“Name.” The beast said the word, not as a question but as a demand, assuming I would answer.
I didn’t see the point in arguing about it. And he had just saved my life. “Megan. Megan Simmons.” Lifting my arms, I removed my helmet for the first time. My black hair was pulled back in a braid, the coarse curls barely restrained. “You?”
With one last look toward the cave entrance, he settled down onto his knees and took off his helmet.
“Nyko.”
Oh. Hell. No.
I gasped as Warlord Nyko, the single most aggravating, annoying, arrogant, overbearing, drop-dead-gorgeous, alpha-male-on-steroids collapsed at my feet.
Chapter Five
Nyko
I opened my eyes to the most beautiful female I’d ever seen. She was waving a ReGen wand over my torso and mumbling to herself. I lay as still as possible, just studying her. The Mating Fever diminished somewhat from being unconscious. I could think a little more clearly, probably say more than one or two words at a time. Perhaps that was why I should have recognized her the instant I entered the cave and hadn’t; my beast seemed to have recognized her from her scream alone. She’d worn her battle helmet and her face had been hidden entirely by the protection visor, the dark color doing well to shield her from the bright flare of the ion pistol, and from prying eyes as well.
Her dark hair had been pulled back somehow, hidden completely. Now, with her helmet beside her on the ground, I saw the silky length was pulled back into a tail, secured at the nape of her neck. It was as dark as mine, but hers held curl and was so thick my fingers twitched to tangle within.
Her smooth brown skin was perfection, except for the little furrow that marred her brow. She was frowning, those dark eyes a mixture of frustration and disappointment. A sigh escaped her full lips as she sat back on her heels, her uniform pants taut across her fit thighs.
She was stunning, even marred with dirt from battle, weary from fighting, and her hands stained with black from the odd Nexus 9’s version of blood. Yet she hadn’t seen me awake yet, hadn’t turned her eyes to meet mine. Hadn’t pursed her lips into that determined and tight smile I knew her to give me when she was particularly irritated with me. A seemingly constant state on board the Karter.
I’d never met a more difficult or recalcitrant female. To say that she didn’t like me was an understatement. She loathed me. For what reason, I did not know. I’d first met her eight months ago on a mission, a successful one. But the minute I’d ripped the head off the Hive in front of her, she’d been angry with me. Was I supposed to have let her fight the enemy herself?
She was small, tiny even, in comparison to me. Even when I was not in beast mode, she was more than a head shorter. My injuries had pushed the beast back, for now. I was a man once more, capable of a thought beyond killing the creature that had threatened her, and then fucking her until she couldn’t think straight. Sitting beside me, trying to heal me with the ReGen wand, she seemed so small, almost childlike.
Yet, she was no child. There was no doubt, no question in my mind, or my beast’s heart, that Megan Simmons was all woman. And my beast? He wasn’t injured at all. He was preening and pacing, eager for me to lift my hand and touch Megan. Stroke her, tell her she was mine. The beast was there, but not raging. Perhaps I could think clearly because the danger of battle was over. No Hive were after us. Or perhaps the fever was just tempered for now, ready to return with vengeance once again at an inopportune time, indicative of the Mating Fever taking over. As soon as that happened, I would know I only had a short time to mate. Or die.
No.
I wasn’t making Megan mine. Yes, I wanted to fuck her, had admired her body and her sassy mouth even before the Mating Fever began to ride me. She was stunning, brilliant, athletic, fearless and an incredible fighter. And, she had a lush body with curves in all the right places. Curves that I knew would fill my palms perfectly. An ass that would cushion my hips when I fucked her from behind. Breasts lush and firm with pert nipples that would harden under my fingers. A mouth that would be sweet to kiss or decadent wrapped around my cock. A pussy that even now my beast could scent.
“The armor is too thick,” I said, my voice startling her. “The ReGen wand can’t work through it.”
She fell back on her perfect ass and her head whipped around to look at me.
Yes, there were those lips, soft and dark rose, full and ripe. A growl escaped me as I thought of tasting them.
“If you weren’t so big, I’d be able to take it off.”
“My size is not something I can control, just as you can’t deny your lush feminine curves.”
Her mouth fell open at my words. She was stunned, and so was I. Somehow, those words came out. I’d never spoken to her or any female warrior in such a fashion before. But we weren’t in battle now and my beast seemed to be taking over my brain…and my cock.
She moved to stand, her booted foot bumping into my side as she did so.
I hissed out a breath and eyed her, knowing she’d done that on purpose. For once, she towered over me and I saw the way the corner of her mouth tipped up. Feisty. I wanted that mouth stuffed full of my cock. I wanted all that fire and heat screaming for me as I pounded into her from behind and made her come over and over again, made her mine.
By the gods, I was in trouble here. The beast was not content to lurk. He hungered. He needed. And I’d never needed anything, not friend or foe, food or warmth or a female in my bed. Need made me weak. I was a Warlord. I was not weak. I was not mated and I had no intention of making Megan mine, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t want her. Couldn’t let my beast have her.
I was a warrior, not a martyr, and Megan was beautiful, feisty—would she be this wild naked and aroused? Begging me to touch her, taste her pussy, tame her smart mouth with my cock?
I pushed up onto my elbows with a wince, then sat up.
“You’re injured, you idiot. Lie back down.”
I should have been angry at her gruff tone, but her bossy attitude only piqued my interest, my desire to tame her. Everything about her made me hot, made my skin tight, my beast prowl, my cock ache.