Wandering the grounds, I watched the cadets’ battle simulations from one of the control stations. They were damn good. Accurate. Meant to get the fighters ready for battle, and they did a great job of recreating the environments and terrains the Fleet fought on every day. But watching cadets scream and shoot and fake kill one another was not entertainment. At least not for me. The sounds hit too close to home, reminded me of things best forgotten. I’d seen enough battle and death to last a lifetime.
I was not Coalition Fleet. I didn’t have to be here. Technically, I answered to the rulers on Everis, and no one else. I’d put together a unit and we’d served the Coalition, done our part in the war. But now, thanks to that Nexus unit, every member of my unit was dead. It was just me left, and I could either put together a new Hunter unit, join a unit looking for a member, or I could make a permanent change.
I could stay here on Zioria. But the idea of roaming the grounds of the Coalition Academy like a guest who had overstayed his welcome did not sit well with me.
I didn’t belong here. I was accepted, spoken to, but otherwise ignored. I was not part of this machine. This was not my planet, my people, my life.
What I wanted was to take Niobe to Everis. I had a home there. Family. I could tuck her safely into the family estate and take missions as they came my way, knowing she’d be protected and secure while I did what needed to be done.
I was an Elite Hunter. Wealthy. Respected on every planet in the Coalition.
And yet, I couldn’t control my own female. Couldn’t protect her. Couldn’t provide for her, or keep her safe, or watch over her like I needed to. And while I could dominate her in the bedroom, the moment she put the vice admiral’s uniform back on those curves, she wasn’t mine anymore.
She was theirs. Every single living being who transported on or off of this planet required her attention. Needed her to make decisions, keep things operating. And gods be damned, but I was proud of her. Vice Admiral Niobe was a hard-nosed, no-nonsense commander. She didn’t take insubordination, rarely showed any emotion, and always… always… remained in control.
And watching her do this to herself was making me insane. I knew the real Niobe, the woman who knelt before me quivering with need. The mate who crawled across the floor to me, who begged to come, and wrapped her legs around me, kissed me like she’d never be able to stop.
The two versions of her were at war in my mind, and although logically, I could reconcile them, my instincts were screaming at me to throw her over my shoulder and run.
Elite Hunters were known to be primal. Possessive. Protective.
And I had a mate who would not allow me to possess or protect her.
The situation was tearing me in two, and I could see no solution. I would never ask Niobe to step away from her position. She was good. Damn good. The Coalition Fleet needed her.
But so did I. More than half the day she was locked behind closed doors, where I couldn’t get to her. Couldn’t see her. Being a Hunter was what saved me, for I could still smell her. Hear her heart beating. Know she was well. Whole. Yet still removed. My obsession only grew each time I took her, filled her with my seed, marked her with my scent. Obsessed was too tame a word.
And yet, the idea of retirement, of resigning my duties as a Hunter, living a quiet civilian life did not appeal. I would lose my mind cooped up in Niobe’s small house like a pet with nothing to do. Sitting around skulking wasn’t in my nature either, but I’d been doing a hell of a job of it the last couple days. I was moody like a growing youth.
I was coming out of my skin, unable to protect her, unable to leave.
So I fucked her. Hard. I gave her the only thing I could, pleasure. Orgasms. Relief, if only for a short time, from her duties to the rest of the universe. And in between? I tried not to rip the head off each and every cadet, instructor or visitor who tried to speak to me. I was too raw to be civil, my need to protect my mate driving me to the brink of an Elite Hunter’s legendary self-control.
I’d been on hunts in Hive territory that had been easier than letting her walk away and close her office door on me every day. Every. Fucking. Day.
“Elite Hunter Quinn?” A young cadet jogged toward me from the main administration building where Niobe was—at this very moment—locked inside a room with eight Atlan warlords, discussing Atlan training techniques.
More secrets. More details I wasn’t allowed to know, but could hear clearly.
“Yes?” I turned to watch the young male approach. He was Prillon and looked barely of an age to fight. But then, maybe I was just getting old.
“Vice Admiral Niobe issued orders for you to report to transport immediately, sir.” He added the sir as a sign of respect, not because it was required by Coalition protocols. I was not, technically, part of the Coalition Fleet. I had no official rank. No Intelligence Core clearances. No right to be next to my
mate in her meetings. No right to protect her.
But that’s all I wanted to do. Protect what was mine.
“The vice admiral ordered me to report?” She was in command of the entire planet, but the idea still rankled. I was not Coalition. I was not hers to command. She was mine.
“Yes, sir. She said it was urgent.”
Fuck. My irritation faded instantly. What else was she supposed to tell this cadet? Please go ask Elite Hunter Quinn to come to the transport room when he can? No. That wasn’t her way. She was a vice admiral. She would give this cadet an order and not think twice about it. Especially if the matter were urgent. I had to gain control of my emotions where my mate was concerned. I was not rational. Hadn’t been since I’d met her. Fuck, I was mentally whining. Constantly. Thank fuck I wasn’t an Atlan because if I felt this protective without an inner beast…
“Thank you, cadet.”
The young Prillon nodded and ran back the way he had come. Urgent?
My heart skipped a beat with worry and days of raw frustration bubbled to the surface at the thought that my mate could be in danger.