“Oh, she was a fighter. She left the Coalition and infiltrated the legion to avenge her ReCon unit. Her friends were all killed by an overdose of a drug one of the legions sold to her friends.”
What? “Did she get them?”
“Her new mate did. Or rather, his legion. I’m not sure exactly what happened. I only get bits and pieces sometimes. Earth is so very far away, after all.”
“Gossip will always find a way.” I knew that to be one hundred percent fact. Truth or lies, nothing traveled faster than a juicy bit of gossip. What would my social media followers think—all five million of them—if they knew I was going off to be married to a space criminal? What did I think? This mate of mine didn’t sound like a big teddy bear Atlan. Or even one of the uptight, rule-following Prillon guards I’d met at the Bachelor Ball or at Chet’s house after. I was matched to a criminal? A bad guy?
No. A spy. Maybe like a double agent? Was he a good guy?
Had to be, right? On a case-by-case basis? He’d helped, earned a bride, so he had to be good.
Shit. What if he wasn’t? Would I care? That bite had made me lose my mind. Would I care what he did when he wasn’t making me sob with out-of-control orgasms?
Damn. Yes. The answer was yes. I would care. “What happens if I don’t like him?”
“You have thirty days to decide. If you find Cormac does not make you happy…”
Cormac.His name was Cormac.
“…report to Styx, the leader of his legion. He knows how to contact someone who can get you out of there.”
“Okay.” At least I had an out. That made me feel better.
“Oh, one more thing. This is a special case. Normally, your mate would be waiting for you with bells and whistles. If you were going anywhere else, I wouldn’t have been able to tell you his name. In this case, the Styx legion’s involvement with the Coalition Fleet is top secret. Revealing their connection to us could endanger multiple lives. No one can know you are an Interstellar Bride.”
“But…how am I supposed to explain being there?”
“Cormac will take care of that, I’m sure. When you arrive, play along. Pretend you know him, that you met him somewhere else. Be vague until you two get your story straight. He will do the same.”
Great. Was she serious? I studied her facial features. Not one hint of a teasing grin. No smile. She was deadly serious.
The warden’s fingers flew over her tablet, and she seemed to be making multiple selections. “I do believe you are ready to go.”
“I—”
A line appeared in the wall next to me, and the chair I was sitting on jolted to the side as it moved into the new space the retreating section of wall created. Beyond the wall was a room bathed in blue light with a small pool in its center.
“Hold still, Abby. You need your NPU.”
I knew from dealing with the Atlan Warlords and from my own research that the Neural Processing Unit was some kind of universal translator. I wouldn’t be able to understand my new mate or anyone else in space without it. Holding perfectly still, I waited as a slender robotic arm moved toward my head. The sharp tip settled just below and behind my ear. I winced as it pierced my skin. This bite hurt a hell of a lot more than the vampire man’s had in my dream. Vision? Memory?
“Wait! What does he look like?” I squirmed in the stupid hospital-style gown I was wearing, my bare backside sticking to the seat, my thighs and bottom coated with my arousal. I was very ready for some hot sex. Really hot sex. With a vampire criminal.
What the hell was going on here? Was there something wrong with me? Why didn’t I get matched to an Atlan? I really, really wanted an Atlan warlord. Damn it.
I tried to use my arms to shift my weight on the seat but didn’t get far. My wrists were restrained, supposedly so I wouldn’t fall off and injure myself while I was out of my mind having sex on another planet—in someone else’s body. The thought made me squirm even more. I had to stop moving before I got a rug burn. Seat burn. Whatever.
Warden Egara was watching me, and she hadn’t answered my question.
“Well?“ I insisted. “How am I supposed to know who he is?”
“Normally, I’m not allowed to show you. But this is a bit of an unusual match, so I will. As I said, his name is Cormac. He is a member of Styx legion.” She moved her hands even faster over the tablet. Seconds later, the wall before me turned into a large screen.
And there he was. Holy crap. I didn’t know when they’d taken the picture, but he didn’t look happy. His eyes were dark and narrowed as if he were annoyed. His hair was so short it looked like a buzz cut the army gave new military recruits. I thought maybe it was black as well, but it was nearly impossible to tell the color with it being so short. His face was older. Somber. He looked like he had been to hell and back and could teach a class on cruelty.
But his lips were full. His jaw was cut. He was handsome in a brutal way that made my pussy clench and my nipples grow hard. He wouldn’t treat me like a porcelain doll that might break at any moment. No. He looked like the kind of man—alien—who would shove me up against a wall, bite me, and fuck my brains out.
I shuddered with anticipation, with a raw hunger I’d never before allowed myself to feel, as I studied the barely visible tips of his fangs peaking at me from between his lips.