Mated (11 page)

Zafron grasped her head and held her to him as he stuffed himself into her mouth.

After several sharp thrusts, he uttered a harsh cry. Natalie could feel his legs shaking as his release tore out of him, the tangy evidence of it streaming hotly down her throat.

“Heavens above!”

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They traveled in circles for more than a day, simply to make sure that their path

back to Spygia was not tailed by the Malucon ship they had encountered. Natalie found that out when she asked why it was taking them so long to reach deep space. Not that

she was anxious for that to happen, or anything.

Yeah, right.

She knew full well that they wouldn’t be able to leave the ship on autopilot until

they’d hit deep space. And they wouldn’t complete the mating ritual until then. Even

though she had already been with Andros the night that the Malucon ship approached,

the ritual would not be complete until she had mated with all of them, and they all had to be there when it happened.

The whole thing left her completely hot and bothered, especially since, with the

exception of her one bathroom romp with Zafron, none of the men would go anywhere

near her. She would have been insulted if not for the looks of deep longing and

frustrated lust they were constantly sending her way. No, it was obvious that their

control was stretched to the limit, that they had reached the point where they didn’t trust themselves any longer to touch her body without taking her.

Which left her with a lot of time to herself. Thank goodness for the library.

When Natalie had first visited the library, she’d been shocked to see that it

contained books made of a thin paper. They were very much like the books from her

planet, but the paper looked like a stronger, more durable version of vellum. Even more surprising was the translator, a small portable device with a computer-like screen that she could place the book into and have the Spygian words translated into any language she chose, including English.

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It had been amusing to see that the Spygian books bore a similarity to those from

Earth. There were fiction novels that seemed to feature battles between different worlds.

A few books that made her cheeks flush, with their depictions of various sexual

positions. Sort of like the Spygian
Kama Sutra
, with most of the illustrations containing two or more men pleasuring—or being pleasured by—one woman. Apparently Andros

hadn’t been lying about the Spygian culture’s ready encouragement of multi-partner

relationships.

There had also been some Spygian history books, as Andros had assured her. She

carried one out to the greenhouse today, spreading a blanket out on the grass floor by the bridge, where she could hear the steady trickle of the artificial creek and take in the lavender scent of the theamene. It was fascinating to read the early history of the planet, to learn that it was so similar in many ways to Earth. She lost track of the time she’d been out there when a deep, amused voice sounded from behind her. “Having a

picnic?”

She turned. Andros strode toward her from the meandering path. Hastily sitting up

from her prone position, she swept her hair back with a blush. “Oh, no, just reading

some of your history.”

Taking large strides, he quickly reached the blanket. “May I sit with you for a

time?”

Natalie nodded her head, her heart skipping a beat. His pained avoidance of her

had subconsciously left her feeling his loss, something she hadn’t even noticed until now.

Oh my god, could I be starting to care for him—for them—so quickly?

Andros sat on the opposite end of the blanket, carefully keeping his body from

touching hers as he reclined on his side, his upper body supported by his forearm.

This was the first time they’d been alone since that night.

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Her body heated simply recalling the look of intensity on his face, the feel of him

inside her as he made furious love to her. She stifled a deep exhale. Oh god, how she wanted to feel that again. To be that turned on.

Andros was silently staring at her face, one eyebrow cocked. She felt her face grow

heated.
Are my thoughts written all over my face?

“What think you of our history?” he finally asked.

She’d just been sitting there, staring at him like some lovesick schoolgirl. How

embarrassing. “Um, it’s interesting,” she said, looking down at the book once more.

“Did you know that your history has many similarities to our own history on Earth?

Same theory of creation, similar dark ages and periods of enlightenment?”

He grunted noncommittally.

“The only thing is that your planet appears to be older than ours by several

thousand years, and far more technologically advanced. I mean, the things you have on this ship are…are just incredible to me.”

“It appears that your planet is headed on the same evolutionary trajectory as

Spygia, my mate. Hopefully your world’s people can keep from destroying each other

with their own petty wars. Ours barely managed to do so, at the end of our materialistic era.”

“But you have to return to Spygia in order to train, so there must still be strife

there.” How discouraging that was. It seemed there would never be any true peace for

her planet. Not if Spygia was any indication.

“There is no strife amongst our own people,” Andros said. “But unfortunately there

are other planets that have evolved differently from ours. The Malucons, while

powerful and advanced in many ways, do not have many of our own technologies.

However, their planet is large and well-populated, their people are strong and

materialistic, and their spaceships are superior to those of many other planets.

Including our own, in many ways. For them, it is acceptable to take by force what they do not already have.”

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“Do you really think they can be destroyed?”

Andros nodded. “It is their own bloodthirsty nature that will destroy them. While

they are eager to make war on other planets, they are also mercenary in nature, and

cannot be trusted not to turn on each other if the right motivation comes along. We will find a way to exploit that, to stop them for good.”

He sat up and reached over to gently grasp her hand in his. “Natalie, you trust us to keep you safe, do you not?”

His expression was so earnest, so hopeful, that she melted. He truly did want to

protect her. Wanted her to feel secure. That was something she hadn’t experienced in a very long time, and it felt really good. “I do trust you. I know you won’t let anything happen to me.”

Andros smiled at her statement, his eyes glittering fiercely with unspoken emotion.

“Female, I…” His voice trailed off at he raised a hand to brush her cheek. It was

amazing how just the touch of his hand could make her limbs weak.

“Lords, you are so soft. So beautiful. I cannot wait until you are completely ours.”

“When will that be?”

Yikes, cool it on the eagerness, Natalie. They already know you want them. No need to lay it
all out there.

He laughed. “As soon as we can be certain that the Malucons are not following us.

The last thing we need is their ship trailing ours the entire journey back home. They cannot follow our trail without having our ship on their radars.”

Natalie nodded. Hopefully it would be sooner rather than later, but she understood

the importance of ensuring that they were not being tracked. The last thing any of them would want was to be waylaid by an enemy ship.

His gaze traveled down her body to where her mid-thigh lemon-yellow tunic ended

and the bare flesh of her legs began. Uttering a soft groan, he said, “By severn, Natalie, you are an arousing woman. I am ever grateful that the fates decided you to be our

mate.”

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She’d be lying if she said she wasn’t turned on by his obvious admiration. She

teasingly replied, “Yes, but would I be as enticing to you if I wasn’t your mate?”

He laughed, confessing, “Now that is the age-old question, is it not? Do I desire you so because you are my mate, or are you my mate because my desire is so great?” He

shrugged. “Either way, the end result is the same.”

His expression growing serious, Andros continued, “I want to kiss you.”

Natalie’s lips tingled under the intensity of Andros’ heated gaze, and she

subconsciously licked them. With a pained hiss, he drew her closely to him, taking her lips in a gesture of total possession. His tongue flicked out, licking the corner of her lip before thrusting in sensually and tangling with hers. He grasped a section of her hair and pulled it back to provide him deeper access to her mouth, while his other hand

moved to slide across her breasts, down her stomach.

Oh.
Just the slight touch of his hand heated her body, making her eager for more.

Losing herself in the moment, she reached down to touch Andros’ heavy bulge through

his loincloth, rubbing her palm up and down over the cool fabric before closing her

fingers around him.

Andros broke from their kiss with a harsh groan, resting his forehead on hers. He

moved his fingers onto her hand and stilled it. “Enough, I can take no more.”

She couldn’t hold back her whimper of frustration. “But I want you, Andros.” It

was amazing just how much she wanted him.

He groaned. “Soon, Natalie, soon.” With a muttered oath, he released her suddenly.

He rose from the blanket and stalked off without another word.

Natalie stared at his retreating back for a moment before uttering an aggravated

screech and throwing herself back onto the blanket. At this rate she’d die of frustration before they ever made it into deep space.

* * * * *

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“By severn, Andros. We have been traveling aimlessly for days now,” Zafron said

from his post in the control room. “Aren’t we certain by now that the Malucon ship is not trailing us?”

Though his words were spoken solely due to impatience, he did have a point.

Andros had exercised caution in ensuring that they were not being trailed before

shooting into deep space. Although he knew that this prolonged the moment before

they could make Natalie theirs completely, he was not willing to risk her life. They had just found her. He was going to ensure that she lived a long, happy existence. Not only this, but he couldn’t withstand another failed attempt at the mating ritual. He needed to ensure that, once in deep space, they could leave the ship on autopilot for at least a few hours without having to worry about stopping due to unwelcome visitors.

“If we set into hyperdrive now, we could be in deep space in a matter of hours,”

Leikos said.

Andros’ cock, which seemed to be sporting a never-ending arousal ever since they

had discovered their mate, jerked at the thought. He could be inside Natalie’s warm,

willing body within a few brief hours.

“It does seem unlikely that the Malucon ship is still aware of our presence,” Andros

ventured.

“I can understand your vigilance,” Leikos said. “But I think we should be away to

our planet.”

“And enjoying our female,” Zafron muttered.

Andros pondered their words for a moment. “Okay, let us go into hyperdrive.”

“Thank the lords,” Zafron hissed.

* * * * *

Natalie was officially bored. Okay, so she still had plenty of books to read, but even as fun as that was, it got old after awhile. And even though it was cool getting to

request any type of food she wanted and have it materialize, she’d gotten tired of

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eating. Bottom line, she was lonely and tired of being avoided. So she figured she’d

head over to the control room, maybe rustle up a little bit of trouble.

Or at least figure out how to drive this ship.

The men must have been telling jokes, because they were all laughing as she

walked in. However, as usual, they quieted when she entered, their eyes resting

hungrily on her. Feeling a little out of place, Natalie said, “I hope I’m not interrupting anything.”

“Never, Natalie,” Andros said.

“I got bored. I thought you might be able to teach me how to fly this thing.”

“Certainly,” Andros agreed. She walked over to his control station and watched as

he pointed out buttons and explained what they did. “Each of our control stations is

similar, so that any one of us can take over flying or commanding the ship if the other becomes suddenly incapacitated for some reason.”

“I generally navigate and have command of the coordinate location screen,” Leikos

put in, “though we are all able to do it.”

Looking out at the blanket of stars through the clear shield, Natalie was hit with the biggest sense of impossibility, like this was all some long, really vivid dream. “This is so crazy. I can’t believe I’m actually here.”

“Would you care to take control of the ship for a bit?”

“Really? That would be cool.”

After all, how many humans could claim to have done something like this? When I get back
home, I can tell…

Her excitement dimmed just a bit when she remembered that she wasn’t going back

to Earth. Even if she did, there wasn’t really anyone to tell.

Andros smiled, seemingly infected by her enthusiasm. “Come here,” he said,

grabbing her hand and pulling her toward his seated body. When she was directly in

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front of him, he turned her around to face the controls and shield once more. “Sit.” He grabbed her by the waist and gently tugged her down, until she was sitting on his lap.