bride testing.”

His pale gaze raked over me some more, from the top of my head to the boots on my feet. Leisurely, as if he had all the time in the world. As if he had every right to do so.

“I disagree. You are perfect and I can’t wait to bury my c**k in your body, make you come. Make you mine.

Oh f**k. I may have just come a little bit. “You don’t know me.”

“This is true, mate, but I will.” His words weren’t a threat, they were a vow, a promise. He was a Hunter and I was beginning to fully understand what it meant to have the full attention of an Elite male from Everis. He would never stop. Never give in.

The thoughts spun in my mind like a tornado. This couldn’t be real, could it? Was he really mine?

No. No way. He didn’t even know me yet. I had thirty days to reject the match and go back to my old, predictable, responsible life. Thirty days, too, for him to decide he wanted fifteen babies and someone ten years younger.

Whatever. This was bullshit. Mental, emotional, physical bullshit. I never should have let Kira talk me into this. I should have said no, gone home and opened a bottle of Atlan wine. A vibrator didn’t want children or demand submission. Demand secrets. Truth. Trust.

What had I been thinking?

Spinning on my heel, I strode for the door. It slid open silently and I walked out. Didn’t stop once I exited the medical unit.

He didn’t follow. Over all the sounds of the battleship, from the low vibration of the engines to the clinking of dishes in the cafeteria on the floor below, I could hear Quinn. His breathing, the slow beat of his heart. He hadn’t moved.

Down the hall, I pushed the button for the lift not knowing where I was going. I just needed to get away, to get control again. The closer I was to him, the less I had of it. Damn him!

“You can run, mate, but I will catch you.”

My eyes fell closed at the sound of his voice, my entire body coming painfully, vibrantly to life with the need to run. He was still in the ReGen room. His voice was not much more than a whisper, for he didn’t need to speak loudly for me to hear. A whimper escaped me at the idea of him catching me. I’d done the one thing, the only thing, that would guarantee this wasn’t over. Instead, it was just beginning as I’d tempted the male in him with a challenge he would neither deny nor resist.

I’d fled. To a Hunter courting his female, I’d thrown down the ultimate challenge. I had run, dared him to catch me…no, demanded he catch me, prove himself worthy.

He would follow.

Clenching my thighs together, I realized my instinct to flee was a female Everian’s instinct to challenge a potential mate, require him to prove himself worthy. Force him to dominate in the hunt.

It was a mating dance of sorts. I’d called to Quinn’s inner beast, if he had one. I was his mate. I was here. I was fleeing. And he would find me and claim me and make me his.

He had not been able to do anything a mate would normally do when I’d transported to the Hive controlled base. He’d been imprisoned. I’d saved him. I didn’t doubt he was thankful for it. But now that he was safe, and the ReGen pod healed him entirely, he was taking over. Taking control.

And I’d given it to him.

The chase gave him power.

And on a battleship? It was like child’s play. I had nowhere to go. I couldn’t run. I couldn’t hide.

He would find me.

I wasn’t sure if I should be eager or annoyed.

When the lift doors slid open and I stepped within, I was both.

“I don’t want a mate,” I said. Thankfully, the lift was empty or people would wonder why I was talking to myself. But I wasn’t. I heard Quinn’s chuckle, which had me practically growling in frustration.

“You were tested. Only Atlans in Mating Fever are forced to submit to the matching test. You are definitely not an Atlan.”

The lift doors opened and I stepped out. Based on the color of the blue stripe on the walls, I was on the engineering floor. I went right.

“My job is at the Academy. I run the place. I will not quit.”

I heard his heavy footsteps, knew he was now on the hunt. For me.

It was like Hide and Seek and he’d given me a count of one hundred before he started his search.

“I can live anywhere, female. Anywhere you are.”

His words pleased me and a smile came to my face without permission. Damn him for being so charming. I came to an intersection of two corridors. I went left. My pace quickened. “Stop trying to charm me, Hunter.”

“I saw your hard n*****s. I know you are aroused. Run, mate. Hide. I will find you.”

The testing came back to me and I imagined I was in a forest, the wind in my hair, my body on fire as the male I needed got closer and closer. As he caught me, whipped me around, filled me with his…

I whimpered. Quinn laughed.

That sound had me pushing on. He might be able to track me, but I wasn’t going to make it easy. Two Prillon warriors came out of a room and I slid in past them, the door closing behind me. I looked around. Mechanicals of some kind. The room was lit by a blue glow, the rows of components covered everything from floor to ceiling. It reminded me of a library—the non-fiction section. Here, there were no books, but units of data storage that made the battleship run. A forest of machines.

At first glance, this was nothing like the testing dream, the one where the female was chased through the forest. But in every way that mattered, it was identical. She’d enjoyed the pursuit, reveled in it. Had wanted to be caught.

Did I?

Shit. I knew the answer. Yes. Yes, I did.

He knew it, too.

“Do you know what I’m going to do to you when I find you?” Quinn asked, his steps even. He wasn’t rushing, but taking his time and enjoying this. The taunt. The play.

I licked my lips. I wanted to know.

“I’m going to watch your face as I open the front of your uniform shirt. As my fingers brush over the swells of your breasts. Hear the pace of your heartrate increase. Ah, mate, I hear it now.”

I took a deep breath, let it out. Tried to calm my heart, which had started to race. It seemed I liked dirty talk, and he wasn’t even in the room. God, what was I going to turn into when he was before me?

Oh, yeah, a pile of goo.

“I can scent your arousal from here. With each step closer, you get wetter.”

I did.

The almost-silent slide of the room’s door had me sucking in a breath. Holding it.

He was here.

“Mate,” he said. This time, the voice was from the far side of the room. “Breathe.”

I exhaled.

“Good girl.”

I should have been pissed off by the endearment, but I wasn’t. It was… reassuring. Gentle. I actually liked the praise.

What was wrong with me?

Oh, yeah. I no longer had control of my p***y.

And there he was. He stepped to the end of the row of components, set his hands on his hips and looked at me. Studied me. Waited.

So big. So… male. I could smell him. Pine forest and dark male. I had no idea why I thought that. I felt like a silly commercial for men’s cologne on Earth. There was no dark male scent. But there was, and Quinn had it.

“You should find your marked mate,” I told him.

He shook his head, but otherwise didn’t move. “We are matched. You are mine.”

“I’m not.”

He laughed then. “Not yet.”

“I’m a vice admiral. I wear the pants in this relationship.”

I watched as his gaze dropped to my legs. I held still all the while I wanted to squirm.

“You state the obvious. I see you in pants.”

I rolled my eyes. The Earth slang had been lost on him.

“I won’t let you control me,” I said next, hoping to clarify.

“Yes, you will,” he countered so confidently. He crooked a finger at me, beckoning me to him.

I remained still and stared. I had no exit, not without taking him out in the process. I didn’t want that. I wanted to climb him like a horny monkey.

He didn’t do anything but continue to curl that finger to beckon me.

As if he were tugging a string, I stepped toward him.

The look on his face didn’t change. He didn’t gloat. He didn’t laugh. He just wanted me in front of him.

And so my p***y-led body went where it wanted to go. To him.

His Hunter’s arm moved so quickly, I didn’t even gasp. It was banded about my waist, and I felt every hard inch of him pressing into me. His head lowered and he kissed me.

I wasn’t startled. I knew it was coming. I was no dummy. I was just surprised. Not by being kissed. I was surprised by the kiss.

Holy hell.

Holy. f*****g. Hell.

Soft and gentle, not like I expected. His lips brushed mine, back and forth as if learning the feel of them. When he kissed the corner of my lips, his tongue flicked out. Licked that spot.

I gasped. He plundered. It went from mild to wild in a second. He wasn’t just kissing me, I was kissing him. My hands were tangled in his long hair, the silky strands wrapped around my fingers.

He tasted of mint and man, hot and delectable. I couldn’t get enough.

I wasn’t a virgin. I’d been with a few men. But being in charge of the Academy kept me at a distance from males. I couldn’t have a fling with a cadet. I wouldn’t have a fling with staff. The only time I’d gotten a space one-night-stand in was after an I.C. mission.

It had never felt like this. Never. And this was just a kiss.

My uniform shirt was open in a flash, and I felt the cool air on my skin before I realized he’d actually undone the fastenings.

He lifted his head. Stepped back far enough to look me over. My bra was plain white and simple. No lace. No satin. No peekaboo styling. And yet, the way he was looking at my breasts, it was as if I were in the fanciest, sheerest of lingerie.

“Take the shirt off.” It was a command.

My hands lifted to obey before I considered the bossy request.

It took a second to shrug the durable fabric off my shoulders and down my arms. It fell to the floor behind me.

He stepped toward me. I stepped back. He did it again and I retreated until I bumped into the far wall. His body pressed into mine, and I felt his hard length against my belly. I wasn’t the only one eager to take this to the next level. Our breaths mingled, my n*****s bumped his chest with every inhale.

I held still as he undid my pants, pushed them over my hips along with my underwear. His fingers found my center.

I gasped, then moaned.

“Mate,” he growled. Lifting his fingers, I could see my glossy arousal on them and I watched as he licked them clean.

My needy scent filled the air. All noise, all sounds fell away except what was in this empty room and between us.

He spun me about and my hands went to the cool wall to brace myself. Stepping into me, he bent his knees, stroked his pant-covered c**k over my p***y and the cleft of my ass.

I had no purchase on the wall, nothing to grip or hold on to. And that prompted me to my control, which I’d left on the floor beside my uniform shirt.

Spinning back around to face him, I said, “I’m a vice admiral of the Coalition fleet.”

His jaw was clenched tight, the muscles in his neck taut. The hand on my hip was firm, but gentle. He would not hurt me.

Slowly, he shook his head. “Here, with me, you’re my mate. Nothing more. You might be in control out there.” He tipped his head to the side, in the direction of the room’s door. “With me, you submit.”

It was my turn to shake my head. “I don’t want that.”

His hand was back between my thighs, sliding over my swollen lips, dipping into my p***y once, which had me going up onto my toes, then away. He painted my essence on my lips. “You do. Taste.”

My tongue flicked out.

“You want this. Submit here. For me. Only me.”

He opened his pants, reached in and pulled out his c**k. Oh crap. It was big. Long. Thick. Pre-c*m beaded at the tip and he gripped the base, stroked it. “Only this.”

I whimpered. I never whimpered.

With his free hand, he spun me back about, my hands slapping the walls again. This time, I was the one who tipped my ass up, pushed it out.

I wanted that c**k inside me. Needed it.

“Good. Just like that, mate.”

He didn’t wait. We’d only kissed. I was still wearing my bra. We were barely uncovered except the important parts. Yet the foreplay had begun the moment he woke from the ReGen pod in medical.

I was wet. I was eager. I wanted him.

He took me, filling me in one slow slide of his c**k deep into my p***y. The hand on my hip tightened, held me still when I wanted to move away. He was big and he stretched me wide, filled me so much that it was almost too much.

He growled. Took me hard. Flesh slapped. Breaths got labored. The need grew. Bloomed. Exploded.

Then a hand came down on my ass, spanked me. Hard. I startled, clenched down on him.

“That’s for drugging me, mate. Forcing me into that ReGen pod.”

It was too much. This was too much. Taken, used as a male wanted. It was not an even exchange. He was taking me. f*****g me. Working his c**k into me as he needed to seek his pleasure. Spanking me in punishment.

I came. I was the one who orgasmed. Who practically screamed with pleasure in a mechanical room of a battleship. Who clenched down on his hard c**k because the spanking had actually been hot as f**k. My p***y gripped him so hard it made Quinn grunt, made him thrust one last time and come.

It was only when my head cleared enough to process thoughts that I realized he hadn’t used me. Not at all. He’d given me pleasure, assured that I’d come first. Only when I had been satisfied had he found his release.

He’d taken care of me when I’d been vulnerable.

Tears swelled in my eyes as he leaned his body into me, holding me in place against the wall in a full body press. He nibbled on my shoulders, his hands stroking up and down my curves with a gentleness I never could have imagined just a few moments ago. I felt like a glass doll, something breakable. Precious. Fragile.

Shit. There went the tears, scalding my cheeks as aftershocks of need jolted me on the inside, my p***y still swollen, achy. Full.

His caresses left me shattered and vulnerable, more than the chase or the f*****g or the orgasm, because it was real. Gentle. Safe.

It felt like love, and f**k me if I knew what that was supposed to feel like. All I knew at the moment was that it hurt somewhere deep inside, somewhere deep and dark and buried. My chest hurt and my eyes were leaking. Leaking. These were not tears. Not. Tears.

“Gods you are beautiful, Niobe. Let’s find a bed. I want to do that again. And the next time, I’ll watch your face as you give yourself to me, as you submit.”