Page 5 of Bound to the Beast (Interstellar Brides Program: The Beasts #9)

K rystal

What the hell was going on?

I greeted my class, gave them their first assignment, and left my assistant to oversee the children for two minutes so I could check on Brody…and I walk into this?

Vagina! Vagina! Vagina!

Pussy! Pussy! Pussy!

The class seemed to be broken into factions, each chanting their chosen word for female anatomy. And in the center of it all?

Holy shit. He was huge. Gorgeous. Older than I’d expected, maybe mid-thirties?

He was built like a professional athlete.

Not only was he probably just shy of seven feet tall, but he wasn’t one of those tall, skinny guys.

He was thick. His muscles had muscles, and everything was bulging under that wickedly tight, hideously ugly, lemon yellow shirt.

Worse, he had it tucked in, leaving his too large thighs and ass to fill out a pair of khakis that had gone from mundane and ordinary to illegal levels of hotness.

And was that his---

No.

No fucking way.

Oh. My. God. It was.

His cock was huge. Hard. And the way he was staring at me with those green and gold eyes, like he wanted to throw me over his shoulder and take me back to his cave? Total caveman vibe. Worse, my little bitch vagina was into it, going hot, wet and needy in seconds.

Sure, I hadn’t been with anyone in a long time.

Several years, to be exact. But no one ever took me from zero to orgasmic this fast. He had sandy brown hair that looked like it would be warm as melted butter between my fingers.

Those eyes. Were they hazel? The intense focus made me forget why I’d come down here in the first place.

Fuck me, I bet this guy could make me forget my own name.

Mr. Smith.

I’d already heard the rumors. My teaching assistant had rushed into my classroom this morning brimming with gossip about the smoking hot, last minute replacement for Mrs. Radu.

I’d listened with half an ear, too worried about being separated from Brody for the first time since my sister’s memorial service on Everis.

Brody. Right. That’s why I was here, gawking at a complete stranger. Mr. Smith’s shouting was the reason three other teachers huddled in the doorway behind me.

Focus, Krystal!

I forced my attention away from the irresistible Mr. Smith and found my nephew, the love of my life, my reason for being. He was chanting with the ‘ pussy’ crowd.

“Brody James, sit down and behave yourself, right now.” I scanned the rest of the classroom, making eye contact with as many children as I could, as quickly as possible. “That goes for all of you. Sit down. Now.”

I used my best, most practiced, teacher’s voice, satisfied when the children responded immediately.

Mr. Smith still stood in the center of the room, gaping at me like I’d grown a second head.

Rude. Did I have a giant coffee stain on my dress?

I resisted the urge to look down at myself and check.

Barely. “I’m Ms. James. I teach fourth grade.

And you all were so loud, you were disrupting the other classes.

Do you think that’s acceptable behavior?

” I glared at the children I sensed would respond.

As I’d hoped, a few “No, Ms. James,” echoed through the room.

I shouldn’t look at him.

Don’t do it…

DAMN IT! I looked. Couldn’t stop LOOKING.

No man should be that sexy. And he was a kindergarten teacher? Either he was a saint among men, or insane. My traitorous pussy didn’t much care which at the moment as long as she got to take him for a ride. Or two. Or twenty.

Down girl!

“I trust you have your class under control now, Mr. Smith?”

“Yes.” Was that his real voice? Did any man have a voice that low? That rumbly?

My breasts tingled and grew heavy. I clenched my thighs together and licked my lips, imagined what he would taste like. His lips, like the rest of him, were big. I wanted to kiss them. Wanted them locked onto my clit, sucking and kissing me down there.

Jeeez. I had to get the hell out of here.

Right now, before I made an even bigger fool of myself.

I didn’t trust my voice, so I took one look at Brody, made sure he knew I meant business—as in, keep his head down and stay out of trouble, and stop chanting pussy —business.

When he gave me a slight nod, I turned on my two-inch, practical heels—that I now ridiculously wished were four-inch, sexy, sling-back stilettos—and walked out of the room.

Warlord Iven, Three Days Later

I crouched in the dark, the cold, wishing the wet rain was rolling off my Coalition armor instead of soaking me to the bone in these ridiculous human clothes.

In my armor, I wouldn’t feel a drop. But I’d heard no word from Lady Radu and had no idea how long I would be forced to play the role of Iven Smith, kindergarten teacher.

I couldn’t risk blowing my cover. Mrs. C believed I was a human CIA agent on special assignment.

The last three days in the classroom, I taught the children self-defense and situational awareness techniques that could save their lives in an emergency.

We played games, the children and I. War games.

Hunting games. Tracking games. Hiding games.

I was doing a remarkable job of acting like a human.

I could not reveal my true nature. Not yet.

The humans didn’t know who or what I was.

I still had a mission, a young boy to protect.

I’d narrowed down the options to a young male named Connor and another in the class named Tyson.

I’d spent the last three days scouting both Connor’s and Tyson’s homes.

Familiarizing myself with layouts of their neighborhoods, streets, high ground and escape routes.

Staying away from this house had taken every bit of discipline I’d learned in my years serving the Coalition.

I’d resisted her call as long as I could.

My mate. She was here. The beast demanded we protect her, and I didn’t have the strength to argue another night.

But at least if I was caught out here, I would look like a soaking wet human, not a Warlord in heavy armor.

The cold was nothing. The rain? Nothing. Irrelevant.

She was here. Right in front of me.

Mine! The beast took his opportunity to argue in favor of the ravish first, explain later, fantasies running through my mind the last three days.

“Not yet.”

Now. Fuck. Mate. Claim.

Below me, my mate paced in bare feet under a covered patio lined with flowers and leafy green plants.

A small, round table sat off to one side with four cushioned chairs too fucking small for an Atlan to sit in.

Her voice soothed and aroused in equal measure.

Her tone was soft and feminine. Lovely. Except she spoke not to me, but to a large cat. She was cooing at him. Petting him.

First time in my life I was jealous of a fucking cat. I wanted her hands in my hair the way she was stroking that cat’s fur. I needed to hear that indulgent, gentle tone, filled with tenderness and laughter, directed at me.

I scanned the area. My Hive sensors focused on the cat…

Warning lights and streams of information flashed on my data feeds.

Fuck. The cat was from Everis. A fierce Hokiax.

A renowned hunter and protector known for bonding to just one person with absolute loyalty and devotion.

The cats would kill to protect their Everian keeper.

Usually, they were deemed too dangerous for a member of the general public to keep.

Usually, they were kept and bonded to Elite Hunter bloodlines only.

I’d only ever seen one in the field, a feline the size of Earth’s Bengal tigers.

That Hokiax had been walking silently next to one of the most deadly Everians I’d ever encountered, an Elite Hunter working with Commander Helion and the Intelligence Core.

The Hokiax rubbing its face against my mate’s soft, exposed neck was a juvenile. Barely more than a kitten. What would happen when it reached its full size? How the fuck did my mate plan on hiding with a gods damned Hokiax in her house?

An Everian cat. Not just any cat, but a bloodline bound predator. This meant Brody was the Everian noble in hiding. My mate was his aunt, not his mother.

Christine James was not who she claimed to be.

My mate had been lying to me for three days. Three fucking days I’d wasted investigating two young human males who were nothing to me.

Nothing.

Three days my mate had been unprotected and in danger while my attention was elsewhere. Three days I’d nearly lost my sanity and forsaken my honor. Three days of intense pain and struggle holding back my beast from the only thing he cared about.

MINE!

Yes. She’s ours. Tonight.

NOW!

Soon. My assurance calmed him just enough for me to maintain control. There would be no more searching. We would claim our mate and fulfil our mission. My female and the boy under her protection were both mine now. I would be at her side day and night, protecting both of them.

Claim. Fuck. Taste.

The beast sent erotic images into my mind, one after another. We could smell her skin from here. Her feminine scent teased the senses. Made imagining the taste of her on our tongue all too easy.

My mate was oblivious to the years of discipline and self-control required to keep me from jumping off this roof and throwing her over my shoulder to carry her inside.

I’d remove her clothing as I went. Lock my mouth over her hot clit and make her beg, and claw, and scream my name before I allowed the beast to have his way with her.

Mate her. Claim her. Place the matching set of mating cuffs around her wrists so we would never be separated again.