Chapter 7

7

M ikos

My mate was not done tormenting the Hyperion Prince. I had zero sympathy.

"What is it with you guys and the scent thing? You're not bloodhounds."

Ruk turned to face her and inclined his head. "Lady Bree. Apologies. You are correct. We are not of Earth's canine species."

"Never mind." My mate rolled her eyes at the prince, and I didn't even try to hide my grin as she continued speaking. "So? How did you guys find us?" Breanna had her hands on her hips now, one feminine brow arched in irritation at being kept waiting. So demanding, my mate. I longed to carry her from this room and fuck that look off her face, replace it with desperation. Need. Make her beg. Make her come. Make her say my name again.

Gods, I fucking loved when she said my name.

"Commander Zeus. After the last mission—" Sebastion, the Prillon, paused, waiting for Breanna to acknowledge that she knew what he was talking about. She nodded that she did. I did not. That fact made me want to punch him in the face. "—you know the ship these guys stole from the Hive was destroyed. So, Zeus sent out ReCon, with us as special guests, and we helped ourselves to a new one."

"Commander Zeus got you a ship? I thought Helion would have done that." Breanna sounded confused. Me? I was annoyed that she knew the leader of the Coalition Fleet's Intelligence Core by name. She must be deeply imbedded in Coalition operations. Perhaps it was good Astra might need to send her back to her people. Perhaps she could not be happy on Rogue 5 with someone like me.

Ruk interrupted as the Atlans kept their hands on Shade and his men. "Helion wanted to give us a Coalition ship. Zeus helped us get something better."

"What?" Breanna asked.

"Hive tech. Easier to hunt them when they think we're part of their collective."

"That would come in handy," my mate confirmed.

"Indeed." Ruk tilted his head and the Atlans began hauling the contingent of Siren bounty hunters out of the room.

Shade protested. "I have a sanctioned bounty on Mikos of Astra Legion. He's mine. Coalition regulations on this station state he is now in my custody."

"Am I?" I moved toward the male, eager to finish what I'd started with the fucker who'd threatened my mate.

Ruk stopped me with a hand on my shoulder. "Let him go. If it wasn't for Bree, I'd turn you in for the fucking bounty myself."

I met his dark gaze. "That high?"

"I could buy my own space station."

The thought of the primitive, rebellious prince running a space station made me chuckle. "That, I would like to see."

Breanna appeared at my side and wrapped her delicate fingers around my wrist to get my attention. She needn't have bothered. I knew where she was every moment. Knew when she inhaled. Exhaled. Listened for the beating of her heart. Obsession was too weak a word. "Mikos? What is going on? Why is the bounty so high? What, exactly, did you do?"

Sebastion cleared his throat, saving me. For now. "Karter sent us to escort you to Rogue 5 and make sure Bree is taken care of. Can you two discuss this on the way to our ship? We need to get out of here before every bounty hunter in the sector finds out you are here. We won't be able to fight all of them."

That was an understatement. Transport Station Zenith, although under the dominion of the Coalition, was a well-known trading hub for smugglers and merchants of all kinds. The only rule the small army of Coalition fighters on the station truly enforced was no killing. Every other rule was routinely bent, if not broken.

The Coalition left the door open for all types of uncivilized activities. The fact that the station was the closest Coalition outpost to Rogue 5 ensured a steady stream of bounty hunters, Legion members, merchants and smugglers in the bars and on the docks. The Coalition controlled station was seen as neutral ground, a good place to conduct business. Few outside of the top leaders in Rogue 5's Legions knew the true nature of the station. The Intelligence Core ran this place, every shadow, corner and crawl space was owned by their spies. Everyone paid a commission to do business here while money and information flowed back to Coalition command.

I shouldn't have been pleased when Breanna looked up at me and waited for me to decide our course of action. Then again, she needed the antidote to survive, and none of her Coalition friends could keep her alive. She needed me.

I straightened to my full height and held out my hand, chest swelling when she placed her much smaller hand in mine. I turned to Prince Ruk. "Lead the way. I'd like to get my—Breanna—to Rogue 5 as quickly as possible."

I'd nearly said ‘mate'. Again. Fuck. Everything in me demanded I claim her, shout my need and devotion to every male in this sector of space. Fuck that, every male in the universe should know that she was mine. Untouchable. Protected. Claimed.

She should know.

Channeling my frustration to a new target, I punched Shade in the gut as we walked past. "That's for threatening my female."

"I did not." Shade grunted at the impact.

"You allowed that idiot to threaten her. Control your soldiers, Shade. Or lose them."

Shade inclined his head and spoke to my mate. "Apologies, Lady Bree."

Breanna didn't respond and I wondered if it was because she didn't wish to accept his apology, was angry with them, with me, or frustrated by the situation. For the first time in my life, I wished I was one of the gods damned Prillons with their mating collars. If I had a mating collar, my mind would be linked to Breanna's. I would feel her emotions, have an idea of what she was thinking.

I'd also have to share her with my second. Two warriors sharing a female was common practice among the Prillons, the idea being that one warrior would remain to protect their mate and children if the other was killed in battle.

Any second of mine wouldn't need to wait to die in battle. I'd murder him myself, the first time he touched my mate. I would be unable to allow any male to touch her. The idea of sharing her with anyone made my blood burn and an irrational instinct to kill fill my chest, expanding until the pressure pained me, made my heart rumble and pound inside me like thunder during a storm.

Wisely, Shade stopped resisting the two integrated Atlan Warlords who held him back. He was lucky they weren't trying to kill him.

His gaze met mine. "You know I cannot simply let you go."

I tilted my head and grinned, amused by the turn of events. "You're going to need a lot more soldiers."

I held Breanna's small, delicate hand in mine. Surrounded by a small army of Atlan Warlords, one integrated Prillon warrior, and a prince from my ancestor's home world—well, half of my ancestors, the fanged half—we made our way to their captured Hive ship. My mate would be safer on that ship than anywhere I could provide. I'd take my chances with Shade when we arrived on Rogue 5.

Breanna

If it were possible to literally drown in testosterone, I'd be dead already. We got more than a few shocked looks, walking through the corridors of the space station. Lots of looks, no one stupid enough to try to stop us.

Nine Atlans walked in formation, all obviously integrated with Hive tech. Atlan beasts were already scary bastards even without the added strength, speed and weaponry their Hive captors had implanted in their bodies. Then there was Sebastion Arcas, a Prillon warrior—also integrated by the Hive—who had one cousin sitting on the war council on Prillon Prime and another cousin who shared a mate with Commander Helion, head of the Coalition Fleet's intelligence gathering service, the Intelligence Core. Talk about connected. He was also nearly seven feet tall and ripped like a professional bodybuilder. Then there were the Hyperions, Prince Ruk—scariest alien I'd ever met, even though he'd always been nice to me—and Mikos, who was part Forsian, part Hyperion, whose eyes promised death by dismemberment anytime anyone dared look my way.

Me? I was in the middle of this mess, trapped in the center of the deadliest group of aliens I'd probably ever been this close to. I didn't fight on the ground, so I never saw the Atlans or Prillons in full battle mode. ReCon had a lot of humans and the slightly smaller species, the Viken, Everian and Trion fighters. They looked like normal guys. Big, but human looking. It was just easier for us to sneak around on Hive ships and inside their labs, get in and out of places. We were fast and efficient. Prime Nial, the leader of the Prillons, and also head of the entire Coalition Fleet, had properly assessed human skills and put us to work in the war. I'd been told, since humans joined the fight about eight years ago, the recovery rate for prisoners had gone up significantly. The Colony, the planet our rescued fighters were sent to after Hive captivity, had nearly doubled in population. More wounded veterans needed brides on The Colony than ever.

Which was why the new Earth T.V. show, Bachelor Beast, had become a phenomenon, on Earth, and out in space. I'd enjoyed a glass of Atlan wine and watched the show on more than one occasion from the comfort of my private quarters on the Karter. My room was about the size of a standard walk-in closet back home, just big enough for a cot, a desk and one chair. But it was my sanctuary.

Until Mikos of Astra Legion bit me to save my life.

The irony that now his essence was somehow poisoning me seemed a joke of cosmic proportions. Like setting a house on fire to keep it from burning down. I was totally out of my element.

All I could do was roll with it. I wasn't on Earth, and there was nothing human about this group. Not the silver circuits in some of their flesh, the random eye that looked like liquid mercury, the claws, long as my hand from wrist to fingertip, that protruded from Prince Ruk's hands, or the fangs.

God, those fangs. Ruk's used to scare me, if I was being honest. I'd heard that Hyperions bit their mates, injecting them with their essence. Whatever that meant.

Well, now I knew exactly what that meant. Warmth spreading through me faster than a shot of top-shelf whiskey. My entire body going soft and pliant, even as my nerves turned the sensitivity up to eleven and every thrust of Mikos's cock made my pussy clench around him like a fist, the bundle of nerves in my clit, and the other nerve center I didn't realize I had deep inside, both lighting up like fireworks until nothing else existed but him.

His scent.

His heat.

His muscles.

His hands touching me.

His lips on my body, somewhere, anywhere. Anywhere he wanted to be.

If I wasn't careful, he was going to become an obsession. Which would be bad. Very bad.

I insisted I wasn't his mate, and he agreed. He promised to take me back to the Karter once I had the antidote. I'd been relieved. But now? All these other guys—aliens—thought I was his mate because we had sex, and I smelled like him. They treated me like I belonged to Mikos. Even now, it was Mikos in the center of this moving mass of muscles, right next to me like he belonged there.

I wished like hell I didn't feel so safe with him next to me. This peace in my soul spread deep, like roots under a hundred- year-old oak. Something about him settled me in a way no one and nothing ever had before. Not my ex, god rest his soul. Not sleeping with a gun under my pillow. Not the hours I'd spent at the gym, in martial arts training, or at the shooting range making sure that when I needed to shoot someone, I didn't miss.

Mikos made me feel safe. Which was a joke. Especially out here. He was a criminal, a member of one of the notorious Legions on Rogue 5 which, by my understanding, were all run more like mafia families or motorcycle clubs than civilized communities.

So, he wasn't my mate, but he was taking care of me. For now. Didn't matter what I wanted if he didn't want me. And even if I did want to stay with him, I was serving in the Coalition Fleet. I'd just signed up for another two years after this term was up. I had no interest in going home, back to Earth. There was nothing for me there. At least with my ReCon team I had friends, a job to do, a contribution to make. I saved people instead of getting them killed. I atoned for my past.

Stop thinking about what you can't have. Sound advice I intended to follow.

Curiosity about the space station made me crane my neck to peak around the literal wall of large bodies surrounding me. I'd heard this place was wild. Dangerous. Some of the guys on my team had been here, once or twice, and they still talked about it every time we went to the canteen after a mission to grab a few drinks. Their stories reminded me of the kind of things I used to hear about Las Vegas, or Rio de Janeiro during Carnival. Stories about bad people doing bad things. Sometimes about good people doing naughty things. Often, they'd be laughing, and the tales they told seemed to be about stupid people doing even dumber things, and being caught, hurt, or killed.

I'd had a chance to come here once or twice. I'd declined. I grew up in the suburbs of Savannah, Georgia. Despite growing up in our boring, beige house, I didn't stay there. Home wasn't the same after the divorce. After my dad died, I'd barely pulled the grades to finish high school. I missed him. I hadn't seen him for months, and his death still fucking wrecked me.

Trying to be subtle, so Mikos wouldn't see me, I wiped the lone tear off my face and kept walking. Thinking about my dad shouldn't hurt this much. Guess I had Mikos to blame for tearing down walls it had taken me years to build.

Seemed I wasn't over my daddy issues after all. Tough as nails, my dad. Dragged us all over the world when I was growing up. Never content to be home. Always another bad guy to kill, another enemy over the horizon. I tried everything to make him want to stay home with us, everything a nine-year-old could do with an E-Z Bake oven and a miniature tea set painted with pink and yellow roses. When he was deployed, I gave my big, black teddy bear my dad's seat of honor at the tea party table. I even pinned my dad's medals on the bear's fur and begged one of the guys on base for a hat the bear could wear.

When he was home, daddy sat in that chair and sipped tepid tea from tiny cups. He gave me a hug and his lopsided grin and then? He left again. And again. And again, until my mom couldn't take the waiting, and she moved on. New daddy. New house. Same old pain. When word came that my dad had been killed in action when I was seventeen, I wasn't surprised. I was numb.

I used his military benefits to pay for college, went ROTC my senior year of high school, joined the ARMY, then DEA. I'd seen enough bullshit in my life. I didn't need to watch low-life losers from other planets do the same stupid shit humans did on Earth. Been there. Done that. After a few months in space, I'd realized one of the main reasons I'd left Earth was because I didn't want to lose all faith in humanity.

When I left, I'd been damn close. Working with the guys on my ReCon team, I felt better about humans as a whole. Seemed sad to say the best human men I met had all left the planet.

"Are you in pain?" Mikos question startled me, and I realized several more tears had somehow made their way onto my cheeks. I wiped them away and shook my head.

"I'm fine."

Took far longer than I expected to walk from the transport room to the docks. I wasn't sure if they called them landing bays or what, but they were busy, ships of all sizes constantly zooming in and out of the energy barrier that held in the atmosphere we were all breathing. I had my armor on, just in case, and could activate the helmet, with its life support system, if I needed to. The armor would make fresh air for me for days.

I knew, because I'd once spent five days buried alive with my ReCon team in an underground Hive integration facility before the rescue crews could dig us out. The air down there had gone bad within a few hours, chemicals from the blasting agent the Hive used to seal off the entrance toxic in the extreme. After that, Captain Mills didn't volunteer us for the underground missions. We'd stuck to boarding ships as they traveled through space, which suited me just fine. I never wanted to be underground again. Not for one moment. Definitely not for five days.

I'd always laughed at people with what I considered irrational fears. Fear of heights. Fear of snakes. Fear of tight spaces. All the phobias. Joke was on me, because now, I was the queen of claustrophobia if any kind of rock, soil, cave, or ground was involved. Metal box floating in space? I was fine. Add some dirt and I was done for. Full fucking panic. A fact I had not shared with my ReCon team, Captain Mills, or anyone else. Dealing with my new fear was my private war.

Another reason I slept alone. The nightmares were a real bitch.

A shudder passed through me and Mikos's huge palm came to rest at the small of my back, like he really was mine, and I really was his, and he cared.

"What is wrong? Are you unwell, Breanna?" His question caused the three Atlans nearest me to turn their heads and listen for my response. Talk about feeling like a bug under a microscope.

"I said I'm fine." We were in space, not under a gazillion tons of rock.

His frown—and those damn fangs made it look ten times fiercer—made me hold back a grin. "You will inform me at once if anything upsets you or if there is a problem."

"Sure thing." Soooo not happening. Because he wasn't mine. I was not his mate. And the only thing he cared about was fucking and making sure I didn't die from Hyperion-Forsian hybrid fang poison. Both were solid ideas I gave my full support. Especially the sex. Dying? Meh. I'd be dead. Wouldn't bother me. But hot, irresistible, blow-my-mind sex? That wasn't something I hadn't experienced before him. I wanted more.

"You are lying to me." His hand slid lower, his palm cupping my ass as I walked next to him.

I reached behind me and grabbed his wrist to push his hand away. Fuck, he was strong. I couldn't budge him, which made me even more aroused than the inferno level heat of his touch coming through my armor, racing straight to my clit. One touch and my pussy screamed that she was empty. I wanted to strip naked and beg him to fuck me again. Put his mouth on my wet heat. Suckle my nipples. Make me come. Demand I say his name in that sexy, growly voice that drove me crazy.

He leaned down so his lips brushed my ear as he spoke. "If I did not need my hands free to fight in case of attack, you would be over my shoulder, female. You will not lie to me. Do so again, and there will be consequences."