Mated to the Beast(19)

Still, he’d already given me his word that he would help get my brother back.

More likely, he planned to pat me on the head like a good little girl and leave me behind while he went out to slay dragons. I got a very obvious overprotective vibe from him. And that was not my style.

Could he force me to resign my commission with the fleet? I didn’t know the rules. Since I’d been matched by their system, could he force me out of the military? Could this giant Atlan male force my hand?

Besides that, I didn’t want a mate. I’d had to deal with enough men in my life—a pesky father, three brothers, commanders in the military, fellow soldiers—I didn’t need a mate, too. And him? Him! God, this man was matched to me? So far, he’d done nothing but piss me off. So what if he was sex on a stick—sex on a very big stick. So what if my mind conjured images of him fucking me up against a wall, pounding into me hard over and over until I came all over his very large cock? And I knew it was large. It had to be.

I refused to believe my feelings were caused by any kind of mating… thing. More likely, I took notice of him due to the epic sex drought I was in. Two and a half years without sex would drive any sane woman to take notice of the huge male. I just wanted an orgasm or two and I wasn’t opposed to the idea of him giving them to me. Just because I was a woman didn’t mean I couldn’t fuck, then walk away. Hit it and quit it could work for me, too. Right?

This attraction was purely biological. He made my nipples hard, so what? Cold weather did the same thing and being from Florida, I hated snow, too. Dax was obviously bossy and blatantly chauvinistic and domineering and overwhelming… and on and on. I’d lucked out, choosing the coalition over him. Mated… to him! Ha!

“I’m not going with you, you’re welcome to come with us,” I told him, nudging him with the tip of my ion pistol. “Shepard, are we back in coalition space?”

Shepard checked his data pad and nodded. “Yes, sir.”

“Excellent.” My men would be safe now, the ship protected by coalition patrols and escorted back to the battle group for cleanup and reassignment. “Shep, you’re in charge of cleanup. I’m taking my mate—” I said the word with disdain and sarcasm, “—back to the Karter. We have business to take care of.”

Dax frowned down at me but I refused to look away. “You are coming with me to the Brekk.”

I raised my pistol and narrowed my eyes. “No. I’m not. We are going to go find Commander Karter, plan a rescue mission, and get a space divorce.”

I think he actually growled. What the hell? Was he part beast or something?





Chapter Five





Dax



It took an hour for my mate to debrief her commanding officer about the events of the battle I’d transported directly into. That done, we had been ordered to report to Commander Karter’s war room on the command deck. Now we stood opposite Commander Karter’s desk. My mate stood at attention beside me in front of the Prillon leader. Like all Prillon commanders, he was almost as big as I, with golden hair and eyes that stared at us both like the predator he was. There was no softness in his expression or empathy in his eyes. He sat stiff and at attention behind his desk, calculating and calm despite my mate’s growing irritation.

“I want to go after him,” she told her commander, her chin set at a defiant tilt. I stood, listening only. I bided my time, for my chance to speak would come soon. “I’ll take volunteers.”

Her commander sighed and continued to ignore me. “I can’t sanction a rescue mission to an integration center for one coalition fighter. Things are precarious enough around here, captain, as it is. I can’t risk warriors for a mission that is most likely doomed to failure. We’re holding this sector by sheer force of will. I can’t risk the lives of good, strong fighters on a suicide run for a man who is probably already lost.”

And there it was, the truth my mate didn’t want to hear. I could see the mix of fury and sadness flicker across her face, but she disguised it well. “I have to try. He’s my brother.”

Her pain made me ache to pull her to me and hold her close. The strength of the urge to hug an alien female, to soothe her emotions, only confirmed that I was at the mercy of the mating connection. I studied her now, at my leisure, as she stood before her commander and tried to hide her hurt with a fierce pride I admired. She looked so much more vibrant and beautiful than the image I’d seen on the doctor’s tablet. That image had been flat, without her fire or the stubborn tilt of her jaw. In reality, she looked like so much… more.