Her body froze, her eyes wide with an emotion I could not name. “But… but—is this a joke? Because it’s not funny.”
I smiled at her feisty tone, lowered my head until our lips barely touched and whispered, “You are not a child’s toy, but you are mine to play with, mine to claim. You are soft and curved. Your scent makes my cock hard and my head buzz. I smell your pussy and am pleased that you grew wet and ready at your second’s vow to eliminate your enemies. I, too, ask for the right to protect and care for you, just as you want and need to be cared for. You are a worthy mate. You have been matched and claimed, Jessica. The mating ceremony dream, the one where the two men dominated their mate? I can tell by the look on your face you are aware of what I speak. That is what matched us. I know what you need. Ander will help fulfill that. Together, we will pleasure you. I traveled the galaxy to come for you, mate. I will not release you. You are mine.”
Jessica Smith opened her mouth to argue with me, and I kissed her as I planned to fuck her, hard and fast and deep. I did not give her a chance to catch her breath. I did not want her to breathe. I wanted her to feel, to hunger, to submit.
Chapter Five
Jessica
Holy shit, the guy could kiss. It wasn’t tentative. It wasn’t a simple brush of his lips over mine. It wasn’t quick. It was the kiss, as he said, of someone who’d traveled an entire galaxy to claim me. He’d come from Prillon Prime for me and for this kiss. Every ounce of his energy was focused on my mouth. His lips pressed into mine with the urgency of a man deprived.
Perhaps he was one, for he too had been denied his mate. The Prime’s personal order had kept him from me, but also me from him. I knew he wanted me in the way his tongue plunged into my mouth and met mine. He tasted of some exotic spice, foreign and yet, absolutely heart-stoppingly familiar. I practically melted in his hold, giving myself over entirely to the kiss. To him.
I had no idea how long the kiss lasted. All I knew was my body was burning up, hotter than I’d ever been for any boyfriend—ever, and just from a kiss! Even the slight pain of my wounds only added sensation to my overloaded nerves. Remarkably, the pain woke me up, and made me want more.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t going to get more. Not right now, in the middle of the street with blood running down my back and an alien prince carrying me like I was the most precious thing in the universe.
He was huge, professional football player huge. He was dressed like a clichéd bad-boy biker, all black leather and tight black t-shirt that made me want to strip it off him and run my tongue all over his massive chest and shoulders. His clothing stretched tight, like a second skin.
Never in hundred years had I assumed he was an alien, but now that I had seen his face, the slightly sharper angles, the strange metallic shimmer of the side of his face and neck, I can’t believe I hadn’t figured it out immediately. He was golden, his hair and one eye a dark gold, the other eye a bit lighter, like he wore a silver contact. The odd coloring of his skin disappeared beneath the collar of his shirt and I wondered if that skin felt different, and how much of his body was covered in the paler flesh. The color wasn’t startling, but it was as if he’d used glitter spray and the sparkles had somehow embedded in his skin.
I wanted to taste it.
The ripped lines of his muscles made me feel small and weak and very, very feminine. That was something that at almost six feet tall myself, I was not used to feeling.
Perhaps it was his size that made me want to melt into him, but most likely my new weakness was due to the panty-melting kiss.
From the look in his eye when he lifted his head, he didn’t want the kiss to end any more than I. This wasn’t the place, and as he glanced around, assessing our surroundings, he knew it.
All too soon we arrived at his car and he settled me in the passenger seat of the small sedan, buckling me in and fussing as if I were a child, not a grown woman completely capable of taking care of herself. I didn’t argue as his huge hands grazed my stomach and hip as he buckled me in. The heat of his touch was almost enough to push back the cold invading my limbs.
The adrenalin rush of nearly being killed by the alien things was wearing off and I knew the crash was coming on. My wounds ached, throbbing with each beat of my heart. My muscles felt weak and shaky and I had to focus to take deep, even breaths. My hands trembled and I shivered, suddenly ice cold.
He closed me in and walked around to the driver’s side of the car. I choked on my laughter as he curled his large body beneath the tiny steering wheel of what was obviously a car much too small for his size. A flower-scented gel was attached to the air vents, a guardian angel pendant hung from the rear-view mirror, and the car smelled like lavender. “Whose car is this?”
“Warden Egara gave us her vehicle when we arrived.” He started the engine and turned on the heater. Thank God. My teeth were actually chattering now that I didn’t have his strong arms and thick heat surrounding me.
“She give you the cell phones and ear buds, too?” I wondered, leaning back against the headrest and turning to look at him.
“You are observant, bride. And yes, she gave me this primitive communication device.”
He smiled and put the car in motion. We were not far from the bride processing center, if that was where he planned to take me. I didn’t much care where we were going at the moment. He didn’t seem to want to hurt me, which was more than I could say for most of the men walking around this city. If Clyde had known about my investigating, so did others. No one would look for me at the processing center though since no one knew I’d gone there before, so it was a good ch
oice for a place to hide. After my previous interaction with Warden Egara, I trusted her enough to at least have a look at my wounds.
A hospital was out of the question. I’d be dead before they got my insurance information registered in their computer system. The cartel had eyes and ears everywhere. With Clyde dead, I didn’t have to worry about him telling his cartel buddies I was still here on Earth, but as soon as I showed up in the hospital’s system, they’d come for me. I knew too much.
I closed my eyes and leaned my head against the doorframe, too emotionally drained to do more than close my eyes and try to figure out what the hell was going on. Clyde’s death hurt, but not as much as his betrayal. That was still processing, and the ache, the feeling of lost innocence made me want to cry. He’d been like a father to me and I’d trusted him completely. Now I felt the fool, the silly little girl who looked up to her daddy with complete trust because she was too naïve, too young and green to recognize that the man holding her hand was a monster.
Clyde had been my commanding officer for two years. He’d taken me under his wing, trained me to shoot, and trained me to protect myself, encouraged me to feel invincible, to fight. He’d made me believe we were doing something good and right in the world, that we were making a difference in the fight between good and evil. And all the while, he’d been lying to me. All the while, he was the devil in disguise and I’d been blind to the truth.
As that thought filtered through my mind the pain intensified, like a knife twisting in my gut. How could he have been so evil? Why hadn’t I seen it? I should have known. I should have at least suspected. Perhaps I had, and I’d simply been in denial.
Had I been so weak, so needy, that I overlooked the clues?
I’d always trusted my gut, but this time my instincts had betrayed me. That shook me more than anything else. I felt like I was on unstable ground, and I didn’t like it. Not one bit.
Clyde was dead, at the hands of the Hive. I’d been rescued by my matched mate and his second, Ander. My mate! His arrival, the presence of my one perfect match in the entire universe, was more of a concern now. He was driving me about and I was completely at his mercy.