Page 10 of Bound to the Beast (Interstellar Brides Program: The Beasts #9)

K rystal

I didn’t know if it was the alcohol, the insanely hot sex, or the fact that I had an Atlan Warlord in my bed… but I slept like a baby. No nightmares. No waking up every hour and tip-toeing to Brody’s room to make sure he was okay.

A heavy arm was draped over my waist, his warmth settled beneath my breasts like he was already part of me. I blinked to clear my vision and found myself staring at the mating cuffs locked around my wrists.

They were still there, the thick heavy weight somehow comforting.

This was real. He was real. I’d been claimed by an Atlan.

But where was his beast? Was he saving that for the honeymoon?

Did aliens even go on honeymoons like we did?

Didn’t matter. I wasn’t letting Brody out of my sight for a long, long time.

Last time I did, we’d both nearly ended up dead.

“What is wrong?” Iven’s entire frame went from seemingly relaxed where he curled his body around mine, to rigid and on high alert. He pulled me back and held me against his chest as he lifted himself on one elbow and scanned the room.

“Nothing. Bad memories, that’s all.”

“You will stop remembering these bad things.” He huffed into my ear. His lips grazed my cheek and I melted, just like that.

What a wuss. I wasn’t even trying to protect my heart from the stupid Atlan. If I were, I wouldn’t be naked and snuggled up to him like he was my personal teddy bear. “I don’t think it works like that.”

“Then I must distract you.” He rolled me onto my back and covered me, his hard, heavy cock settling between my thighs like a branding iron. My pussy was wet instantly. Ready.

Sore. Swollen. He hadn’t stopped making me come until the wee hours of the morning. I’d never had that much sex in one night.

The fact that my body turned on like he’d simply flipped a switch was unexpected.

I never responded to any other man I’d dated like this.

Not that there were many to compare Iven to.

Two bumbling teenage boys my senior year of high school.

One more in college who’d cheated on me with his ex and broken my heart.

And since then? Well, after that, I pretty much decided I’d had enough of men.

Until Iven. Right this second, I didn’t even care that neither one of us had showered.

I just wanted more of him. His sweat on my skin.

His hard length inside me. I was shocked to discover the idea of carrying his child, giving Brody someone to grow up with, didn’t horrify me to the depths of my being.

Iven was gorgeous. If we had a little boy that looked just like him, I’d be in heaven.

Maybe a half Atlan child would be able to keep up with Brody.

Then we’d add a couple little girls to torture them both and drive them crazy.

I closed my eyes and embraced the insanity of my new situation.

Two days ago, I was pretty sure I was never having children of my own. That Brody would be more than enough.

“What are you doing to me?” I meant the question more philosophically. Iven took it literally.

“I am fucking you, mate.” His hips shifted and I lifted my legs, wrapped them the best I could around his thighs. Spread my knees wide so he could fill me up, stretch me open.

Good god, it was like we’d never stopped.

My nervous system revved from zero to overloaded in less than a minute.

I reached for him, my hands wandering over his chest and sides.

I gripped his biceps as he pulled out, then thrust deep.

My back scooted along the sheets with the force of his movement.

My breasts jiggled, the extra sensation making me gasp.

Iven took me to the peak, then stopped. Rolled both of us over so I sat on top of him.

“Holy shit.” I cursed in shock as my body weight pushed me farther onto his hard length. He bottomed out inside me, his cock pressed against the entrance of my womb.

“I saw this in human movies.” His grin was feral and full of mischief as he lifted his hands to cup both breasts. “I thought it looked like something I needed to experience with my mate.”

“You did, huh?” I leaned into his rough hands, groaned as he gently pinched then pulled both nipples. I arched my back, rolled my hips to rock on his hard length. “How is it?”

His chuckle made his abdomen vibrate against my sensitive clit. “So far, so good.”

“Yeah?” I lifted myself up a few inches and sank back down.

Squeezed him with my inner muscles. He was huge.

I had to focus really hard to get the lady bits to behave.

They were stretched wide. Tired. Trembling just like the rest of me.

“You know, you don’t sound like an alien.

When you talk. Well, not like the others.

” I’d watched every episode of Bachelor Beast multiple times, from the first show to the Cinderella ball where Warlord Tane found his mate while dressed up as a real life Prince Charming.

The Elite Hunters on Everis were a serious bunch as well. Their words direct and formal. Stiff.

“I’ve been here a long time.” His hands dropped to my hips, his strong grip anchoring me. Pulling my hips where he wanted me so he could fuck me harder.

I leaned over, wanted to kiss him.

He was too damn tall. I settled for running my lips over every part of him I could reach, sucking his nipples into my mouth.

Rolling them with my tongue as I reached between us and wrapped my fingers around the base of his cock.

My wet juices coated him completely. I locked my knees in place, kept him deep inside, as I rubbed and squeezed the base of his cock.

His soft groan was one of erotic suffering. Good. I wanted him to hurt so good he never wanted to leave my bed. “Two can play this game, female.”

“Wha—”

I gasped as he moved one hand to my clit and shifted his hips, made me whimper. The fire that had been building in my core exploded outward like a bomb going off inside a can of gasoline. I came apart, shaking. Needed his strong arms to hold me to him so I didn’t float away into empty space.

His hot seed spurted inside me as he followed me over the edge. I lay there, panting, like I’d just run a marathon as his hands gently stroked up and down my back. He was petting me. Soothing me.

I never, ever wanted to get out of bed. He was ruining me. Turning me into a weak-willed, doe-eyed, submissive who would do anything he wanted. I knew myself. Knew I had an irrational tendency to want to please people. That innate desire paled in comparison to the way I was feeling about him.

Get a grip, girl. He doesn’t love you. This is all instinct.

“Shut-up,” I whispered.

Beneath me, Iven went still. “What?”

Oh, shit. “Nothing. I was talking to myself.” Lifting my head from his chest took a monumental act of will, but I did it so I could crawl up his body and get those kisses I wanted.

I hovered over his face and lowered my head.

Kissed him. Softly. Gently. No tongues or gnashing teeth or urgency.

I took my time. Savored the moment. The softness of his full lips.

They were the only part of him that wasn’t tough.

Hard. Scarred. Marked by Hive integrations.

Maybe he was an alien. Maybe he didn’t care about me—Krystal—at all.

Maybe the only reason he was here was because his beast—who I still hadn’t seen yet—decided I smelled right, or whatever it was the Atlans used to choose their mates.

Maybe, for him, this wasn’t personal at all, just survival.

He had mating fever. He already told me that he had given up finding a mate.

That he had planned to go back to Atlan and turn himself in for execution.

Now, he had me.

Or did he? Where was his beast? I thought only the beast could truly claim an Atlan mate.

That’s what the TV show said. That’s what the brochures I’d read from the Interstellar Brides Program processing center said.

I’d brought every single one home after Kimberly volunteered.

I knew all the different kinds of Coalition males a woman could be mated to, their planets, their kinks and desires and customs by heart.

Atlans didn’t claim their mates. Their beasts did that. So what was going on between us?

“Mother!” Brody’s small fist pounded on the closed bedroom door.

I dropped my forehead to Iven’s chest with a sigh.

Reality called. Kimberly had been ‘mom’.

We’d agreed he needed to pretend I was his mother—not his aunt—to make it more difficult for the assassins to track us. Even when we were at home.

“Yes?” I called back.

“Alexander is hungry.” As if hearing his name summoned the giant cat, his yeowling, babbling chatter to Brody grew louder on the other side of the door. “I gave him the steak. He said you’d be mad, but he was hungry. Now I’m hungry.”

Silence, for three seconds.

He said you’d be mad? Was the cat telepathic now?

“Hi, Mr. Smith. I know you’re still here.”

Iven snorted in amusement at Brody’s proclamation.

“I am.” If he knew anything about Elite Hunters from Everis, he would know Brody could hear him, smell him, and even if he could not, Brody probably just knew—by some magical, mystical sixth sense—that Iven was in the house.

The child was a miracle I had yet to completely figure out.

“Okay.” Shuffling noises. More cat mewling. “Can I meet your beast?”

All amusement vanished. “No.”

“Why not?” Brody’s small voice carried clearly through the door.

Iven rolled away from the question I was sure he saw in my eyes and got out of bed. “He was bad. He’s banished.”

“Oh.” Brody’s disappointment mirrored my own. Banished? What the hell did that even mean? How did an Atlan Warlord banish his beast?

Iven walked to my closet, opened it and pulled an empty suitcase from the top shelf. “Pack your things. We’re leaving.”

I sat up and pulled the sheet up to cover my bare breasts. For the first time since he’d dropped to his knees and put the mating cuffs on my wrists, I felt naked. The languid thoughts I’d had about pleasing him earlier evaporated like mist in bright sunlight. Gone. “Why? Where are we going?”

“My house. It’s safer. I know the area, and the security system is Coalition issue, not human.” He already had his pants on. Was working on the boots. Wouldn’t even look me in the eye.

“Can’t we have breakfast first? Take a shower? It’s Saturday.”

“No. We leave as soon as possible. You will eat and shower at my place.”

“I want to take a shower here. I bought pancake mix. Brody loves pancakes. We can go after breakfast.” I played with fire. Knew it. His mood, from the moment Brody had mentioned his beast, had turned brooding. Angry. Something was wrong. Something was wrong with his beast.