Mastered by Her Mates (Interstellar Bride Book 0) (8 page)

“Yes.”

That one word was, apparently, all Grigg needed to hear. He circled his fingers, spreading his fluid over my clit, down lower, around the edges of the probe where it exited my body. At first I was shocked, wondering what the hell he was doing. I didn’t need any lube, I knew I was dripping with my own arousal. I didn’t need to be more turned on, so—

Fire exploded in my clit and I gasped, my hips bucking beneath his masterful touch as a strange heat flooded my bloodstream. My nipples hardened instantly to the point of pain. My lips felt heavy and full. My heart raced. My pussy fluttered in mini-pulses so fast and intense that I couldn’t register one from the other, and still my arousal built. After the first gentle circling, he immediately began to rub me hard, slow, even slapped my clit once, just hard enough to sting, then rubbed me with his hot, hard fingers until I was whimpering.

It was completely different than the suction. It wasn’t clinical at all. It was Grigg doing to me what he wanted, giving me what I needed. I just hadn’t known it until it pushed me so close to the edge.

Still, I held back, feeling so dirty, so wrong. I couldn’t give in. I couldn’t. This was too much, too colossal a surrender of my deepest self. I couldn’t just give in to these two strangers who asked too much of me, of my body.

This was worse, so much worse than being forced to come by a machine. That was clinical. This… How could I justify this lust to my boss? How was my body’s craving for Grigg’s touch going to help me on my mission? This was no longer a doctor’s exam. This was Grigg, my mate, forcing me to submit to his touch, claiming my body as his own.

And I was breaking. My skin was coated in sweat. My breathing was ragged. My pulse was through the roof and I could barely hold on. It was just too good. Less than an hour in outer space, and I was betraying my people with this dark need trying to escape. I wanted to give Grigg what he wanted, but I shouldn’t. I shouldn’t.

I looked up to find Grigg watching me with complete focus. I wondered if he counted my breaths, or the speed of the pulse at the base of my throat. His fingers stilled in my wet folds and I waited, my mind blank. Lost. I lifted my hips involuntarily, wanting more. Wanting it rough. Aggressive. Wanting it
now
.

“I’m going to lower my head and suck your hard, round nipple into my mouth. I’m going to flick my tongue over that tight, sensitive bud three times before I suck hard enough to brand your flesh as my own.”

Holy shit. My pussy clenched. I couldn’t move. Couldn’t even blink. The promise of a stupid hickey shouldn’t be this hot.

Grigg lowered his head until I could feel the heat of his exhalation dancing over the sensitive tip of my breast. “After three, you will come.”

I didn’t have time to think or argue for he lowered his head and suckled my tender flesh as his fingers rubbed hard and fast on my clit once again. Before I could process the action, I was counting, for he’d given me permission and I wanted it so bad. It was going to be so good and I needed it
so
bad.

I couldn’t remember the last time I had a man-made orgasm and not from my vibrator or my own fingers. Certainly not from a man who knew
exactly
what he was doing. If any other man gave me permission to come and was cocky enough to know I’d obey, I’d have punched him in the throat. But Grigg, I counted.

One.

Two.

Three.

The orgasm rolled me under, the release so intense, so complete that I did not know if I moaned, cried or screamed. Perhaps all three. All I knew was pleasure, fire roaring through me from head to toe as my pussy clamped down so hard on the probe filling my pussy that the pulses in my core forced it from my body.

I floated back to myself, Grigg’s gentle strokes over my abdomen and the softest kisses applied to the undersides of my breasts, my neck, like a man worshiping at an altar.

The emptiness of my pussy did not please me and I braced my feet in the supports, moving, searching for more.

As Grigg tucked his still hard cock back into his pants, Rav slowly removed the device from my ass and the moment it was gone, the restraints binding my wrists released. I was lifted into Grigg’s arms like a doll, wrapped in the sheet and cradled to his chest as he sat upon the exam table. I didn’t fight him, not this time. I couldn’t. I had no fight left. I was putty. Jelly. Shattered.

He massaged my shoulders, my arms, my wrists. How could he be so gentle after being so demanding, so commanding just moments earlier?

I couldn’t think about him or what they’d done to me. How I felt about it or even how they’d made me feel. I was too overwhelmed, too sated. My mind was a soft blur, like waking up from a wonderful nap and I didn’t want to shatter that. Not yet. Reality would return soon enough.

Rav put his equipment into some kind of container, I suspected for processing, or cleaning, or whatever these aliens did with their used medical stuff, and turned to us with three strips of ribbon in his hand, two were a deep, midnight blue, and one was black.

He set them on the exam table beside us and lifted a blue strip to his neck. The strange ribbon sealed around his neck, forming a perfectly fitted collar. He held the other blue one to Grigg, who shook his head, refusing to let go of me to take it. “Put it around my neck.”

Rav walked behind Grigg and placed the ribbon around Grigg’s neck. Immediately, the ribbon shrank and adjusted to the thick, muscled heat of my primary mate’s neck. Now, they wore identical bands.

With just the black ribbon remaining, Rav came around the table and lifted it to his palm, holding it out to me.

“What is this?” Curious, I reached for the black ribbon. It felt like warm silk, but thicker than the ribbon it appeared to be, more like the thickness of a cat’s collar back home, but about an inch wide.

Rav answered. “This is your mating collar. You must place it around your neck. We cannot do it for you.”

I studied the simple black strand, confused. “Why? What is it for?”

Rav lifted his knuckles to stroke my cheek and I did not flinch from the simple gesture. After the intensity of what I’d just experienced on that exam table, his gentleness was like a balm to my senses. “It marks you as ours. For thirty days your collar will be black, indicating that you are in an active claiming period with your mates. Once we complete the claiming ceremony, your collar will turn blue, to match ours, marking you forever as an honored and protected mate of the Zakar warrior clan.” Shoulders back, his chest swelled with pride. “We are one of the oldest, strongest families of Prillon Prime.”

Well, whoo-hoo. Mated into a house of alien nobility. “What if I don’t put it on?”

Chapter Six

Amanda

Grigg growled, and damn my traitor pussy, it clenched hard, closing around emptiness with an ache that wasn’t welcome.

“If you refuse the collar, any unmated male who sees you may claim the right to court you for thirty days.”

I could take care of myself, so what was the issue?

“What if I tell him no?”

Rav sighed. “You can’t, Amanda. You have been sent to us by the Interstellar Bride Program, a declared bride, a matched mate perfect for the warriors of Prillon Prime. Should you refuse us, another has the right to claim you for the thirty-day courting period. It’s too late to change your mind. Any male you refuse will simply be replaced by another, and another. Death matches will be fought. Good warriors will die for the chance to court you.

That was medieval. Stupid. “Death matches? That’s crazy.”

“It’s custom. If someone were to try and claim you, Amanda, I would fight in a death match for you. I would win.”

I wasn’t sure if Grigg’s confidence was because of the strength of our match or the skill of his fighting.

“What happens if I have a daughter? She has to be mated when she’s born? She can’t go anywhere without a man? That’s ridiculous.”

Grigg’s answer rumbled through his thick chest. “Of course not. Females are respected among us. Honored. Those born on Prillon are protected by all the warriors of their clan until she is of mating age and chooses to take a mate’s collar.”

“What happens if there are no more warriors left? If she’s an orphan? Or a widow?”

It was a little late to be worried about the details, but I just couldn’t imagine bringing a daughter into this crazy mess, ever, if she was going to be treated like property. Of course, I wasn’t going to be having children. I wasn’t here to be a mate. Not really. I had a job to do. I needed to remember that. I had barely finished the thought when Grigg’s next words almost made me smile.

“The question is irrelevant. Any male who looks at our daughter will be eliminated.”

Rav chuckled, but actually answered my question. “If all the warriors of a clan are killed, any remaining females are allowed to choose from the remaining warrior families for protection and belonging. No one is ever left alone. That is the primary reason all Prillon brides on the front lines are honored with two mates. Should Grigg or I be killed, you will have the protection and love of your surviving mate to take care of you and any children.”

“And then what? I get another second mate?”

“Generally, yes. If your surviving mate is still active in combat, you will be allowed to choose another second.”

I stared at the seemingly benign strip of black ribbon in my hand and forced air in and out of my lungs. I’d been so damn cocky agreeing to this assignment.

Go out into space? Sure.

Go through an alien bride-matching program? No problem.

Fool my new mate into trusting me and then send intel back to Earth? Not looking so easy.

And maintaining a clear head? Professionalism? Staying calm and in control?

As the mind-blowing orgasm I’d just experienced had proven, I was fucked. In more ways than I cared to admit.

Rav watched me closely, as if trying to read the play of emotions running through me. If they had a gadget to test my arousal level, I had to wonder if they had something that could read my mind too. If they did, Rav wasn’t waving it in front of me.

He couldn’t tell that I felt anger, frustration, regret. Guilt. That one shocked me. I’d known these men for a ridiculously short time and already I was feeling guilty for my inevitable betrayal. And why? Because they made me feel beautiful? Feminine? Because the orgasm was out of this world—literally—and now I was going to be a slave to my urges? An idiot who couldn’t control her emotions or her body? I’d been through too many levels of hell out in the field to surrender my sense of self so quickly.

At the same time, I had two gorgeous men who obviously wanted me. They knew just how to get me off without a clit sucker thing. What woman was stupid enough to deny myself what these men could give me? Hot, holy-fucking-hot orgasms. I could get the intel and get laid at the same time. Maybe I owed it to all women on Earth to get all the threesomes I could get while the getting was good.

Rav nodded at the collar. “Your choice, Amanda, but I promise you, we won’t make it out of the medical station without challenge if you are not wearing it.”

“But I was only matched to you. Why would any other warriors want me?”

Grigg rolled his shoulders, as if preparing for battle. “Because you are beautiful, Amanda. And an unclaimed bride. Women are rare out here. They would be more than willing to take their chances with you, and eager to take you to bed to convince you.”

Wanting to reclaim a bit of control, to push back, as they’d just pushed me on that exam table, I asked one more question. “What if I don’t want to put it on?”

Rav, gentle Rav’s honey-gold eyes turned a dark, dusky shade of amber. “Then Grigg and I will fight every warrior between here and our private quarters if necessary.”

I scoffed at that, but Rav’s face was completely devoid of humor. I twisted in Grigg’s arms to see he bore the same grave expression. They were
serious.

“A death match?” I asked.

“I am not aware of how it is on Earth, but the mating process is serious. Crucial. Elemental. We have an advantage, because you have been matched. We know that you are perfect for us,” Rav clarified.

“We will kill any warriors who try to take you from us,” Grigg added. “You are ours.”

What, exactly, had I gotten myself into? In order to leave the room, I had to put on the collar. If I didn’t, all hell was going to break loose. While I’d never had men fight over me before, this didn’t sound like a bar brawl. The term “death match” seemed pretty self-explanatory and I didn’t wish anyone to come to harm. I’d wear the collar, keep people alive and get to work. Perhaps get laid while I did so.

At the same time, I sensed this was important to Rav and Grigg. This wasn’t me just putting on a necklace. This was a symbol of their…ownership of me. It was important to them and wearing it for false reasoning seemed to diminish that. Again with the damn guilt.

Shaking now, I lifted the collar to my neck and wrapped it around, as I’d seen them do. The ends sealed together on their own and it felt like the ribbon grew warmer, wet, as if it were melting into my skin, fusing to me—

Seconds later I gasped as my mind and body were flooded with feelings that were not my own. Lust. Hunger. A primitive urge to hunt. To protect. To claim.

Emotions and need filled my mind and I couldn’t process it all. “What is happening?” I was going to vomit. The room was spinning. I was drowning. I covered my mouth with my hand.

“Breathe, Amanda. I’ve got you.” Grigg’s voice became an anchor and I clung to it desperately to still the whirlwind of emotion rolling through me as Rav spoke.

“Lock down your emotions, Grigg. You’re drowning both of us.”

“I can’t. Not until I’ve claimed her.”

Rav cursed as Grigg stood and marched me out of the small, private exam room into the hustle and bustle of a busy medical ward. At least ten patients and staff turned with curious eyes to track our progress as Grigg carried me through the room. I saw two others wearing Rav’s green, one a male of the same race, big and golden, and one smaller female with an odd pair of gold cuffs around her wrists and long, cherry-red hair pulled tightly into a braid that fell to her hips. The patients were mostly huge warriors in various stages of undress, their black battle armor in pieces around them, bare, bulky chests heaving with pain.