Surprise Mates

  Surprise Mates

  Interstellar Brides® Program: Book 21

  Grace Goodwin

  Surprise Mates: Copyright © 2020 by Grace Goodwin

  Interstellar Brides® is a registered trademark

  of KSA Publishing Consultants Inc.

  * * *

  All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electrical, digital or mechanical including but not limited to photocopying, recording, scanning or by any type of data storage and retrieval system without express, written permission from the author.

  * * *

  Published by KSA Publishers

  Goodwin, Grace

  Cover design copyright 2020 by Grace Goodwin

  Images/Photo Credit: Deposit Photos: sdecoret, ozimicians

  * * *

  Publisher’s Note:

  This book was written for an adult audience. The book may contain explicit sexual content. Sexual activities included in this book are strictly fantasies intended for adults and any activities or risks taken by fictional characters within the story are neither endorsed nor encouraged by the author or publisher.

  Contents

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  Find YOUR Interstellar Match!

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

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  Also by Grace Goodwin

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  1

  Lucy, Transport Station 345, Prillon Prime

  * * *

  “What happens on Prillon Prime—”

  The sizzle and hair-raising hum of transport cut off Rachel’s words. One second we were on The Colony, looking down from the raised platform at CJ and Rezzer, each holding one of their twins; the next I’m looking at some seriously burly Prillons manning the controls on Prillon Prime.

  “—stays on Prillon Prime,” Rachel finished as if we hadn’t just traveled like people on Star Trek or the wizards in Harry Potter, minus the flushing toilet.

  “Mate, what are you suggesting?” Maxim said, taking Rachel’s hand and leading her down the steps. His second, Ryston, followed closely behind. Rachel, meanwhile, held their sleepy son in her arms. He was half Prillon and big for his age. Rachel’s biceps were working overtime, but she shook her head when Ryston reached for the boy.

  Cute.

  Rachel leaned around Ryston and glanced at me. Gave me a wink to go along with her grin.

  “I saw that,” Kiel stated plainly. He stilled his own mate with a hand upon her shoulder.

  Lindsey looked up at her Everian hottie. “What?”

  “What?” he repeated. “Whenever you all get together, I get scared.”

  Lindsey laughed. “You, scared?”

  I bit my cheek because the three big aliens were staring my way. I was the unmated one of this group, pretty much the fifth—make that sixth—wheel for the entire party.

  The Everian Hunter leaned down and kissed the top of his mate’s head.

  Meanwhile Rachel pressed her lips to Max’s dark hair. The little boy slept in his mother’s arms. Pushing two, he was too little to stay behind like the older boy, Lindsey’s and Kiel’s son, Wyatt, so Max was joining a few other little ones at the party. It worked out well because Wyatt was best buddies with Tanner and Emma, who were more eager to stay on The Colony with their new Atlan uncles Braun, Kai and the rest of them, acting like walking jungle gyms anytime the little ones were around.

  “You and Wyatt are the only ones who can destroy me,” Kiel murmured.

  Lindsey’s face took on that sappy, lovey-dovey look.

  “Oh, Kiel,” she whispered, then sniffed and lifted her chin. “We’ve come for a surprise birthday party.” Her words were the reminder for all of us as to why we were here. “What kind of trouble could we possibly get into?”

  Kiel’s eyes went wide, and he slowly shook his head as if the possibilities were endless.

  “This is why the Prime and every male in attendance agreed it had to happen within the walls of the palace.”

  “Palace,” Rachel humphed. “More like a fortress.”

  “Exactly,” the three males said at the exact same time.

  The hum of the transport pad had us stepping off it so the second transport from The Colony could arrive.

  “This is the reason we didn’t let you ladies transport without us,” Maxim said as we stood in the large room and waited.

  The space was twice as big as the transport room on The Colony, and I had to assume it was kept busy. I’d never been to Prillon Prime before. Heck, I’d never been anywhere else in space but where Olivia and Wulf were stationed. My BFF and her hulking Atlan mate were the reason why I wasn’t on Earth, not because I’d been matched. I was, in fact, one of very few humans out in Coalition space who were single and not fighting the Hive. At least that’s what I’d been told. As in, the only single lady. Fighters didn’t count.

  Now I was going to the Prime’s palace for a surprise birthday party for his mate, Jessica, another human. This was epically big.

  Epic.

  Even more so than a girls’ weekend in Vegas. This was Prillon Prime, baby!

  I’d never met Prime Nial, or the birthday girl for that matter, but I’d chatted with them, along with Jessica’s second mate, Ander, on a phone call. Or screen-to-screen call. Phones were beyond old-fashioned, like a horse and buggy, for these guys.

  I had to catch up on space terminology. Without a mate to help me adjust to my new life, I was getting behind.

  Not that I didn’t have mate offers on The Colony. The Atlan Warlord Braun was an absolute sweetheart, a great big freaking teddy bear… and I didn’t want him. Not like that. Same with Captain Marz and his Prillon second. Same with the other Atlans. The Viken fighters. The large selection of available mates on The Colony was, frankly, overwhelming.

  Worse, not one of them felt right, as if I wanted one to be mine. Braun was, if nothing else, my friend. I trusted him and I liked him, but I didn’t want to take off all my clothes and rub my naked body over his.

  Not even a little. Which was just sad because he was hot. Like sex-on-a-stick hot. But my indifference was also the reason my guardian, Warlord Wulf, gave every male on The Colony the hands-off vibe when it came to me.

  The truth was, I was on The Colony to be with Olivia, Tanner and Emma. They were my family. Not by blood but by choice. Either way, I didn’t want another one. Not yet. I wasn’t ready. If I hooked up with any of the honorable warriors on The Colony, they would want forever. Like, forever-forever, and mating and babies and the whole thing. And that was a large commitment. Gigantic.

  These next few days, I just wanted to have some fun. Maybe have some hot sex with a virile alien or two, take the edge off, and get back to my de facto niece and nephew and my best friend. I was happy there. Mostly. Bored sometimes but co
ntent. I didn’t want anything to ruin my new life.

  I’d had no one on Earth. No family. Few friends. A low-paying job where I was invisible most of the time. Only Olivia and her kids mattered to me. Without them, I would be alone and, worse, lonely as hell. To Tanner and Emma, I was Aunt Woocy, and nothing mattered more to me than making sure those babies were happy and healthy.

  I wasn’t enough of a selfish bitch to use any of the warriors on the colony just for sex. Those guys had been through so much. Battle. Capture. Torture. Integration. Rejection from their home worlds. I was not going to play with them like that. To have some fun, I would have to go off world—like here on Prillon Prime—and make sure whoever I had some fun with knew that’s all it was. Fun. Temporary.

  Luckily the women from The Colony were all super nice and cool enough to want me to join them. I had a feeling Lindsey would have had T-shirts made that said Earth Girls Unite if she could. Since she’d been a PR rep on Earth and was still going at it, working on trying to bring new Earth volunteers to the Brides program and planning a huge surprise party for her BFF, the Lady Jessica Deston, the freaking queen of the entire Interstellar Coalition of Planets. Safe to say, Lindsey had probably been a little distracted.

  “We ladies are perfectly capable of transporting by ourselves,” Rachel said, patting Maxim’s arm. Then she smiled. “But I like it when you get all protective and growly.”

  Both he and Ryston growled to match her words. I bit my lip, trying not to laugh. Every male I’d encountered in space was bossier than the next. Protective. Dominant. All alpha-male hotness. Wulf was that way with Olivia and the kids, but he was also that way with me. He was like the brother I’d never had. If a girl from Ohio could have a seven-foot-plus Atlan beast as a brother. An overprotective, growly, beat-the-pulp-out-of-anyone-interested-in-getting-in-my-pants big brother.

  “There is no chance you will transport without us. You would probably transport to Viken’s Trixon Resort,” Maxim grumbled.

  “What’s that?” I asked.

  “A retreat for new mates to get to know each other.” Rachel made little air quotes with her fingers. “It’s hedonistic. Think tropical five-star resort that caters to every sexual desire.”

  I got hot at the thought. Who wouldn’t want that? “Like a spa but with sex?”

  Maxim was the one who nodded. “Exactly.”

  Rachel went up on her tiptoes and kissed his square jaw. “I’ve talked to Whitney, you know. She told me that place is only fun if your mates are with you. Not that I don’t enjoy a little solo fun.”

  Maxim’s body went rigid as his gaze met his mate’s.

  “Don’t tease us, mate,” Ryston growled. “We don’t have time to watch you at this moment. We are due at the palace.”

  Rachel’s cheeks flushed as red as my hair, and she finally surrendered her son to Ryston, who cuddled the sleepy toddler close to his chest.

  Cuteness overload.

  I could tell Rachel was equally embarrassed and aroused by Ryston calling her out. I was jealous. So jealous. Body and heart aching with longing. I wanted a guy or two who’d get hot about watching me flick the bean. Hell, I wanted a guy or two just to look at me without staring at me like I was going to save their eternal soul and grant them new life. I wanted sexy fun—without Wulf glaring at every male in sight like he might dismember them if they stepped in my direction.

  I was distracted from my thoughts by the gorgeous queen of Viken, who walked by. I couldn’t help but stare. Yeah, I knew who she was by her red hair and her dress—I’d been a stylist on Earth and knew fashion, even in space—and the fact that she had three hot, almost identical guys with her. She passed with her hot kings flanking her on a side as protection, and each one with a menacing and heated look that made me squirm. I had to wonder if they’d been to that sex spa place on Viken. Trixon Resort. That was going in the mental file for later.

  Shit. I was in trouble here. Sex-on-the-brain twenty-four-seven kind of trouble.

  Or was that twenty-six hours, forty-two or whatever the hell kind of calendar they had on this crazy planet? I had no idea. All I knew was I hadn’t been with a guy in way too long, and my body was hungry for some attention like the shape-shifters I’d read about in some of my favorite romance novels. Touch hungry, they called it. When need and ache grew to the point where one couldn’t think straight. Maybe I had Atlan fever.

  Yeah. That was me, thinking I had Atlan fever. God. Every second on Prillon Prime was making me worse. Talk about a full-on hot-alpha-male buffet, and I hadn’t even made it out of the transport room. The thought of Prillon warriors walking around in pairs all over the place? Oh fuck, yes.

  I’ll take two to go, please.

  Once Wulf heard I wasn’t seeking commitment in a relationship, he’d taken my wishes to heart. He’d put out a memo that I was off-limits, taking the big-brother role to the extreme. I might as well have had a poisonous vagina or something.

  That was why Rachel, Kristin, Lindsey, Olivia, Caroline and Mikki all told me I had to get some action while I was on Prillon Prime. They agreed The Colony guys were off-limits, but this was a different planet. A short-term visit. A two-day fling! Party time!

  I totally agreed and had spent the last few days working the S-Gen machine to make some super-hot and sexy lingerie. No male, alien or human, could resist lace, satin and barely covered nipples and pussy.

  Yeah, here I was. Unmated, horny girl on vacation in space. Hopeful to get a few male-induced orgasms on Prillon Prime, especially since Wulf wasn’t going to be here to cockblock. He and Olivia were stuck on Earth doing PR interviews for the Bachelor Beast program. While they were doing the talk-show circuit light-years away, I was going to do a Prillon Prime circuit of my own.

  That was the plan, anyway. First I had to find a worthy candidate, then convince him—or them—to sex me up.

  With all the testosterone—did aliens have testosterone?—walking around, I doubted it’d be too difficult. I wasn’t a supermodel, but I wasn’t unfortunate looking either. When I’d been a kid, my pops had called me his little leprechaun thanks to my mop of red hair and bright green eyes. Now I had freckles galore and a nose ring to go with it, so hopefully I looked like the gold at the end of the rainbow and not an ugly duckling.

  But I’d never seen a Prillon woman—female alien—whatever. I had no idea what I was competing with here. As far as I knew, I was the only human female in the group who didn’t already have a mate. So I wasn’t planning on competing with my friends, just the locals.

  “Be mindful and cautious, Lucy. Our intel states Cerberus is still seeking a human female for his own,” Maxim said, and everyone once again looked at me.

  Those words were like being shoved into a freezing cold shower. Cerberus wasn’t stupid enough to take an already claimed woman. He might be the Wicked Witch of the West of space, but he wasn’t dumb. He wanted an unmated human. One nobody’d go after.

  That would be… me.

  I raised a hand to stop Maxim from continuing on the topic, which was a total Debbie Downer. “I have no intention of doing anything crazy. I promise to stay inside the palace at all times.”

  Maxim, Ryston, and Kiel stared at me skeptically while the ladies smirked, but I spoke the truth. I had no interest in being Cerberus’s side piece. The idea made me ill. I’d take the guards Maxim or any of the guys decided to assign me. I was fine with being safe. If the guards were hot and could fuck me against a wall or on any horizontal surface in the palace while watching over me, I’d be totally satisfied.

  Oh yes, I would, and I was sure more than once.

  Caroline, Rezzer, and little CJ and RJ arrived on the transport platform we’d just vacated, and I waved to the twins. It was still weird to have them magically appear from one second to the next. They came down off the platform, and the twins clapped with excitement, then wiggled to be free. At not yet two years old, they were eager to explore. Younger than Tanner and Emma, they weren’t quite ready to be s
eparated from their parents. Or their parents weren’t quite ready to be separated from them. They’d spent many hours at playdates with Tanner and Emma, as had all the children. They all called me Aunt Woocy, too. It was too damn adorable. They loved me, and I loved them back.

  It should be enough. So why did I feel empty?

  “Why is everyone staring at Lucy?” Rezzer asked, leaning to let CJ down. She ran off like a streak and right for the transport controls. Rezzer dashed after and scooped her right back up. She fussed but he gave her a zerbert and she giggled. “Can we get to the palace before this one sets the controls and sends us all to Sector Zero?”

  With Maxim in the lead, we exited the transport room. The ladies hung back with me, but the guys looked over their shoulders to make sure we followed.

  “This is going to be the best time ever,” Lindsey said. “But we need to hurry. The surprise party is supposed to start in three hours. That’s not very much time to get ready.”

  Caroline nodded and I saw that little RJ’s eyes were drooping, his head on her shoulder. Transport was exhausting, and his small body was probably ready for nap time. His sister—she was a pistol and would probably run until she tipped over—was climbing over Rezzer’s shoulders so she could see better. “I’m so glad you organized babysitters. A party with fancy dresses and Lucy’s gorgeous makeup work…”