Alien Sentinel’s Mate by Mina Carter

12

I’m hoping this is a ‘hold that thought’ kind of deal.

Those words tortured Seren all evening as he watched Gracie interacting with his kinsmen. She was beauty and grace, her namesake personified as she spoke to the big, rough Latharians who crowded around her in fascination.

He couldn’t blame them. Hardly any of them had seen a female, not one who looked like they did anyway. Humans were built on a much smaller scale, but apart from the eyes and the glorious colors of their hair, they were still recognizably like the Lathar. Unlike the other females they were forced to use in an attempt to continue their line and ensure they were not the last of the Vorr. It was ironic, he mused, that those of them who had the best success with procreation were not true Vorr. Or perhaps, they were what the Vorr would eventually have become anyway.

He transferred his attention back to Gracie. It had been a risk to bring her here unclaimed, but as long as Cade stayed by her side, stuck to her like glue, Seren could relax and speak to his people. Cade hadn’t scent bonded with her, so he was the safest male to be around her other than Seren himself. He would treat her as a sister, protecting her with the last breath in his body if need be. If any other male tried to approach her, Cade would tear them apart with his bare hands. If Seren didn’t get to them first anyway.

Which meant that Gracie suddenly appearing before him, her face dark and thunderous, took him by surprise. He should have sensed her approach. At the very least, heard Cade’s heavy-footed stride.

“Something you forgot to tell me, asshole? Like the fact you’re a fucking prince?”

Her voice was as thunderous and as pissed off as her expression, anger radiating from her slight frame. He looked past her to Cade, who winced and shrugged in apology.

“No, no, no,” she snapped, looming over him where he sat and poking him in the shoulder. “Don’t look at him. Look at me. If we’re gonna do this mating thing, you can’t fucking lie to me. Understand me?”

He stood in a surge of movement, crowding her.

“Do Earthlings often swear at their princes?” he growled, snapping a hand out to capture her wrist and then hauling her up against him. She gasped, her eyes wide and her little body tense against him.

“I’m Terran,” she spat. “No one calls us Earthlings!”

“I’ve been lenient with you, little Terran,” he bit out. “Overruled my natural instinct to take, to claim. But you push me too far. I demand absolute obedience from my subjects and my mate. Understand me?”

Before she could answer, he bent and threw her over his shoulder.

“Wait… what the hell are you doing?” she demanded, her voice a loud shriek as he strode toward the long hall, scattering clansmen willy-nilly as he went. They weren’t scared of him, not in the same way as they were terrified of Cade, but no leader worth his salt wanted to command through fear. They might not fear him but they did respect him. None of them would ever want to face him in a challenge fight. Particularly not over a female he’d claimed as his own.

“Seren, you great bloody oaf! Put me down before I hurt you!”

She beat at his shoulder with her small fists and he laughed, the sound little more than a bark as he kicked the main doors of the hall open to stride through. His boots rang out against the wooden floor as he stalked across the hall toward the thrones at the end and the doorway beyond.

“You? Hurt me?” He chuckled, sliding his hand over the delicious curves of her ass as they reached her… his rooms. After this, they would be sharing them. He would accept nothing less. Her resistance to their mating ended now. “The reality where that would happen does not exist, little human.”

“You are an utter asshole! You know that?”

He ignored the insult. The more humans, and Gracie in particular, were pushed out of their comfort zones, the more they reacted loudly with insults and curses to push away whatever was bothering them. He wouldn’t allow her to do that with him. He’d let her do that for too long. Not anymore.

The bed loomed large, and he stopped right beside it. Sliding her down the front of his body, he looked down into her eyes. They were the color of the sea during a storm—powerful and tempestuous.

Lady goddess, she was beautiful when she was mad. Her eyes narrowed. Seeing her intent before she moved, he shoved a hard hand into her hair to stop her escaping. He stepped forward to trap her between his larger, harder body and the bed.

She glared up at him and he found himself caught in his own trap. She squirmed, and the pressure of her curvy body against his, with his cock at full mast and trapped between them, was almost too much to bear.

“Absolute obedience,” he reminded her, gritting his teeth. He would not lose control like a youth with his first female. “And I will not lie. Deal?”

“You’ve gotta be kidding me!” she gasped, surprise flowing over her features. “Seriously? That was your takeaway from all that? For god’s sake, you Lathar are so fucking literal!”

He growled, but his grip in her hair gentled when she stopped struggling. “You said I can’t lie to you if we become mates. That is acceptable. I agree to your terms.”

Lifting his other hand, he smoothed the pad of his thumb over her full lips. “I will never lie to you, kelarris. You have my word on that.”

She lifted her chin. “Perhaps I don’t want to become mates. Ever thought of that, huh?”

Growling, he gripped her jaw to make her look up at him.

“We will become mates. Your actions in here earlier and offer just now indicated your willingness for the idea. Unless…” He paused and looked down at her. “Your actions earlier were to play me for some reason.”

The thought made his blood boil. She said his people were literal, but humans were tricksters, saying one thing and meaning another. The idea that she would go so far as to nearly bed him to gain her own ends hit him like a hammer blow. And she had the audacity to accuse him of lying?

“Is this what you do?” he demanded, his grip tightening on her jaw as he made her look at him. “Seduce males to bend them to your will? How many others? Who?” He snarled. “I’ll kill them all. You’re mine.”

“No!” She gasped, the stricken look on her face enough to hold his temper. “I haven’t… wouldn’t do that!”

Her hands smoothed over his chest and shoulders with soft, butterfly touches designed to soothe and placate him as she pressed closer.

“Swear it,” he demanded. The idea of her seducing any other warrior was enough to put him on a knife’s edge, but she couldn’t have. He’d been aboard the vessel that had rescued her from the colony that had been attacked by the juvenile Krin, and he’d been assigned to protect her ever since. She hadn’t even looked at any other male in all that time. He would have known.

Her eyes were big and wide as she looked up at him. “Seren, I promise. I haven’t so much as looked at another man since I met you.”

Truth leached out through her pores, dominating her scent, and he grumbled in the center of his chest, his pride and ego appeased. His grip gentled on her jaw as he leaned down, whispering an almost kiss over her lips.

She softened against him, a small catch in her throat as she chased his lips and he smiled. She was amenable to becoming his mate. Even, if her physical responses were to be believed, craved it... so why was she still arguing?

“You’re mine,” he rumbled, denying her the kiss she wanted. “Say it. Now.”

He neededto hear the words. The thought hit Gracie as he held himself away from her, his lips achingly close but not giving her the pleasure she wanted… needed from him. This big, snarly, dangerous alien warrior wouldn’t touch her until she gave him the go ahead.

He hadn’t asked her, but she didn’t care anymore. All that mattered was him and the way he made her feel.

“Yours,” she agreed softly, lowering her gaze as a flush hit her cheeks. Even as she gave in to him, said the word, she knew it was the truth. She’d been his from the moment she’d laid eyes on him back on the colony planet.

He growled softly in response, the deep sound more like a purr as he pulled her closer. His hand slid into her hair again and he tilted her head back.

This time when he claimed her lips it was not a gentle whisper. It was a full-on assault of heat and need. She moaned, the sound lost in the midst of their passion as heat flared like an inferno between them. Her hands stroked over his shoulders, her nails digging in as she tried to get closer.

Parting her lips, she surrendered to him, tangling her tongue with his as he pushed her back onto the bed, falling with her. They ended up in a tangle of limbs, his harder body pressing hers into the softness of the mattress.

Breaking away from her lips with a small, rumbled purr, he looked down at her. The expression in his eyes took her breath away. He gave a small, wicked smile, the edges of his fangs peeking out as he captured her hands. A small sound, somewhere between a whimper and a moan, escaped her as he pinned them over her head.

She lifted up as much as she could and claimed his lips for herself, nipping softly at his lower lip to make him open up before sliding her tongue against his fangs. They were sharp, but he’d stilled enough not to cut her.

“You like them,” he murmured when she pulled away. It was a statement, not a question. Heat had darkened his eyes, but there was an edge of surprise in his voice.

“Yes,” she nodded. “Now enough talking, kiss me again.”

He did, thrusting a hard knee between her thighs as his mouth ravaged hers. He wasn’t gentle, but she didn’t need or want that. All this time she’d thought him as soft and gentle, but he wasn’t. He was a wolf in sheep’s clothing among the other Lathar.

His kisses were electric, heat arching through her body and every inch of her skin alive as he swept a hand down her curves. She arched up against him, the sensual captivity flicking a switch inside her as she rubbed her leg along his. The skirts of the beautiful gown parted, letting her slide her foot along his leg.

Tearing his lips from hers, he nudged her chin up to kiss along her neck. She shivered as his hand swept up her thigh and pushed the fabric of her skirts up to her waist.

“Do you know what the good thing about Latharian gowns is?” he murmured, nipping at her ear lobe lightly.

“No?” she gasped, barely managing to frame the query as he reached under her skirt. She’d had no underwear to put on after her shower earlier. His questing fingers met bare flesh that quivered at his touch.

“Easy access.” His lips blazed a trail down her neck to the ties at her shoulders. “Designed for a male to pleasure his female whenever… wherever… however she needs.”

“Oh god…”

Her words were a whisper on the air as he tugged on the tie at her neck with his teeth. Somehow the gown unraveled itself, sliding from her body to reveal her to him.

His hand still pinning her wrists just above her head, he looked down, his gaze sweeping her body. Heat mounted in her cheeks as his expression tightened and he pushed her legs further apart. As he watched her, his clever fingers found her core, sweeping through the slick folds of her pussy.

“So hot and wet…” he leaned down to murmur, the words a hairsbreadth from her lips. Before she could answer, he parted her and slid a finger deep inside her. She gasped, her back arching at the penetration. Her needy pussy clenched around his invading digit, her hips rocking as he pulled back and then thrust in again, adding a second finger to fuck her.

“Oh god… yes!” she closed her eyes as her body tightened, a shiver rolling over her skin. She arched against him, pulling on her wrists. “Please… I need to touch you.”

He growl-purred again, the soft sound getting to her on a primal level, and let go. She wrapped herself around him, her hand winding around the back of his neck to pull him down so she could claim his lips. Her kiss was hard and desperate. She needed more… needed him to touch her. The rough pad of his thumb brushed against her clit, trapping it between them as he stroked and circled…

Her sharp cry was muffled by his lips as she shattered, coming hard in a hot rush over his fingers. His tongue thrust into her mouth, his hands and lips in perfect synchrony as he drew her pleasure out. He didn’t give her any mercy. No rest. Just pushed her through her release and started to build her up into another.

“Seren, please,” she begged, her hand sliding over his chest and down to cup him boldly. “I can’t… I need you.”

He nipped at her lower lip, the sharp bite of his fangs making her gasp and then moan. “Mine.”

“Yes, yours,” she agreed in a rush as she stroked him through his pants. He was huge, his cock rock hard and throbbing even through the fabric. “Please, just… now!”

He growled, sliding his hand from her and shoving hers out of the way to tear at the opening of his pants. The sound of tearing fabric filled the air and a second later he was free, his cock leaping hot and hard into her hand.

She stifled her moan and wrapped her fingers around him eagerly. He was even bigger than she recalled. Bigger than earlier. Her pussy ached, clenching with anticipation.

“Gonna have to let me go, kelarris,” he rumbled, amusement in his voice at her grip on his cock like it was her new favorite toy. She grumbled at him, sliding a finger over the broad head as he shifted into position. His thighs parted hers wider, so wide she was completely open to him and anything he wanted to do to her.

She bit her lip as she felt him against her, hot and hard. He held her gaze as he pressed forward and parted her around him. He was big, larger than any man she’d taken before, but he’d prepared her well. She felt only the slightest bite of pain as he pushed in, stretching her and filling her inch by hard inch as he drove within.

Neither of them spoke, their gazes locked as they were caught up in their own erotic spell. With each breath they shared, their heartbeats synced as he thrust harder, sliding into her in one long ride of pure sensation.

Then he was in her completely, his hips against hers as his cock stretched her to the limit. Her nails had bitten into his shoulder, the two of them frozen in an erotic tableau as she waited… his heartbeat throbbed through his cock in the depths of her tightly stretched pussy. She swallowed, biting her lip as he braced himself over her. It was the most charged and erotic moment she’d ever known in her life.

The burn of his possession, of being stretched around him, faded and she sighed. The soft release of her breath triggered the need to move. One so powerful she ached with it, rocking her hips against his. He growled, and the spell was broken. Surging into movement, he pulled back and slid into her again. And again. His jaw tightened, his expression nearly feral as he sped up, slamming into her. He took her with a power and fury that slammed the bed against the wall.

And she reveled in it. Gloried in it and screamed his name as she came again and again. The pleasure from one release rolled into the next until she didn’t know where one ended and the next began. With each roll of her hips, she urged him on, to greater and greater heights.

Then he was there, a snarl on his lips as he tangled his hand in her hair, yanking her head back as he thrust into her hard. The cords stood out in his neck as he came, his cock jerking and pulsing inside her, bathing her inner walls with his scorching hot seed. A vicious howl of triumph echoed from the back of his throat, and then he dropped his head to find the curve of her neck and shoulder.

And bit her.