“Oh, no. I wasn’t really upset about bad boyfriends. It was just life, Deek. I was talking about bad bosses, bad jobs, bad landlords… I just had a lot of bad. I had to make a choice. Continue on with a dead-end job or do something about it. So here I am.”
“Some of the Earth phrases don’t translate with the NPU. I do not know what a dead-end job is or a landlord. Dax is a warlord but I doubt they are similar. Regardless, I understand what you were trying to say and I still find you incredibly brave.” I kissed her on the tip of the nose. “And very, very beautiful.”
She smiled then, exquisitely and brilliantly, and my beast calmed right down.
“What do you need now, mate? You saved my life. What can I do for you in return?”
She frowned then. “I didn’t go to your cell and mate with you expecting some kind of payment or trade.”
I’d offended her and my beast was petulant. I’d fucked up again and glanced down at the floor. I stood up to the Hive’s worst fighters and I couldn’t say the right thing with this Earth woman. “My apologies, Tiffani. I did not mean to offend. I just don’t know what will please you. I am trying to learn.”
“A bath might be nice,” she replied. “You do have baths here on Atlan, don’t you?”
My cock hardened instantly at the idea of her lush, round body sinking into a warm bath, of licking the moisture from her breasts, of running my soap-slicked hands over every ripe curve.
Lust must have clouded my gaze for her breathing changed in response to my desire, her gaze clouding with both heat and doubt.
“A bath. Yes. We have baths.”
It seemed the beast knew exactly what to do to woo his mate, while I had no fucking clue what to do or say, stumbling over my words like an idiot youth. I had no finesse, no skill in basic conversation.
Grabbing my wine off the table, I drank the entire glass as I walked across the thick rug to the bathing chamber. I held open the door and turned to face her. “Here. You can… a bath…” I choked on what I would have said next as she walked toward me, her gaze soft and accepting.
“Great. Thank you.” She winced slightly. “I’m a little… sticky.”
I nodded, unable to speak. My cock hardened into a metal pole in my pants, knowing the stickiness she referred to was my seed. It was in her pussy, coating her, marking her. I felt virile and powerful and yet completely overwhelmed by her soft smile.
Fear. I was afraid, terrified that this woman would wake up, come to her senses and run. I was no gentle lover, no innocent young soldier. My body bore the scars of battle, as did my soul. And Tiffani? She was softness and light, the laughter and hope I desperately needed.
I doubted she needed me at all.
I could take good care of her, enjoying the spoils of war. While my beast mode had raged with incredible intensity, the mating fever had also been the cause of my immediate and permanent retirement from active duty in the Fleet. I was officially relieved of my command.
They’d expected me to be executed, but thankfully, I was now a mated warrior with the spoils that accompanied my high rank and years of service. The entire fifth wing of the family fortress was now mine, as well as two homes in the southern region. The Atlan council had granted me land and title, castles and wealth years ago when I came of age, hoping to lure me home before I was lost to the mating fever. The tactic had been successful on a few of my fellow warlords, those who had grown weary of battle and gone home to select a mate before their fevers struck.
But most, like me, did not want to leave their brothers on the battlefield. Only now, when forced, would I leave my command and settle into my new role on Atlan. Away from the front lines, I would now be granted a senior position on the war council to advise our warlords on ways to better prepare and train our new warriors before sending them into deep space to battle with the Coalition Fleet. The trainees would defend our world, and all worlds, against the deadly Hive menace.
But I’d served my time. Ten years was long enough. I was one of the few warriors lucky enough to survive, to return home to the comforts of a mate who, at this very moment, tugged her burgundy cloak closed around her lush body and turned away from me to enter the bathing chamber.
I followed her—as if I had a leash about my neck and she were tugging me along—and showed her how to operate the controls, to summon hot water and scented oils for her silken flesh. I noticed a new display of sexual toys along the wall, large and small, arranged to look like a tree with branches. Courtesy, no doubt, of my loyal staff, upon hearing I had taken a mate.
She barely glanced at them, and I forced my gaze back to the less tempting floor, marble tub, the dark ivory lighting recessed in the walls, anywhere but at her, or the toys I would use to bring her pleasure.
Turning abruptly, before I lost control, I left her, closing the door as softly as I could manage, the beast nearly growling at me to strip naked and join her in the giant tub, to take her again.
Wrestling the monster within me back under control, I could not resist listening to the sounds of her bath. I heard the soft rustle of clothing as her cloak hit the floor. Her soft sigh made my cock pulse as I imagined her lowering her naked body into the heated water.
Splashing sounds and her sweet, quiet voice hummed a haunting melody I assumed was from Earth, as I did not recognize the notes.
My knuckles were white where they curled around the arms of the chair outside the door. Yet I held myself in thrall, refused to push her. She’d saved my life already, her bravery something I had yet to completely fathom. She’d risked everything to transport across the galaxy to a
mate she did not know, a mate in prison about to be executed. I owed her my life and my sanity, and I would never be able to repay her.
Proud of my control, I sat, staring at the door that separated me from what I most desired. Until she called for me.
“Deek? Are you there?”
I jumped up and stood, putting my hand on the door. The beast paced within and my voice turned deep, gravelly. “Yes. I would never leave you unprotected.” The fierce vow was more beast than man, but in that, we were in complete agreement. My cuffs were a sign to everyone on Atlan, even on the battleships across the Coalition Fleet, that she was mine. No one dared touch the mate of an Atlan. Still, as my only prized possession, I would guard her fiercely.