Assigned a Mate (7 page)

“Clearly a spanking wasn’t enough for you to learn to curb your disrespect and sharp tongue. You are going to carry these stimspheres until I return for you. The chain must be clearly visible at all times,
gara
, so that all who see you know that I am displeased.”

My heart fluttered faster than a hummingbird’s wings and all I could do was stare. Carry around a couple of golden balls?
That
was punishment?

His gaze never leaving mine, and his grip around the twisted chain holding me in place, he lowered his hand to my wet pussy and inserted first one, then both of the golden spheres deep inside me. When he dropped his hand, the spheres slipped past my inner muscles and back toward his palm. He held his hand there, unmoving, as he stared into my stunned face. “You will hold these inside your pussy,
gara
, until I return for you. Or you will be spanked again. This time I will not hold back and you will not be able to sit for a week.”

Holy shit, he was serious. And the entire situation made my pussy clench. His seed slipped from me, but not the balls. Just that fast, I was eager for him again.

Tark smiled at my wetness and his seed that coated his palm, lowered his head to kiss my neck, and shoved the spheres back up inside my pussy as his tongue traced hot lines over my collarbone. He lifted his head and removed both of his hands from my body at the same time.

When he let go, the longer chain I had seen swung down between my thighs. The weight made the chain heavier, but each swing of it sent a small electric shock to my clit.

I gasped as I clenched down on the weighty metal objects.

“The spheres will keep you aroused,
gara
, but the neuroprogramming will not allow you to come. Making you come is my job, and my job alone.” He traced the curve of my cheek with gentle fingers and stared down into my eyes. “If you remove it, I will know. The stimspheres are linked to my monitoring system.” He pointed at a device he had strapped to his forearm.

“Once Goran uploads the data from your claiming, everyone in the interstellar coalition will know you have accepted the high councilor’s claim, that you belong to me. With that,” he indicated the spinning golden disc that hung between my thighs, “perhaps
you
will remember the same and temper your tongue.”

He lifted me from my feet for a brief moment to make sure the disc was swinging. I hissed out a breath at the feel of the jolt of stimulation inside my pussy and I clenched down hard. A mixture of discomfort and desire made me shiver with every pendulum-like swing of the golden chain as I watched him leave the tent. I was thoroughly chastised, naked, well fucked, and swiftly returning to full arousal.

Chapter Four

The pixel image sent with Evelyn Day’s profile information was a horrible representation of the stunning beauty I’d just fucked. In the image, harsh lighting had cast a purplish glow to her skin, her hair—a true fiery red—had been matted and appeared dark. The soft strands were anything but. They curled wildly, were soft and shiny and the color of the blood moon. In the image, her eyes had been wide with what I had imagined to be fear and her mouth had been pinched in a flat line. The vibrant and feisty woman who’d arrived to the remote transport station was nothing
like her official profile image, and that fact pleased me immensely.

When she’d first awakened, her eyes met mine first.
Mine.
Bron had been a
fark
,
eager to get his hands on her under the guise of medicine. He’d even had a cock stand for my mate. His job with me was over and he would get nowhere near Evelyn Day. The unethical
fark
would be lucky to get a position on a transfer trawler headed for deep space.

I couldn’t believe that Evelyn Day had been selected from billions of potential mates to be well and truly mine. I had barely been able to wait through the examination—
fark
,
that process had only made my need worse—to see my seed coat her creamy white thighs. Perhaps my eagerness was one of an overly randy youth, but I’d waited so long for her.

But now, I feared the long wait had made me not only eager, but too kind. My mate was a criminal convicted of murder. Even Goran had questioned my actions when witnessing how I’d been with her. My mate was a killer. But when I looked into her eyes, watched every tick of her pulse, held awareness of her every breath and tasted her lush body’s response to my touch, I could not keep that one simple fact in my mind.

Evelyn Day. Twenty-eight. Convicted of murder.

The Interstellar Bride Program had sent her name, age, those three words, and a pixel image. Nothing else.

Who had she killed, and why? I was a warrior and I knew the cost of taking a life. I had done it many times. Some men deserved to die, but others were simply following orders, or fighting for the wrong side. Some fought to defend their homes or their mates. Others relished the taste of life and death on their tongue.

Evelyn Day did not have the eyes of a woman who enjoyed killing. She was soft and warm. Giving herself to me had made her pussy hot enough to scald my cock. Such sweet agony.

Murderer or not, there was no chance she could harm me. I almost laughed aloud at the idea. I was unfamiliar with the men from Earth, but she was too small to be a danger to me; her head only came up to my shoulder. She’d been feisty and disrespectful, but I could not blame her actions. She had just been banished from her planet and was now the mate of a stranger. That did not mean her behavior went unchecked. She’d needed a spanking to learn right away that her insolent behavior would not be tolerated. After I’d tossed her over my thighs and gave her the swats she deserved—albeit lighter than I would once she settled in—she knew who was in charge and who would submit.

Seeing the pale globes of her ass change from creamy white to fiery red had made my cock rock hard. Watching the soft flesh quiver with each strike, seeing my handprint form…
fark.
I was not the only one who’d enjoyed it. She would certainly argue, but she’d been aroused by it. The testing matched her submissiveness to my need for control. It would only be a matter of time before she recognized this and relented.

Until then… it would be enjoyable to watch her fight, then ultimately give over to me. With a satisfied grin, I checked my monitors and set the stimspheres I’d left inside her pussy to the lowest setting for two hours. I planned to be done with my meeting in half that time, and I wanted her pussy swollen and eager for more. I couldn’t wait to get her home, safe, where I could lay her down and taste her, take my time and explore every inch of her creamy skin. I hadn’t even been at Outpost Nine a week
,
but I was ready to get back to the palace. Now, more than ever.

I’d offered Evelyn Day no opportunity to transition, no chance to acclimate to either me or Outpost Nine, for there had not been time. It wasn’t just my cock dictating my actions, Trion custom did as well. I’d had to fuck her immediately. If I hadn’t, another could have claimed her. Her beauty would not go unnoticed here. Women were precious and rare, highly valued. Many would fight to claim her, and it was possible she could be hurt or claimed by a male completely unworthy. When it came to Evelyn Day,
I
was the only worthy man in the universe. I growled in possessiveness at the idea.

She wore my adornment, the chain adding beauty to her full breasts and signifying her as mine. With my seed marking her pussy and thighs, there would be no doubt. Her safety was my utmost priority. Her arrival had been a shock, the timing all wrong, but I wasn’t going to complain. The match occurring while I was at the high council meeting at Outpost Nine, not at the palace, might be inconvenient for both of us, but I would adapt. Keeping her safe could prove difficult here, but it would be done.

I couldn’t bring myself to regret that Evelyn Day had her first fucking over a ceremonial stand in a transient tent, not in my palace chambers, where she wouldn’t have had to leave my bed. Instead of learning all of her delights and beginning her training to my ways, I’d had to send her to the harem to ensure she was well protected. And that caution was well founded.

Once the other men saw her, they would want her as well. Her bright red hair was a most unusual color, rarely seen on Trion. Her body was lush and had the most delightful curves. Such passion in one so small, so soft, so delectably round and curvy. I pushed the button to the bathing unit with more force than necessary at the thought of her full breasts swaying with every movement of her body.

The unit’s door opened and I stepped in, allowing the water to spray and swirl around me. With my eyes closed, I thought about her curved belly, the softly rounded body that would soon grow with my child. Hips broad and lush for holding as I fucked her.

The water shut off and the drying cycle began.

I was pleased she had already been breached, for I did not have to worry about causing her pain. But I’d been delighted—and surprised—to discover that the walls of her pussy had never pulsed around another man’s thick cock, that no other had managed to bring her to that pleasure. Those she’d been with on Earth were not real men if they could not make a woman of Evelyn Day’s beauty come all over their cock. It would be my ultimate goal in life to bring her to pleasure as frequently as possible.

I didn’t know if I should thank the gods or science for the perfect matching. Either way, I had no doubt Evelyn Day was for me. She, however, had time to decide. Therefore, I had to heed a fine balance between pleasuring her into remaining and taming her reckless and possibly dangerous behavior. The thought of her choosing another, of letting another man touch her, fuck her, protect and cherish her, made my gut clench.

I dressed quickly, then walked to the tent for the general council meeting. I pushed away my anger and frustration at all the possible political implications of my new mate and savored the lingering feelings of satisfaction I’d found in her body. Many on the council made no secret of the fact that they wanted to assume my role and take the mantle of power from my shoulders. The idea that one of them might attempt to use Evelyn Day as a pawn in a coup made me clench my hands into tight fists.

Perhaps my mood—angry and surly—was better than that of a satisfied lover for this meeting of the general council. For now, I knew that my mate was in the harem, that she, along with the other women, were safe. Only when we returned to the palace and she was protected, by not only the thick walls but the full contingency of my loyal guards, would I breathe easily. I could not even allow her to sleep with me, as I desired, for fear of being attacked in the night by those who wished to take my place.

“She is safe,” Goran said as he approached, his footsteps muffled in the sand. I turned to my second-in-command and nodded. With the knowledge that Evelyn Day was under the eyes of the well-trained guards, I could focus on the business at hand. I opened the tent flap, ducked and entered. The general council stood in deference to my rank as high councilor among them.

“Be seated,” I said, moving to the raised dais and lowering to a pillow, as did the others before me.

“We have heard your mate has arrived.” Councilor Roark grinned at me and I nodded my head. He was young and not yet mated. As councilor of the southern continent, he was my closest ally among this group, but also the most virile of the men. Evelyn Day would tempt him greatly.

“Yes, and she has been claimed.” I lifted my chin at Goran, who stepped forward from his place, standing along the perimeter of the meeting circle.

“High Councilor Tark’s mate has arrived. She passed her medical examinations and has been claimed per our protocols. All data have already been sent to the Interstellar Bride Program for processing.” He stated the facts in a voice that invited no argument or dissent and I was grateful. Goran was loyal. A good man, and one waiting for his own mate to arrive. He would fight beside me, even die with me to keep Evelyn Day safe.

“Very well. Thank you, General Goran.” Councilor Roark nodded gravely and I realized that he had acted in my best interests, ensuring that my mate’s status was clear to all present. I tipped my head to him in acknowledgement and thanks.

“A criminal. A killer? And this is the type of female you expect us to obey? To respect above all others?” Councilor Bertok was a bitter old man who had lost two mates already. He was ninety years old if a day, and his pale blue gaze never failed to be cold and unfeeling. “We could all be killed in our sleep. A rugged woman from the wildlands would be a better match than a convict from another planet.”

“I have accepted my mate. Claimed her. There will be no more discussion.” I wanted to pummel the old man into a pile of mush with my bare fists, wanted to feel the hot splash of his blood on my skin. “No one threatens my mate and lives.” I glared at each man around the circle to make sure they understood the sincerity of my words.

“Understandable, high councilor. Perhaps a public beating. You must show your strength and let your mate know who is in control.” I ignored the councilor to my left and his eager suggestion. No one would see Evelyn’s pain but me, and even then it would be tied to her pleasure.

I eyed the man carefully. He meant no disrespect and was not threatening Evelyn Day directly; on some parts of the planet, a public beating was a way for a man to show his domination over his woman. The idea was barbaric and something I was trying to have outlawed.

“When will the public claiming occur?” Another voice, this time from the opposite side of the circle.

The comments and opinions continued… and escalated. It reached a volume and intensity where I’d had enough. I raised my hand and silence fell. As ruler, I found it important to hear the opinions and thoughts of the councilors. I never wanted those I ruled to feel that they had no say. Before today, their voices had been used for planetary business. Even though I was the high councilor, my personal life and my mate were not up for discussion.