Tamed by the Beast(13)
My eyebrows rose at her words, at the very vivid and carnal task, but Dax yelled at us to hurry. Sarah grabbed my hand and pulled me along behind her.
“And don’t worry, Tiffani. They get big, like the Hulk, but they go back to normal… after.”
Great. I hadn’t slept with a man in five years, and it looked like I was going to be getting back on the proverbial wagon in a jail cell. In space. With a giant alien in beast mode. Why did my nipples tighten at the idea?
Chapter Four
Tiffani, Bundar Prison, Block 4, Cell 11
I pulled the hood closer and lower over my eyes, careful not to reveal the cuffs that felt like thousand-pound weights on my wrists. They were nothing of the sort, but I couldn’t forget about them, or what they meant. We were somewhere called Block 4. I had no idea how many sections of prisoners they kept here; most of the cells we’d passed in a different block had been empty.
But not these.
Naked giants lounged in the cells, and with each of them I walked by, my anger grew. I felt like I was walking by tigers caged at a zoo. The Atlan warriors were all huge, their shoulders just as broad as those of Warlord Dax as I followed him down the sterile, cream-colored corridors. Some were Dax’s size, but others must have been in their beast mode. They were half a foot taller still, their muscles bulging to the point they didn’t look like they could be real. Their bodies were magnificent, rippling muscle so well defined I could trace the outline of each individual tendon and connection with my eyes. They truly looked like gods among men, but their faces? Fierce, predatory eyes, long pointed teeth and their focus on me, as I passed by, so complete that when one growled and rushed the front of his cell, I jumped and lost my balance.
Warlord Dax was there, catching me before I fell and setting me back on my feet. All that separated me from the wild men was some kind of bright force field. It flashed bright blue as the beast man charged at me again. The power of it made him fly backward with a howl of pain where he crouched like an animal, watching me.
I was safe, protected by the invisible barrier. It was better than bars of a prison cell on Earth, stronger.
God, was this what I was about to deal with? Was an Atlan like that who I was supposed to give myself to as a mate? To trust not to hurt me? Oh, shit.
“Is that him?” I whispered.
Dax released me, and I almost wished he hadn’t; the gentle heat of his huge hands helped prevent me panicking. “No.”
Sarah shook her head and rushed to take my hand. I was relieved they were with me. How could I do this? How could I have even thought I could just fuck my mate out of his beast mode? Clearly I’d been delusional about what beast mode meant.
“Shhh,” Sarah replied. “He’s in eleven. Remember.”
Yes, now I did. Dax began walking again and I fell in behind him, Sarah’s arm linked with mine in a show of moral support that I desperately needed. Perhaps she was also holding on to me so I wouldn’t change my mind and run away. My mate was their friend and they didn’t want to see him executed. If I could save him, they would probably drag me kicking and screaming down the long corridor if need be.
“He won’t be like that. He can’t be. I promise,” Sarah vowed.
A shudder raced through my body and I nibbled on my bottom lip. If that was what an Atlan male was like after they lost control of their beast, a wild… thing inside them, suddenly the whole execution thing made a lot more sense. “How do you know? When did you last see him?”
She squeezed my arm as Dax rounded a corner to the final cell. “Two days ago. He was talking then, and seemed mostly normal.” She released her arm, gave me a quick hug and sighed. “Fingers crossed, Tiffani. Don’t lose courage. Deek is not only a great commander, but a great warlord. A great Atlan. You’ll get through this.”
I didn’t answer as I followed Dax and caught sight of my mate for the first time.
He was crouched in the center of the room, waiting for us, as if he’d heard us coming. He didn’t growl or snarl, but his dark eyes inspected us with a predator’s interest and I felt my hands begin to shake. Holy shit.
He was beautiful and even bigger than Dax, at least right now. Where the beast who’d just snarled at me moments ago scared the shit out of me, Deek’s beast seemed calmer somehow, his body completely under his control. I could easily imagine him on a battlefield ripping his enemies in half with his bare hands. Throw a kilt and a broadsword across his back and every single woman on Earth would be panting with lust, despite the frightening display of teeth I saw when his eyes shifted to inspect me.
I knew he couldn’t see much, not with the giant cloak practically swallowing me whole, but he didn’t shift his gaze from me as Dax walked up to the force field. He glanced up at the corner nearest us to the imbedded surveillance camera I could just make out. It was small, no bigger than a dime-sized coin back home, but Sarah had told me it could see and hear everything that happened in that cell.