That done, I walked back to the Atlan, who stood in the exact place he’d been when he first saw me, as if he were an oak tree and his roots were so deep they touched the core of the world.
“What are you doing here?” I asked, repeating Melody’s question.
He growled, eyes narrowed, and lifted his hand to crook a finger at me, just like he’d done at the arena. “Come here, mate.”
And just like that, I couldn’t deny him or myself. I wanted to feel his arms around me almost as much as I wanted to breathe. I’d missed him and the longing erupting within me was strange and alarming.
I closed the distance, pressing my face to his chest and wrapping my arms around his waist as his giant hands settled on my back, stroking up and down. He bent low and buried his nose in my hair.
He stiffened. “Why do I smell Prillon blood in your hair? And ion blaster fire?” He dropped to his knees, not to talk to me, but to personally check every inch of my body for injury, starting at the ankles and working his way up. While his hands on me were clinical, I felt the touch everywhere. “Tell my why you smell of another male’s blood, mate, or I will not be able to control my beast.”
“Angh!” I pushed at his hands as they squeezed and worked my thighs, my ass, pressed on my abdomen, felt my breasts, not with seduction in mind, but the single-minded intention of uncovering any hurt. Did he really think my boobs were broken?
When he got to my right elbow, I winced. I couldn’t help it. He froze, his gaze lifting to mine. “You are injured. This is unacceptable.”
“I’m fine.” I was. It was sore, but it would heal, just like every other scrape or bruise, ache or pain I got from one of my missions. I’d had much worse.
“Who hurt you, Kira? Tell me his name and I will destroy him.”
Oh boy, I needed reminding as to why overprotective, dominant males were a bad idea for a one-night stand? Oh, yeah. This. So much this. Besides ripping my classroom door off, he looked like I’d struck him through the heart, like the bruise on my arm from the asshole Hive—whose hard as steel kick I’d blocked with my elbow right before I shot him through the heart—was the most important thing in the universe. He happened to be a former Prillon warrior and his blood had splattered all over my armored suit. Which meant my quarters probably smelled like his blood, too. Which was just freaking fantastic.
“He’s already dead, Angh. It’s nothing. A bruise.”
He didn’t seem mollified by my answer. “Why did you not seek medical attention?”
“It’s nothing.” I didn’t dare tell him why I hadn’t gone to the med station, and not just because I hadn’t had time. If I went in, they’d have put me in a ReGen pod, and the sore, very satisfied feeling in my pussy, my physical reminder of him, of our wild night together, would be gone forever. I wanted to know he’d possessed me completely, filled me up. Made me scream. The tenderness between my legs was my personal, very private souvenir of our time together. I wanted more, had a feeling I would always want more when it came to this very sexy Atlan, but I had a job to do. I’d made promises. Signed contracts.
I wasn’t in a place to start a relationship right now. The I.C. owned me for two more years. Every mission saved lives, sometimes one, sometimes a hundred. I couldn’t be selfish. My pussy was not in charge of this situation, no matter how badly my body was screaming at me to strip off my clothes and beg him to fuck me again. Right now. Up against the wall. On the desk. Even the hard floor.
But I’d only be making things worse if I did that. Whatever this was, it had to end. My commanding officer in the I.C. would not be amused by the fact that I’d fucked an Atlan in the first place, and on a training trip. But mating one? They’d probably throw me in the brig. They made it very clear on a previous mission that there was no getting out of my service, and I didn’t want to. I saved lives. A lot of lives. And so would he, once the Vice Admiral got her claws into him. The warriors and civilians captured and tortured by the Hive needed me more than this Atlan did, more than I needed to feed the lust driving my libido to the next level whenever I looked at Angh. And the war needed him, my big, bad-ass beast.
Fighting for patience, and control, I placed my hands on his cheeks and lifted his face up so he would look at me. For once, he was shorter than me. Barely, though, even though he was on his knees. “Angh, why are you here? Why did you kick down my classroom door?”
“You are my mate, Kira.”
He meant it. Shit. He believed it, transported to a different planet, broke down my door to tell me that. To come for me. The Everians with their marks weren’t the only insane ones out there. I now realized an Atlan and his beast were doubly crazy.
“I’m not,” I countered, shaking my head. “We had one great night. One unbelievable, hot night, but I can’t be your mate. We weren’t matched. I’m not an Interstellar Bride. I know you were tested.”
God help my stupid, idiotic brain. Last night, before I went on the mission, I’d tortured myself by using my high-level security clearance to look him up in the database. “You have a perfect, matched mate out there who could be linked to you tomorrow. And I can’t leave the Academy.” I put a hand on my chest, then on his. “You can’t leave The Colony. We live on two different worlds. We’re from two different worlds.”
“You will return with me to The Colony,” he said, his tone fierce. “We will live there. Raise our children. You are mine, Kira. And I am yours. I do not want an Interstellar Bride. I want you. I wear your claim. I will pledge myself to you, only you. You own me already, mate. I am yours.” He lifted his hands, showing me the cuffs that remained locked around his wrists.
He wasn’t growling or talking in single word sentences. He was in control, not his beast. Yes, the sex had been great. Amazing. Fucking fantastic. But we’d never talked about me being his mate. As in forever. “No. I’m not your mate. I can’t be.”
With a sigh so deep his entire body shuddered, he leaned forward, his forehead pressed between my breasts. Breathed, held on. When he lifted his face, he was smiling. “All right, Kira. I will return to The Colony. But I would ask for one thing before I go.”
“Anything.” It was a vow. Anything I could give him, I would. Except being his mate. I wished I could give him myself, but that was impossible. I belonged to the I.C., a tangible thing that was their property, just like an ion blaster or a desk. I was a piece of equipment used to fight the Hive and they were far from done with me. Or him.
Angh belonged to the I.C. now, and someday, to some lucky bride who would be his perfect match. He deserved that. A woman who could stay by his side and be content—and she would be content with the way he wielded his cock as if it were a magic wand. He deserved a mate without torn loyalties. A woman who could be with him every day, every night, raise his children, and not torment herself with the body count of unsaved thousands. I couldn’t walk away from my job with the I.C. no matter how much I wanted him.
“One more unbelievable, hot night of mindless fucking,” he said.
He threw my own words back at me and my pussy went from hot to inferno in the space of a heartbeat. My nipples hardened, my panties ruined. My need for him was even greater than the first time I saw him in the fighting pit. I now knew who he was, what he was and how skilled he was. And all of that was focused right on me. Every virile, sexy inch of him. And there were a lot of inches. All over.
“Yes.” I leaned over and kissed him, but tore my lips from his when it went hot and carnal in three seconds flat. I was already breathing hard as if I were outside in the outdoor training center and not inside with just his very skilled tongue making my knees buckle. “But not right now. I have to be on the training field in fifteen minutes for an instructors meeting.”
“I want more than fifteen minutes.” He lowered his hands to cup my ass and pulled me forward so I could feel the hard length of his swollen cock. Every hot inch of him.