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.”