Читать книгу The Colony Boxed Set 1 - Grace Goodwin - Страница 13

Ryston, three days later

“I have changed my mind. I don’t see a good reason to go. We don’t need to leave the suite,” Maxim grumbled.

It was humorous to see the warrior who led the entire base moping about going to a formal dinner, one of the first on The Colony, the first on Base 3. And the first time The Colony would host the Prime of our home world. Before Prince Nial, his second and his mate, no one from Prillon Prime had set foot on The Colony in decades. The citizens of the home planet were too afraid of the contaminated warriors banished to live out their lives here. Even with the new Prime, and the change in our laws, the old prejudices, the old stigmas and superstitions, remained.

“Prime Nial and his family will not wish to eat S-Gen-created food in the base cafeteria while we fuck our beautiful mate in another room.” I laughed, well pleased with our mate and the prospects for our future. She was eager and passionate in bed play, and surrendered so sweetly to my wild urges. Her body had become my obsession. I found myself spending hours thinking about what I could do to her, what she might allow me to do—what she might not. I wanted to push her, test her limits. I wanted to know what made her desperate for us to take her. I wanted her begging and writhing with need. I wanted her so hot for her mates that she couldn’t hold a coherent thought in her lovely head.

And I wanted to claim her forever, take her virgin ass while Maxim fucked her sweet pussy. I wanted that so badly that if I thought about it for too long, I could barely breathe.

“Gods, Ryston. Stop that, or we’ll never make it to the dining room.”

“Sorry, Maxim. I can’t stop thinking about how fucking lucky we are.” I rubbed my hand through my hair as Maxim pulled on his boots, for once awkward in my silence. I knew what I needed to say, but forcing the words past my throat was rough, like vomiting nails. I wasn’t worthy of the honor Maxim bestowed upon me in choosing me as his second. There were other warriors living on The Colony who were bigger, stronger, higher ranked. Men who had fought on the front lines longer than I. I wasn’t worthy, but I could not give her up, not now that I’d tasted paradise. “Thank you for choosing me, Maxim. I know there are others—”

Maxim scowled and stood in one smooth motion, a strange emotion I could not quite grasp hitting me through the collar. Being linked to our mate was divine, but the shocking flow of nearly violent emotions from Maxim was throwing me off my rhythm. Maxim was Maxim. Governor. Leader. Face of granite and will stronger than steel. Outwardly, he was the same man I’d followed into battle countless times, the same warrior I’d relied on to see us through the darkest times, when we were captured and tortured by the Hive. His strength had pulled the entire unit through the desolation of survival and banishment.

And through it all, Maxim had been an unreadable constant, a leader I respected and admired, and the complete opposite of my need to push the boundaries, to start fights and race, headlong, into battle.

But, thanks to our bond with Rachel, I now had a glimpse behind the mask, and the formidable swings in his emotions stunned me, their ferocity often choking me.

But the emotion coming from him now settled into contentment, a strange and wonderful feeling neither had experienced much prior to her.

“There is no other I would choose as second, Ryston. And you proved the wisdom of my choice our very first night with our mate.” Maxim walked toward me and clapped his hand on my shoulder. “You knew just how far to push her. In my caution, I would have left her unsatisfied, her needs unmet. I would have failed her. You were the right choice. She needs you.”

His words soaked into my bones like a thousand insects crawling inside me. I was not used to this type of conversation and I shifted on my feet, eager to put some distance between us.

Fuck. I needed to go shoot something.

“Male bonding.” Rachel swept into the room wearing the copper-colored gown I generated for her that first night. It was the first time in three days she’d been allowed to dress, her appetite for sex as fierce as our own. “How cute. You guys are adorable.”

Maxim leapt back the same moment as I, and Rachel laughed. Her brown eyes sparkled with happiness and her smile made my heart lurch in my chest. She looked happy. Content. As a mate should.

And that dress clung to every curve, lingering and shimmering over her breasts and hips like a lover’s caress. Breasts and hips I’d tasted. Touched. Licked.

My cock began to rise as Maxim crossed his arms over his chest, inspecting her.

“Every warrior in the base will want to challenge for you.” Maxim’s sigh was both pleased that we had such a beautiful mate, and resigned to the inevitable. There were very few females on The Colony. And with Rachel’s collar still black, and the formal mating ceremony not yet complete, there might be a warrior or two fool enough to try to lure her away from us, to convince her to change her mind and choose them instead.

“I’ll kill them.” The vow was made before I thought to censor my reaction.

For a heartbeat of time, I thought I might have offended or frightened our mate, but she laughed and the sound was a light in the darkness of my prior existence. There was no laughter without her. No joy. No hope.

I looked to Maxim then assessing the dangers of this formal dinner with new insight. Maxim was correct. Every male would want Rachel. Every. Single. One. “You’re right. I don’t think we should leave the suite.”

“We’re going. I’m going to meet Jessica. She’s from Earth and I want to talk to her.” Our mate patted her hair, the complex twist of her hair piled on top of her head outlined her face in a soft cascade of color and left her neck bare, and ready for my mouth.

“I tried to tell you, Ryston.” Maxim walked to our mate and lifted his hand to her cheek. Everything in me stilled at the tender interaction as she leaned into his touch and closed her eyes, her body practically purring with bliss. “Now that the Prime is here. It’s too late to cancel.”

Raising her hand to cup Maxim’s cheek, Rachel smiled. “You’re not canceling anything. We’re going. Now.”

Rachel had prepared herself in the bathing room, hiding until she was ready. We had waited for more than an hour, Maxim settled on the sofa, his body unmoving but his emotions racing around and around inside his head like a beast chasing its own tail. I had spent the hour pacing, door to bed, fighting the urge to strip and climb in the hot water with her when we heard the sounds of her soaping and rinsing her naked body. The way Maxim had adjusted himself in his formal pants led me to believe he’d been thinking the same thing.

I’d spent the better part of the last hour imagining her skin turning a pretty shade of pink, her hair curling softly in the steam, her nipples plumping in the warmth as she bathed.

I knew firsthand the effects of the hot bath on her pale flesh since we’d taken her in the bath twice already.

I couldn’t fuck her pussy, not until Maxim’s seed took, and since her ass wasn’t ready yet to take a cock, I’d had to make do with eating her out as she leaned back against the edge of the bathing pool. It had been far from a burden, especially when I stroked my cock to completion, my seed spurting on her damp belly and breasts, forcing me to wash her all over again.

Rachel sucked in a breath and turned to glare at me, her nipples clearly standing at attention beneath the gown. “You, stop that, right now.”

“You’re irresistible, mate. I can’t stop wanting you.”

Rachel arched her brow as she returned to the bathing room to do whatever mysterious things a woman might do to prepare. I noticed her feet were bare, and realized she had most likely gone back for her shoes.

Maxim watched her go and ran his hand through his hair in a rare outward display of the unease I could feel through the collar. “The Prime is a newly mated warrior. He’ll understand our need to fuck Rachel. Hell, we only have thirty days, no twenty-seven, to sway her to accept us.” He ran his hand through his darker hair again. “We should not have scheduled this dinner until after the claiming ceremony.”

I leaned on the edge of the sofa and crossed my arms. Maxim and I were both ready to go. We had nothing to occupy us now but to wait for our mate. I’d never been so happy to do nothing. “Lady Deston wants to help. She’s from Earth and should help Rachel to feel welcome here. She’s even invited an Earth warrior who lives here, on Base 3. If Rachel can find others who are like her, with similar customs, she may adjust more quickly, find happiness here. We will fight for her and protect her, Maxim, but Rachel is intelligent and passionate about life. Unfortunately, fucking won’t be enough to make her happy here.”

By the look Maxim gave me, he didn’t like my answer, but since he didn’t respond, knew I was right.

Rachel came out of the bathing chamber then and I shamelessly inspected every inch of her. The dress I’d brought when she first arrived had been draped over the chair until today. Now the soft flowing gown only made our possession of her more complete. The cut was perfect for her, showing off her delectable curves, a hint of cleavage, the teasing glimpse of her smooth legs as she walked. The color fell to her ankles. The dark copper was a sign of Maxim’s claim as her primary male, the color representative of the Rone family. Everyone who saw her would know she belonged to us. Even though her collar was still black, a sign she was not fully claimed, the dress would protect her. No one dared to approach a female wearing another warrior’s colors.

At least, that was how things had been on Prillon Prime. Here, with so many unmated males and so few women? I had to hope honor and chivalry would hold the others in check until they could be processed for their own mates.

Hope for a matched mate of their own would likely keep many from approaching her. And yet, her very presence was the reason they had any hope at all.

“You’re both staring.” She glanced down at herself. “Is something wrong? The dress was a little confusing to put on, but it’s not like my hem is stuck in my underwear, since I’m not wearing any.”

She glared at Maxim then and he grinned in reply.

“There is no need for you to cover your pussy. Only your mates will know you’re bare.”

“I’d be bare beneath some panties, too,” she countered.

Maxim went over to her, put his hand on the long length of the dress and started to pull it up. I watched as the smooth line of her pale leg appeared.

“Yes, but then I wouldn’t be able to cup you, like this.” Her eyes fell closed as his hand settled over her. “Or slip my finger into your pussy, like this.”

When he leaned in and murmured in her ear, her eyes fell closed. “Anytime I want.”

She moaned when he slipped his fingers free and allowed the dress to slide back to the floor. Keeping her gaze, Maxim slipped his glistening fingers into his mouth and licked them clean.

I had to press my palm against my cock, the damn thing throbbed knowing she was hot and wet for us. “Fuck, we have to go before we never leave.”

Maxim held out his hand and Rachel took it, although the flush of her cheeks and her blurry gaze made me think she’d rather just stay in our suite as well.