Bad Boy Beast: Interstellar BridesĀ® Program: The Beasts - 8, page 7
“Wow. That was intense.” Her eyes were closed. The relaxed, dreamy expression on her face made my beast preen.
“Mine.”
She smiled. “Yes. I guess I am yours now, mate.”
She called us mate, the declaration of her claim healed a broken piece of me I didn’t know needed mending, my heart contorting with a painful twist in my chest. Mating fever had been painful. This? This hurt in an unfamiliar, piercing way.
As if these new feelings were too much for him, the beast retreated, leaving me to untangle the messy, jumbled emotions rushing through our body like wildfire devouring kindling. I always knew finding our mate would be unforgettable, a fucking miracle.
I never expected it to hurt, to wake up parts of myself I’d tried to ignore, suppress and eliminate. Before coming to Earth, I’d given up, taken the smallest glimmer of hope and stomped it into oblivion. I never believed I would find a female who would deem me worthy, accept me with my scars and Hive integrations, wear my mating cuffs. Never.
Not knowing what else to do, I turned off the water and carried my mate to her bedroom. I knelt before her with a towel and wiped the water from her soft skin as gently as I could, afraid I’d hurt her, had already hurt her.
Had I fucked her too hard? Bruised her wrists where I held her against the wall? Did I injure her? Frighten her? Had the beast been too rough?
Why was she just staring at me with those gorgeous eyes? Why wasn’t she saying anything? Weren’t females supposed to talk incessantly, babbling every thought and feeling aloud in a near constant stream of words and emotions? If she didn’t talk, how the fuck was I supposed to figure out what she needed? Unlike some species in the Coalition Fleet, I wasn’t telepathic. Where was one of those damn Prillon mating collars when I needed one? Those fuckers used the collars to read their mates’ minds, their emotions. They cheated when seducing their females, making their mates fall in love.
In that moment I knew the source of my new pain. Larkspur didn’t love me. How could she? She barely knew me. My beast didn’t give a fuck. He saw, he claimed, he left me to figure out the rest, to seduce her, to make her fall in love.
What if I couldn’t? What if I failed? That was the most terrifying thought of my life.
Mine. The beast sounded amused by my fear as if this human female giving her heart to us was a given, a foregone conclusion. His confidence made no sense. No one had ever chosen us.
Shut the fuck up. You’re not helping.
Satisfied that she was dry, I wrapped the towel around her and stepped back when she took the end and tucked it away above her breast. “Thanks.”
“My pleasure.”
I returned to the bathroom, threw my armor in the tub and rinsed it clean. That done, I left it to dry and wrapped a towel around my hips. I glanced at myself in the mirror above the sink and stared into the eyes of a changed male, a beast with a mate, a warlord who was no longer alone.
My beast was sated and content. Why was I so restless? On edge?
Perhaps because my mate was still in danger? Because the Hive hunted her?
Perhaps because my cock was diamond hard and aching, the taste of her pussy an aphrodisiac on my tongue. I wanted more.
I turned on the cold water and splashed my face in an attempt to clear my head. When I finished patting my face with a small towel, I looked up to see her leaning in the open doorway. She wore a pair of dark jeans and a muted yellow blouse with a row of buttons down the front. The blouse stretched over her breasts. I wanted to tear those buttons off with my teeth and explore the soft mounds she’d hidden from me. She rolled a packed suitcase to a stop beside her.
“You ready to go get the pictures?”
No. Fuck no. I was ready to strip those clothes off her, lay her down on her bed and make her lose control. I was ready to fuck her until we both collapsed with exhaustion, until she had so many orgasms she would never think of another male’s touch, never crave another, forget every touch but mine. No, I was not ready to give her up and share her with the world. Not yet. “Yes. My armor will be dry in a few minutes.” It was probably dry already, the material made to adapt to its environment.
“Okay.” She studied me for long minutes, her curious gaze tracing the lines of silver in my flesh. “What’s on the pictures that everyone wants so badly?”
“I do not know.”
Abandoning her suitcase, she walked into the bathroom and stopped in front of me. The air froze in my lungs as she placed her small hand on my chest. “Are you okay?” She tilted her head back to look up at me. “You’ve been in here a long time.”
Had I? How many minutes had passed as I stared at myself in the mirror, wondering if this female could ever love me, ever care for me? Such thoughts were weak, dishonorable. Her love for me, or lack of, was irrelevant to my purpose, the honor and privilege of caring for a mate. No male of worth worried about such things. She wore my mating cuffs. She accepted my claim. It was done.
So why did my past haunt me? Why were memories consuming my happiness like vultures devouring the dead?
“Kai?” Larkspur’s touch should have been enough to ground me in the present, but the past maintained its icy grip.
“I’m fine.” I grappled with the very human response I’d learned over my months on this planet. “Give me a minute. I just need to get into my armor.” I nodded at her suitcase. “You ready? That everything?”
She glanced over her shoulder. “Weird how you can have a house full of stuff, but most of it doesn’t matter.” She turned back around to face me. “I’ve packed the important things, mostly pictures. I got Lav’s stuff, too.”
“Very well. I will be out shortly.”
Larkspur took the hint and left me, closing the door behind her with a soft click.
I winced at the sense of foreboding that came over me with that small sound.
Larkspur was perfect. I found her, protected her, claimed her. She was mine.
What the fuck was wrong with me?
8
Larkspur, Emergency Vet Clinic, 9:00 am
* * *
The thick mating cuffs on my wrists clattered on top of the reception counter as I leaned over to talk to the young man behind the computer. Not that Josh, the Vet Tech working this morning, noticed. No, he was far too busy staring, slack-jawed, at the warlord standing behind me. Understandable. Kai was a sight to behold.
“Josh, you hear me?”
“What?” My twenty-year-old co-worker tore his gaze away from the obvious threat and blinked. Hard. “Right. You left something in the back?”
“Yeah. You mind if I run back there and grab it? I left in a hurry last night. Thanks for covering for me.” My gratitude was genuine. Josh always said yes when I called. He needed the hours as much as I did. His mom was disabled, and his dad struggled to feed five kids on his own. Josh was the oldest and started working as much as possible the week after his High School graduation. I respected the hell out of him.
“Sure.” I was about to walk through the door to the clinical area when Josh stopped me. “Hey. We had an emergency not too long after you left. It’s still a mess back there.”
“No problem. You want help cleaning up?”
“Naw. I’m working a double shift. Just need to grab another cup of coffee and I’ll take care of it.” Josh lifted his oversized, insulated mug to his lip. A cup of coffee to him would be three or four for me. I didn’t know how he wasn’t stuttering from caffeine overload.
“Okay.” Nice kid. I was only a few years older, but right now, those few years felt like decades. I could do the polite thing and introduce him to my mate, but what was the point? As soon as I had my hands on those pictures, I’d never see the guy again. Never see Earth again? I wrestled with whether that was a good or bad thing.
Not wanting to linger, especially with an SUV full of beasts, as well as Carmichael’s vehicle, parked out front, I entered the operating room where the post-op recovery kennels were lined up against one wall.
Kai followed. Of course he did. Josh didn’t say a word or try to stop him. Nothing like facing off with another man who was over a foot taller and probably outweighed Josh by a hundred pounds. I had to admit, after the night I had, Kai’s presence made me feel safe. I had no idea how the Hive found my apartment to attack Lavender, or how they had tracked me to the restaurant. Did they have access to my cell phone? Did they have some advanced technology I didn’t know about? Because Kai and his friends found me, too. How? My sister dropped me off at work, I took a taxi to the night club and walked from there to get breakfast. Somehow, they all—aliens and humans alike—knew exactly where I was.
Now, everywhere I went, we had a full-blown party going on.
The stainless-steel operating table had been cleared, but tufts of fur and some dried fluids, probably I.V. meds, marred the normally pristine surface. Cat hair, by the looks of it. The trash container next to the table was stuffed full of bloodied gauze, used gloves and other surgical supplies. Maybe the poor thing had been hit by a car last night.
Heart aching for the creature, I hurried over to where we kept the designated cat kennel to see if our patient was awake. Groggy and drugged would be best for me. I didn’t want to be clawed by an angry cat while I tried to peel tape off the inside of the cage.
“Josh!” I called out, hoping he would hear me, as I looked around, spun in circles, checked a couple of exam rooms. “Josh?”
He peaked his head around the door connected to the reception area. “What’s up?”
“Where is the cat kennel?”
“What?”
“The cat kennel we keep back here for post-op patients. It’s gone.”
Josh sauntered into the surgical area, sipping his coffee like nothing important was going on. “Oh, yeah. Cat got chomped by an alligator. Poor old guy was frantic when he came in last night.”
“An alligator?” Hell. That was a new one.
“Yeah. He carried the cat in wrapped in a jacket. Kept telling us it wasn’t Howard, whatever that meant.” Josh took another sip of coffee and shrugged. “We let him take the kennel home. Cat wasn’t even his, so he didn’t have anything at home to help him take care of it. We gave him some food and stuff. He said he’d bring the kennel back in a couple days when he brings the cat in to get his stitches out.”
A couple days?
“We cannot wait. We must obtain the files.” Kai’s deep voice made me jump. I’d almost forgotten he was here. No. Who was I kidding? I seemed to know exactly where he was even if I wasn’t looking. I’d become hyper-aware of everything he did, I couldn’t not focus on him. Like I was obsessed. Which was ridiculous, since I’d only known him for a few hours.
“What files?” Josh asked.
I ran my fingers through my hair. “You know how I take paparazzi pictures? Like last night? You came in to cover for me so I could bust that Hollywood cheater?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, I download all the pictures to a flash drive and I hide it in that cat kennel. I figured it was safer here than in my shitty apartment.”
“I get that. So many burglaries going on these days.” Josh nodded and held up his hand. “Just a sec. I have all their info. You can go to his house and ask. Super nice old man. I doubt he would mind.”
Josh left us alone. Kai pulled me into his arms and I went willingly, settled my ear over his beating heart and let the steady thump-thump soothe me. A couple minutes later Josh returned with a piece of paper. He’d written a name and address in sloppy handwriting.
I squinted. “Mr. Karr?”
“K-A-U-R. Kaur. Sorry. My handwriting is shit. Little old guy. Has a thick Indian accent. He said he only lives about ten minutes away. That’s why he brought the cat here.” Josh seemed pleased with himself as he took a large gulp of coffee. “Don’t see why he wouldn’t let you get your drive.”
“Thanks.”
Kai led the way back out to the SUV and our entourage headed for Mr. Kaur’s residence. True to Josh’s word, ten minutes later we were parked outside a house in a quiet, residential neighborhood. This stretch of homes had fenceless yards; the properties backed to swampy, open waterways interspersed with patches of barely-there land.
No wonder the guy’s cat got chomped by an alligator. This whole neighborhood was a small, edible pet’s worst nightmare just waiting to happen. Bet they didn’t have a rabbit problem.
After telling everyone, yet again, to wait in the vehicle, Kai escorted me to the front door and stood guard like he expected an attack at any moment.
His nerves were making me anxious. We hadn’t seen any Hive since the restaurant, but I had no idea what that meant. Could they beam in and out like Star Trek characters? Appear out of nowhere? Maybe they had invisibility suits? Or maybe they gave up and went home, back to whatever hell planet they came from and decided to leave me alone.
Yep. Definitely taking that last option.
I rang the doorbell and waited. A couple minutes later an elderly man opened the door. He was wearing a Hawaiian shirt, a pair of brown shorts and matching sneakers. One leg was titanium from the knee down. “How can I—” He stopped midsentence, his gaze going wide when he noticed Kai. “Well, I’ll be damned. Another one of you fellas. Come in! Come in!”
Kai and I exchanged confused looks as Mr. Kaur opened his door wide and stepped back to allow us to enter. Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, I walked in but stopped short at the entry hall where the walls were filled with neatly framed, family photos.
“Is that an Atlan Warlord?” I leaned forward to get a better look at a family portrait the size of a large poster. I didn’t think people ever really wanted pictures this big to hang in their homes. There was no missing it.
Kai looked over my shoulder. “That is Warlord Braun.” He sounded as confused as I felt.
“Yes. That’s my family. He married—or I guess you fellas call it ‘mated’—my granddaughter, Angela.” His joyous grin was contagious. “And those are my great grandbabies. They’re about six months old.”
Holy shit. They were huge. Guess with an Atlan for a father, that was no surprise.
Inspecting each photograph more closely, I noticed the warlord appeared to truly be part of this man’s family. There was a large group photo with Mr. Kaur, a middle-aged man who appeared to be Mr, Kaur’s son with his arm around a black woman I assumed was his wife. Warlord Braun was seated next to them, his arm around the waist of a young woman I assumed was his mate. She wore mating cuffs. The resemblance between herself and her parents was unmistakable.
Mr. Kaur had a warlord in his family? “Where do they live?”
“The Colony. He’s one of those integrated fellas.” He looked over at Kai. “You get captured by the Hive, too?”
“Yes.” I expected Kai to elaborate. He did not. Mr. Kaur didn’t appear to expect more of an explanation because he kept talking.
“Sorry to hear that, son. Glad you made it out alive.”
The silence after Mr. Kaur’s statement made my heart drop into my stomach. Apparently, Kai didn’t want to talk about it. Time to change the subject.
“Is that Angela, holding one of the babies?” I knew it must be, but I wanted to know for sure. Here was a girl who had gone through what I was experiencing with Kai right now, a bad boy, a beast, waltzing into my life and taking it over. Literally, taking me over.
“Yes. I miss that girl. Don’t get to see her as often as I’d like. She used to come over every couple days. Now I only see her a few times a year. Guess since she lives on a whole different planet, I can’t complain. Braun’s good to her and the babies. That’s all I care about.”
Those babies left me breathless. Twins. The warlord and his mate each held one of the adorable little ones. Chubby cheeks. Bright eyes. Big, happy smiles. They looked big enough to be at least a year old. Six months? How big were they when they were born? “Do Atlans have a lot of twins?”
Mr. Kaur chuckled. “No. That’s my daughter’s fault. Twins run in the family on her mother’s side.” His chuckles evolved into full laughter. “Braun passed out when she told him. Funniest damn thing I ever saw. Fell over like a tree.”
His glee was contagious and I found myself giggling at the idea of a giant, beast of a man fainting just because he found out he was going to be a father.
Did Kai want children? I’d always dreamed about having a family, if—and this was a huge if—I could find a man who would stick around, not cheat, and be a decent father. Something told me Kai could do all those things.
But did he want to? He hadn’t told me anything. Not really. Other than assuring me he would protect me and that he would understand if I refused his claim. Didn’t inspire confidence in his feelings about the situation. Did he even want a mate?
I turned to find him hypnotized by the portrait, just as I had been. His face was a blank slate, gave nothing away. Was he hiding his reaction because the idea of a family repulsed him? Or because he wanted it so desperately, he didn’t know how to respond? I wanted to ask, but now wasn’t the time.
Suddenly the mating cuffs gave me a feeling of claustrophobia, of being trapped with a mate and a future I knew nothing about. I didn’t know if he wanted ten children or none. I didn’t know anything about his past, his family, or what he wanted to do for the rest of his life. I knew nothing except his beast took one look, decided he wanted to claim me, and the sex was fantastic.
Orgasms were a nice start, but they didn’t make a life. Was this disconnect between Kai and his beast the reason he’d acted so strangely in the bathroom? So formal? He’d fucked me up against the wall in the shower and then spoken in a stilted, awkward manner as soon as the beast was gone and he returned to himself.
The beast made no bones about it. He was obsessed with me. Did Kai the man even like me? He knew nothing about me. We were two strangers pretending to be in a serious relationship. The only one who had zero doubt—Kai’s beast—filled me up with his huge cock, made me come until I was a wrung-out mess, then disappeared.
