He frowned. “I do not know that term, but mate will suffice.”
I took a step back, not because I was afraid of Dax, but because he might actually be right about this stupid mess. I remembered that little idiot of an assistant, Warden Morda, and how she’d messed up everything to start with. Could she have done something else to screw up after I was inducted into the coalition fleet? Something like not delete my profile, not take me out of the system?
Oh, crap.
“We have been matched.” He leaned forward, his gaze never breaking eye contact. “You are mine.”
I shuddered. I couldn’t be a mate. I certainly couldn’t go after Seth if I was forced out of the military to become someone’s bride. I doubted this huge hulk of an alien wanted me to do much of anything besides birth babies. He’d already said women didn’t belong in combat. That didn’t make me believe he would want me to take a team to a Hive integration center and save Seth.
Still, he’d already given me his word that he would help get my brother back.
More likely, he planned to pat me on the head like a good little girl and leave me behind while he went out to slay dragons. I got a very obvious overprotective vibe from him. And that was not my style.
Could he force me to resign my commission with the fleet? I didn’t know the rules. Since I’d been matched by their system, could he force me out of the military? Could this giant Atlan male force my hand?
Besides that, I didn’t want a mate. I’d had to deal with enough men in my life—a pesky father, three brothers, commanders in the military, fellow soldiers—I didn’t need a mate, too. And him? Him! God, this man was matched to me? So far, he’d done nothing but piss me off. So what if he was sex on a stick—sex on a very big stick. So what if my mind conjured images of him fucking me up against a wall, pounding into me hard over and over until I came all over his very large cock? And I knew it was large. It had to be.
I refused to believe my feelings were caused by any kind of mating… thing. More likely, I took notice of him due to the epic sex drought I was in. Two and a half years without sex would drive any sane woman to take notice of the huge male. I just wanted an orgasm or two and I wasn’t opposed to the idea of him giving them to me. Just because I was a woman didn’t mean I couldn’t fuck, then walk away. Hit it and quit it could work for me, too. Right?
r /> This attraction was purely biological. He made my nipples hard, so what? Cold weather did the same thing and being from Florida, I hated snow, too. Dax was obviously bossy and blatantly chauvinistic and domineering and overwhelming… and on and on. I’d lucked out, choosing the coalition over him. Mated… to him! Ha!
“I’m not going with you, you’re welcome to come with us,” I told him, nudging him with the tip of my ion pistol. “Shepard, are we back in coalition space?”
Shepard checked his data pad and nodded. “Yes, sir.”
“Excellent.” My men would be safe now, the ship protected by coalition patrols and escorted back to the battle group for cleanup and reassignment. “Shep, you’re in charge of cleanup. I’m taking my mate—” I said the word with disdain and sarcasm, “—back to the Karter. We have business to take care of.”
Dax frowned down at me but I refused to look away. “You are coming with me to the Brekk.”
I raised my pistol and narrowed my eyes. “No. I’m not. We are going to go find Commander Karter, plan a rescue mission, and get a space divorce.”
I think he actually growled. What the hell? Was he part beast or something?
Chapter Five
Dax
It took an hour for my mate to debrief her commanding officer about the events of the battle I’d transported directly into. That done, we had been ordered to report to Commander Karter’s war room on the command deck. Now we stood opposite Commander Karter’s desk. My mate stood at attention beside me in front of the Prillon leader. Like all Prillon commanders, he was almost as big as I, with golden hair and eyes that stared at us both like the predator he was. There was no softness in his expression or empathy in his eyes. He sat stiff and at attention behind his desk, calculating and calm despite my mate’s growing irritation.
“I want to go after him,” she told her commander, her chin set at a defiant tilt. I stood, listening only. I bided my time, for my chance to speak would come soon. “I’ll take volunteers.”
Her commander sighed and continued to ignore me. “I can’t sanction a rescue mission to an integration center for one coalition fighter. Things are precarious enough around here, captain, as it is. I can’t risk warriors for a mission that is most likely doomed to failure. We’re holding this sector by sheer force of will. I can’t risk the lives of good, strong fighters on a suicide run for a man who is probably already lost.”
And there it was, the truth my mate didn’t want to hear. I could see the mix of fury and sadness flicker across her face, but she disguised it well. “I have to try. He’s my brother.”
Her pain made me ache to pull her to me and hold her close. The strength of the urge to hug an alien female, to soothe her emotions, only confirmed that I was at the mercy of the mating connection. I studied her now, at my leisure, as she stood before her commander and tried to hide her hurt with a fierce pride I admired. She looked so much more vibrant and beautiful than the image I’d seen on the doctor’s tablet. That image had been flat, without her fire or the stubborn tilt of her jaw. In reality, she looked like so much… more.
She wore the familiar uniform of a coalition fighter, the body armor easily disguising every one of her curves. Perhaps it was because she was my mate, or because she was so damn attractive, but I wanted her with a ferocity I’d never experienced before. I had to focus to listen to her conversation with the commander as visions of ripping her armor to shreds and exploring her curves with my tongue nearly overwhelmed me. She was all woman, and she was mine. Her dark hair was pulled back in some kind of snug ball at the back of her neck. I had to wonder what it would feel like tangled in my fingers as I tugged her head back for a kiss. Her skin was pale, so much fairer than mine or anyone else’s on Atlan. I doubted she reached more than my chin, but she was large for a female. She wasn’t delicate or dainty, but obviously brash and bold and sassy as hell. My inner beast loved all that fire and my cock wanted to taste it. The beast in me clawed to come out, toss her over my shoulder, and carry her away.
I knew any man who looked at her would be instantly attracted and I fought the primal urge to mark her with my scent, rub my skin and my seed all over her flesh to make sure every male who came close to her knew exactly who she belonged to. She was mine and I needed everyone to know it, including the stubborn female who, even now, was trying to figure out a way to rid herself of me. All I could think about was burying my cock inside her, and all she wanted was to force me to leave her side.
The challenge riled my beast in a way I had not anticipated, and I felt myself eager to taste her teeth and claws in the bedroom. How she’d ended up unmated until now was beyond me. How was it possible no male on Earth had desired her, or claimed her? It made me think that there was something wrong with that species of males. Human men must be idiots.
“I’m aware that he is your relation.” Commander Karter held up his hand as she was about to speak again. “I’m also aware that two of your brothers already died at the hands of the Hive. I’m sorry for your loss, but there is nothing I can do.”
Two brothers died at the hands of the Hive? That explained quite a bit. How many more brothers did she have? Were Earth families close like they were on Atlan? Was there a kinship, a love, between siblings that drove her need to rescue him? If this was the case, I understood, for I had one brother as well. If he were captured, I too would try to rescue him. But she was female and my mate. If she needed to know her brother was safe, I would take care of it for her.
I grumbled and both she and her commander turned to me.