Warlord Anghar, The Colony, Governor Maxim Rone’s Office

“Demand they return at once,” I snapped, my voice like the boom of a cannon.

I paced the Governor’s office, a tough Prillon bastard named Ryston stood just inside the door. He had microscopic Hive enhancements woven through every major muscle group in his body. The implants made him nearly as strong as a beast in full frenzy. He was the governor’s second, and together, they were mated to Rachel, who Ryston had forced to sit due to her advanced pregnancy. The copper colored collars around all three of their necks made my beast furious. It was a sign of their connection, their fucking bond that was only shared by mates. I felt the weight of the cuffs on my wrists, but they meant nothing since their match was attached to my belt, and not on Kira.

Thank the gods, the cuffs, and the scent of her on my skin, were holding the beast at bay. For now. The stinging pain from the cuffs a constant reminder that she was mine.

Kira was mine. My mate. My beast knew the truth and so did I. I had no idea why she had left me while I slept, but I would find out. Demand answers. And then fuck her until she knew exactly who she belonged to and never doubted again.

Maxim was in my fucking way. His mate was safe and happy, sitting beside him with his collar around her neck and his child growing large in her womb. Judging by the sympathy directed at me in Rachel’s dark eyes, this conversation was going nowhere good.

Besides the three of them in the room, there was also the silver-eyed human, Lieutenant Washington. Denzel. He was dark skinned, like a Prillon warrior, but his eyes were unnerving. Solid metallic and shiny. And he had the strength of a warrior five times his size thanks to the rest of the Hive implants in his body. I ignored him and he remained quiet and watchful.

“The transport window to Zioria is closed for another thirty-six hours. We’ve been over this, Angh,” the governor reminded me. “I realize you want to go after your mate, but I can’t move planets for you.”

“Tell that to my beast.” The beast was raging. I was holding on by a thread, and the copper skinned Prillon knew it.

So did his mate.

Rachel stood, albeit clumsily with her huge belly, and walked toward me. She was lovely, smaller than my Kira, with dark brown hair and warm brown eyes. Behind me, the golden Prillon, Ryston, bristled, but she held up her hand and waved him down. I would never hurt her. Not if I was in control. But if he touched me, or tried to take me down, that control might just snap. Maybe that was why Denzel was here, making three warriors who might try to control me if need be.

My beast all but laughed. As if.

The tiny hand she placed on my forearm was meant to soothe, but her touch irritated instead. She wasn’t mine. Wasn’t Kira.

“I’m sorry, Angh. She probably didn’t know what the cuffs meant. They don’t exactly explain anything to us Earth girls before we’re processed and transported to our mates.”

“She’s not an Interstellar Bride, Lady Rone,” I clarified. “She’s an instructor at the Coalition Academy. I need to go after her. I need answers.”

Kira’s much smaller mating cuffs hung from a small hook attached to my armor. I couldn’t bear to look at them, her rejection hurt too much. The fact that she’d left me, sneaked out of my bed in the darkest hours before dawn and left the fucking planet was proof of that rejection. Proof also of how replete and sated I had been, how relaxed my beast had been in her presence, to sleep through her departure. I barely slept, ever, because of the buzzing in my skull, but the one fucking time I had, she’d slipped away.

Yes, the transport for the group from the Academy had been scheduled and she was the group’s leader, but she didn’t have to escort them. They weren’t children she was shepherding back to a kinder program. These were adults from all over the galaxy who didn’t need my mate to fucking hold their hands.

What was a job when it came to mates? I’d heard of Everians abandoning everything when their mark awakened. Hell, I’d finished the Prillon in the pit with one punch solely because I saw Kira, knew she’d be mine and couldn’t wait another second to have her.

If she’d wanted me, she’d have stayed. If she’d wanted me, she’d have put on the mating cuffs. Was Rachel right? Had she really not known what they meant? What sneaking out would do to me? Had an Earth woman, one intelligent and brave enough to have the prestigious job of Academy instructor, not known?

Yet somehow, I clung to hope, to Lady Rone’s words like they were a lifeline, because the alternative was too terrible to endure.

My mate didn’t want me. She’d just wanted my cock.

I’d pleasured her well. Fucked her quick and hard in a damned hallway; how had she not known from that exactly how desperate I was for her? After that, when my beast had been initially sated, I’d feasted on her pussy. Made her scream and beg and milk my cock all night. She’d been well satisfied. Well-fucked. Filled with seed.

Claimed.

I’d vowed to be hers, said the words and placed the mating cuffs on my wrists to prove it. I had bathed and fed her, cared for her in every way I could in such a short time. I had done everything to ensure her pleasure, to impress her. I’d shown her my beast and bested the Prillon in the pit. I should have been worthy.

It seemed, I wasn’t.

I was contaminated. Perhaps I had been correct all along. The Colony was no place for worthy females. What if she had been processed as an Interstellar Bride and matched to someone else? A truly worthy warrior. Someone who was whole and could offer her a better life, one not on the distant and barren Colony.

Perhaps that was the reason she had not placed them on her wrists. Had she known she was matched to another?

The thought made my beast rage and I stepped back, away from Rachel, her innocent touch a trigger I did not need, not when my mate was gone and because of it, the Mating Fever was now upon me.

With a sigh, Rachel stepped back and Ryston walked to her quickly, pulling her away from me, behind me. I knew he wrapped her in his arms where they both watched as I confronted the Governor with my plans.

I focused my attention on the only person who could approve my trip. The only one who kept me from my mate. I narrowed my eyes, bit out the words, “I’m going after her.”

“You’re in Mating Fever.” The cold, calculating accusation came from behind me, not from Ryston, but from the human, Denzel. I turned my head slowly, his cold, silver eyes unnerving no matter how many times I’d seen him. They reminded me of the Hive Integration Unit who had tortured me, altered my body, put this thing inside my head that buzzed, even now. I was never without the reminder that they had broken me.

There was no sympathy in Denzel’s tone, and no room for lies.

“Yes.” I nodded, although they didn’t need my agreement to know the truth. “I was holding the fever at bay before. But having her here triggered it.”

He nodded and looked at the governor. “I’ll go with him to the Academy on Zioria. Help him find her.”

“And what if she doesn’t want to come back with you?” the governor asked.

I growled, the deep rumble filling the silence. “Then I don’t come back.” I shrugged, the answer no longer painful. I was ready to die. I’d been ready for a long time. Captain Mills, a fellow fighter and a ReCon team leader I’d worked with pre-Hive integration, had saved me even when I’d begged for him to finish me. I’d been ruined then and I was ruined now. There was no room left for fear, not for myself. But for Kira?

She could be in trouble right now. Hurting. Injured. She might need me, and I was here, half a galaxy away. She was out of my reach, and just the possibility of something being wrong made the beast insane with the need to see her, smell her, touch her, taste her, make sure she was safe and whole and well.

“No! Angh, that’s…just no!” Rachel’s voice was full of worry I didn’t need. “There has to be another way!” Her protest was well-intentioned, but I was in full blown Mating Fever and the males in the room knew what that meant. If I didn’t reunite with my mate soon, if she didn’t accept my claim, voluntarily put the cuffs on her wrists and allow me to claim her in the official, Atlan way, I’d be a monster in truth. A cyborg enhanced beast who’d lost his mind. A killing machine unlike any other.

The cuffs I wore kept me sane. For now. But they wouldn’t control the raging within me for long. I needed my mate nearby to soothe him, to keep him content. I would will the beast back, control myself until I knew the truth of her feelings.

The governor looked at Denzel. “If you go with him, it will fall to you.” To finish Warlord Anghar if need be. He didn’t say the last, but we all knew it.

I turned to assess the fighter’s capabilities, both mentally and physically.

Our gazes locked. Held. The cold-blooded killer staring back at me would give no quarter if that’s what was needed. “You have to tell her the truth,” he said.

I shook my head. “No. I will not force her hand. She must make the choice to be my mate for herself.”

“You’re willing to die for your honor?” he asked.

I held his gaze so he’d understand. “No, I will die for her, for her happiness. I will not use coercion or manipulate her against her will. I will not accept a mate who chooses me out of pity. I would rather die.” I paused, then clarified. “I will die first.”

Denzel dropped his chin in a slight bow of respect. “So be it. I’ll go with you. See it through.”

Relieved, I tilted my head as well, in thanks. “Take an ion rifle. A blaster will just make me angry.”

“I’ll bring two.” The human’s silver gaze was steady. Solid.

Yes. He would do.

I turned back to Maxim and raised a brow. Clenched my fists. “I’m going after my mate. The lieutenant can accompany me. If she refuses my claim, he’ll do what needs to be done.”

The governor studied us both for a minute. The longest fucking minute of my life. “So be it. Those cuffs will only keep the fever in check for so long. Get your mate, or may the gods take you.”