Her Rogue Mates. Grace Goodwin
could sell on the black market. We carefully avoided the healing angels like her. We weren’t there to fight, nor to save. We were there out of necessity.
By Coalition standards, my people were criminals. Outcasts. Zenith was a hub for both civilian and military activity, owned by the Coalition, but not a military base. This place existed in the gray area between what would have been a utopian world and reality. Cold, hard reality.
My world.
Blade lifted her gently, moving her so her clit rubbed the hard length of my thigh over and over, rolling her hips with the steady press and release of his firm grip on her ass. She gasped, tearing her mouth from his as he continued to cup and play with her breasts with his free hand, first one, then the other.
She was shaking now, her pale skin flushed pink, her lips swollen and red and ripe. I longed to watch them stretch around my cock as I fucked that sweet mouth, as I claimed every inch of her.
“Wait,” she breathed.
Blade and I both froze, looking at our mate, waiting for her to continue.
“Wait. Stop. I—this is crazy.”
She was not unaffected. The opposite was true. Perhaps her reaction frightened her, was too strong. “It is not crazy to want what we can give you. Many females on our world have hoped for what we offer you.”
“Many females, huh?” She bit her lip and turned her head away from both of us. “I’m no mate, boys. I thought I might have some fun with you.” She glanced at me, then at Blade. “But both of you would be pretty damn hot. We might have some fun, but that’s it.”
“Why?” Strange. She’d been instantly attracted and had ventured into the hallway with me for privacy. Even said she was interested in being with both of us. Now she’d changed her mind? Had we overwhelmed her with talk of forever? I could not lie to her. I intended to keep her, and she needed to accept that fact as quickly as possible. She was mine.
“Why? Because I’m not looking for a mate.” Her gaze darted to mine and I saw the confusion in her eyes, the anxious look as she risked a glance at Blade. “Or two.”
I frowned, wondering why she tormented herself with such resistance. She’d been on the brink of coming—from just riding my thigh. Why had she stopped? Why deny herself such pleasure? I wanted to watch her come, watch her eyes glaze and lose focus. Know I was the reason she lost control. I wanted her to trust me enough to lose that control, craved that intimacy, that secret, passionate part of her.
“You’re scared,” I said, studying her closely. I would share her with Blade, but no one else. Blade was closer than any brother, and I would trust no other to help me keep her safe. “Scared to have two lovers?”
“Um, no. I’ve—never mind. The past doesn’t matter.”
She flushed a bright crimson, her neck and face turning an intriguing shade of pink. Embarrassed? “You’ve taken two lovers before?” I asked.
She nodded and my smile nearly hurt. “Good. Then what are you afraid of?”
“We won’t hurt you,” Blade offered, leaning in close once more, his lips brushing her cheek. “We will take care of you. Protect you. Worship you.”
She shook her head, quivering in my grasp.
“Still afraid? Of us?” Blade asked.
Harper shook her head. “No. Not you. Your fangs? That you’ll bite me? Uh, yeah.” She tugged at my hold on her wrists, and I refused to let her go. Not now, not when she discovered how we would claim her. It would have been so much easier if our mate had come from Rogue 5, but no. We had to find a female who knew nothing about us, about our need to bite our mate as we fucked her in order to claim her. To mark her with our teeth at the juncture of her neck and shoulder. The idea even more daunting with both me and Blade since we would claim her together.
Not all Hyperions would share a mate. There were no laws regarding this. Hell, there weren’t many laws at all on Rogue 5. We did what we wished within our own rules, rules that had to be obeyed.
Rules I made.
Rules I now wanted to break. For her.
Blade breathed her in, his eyes drifting closed in pleasure she could not see as he absorbed her into himself. Memorized her scent, as I had. “We will not bite you here. Now. Not in the back hallway of a canteen.”
“So, you’ll save the vampire act for later. Oh, well, that makes me feel so much better. That solves everything.”
Sarcasm dripped from every word. And what in the name of the gods was a vampire?
“Do not fear the claiming. By the time we sink our fangs into your flesh, you will be begging for it,” Blade whispered into her hair and she shivered, eyes closed, the movement passing through her entire body and into mine. Yes. She wanted us. Needed us. Needed this.
She huffed. “When I finish my time in my MedRec unit, I go back to Earth. You guys are barking up the wrong tree with this mating and biting stuff.”
“It is not our teeth that you fear,” I said. “It’s yourself.”
Her eyes flashed open and her gaze locked on mine. Yes, I saw the flash of vulnerability, the surprise that I could find the truth lurking in her brain. She hid it well, deflected her fears onto our fangs to hide her true concern. She may fear the bite, but she feared her attraction to us more.
“Are you afraid to come?” Blade asked.
When she rolled her eyes, I knew he was nowhere close.
“She’s afraid to come…for us.” She closed her eyes on a soft sigh. Yes, my words were more accurate. “You worry that you’re too responsive? That you want us too much? That you won’t be able to stop?”
She offered a small laugh. “Fine. We’ll skip the whole fang thing for now. How can I be this attracted, this turned on by a male alien I just met in a bar? And his friend? It scares me a little, yes. I don’t even know you. So, this is, by definition, completely insane.”
“You don’t know us…yet.”
Her hips shifted. “I know. It’s just—”
Blade ran a finger down the outside of her arm. “Intense?”
She nodded her head against the wall. “There are two of you. I, um…thought I might want a quickie, some fun to make me forget for a little while before I get called out again, but this? You guys are…intense.”
It was my turn to smile, pleased to hear she felt this…this connection between us just as abruptly and just as deeply. My gaze flicked to Blade’s and we didn’t need to speak. He felt it, too.
“You need to come,” I said, seeing the need, the ache, in every soft curve, in every breath.
She nodded her head.
“We will not fuck you here. I prefer a bed. And privacy.”
“And you naked,” Blade added. His eyes roved over her as did his hand, learning her.
“That, too,” I added. “But you’re needy, so let your mates give you the release you need.”
“You’re not my mates,” she countered, squirming again.
I inwardly sighed. She was not from Hyperion or even Rogue 5 on the outer moons. She was from Earth. While Katie had a mark that made her an Everian descendant, it seemed that Harper was a pure Earthling and had no innate understanding of having a mate. Or two. We were not getting anywhere by pushing the mate issue on her now. It was wrong of me to do so, especially when I wanted to see her face when she found her pleasure. We would give her what she needed now and then resolve the “mate” issue later. And the biting. I had no doubt she’d bring that back up, but if she was this responsive just standing in a hallway, by the time we claimed her, she would not be afraid. She’d be completely mindless with need.