Bad Boy Beast: Interstellar BridesĀ® Program: The Beasts - 8, page 5
Gazes locked, I leaned away, a bit shocked, as he inhaled deeply, his nostril’s flaring.
Was he smelling me?
His eyelids drifted down as if he’d just tasted heaven. Pure bliss. When he opened his eyes again, the look I saw there made my breast’s grow heavy and my pulse race. I licked my lips. Was he going to kiss me?
“Larkspur.”
“How do you know my name?”
“Mine.”
Second time he said that. What, exactly, was he saying? Did this Atlan warlord think I was his mate? I’d watched the Bacherlor Beast TV show, just like every other single woman on the planet. I knew what ‘mine’ meant. The day Warlord Wulf said it and then ‘claimed’ the makeup artist on live television was burned into my brain. I’d probably rewatched that episode at least ten times and always wondered how a normal, average woman would let an alien talk her into having sex up against a door with the entire world on the other side listening to their escapades.
I was getting an inkling now, because this guy was smoking hot. Sexy. The look in his eyes, the absolute focus on me? That could be addictive.
Maybe that was the adrenaline talking. Was it normal to be aroused after fearing for one’s life? Less than a minute ago, I’d been ninety-nine percent sure I was going to die. Maybe that’s why my body was going haywire.
He turned, still holding me, and stepped outside through the hole in the wall he’d just made. How strong was he? He burst into that bathroom, tore that Hive in half, and didn’t break a sweat. Did aliens sweat? Not sure.
Fresh air filled my lungs and recharged my system. From my perch on the Atlan’s arm, I saw the sun rising on the horizon. The sky turned that morning shade of coral pink I loved. Dew made the thick blades of grass outside shiny and wet. Everything felt peaceful. Morning traffic was light, the people out this early in too big a hurry to pay attention to us.
That changed when my giant’s friends showed up. Suddenly I was surrounded by Atlan Warlords, black SUVs and a handful of people in black suits. One of them walked up to us, squinted up at my giant and put her hands on her hips. “This your girl, Kai?”
“Yes.”
Kai. His name was Kai. Interesting and unusual. I liked it.
The woman turned her attention to me. “You can call me Jennifer, Ms. Linton.” She pulled a very official looking badge from her jacket pocket, flashed it at me just long enough to make sure I couldn’t read a damn thing, and put the leather-bound identification away. She nodded at two of her people and jerked her head in the direction of the restaurant. “Clean up the mess and make it quick.” She blinked once. Twice. Studied me. “We finished cleaning up your apartment a couple hours ago. If you want to go get anything, I’d do it now. I have a surveillance team over there. No activity yet, but we have no idea how long the quiet will last.”
“What are you talking about?”
Jennifer was busy studying Kai, but she did respond. “There was a Hive attack at your apartment after you left for work. Kai here—” She lifted her hands in a sweeping gesture to indicate the giant still holding me like a small child—“…interrupted a trio of Hive Soldiers interrogating your sister. He killed them all, made a god damn mess there, too, and took your sister to The Colony where, as I understand things, she was claimed as the mate of an Atlan warlord named Tazo.” She crossed her arms and looked at Kai. “That about right?”
A rumbling sound erupted from Kai’s throat. Clearly whatever he was thinking about was not pleasant. “Hive dead.”
“The Hive was at my apartment, too?”
“Yes, Miss Linton. You are very popular at the moment. The Coalition Fleet sent an Elite Hunter to track you as well.” She squinted at Kai. “Your mate found you first.” She dipped her chin, a grin making her look less severe. “Bet that pissed ‘em off. How’d you pull that off?”
“Mate.”
“Right. Because that explains everything.” Jennifer chuckled, which I didn’t understand. At all. Nothing about this situation was funny. Not one damn thing.
My ‘mate’ found me before a group of aliens specialized to hunt people down? Just because Kai said ‘mine’ didn’t mean it was true. I twisted my torso until we were nose to nose.
Why did he have to be so gorgeous? I should be yelling and demanding he set me down, not staring at his lips and trying to remember what the hell I’d been about to ask him. Think. Right. My sister.
“Where’s Lavender?” My sister was supposed to be home, asleep. Safe. “Are you telling me you kidnapped my sister and took her to another planet?”
“Hive dead. Sister safe. With mate.” Kai’s short answers were not good enough. I turned to agent Jennifer—which three letter agency she supposedly worked for, I had no idea—and glared. She looked young, early thirties at most. Her long hair was pulled back in a tight twist. Her suit was black and could be worn to a nice dinner or a work conference. She was made to blend in. Might pull it off, too, if she weren’t so pretty.
I held her gaze. “Where is my sister? These Hive things were at my apartment, too? Did she get hurt?”
“Yes.”
“Oh, god. How bad is it? Is she going to be okay?”
Kai growled as if I’d insulted him. “Safe. With mate.”
Like that explanation was even close to good enough. “My sister is on another planet? Right now? With some crazy Atlan beast claiming she’s his mate?” Was I yelling? Yes. Yep. Yelling at the pretty secret agent whose only job appeared to be to clean up alien guts. “What did they want? Why were they at the apartment? This doesn’t make any sense.”
“Want you.” Kai’s free hand came to rest on my back like a large heating pad. I wanted to sink into his warmth and pretend none of this was happening. I ignored the fact that at least three more full size Atlan warlords in their ‘beast’ forms paced the perimeter, that the human teams wearing black were hauling loaded body bags past me, out to their waiting, unmarked vehicles. This was all insane. Totally, completely nuts.
“Me? Why do they want me?”
Jennifer lifted one shoulder in a shrug. “Apparently, you have some pictures that both the Hive and the Coalition Fleet are willing to kill to get their hands on. So, where are the pictures you took at the fight club? The ones with Warlord Maxus on the floor, fighting their mind control. Bunch of beasts, one dead human male, and two Prillon warriors who’ve been integrated and turned into Hive cyborgs? You know, Miss Linton, the images you’ve been trying to sell for the last few months?”
“How do you know about them?” Was she the reason no one would buy the images? Did she put some kind of black mark on me? Warn people off?
She rolled her eyes. “Really? Did you see the badge?”
“Not really.” When I realized my free arm was now draped across Kai’s chest and my fingers wrapped around the side of his neck, I pulled away. Kai grabbed my hand and put my palm flat against his skin again before I registered the movement. Damn. He was freaking fast. My body shouldn’t be melting just because he locked my hand in place like he wanted me to touch him. Needed it. I had to admit, the skin to skin contact was the only thing keeping me from launching into hysterics. That and the fact that one of the biggest, scariest, strongest creatures I’d ever seen held me like a precious gift, like he would never let anything happen to me, like he would kill to protect me.
No, not would. He did. He ripped that Hive guy in half right in front of me. I should probably be terrified. Instead, I felt safe. I never felt safe. Especially not after three aliens just tried to kidnap me. “He said their Nexus wanted to talk to me. What does that mean? What’s a Nexus?”
“Leader.” Kai’s hand wrapped around my fingers and squeezed, gently, as if he wanted to reassure me. How could someone so immense, intimidating and covered in debris be so… sweet?
Did he really think I was his mate? That would be crazy. I’d never even seen him before. When the insta-love between an Atlan and his mate happened on TV, to someone else, the Atlans’ love-at-first-sight thing seemed so romantic. Now I wasn’t so sure. How could he know he would ever fall in love with me, when he didn’t know me at all? Not one bit.
“Miss Linton, where are the full size images? Not the cropped graphics you’ve been circulating.” How did Jennifer, the federal agent, know the images were cropped?
“Why does anyone want those images? You’ve already seen what was on them.” She’d described the scene perfectly. Knew who was in the pictures. What was on them.
“The why is irrelevant. Where are the original files?” Before I could answer, one of her men approached.
“Ma’am, the locals will be here in five. We need the aliens out of here before they arrive.”
Jennifer leaned around Kai’s large form and shouted. “Warlord Bahre, we need you to clear out.” She glanced at me and Kai. “That goes for you, too.”
Her agent cleared his throat. “What cover story do you want to go with? Gas line?”
Jennifer studied the destruction I knew was behind me. “No. Drug deal gone wrong. No sense burning the place down. They make great breakfast.”
“Bullets over pancakes. On it.” He turned on his heel and walked toward one of their vehicles.
She looked at me. “You have a vehicle here, I assume?”
“No. I walked.”
She lifted her hand to her mouth and blew a shrill whistle. Her minion jogged back over. “Carmichael, take these two back to Miss Linton’s apartment.” Her suspicious gaze focused on me. “Get what you need and get out of there. I’ll have one of my people standby to take you wherever you need to go… after you get me those pictures.”
I sputtered a protest. “I don’t have them at the apartment. They’re—"
The sound of police sirens cut me off. They were close.
“I don’t have time to argue.” With a shake of her head, she turned to Kai. “Get her out of here. And Carmichael!” Her agent, already on his way back to the black SUV, glanced over his shoulder.
“Yeah, boss?”
“Get me those pictures! No one leaves the planet until I know what’s on those files and why the Hive and the Coalition are both after Miss Linton.”
He didn’t put me down, not even inside the SUV. He settled himself in the back, me in his lap. To my surprise, we didn’t ride with Carmichael. Instead, I found myself completely surrounded by Atlans. None of the other three, including the driver whose name was Bahre, looked familiar. Carmichael protested when Kai carried me to Bahre’s vehicle. Kai’s snarl put an end to that in two seconds flat. Based on the limited conversation between the Atlans, Carmichael was following us to my apartment.
I didn’t want to think about how Bahre knew exactly where to drive without asking for directions.
“You swear to me my sister is safe?” I whispered.
“With mate. Safe. Hive dead.” Kai’s deep voice was like a physical massage. Most of the tension I’d been carrying since those things walked into the restaurant left my shoulders and I rested my head against his chest. ‘Hive dead’. I liked the sound of that.
Kai was freaking scary, I’d give him that. I didn’t blame Carmichael for not arguing. Strangely, I wasn’t afraid. Just the opposite. With Kai’s arms around me, I’d never felt more sheltered in my life.
Maybe I should have protested or asked to be somewhere other than his lap. The truth was, I didn’t want to be. Those Hive guys scared the shit out of me. Every bit of numb indifference I had was long gone. Now all I could see when I closed my eyes was the Hive walking toward me with that damn button. I still had no idea what it was supposed to do, but whatever it was, I knew it wasn’t good.
A shiver raced over my skin, like winter wind over naked flesh.
Kai wrapped one huge hand around my wrists, lifted them and—
“Hey! What?” I glanced down to see two heavy, metallic cuffs—mating cuffs, I recognized from the TV show—sealed around my wrists.
Rather than answer, he closed a matching pair of much bigger, heavier cuffs around his own. They were beautiful, with intricate designs carved into the surface. Were those his family markings? Or something else? Computer circuits or religious symbols? The geometric design was fascinating and very alien. However, if my understanding was correct, he’d just married me, alien style, without even asking.
A tremor passed through him as he wrapped his arms around me, buried his face in my neck and breathed me in like he’d never get enough. As I watched, his face shifted and changed, grew smaller, more like a man’s. His shoulders made an odd rumbling noise as they returned to his normal size. Everything about him changed from gigantic to extremely large…everything except his cock. The hard length was like an iron rod under my bottom. Every second that passed, my awareness grew stronger until I squirmed, trying to find a moment of relief from wanting a complete stranger. An alien.
“This is crazy.” My protest was more sigh than statement.
“Yes, my lady. I must offer my sincere apologies. I failed you. I should have found you sooner. I will never forgive myself for mistaking your sister for you, my mate. I am not worthy of you and will understand if you wish to refuse my claim.”
Whoa. From monosyllabic to this soft, deep, sexy as sin voice? Refuse his claim? What did that mean? Just tell him no, I’m not your mate? Then what? I knew all the lore about the Atlans, and their beasts, and the affliction they called mating fever. The TV show claimed that if an Atlan’s mate was not found, or if his mate refused the claim, he would return to Atlan to be executed. If left on their own, without a mate, the beasts went completely insane and killed anything that moved, family, friends, anything. It was like the mating fever fried their brains until they didn’t remember who they were, and all they wanted to do was kill.
I didn’t know Kai, but I didn’t want him dead because of me. I didn’t want anyone else dead, either.
Did I want to be married to an alien? No good answer there. I didn’t know what I wanted anymore. My string of boyfriends the last few years was nothing short of pathetic. Seemed I didn’t have the patience to be someone’s mommy, they were total fuck-boy players, or they weren’t interested in a working girl living in a shit apartment with her sister, barely paying her bills. Rich guys didn’t go for poor girls. The movies lied.
“My lady, we have arrived.” Kai waited for two of his friends to disappear inside my apartment. They came back out and gave some kind of ‘all-clear’ signal to Kai who then opened the SUV’s door and carried me inside.
“You can put me down now.” My gentle request was honored immediately and I walked into the disaster zone that had once been a cozy living room.
I should have let him carry me.
Blood was everywhere. Our standing coat rack had chunks of…something…dried and stuck to the curved hooks where yesterday I’d hung my purse. The light gray carpet was covered in giant splotches of what I knew was dried blood. It wasn’t quite the right color, but then I remembered it was Hive blood, cyborg blood, not human.
Not my sister’s.
I wrapped my arms around my stomach to keep from gagging and repeated it over and over in my head. Not Lavender’s blood. Not hers. She was safe.
Thanks to the giant male whose mere presence made every cell in my body come to attention. He stood behind me, silent, waiting patiently for me to take it all in. I couldn’t walk any closer without stepping on shards of glass that had once been our coffee table.
“How many were there?” I glanced over my shoulder to find him hovering as if unsure what to do next. “Hive, I mean. Tell me what happened.”
“There is no need, mate. The details will upset you. They are dead. Your sister is safe.”
“I want to know.”
I watched his internal struggle as he decided whether or not to tell me the truth.
If he’d known what was at stake, he would have answered immediately.
I could not be with a man, male, alien—whatever—who would not tell me the truth or who hid things from me.
I faced the scene of the fight, waiting as my future with Kai hung in the balance.
6
Larkspur
* * *
After a long sigh and tense silence, he filled me in. My heart surrendered to the inevitable fact that I wanted him, that he made me feel safe, that this connection between us would consume me. The rest of me cringed when he described using the coat rack to impale one of the Hive. My fingertips covered my lips, prevented the escape of the soft cry in my throat, when he got to the part about the Hive’s weapon was placed next Lavender’s head. A tear escaped as he explained how the Prillon warrior who had been about to kill her fought his way through the Hive mind control and sacrificed himself, allowed Kai to kill him, in order to save my sister’s life. A heavy weight settled in my chest as Kai explained his reluctance to eliminate an honorable warrior, my heart breaking as Kai’s did.
This Atlan beast had more compassion than a lot of humans I knew. How sad.
Kai tore the warrior in half. I didn’t need to try very hard to imagine that. I’d just seen it in person.
Nothing about this was right. Nothing. “Is that what the Hive does? They capture you guys and take over your minds? Make you fight for them?”
Kai’s warm hand came to rest on the small of my back. I didn’t pull away. I needed the contact at least as much as he did. I sensed the question was a painful one for him to answer. “Yes. Bodies. Minds. They have Integration specialists that implant nanomaterials in our muscle and bones. They make us stronger and faster, but they also take over our natural electrical system. They have technology designed to take control of our nervous systems, control our thoughts and movements, make us kill our own kind.”
“Does it hurt? When they put that stuff in your bodies?”
“Yes. Most Atlans do not survive. Unlike the other fighters, the Hive must also control our beasts. The beasts evolved as a natural response to eons of war and the need to protect our mates. Beasts are resistant to Hive tampering. Our integration process is… barbaric. There are no words to describe the torture warlords endure. I do not wish to further upset you, mate. Your pulse is elevated and you are struggling to keep your breathing regulated.”
