Hazel

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SPACE PRISON WAS NOT what she expected. First, the detainment facility wasn’t in space, just at a spaceport. Second, there were no glass cubes containing the most hardened criminals in the galaxy.

There was one room with a glowing blue force field for a door and Seeran doing tai-chi. At least it looked like tai-chi, maybe a violent tai-chi. Many of the motion seemed designed to have a blade at the end slashing and twisting.  It was oddly beautiful.

People were talking. Hazel didn’t pay them any mind. Bureaucrats were being bureaucrats. It was all red tape and measuring dicks. She watched Seeran, looking for any sign that he was pleased she was there, that she was his match. His posture relaxed, opened for a brief moment, and she rushed into his embrace. She pressed into the hard planes of his body, surrounded by his warmth, and the rest of the world fell away. Hell, the universe. She didn’t want the moment to end.

He stroked her hair, letting the palm of his hand rest on her back with each down stroke. “You should not have volunteered,” he said in a bemused voice, “but I am glad you are here.”

Her shoulders tensed. Married only minutes and they already prowled the edges of their first fight. “I almost didn’t. I got cold feet this morning but there’s no backing out of a signed contract with the military. Apparently.”

His warm hands rubbed the tense area of her shoulders, softening the muscles back into a relaxed position. “Did you volunteer immediately after we parted? I understand. I am very impressive.”

Hazel snorted. He had zero trace of ego in that last statement. He wasn’t bragging. He just reported the facts. “I had reasons. Good reasons.”

“Kissable reasons?”

She tilted her head back and caught the hint of a grin. “This is funny to you? I could have been matched to anyone.”

His arms around her tightened. “No. You are my female.”

“How could you be so sure? I mean, I hoped to be matched to you but it’s a big universe.”

“I knew in the traditional manner.” He leaned down and nuzzled his face into her hair. “Scent. The way my father knew my mother.”

She moved her head and caught his lips with her own. Their first kiss as married people was soft and questioning. Is this permissible? His lips asked.

Yes, hers responded.

Urgency and heat grew and Hazel wanted to touch more of him, to lay her hands on bare skin and explore all those hard muscles she felt under his shirt. His hands cupped her butt and lifted her up until her toes brushed the floor. She got the impression that he wanted the same.

Rustling in the background pulled her back to reality. They were not alone.

“How long will we be here?” she asked, patting a hand on his chest to indicate a kissing time out.

“Long enough for me to claim you. Long enough to demonstrate my gratitude at being your male.”

Mmm. She liked those words and all the naked fun times they implied. “Seriously. How long?”

“Hours. No more than a day.”

“What happens when we teleport to your ship? It’s a ship, right?”

“A battle cruiser. The largest of the Sangrin-Mahdfel clans.”

Sangrin. She repeated the word and committed it to memory. That must be the name of his planet. “Will you be in trouble?”

“Very much so. The warlord will administer whatever punishment he deems necessary.”

That sounded awful. Barbaric. “Aren’t you worried?”

“I have decided to save tomorrow’s worries for tomorrow.” With hooded eyes, Seeran leaned in, his mouth slanted over hers. Hazel flinched.

He pulled back, frowning.

“I’m sorry,” she said quickly, full of panic. She wanted to kiss her husband. She wanted her mouth all over him and his all over her but she did not want an audience. “Can they hear us? Are they monitoring the cell?”

She pushed herself away, intending to flee, but it was a small holding cell. A few steps was the best she could manage. 

Seeran grabbed her wrist and pulled her back. “Tell me.”

“I can’t decide not to worry,” she confessed. “My brain doesn’t work that way and I want you, so bad. I really do but when you touch me—”

He growled. It should have been scary. He was huge and had fangs and every inch of him screamed predator but Hazel wasn’t frightened. This was her huge, fanged growling alien and he would never hurt her.

She sighed, letting herself sag against him. “This shouldn’t be so hard.”

He smoothed back the hair from her forehead. “What this shouldn’t be is in the brig. I will claim you, Hazel, but in our home and on our terms.”

He made waiting to have sex sound like the sexiest thing imaginable. “Yeah, okay,” she said.

Seeran sat down on the edge of the bed, still holding her loosely by the wrist.

“How do we?” she asked. Should they kiss some more? Too risky, she decided. Just being gently held was a good starting point.

“How about I tell you all the things I want to do to you and you can tell me if you’d like that.”

Excitement flared inside her. “Just talking?”

His cool eyes gleamed. “For now.”

“Enigmatic as always, Mr. Rhew.”

He flashed a smile, all sharp white fangs against his beautiful skin. A mouthful of teeth that sharp should have terrified her but it didn’t, because it was Seeran and she trusted him. Her body relaxed at the realization. Seeran wouldn’t hurt her. He might hurt others, true, but not her. 

He pulled her in, positioning her to stand between his legs and his arm wrapped around her waist. Snug and secure but not trapped.

She combed her fingers through his short hair, skirting the base of his horns. “Tell me what you’ll do to me, husband.”

A growl rumbled in the back of his throat and the aching desire in her responded. Damn, he was a sexy beast.

He leaned in, nuzzling her neck and hair. His lips brushed against her ear, sending a wave of shivers throughout her body. “First, I’d admire my beautiful mate and memorize her scent.”

“I just smell like my shampoo,” she said. She bought the generic brand and not even the good smelling generic, just the cheapest.

“No, under that. There is a unique signature. It calls me.”

The recruitment officer said the Mahdfel used to select their mates based on scent, until the genetic test was developed. That must be what Seeran meant.

“Then I’d remove any barriers that prevented me from admiring your luscious breasts.”

His hands moved up under her shirt and before she could think to stop him, the shirt was gone. He leaned back to take her in, his eyes gobbling up her pale skin from the navel upwards and lingered on her heavy breasts still hidden by her bra. Her nipples harden under his gaze and he chuffed, pleased with the reaction, Finally, his eyes settled at the juncture of neck and shoulder. A finger lightly brushed the area. “This is where I will put my claiming mark.”

“Is it a tattoo like yours?”

“No, sweet one, it is a bite.”

Hazel should have been shocked but she was not. Those fangs were not for show, after all. “Will it hurt?”

“No.” His lips rested at the indicated spot, fangs scraping a tempting promise of pleasure and just a hint of pain. One hand rested on the curve of her ass, the other slipped under her bra. He rolled her nipples between thumb and finger, pinching and tugging because somehow Seeran knew what she needed.

“I don’t believe you,” she said, focusing hard to keep her voice steady.

“It happens at the end. You’ll be too satiated to notice.”

Seeran lifted her and placed her at the edge of his bed, swapping places. He wedged between her thighs and pushed up her skirt. Kneeling, he stared long and hard at her juncture, hidden behind her panties. 

“I’ll taste my mate,” he said, mouth pressed against the fabric of her panties. His tongue rasped across the soaked fabric. An appreciative growl rumbled in his throat. 

“You’ll come on my tongue and I’ll drink you in.” His tongue worked her clit through the fabric, the rough and the wet creating a delicious friction. She grabbed his horns to keep him there, angling her hips. He chuckled.

“But I’m not done with you.” A finger slipped in between the soaked fabric and her folds, stroking her and spreading her desire. Another finger joined, pulling the panties taunt. The elastic band dug into her thighs. “I’ll stroke you until you beg for my cock.”

She was ready to beg now. Hazel nearly told him so.

“But I won’t give it to you.”

Hazel blinked, panting. “No?”

“I’ll stretch you, prepare you for me.” A finger pushed in roughly, joined by another. The palm of his hand was flat against her pussy as he worked her core. “I’ll find the spot, the one that makes you scream—”

His fingers curled forward, as if motioning her to come and her body lit up with electricity. Sensation surged through her and she was so close to release, but he pulled away.

Hazel whimpered when Seeran pulled his hand away. “Please, I’m nearly there.”

“As am I,” he said, pressing his forehead to hers.

Nearly there but not going to get her there, Hazel understood. “You’re teasing me.”

“I’m making you a promise.” Seeran climbed on the bed and pulled her to him, positioning her to allow her head to rest on his chest. She listened to the strong thud-thud of his heart. The heat drained slowly from her body, leaving behind an ache that only her husband could fill. 

“Any chance of delivering on that promise soon?”

He laughed. “Soon enough, in our bed.”

“Fine, Mr. Too-Fancy-To-Get-It-On-In-Prison,” she said with a smile, not upset with the wait. His hands and words momentarily made her forget their audience but, ultimately, she was thankful he had some measure of control. “For what it’s worth, I’m glad I’m matched to you.”

“And you are the best company I’ve ever had while in a detainment cell.”

“Spend a lot of time in space prison, do you?”

“Yes.”

Hazel sat up, alarmed. “You some kind of criminal?” She willed her words to sound like a joke and not panic. Her taste in men was the worst, the absolute worst, and if she traded in one bad ex-husband for a career criminal...

She couldn’t finish the thought.

“Answer me!” She swatted him on the shoulder. She didn’t know anything about Seeran Rhew except he was an amazing kisser from all the research they did yesterday. He could be a murder. A pirate. A space pirate.

“I’m the security chief for my clan,” Seeran said, covering her hands with his own.

“So you’re like a cop.”

“I enforce the rules and the warlord’s orders. I assemble and monitor teams to ensure the clan’s safety.”

“That’s a lot of words to say space cop.”

He chuffed amiably. He might be overly serious but he seemed to appreciate her sense of humor. “Rest,” he said, drawing her back down to the thin foam pad.

She snuggled in next to him, relishing the warmth and the careful way his arm settled over her. “Are you upset about the way we met?”

“No.” He answered quickly, without hesitation.

“But you got in trouble. If, I don’t know, I hadn’t ask you out for coffee and told you all that stuff about Scott, you would have left him alone and you’d still be on Earth.”

“You say that as if remaining on Earth is a preferred outcome.”

“What’s wrong with Earth?”

“It is humid.”

“Seriously? You don’t like an entire planet because one part is humid? Is your planet one biome? Grow up, Seeran.”

“Sangrin is a rich and complex biome.”

“So is Earth.”

Another huff, this one less amiable.

“Not a beach guy, huh?”

He remained silent. Then, “I prefer the mountains.”

“Mountains are good, too,” she said. “For what it’s worth, I’m still glad it was you.”

His arms wrapped around her. “I regret not one word or action since meeting you, mate. Not one. Every step has brought me to this moment and it is the best moment.”

Hazel smiled, tucking her face down against his chest. Space pirate or space cop, it didn’t matter. There was no place she’d rather be.

Seeran

HIS MATE SLEPT, CURLED against him on the narrow platform. Her even breaths set the pace for his troublesome heart, soothing him. The tattoos on his arms, shoulders and chest smoldered when they once burned with desire.

Every choice he had made in the last twenty-four hours had been the wrong one. He violated Earth law, he violated the terms of the treaty and he brought dishonor to his clan. Somehow, miraculously, he had been rewarded for his foolishness.

He did not know what to think. Consequences spun in his mind, casting a wide net to cover every bad outcome.

He deserved to be stripped of his rank and his position in the clan. His warlord would be well within Mahdfel custom to take his life. A warrior’s actions affected more than himself; it impacted the entire clan. Seeran’s poor choices today and yesterday endangered his clan’s claim in the Earth-Mahdfel Treaty. The Terran authorities could bar his entire clan from the genetic testing process, denying them their mates and endangering the clan’s next generation of warriors. All those warriors without their mates and sons and because of Seeran.

Yes, that is what Paax should do, Seeran decided. It would set a hard example and remind other warriors to act honorably when faced with temptation.

His mate would be a widow. At the end of their brief marriage, she would be returned to Earth or she could be matched to another warrior, possibly even one of his brothers Mene or Lorran. It was better for one of his brothers to accept his widow than a stranger but he didn’t like the cold comfort of it.

Perhaps, since luck favored a fool and he was surely a fool, the warlord would be swayed by Seeran’s reasons. His mate was unprotected. The Terran authorities laughed—actually laughed!—when she demanded they enforce their own laws. He followed his instinct to protect his mate at all cost: wrong action, correct reason.

He used that logic as justification last night, but the day revealed it to be thin, shabby reasoning.

The Earth gave and the Earth took.

He could not blame the consequences of his actions on the planet. This was all him.

His arms shifted under Hazel and rolled her until she rested on his chest. Tomorrow would bring its own problems. Until then, he would savor his time, however brief, with his mate.