Page 15 of Bound to the Beast (Interstellar Brides Program: The Beasts #9)

She burst into laughter, the movement making my head spin as her body opened up. Spasmed. My cock sank deeper.

“Beast.” She turned her head to the side, inspected the damage. “You’re fixing that later.”

Inside me, Iven laughed. You heard her. Control yourself.

Fuck off. I’m busy.

I grabbed her ass, pulled her body against mine. Lifted her hips up and down over my cock. Faster.

With a soft cry, she lost control. Her inner walls clamped down on my cock like a vice. The ecstasy of her release was both pleasure and pain as my body answered, exploded, filled her with seed. With devotion. Protection. Love.

My turn. Iven struggled to the surface. I shoved him down.

You had three days.

We need to go get our son.

Oh, yes. I was a father now as well.

Krystal was still panting when I pulled my cock free and held her in my arms.

“We have to go. Brody?—”

“Yes, love.” Suddenly it was Iven holding our mate. He could deal with the humans. I would wait. Watch. Come to our mate if she needed me to kill her enemies.

And I would fuck her. Kiss her. I’d had a taste. I needed more.

Three. Days.

Iven laughed but didn’t argue with me.

Our mate looked up at us with love shining in her eyes. “What are you laughing about?”

“The beast is claiming I owe him three days.”

“For what?”

Iven leaned down and kissed her until she swayed on her feet. “What do you think?”

The pink blush on her cheeks was fucking adorable. Beast and male agreed.

We were finally home.

Ready for more? Read Heartless next!

FROM USA TODAY BESTSELLING AUTHOR GRACE GOODWIN COMES A SCORCHING SCI-FI ALIEN ROMANCE WITH A STRONG, YET brOKEN WOMAN WHO MUST FIND THE COURAGE TO FACE HER FEARS AND TWO BAD TO THE BONE HEROES WHOSE ONLY CHANCE AT REDEMPTION IS THROUGH LOVE.

ALL OF GRACE'S NOVELS CAN BE READ AS STAND-ALONE BOOKS WITH NO CHEATING AND ALWAYS A 'HAPPILY EVER AFTER'.

My destiny is not to claim a female, to have a family, to be rendered helpless by love.

Warrior. Doctor. Spy. I am Commander Helion, a heartless terror, relentless and unforgiving. Merciless.

Despite this, I am matched. A beautiful human female is now mine. Despite my warnings, she is determined to leave her mark on me, body and soul.

Honor demands I resist. I tell her the truth. I will not place a mating collar around her neck. I cannot protect her—especially from me—my choices—the horrors I face every day.

One moment of weakness and she gets under my skin, makes me want things I cannot have. She is everything I am not—and the most dangerous creature I have ever faced.

Claiming her—keeping her—is not possible with my pivotal role in this never-ending war. There is no place in my duties for desire. For need. Too many innocents count on me for protection. Too many lives are at stake, including hers.

The enemy is always ready and waiting, but I never expected her to be among them.

For the first time in my hardened life, I question my sanity. My dark soul. I begin to understand exactly what my enemies have stolen from me—and realize there is no limit to what a heartless warrior will sacrifice for love.

Heartless

CHAPTER 1

Willow Baylor, Prillon Prime, The Capital

“Congratulations, Willow. It’s a ninety-nine percent match.” My dearest friend, Makayla, squeezed me one more time as I waited for my turn to transport. “I am so happy for you.”

“Thank you. I can’t believe it. I’m---numb.” What my friend didn’t realize was I meant that quite literally. I should be excited. Smiling. Excitement should be bubbling through me like champagne fizz in my veins. I felt nothing, like I’d been erased.

You’re still hiding. Stop pretending you need a big, bad alien to protect you.

Shut up.

I didn’t want to talk to the stubborn wench who lived inside my head—a.k.a., the old me. The me from a former life. She’d been in charge before I’d been kidnapped by aliens and lived through a literal hell. I didn’t want to be her again. She got into trouble. She made stupid choices.

The new me was doing just fine. Better than fine, I had a matched mate!

The warden who administered my bride testing had already given me a run down on final instructions for transport. I was ready to go. I’d said goodbye to my friends, all of them women from the sanctuary who, like me, had been rescued from that Hive prison.

I was being allowed to take a few personal items with me to my new home—and my new mates.

I knew it was a break in Brides’ Program protocol.

Perhaps Prime Nial and the others assumed we’d been through enough trauma already.

They had done everything in their power to make us feel at home her on Prillon Prime, to help us heal.

Danika Arcas, a human woman mated to a couple of warriors, was always available.

She was in charge of the place and took care of anything and everything we needed.

What she couldn’t get for us, Queen Jessica—another human out here in space—would handle.

The exceptions made for us regarding transport protocols weren’t huge, but hugely important.

As was our unfettered access to the S-Gen machines.

Leaving our sanctuary was hard enough already. It was a relief to know I wasn’t going empty-handed, and I wasn’t arriving naked .

As if. So humiliating.

A small suitcase filled with personal items had been carefully placed on the transport pad.

In just a few minutes I would be on my way to my powerful, protective, and possessive new Prillon mate.

And his second. Yes, please. I had never been with two lovers before, but the idea of having two experienced warriors completely obsessed with caring for me, protecting me and ensuring physical pleasure?

Wonderful. I couldn’t wait to find out who my mate had chosen as his second—and mine.

“I wish your mate was here, on Prillon Prime, but he will have to retire eventually. Right?” Makayla’s voice cracked like she was fighting off tears—and losing.

She squeezed me so tightly I was afraid she would crack a rib.

I hugged back just as hard. She, too, had been to hell and back.

Maybe I should be crying with her, but I didn’t feel sad.

About time.

I ignored the self-talk. I was relieved to be leaving this place, ready to move on.

I was tired of waking up alone every night, tangled in my sheets.

I wanted a warrior—or two—next to me, around me, holding me, touching me.

I needed fire in my veins, where for so long now there had been nothing but ice.

I kissed Makayla on the cheek. “Maybe we’ll be neighbors one day, here in the capital.” Better if my mates retired to Prillon Prime in a few years, rather than being killed in the war. I didn’t want to be a widow.

Makayla released me and we stared into one another’s eyes, sharing secrets without saying a word, as only best friends can. Finally, Makayla shrugged. “You know I don’t trust that computer. I don’t see how it can know who you will fall in love with.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll be happy.” I smiled because even as I spoke the words, I realized they were true. I’d met so many honorable—and sexy—Prillon males on this planet, I couldn’t wait to have a couple warriors of my own.

“Always the optimist. What if you didn’t get a match? Or had to go to Rogue 5?” Makayla asked.

“Wouldn’t happen.” Those scary jerks with fangs had kidnapped us from Earth, shoved us on a dingy, cold ship, and off-loaded us into our new prison without a hint of conscience. If I had my way, their stupid planet—and that moon they lived on—would already be blown to bits.

Now you’re talking…

I told you to shut up.

I squeezed Makayla’s hand to reassure her. “The matching protocols would not put me with one of those wanna-be, vampire criminals. I would want to hit him with a baseball bat while he was sleeping, not sleep with him.”

“They aren’t vampires. Those fangs put stuff into their mates’ bodies. They don’t suck blood out.” Makayla sounded…intrigued by the idea. Was she insane?

“Don’t care. Fangs are too gross for me, and I like people who obey the law.” I’d had enough chaos to last a lifetime. What I craved was order and routine, knowing exactly what was going on around me and what tomorrow would bring. Steady. Predictable.

Boring. You hate boring.

I ignored her.

Certainty was wonderful. I knew my new mates would be eager to sweep me off my feet and into their arms. They would definitely not be boring.

My mates would be hot. Sexy. I wanted them to take one look at me and barely be able to keep their hands to themselves, so I’d dressed up today, pulled out all the stops.

I had on a gorgeous dress made from a Prillon fabric that was unlike anything we had on Earth.

Like velvet and silk had a textile baby.

The gown was a dark, stormy blue. Fitted bodice, long, elegant skirt.

My eyes were the exact shade of blue to match.

Really made my eyes pop. So did the sapphire and silver necklace and earrings I wore.

On Earth, this dress and jewelry combo would probably cost tens of thousands of dollars.

Out here? It was just atoms and molecules made of random energy.

The little electrons—or whatever—floated around in space until they were locked into shape by the aliens’ Spontaneous Matter Generators, or S-Gen machines.

Those machines created anything I could think to ask for, from diamonds to lasagna, out of thin air.

At least that’s what it looked like to me.

I didn’t care about the science behind it, I only cared that it worked.

I loved the bright silver, glittery polish I’d painted on my nails. The matching blue ribbon braided into my long, blonde hair. I looked like a princess. Every. Day. Because I could, and because it made me feel royal. Watched over. Untouchable.

Like you’re not a threat. Like you need protecting.

I do.

Inner me snorted in disagreement. I ignored her. I was very, very good at ignoring her.