He held up his hand. “To claim a human female, a warrior must be very careful, plan well ahead. They are fierce and fearless mates. They will charge into battle against the Hive if they feel the need to protect their mate or children. They are too brave for their small, soft bodies. Too fierce for their own good,” he practically growled. “They are fragile in body, but strong in will. They will risk too much, yet love completely. They are truly a mystery. Wild. Passionate. They need very strong, patient males to tame them.”
Yes, that was the word. Tame. Gwen needed someone to tame her. Soothe her. Fuck her into oblivion so all her worries were gone. “And you want to tame Gwendolyn?” I was afraid of his answer but knew the truth. All males on the Colony wanted her. Lusted after her. Craved her.
Braun nodded, his gaze on the first fight beginning below. “Who would not?” Braun’s smile was all hungry male. “She is magnificent. I will fuck her until she screams my name so many times, all other words have been forgotten.”
It seemed our thoughts were aligned on many things. I doubted he was the only other male to imagine fucking her. Claiming her. Filling her tight pussy with his seed so she was marked. His and his alone. If I did it, she would most likely die. For anyone else on the Colony, she would have nothing but pleasure.
Fuck. I could not deny my friend his desires.
“She’s a cyborg,” I said. “A warrior. She will not be like the other human mates, the perfectly matched Interstellar Brides who came directly from Earth through the testing center instead of a Hive prison. She will be different.” I pointed out the obvious, not because I thought her anything less than perfect, but because I didn’t dare admit my interest aloud.
Braun lifted a brow in disgust and looked at me. “Do you insult the female?” The growl of his beast was in his voice, the bones of his face shifting under the skin as he fought off beast mode.
I shook my head. “No.”
“Good. Do not.” He instantly calmed. Braun didn’t say, she’s mine, but he warned me off all the same. The monster within me rose in answer, but I held onto control with an iron fist, giving nothing away. I had no rights over the female. Never would. Nothing could change that. Better a good male, like Braun, win her than another, lesser male. I would do my best not to hate him for touching her. Braun had been through hell and back. Tortured. Survived. He deserved happiness. If not on Atlan, then here, on the Colony. The planet for outcasts and the contaminated. The forgotten and fallen warriors from the Hive war.
Since Prime Nial, the ruler of Prillon Prime and commander of the Coalition Fleet, had lifted the ban on the contaminated returning to their home worlds, a few had chosen to leave the Colony and return to their old lives as best they could. The Prillons and Viken, the Trion and Everian, all could return home. But the humans here were not welcomed back on Earth with their Hive enhancements. That planet barely believed the Hive even existed. The governments wanted no proof of the merciless alien terror walking among their people. Never had I heard of leaders so afraid to speak the truth.
The Atlans could not return home either, their terrifying mating fever and beast mode too unpredictable. Normally, an Atlan was damn hard to kill. Filled with Cyborg tech, they were killing machines. The risk to their people on the home world would be too great should one go into mating fever and lose control of his beast.
And me? I knew my legion on Rogue 5 would take me in with open arms, but our leader, Kronos, would put me to use. He was nothing if not practical, and a Hive enhanced Forsian descendant would be the most terrifying weapon he would have. He would not hesitate to use it. Use me. And that was why I’d lived roaming space on my trading vessel instead of settling onto any specific planet. Until now.
I didn’t kill on demand.
I didn’t fight or steal on demand.
I didn’t fuck on demand, either.
I owed none but Kronos a shred of loyalty, and even that had come at too high a cost.
I was here, still paying it. I ran my ship fast and hot, avoiding Hive and Coalition forces alike, getting Kronos what he needed from all corners of the galaxy. Until now.
Someone had given the Coalition news of my imminent arrival, and notice of the precious load of transport tech and weapons I’d been carrying. The Coalition’s newest designs, and some illegal rifles manufactured on a non-Coalition world were among my cargo.
Guess it was the rifles that got me into that Coalition brig. And a captive of the Hive. And now, still a prisoner on the Colony, left to rot for decades, work in the mines, and die. The governor, a hard-ass named Maxim, wouldn’t even allow me to leave the surface, go on a single mission off planet. He was afraid I’d escape.
He was right. But nothing he did would stop me. I simply waited for the right set of circumstances to arrive. The plan I’d had in place for weeks.
Despite Governor Rone’s wishes, I refused to take a mate, to be tested for a bride. The truth was my own, my curse. I respected his frustration with me but was unable to comply with his demand that I mate. I just wanted to get back into space and mind my own fucking business. To be free, unchained to anyone or anything.
Taking a mate and leaving her behind? Not possible. The very idea made me growl again, the sound masked by the roar of the spectators as the first fight began and a Prillon in the pit landed a hard blow to his opponent. No, I was a smuggler, a rogue, a rebellious male who refused to follow commands, but I was not without honor. Even if our official claiming wouldn’t physically kill her, I refused to hurt a female’s tender heart in such a way.
A female was not just a huge risk, but a liability I couldn’t afford.
The governor and the rest of the Coalition leadership had decided I was too unstable. Too much of a menace. Rogue 5. Hyperion. Forsian. Cyborg. I was a fucking freak among freaks. And the governor believed only a mate would calm me, anchor me to this planet and their war against the Hive. Ensure my loyalty to the Coalition cause.
But I was not Coalition born. I was Rogue 5. And I truly was a prisoner on this planet. Which made it hard to be grateful. Some days, I would have preferred to be dead, the need to escape making me feel like I was coming out of my skin.
The crowd roared and I turned my attention to the fighting pit once again. The large Prillon warrior was being hauled away unconscious as another stood with his arms raised in sweaty victory. The winner stepped aside and two fresh fighters entered the center of the ring. One, an Atlan I knew well. The other a Prillon warrior who was about to get his head broken.
“Smash him, Tane!” Braun’s bellow was easily heard above the crown and our friend, Tane, looked up briefly and lifted his head in acknowledgement of Braun’s encouragement.
“You cheer for him, but believe his fight is futile?”
Braun was grinning, leaning forward, his gaze glued to the fight as Tane lifted the Prillon over his head and threw him halfway across the fighting grounds. The Prillon rolled to his feet and screamed a challenge in return, the sound echoing off the stands, rushing at the Atlan with cyborg enhanced speed. He scored a solid strike at Tane’s neck, although it barely shook the large Atlan. “Tane will win this fight and Gwen will refuse his claim. Once that is done, he will not protest my attempts to woo her.”
I chuffed out a laugh and stared wide-eyed at my friend. “Woo her? What kind of word is that for a warrior? You sound like an old female.”