Bad Boy Beast: Interstellar BridesĀ® Program: The Beasts - 8, page 3
I turned to Dotor Surnen where he stood, calmly dressed in his dark green doctor’s tunic, a tablet in his hands, as if he was actively monitoring my mate’s health. “What have you done to her?”
He crossed his arms and raised one pointed, Prillon brow. “Warlord Kai, I have done nothing. Your mate is in perfect health, a bit underfed perhaps, but—”
“Hey! That’s rude. I’m sitting right here.” When we all ignored her, she shook her head and rolled her eyes, a very human reaction I found adorable.
“—But, other than using the ReGen wand to heal the bruises on her wrists and ankles, she has not been treated.”
“Then how has her scent been altered?” Inside, the beast waited for an answer, his scowl so fierce I made no attempt to hide his displeasure from my face.
“I assure you, I have done nothing.” Doctor Surnen’s eyes narrowed. “Perhaps I should run some additional diagnostics.”
“Yes. My beast insists something is not right.” With a grunt of irritation, I walked to the S-Gen machine in the corner and generated a clean pair of pants. As I shoved my legs into the black fabric, Doctor Surnen adjusted his ReGen wand and initiated additional scans of my female. As he worked, I mentally reviewed every detail of the encounter in her apartment. The Hive Soldiers. The way my mate’s scent lingered in the air. I could not be wrong. She was mine.
Partially covered, my traitorous cock hidden from view, I walked over to my female and stood directly in front of her. She tilted her head back to look up at me. Very beautiful. So small. “May I?”
“May you what?”
“I need to scent you.”
She threw her arms up in a shrug. “Sure. Why not. If it’ll make you cavemen actually listen to me.”
I leaned in, my face so close to her neck I could easily place kisses over her smooth skin. My mate’s distinct, feminine scent was there. Light. A teasing and elusive aroma that I could not quite hold on to.
Boom!
What the fuck?
Boom! Boom! Boom! The walls shook with the force of mighty blows.
A disembodied voice echoed through the room’s comms, presumably one of the doctor’s assistants. “Doctor, Warlord Tazo demands entry.”
“What is going on?” The doctor turned to Governor Maxim, who shrugged.
“Let him in before he breaks another fucking door.” Doctor Surnen did not seem pleased with this particular warlord. Why would he break down doors in medical? I knew Tazo, had battled him in the fighting pits. He was an honorable male. Was he lost to mating fever?
I stood and turned, placing my body between my female and the room’s entrance.
The door slid aside to reveal Warlord Tazo in his beast form. The snarl on his face had Governor Maxim and Ryston both pulling blasters free. The governor took a step forward.
“Tazo, stand down.”
I had seen this before and my heart broke for my brother in arms. He was lost to us. “His mating fever is out of control. He might not respond.” If his beast was truly gone, we were all staring death in the face. He would not stop, his rage and agony beyond his ability to control. We would have to kill him.
I would be forced to kill him.
My beast rose to the surface and I allowed him free reign. With myself and the three Prillon warriors, we might stand a chance against a fully armed and armored beast. Although Doctor Surnen was not wearing armor. Fucking idiot. He should know, especially on The Colony, to be prepared for battle at all times. These warriors had grown complacent in their mates’ beds. Weak. I wore little more than the doctor, but not by choice. Too late to return to the S-Gen machine and create my standard armor.
Warlord Tazo recognized the one, true threat in the room, his gaze locked on me. “Mine!”
What?
Quiet, feminine exasperation from behind me. “Of course there’s another one. God. What is happening? You’re all crazy. I need to go home.” She hopped off the medical bed and moved to step around me. I lowered my arm to prevent her being any closer to the raging beast.
“My lady, stay back. He is in a killing mood and not thinking clearly.”
Warlord Tazo roared the moment I touched her. “Mine!”
His beast charged.
3
Kai
* * *
I pushed the female toward Doctor Surnen, who wrapped his arms around her and lifted her off her feet, spinning around to place his body between her and the enraged beast. She squealed. Warlord Tazo pivoted toward the doctor, his new target.
My beast rammed into him from the side, knocking him off his trajectory.
We both flew through the air. My beast smashed Tazo into the wall. The sound of cracking support beams made Governor Maxim curse.
“Gods be damned. Fucking beasts.”
Warlord Tazo’s fist slammed into my jaw. I pulled him off the wall and attempted to wrestle him to the ground, lock him in place.
No such luck. Equal to me in strength, he used my momentum against me until he was on top of me, striking, over and over, with his massive fist.
I flipped, dragging him down with my thighs wrapped around his torso. I struck him in the jaw once. Twice. We grappled for superior position, our bodies slamming into the medical bed, knocking it over.
My mate screamed as Doctor Surnen lifted her out of the way just in time to avoid injury.
Her cry enraged him. “Mine! Kill you!”
Mine? Again? What the fuck was going on here? I didn’t want to kill him. The look in his eyes was focused, intent, not crazed. Even more important, he was a friend. “Tazo! Stop!”
“Mate! Mine!” His bellows rose in volume as his knee connected with my abdomen.
“Fuck! Stop!”
“Miiiiine!” So much for control. His beast became wild, beyond reason, seeing four males around her as a threat he could not tolerate.
Fuck. Did he truly believe this female, my mate, was his? Did his beast intend to fight to the death to claim her? To take her from me?
Why was my beast not infuriated at the thought?
Using all of my strength, I braced my back against the medical bed and wedged my feet under Warlord Tazo’s frame. With a mighty heave, I thrust with every bit of power in my legs and sent him flying across the room.
His back hit the wall. A crater formed at the point of impact—inciting another curse from Governor Maxim —and he fell, landing in a crouch on one knee. His beast’s quiet snarl filled with deadly intent.
I stood and held my hands up in front of me, palms out, as I transformed back to my normal form. The beast didn’t put up a fight, went quietly. That was a fucking first. “Tazo, the female is not in danger. She is here for a medical evaluation after a Hive attack. Stand down.”
“Hive?” He rose, his chest heaving, fists clenched. Thank fuck he was listening. “Kill Hive. Where?”
“I already killed them. They attacked her on Earth. I brought her here, to The Colony. Doctor Surnen tended to her. She is here for medical treatment. That is all.” I should be arguing, telling this beast she was my female, my mate, mine to claim. Strangely, the moment the fighting stopped, my beast went cold and silent.
Warlord Tazo took several deep breaths, his entire body shuddering with the immense effort I knew he made to control his beast. He turned from me to the doctor. “Hurt?”
Doctor Surnen cleared his throat. “Miss Linton suffered bruising around her wrists and ankles from the Hive restraints—”
Warlord Tazo growled. The doctor paused but resumed quickly.
“The ReGen wand healed them quite easily. She is in perfect health.”
“Hive.”
“Dead,” I assured him, again.
“How many?”
“Three soldiers.”
“Soldiers!” His roar caused my mate—or perhaps, not my mate—to make a small, gasping noise. At the sound, Warlord Tazo stalked toward her. Doctor Surnen looked at me and I gave him a small nod. Tazo was fully in control of himself now. I had no doubt he would not hurt the female.
The doctor moved aside, leaving her to stare at the giant beast who knelt before her.
“Warlord Tazo. Mate. Mine.”
She looked around the room, from the doctor to Governor Maxim, Ryston, then to me.
“He believes you are his mate, Larkspur Linton of Earth.”
She sighed. “I’ve been trying to tell you, I’m Lavender. Larkspur is my older sister. We’re only a year apart and we look a lot alike. God! You guys need to listen. Larkspur. Lavender. Okay? My mom’s name was Lily and she had a thing for flowers. You’ve got the wrong girl. I don’t take pictures. I’m a vet tech. I work with animals.”
Sister? Lavender? No. I tracked her scent to the apartment.
“You smell like Larkspur.” The feminine scent of my mate had haunted me since I’d first tracked her after our battle with the Hive inside the human fight club. I knew her smell.
Lavender looked down at the blue nightgown she wore and shrugged. “We live together in that shitty little apartment. I borrowed her nightie. I didn’t have any clean clothes, so I raided her closet. We share clothes all the time.”
Fuck. My beast clawed his way to the surface in a panic. It was his voice that filled the room. “Where? Larkspur?”
“She works nights at the same vet clinic I do.” Lavender tilted her head to the side as if every word she was saying was not raking hot coals over my soul. “That’s why I asked what time it is on Earth. She’s going to go home and see all the blood. She’s going to freak. And what about the new ones? The Hive things that got there right before you zapped me into outer space? What if they’re still in our apartment? What if they go look for her at work? I don’t know you people. I’m sure your beasts will try to find her, but what if they can’t? What if she doesn’t go straight home after work? What if she goes to the store or something? Will the Hive guys try to kill her in public?”
“They have no regard for human rules, nor do they fear being seen.” Every word Doctor Surnen spoke was like razor blades in my skull. My mate was still alone. Still on Earth. Still in danger. And it was my fault. Mine. I failed her. I already failed her. The Hive were hunting my mate. My female. I took the wrong fucking female!
Lavender continued, oblivious to my panic. “There’s too many things that can go wrong. I need to go home.”
“Where?” I took a step toward the female. She had not answered my question. My mate, my real mate, was alone and unprotected back on Earth. I had to return. Find her. Protect her. Now. Right fucking now.
Warlord Tazo rose to face me. I stopped. It was not my intention to attack the female. I needed information.
“It’s a twenty-four-hour emergency vet clinic. Sometimes she comes straight home. Sometimes she stops for breakfast first. There’s this waffle place she likes that—.”
“WHERE IS SHE?!” My bellow made Warlord Tazo growl a warning. I didn’t fucking care. I’d kill him right fucking now if he tried to keep me from the information I needed to find my mate. The Hive were on Earth. Searching. Hunting. Tracking her.
Lavender sighed. “Riverside Emergency Vet. It’s downtown, northeast eleventh street. Waffle place is two blocks south. If she’s not at either place, she’ll be riding her bike.”
“A bicycle?” My mate traveled on one of those primitive, two-wheeled contraptions? With cars and trucks racing past? Humans were terrible, fucking horrifyingly bad drivers. I’d been on Earth long enough to learn that truth. My mate could die, her skull smashed into goo on the pavement.
Once she was with me, she would not be allowed to take such risks.
“Send the coordinates to transport.” I moved toward the door.
“No! Wait! I’m going with you!” Lavender took two steps before Warlord Tazo picked her up, tossed her over his shoulder, and carried her out the door in front of me.
“Mine.”
“Put me down! I have to go save my sister.”
Warlord Tazo glanced at me over his shoulder. “Sister. Mate?”
“Yes.”
He grunted. “Go. I protect Lavender.”
The female he vowed to protect pounded on his back with her fists as he carried her away. “Put. Me. Down! You overgrown animal!”
“Not safe. You stay. Mate.”
Her continued protests fell on deaf ears. No male of worth would send his female into danger. Lavender would be reunited with her sister once I found her and brought her safely back to The Colony. “What time is it on Earth? When will Larkspur be returning to her apartment?”
Ryston dropped into step beside me as I jogged to the transport room. “Two-forty, by their standard.”
According to Lavender, my mate would be leaving her workplace in a few hours. My jog became a sprint.
How long did transport take?
Fuck. I might already be too late.
Larkspur “Lark” Linton, Miami, FL, 1:30 am
* * *
“Jackpot.” I zoomed in on the couple embracing at the bar and felt like the Cheshire cat as I took photos of a very popular, very married, movie star and his gorgeous, young co-star. They were in town filming a movie.
I considered myself lucky the bartender was a friend from High School. He called me from the local nightclub and gave me the tip. Also lucky the vet clinic was dead and one of my co-workers agreed to take the rest of my shift. If we’d been in surgery or dealing with an emergency, I would have missed out on these photos.
My sister thought I was at work. I rarely told Lavender what I was really up to. She worried too much. Just because I got caught once a few years ago—and punched in the face by a famous talk show host who happened to be cheating on her husband—didn’t mean my side gig was dangerous.
Besides, I’d learned to be much more careful since then.
“Come on baby, give me more.”
As if on cue, the photos rolled in. This was going to be a nice paycheck. I felt bad for his wife, I really did. The way I saw it, I was doing her a favor, exposing the lies. Wonder which picture the gossip rags would want?
Could be the one with his hand up her blouse and his tongue down her throat.
Or the one where she’s rubbing his dick through his pants under the table.
I switched to video mode and took a solid, ten second clip of that action as he leaned over and kissed her.
“With tongue. Perfect.” No one could hear me over the loud music, so I didn’t worry about talking to myself. Excellent shot. This would pay our rent for at least three months. Probably six with the movie promo coming up. I could save the pictures until they were neck deep in movie promotion, but that would mean eating mac-and-cheese and spaghetti for a few months. I’d rather eat real food now. There would be another scandal. Another picture. Another paycheck.
I didn’t make steady income from my photography. Not yet. I’d hoped the alien pictures I took in the fight club a few months ago would make me a small fortune. I’d been sure they would sell like hotcakes, maybe even inspire a bidding war. No such luck. So far, not one of my usual buyers had made an offer, even a bad offer. Which was why I was here, now, pretending to drink a warm beer in this trendy bar.
My subject unzipped his pants and placed his bare dick in her hands.
What the hell? Maybe he liked knowing someone could watch. Did he want to get caught? He had a beautiful Hollywood starlet wife, two adorable children, and more money than a god. Wasn’t that enough?
“I fucking hate people.” My camera should have been on fire with the images I was getting. Mr. Movie Star penis pics? Probably just paid my rent for a year. Definitely going to offload these to the flash drive I kept at work. Our apartment wasn’t in the best neighborhood. Not the worst, either, but break-ins weren’t uncommon. I couldn’t risk keeping the files at home. I figured the inside of an animal kennel was the very last place anyone would ever look. Add the fact that the small kennel was only used for cats’ post-op recoveries inside the clinic, usually smelled like blood, urine or worse, and I knew no one would ever dig around there for a flash drive. Like ever.
Cringing as I zoomed in close on the slab of meat under that table, I took a few more pictures. I had more than enough. In fact, this asshole movie star might pay me double to keep the photos out of the public eye. Would I allow that? The decision felt ugly. I didn’t want to hurt him. This was nothing personal. At least not to me. To his wife? She deserved the truth.
With a sigh, I picked up the drink in front of me and took a sip. Ice cold lemon water helped wash the dirty feeling from my insides. I’d seen enough. More than enough. Why was no man capable of being faithful? Our adopted father was a prime example of infidelity and I had yet to meet a man to prove him wrong. Lavender and I had added three stepmothers and four half-siblings to our fucked-up family since our parents’ divorce. Thank god we’d lived with our mother. At least until she died. For the last few years, we’d been alone, broke, and had an adopted father who spent half his time in county jail for failing to pay child support for his other biological children.
That settled things for me. No sympathy. This spoiled movie star deserved everything these pictures would bring into his life. I didn’t force him to be a lying, cheating asshole. He did that all by himself.
“I hope your wife takes you to the cleaners, buddy.” I hopped off the barstool, slipped the bartender a large bill, thanking him for the hot tip, and deftly avoided answering when he asked me out on a date. Again. I smiled, waved and pretended I didn’t hear him.
Not. Interested. It wasn’t him, it was me. I wanted a lying, cheating, sex-obsessed man in my life about as much as I wanted a hole in my favorite pair of socks, or my favorite show to be canceled.
I put the cap on my camera lens and turned away. I didn’t need to watch the whole show. Maybe she would finish him under the table. Maybe not. Didn’t care. I didn’t do porn and I didn’t watch for fun. I had the photos I needed to get paid. End of story.
If Lav didn’t love her job so much, I might feel badly about what I had to do to pay the bills. But she did. Bless her, she loved making people feel beautiful, even if it didn’t pay enough to cover her half of the rent and her tuition. Forget about having enough for utilities and food.
