Mated to the Beast Read online

  “That’s not true,” the warden replied, her voice crisp and angry. “This is your second day in your role and therefore you are ignorant of many things. There have been Earth women who volunteered to fight the Hive, just not many. Miss Mills, I believe an apology is in order.”

  “Thank you.” My shoulders slumped in relief and I felt like I could breathe again. I didn’t want or need a mate. I didn’t want to go to Atlan. I both wanted and needed to go kill the things that had killed my two brothers. My father would roll over in his grave if I walked away from this war and pretended to be a weak, scared female who needed a man to take care of her. That wasn’t how I was raised. My father and brothers made sure I knew how to take care of myself, expected more from me. “When do I leave? I’m ready to go fight the Hive.”

  I knew most rational women would have thought I was insane. Who would turn down a perfect match, a mate who would be totally and completely devoted to me for the rest of my life, a strong man who could give me children and a home, for battle and most likely death?

  I guess that would be me.

  “You have been assigned to Atlan,” she clarified. “The testing has been done. Based on your psychological profile and testing by the matching program, your mate will be selected from available males on the planet Atlan. They do things a bit different there—”

  “No. But—” I interrupted, but she wasn’t finished.

  She sighed and held up her hand to stall any more argument from me. “You’ll be transported off planet without your consent. I assume I do not have it.”

  “No. You do not,” I replied, very clearly. “I don’t need to have an alien man, some… mate telling me what to do.”

  “You’re going to have a commanding officer, most likely a man, tell you exactly what to do for the next two years,” the mouse countered.

  She had a point, but I wasn’t going to tell her that. Besides, there was a big difference between a mate who, according to coalition laws, would be legally allowed to boss me around for the rest of my life and a commanding officer who would be out of my life in two years. “I’ll do whatever it takes to find my brother. The only brother I have left alive after this fight with the Hive. I made a promise to my father and nothing is going to stop me from keeping my word.”

  Both women looked at me with wide eyes, probably surprised by my vehemence. I wasn’t fucking around. I wanted to find Seth and I wanted to kill as many Hive as I could for taking away John and Chris. The Hive hadn’t actually killed my dad, but the grief of my brothers’ deaths certainly helped finish him off.

  “Very well,” the warden replied, swiping her finger over the tablet, which released my restraints. “Since I do not have your consent to be a bride, you are free to go to the Interstellar Battle Battalion’s testing center and begin your processing so they can get you sworn in.”

  I spoke as I rubbed my wrists. “So, all of this was a waste? I have to start over, over there?”

  She sighed. “I’m afraid so. I’m sorry.”

  “As long as we’ve got the whole mate problem straightened out, it’s fine.” I felt better knowing the reason behind the sex dream. For a minute, I’d wondered if I had some repressed, kinky woman I didn’t recognize hiding inside my head. I was relieved to discover that it wasn’t my fault. I hadn’t done anything to make that sexual imagery bubble to the surface.

  I swiveled in the chair and put my bare feet on the cold floor. My legs were shaking but I refused to think about the reason. Why was having a bossy mate more frightening to me than battling pitiless, inhuman, alien cyborgs?

  Well, for starters, if a cyborg pissed me off, I could blow his head off and walk away. But a mate? Well, he’d make me angry and I’d be stuck with him forever, festering like a volcano, never able to blow… And, God knew, I had a temper. It had gotten me into trouble more than once. But it had also saved my life. Seth used to tease me about it, saying I would end up immortal because I was just too stubborn to die.

  “I will escort you personally to ensure you are indeed in the right place this time.” The warden spoke to me, but she was looking at the cringing mouse. “And that all protocols have been followed to the letter.”

  I offered the mouse a small smile. “Don’t be too hard on her,” I replied. “She’s new. And I had an amazing dream.”

  Shit, had I ever. If the guy I would have been matched to was anything like the big, aggressive lover in the dream… the thought made my nipples harden.

  The warden lifted a brow. “It’s not too late to change your mind, Miss Mills. You should know that was not a dream, it was processing center data experienced by another bride during her claiming ceremony with a male from Atlan.”

  “Processing data?”

  The warden flushed, her cheeks turning a bright pink as I tried to wrap my mind about what that meant, exactly.

  “Yes. When she is sent off world, a bride is implanted with a Neurostim Unit right here. The same for coalition fighters.” She lifted her finger and tapped the bony protrusion of her skull just above her temple. “It will help you learn and adapt to all the languages in the Interstellar Coalition.”

  “I’d be able to talk to anyone?”

  “Yes. But that’s not all.” Her eyes darted away, then back to mine. “When a bride is claimed by her mate, the sensory data, what she sees, hears, and… feels,” the warden cleared her throat, “is recorded and used to mentally stimulate and process future brides to determine their suitability for that planet’s men and customs.”

  Holy shit. “So, it wasn’t a dream. I was reliving someone else’s memory? That really happened?”

  The warden smiled. “Oh, yes. Exactly as you experienced it.”

  “To another woman?”

  “Yes.”

  Wow. I had no idea what to do with that knowledge. Did that mean that all men from Atlan were as dominant as the one in the dream? He’d spoken of a fever, a rage that only I—the woman in the dream—could tame. Did he mean he was hot for her? If that was what a dream felt like, I could only imagine how amazing it would have been if it had been real. God, that man, he was unlike any guy I’d ever met on Earth. That dream had been hotter than any experience I’d had actually taking a man to bed.

  But it was a dream, at least for me. I shouldn’t linger on it. It was a mistake. I was going to fight for the coalition. I was going to find Seth. I didn’t have time to be distracted by lust. It was pure, mindless lust. I was thinking about killing cyborgs, and yet my nipples were still hard. Totally unacceptable. Duty first. My bottled-up libido would have to wait until after my brother was home safe. I had to find him, fight with him, and finish up our terms of service. Then we could go home.

  I looked up to find the warden watching me closely. “You can still change your mind, Miss Mills. You will be matched to a warrior from Atlan. He’ll be yours completely, your psychological profiles and preferences aligned. He will be totally devoted, loyal, and perfect for you in every way.”

  I remembered the hard thrust of the man’s cock, the way I’d moaned and squirmed against the wall as he took me. The powerful lure of being wanted, desired to a point of mindless fucking flooded me with longing. I could have that. I could have one of those big, rough lovers all to myself—

  No. No way. I wouldn’t let my hormones turn me into an idiot. I had a plan, a purpose. I needed to find Seth. I did not need a hot man with a huge cock that could make me come just from taking me hard and deep. I sighed. Need? No. But want…

  Damn. Focus! Duty first. I would not be weak. I had one brother left. One.

  “I don’t want a mate, warden. I simply need to get to the front lines and fight beside my brother. I promised my father I’d watch over him and make sure he comes home.”

  She sighed, clearly disappointed. “Very well.”

  * * *

  Dax, Battleship Brekk, Sector 592, The Front

  “Get this soldier matched and mated,” my commanding officer bellowed, shoving me into the medical
station onboard the Battleship Brekk the moment the doors to the room slid open.

  All workers spun around as the booming order echoed off the hard, sterile surfaces of medical exam tables and smooth, glass screens that covered nearly every square inch of the walls. Across their glossy surfaces flowed an unending stream of medical data, bioscans, and testing results of the patients on display.

  A man in the gray uniform worn by the medical support staff dashed forward. “We will need you to schedule an appointment—”

  “Now!” Commander Deek shouted. “Unless you want an Atlan berserker in beast form tearing apart this ship.”

  The medical officer jumped a foot and nodded his head as a doctor hurried to take over. She was wearing the formal green uniform of all high-ranking doctors, but she was small and delicate, nowhere near big enough to stop me if the frenzy I felt building within were to break free. I fought back the fury in deference to the tiny female, thankful the huge Prillon doctor I spied on the opposite side of the medical station wasn’t standing before me now. My reaction to the woman was telling. Commander Deek was right. I needed a mate to calm the beast. Didn’t mean I liked the idea.

  “It can wait,” I grumbled, not eager to be the center of everyone’s attention. The thick rumble of my voice was further evidence of how close I was to the edge of control. I’d been feeling the call to mate for weeks and had ignored it. There was always another battle, another Hive outpost to destroy. I had a job to do, and my body was no longer allowing me to do it. Instead, my cock and my mind had become tuned to just one need: the need to mate, to rut, to fuck until I couldn’t see straight. I needed a mate to calm the beast, or the beast would consume me until I was nothing but a mindless animal. And now, everyone on board this ship would know just how badly I needed to get laid. Mate or die. That was the way for an Atlan male. We were too powerful to be allowed to go feral. If I didn’t mate soon, the other Atlan warriors would be forced to execute me, as was their right.

  I knew all of this, and yet I had truly believed I could hold off the mating fever just a few more weeks. I’d be home, then. My service to the coalition military served. I’d be free to choose any woman on the home world. I’d be a victor, sought after and fought over by the smartest, most beautiful, the most desirable females. If I could just make it home.

  “I wouldn’t have to scare the staff if you had told me your mating fever was upon you,” he countered, releasing his grip on my shoulder.

  “I don’t see what that has to do with my performance in the last raid. I’ve got it under control.”

  “You rushed straight into our line of fire and singlehandedly took out an entire squadron of Hive scouts. The last two you did not simply shoot. No, your beast demanded their heads be ripped from their bodies.” He crossed his arms and scowled at me. “I’m not some ignorant Trion commander. I’m Atlan. I know the signs, Dax. Your beast nearly claimed you out there today. It’s time.”

  I glanced down at my upturned palms. I was just as deadly as any other Atlan, except for the fact that I’d never had such a fiery rage take me over. The Atlan were feared in battle, known to be cold and calculating, and very powerful. No Atlan warrior—at least none free of mating fever—would dismantle a Hive fighter—or three—with his bare hands. It would be judged an inefficient use of energy. But today, I’d laid eyes on my enemies and had an uncontrollable need… this primal urge to rip them in half. And so I did.

  I’d noticed the intensity of my hatred growing over the past few weeks, but I’d refused to think about mating fever as the reason. I was already two years older than most men when their mating fever struck and had simply tried to forget all about it.

  “You should be thanking me for my kill count today, not matching me to an alien.”

  He pushed me in the direction the doctor indicated, toward another staff member who had readied a testing station for me. Commander Deek thanked her and shoved me toward the chair once she wandered off to attend to her other patients. “I’ll thank you after you’re mated and I know I don’t have to execute you for losing control.” His grin then was one I expected, the shared satisfaction of victory. “I admit, I will be sorry to see you go.”

  A man whose mating fever was upon him was immediately relieved of duty and sent home to Atlan to take a mate. His term of service fighting the Hive was over. A man’s new job was to procreate, to breed his new mate like the beast he was until she carried his child.

  Retiring and raising a family while there were still active Hive outposts to fight? No. That, I had no desire to do. I belonged on the front lines of battle, tearing the heads off my enemies and protecting my people. I didn’t need a mate, nor did I desire offspring. I was content with my life as it was. Out here, I was a warrior with purpose. What was I to do with a mate? Follow her around like a lovesick youth, stroking my cock and wasting precious hours trying to convince an alien female not to fear me or my beast? How was I supposed to do that?

  When an Atlan turned into a beast, his muscles bulged to nearly twice their size, teeth lengthened into fangs, and the ability to speak was nearly lost. What was an alien female going to do with an Atlan gone berserk?

  I needed to go home and find an Atlan female, one I knew wouldn’t fear me. A woman I wouldn’t fear breaking in half with my giant cock and my need to completely dominate her body, to cover her with my bulk and fuck her until she passed out. Resistance riled my beast, and in rut of a mating fever, any rebellion or disobedience from a female would be harshly dealt with. An Atlan female would respond well to my need for control, would grow wet with welcome when I growled at her and would spread her legs wide for my eager cock, knowing that her soft body and wet pussy would tame me in the end. Perhaps she would even allow me to sleep with my head pillowed on her soft thigh, my face next to the sweet scent of her pussy as I dreamed of fucking her again.

  But an alien woman? What was she going to expect? A man who daydreamed and wrote love letters and brought her shiny gifts? No. On Atlan, holding a woman’s hands locked over her head and fucking her against the wall was a love letter. An Atlan warrior’s gift to his bride was to tie her down and lick her pussy until her orgasms made her scream and beg to be fucked. My cock swelled at the images in my mind and I shifted, trying to hide my condition from Commander Deek. I glanced at his face, at his raised brow, and conceded defeat. Mating fever. I simply could not stop thinking about fucking.

  “Let me go home. I can find a mate on my own,” I replied as I dropped into the exam chair. It was reclined, so I leaned back, crossed my arms over my waist, and stared up at the metal ceiling with a clenched jaw.

  “You don’t have time to go through a formal courtship on Atlan. That could take months.” He took a seat on a stool near the end of the table and looked me straight in the eye. “You’ll be dead in a week if you aren’t mated. You have no time to court and woo an elite Atlan female and can be placed at the top of the list for a mate. Clearly your fever offers special accommodation and haste.”

  I gave him a disbelieving gaze, raising my brow. “Court and woo? And who said anything about an elite?” At this point, I’d settle for a prostitute on the outer rim as long as her skin was soft and her pussy was wet.

  He rolled his eyes. No warrior returned home to Atlan to anything less than an elite female. Warrior mates were prized possessions on Atlan; wealthy, influential and respected. The available females, and their fathers, would expect a full ritual courtship from me, were I to return home now. I was a ground commander, a warlord in charge of several thousand infantry forces and raiding squadrons. I was not a first year soldier returning home with nothing. The Atlan senate would honor me upon my return with wealth, property, and title.

  Commander Deek was right. Even if I transported home today, I wouldn’t have an approved mating for months. I didn’t have time for formality. I didn’t have time to woo and court a soft Atlan female. I needed quick and dirty. I needed a woman I could mount and fuck and dominate now, a woman to bring me
back from the edge. Someone soft, serene, gentle, and fertile, as the elite females on Atlan were. A woman who could pet my beast and calm my rage.

  He cuffed me on the shoulder when he noticed I no longer paid attention. “Listen, Dax. You will only take a mate once and you need to do it right. Even if you’re matched to an alien.”

  The idea of coming to actually like a mate, an alien mate, was highly improbable. But I didn’t need to fall in love. I just needed to fuck her. Well, not just fuck her, but bond with her to satisfy my beast’s hunger for touch, for the soothing stroke of a woman’s hands on my body. Should be simple enough.

  “All right. Get it done,” I said, resolved.

  Restraints curved up and around my wrists and locked into place. My inner beast raged at the confinement, but I remained in control. Barely. I knew this was the fastest way to summon a mate and I focused on that fact above all else until the beast stilled within me, watchful but willing to wait.

  The medical officer attached probes to my temples and began pressing all kinds of buttons on the screen in the wall behind my head. I ignored him completely. I didn’t want a step-by-step analysis or explanation. I wanted it over.

  “There will be no pain with the testing, Warlord Dax,” the medical officer said, not looking at me but at his screen. “The matching takes into account many factors, including physical compatibility, personality, appearance, sexual needs, repressed fantasies, sexual drive, genetic likelihood of producing viable offspring—”

  “Begin, without the blathering.”

  The man closed his mouth. Commander Deek may have been in charge of the Atlan battle group, but I was a leader in my own right and everyone knew it. Including, it seemed, those in the medical station.

  The man flicked his gaze at Commander Deek, who stiffly nodded.

  “Very well. Close your eyes…”

  * * *