“I love the taste of you. Your lips, your pussy,” he replied, his voice rough.
“Calm that beast of yours so we can get Seth and get the hell off this ship. When we’re safely back in our quarters, you can taste all of me.”
I hoped the promise—and it was a promise—was enough to soothe him.
Dax growled deep in his chest. “Better,” he murmured, then pushed me away from him. “You are forewarned that as soon as I get you alone and not on an enemy ship, I’m going to fuck you until you can’t walk right.”
“Noted,” I said, my pussy clenching at the promise in his voice.
“Let’s get your brother and get the fuck out of here.”
As Dax led me to the nearest tunnel, I couldn’t have said it better myself.
Chapter Nine
Dax
Sarah’s kiss soothed the beast brought about by the Hive blood on my hands. The mating fever had come on so abruptly and so intensely that I’d been unable to stop it and had no way to tame it. I’d killed the three Hive without even blinking, but when I was done, I saw Sarah stand and knew I had to have her. The beast within wanted her with an intensity that was painful. I wanted to toss her over one of the supply cubes and fuck her, filling her again and again with my seed, my beast telling Sarah that she belonged to him. But not here, not now. And not on a Hive prison ship.
I couldn’t even fuck her now. Sarah knew I needed something, and the kiss helped. Just being able to touch her, to feel that she was right there with me eased the harsh need. If she hadn’t soothed me, kissed me, I would have been unable to stop the beast from taking control.
My breathing had calmed, my heart rate lowering. I could be near Sarah without the risk of hurting her. My mind cleared of the red haze of desire. Licking her taste from my lips, I was soothed. It was only temporary, but we were on this fucking ship for a short time. We weren’t lingering.
As I came out onto the fifth floor, I turned to Sarah. She nodded and we went in. We didn’t talk, we didn’t even have to share commands. We knew exactly what we needed to do, trusting in the other.
There were three groups of Hive, easily wiped out. While the life sensors probably picked us up on their displays, we weren’t staying. Sarah found the control panel and disarmed the doors on the holding cells.
“Seth!” she cried, stalking down the central corridor searching.
About a dozen men came out of the various holding cells, her brother one of them. The men looked worn, but well. Alive. Whole.
“Is this everyone?” I asked. A man looked around, took a head count, then nodded.
“Anyone too injured to walk out of here?”
“No. We’re all ready,” Seth spoke up and I nodded. Good.
“They were going to begin the transformation once we reached the IC. None of us have been touched.”
I was relieved they had avoided true Hive horrors.
As Seth hugged Sarah, I ordered the other men to collect the Hive’s weapons, to arm themselves for our extraction.
“What the hell are you doing with him?” Seth asked, glaring at me. It was fortunate he was not yet armed.
Sarah looked at the floor, then at me. “I’m mated to him.”
Seth did then grab an ion pistol from one of the other soldiers and stormed over to me. “You mated her? Are you fucking kidding me? You landed in the middle of a battle and had me taken by the Hive! And now—” he ran his hand through his hair, hair the same shade as his sister’s, “—now you drag Sarah back into dangerous territory, onto a fucking Hive prison ship? Are you an ass, or just stupid?”
I felt the tip of the weapon against my chest and I did not blame the man. He’d transported out of the battle before I’d said more than Mine. He hadn’t heard that she was my mate, that I had claimed her. He knew nothing but the fact that I’d inadvertently fucked up their last mission.
“Seth, leave him alone. It was my decision to rescue you, not his. He tagged along to protect me.”
Seth whipped his head around and looked down at his sister. “Are you kidding me?”
“If you are so worried about Sarah’s safety, let’s argue about this once we get back to the Karter,” I said. “But your anger is to be directed at me, not Sarah. You will not raise your voice to my mate again.”
He took a deep breath and let it out, but replied through clenched teeth. “Agreed.”
Nodding once, knowing the one thing we had in common was Sarah’s safety, I hit the comm unit on my shirt. “Battleship Karter. Respond.”
There was silence. I repeated the call. The men glanced at each other, all at once nervous. If I’d been taken by the Hive and rescued, I would be nervous, terrified even, until I was safely back onboard a coalition ship.