The commander looked me over. “Mating fever? How much time do you have?”
“Not much.” I offered him the brief response while I stared at Sarah.
“What do you mean you’ll be dead? You’re sick?” she asked me. I saw concern fight for space in her heart, right next to her anger. Perhaps there was hope for us after all.
“Commander, may I please speak with my mate… in private?”
The Prillon glanced between the two of us. When Sarah nodded, he walked out without another word, the door sliding shut behind him.
Seeing her worry gave me some measure of hope.
“Mating fever,” I told her. “Atlan males have it, although when it strikes is unique to each individual. It lasts for several weeks, slowly building until it is all consuming. I’m older than most who get the fever, but that is irrelevant. When it takes over, it overpowers logic and reasoning and turns the male—me—into what we call a berserker.” I held up my stained hands. “My body transforms into more beast than man. Rage fills me until there is no reason left, only pure animal instinct. I can rip the heads off the Hive without blinking, but I won’t want to stop. The only thing that can control an Atlan berserker is his mate. The only way to calm the beast is to be soothed and accepted by our mates, to fuck.”
Her eyes widened.
“And if you don’t… fuck, you die? That doesn’t make sense.” she said, surprised. Just hearing the word fuck from her lips made me groan.
“It is called mating fever for a reason. It is meant to ensure that all Atlan males are appropriately matched and mated, allowing for the continuation of the species. If a male doesn’t mate, he dies.”
“Like survival of the fittest,” she replied.
“I do not know that term.”
She held up her hand. “It doesn’t matter, but I understand… the concept. If you have to fuck someone, then go find a space prostitute or something,” she countered, waving a hand in the air. “You don’t need me. Any vagina will do.”
Anger swelled at her last statement. “Not anyone will do,” I growled, then took a deep breath. Of course, a short while ago I’d thought differently, but now she was in front of me. Now I knew, deep down to my soul, that this Earth woman was mine. I didn’t need a matching program for verification. “It’s the mating fever. This means that it can only end by fucking a mate. In my case, this means you.”
When she remained silent, I pushed on. Stepping closer, I said, “Do you know what I see when I look at you?”
She shook her head.
“The palest of skin I want to touch. I wonder how soft it is. Are you soft everywhere? Your breasts, you try to hide them beneath your body armor, but they are round and full. Easily a handful. I want to cup them and feel their weight. I want to watch as your nipples tighten when I stroke my thumbs over them. That plump lower lip, I wonder how it will feel when I nibble on it. And your pussy—”
She held up a hand, most likely to push me away, but her hand settled on my chest. I covered her hand with mine and walked her backward until she bumped into the wall. I didn’t give her space—that wasn’t what she needed—and I pressed one of my legs between hers. Because of the height difference, she practically rode my thigh.
I watched as her pupils dilated, her mouth fell open. Good, she wasn’t thinking now. If there was a female who needed to stop thinking, it was this one. She needed someone else to watch out for her, to take care of her for a change. Starting right now.
“You are mine, Sarah, and I will not give you up.”
“I have to fuck you and then you’ll be cured? You won’t die?” She looked me over in a very heated way and I let her look, let her see the desire in my eyes, feel the heat of my body close to hers. “Fine. I’ll fuck you once—a one-night stand—and then we can go our own separate ways. It’s been a while and I’m sure you’re… probably… an interesting lover.”
While I found her agreement appealing, I shook my head, for she still didn’t understand. “There is no own separate ways. We mate for life. And, getting back to the mating fever, it’s not just once. We will have to fuck again and again…” I leaned closer, nudging her cheek with my nose, breathing in her sweet scent, “…until the fever is soothed, until it has passed.”
She lifted both hands to my chest and I grabbed her wrists, pinning them over her head as I continued my exploration of her neck, then buried my nose behind her ear to smell her hair. Her breathing became ragged as she whispered in my ear, “And if I won’t fuck you again and again until the fever is soothed?”
“I die.”
“You want me to be your mate so you don’t die?” she asked. I lifted my head and looked her in the eye, our lips apart. My respect for her grew when she held my gaze, didn’t retreat. That was a good indication her dislike for me had lessened. When she licked her lips, I knew she was mine.
“If you refuse me, Sarah, I will leave this ship with my honor intact. If you refuse me, I will die.” I bent my knee and lifted her body off the floor so she rode my leg, her clit and pussy rubbing my thigh through our uniforms. “But death means nothing to me. I’ve been fighting the Hive for ten years, woman. I’m not afraid to die.”
She shook her head slightly, as if trying to clear a lust-filled haze. “I don’t understand why you are here. Can’t you go find a woman on Atlan who actually wants a mate?” With her arms over her head and her hot core pressed to my thigh, she was spread before me like an offering, but I would not take her, not yet.
“You are my mate. I want you. I want you because you are the one for me. I feel it. The first time I saw you I wanted to throw you over my shoulder and carry you away.”
“Because a woman can’t fight,” she bickered.
“Obviously a woman can fight. I just believe they shouldn’t. It’s not that. I wanted to carry you away because I wanted to press you up against the nearest wall and fuck you. Something like this.” I nudged her core with my thigh. “And preferably without clothing or your team watching.”