Chapter 2

2

B reanna

Yes. Those were fangs. Long. Sharp.

Were there vampires in outer space? How did I not know this?

"I am not Atlan. I am Astra Legion. Rogue 5." His steady gaze caught me once more, held me frozen. There was no bullshit behind those light grey eyes. They stood out from his dark face like beacons from a lighthouse.

Rogue 5? That was the name of a moon orbiting the planet Hyperion, its inhabitants hybrid descendants of a crashed Coalition Fleet vessel and the planet's native species. I hadn't studied them, but gossip in Battlegroup Karter was that the local Hyperions made babies with the survivors of a Coalition ship that crashed on Hyperion hundreds of years ago. The native Hyperions had fangs, and their bite would inject something called essence into their victims. What that essence was, I wasn't sure and had no desire to find out. Venom, like a spider's? Would his bite paralyze? Kill?

Suddenly the excessive number of chains attached to his body made perfect sense.

I wasn't up on all the details, but as I understood things, Rogue 5 was basically a mafia, motorcycle club, organized crime hellhole operated by five rival Legions who dealt in everything from stolen weapons, to drugs, to slaves.

Not my kind of people. I'd dedicated my life to stopping guys like him.

"Release me. I am not an Atlan Warlord. I formally request sanctuary until such time as I can return to Rogue 5." His words were crisp. Focused. Formal. If I were bleeding that badly, I doubted I'd be able to form an intelligible sentence, let alone demand legal protections.

"How long have you been here? Do you know?" I moved closer once more.

"By Coalition time, six days, ten hours."

Coalition time, based on the orbit and spin of the planet Prillon Prime, the Coalition Fleet's command base and home to the de facto military leaders of the Interstellar Coalition of Planets. Prillon Prime's day was only about an hour different from one standard Earth day. Easy adjustment for us Earthers.

"How do you know?" I didn't see a watch.

"NPU." That authoritative, confident tone made me hot as hell. Of course. The Neural Processing Unit used by the Coalition as a universal translator had additional functions, I just never used them. Most of my ReCon team spoke English, so I didn't think about the small piece of tech embedded in the bone behind my ear. Why would I think about my skull when my pussy was practically dripping, and I had to remind myself to breathe?

This man was a killer. A criminal. Brutal. Efficient. Smart. Not to be fucking messed with.

Trouble. Capital T. All the red flags. I spent enough time on Earth investigating gang members and fighting organized crime to know a predator when I saw one. A sexy, strong, powerful predator. No one would mess with this guy unless they had a death wish. I should be repelled, not turned on. He might not be an Atlan, but he was more of a true beast than any male I'd ever met, human or alien.

What would it be like to be protected by someone like him? Cared for? Fucked hard and fast by a giant of a man who couldn't keep his hands off me?

Maybe he'd wear me out. Maybe I'd stop having nightmares and actually sleep. Then again, probably not. It would take more than a few orgasms to defeat the chaotic guilt spiral that took over the moment my head hit the pillow.

This alien was dangerous, no doubt. But this predator was not Hive. Not the enemy. I could ogle him and not feel guilty, not feel like I was betraying everything I spent the last few years fighting for.

Right?

I turned on comms. "Captain Mills? No Atlan here. We have a member of Astra Legion, Rogue 5. He is restrained and injured. He requests sanctuary and transport to Rogue 5."

"A Forsian?" The captain let out a low whistle. "Is he lucid?"

The male's gaze was more effective than any chain. I couldn't look away.

"Yes." Not just lucid. Intelligent. Intense. Sexy. Strong. So smoking hot I wanted to climb him like a wild animal. Maybe I should go to medical when we got back to the ship. Something was not right. I never lusted after blood-soaked, injured men. Aliens. Whatever. I just didn't do it. Except he didn't seem injured or weak. He seemed like he could rip everyone on this ship to pieces with his bare hands.

"He's a what?" Henry asked.

"Forsian." The huge male answered. Could he hear our internal helmet comms? "My people share ancestors with the Atlans. Our home worlds share a star."

Well, that explained a few things. He was Atlan adjacent. No wonder he was so big. "Captain, he's covered in chains. Do you want to send medical before we release him?"

"Can he walk?" The captain asked.

"I am fully functional. Release me now." The Forsian spoke directly to our captain. Yep. Definitely could hear our comms. Impressive.

"You heard the man. Let's go. We've got incoming on long range scanners, and we don't want to be here when those Hive reinforcements arrive."

"Smash and grab." Henry repeated our personal motto as he shoved his blasters into their holsters and moved to the Forsian's opposite side.

"Roger that. Releasing the prisoner." I inspected the chains and ignored the heated scent of his skin and blood. I should not take a deeper breath. How did he smell this good? "Lots of chains, Captain. Gonna take a few minutes."

Too bad he had shorts of some kind covering him from just below the waist to mid-thigh. Between the hem and the top of the metal boots? More muscle. Legs thick as the trunks of decades old oak trees in the city park back home in Savannah. More cuts. Burns. More blood. The shorts did nothing to hide the giant bulge that couldn't possibly be his… Holy shit. Look away! Do not stare, Breanna Parks, you naughty bitch. Do. Not.

I cleared my throat and moved to stand behind him. Didn't help much. His ass was full, toned. Grabbable. Jeez. I was going to have to get some action when I got back to the ship. My libido was, apparently, totally out of control. "What's your name?"

I forced myself to make conversation as I wedged my gloved knuckles under the thick band that circled his chest. The hot skin of his back warmed me through my suit. I figured I'd start on the largest set of chains hooked to his torso, followed by the boots, then the arms last.

Henry had other ideas. Two chains dropped from the Forsian's arm as I worked to release the thick band from his chest. For some reason, the idea of releasing his hands and arms sent a shiver of anticipation—and fear—down my spine. He seemed lucid, in control of himself. There were two bodies on the floor, Hive bodies, that he must have taken out. So, he was on our side? Theoretically, he wouldn't murder us the moment he was free.

How had he managed to eliminate his two guards, restrained as he was? The only part of him not chained to something was his head. Did he headbutt them so hard he cracked their skulls? Was that even possible?

"Mikos." He spoke as the chest harness fell to the floor with a loud clunk. His sigh of relief sent an unexpected rush of pleasure through me. I wanted him to be pleased. Satisfied. For some sick reason I didn't want to examine too closely, I wanted his approval.

I slipped one hand under the locking mechanism around Mikos's waist. Fumbled with the lock. The angle was wrong, and my gloves were too thick. I'd have to take them off and touch his bare skin. Oh, hell.

"You got it, Bree?" Henry finished with one side and took up position just inside the open door so he could keep eyes on the corridor outside. He was weapons ready, which I appreciated. Nothing worse than being ambushed on a Hive ship. Well, amend that thought. Being captured would be worse. I'd rather die than be taken alive by the Hive. Proof of that stood bloody and battered right in front of us. I didn't want to know what Mikos had suffered, knew I wouldn't have survived. No human would have survived what they'd done to him.

"Yeah. I can get the rest." When Mikos grunted at me to hurry, I pulled off my helmet and shoved both gloves inside. I set it down on the floor. Much better. All the sensor scans and comms scrolling on the inside of the visor cluttered my vision. Total distraction.

Or maybe I just wanted to look at this guy with my own eyes. Because wow.

"I'm Breanna, but everyone calls me Bree." The thick band of metal around his waist fell away and I crouched down to inspect the backs of his boots—and those electrical wires that could unleash unexpected hell on both of us. I had zero desire to turn either of us into smoke and ash. His firm ass and legs were literally right in front of me. Right. There. I wanted to touch. Nuzzle. Comfort him, not that he'd accept that kind of overture from me. He had to be in so much pain. I couldn't stop every feminine part of me from admiring his strength. So. Much. Power.

Down girl. Jeez. Have some class. Drooling over a bloody, beaten prisoner was not cool. Not okay.

I couldn't stop. Seemed my conscience and my libido were at odds. I never had this problem back on the battleship. No Atlan had ever made me lose my damn mind in a hormone rush. What was it about this guy that made me want to strip naked and beg him to fuck me until I passed out?

Stay on task. That's all I could do. I got down on my knees to take a closer look at the boots. There were three pin shaped objects sticking out of the back of each boot. Each pin was attached to three wires, and those wires ran to some kind of control unit embedded in the wall.

"Am I going to electrocute us if I touch the wires?" I asked him. Why not? He might know.

"Do not bother with the wires. The release is on the front, just below the knee."

See? Very helpful. Stoic. So unlike the twenty-something Warlords on the battleship who strutted around on testosterone overload trying to prove how tough they were. This one had some age on his face, a darkness in his gaze that the younger fighters didn't carry. This wasn't a good guy. Mikos was a survivor, and what he'd survived had made him a monster.

I could relate. Sometimes, breaking the rules was the only way to survive. Sometimes I had to be the monster. God bless my dark side. That mean bitch had saved my life more than once.

I crawled around to the front of the boots and locked my gaze below his knees. I'd seen the bulge of his cock. Last thing I needed was to kneel in front of him and have his manly parts right in front of my face.

The locking mechanism looked like a metallic version of buckles on a ski boot. I wedged my fingers under the buckle's edge and pulled. Hard.

They didn't budge. "Shit. Henry?" I glanced at my partner over my shoulder. "I can't get these buckles. I could use my rifle as leverage, but?—"

"No thanks. I've been shot enough today."

I grinned and moved out of the way so Henry could tackle the buckles. I was strong, but he was stronger. Just a biological fact I didn't bother to analyze or question. Knowing my limitations helped me survive out here.

Didn't stop me from smiling when Henry cursed. "Fuck. These things are impossible."

Mikos, Astra Legion

The human male was too weak to remove the boots. Fuck. Humans. So small. So fucking weak.

So why did my cock harden at the scent of the female's, of Breanna's, skin? Why did the riot of short, dark brown curls on her head make my fingertips burn to touch? Her light brown skin shimmered in the light, covered with a light coating of moisture I longed to see covering her from head to toe as I fucked her until she begged for mercy. For release. For more.

My fangs elongated, dripped with the need to claim her, inject her with my essence. Heal her. Make her strong. Infuse every cell in her body with my scent, my protection. Most of all, drive her mad with desire, flood her body with euphoric pleasure. My essence would arouse her and ready her for a proper claiming, make sure she could take the mating fist at the base of my cock.

I was no Atlan. I did not suffer the mind-eroding terror of mating fever. My ancestors were cousins of the Atlans. My species evolved on a sister planet in the Atlan's home star system. Forsia. Even if we did not lose control of our minds like the Atlans did, our males suffered the same physical agony, an identical need to find and claim a mate. The familiar pain settled into my bones as my essence dripped onto my tongue. The taste threatened to drive me mad.

The Hive could not break me. For more than six days they tortured me, forced mind altering drugs into my system. Still, I resisted.

In a matter of minutes this small, human female threatened to unravel what remained of my sanity. Since birth I'd been told claiming a mate was impossible, that my bite was poison. That to claim any female would guarantee her death. Thanks to an unlucky reaction between Forsian and Hyperion DNA, injecting any female with our essence was fatal. Every Forsian hybrid on Rogue 5, my brethren in Astra Legion, had been taught this fact.

We fucked for pleasure, for a distraction. The few, like me, born on Rogue 5, were the product of casual fucking. Unplanned pregnancies. We served Astra, kept one another in line, and never fucked the same female more than once. I didn't bother to search for a mate of my own or lie to myself about what would happen if I found a suitable female. I made peace with what I was many years ago.

Yet here she was, looking at me with dark brown eyes. Unafraid. I could smell the wet heat of her pussy, her arousal. She would not resist.

Fuck!

I breathed her in and cursed my cock for growing hard, my heart for pounding.

This is what I feared would happen if I found my mate . This madness. Instincts as old as time rose from the depths of my soul, whispered savage, wicked, impossible things inside my head.

I could take her here, now. Make her mine. Kill her human companion, shove her against the wall and fuck her. Bite her. Mark her. Give her the gift of my essence.

No. She was Coalition. A fighter. Strictly off limits. Our leader, Astra, would flay me alive if I violated our tenuous peace with the Interstellar Coalition. That would be if I wasn't executed the moment I set foot on Rogue 5. Which was a very real possibility and the reason I had not been home in more than eight years.

I had a plan. Returning to Rogue 5 was not possible. Not yet. I would use the Coalition to escape this Hive prison. Lie to them until I could acquire a new ship. Despite my request for sanctuary and transport, I could not return to Rogue 5. I had powerful enemies. They would be a threat to any female I cared for. Would kill her to get to me.

That was no life for a female. I had no honor, no remorse about anything I'd done, but I would not be able to forgive myself for claiming a mate and placing her in mortal danger.

Astra Legion had recently acquired the antidote for our bite. Claiming a mate was, for the first time in our existence, possible. But not for me. Not with the massive bounty on my head. Not until my enemies were dead.

My gaze lingered on the smooth skin of her cheek. Her neck. Her lips were a dark rouge I needed to taste, nibble on, see wrapped around my hard cock. I wanted to bite.

Bite. Fuck. Claim.

Mate. The most primitive parts of my mind insisted she was mine. My mate.

"Fuck." Not only would I risk our entire Legion if I returned home, but without the antidote in her system, my bite would kill her in a matter of days. She literally might not survive the trip.

I could not touch her, not when she belonged to the Coalition Fleet, I had no access to the antidote, and my enemies would hunt her. I needed to get the fuck off this ship and resume the hunt. "Release me. I will remove the boots."

"Okay. Hold your horses." Bree's very feminine, very irritated huff made my cock jump. I longed to bend her, naked, over my knees, spank her ass as I fucked her with my fingers. Make her pant, cry out, beg…

"I do not have horses to hold." What the fuck was a horse? I hoped my NPU would offer some insight. Nothing translated other than a horse being some kind of creature on her home planet, Earth. She was human. I'd met a few humans out here. The males were small but vicious fighters. The females?

By the gods, the females were soft. Curved. Small. Too small. This one was taller than her human partner, taller than most of their males. Large, full breasts. Round, curved ass that would provide a proper handful when I held her in place for my cock. "Fuck."

Gods be damned. I had to stop thinking about taking her. I could not risk my Legion's safety, or hers, for my rock hard, selfish fucking cock. How the fuck did this female manage to arouse me in my current state? Prior to her entry into the room, I'd felt only two things, rage and pain. Now that pain fueled my mating instinct. Every breath brought her scent to me, clouded my mind with the basic need to tear the armor from her body and shove my cock deep, bury my fangs in the supple skin of her smooth neck. She was beautiful. Darker than me, her smooth skin, dark hair and expressive brown eyes… seductive. Hypnotic. I could not look away, twisting my neck to follow her movements, to breathe her in. "Fuck."

"You said that. I'm working as fast as I can. Hold your horses is a figure of speech. It means wait a minute and be fucking patient."

Such sass. So much fire. If she blessed me with that passion, we would not come out of my private quarters for days. Perhaps weeks. How long would it take to fuck her senseless? Feed her? Bathe her with my own hands? Take her again, lock the mating fist at the base of my cock inside her wet heat and rock us both into oblivion?

I groaned as the female wrapped one small hand around my wrist, her touch like a bolt of lightning to my system. A rush of pleasure after so much pain. I gasped.

"Sorry. I'm trying not to hurt you." Her apology made the monster within roar to be free. Was this fragile, weak female offering comfort? To me? Was she not terrified? In my present condition, enraged, covered in wounds and blood, I was a monster. Death incarnate. A killer without mercy. How dare she look upon me without fear?

Foolish female. She would not survive long without protection. My protection.

No. Fuck. No. No. No. The denial became a chant in my mind as she worked to free me. Every time her hand moved, I ground my teeth. I would not bite her. I would not claim her. She was not mine.

Honor and loyalty to my Legion, fear that my bite would kill her before I could acquire the antidote, held me in check as liquid acid poured through every artery. This was the agony of the unmated male. Nothing existed but her. The sound of her breathing. Her scent. Her touch. Already I had memorized the color of her light brown skin, the softness in her eyes, the sound of her voice. The call of her wet pussy…

She was aroused. Soaked. Ready. For me? Or the human male?

I would kill him. Rip his head from his body and bathe in his blood. I would…

NO.

This was what drove the Atlan beasts to madness. Obsession. Irrational need.

"Hurry." My tone was harsh, demanding.

"I'm trying." Bree moved in close as she reached for the mechanism wrapped around my arm, just below the shoulder joint. She reached up, hands over her head. The soft mound of her breast pressed against my side as she stood on tiptoes to reach the clasp anchoring one of the chains. Her scent invaded my body, more effective at destabilizing my mind than anything the Hive could have imagined.

I had to get the fuck out of here, as far away from her as possible. Now.

Essence flowed from the tips of my fangs onto my tongue in a steady stream, demanded I claim my mate. The unfamiliar taste awakened a part of me long dormant, agitated. A creature I'd yet to master. The gift of our bite was only ever given to one female.

One.

My mate's bare skin made contact again and I groaned.

"Sorry. There's so much blood. God, what did they do to you?" Her whispered words made me clench my fists.

Sorry? She believed she caused me pain? Worried for me? Cared that she hurt me? She should not feel anything for me but fear. If she knew how close I came to losing the battle with the savage within, she would already be running.

I would chase her. Catch her. Punish her for running.

Fuck. Perhaps the Hive had broken my mind after all. I could not stop the madness of my thoughts, the visions in my head of holding her down as I fucked her from behind. Sank my fangs deep. Filled her with my seed and my essence. Made her mine.

The constant torment from the multitude of cuts, burns and bruises the Hive had inflicted upon me were the only reasons I had not yet lost control. I forced my attention to the sting of air on open wounds, the burning of raw flesh, the deep pain in my abdomen like a knife-blade in my gut every time I took a breath. I sank into the pain, stared at the male who'd come in with her, catalogued the weapons he carried.

I would not bite her. Could not. If I attacked a Coalition fighter, if she died from the injection of my essence, my Legion would be held accountable. If Astra Legion started a conflict with the Coalition Fleet, Commander Karter's fighters would hunt us down, disrupt our business dealings, and attack our ships. Astra Legion would be weakened. The two Legions we counted as adversaries would destroy us, kill our leader, and claim our people.

Our enemies would take our females and sell half of them as slaves. They would execute any male old enough to hold a weapon. Destroy everyone and everything I knew and loved. Despite the fact that I could never return, my people remained under my protection. I would not bite this female, no matter how fucking amazing she smelled.

My blood could fucking burn. My cock could wither. I would never betray my people for such selfish desires. Never. I had lived my entire life believing I would never have a mate. Could not. Nothing had changed.

I shuddered as the female—I would not use her name, using her name made her real, touchable —freed me from the last restraint on my left arm and stepped away. She frowned, looking down at her hands.

They were covered in blood. Her blood. The metallic tang hit my senses like a bomb as more essence flooded my mouth. Now I had a hint, a teasing, tempting hint of what I would taste if I sank my fangs deep.

Fuck.

"Go to medical at once, female." If she left, maybe I could regain control. Stop wanting. "You are bleeding."

She used the fingertips of the opposite hands to smudge and smear the blood in her palms. "No big deal. Just a few scratches. Those things have sharp edges." She glanced down at the male, Henry, who struggled with the bindings on my feet. "You good, Henry? Need help?"

"No."

"No."

Henry and I spoke in unison. His denial flooded me with relief. The female needed to get away from me. Far, far away.

She should run.

"Okay." She leaned over and picked up her helmet. I sighed with relief as she slipped a pair of gloves over her bleeding palms, muted the allure. "Are there any other prisoners on this level?"

Her gaze locked with mine, her big, brown eyes so full of feminine warmth I leaned forward, drowning. Forgot she had spoken. Gods, she was fucking beautiful.

"Mikos?" She raised her brows. I ignored her to bend over and unbuckled the electric boots they'd used to induce paralysis between bouts of cutting, injecting, burning…

A soft, feminine cry of pain filled the small room.

I stood to see the female, her hands wrapped around the pointed end of a blade where it protruded from her armor, just below her heart.

Behind her, a Hive Soldier was on his feet, the blade an extension of his arm, an integration I'd seen many, many times. I'd forgotten the two unconscious Hive Soldiers the moment the female entered my containment cell. A terrible mistake. I had knocked them out, but restrained as I was, had not finished them.

"No!" Henry reached for a pair of ion blasters he had holstered at his sides.

Breanna's eyes met mine. A tear slid down her cheek as the blade disappeared, pulled backward, out of her body, by the enemy. "Double tap. Didn't double tap."

What. The. Fuck.

Instinct drowned all reason, all thought. Rage like nothing I'd ever known consumed me as Breanna crumpled to her knees.

I leaped out of the unbuckled boots. I took the Hive Soldier's head in my hands as he drove his blade into my side. The pain was nothing, another scratch to add to hundreds of wounds that covered my body. All numbed by the need to protect her.

Mine. She was mine.

I crushed his skull between my hands. When the bones gave way, when the crunch and crackle of a crumbling cranium registered, a roar escaped my throat, the sound one I'd never heard before.

Behind me, Henry cursed, the sound of his pitiful weapon firing made me snarl.

"Move," I ordered. Henry stood between me and my next target. There was one more. Another threat to my female. My mate. The Hive would die. They would all fucking die.

When the human didn't obey fast enough, I shoved him out of the way with my left hand and circled the neck of the other Hive Soldier with my right. I lifted the integrated Prillon warrior with one hand, used that hand to crush his throat. When he stopped struggling, I twisted his head until I felt the bones in his neck snap and break. Dead.

Forgotten.

I dropped him and turned to the only thing that mattered.

Breanna. The female.

Mine.

She lay on her side, a pool of blood soaked her armor from ribs to hip. She watched me, her eyes glazed, unfocused. Her small, fragile body had lost too much blood. She was going into shock.

She was going to die.

Behind me, Henry called to the other Coalition fighters to send a medical team. He did not seem to care for their response. "She doesn't have five minutes." Silence. "No. She's fucking bleeding out. A ReGen wand isn't enough."

I lifted Breanna from the floor, cradled her in my arms. So soft. Curved. Feminine.

So fragile. Breakable.

Her eyes closed. Her breathing was shallow. Too fast. Her human body struggled and fought. She was dying.

She shuddered. Her heartbeat, once thunder in my ears, skipped. Fluttered. Stopped.

NO.

I failed her, so consumed by her presence I did not monitor the threat to her life. I failed to keep her safe, to protect her. For years I'd believed she did not exist, yet within moments of meeting me, I became the reason for her injuries, her impending death.

Fuck protocol. The Legions could execute me. My enemies could murder me. Astra herself could turn me over to the Coalition for assaulting one of their fighters. So be it. I could have let her go, sacrificed my personal happiness to keep her, and my people, safe. I was nothing, a soldier, expendable. But I could not sacrifice her.

I lowered my head, fangs extended, and sank the sharp tips into the soft, supple curve between her shoulder and her neck.

Ecstasy like I never knew rolled over me like a tidal wave as I gave her the gift, offered her my essence. Every instinct I had rejoiced as the healing serum pumped into her lush body, filled her cells, stopped the bleeding, gave her body what she needed to mend, rebuild and repair. Healed her. Kept her alive.

Should the Coalition demand justice, I would surrender myself and protect my people. Face imprisonment. Execution. No cost was too high a price to pay to save her.

She would need the antidote. I prayed Astra would not deny her, not when I had sacrificed my life to save her. Not when I made known what the female was to me. My mate. The only female I would ever want, ever need. Even if she would never be mine.

Perhaps a quick death would prove to be a mercy.

The tip of Henry's ion blaster pushed against my temple. Hard.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing?"

I ignored him. I was not finished. Breanna did not have enough, did not yet have all I could give her.

The sharp whine of the weapon charging was my only warning.

Henry fired.

Heat exploded inside my skull.

I lost my grip. My fangs pulled free of Breanna's tender flesh as I crumbled onto my side, Breanna cradled against my chest.

Henry stood over us, hands on his hips, muttering to himself like a fool.

"What a fucking mess." Henry stared down at me, light golden hair gleaming in the harsh light, pale blue eyes narrowed.

"More." I had more essence, more to offer this female. Her heartbeat steadied as I held her, the flow of blood slowed, but did not stop. I lifted my head, tried to reach her, bite her, give her everything.

"Don't fucking touch her." Henry lifted his ion pistol and fired again, the blast burning through my shoulder.

I ground my teeth and refused to release her. I could not let her go. Would not. I held her as the sound of boots pounded in the corridor, as Henry turned to welcome more of his people, more humans here to take her from me.

"Captain, he bit her."

A human I assumed was their leader crouched down next to us and looked from my mate to me. When he reached out to touch her bloodied armor, I rumbled a warning. He sighed but withdrew his hand.

I held my mate as everything faded to black.