Mated to the Warriors (17 page)

As hard as he’d been before, he was gentle now. He kissed me, slow and sweet and soft on my lips as I lifted my hips to meet him. I wrapped my arms around his head and made sure he knew I wanted him with me, like this. Always. And after he spilled his seed inside me, I held him close. I ran my fingers through his hair and soothed the lines from his brow, more at peace than I’d been since leaving him. I held him with all the love I could not speak, and we slept.

Chapter Twelve

Zane

I sat in the children’s classroom and watched my beautiful mate charm the little ones. They sat in a circle on the floor, sang songs and clapped as she smiled at them with such light in her eyes that I knew she loved them all. And she loved me. I could see it in her shy smile, and the warmth behind those dark brown eyes. Her gaze would soften when she looked at me now, and I could feel her joy and acceptance through our link.

She loved me, but she would not speak the words.

I wanted her to admit her feelings. I needed to hear them. At our claiming ceremony tomorrow, I had every intention of forcing the issue.

A toddling youngster made her way toward me, her big eyes happy and soft gurgling noises coming from her sweet little body as she inspected my boots. Children were rare on the battleships. Only the high-ranking officers, those lucky enough to have mates, had families onboard. The children transported to the battleship each day for schooling, and for safety. We were the largest ship in the battle group, and the children’s rooms were housed in a specially reinforced and detachable escape vessel.

The young girl placed one chubby little hand on my knee as she tugged at my boot with the other. A few weeks ago, I would have tolerated the little one’s attention, but left feeling uneasy. The children were so small, so fragile and innocent. I never felt comfortable around them before, but something had shifted within me last night, something profound. For the first time in my life I was at peace. I had shown my matched mate my darkness, and she’d not only accepted me, she’d ridden through the storm of my passions and wrapped her small body around mine, twining our legs together as we slept.

I had her trust at last, and I’d never worked so hard for a prize, or valued it more.

The child before me shifted her attention from my boot to my face and she lifted her arms to me. “Up.”

With a frown, I leaned down and lifted the tiny creature into my lap. She patted my face with her chubby fingers and stared up at me with a very serious expression on her sweet face. “Mander.”

I had no idea what the child was saying, but Hannah rose from her seat on the floor and walked over to rescue me.

“Yes, he’s the commander, isn’t he?”

The tiny girl nodded her head as if she’d been asked the most serious question in the world. Then she leaned forward and kissed me with a big, wet, open-mouthed kiss that landed somewhere between my bottom lip and my chin. I froze, utterly at a loss, and Hannah laughed out loud, the melodic sound of her joy worth the slobber that now coated my face.

The girl patted my cheek, as if to let me know she was done with me before wiggling her bottom to let me know she wanted to be set down on the floor.

My hands covered her entire body as I placed her gently on her feet. She waddled away and I looked up to find my mate smiling down at me. Hannah stepped between my legs and lifted a hand to my chin with a smile, wiping the wetness off with her thumb. “Your people love you,
mander
. Every single one of them.”

“Not all, my mate. Not the one who matters most to me.” I looked at my bride and imagined her body swelling with my child, with a sweet little girl who would give me sloppy, wet kisses, or a strong young boy who would challenge me and make me proud. I wanted my seed growing in her body. I wanted to know that she was mine in every way.

She blushed a beautiful shade of pink as I held her gaze, the color not quite as dark as the deep pink that took over her skin when she came all over my hard cock, but a sweeter, softer color. I wanted her to say I was wrong, that she did indeed love me. Instead, she smiled that secretive female smile and leaned over to kiss me on the mouth.

I would accept that, for now. Until the claiming, which was scheduled to occur just hours from now. But there was a problem. A serious problem that I had not shared with her; something that could ruin this fragile new bond between us.

I was here with her in the children’s area awaiting bad news. I did not want my mate to be alone when the scouts’ reports came back.

Reaching out, I grabbed her hand and nodded to the other two women working in the room. “May I borrow my mate, ladies? I would like to show her the command deck.”

“Of course, commander.” The senior instructor, an elderly woman who had been mated to one of my best engineers for many years smiled at us both with real warmth. Hannah was right; the people in my fleet looked upon me with a warmth I’d never noticed before. My mate had opened my eyes to their respect and trust. The weight of command had never felt heavier, but it had also never been as much an honor as it was now and for the first time in my life, I smiled at the woman.

“Thank you, Lady Breenan.” I enjoyed the older woman’s flush of genuine pleasure at my words and pulled Hannah out of the room and into the hallway. “Come, mate. I will show you where I run the ship.”

Hannah sighed happily and walked with her hand in mine and her cheek pressed to my shoulder. Her contentment buzzed through my collar, making me heady with satisfaction. There was no better feeling than knowing I’d cared for my mate and made her happy, content, and at peace. Well, maybe feeling her pleasure take her when I fucked her senseless, but I didn’t want to think about that right now. I would not walk onto the command deck with my cock hard as iron ore. And not when I knew her happiness could evaporate at any moment.

Dare was missing. And Prince Nial. We’d lost contact with them several hours ago and I was waiting for news from a recon team that was due back at any moment. The decision to keep this from her was a difficult one, but she’d know the truth soon enough. I just hoped my second was still alive.

As if fate had heard my thoughts, the communications officer’s voice filled the hallway. “Commander, the recon team is back. They are waiting.”

“On my way.” I knew from the tone of his voice that the news was bad. Hannah must have sensed it, too. She stiffened and lifted her head from my shoulder.

“What is going on, Zane?”

Squeezing her fingers, I pulled her into a transport tube and entered the code that would get us access to the command deck. “Dare and Prince Nial were shot down by Hive forces a few hours ago. I sent a recon team to scout their location for and extraction.”

“Oh, my God. Is he dead? No. No!” She tried to pull away from me as the transport slid to a stop and she swayed with the rapid change in direction. She crashed into my chest and I wrapped my arms tightly around her. Her pupils dilated and she was breathing too quickly, short shallow panting that would make her faint. “You knew and you didn’t tell me! You knew! How could you sit there and play with that little girl and smile while you knew?”

Hannah pounded at my chest with her fist and I grabbed it, holding her still, locking her in place. I stared down into her gaze until she calmed. “I know you love Dare, sweet one. I will get him back for you. You have my word.”

Her dark, expressive eyes filled with tears, but she turned her face away from me to bury her head in my chest. “Promise me, Zane. Promise me.”

“My sacred vow, mate. Dare will be back onboard this ship in time for us both to claim you.” Which didn’t give me much time, but that was for the best. If the Hive had Dare and Nial, my warriors would not be faring well. The Hive liked to torture biological life forms before transforming them into something more machine than man. The process took several days, and I could not allow them to have my best friend, or the Prime heir.

I took Hannah onto the command deck, where warriors stopped what they were doing long enough to bow before their
Lady Deston
and pay their respects. My mate made me proud, holding her head high and keeping the worry from her face. She fooled them all with her bravery, but I could feel her fear through our link. My mate truly was my match and perfect for me in every way; passionate in sexual play, she needed the release my mastery gave her but could walk with her head held high as a queen’s when faced with pain and danger. My respect for her grew, and my love. I would sacrifice an entire fleet if it meant keeping her safe, and that was a frightening admission.

I had to get Dare back. If I failed, not only would I lose my friend and cousin, but I’d have to find another second that my sweet, stubborn Hannah would accept. And judging by the fire in her eyes as the scouts gave their report on the Hive, she would have no other second but Dare.

“We’ll leave within the hour and I’ll lead the extraction team myself.” My second in command opened his mouth to protest, as he should, but I didn’t allow him to speak. “I promised Lady Deston I would have Dare, her second, back to her in time for the claiming ceremony tomorrow, and that is what I will do.”

“Yes, commander.” I left them all behind as I escorted Hannah back to our quarters. Once we arrived, I pulled her into my arms for a kiss meant to drive all thought from her mind.

“You will remain in here until I come back with Dare. You will remain locked safely behind this door until I come for you. Do you understand?” I held her face in my hands and stared into her eyes to make sure she was listening to me.

“Yes.”

“Yes, what?”

She lifted her hands to my arms and wrapped her fingers around my forearms. Turning her head, she kissed the inside of my wrist. “Yes, master. I will stay here, safe and sound, so you can bring Dare back to us.”

I kissed her hard and left without another word. The recon team was waiting for me when I got to the launch bay. We were going in on three ships, a team of eight on each. The recon team had tracked Dare and Nial to a small mobile Hive station recently discovered on a nearby asteroid. The outpost was small, and not capable of holding more than a hundred Hive soldiers.

With the taste of Hannah on my tongue, I knew I could kill a hundred Hive alone.

I was an excellent pilot, but the pilots chosen were from the recon team and knew exactly where we needed to go, so I sat in the back with the other warriors and waited. Battle fever spiked my blood with energy and I smiled, eager to kill. I hadn’t tasted battle in months, and was eager to feel my enemies’ bodies rip and tear as I pulled them to pieces with my bare hands.

“Hive communications have been blocked,” the pilot yelled back to us where I sat with six other warriors in eager silence. “We’ll be on the ground in sixty seconds.”

I pulled the breathing mask from the wall behind me and suited up for battle as the others around me did the same. The ship landed and I followed the recon team out the door. In less than five minutes we were setting charges on their outer perimeter door.

The blast sounded and the explosives team motioned the rest of us forward. We moved like water over rock, in perfect harmony. These were my warriors, my team, and we had fought alongside each other for years.

Hive soldiers flowed through the opening like swarming insects and we picked them off easily from our vantage point in the rocky terrain surrounding their mobile outpost. The Hive soldiers were well programmed for direct conflict, but one-on-one, or in small groups, they couldn’t adapt fast enough. The Hive was stupid, but their robotic soldiers came off the production lines on their home world faster than we could destroy them.

In a matter of minutes, the flurry of activity was over and my warriors and I made our way to the entrance. If this was a normal Hive outpost, the expendable robotic units would have been sent to flood the perimeter while the more advanced biological hybrids would be inside waiting to ambush us.

I threw a gas canister through the blast hole in the door and we waited long enough for it to have knocked out their biological systems. The gas wouldn’t kill them, just knock them out. We had our own warriors trapped inside, so could not use lethal toxins.

We cleared the outpost one room at a time. There were no biological to be found until we got to the very center of the structure. There, lying on two tables in a medical station were Dare and Nial. The half-living, half-machine creatures standing over them were the only resistance left. A warrior on my right stunned the creature over Dare as another team took care of the creature over Nial.

I stepped forward and looked down at my second, at Hannah’s love, then a war cry left my throat as I leaned down and lifted the semi-conscious creature from the ground and ripped his head from his shoulders with my bare hands.

Chapter Thirteen

Hannah

Zane was back. I could feel him again, and Dare. But not with warmth or any kind of joy. They both felt cold, Dare just absent, and Zane?

Zane felt like pure, raw fury.

I rubbed at my neck and paced the confining space of our quarters. I couldn’t stand to look at the bed where I’d slept so many nights wrapped around Dare. Nor could I look at the lounge where my mates had first taken me, Zane’s strong hand at my back and Dare’s pre-cum on my lips making me dizzy with lust.

I paced, happy that I could feel them again, even if it wasn’t warm and fuzzy.

Five minutes passed. Ten. And still Zane didn’t come for me. My collar had gone cold and lifeless when Zane left the ship. At that moment I realized just how connected I’d become to my two warriors, how much I depended on that constant link to feel like I belonged to them, like this was home.

I’d very nearly told Zane I loved him today, but I was firm on this. I had given my warriors everything else—my trust, my body, my soul. I would not give them the words first. That was the one thing I demanded they give me, and I would not relent, no matter how Dare flattered and teased me, or Zane pushed me to the edge and brought me back safely in his arms. I would not yield. Not on this.