Viken Command. Grace Goodwin
had used? Ours. Coalition issue. And we’d spent the last few months tracking them to Viken. Once the I.C. had tracked them here, Doctor Helion had pulled us off Battleship Zeus and reassigned us to our home world.
I understood the logic, but that didn’t mean I wanted to spend long weeks wandering around a sensual paradise alone. With no mate.
But the time had been well spent. We had a lead on a weapons delivery that was supposed to take place in the next few days.
Perhaps we could pleasure our mate… and distract her just enough to keep her innocent of all this.
Viken had a special place in my heart. It was home. But my family was long gone, dead or forgotten. I hadn’t been home in a very long time, the few cousins I had remaining were living their own lives. It was time to get back to work protecting all of the Coalition worlds. Viken felt too small. I felt small when I was here.
We had a brand-new battleship and a new battlegroup commander waiting for us. Commander Zeus had won the challenge on Prillon Prime easily, besting the others so quickly news of his ruthlessness had spread like wildfire through the Coalition. Battleship commanders were elite, even among the Prillon warriors. Their family names launched into dynasties that lasted hundreds of years.
Add to the fact that Zeus was only half-Prillon, and his reputation had caught fire like an explosion through the entire Fleet. He was half-Prillon and half-human. From Earth.
The small planet had only been a probationary member of the Coalition for a few years, but their influence had spread rapidly. First, the three kings had taken a human female for a mate, then Prime Nial himself and his second, Ander, had claimed a human female in the battle arena on Prillon Prime in front of the entire Coalition of planets, her screams of pleasure broadcast live to every battleship and every world. She’d been more than legendary since. Queen Jessica Deston, the intrepid, passionate female every unmated male in the Coalition dreamed of claiming. Of fucking. Of being worthy to be chosen by such a strong, fierce female.
One look at Ander, her second, and even the Atlan Warlords dared say nothing of her beauty and fire. But in the canteens, between missions, there was much talk among warriors, fighters, and warlords about the small blue planet known as Earth, and their highly desirable females. Added to their legendary status was the fact that they had successfully mated with many races, Atlan, Prillon, Viken, Trion, Everian… even the contaminated of The Colony did not scare the fierce females.
One, I’d heard, had killed a Nexus with her bare hands and tamed a Forsian monster for her own… a contaminated Forsian from Rogue 5. The fucker had fangs.
Another infamous female was Vice Commander Niobe of the Coalition Academy. That female answered only to Prime Nial himself.
And now, I had a human female for my own. A mate from Earth. A soft, curved, fearless human female to pleasure and protect.
I would be the envy of every warrior on Battleship Zeus. As would Oran and Teig. She was ours, and we would not give her up.
We had barely met Zeus before being sent here. But I’d spent enough time with him to know he was an outstanding Prillon warrior, a worthy commander, and every second we wasted tracking down the smugglers on Viken was another day the entire Coalition Fleet was vulnerable to attack. Oreg, Teig, and I had served under a different I.C. commander prior to this mission, a Prillon warrior named Ronan. But we’d heard the good news that Ronan had found his mate and become Commander Karter’s second in Sector 437. After surviving the destruction of Battleship Varsten, he had permanently transferred to the Karter to be with his new family. He’d left the three of us, Sector 438, and the new crew and commander of Battleship Zeus behind. Permanently.
This left the new commander, Zeus, and his new battlegroup without an I.C. support team. That support was supposed to be the three of us. The Hive stealth ships were still out there. Yes, Commander Ronan had managed to destroy one of them moments before Battleship Karter would have been destroyed, but the I.C. feared there were several more.
The Hive was nothing if not efficient. If they’d built one, they’d built a dozen. A hundred.
Gods help us all. We had to get off this planet and back out into space. I already felt like a caged animal, stuck on the ground.
And now this. A female. A mate. My heart beat faster, my cock stirred. A feeling of satisfaction swelled in my chest.
Fuck.
How was I going to protect her when I had to sneak around at all hours of the day and night? When I had to make hunting down a weapons dealer a higher priority than claiming her? I was the worst mate, undeserving of a female. Undeserving of any female, but especially a female from Earth.
Oran crossed his arms, feet planted like he was preparing to take a hit. “We have no choice, Alarr. She’s coming. She’s ours. We will protect her. Pleasure her regardless of the orders from Helion.”
“Are you reading my mind?” I asked.
“No. We’re all thinking the same thing. This situation is not what we wanted.” He pulled an arrow from the quiver across his back. “But we will find out who is using Viken as a stopover for their stolen weapons. And we will claim our mate. There are three of us. We will keep her safe, catch the bastard selling illegal weapons, and get the fuck off this planet.”
“The sooner, the better,” Teig agreed.
Grinning now, I took in the males I had chosen to join me in welcoming our mate to the family. Good fighters. Skilled. Honorable.
Family.
I nodded in agreement. The plan wasn’t ideal, but we had no choice. Our mate’s transport was imminent. We were still undercover. We had a mate to protect and a mission to complete. There were three of us. We could do both. “Let’s go. She arrives within minutes.”
Teig let out a whoop, and I couldn’t stop the grin on my face from transforming to a full smile in anticipation. What would she look like? Would she be bold or quiet? Wild or reserved? Curved and soft or lean and strong of body?
Did I care?
No. She was mine. My perfect match and I couldn’t wait to claim her.
3
Whitney, Trixon Resort Transport Room, Planet Viken
The wrenching pain of transport faded, and I blinked, trying to gain my bearings. I wasn’t a triathlete. I didn’t run stairs for fun or wrench and twist my body through space to travel to other worlds.
Until today.
Pushing up with my arms, I lifted my torso off the ground to look around. Perhaps it was best that I was lying on a cold, hard platform of some kind. Soft, silken fabric wrapped around me, and I looked down to find myself covered to my ankles in a shimmering gown that looked like dark chocolate candy against my mocha-colored skin. I could feel I had no bra or panties beneath, but when I glanced up and locked gazes with the three males devouring me with their eyes, I doubted I would need them.
Holy crap. They weren’t just any males. They were Viken and were as different as light and darkness. One stepped forward, his deep auburn hair pulled back and tied at the base of his neck. He looked like a Viking warrior of old, his fair skin, soft brown eyes, and red hair reminding me of the hot warriors I’d seen on a cable show I watched last year. But his uniform was pure outer space, Star Trek-style shit. Dark brown, a band of some kind around his arm and a space gun at his hip.
Yes, a space gun. Toto, we’re not in Kansas anymore.
He walked toward me and took a knee, holding out his hand. “I am Alarr, your mate.”
His hand was steady. Mine was not. I shook like a leaf as I pushed off the floor and accepted his help to rise. His touch was warm.