The Rebel and the Rogue Read online

  And now? He was truly a legend. Mated to a human female who had killed a Nexus Unit and stolen a ship. Makarios was gone from Rogue 5, gone from every space station from here to Xerima. The Coalition was hunting him. We were hunting him. The other legions were hunting him. I’d heard that even the Hive were hunting him… or his female.

  We’d all heard odd stories of his human female being one of them, that she could transform into one of the blue creatures that led the Hive, the Nexus Units. I had no idea if that were true, and Astra didn’t give a shit if she was blue, purple or human, she wanted the antidote Makarios’s mate had supposedly created. She was truly mated to him. Had survived his bite. We all needed mates to help us survive. To keep Astra legion strong. Astra wanted that antidote for her hybrids. We weren’t going to lose our minds, as the Atlans did in their Mating Fever, but without mates, we suffered as they did. We hybrids just lived with the pain in our bodies.

  It would almost be a relief to be Atlan, to know there was an end to the hunger and madness. To know that without a mate to keep us sane, we would be put down. But we were not so lucky as the Atlans. And I had no desire to die.

  I wanted that antidote. We all did. If I’d had it, I wouldn’t have ridden the edge of insanity as my cock filled and fucked that lush human. Her skin had been sweet on my tongue. So had her pussy. I’d grazed her tender skin with my fangs, the need within me insisting I plunge them as deeply as I had my cock. I’d been desperate to make her writhe and moan for a completely different reason. I had almost lost control.

  Almost.

  I’d held off, barely. Kept sane. Barely. I liked her alive, panting and moaning, whimpering and screaming because of me. Because of pleasure. Not pain.

  Had I been able, I would have filled her with my cum for hours because of the mating fist, marked her over and over with my bite. Made her mine—no matter that I’d told her otherwise—and dealt with her anger about it later. But that wasn’t an option for me. For any of us.

  We were strong. Mean. Bigger than any of the other races and fiercely loyal. If Astra—the female, not the legion—lost us, her power position on Rogue 5 would be dangerously threatened. The members of the legion would be threatened. No doubt Cerberus or Siren would attack while the legion was weak. Take Astra Legion’s women and children, sell our people for slaves or mercenaries.

  Astra appeared to be satisfied with my response. “Anything out of the ordinary? Anything to report?”

  “Nothing. Everything appears to be normal. I do not believe we are walking into a trap.”

  She tipped her head toward one of the bedrooms. “Get cleaned up. We leave soon.”

  I grunted and moved to do as she ordered. I washed in a shower tube and hated that I rinsed the female’s scent from my body. Her taste from my mouth. Her soft whimpers from my mind.

  No, those I’d never forget.

  When I emerged a short time later, I was in full legion armor. Stolen from the Coalition—we’d taken their latest technology and adapted it to our needs. Instead of gray and black, we’d altered the color to black and dark green and emblazoned Astra Legion’s emblem on both shoulder and chest. Our dark green armbands, worn at home over more traditional and casual clothing, were part of the uniform rather than an adornment. The suit would deflect small blaster fire and protect us in the event we needed to evacuate or enter the cold dark of deep space.

  With every layer of protection I added to my body, I drifted farther away from the female and focused on the mission. We would meet with the Coalition fighter who claimed to have the antidote, Astra would bargain and we would leave. There was no other alternative, not if I and my fellow hybrid Forsians wanted to mate, wanted to have children. Peace. A reason to keep going.

  Astra had changed as well, her soft, flowing tunic and pants replaced with her own, much smaller battle armor. We didn’t know what we’d be facing, and we didn’t know who to trust. To outsiders we seemed wild and disorganized, but we were far from it. There was no dissension in the ranks; there were no ranks among those of us in this room. We all served Astra and we needed the antidote, so everyone worked together for it. A common goal, a common purpose.

  Astra looked me over, the lines around her eyes and mouth making her look fierce. “We are not coming back to this room. We don’t dare. Nevuh and Rhord have gone ahead to ready the ship. You and Barek will accompany me to this meeting. We leave with the antidote at any cost. Do you understand?”

  Barek and I both answered. “Yes, Astra.”

  We would acquire the prize at any cost, even it if meant taking what we wanted and leaving the Coalition contact dead.

  Barek took his usual position ahead of Astra, and I fell in behind. It would take a small army to get through us, and even if someone made it to our leader, she was deadly in her own right.

  We arrived in the empty meeting room well ahead of our contact, exactly as we had planned. I took my place hidden in the shadows as Astra sat at the single long table. Barek stood behind her with his arms crossed. We were heavily armed, the blasters at our sides misleading. It was the blades tucked into our armor that we preferred to use to make an honorable kill.

  Long minutes passed as we waited in silence. When the door to the room finally slid open, I kept my gaze on Astra. She would signal if she wished me to appear. Until then, I was to remain hidden. She didn’t want to frighten the Coalition contact. Astra wanted the antidote, and she preferred not to kill. Not here. Even Astra would not be immune to the Intelligence Core’s justice should we break their rules for the space station. If we killed, we would have to fight our way back to our ship.

  I watched as Barek stepped forward. “Sit.”

  His order was clear.

  “I think I’ll stand, big guy. Thanks anyway.”

  The voice that replied made my chest tighten with pain. My cock instantly surged to life, hard as stone.

  “Sit!” Barek bellowed, but I already knew how this was going to go. I knew exactly who had entered the room. I knew her voice. Her breathy cries of pleasure. Her scream of release. And I knew, even before Barek’s fists tightened at his sides, that this particular human female was going to defy him.

  4

  Zenos

  * * *

  “That will do, Barek.” Astra put out a hand and waved him behind her. He complied, but not without glaring at the human female whose sweet scent I had just washed from my cock.

  Astra took her time studying the lieutenant, the Coalition female I’d fucked hard enough I had to wonder how she could walk so steadily. No question her pussy was sore. I imagined that if I tugged down those pants, I’d find her wet, swollen and coated in my cum.

  “I offered you a seat out of consideration, my dear, but you may stand if you choose.” Astra’s voice was smooth. Even congenial. It was all a lie.

  “I do. Thank you.” And I knew the female’s words were also false. She wasn’t thankful. She was appeasing, for now. Falsehoods on both sides.

  Astra drummed her fingertips on top of the table, and my body tensed with every small beat. “Have you brought what you promised, fighter?”

  “I’m not a Coalition fighter,” she snapped.

  “That is a lie,” Astra countered, her voice slightly raised as she pointed to a readout on her modified Coalition armor. “You are a ReCon lieutenant, of Earth.”

  My female—fuck—the Coalition lieutenant dealing with Astra shook her head. “Not anymore. I ran ReCon for four years. Now I’m… retired.”

  Damn it all, not knowing her name while we’d fucked had been sexy. Hot. Her insistence on anonymity had made my balls tighten. Now I wanted to know my opponent, to have the edge on her. I wanted to know everything.

  What retired human Coalition fighter spent her time negotiating with someone from Rogue 5? Spent her days at a transport station in the outer reaches of Sector 437 where nothing good ever happened to beautiful, small females without a mate to protect them?

  Her.

  My cock pu
nched against my armor, eager to get inside her again. She was fierce. Brave. Crazy. And I wanted her again. I felt my fangs elongate, but I willed them back.

  “I see.” Astra raised her brows, and I couldn’t stop myself from sliding to the side, just far enough to peek around the large pillar hiding my body from the lieutenant’s view. The darkness would be enough to conceal me, I was sure of that. And if it didn’t? I didn’t really give a fuck, not with the way Barek was opening and closing his fists as if he wanted to punch my female.

  What if I was wrong? What if his fangs had elongated as well as his cock?

  Mine.

  The thought burst to life inside me, and I didn’t fight it this time. I wanted this fearless human female again. And again. I wanted to fuck her until I forgot to breathe…

  “If you are retired, what are you doing here?” Astra asked. “Why did you not return to your home world?”

  “Earth?” She laughed. “As if. There is a bounty on Rogue 5 I wish to collect. My price for the antidote is safe passage to your moon base and shelter within Astra Legion while I hunt. That is all.”

  That was all?

  Did she understand the risk to Astra Legion if our leader granted her request? Anyone this female hunted would also be seen as a target of Astra. If this female took shelter in our legion, wore our colors, Astra would be held accountable for anyone she hurt, anyone she killed.

  And what was this small, weak female thinking, trying to hunt on Rogue 5?

  Her bold declaration made my balls ache to fill her again. A bounty hunter? She was a fucking bounty hunter? And she wanted to get onto Rogue 5? Had she lost her fucking mind? The first words I’d said to her in the canteen were that she didn’t belong out here, in this area of space. She was human. Small. Weak. If she didn’t belong on Transport Station Zenith, there was no fucking way she would survive on Rogue 5. She’d be dead in a matter of hours.

  Apparently, Astra was no more convinced than I. “All you want for the antidote is passage to Rogue 5 and a safe place to sleep?”

  She nodded. “Yes.”

  “And this bounty you are hunting? Is it one of mine?”

  “No, Astra. I would not insult you in that manner. The criminal I hunt runs with the Cerberus Legion. He’s a Quell dealer. He sold a bad mix to my ReCon unit. Got them all killed.”

  I wrapped my fist around the blaster at my side and grimaced as it crumpled like paper under my grip. Cerberus? If they caught my lieutenant, they’d do worse than kill her. Far, far worse.

  No. No. No. No…

  “What is his name?” Astra asked.

  “Gerian Eozara.”

  I’d never heard the name, but that was no surprise. I preferred to stay away from all members of Cerberus Legion, from any legion other than Astra, for that matter. No recognition flickered on Astra’s face; therefore she was either extremely good at hiding it or she didn’t know him either. It didn’t matter, the name—they were all lawless fuckers in Cerberus.

  “I know of him,” Astra said. “He is well known for cutting his product with other, less expensive, materials.”

  “Less expensive? Is that what you call sending an entire ReCon unit on a bad trip?”

  “I do not understand this term. Where did they take this trip?”

  The human sighed, hands on her hips. “Hallucinations. Made them see things that weren’t real. Bad things. By the time the Hive showed up, they didn’t know what was real and what was the drug. Got them all killed. Every single member of my unit died that day.”

  “Yet you survived.” There was a question behind Astra’s words.

  “I did.” The two words held finality and didn’t invite more questions.

  Guess Astra wasn’t going to get any more information from the female, information that I desperately wanted. How had she received the scars that covered her body? Had it been during this battle? How many times had she fought the Hive? ReCon units were known to infiltrate Hive infested areas and attempt rescue operations. Very dangerous work. The idea of my female…

  No. Not mine. Never mine.

  “I am sorry for your loss.”

  “Sorry isn’t enough for me. I want Gerian’s head on a spike.”

  That made my leader smile. “Understandable. I accept your offer.” Astra’s words made my body heavy as lead, but I should have known the worst was yet to come. “Assuming you have proof that what you trade is the true antidote to hybrid Forsian poison. How do I know what you offer is, indeed, the formula that made Makarios of Kronos Legion able to take a mate?”

  The lieutenant crossed her arms over her chest. I knew what those lush curves looked like bare. Had watched as the soft, pink tips hardened. “I took the antidote weeks ago, when I tracked my bounty to Rogue 5.”

  “Did you?” Astra’s voice sounded… intrigued. “And what proof do I have of your claim?”

  My female shrugged as if Astra’s question meant nothing. She pointed to Barek. “Have the big guy here bite me. He’s part Forsian, I assume. If I’m lying, I’m dead.”

  What the fuck?

  Astra’s entire body went still, and blood pounded through my head as I waited for her response. She was my leader. I was blood sworn to follow her orders. But this? No. Gods help me, no.

  Bite her? Barek?

  No, Astra. No.

  “If you are lying, you will die,” Astra warned.

  “I know. Do it. Tell him to bite me.” The defiant human raised her hand, one finger pointed up in the air and her brow arched high above one eye. “But no mating bullshit. This means nothing, big guy. We clear on that? You try to mate with me, and I will kill you.”

  The human female had fallen directly into Astra’s hands. If she lied, she’d die. Astra didn’t have to raise an ion pistol to kill her for playing us. The human would kill herself, and we wouldn’t have to worry about Coalition rules.

  The lieutenant hadn’t blinked an eye. In fact she had suggested it. Was she so daring she was willing to risk her own life, or was she telling the truth? Bluff or bravery?

  At the slight nod from Astra, Barek moved forward toward the female. My female. “My bite will make you scream, female. Then we will see if it is in pleasure or in death.”

  “Just shut up and do it.” The lieutenant tugged the armor away from her neck, exposing the long, bare flesh I’d recently kissed. Sucked. Tasted.

  My mouth watered as she angled her head to the side.

  Barek got closer. He looked at Astra, something dark and dangerous in his eyes. Was that need? Regret? The room was too dark, but Astra seemed to sense that he needed something from her. “Nothing will change, Barek. Bite her.”

  Barek nodded slightly and turned his attention to the human. Moved.

  Closer.

  He leaned over her and opened his mouth. I saw his fangs. Her smooth, pale skin. So soft. So sweet. So damn mine. He didn’t want to do it. I knew it. The only female he wanted to sink his fangs into was Astra. But it was her order, her command, and he did her bidding.

  The lieutenant stood as still as a statue, her gaze locked with Astra’s in stubborn defiance.

  Fuuuuuck.

  My body moved before I could regain control, the bellow from my lungs one I’d never heard before. I was on him before anyone in the room could react. I picked up my longtime friend and threw him across the small room, where his body smashed several inches deep into the wall. He slid to the ground with a grunt but was on his feet in seconds, fists clenched, death in his eyes.

  Astra launched from her chair and stepped between us, and by the gods, that was the only thing that kept me from killing him.

  “Enough.” Astra waited for Barek to nod before turning to face me—and her. She looked us both over for long, silent moments. “This is the female you fucked.”

  She didn’t question, she knew. Most likely scented me on the human And that made me growl, knowing the female walked around with my scent, my cum all over her.

  “Yes.” There was no use denying
it.

  I looked to the lieutenant. Her mouth hung open, eyes wide. Clearly she hadn’t been expecting to see me ever again. She’d been cool and confident facing a leader of a Rogue 5 legion but was stunned dumb by the sight of me. I wasn’t sure if I should preen or growl.

  “Then you will do it,” Astra said. “Bite her.”

  Behind me, the lieutenant gasped. “No. Absolutely not.”

  I looked down at her, the brave face she’d worn until now completely gone. She looked… shaken.

  Oh shit, had she been bluffing? Was I the one to kill her then?

  Astra was ruthless. “You will accept the bite of one of my Forsian hybrids, or the deal is off.”

  The lieutenant shook her head. “No. I have the antidote, I just don’t want him to bite me.”

  Her words crushed something dark and hungry inside me. She had taunted Barek into biting her. And yet with me, she refused as if I were less. Not worthy.

  She would not choose me. She would never choose me. But perhaps I could help Barek and the others. “We must not bite her, Astra. The risk is too great.”

  That made Astra’s gaze snap to attention, her interest in my protest immediate.

  “You refuse my command to bite her, Zenos?”

  Her words were formal, and I knew I was on very dangerous ground. She’d probably known the second the female entered the room that I’d had her. The test, it seemed, was as much for me as for the lieutenant.

  “Yes. The risk to”—fuck, I didn’t even know her name—“the Coalition lieutenant is too great.”

  “I could have you executed for this,” Astra warned.

  I bowed slightly. “I accept your judgment, Astra. My loyalty to you is unchanged.”

  “What?” Behind me the female stepped to my side, her face lifted to study mine, but I held Astra’s gaze. This was no small thing, but I would do anything to make sure Barek didn’t touch her. That none of the other Forsians would touch her. I’d rather be dead than watch Barek taste what should be mine.