Interstellar Brides® Program Boxed Set - Books 6-8

Chapter 3

3

Commander Grigg – Private Quarters, Battleship Zakar

For the tenth night in a row, I stared at the ceiling above my bed, restless. Waiting. For her.

Who she was, I could not say. A goddess, perhaps? A figment of my imagination? An image conjured by my brush with death?

All I knew was my c**k was hard as a rock and the softness of her skin, the tight, wet heat of her p***y chased me into my dreams until I woke moaning and sweating, forced to take my own hand to my hard shaft to ease the discomfort. It didn’t take much, one stroke, maybe two, and I came like a rutting youth.

This her was haunting me.

Even now, during the fourth rotation, the least active rotation on the ship’s schedule, when most of my people slept, I could not rest. I had not been able to rest since I woke up in that ReGen pod to Rav’s frown and Captain Trist’s scowl. They hadn’t said a word about my recent scrape with death. They hadn’t needed to. My father had ranted for two hours, until his face was bright orange with rage and I’d worried my ears would begin bleeding. Again.

“Oh, f**k off. All of you.” I spoke to no one, my spacious quarters and huge bed big, though large enough to hold three or four bodies, only held me. Not that I couldn’t find a woman to warm my bed if I wished. I didn’t. At least, I never worried about it overmuch, until now.

When I’d been younger, on leave, I’d had more than enough female companionship to satisfy me. As I’d aged and advanced in rank, the women expected more. It wasn’t enough for them to f**k a strong, young warrior. Now they looked at me with calculation in their eyes. Now, I was a Commander and I had value. They didn’t want to f**k me, Grigg. They wanted to be mated to a Prillon Commander. They wanted status, rank, wealth and power.

But f*****g and mating were completely different. f*****g was an impersonal few hours of pleasure. Mating was…everything.

My fist gripped my hard length, pulsing and ready for release. Using my thumb, I rubbed along the ridge with each pass. I knew how to get off and it was quick. My body tensed, my breath seized as a murky vision of her filled my head and my seed spurted hotly into my hand.

With my balls emptied, for now—I sighed, tossed off the covers and walked naked to the adjoining bathing room. s**t, I was hard again. Maybe there was something wrong with me. I wasn’t about to go tell Rav that my c**k kept getting hard at the thought of a beautiful woman. I sighed, gripped my c**k again. Yeah, he’d f*****g believe that. Worse, he might and then he’d laugh his f*****g head off.

A hot shower might ease me to sleep, but first, I had to ease the ache that was growing in my balls once again.

Moments later, I closed my eyes and let the hot glide of water pour over my body. I washed quickly, enjoying the luxury and quiet. We did not require water for bathing, but kept the ancient practice for one simple reason…pleasure.

My hard c**k wept, a drop of pre-c*m gathered on the tip. f**k, maybe the ReGen pod had fixed me too well, given me some kind of super-c**k, for I’d never been this quick to recover. Wrapping my hand around the thick head, I turned to face the water and leaned back against the shower tube as the heat surrounded me, and I tried to remember.

The dream. Her wet p***y. Her full, round breasts. The strange color of her skin, her strange and exotic dark eyes and black hair. She was not a golden Prillon female, but an alien woman. Strange. Beautiful. I’d held her legs open and spread her p***y lips open wide with my rigid—

“Commander!” The excited voice blasted through the comm speaker in my bathing room and I froze beneath the water. f**k.

“This is Zakar,” I growled. My thoughts of her were clearer this time. I recalled more details of her and the comm had stolen that vision from me, ruined the moment until she faded in my mind once more.

“Commander, there’s an emergency. You’re needed in med station one.”

“What is it?”

There was a short silence and I pumped my c**k once, twice, then growled. This time, I didn’t have time to finish. I’d have to stuff my poor c**k into a proper uniform and suffer the stiff, black armor squeezing my c**k and balls like a vise.

“Doctor Zakar said to tell you—I can’t say it, Sir.”

That made me chuckle. I could just imagine what my smart-mouthed cousin had instructed the young officer to tell me. “Speak freely. What did he say?”

With a sigh, the officer answered. “He said to get your ass to medical and to f*****g hurry. Your mate has arrived.”

“My what?” My booming voice echoed off the walls in the small bathing room.

“He ordered me to cancel comms. Sorry, Sir.” The comm unit went dead and I rinsed and dried my body, my head spinning.

My mate? What the f**k was he talking about?

A few minutes later, I stormed down the green-lined hallways to medical station one and found my cousin pacing.

“What the f**k, Rav?”

He turned on his heel, spinning at the sound of my voice. “Prime’s ballocks, Grigg. You’re f*****g slow.” Rav was tense, the lines of his neck and temples strained, his eyes glassy with excitement, or terror, I wasn’t sure which. My need to offer reassurance and control, even with my warriors, settled in me and my pulse slowed as I placed my hand on Rav’s shoulder and squeezed.

“I’m here. Now, tell me what you need.”

Rav stood tall in his dark green doctor’s uniform, closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When I was sure he was all right, I dropped my hand to my side and waited.

Rav opened his eyes, the bright sheen still there, still unidentifiable. “She’s here.”

“Who?”

“Her name is Amanda Bryant. She’s from a new member planet called Earth.”

“Who is she? Why is she here?”

“She’s your matched mate, Grigg—our mate.”

I couldn’t breathe. The ReGen pod. The dreams. f**k all, those dreams. My c**k stirred to life. The dreams were real. She had a name. Amanda Bryant.

“What have you done?”

Rav turned away from me without answering. Instead of explaining himself, he went into a med unit and I followed, the door sliding silently closed behind us. There were a few beeps from machinery, but all of the medical techs worked quietly and efficiently. I didn’t take my focus from Rav to count the number of patients, but the unit could handle three critical cases and had nearly twenty additional beds, and they all seemed to be buzzing with gray uniformed medical officers and a couple of doctors wearing green. I ignored them all, waiting for Rav’s reply.

“Only what Captain Trist ordered.”

I didn’t believe that for a second. Trist followed the rules. Rav didn’t. He’d only follow Trist’s orders if I were out of commission, such as being—

Shit. Such as being half dead and unconscious in a ReGen pod.

“Conrav?”

I said his full name. I never said his full name.

“You were dying.”

“Rav!” I snapped, making the techs jump.

“She’s beautiful, Grigg,” he said, his voice almost…wistful? “So soft.” He stepped close to me, lowered his voice so only I could hear. “So many f*****g curves. God, her p***y is pink. And her ass. f**k, I’ve been ready to take her since the moment she transported. Wait until you see—”

A soft, feminine moan sounded from the other side of one of the private medical exam rooms, the sound going straight to my aching c**k. My eyes widened, for I recognized that sound deep inside me. I’d heard it in my dreams. I’d come not long ago while aching to hear that sound.

Rav grinned like a child on his birthing day about to open the largest present. “She’s coming awake.”

Despite my irritation with Rav and Trist’s interference, I was intrigued and followed a step behind the doctor as he entered the smaller exam room. “She’s mine?”

“Yes. Matched per the Interstellar Bride Program’s formal processing protocols. The match was almost one hundred percent. She’s perfect for you in every way.”

I was f*****g tired of the Coalition dictating every tiny detail of my life and wasn’t sure this would be any different. There were so many protocols, all of them impeccable. As leader, I was f*****g sick of protocol. That’s why I had promoted Trist to my second-in-command. He loved that s**t.

“Look, cousin, I know you’re excited, but I doubt—”

I saw her then, my mate, my bride, and I stopped dead. Rav grinned and walked past me, gathering his medical equipment for something.

“What’s all that for?” I asked, my voice filled with awe.

“For her exam and testing. I had to wait until she was awake, and for you to be present.”

She was stunning. Thick dark hair lay in dark curls over the thin pillow. Her skin was not golden or yellow like a Prillon female’s, but a softer, deeper shade of dark cream. She lay on her back on the exam table.

“She transported here?”

Rav shook his head. “To the transporter room, but she was transferred here.”

“Like this?” I saw red, for she was gloriously naked and she was mine. “Who saw her like this?”

Rav’s eager expression—that of being her second mate—shifted to the clinical face of a doctor.

“I was there for her arrival. I wrapped her directly in the sheet that’s beneath her.”

I saw the white covering that hung over the edges of the table.

“No one has seen her like this, but me.”

I glanced behind me, the door firmly closed.

“That’s right, Rav. No one sees her like this. Ever,” I growled the last, an instinctive need to protect her rising with a speed and ferocity I would never have believed possible. My reaction was illogical, as our official mating ceremony would be witnessed and blessed by my chosen warriors, those Rav or I chose to honor with my trust during that sacred rite. But they would be watching us f**k her, claim her, make her ours, not simply admiring her beautiful body.

Her face was delicate and softer than any female’s I had ever seen. Her breasts were full and ripe, and her p***y, as Rav had promised, was an intriguing shade of dark pink I’d never seen before. I ached to lean down and run my rough tongue through the delicate folds, to discover her exotic taste. I wanted to wedge my shoulders between her perfect thighs and spread her open so I could f**k her with my tongue. My mouth watered at the thought.

“What type of female did you say she is?” I asked, not looking away from her. She stirred, but her eyes had yet to open. It was as if she were waking from a nap, not a transport across the galaxy.

“Earth. They refer to their race as human.”

“I’ve never seen a female like her before.” I hadn’t. She was beautiful, lush, exotic. No female I’d ever seen compared.

“She’s the very first bride from their world.”

That shocked me enough to look at Rav. “The first bride?”

He nodded. “Yes. Earth was granted provisional Coalition membership weeks ago. The Hive expanded their scouting runs into the outer reaches, transport Zone 2.”

Understanding dawned. “They were going after the warriors on The Colony.”

Rav nodded. “Most likely, but they found Earth instead. Their attack forced the Coalition to make contact with Earth. Her people have been aware of other beings in the universe for just a few short weeks.”

I remembered the reports now. Small planet. Purportedly beautiful, a stunning swirl of blue and white with a primitive— “Earth was barred from full membership for being too barbaric, if I recall. They refused to unite and elect a Prime?”

Rav pulled his medical equipment closer and nodded in agreement. “Yes. Still busy drawing lines and killing each other over territory like wild animals. But if she’s a little savage, I shall enjoy spanking that round ass into order.”

He sounded nothing like a doctor in that moment. He sounded like a man who was seeing his mate for the first time, reacting to her, becoming eager for her, the very idea of her.

His thoughts echoed mine. But just in case the spanking Rav would give wasn’t enough, I’d fill that pink p***y with my hard c**k, f**k her ass until she screamed my name, fill her mouth with c*m and hold her head back with a hard fist in her hair so I could stroke her lovely throat as she swallowed me down. But if we were truly matched, she would enjoy my need to control as much as I needed to govern her pleasure. She would enjoy it a little rough. A little wild. She would enjoy being dominated by two warriors.

Lust and a primitive need to mark and claim my mate erupted within me like a volcanic blast, my growl echoing through the room before I could think to hold back.

Shit. I was ruined.

My little mate’s eyes opened at the sound, locking on me with a wariness and fear I did not welcome. Her eyes were unique, a dark brown that I longed to drown in. Right now, they narrowed with suspicion or wariness and I realized I only wanted to see one expression on her face—desire, longing, trust.

Desperation, as I made her beg for release.

I guess that was four expressions.

“f**k, Grigg. Stop scaring her so I can get her medical clearance and we can—get her settled in your quarters.”

I nodded in agreement, eager to get her back to my bed where we would truly claim her for the first time and enjoy the full benefits of having sealed our mating collar around her throat.

I watched my mate’s expressive gaze travel from myself to Rav and back again. She noticed everything in the room, the lights, the exam equipment, the door, yet made no move to cover herself, as if the condition of her body was irrelevant.

I found her behavior odd, and intriguing.

Moving slowly so I wouldn’t scare her, I stepped forward and bowed. “Welcome. I am Grigg, your matched mate, and this is Conrav, my second.”

She didn’t move, but did speak, and her voice made my c**k impossibly harder. “Amanda.”

Her name wasn’t enough. I needed to hear her voice calling out my name, rough with pleasure, breaking as she begged.

She looked down at herself at last and cleared her throat. “Holy s**t, all my hair is gone.”

Her skin was indeed smooth and flawless, as all females’ should be. I didn’t answer, not sure what she might have looked like before, but very pleased with the soft sheen of her skin, the gorgeous view of her p***y.

She caught me looking, and cleared her throat. “Oh, well, no more shaving. That’s a perk, right?” Her legs shifted on the exam table and I forced back the order that rose in my mind. I did not want her legs closed, I wanted them open, wide open for my c**k, my mouth…for whatever the f**k I wanted.

“May I have a blanket or something? Clothes?”

I shook my head. “Not yet. Rav is a doctor. He must complete your medical evaluation first.”

A little line creased her smooth brow, her dark eyebrows a stark contrast to the cream of her skin. Her face was so unlike ours, smooth and round, with soft curves and valleys I longed to explore with fingers and lips. I wanted to know what her skin tasted like, if her exotic taste would match her scent, something sweet and feminine, an unusual flower I had yet to explore.

“I was examined at the processing center.” She looked around again. “On Earth.”

Rav chuckled. “No, mate. The Fleet requires each new member submit to a full medical exam prior to release into the general population.” He picked up a small device and checked it for readiness. I had no f*****g clue what it was for.

Her dark brows furrowed and I wanted to reach out and smooth the worry line away. She turned to me. “I thought you said you were my matched mate.”

I nodded once. “I did.”

She looked at Rav, who bowed in reverence, as I had. “But—?”

“I am Doctor Conrav Zakar, your second mate, Amanda Bryant of Earth.”

“Second mate?” Her face turned a dark shade of pink, not as enchanting a pink as her p***y, but still, beautiful. “I don’t—oh, God.” Her dark eyes looked everywhere but at us, her mates, as she mumbled to herself. “That dream. s**t. That dream. Oh, God. I’m such a pervert, and now what? Two of them? s**t. Robert said this job would be the perfect fit for me. See if he likes two mates. I can’t do this. I can’t.”