“Dax.” The beast moved then, uncurling from his crouch and stretching to his full height. He stepped forward, approaching, until the two warriors stood facing one another on opposite sides of the force field. A mixture of awe and nervousness had me take a step back. He towered over Dax by nearly a full head, standing close to eight feet tall. He was naked, too, his massive chest and thighs making me practically drool. His huge cock was on display, fully erect and ready.
Oh, God. That was ready for me. I was his mate and that was supposed to go in me! The thought caused my pussy to clench and the beast froze in place, sniffing the air as if he could smell my desire. Could he?
Dax drew a breath, as if to speak, but my mate cut him off and turned to look at me. I felt stripped naked and inspected, despite the heavy cloak.
“Who?” The word seemed to be a struggle for him, but he took a step sideways in his cell, shifting closer to me. The nearer he moved, the more my heart raced. I froze in place like a deer in headlights, my pussy soaking wet with those rough words. The sound of his voice made my nerves tingle and my breasts feel heavy. God, he was hot. Huge. Monster scary. So strong he could break me in half. And it turned me on. I wanted him more than anyone else before. It was instantaneous and heady.
And I was supposed to give myself to him, a complete stranger. Right now. And try to force the cuffs on his wrists when he wasn’t looking. I felt like a six-week-old kitten contemplating taking on a fully grown tiger. No freaking way I was winning this one.
Sarah’s hand came to rest on my shoulder and she leaned forward. I startled at the touch and took a deep breath, knowing I had to calm down in order to do this.
“Trust me. He’s already interested. See how he’s watching you. He’s your match. He’s yours, Tiffani. And you are his. His beast will know it, perhaps already does, even if he doesn’t. You can do this.”
I can do this. I can do this. I can do this. I chanted the words in my head, drowning out all other thoughts as I forced myself to calm down. I ignored his size and simply looked at his body, which was magnificent. His cock was long and thick—bigger than any I’d seen before—a dark plum color with a large, flared head. A thick vein bulged along the length. I imagined it straining to reach me, to fill me. I imagined that colossal body lifting me like a toy and shoving me up against the wall, fucking my brains out, making me come. This creature was mine. By Earth law, Atlan law, and whatever crazy advanced science they used at the matching center to make sure we would be compatible. He was mine, and I wasn’t going to let them kill him because I was too scared to let him take me now.
I can do this.
Deek took another step and I lifted my head and shoulders to look up at him. His gaze had softened from those of a hunter about to kill to something far more interesting but no less intense.
Lifting my hands, I glanced to Warlord Dax for permission. He glanced at the surveillance camera, which was now blinking with a strange yellow light, and turned back to me with a nod. “Go ahead, Tiffani. The system is down.”
“Tiffani.” Deek’s voice was rough and deep, reminding me of the garbled sound of a voice coming through a bass speaker.
I lowered my hood and turned my face up to my mate. “Hello, Deek.”
He didn’t answer with words, but a low, rumbling growl filled the space, the sound so loud it reverberated through my chest like a dance beat at a raging club. He stared and I could not break eye contact, no matter how much I wanted to look away. I felt hypnotized.
When we simply stared at one another, my heart about to pound itself right out of my ribcage, Dax stepped forward. “Do you want us to let her in, Commander? You’ve refused all the others.”
In response to Dax’s question, my mate backed away from the force field and my heart sank. Damn. He was big and scary as hell, but he didn’t want me after all. Even raging with fever and execution looming, he refused.
When he was all the way at the back of the cell, next to a large bed, he turned and placed his hands flat above his head on the cell wall. I turned to Dax. “What is he doing?”
Dax’s smile was genuine, and I relaxed. “He must face the back of his cell with his arms on the wall before I can lower the force field. It’s protocol, to protect the guards and visitors.” Dax’s smile faded and he glanced from Deek’s muscled frame back to me. “Be careful, Tiffani. He’s not human. He won’t want to hurt you, I know him, but be gentle with him.”
“Gentle?” Was he fucking kidding me? Me? Be gentle?
Sarah jumped excitedly. “Quick, let her in!”
I glanced at Sarah, the question Dax had asked Deek a moment ago finally registering through the fog of lust and fear in my brain. “What others did he refuse?”
She rolled her eyes. “A ton of women have been in here, throwing themselves at him. When they go beast mode, Atlan woman willing to take them as a mate are paraded through here like models on a runway. If any of the men react, the women are put in the cell to try to claim them as mates.”
I turned back to watch Deek, his hands flexing into fists against the wall over and over, as if he was fighting for control. “Does it work?”
“Sometimes. But not for the commander. He’s refused at least twenty females, including his betrothed.”
“His what?” Had I heard that right? His betrothed? Anger and jealousy stirred as I inspected my mate. He was mine, not some betrothed. All that beastly hotness was fucking mine.
Sarah waved her hands in an apologetic gesture. “It doesn’t matter.”
“Doesn’t matter?” I asked, my eyes wide. “He has a betrothed and it doesn’t matter?”
Sarah swiped her hand through the air. “A mate trumps a betrothed, Tiffani. If an Atlan doesn’t find his true mate, he can marry someone else and hope the beast will accept them, which they usually do, as long as he’s not in mating fever. Tia is his ‘fallback’ woman. At least that’s how I think of it. But Deek won’t need a fallback because you’re his mate. He’s yours.”
“The force field will be down for three seconds, Tiffani. When I give the command, you must enter his cell completely and without delay,” Dax instructed.
Warlord Dax moved to the far side of the cell’s wall and placed his palm on a small scanner in the corridor.