Zee

I stood around the perimeter of the gathering chamber and watched the brides mingle with their warriors. Guardians of our most precious treasure. Not all were blessed, as I was, with a Marked Mate. Most, in fact, would need to woo their bride with kind words and wicked tongues used generously on her sweet, wet heat. As I’d done with my mate.

Even now, Helen’s taste was branded into my mind, on my tongue. I could not tear my gaze from her. She wore a dark red gown today, the reflective material clinging to the curve of hips and breasts in blatant invitation.

Gods, she was beautiful. Mine. Yet not. She allowed my touch, but did not know who I really was. My hideous face. My scars. Even now, I feared one look at me would send her away, screaming in horror. Disgusted. Her rejection would be a blow I could not survive with my soul intact. Especially after the previous night and how she’d submitted to me so beautifully. Her ass, I’d opened it up, claimed it. And I’d ensured she loved every inch of my cock I’d filled it with. Left her sated and replete, coated deep with my seed.

Helen was a miracle. Literally. A one in a hundred chance. And to have her volunteer and come from a planet on the other side of the galaxy? No, it was one in a million. Billion, even. An incredible blessing. A blessing I did not deserve, but could not find the strength to give up.

Beside me, Quinn watched with his arms crossed and an arched brow. “What is Bryn doing with that female? He’s going to lose her if he doesn’t stop acting like an ass.”

Bryn was an Elite Hunter, as we were, and he, too, had found his Marked Mate. Like Helen, she was a human female, a woman from Earth named Katie who, even now, glared at him as if he were evil incarnate. That was not a look I ever wanted to see aimed at me from Helen.

“I don’t know what is in his heart,” I replied neutrally.

“And what of your mate?” Quinn asked.

I eyed him, seeing the way he’d segued to me. “Her second virginity is mine,” I growled, remembering the tight fit of that virgin hole, the way I’d coaxed her body open, the way she’d come alive with the dark pleasure of the claiming. She’d submitted beautifully. Gasped in the surprised delight of the act and it had been my undoing. No, she was my undoing. Gods, I was going insane. My mate was passionate and wild, fierce and submissive. And she had a kinky side I would have to continue to discover. Restraints, especially. And the way she creamed for a spanking…fuck.

“And?” He looked genuinely confused. “What are you doing sulking over here with me while Hunters swarm her like an unclaimed prize?” He stuck his arm out, pointed in her direction.

I shook my head. “She is too beautiful. She will not survive the sight of me.”

Quinn’s golden eyes rounded in shock as he put his hands on his hips. “Are you fucking kidding me?” He leaned in so our conversation remained private. “You made her wear a blindfold? Again?”

“Yes.”

“Well, Bryn’s not the only idiot around here about to lose his mate.” Quinn’s voice was cold as ice and I felt the sting of his words.

“What are you talking about?” I watched each of the Hunters who approached my mate during this social time before the group meal. She was polite. Her smile was calm, poised, and completely uninterested. She knew she was mine. I just had to get her to fall in love with me before I revealed the truth. “She’s mine.”

He laughed. “Does she know that?”

“Her virgin ass does,” I murmured. I was smug, but not for long, as a young Hunter named Weston bowed low over her hand and smiled, making her cheeks turn an enticing shade of pink. I’d seen that color on her flushed skin last night as I’d fucked her and when she’d come, her walls clenching and milking the cum from my balls. I’d filled her ass and made her mine. Mine!

How dare he even lay eyes upon her?

I did not like seeing that color on her face in response to another male. My hands curled into fists, wanting to stalk over and punch Weston in the fucking face. But this was my doing. My own personal torture.

The silence stretched and I watched her extract her hand from the young Hunter’s with a shy smile. She stood with other Earth females I’d seen her with before. They eyed Weston, but gave him no encouragement. Beside me, Quinn grunted and hit me in the shoulder. “You better pull your stubborn head out of your ass, Zee, before you lose her.”

“I am a monster,” I insisted adamantly.

“If she’s your Marked Mate, she won’t care.” He walked away, and I let him go, my complete attention on the beautiful young woman who had conquered me, who owned me, and didn’t even know my name.

* * *

Helen

He was watching me. Staring. He’d been staring since I entered the room. Zee. My mate. My beautiful, scarred warrior. I’d caught a glimpse of him from across the room and it was next to impossible not to look at him, to walk over to him, cup my hand behind his neck and pull him down for a kiss.

Just knowing his eyes were on me alone made my pussy wet, my nipples pebble into hard peaks under my dress.

The young Hunter who’d kissed the back of my hand, a handsome younger Hunter named Weston, would think the flush on my cheeks was due to his attention.

The opposite was true. I didn’t care one bit about him and once he walked away—which I hoped was soon—I wouldn’t remember what he looked like.

Zee’s presence was burning through me like an internal blowtorch, and I had no way to push him into revealing the truth.

I watched, from the corner of my eye, as he spoke to his friend, a golden Hunter named Quinn. With his long hair and amber eyes, Quinn looked almost like a lion next to my dark-haired warrior. Quinn was perfect. Beautiful. Boring. He did not make my pulse race or my body heat. His gaze did not make my skin burn or my heart flutter in anticipation.

Only Zee made me want. And when he left the room, I felt the loss of his presence keenly. Quinn departed as well, but in a different direction.

I caught Katie’s eye as she held court, torturing the Hunter named Bryn by flirting with every available male in the room. Lexi was nowhere to be seen, no doubt off with her lucky new mate, Von. I had yet to hear if she’d been fully claimed yet, but I imagined the next time I saw her it would be a done deed. And Dani? Poor Dani. She sat in a corner with a book, ignoring everything and everyone around her as if she were a marble statue, or a being not of this world. Her pain was a palpable thing, and I often caught Katie darting worried glances her direction as well. Males looked her way, but it was as if she had a neon sign over her head that said, “stay away.” No one approached.

I’d had enough.

Pulling my hand from Weston’s, I rose and excused myself, determined to track down Zee’s friend, Quinn. I’d seen him leave down a side hallway and I followed. He would help me with Zee. He had to.

My pace was quick, nearly running, by the time I caught up to him several long hallways away from the main gathering room. “Quinn? May I speak with you?” I sounded breathless; I was a photographer, not an aerobics instructor.

Quinn, the lion, turned and bowed low. “My lady?”

I sensed he was surprised by my presence, but did not let it show.

My hands twisted in front of me, but I couldn’t lose courage now. “Why won’t Zee tell me who he is?” I blurted.

Quinn’s eyebrows rose in shock. “You know his identity?”

“Of course. I’m a woman. I’m not stupid.”

He straightened to his full height and looked down his nose at me as if he were a prince and I, a peasant. “Perhaps you are, indeed, stupid if you do not know the answer to the question.”

My gut churned and I flushed hotly at the scolding I didn’t understand. I had no idea. “I don’t. Please. Just tell me. Does he not want a mate? Did he want a blonde, instead? A redhead? What? Why does he come to me every night and refuse to tell me who he is?”

He looked stunned by my outburst, and my words. “My apologies for the disrespectful tone. You truly don’t know?”

I shook my head, blinked back tears. I’d held them off; I couldn’t let them fall now. “No. You have to help me. Please.” I wasn’t above begging. Not if it would get me what I wanted. Zee. Mine. Forever.

“His scars.”

“What about them?” I asked, frowning.

“What—” Quinn took a step back, his mouth half-formed around his next word. “He fears his appearance will frighten you, cause you to reject his claim.”

My turn to cross my arms and glare. “That’s ridiculous.”

His eyes widened. “You truly don’t care about his battle scars? They don’t repulse you?”

Holy shit. This really was the problem? I imagined he might find them unfavorable and was afraid for me to see them, but Zee thought I’d reject him because of some stupid scars?

“I’m in love with him,” I shouted, angry now for no good reason. If someone were to overhear, I didn’t care. “Of course some stupid scars don’t bother me.” Men. He was rejecting me. Leaving me in the dark. Torturing both of us. All because of some the battle wounds that healed poorly?

Quinn raised his hands in surrender and I took a deep breath, regaining control. “My apologies if I have insulted you, my lady.”

“Look, Zee is mine. I want him. And I need your help.”

“Help?” His gaze darkened and the corners of his eyes crinkled with mischief. He bowed slightly. “Tell me what I might do to assist.”

“I need to drive him crazy,” I replied, thinking of Katie and how she’d been taunting Hunter Bryn. “Force his hand. I might be submissive, but it’s time I took control. Right now, he thinks he’s in charge and that’s not working out so well. It’s time for me to take over. To push him, just as he pushes me.” I met Quinn’s gaze and tried to force every bit of determination I had to shine from my eyes.

“So, your plan is to enrage him?” He stroked his chin as he spoke, mulling over my words. “Make him jealous so he’ll have to intervene?”

I nodded once. “Exactly.”

It felt dangerous. Naughty. Worse than the see-through blindfold. And I couldn’t wait to get started. I’d see just how far my new master could be pushed.

Quinn’s chuckle made me smile in response. “You are aware of the consequences to your…um, bare ass.”

I smiled at the Hunter, and while I could feel my blush, I didn’t care if he knew I was definitely getting spanked for topping from the bottom. Oh, I so was. “Yes.”

“Very well. I am at your disposal.”

* * *

Zee, twelve hours later

I was going to kill him.

Slowly.

I’d rip his body in half with my bare hands and smash his skull into pulp on the stone pillars of the Touchstone.

In exactly seven minutes, my shift was over. My duty, to guard the brides this day, done.

And then I no longer needed to remain watchful from my post. I would kill the man who’d dared lie to my mate.

Even now as I eyed her closely, Helen laughed, her head thrown back with joy as she talked to the other brides. “Oh, my god! I found him. He told me everything.”

One of the brides, a very small female from Earth named Dani, jumped to her feet and gave my mate a hug. “Details. We need details.”

“His name is Quinn. I’ll tell you more…all of it,” Helen promised as my blood boiled.

I stilled. Quinn? My friend, Quinn? Ex-friend. What the fuck was he doing with Helen? And she thinks he’s her Marked Mate? The one whose palm burned for her? The one who came to her in her dreams? Who ate her sweet pussy until she came all over his face? Who opened up her tight ass with his cock and made her come?

Quinn was going to die a slow…painful…excruciating death. And I was going to enjoy every minute of it.

“But I can’t right now,” Helen continued. “I’m meeting him again. Maybe this time he’ll take my third virginity. I’m so excited for that big cock, to have it deep inside of me. Finally. I have to hurry.”

“You go, girl,” Katie chuckled, waggling her eyebrows, and Helen twirled in her clinging red gown. She looked so thrilled—ecstatic—to go to him. To go to Quinn, the fucker. To have him fuck her.

No. Fucking. Way.

“I used that rose perfume you gave me,” she whispered, although her soft voice carried to me. “I hope he likes it. I put it everywhere.”

She blushed as her gaze darted to me, just for a moment, not as if she assumed I was her mate, but as if she were worried about a random male overhearing her statement.

Rose perfume? Everywhere? I did not know what a rose smelled like, but if it made Helen’s cheeks so flushed with excitement, I would discover soon enough. I stepped closer to her. Bowed.

“Do you require an escort, my lady?” My voice was gravelly. Deep. Filled with barely suppressed rage. Not at her. Never at her. But at the male who dared to try to seduce her in my stead, knowing, knowing she was mine. To take what belonged to me. He was deceiving her, and me. Quinn would not touch a hair on her head let alone one inch of her silky skin. Or get his cock anywhere near her pussy.

My heart nearly stopped beating, cold dread filling my veins, at the dreamy look on Helen’s face when she turned to answer me. “Oh, no, thank you. He’s so…sexy. So charming. So dominant.”

She gave me a look as if she were having an orgasm right then and there. My cock swelled painfully against the front of my pants. I’d brought her pleasure many times, but I had yet to see her eyes as I did so. The fucking blindfold. Dammit. I clenched my hands into fists.

She held up her hand, palm out, so I could see her mark. The mark that pulsed in tune to my mark on my palm. Not Quinn’s.

“He’s my mate, I just know it. I’ll be fine. Thank you.”

My hands clenched into fists and I broke the wooden railing I leaned against, splinters slicing their way into the flesh of my palm. The pain brought me back to myself as I watched my mate walk away, humming. Happy. Hips swaying seductively.

I checked the time. Five minutes.

Fuck that.

I raced after her, through the doorway she’d just passed. But when I entered the corridor, she was nowhere to be seen.

Two Hunters stood guard at the entrance. I approached. “Did you see a bride in red? Brown hair? She just exited through these doors?”

They looked at each other. One shrugged as if my mate’s future, her body, the Hunter most likely touching her right now, was of no concern.

I shoved him against the wall, a snarl in my voice and death in my eyes. “Where. Did. She. Go?”

“She’s with her mate,” he answered, his eyes wide in surprise.

“I’m her mate,” I hissed through clenched teeth.

“Gods, Zee. Relax.” The other guard leaned his shoulder against the wall, feet crossed as if he didn’t have a care in the world. As if I wasn’t threatening to murder his companion.

I shook the man in front of me. “I’ll ask one more time. Where is she?”

He tilted his head further down the hallway. “She was headed for the private quarters.”

“With who? Quinn?” I gritted out my friend’s name through clenched teeth.

“Didn’t see his face.” He was lying. I could see it in his eyes, but I didn’t need him to tell me. If I’d been using my head, I would have realized that the only thing I was doing here was wasting my time.

Releasing the guard, I turned and strode away, letting the thing inside me, the Hunter, take over.

Scents danced on the air. Including hers. Sweet. Unique. The flowery scent of her perfume—rose—like a beacon. I followed it to the private quarters. Confused when the scent ended abruptly in an unclaimed room.

Any Hunter here, myself included, would have taken her to his private room for a final claiming, for once a cock was buried deep in a sweet pussy, he wasn’t letting her up from the bed for a long, long time. Using an empty, unassigned room didn’t make any sense.

Yet her scent led me here.

As did the voices on the other side of the door.

Hers. His.

My ears flooded with the pounding of my pulse and all I could see was his hands on her. Touching her. Fucking her. Claiming what was mine. Quinn was a dead man. And my mate? She would discover the one who ruled her body. The only one who could bring her pleasure because I knew every inch of her. Every gasp of pleasure, clench of desire, gush of arousal. Her fucking taste. It was all mine.

And I was taking it. Now.