e base of my spine, tightened my balls and shot forth from my cock, my seed filling her.
“Yes!” I roared as my hands pressed into the wall by her head, denting the smooth surface. “Mine.”
My hips shifted, pumping to prolong the pleasure, to ensure she was fully marked, fully claimed.
All at once, my beast, which had haunted and pestered me for weeks, ever since the fever began, went quiet. It stilled, settled. It was soothed and happy. Sated. Finally, its mate had been found. Claimed.
I felt the heavy, solid weight of the cuffs on my wrists. I, too, had been found. Claimed.
This woman, this tiny slip of a female, made me hers.
* * *
Megan, Four Hours Later
I thought I’d need more sleep. Six, maybe even eight hours. After what we’d been through—and my head practically exploding—I should have slept for a week. But no. My to-do list had only included three things. Fuck Nyko. Sleep. Transport to Doctor Helion and get this thing out of my head. That had been my initial plan. But then there was Nyko and his tongue, and his mouth and his cock. Who needed sleep when all of that was available to me? He’d mated me in the shower, his beast rutting into me up against the wall and the whole thing was like a dream. No, it was more than that. It was an official Atlan claiming. Then he’d carried me to the bed and placed me on my hands and knees, his beast completely in control, and claimed me all over again. Once didn’t seem to be enough for either male or beast.
He’d filled me fast, then slow, fucked me deep, played with my ass, spanked me. Spanked me! I was far from a virgin, but I’d never known the idea of his handprint on my ass would be hot as hell. Because of this, I’d burned for him. Spontaneous combustion. I’d lost count of my orgasms, each one hotter than that matching program’s dream. Nyko was hotter than any man I’d ever even dreamed of. And now, he lay naked, curled around me in his bed, one giant arm protectively around my waist, his leg between mine, his hot breath softly fanning over the top of my head as he rested.
The beast had settled, for my new mate was no longer huge. Well, he was always huge, but he wasn’t beast huge.
On long battles fighting the Hive, I’d slept wrapped around teammates for warmth. I’d allowed a lover to sleep over a couple times in the past. But no one’s presence had ever made me feel like this.
Safe. Protected.
Cherished.
It was the last I struggled with. I’d heard all about Atlan women. They didn’t fight the Hive in battle. Yes, they were big and strong, but they didn’t go into combat. They didn’t suit up and carry ion blasters. And they sure as hell didn’t lure Hive creatures into remote caves and yank parts off their dead bodies.
Nyko had painted such an amazing picture last night, promising me he didn’t want a docile, girly-girl. Part of me—no, a giant chunk of me—wanted to believe him. But then there were my mother’s words chasing each other around in my head. And my brothers’ taunts. And years of fighting and scrapping and being treated just like one of the guys. Did Nyko want a mate who was one of the guys? It wasn’t very sexy.
I wasn’t mate material. I’d thought—hell, I had no idea what I’d thought. That I would be mated to someone far, far away, a man who’d never met me, didn’t know me, and who would have no idea about my past, my missions, my life. Had I hoped to keep my entire past a secret, be whatever he wanted without him ever knowing I was just one of the guys?
But what kind of mating would that be? If I survived, I’d known I would no longer fight. I knew, deep down, I couldn’t pretend to be something I wasn’t. I let that sink in as I contemplated the fact that, technically, I was no longer a Coalition fighter. I’d done my time. I was a veteran now, an Interstellar Bride, a human who chose to be mated instead of going home to Earth.
What was I supposed to do now? Right now? What did mated women do? Was I supposed to lie here like a lump on a log and wait for Nyko to wake up? He’d probably wake up horny. Hell, I was. As much as I liked the idea of more hot sex, I only had a few hours left on this ship and I had things to do, people to see. So no more cuddling or sleep for me.
One long mission, a brain bleed, and a new mate? Surely that should wear me out. But nope. I was always high energy. Always had been. And I’d been put in a ReGen pod. Speed dial to high-energy reset. My mind wouldn’t just go quiet. Actually, the only time I’d ever had my brain go blank was when Nyko was fucking me. While the idea of doing nothing but fucking all the time was appealing on some level, it wasn’t going to happen.
I needed to move. I needed to get out of this room and burn off some energy—and it wasn’t the sexual kind.
I wanted to say goodbye to Seth and the rest of the team. As an I.C. recruit, I’d fought with a lot of different units, but Seth and Unit 3, the boys from Earth, were the closest thing I had to a family out here. Until now. I owed them a farewell…and perhaps one more good ass-kicking.
Grinning, filled with equal parts glee and anticipation, I winced as I carefully slipped from Nyko’s touch and padded to the S-Gen unit in the corner of his room. I activated it with a wave of my hand and waited as the bright green light faded, my new armor and under suit waiting on the small platform.
One thing that never failed to amaze me was the technology on these battleships. The first time I’d been shown how to operate an S-Gen in a cafeteria, I’d walked straight up to it and said, “Tea. Earl Grey. Hot.”
It worked. I Captain Picard’ed that shit all over the place. Problem was, I hated bergamot, and the tea didn’t have any sugar or milk. Seriously. I couldn’t deal with that. So I gave it back and got coffee instead. Extra milk, extra sugar. As vices went, it was a small one. I knew guys with worse.
Smiling, I pulled the black pants and shirt on over my naked body in preparation of donning my armor.
“Where are you going, mate?” Nyko’s deep gravelly voice made my heart leap and my skin shiver with goosebumps. My nipples tightened at the soft rasp of his real voice, even though it was no longer laced with his beast’s intensity. Sleepy, relaxed Nyko might be an even bigger threat to my peace of mind.
“Hogan’s Alley. ReCon 3 will be down there this time of day, giving each other hell.”
My mate grunted as he rose from the bed, but he didn’t argue or tell me to stay. I’d been half afraid that once I had the mating cuffs on my wrists he’d turn psycho and get really, really bossy. “You wish to go to this Alley?” He walked over to the S-Gen unit and my mouth watered as I watched him, every glorious, naked inch of him. Somewhere deep inside me there was a cheerleader I’d never let out, and she was suited up, shiny pom-poms doing a dance as she chanted M-I-N-E, mine, mine, mine!
I knew if he didn’t get pants on in the next few seconds, I’d jump him, plans be damned.