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“We have to know if she’s our Fated Mate or not –beforewe hand her over to the authorities on Colossus.”

I stiffen.

My sense of duty and honor are strong – but I can’t deny Hadrian’s words. In fact, it’s a dilemma that has been burning in my mind ever since I saw Allie dancing up on stage.

What is Allieisour mate? Are we expected to send theonewoman who could sire our sons – to fulfil our purpose – to prison?

I look over Hadrian’s shoulder. The planet we’ve just left is slowly fading away behind us, until it’s barely visible through the view windows.

I’m pleased to be gone from it. The planet was a sad place – like so many of the planets that declared independence over the last few centuries. Those planets are controlled by humans, and no longer enjoy the protection or guidance of the Aurelian Empire.

The humans thought independence would bring them prosperity and freedom. Instead, it’s brought slave trading, poverty, and human trafficking back to the forefront. Those are the sins of humanity – their curse when they don’t have the strong hand of the Aurelian Empire to tame them.

Ha! Taming humans…

All I want is to tame Allie.

I want to throw that alluring wench over my knees and spank her until she whimpers and begs for mercy. I ache to ravish her – to claim her body, and to pound her into submission.

But I force back those thoughts, ready to fight my own battle-brother to stop him from getting within ten feet of that temptress. If I can barely control my own lustful urges, I know that he’ll be utterly lost the moment he’s alone with her. Hadrian was always the most passionate of us – the most animalistic. His aura is a wild beast inside my mind, barely changed from our ancestor’s feral past.

In battle, he loses all rational thought. In mating, he’s the same.

There’s movement from behind us. We turn and see our leader, Daccia, step away from the helm. His jaw is set – angry with us both.

"Sit down," he commands – and the two of us, still on the brink of a fight, reluctantly back down and take our seats back at the gunnery stations.

I grip the handles of the Orb-Cannon, and stare out into the cold, dead emptiness of space.

In three days, we’ll be back in Colossus – and everything will be the same.

Allie will be out of our lives.

When we finally hand her over to the authorities, we’ll wash our hands of this deed. Daccia, Hadrian and I will receive our promotion. We're due for it.

With that rank will come more responsibility – but also more money, and we’ll be awarded manors from which we can start our harems.

Ha! The irony of that…

Before I’d met Allie, all I could think of was recruiting the first ten or twenty women for my harem. I'd lounge there while off duty, relaxing as these willing human women served me.

Daccia, Hadrian and I postponed this pleasure – joining Aurelian Law Enforcement after our hundred years of service to the Empire, instead of immediately starting our lives as citizens of Colossus. We’d postponed such idle pleasure with the aim of serving our Empire, keeping humanity safe, and earning greater wealth and influence in the future.

But now, the promise of greater wealth is empty. Now, all I want is to have Allie within my reach.

Just her. One single female, as opposed to ten or twenty. Only her.

I long to carry Allie into a pleasure room, to strap her down, and to use her perfect body while she moans out in bliss. I want to tease and torment her so deeply that she can’t control herself. My cock surges uncomfortably in my modified, undercover combat pants at the very thought of it.

Gods-dammit! I know won't be sated until I've released every drop of my seed deep into Allie’s fertile cunt.

Anger suddenly flares up in me. I realize I’m thinking like a brute. Aurelians are supposed to be better than this!

We’re not simple beasts – not rutting dogs. I willnotlose my control over a woman – especially a criminal, whose verycrimeis seducing Aurelians and taking their fortune.

And then I blink.

All of a sudden, it’s all so clear.