Читать книгу The Colony Boxed Set 1 - Grace Goodwin - Страница 14

Ryston

“Thank you, Governor Rone, for inviting us to dine with you and your new mate. We are honored to be here.” Prime Nial’s voice broke through all the various conversations around the large square table. The table seated forty guests, ten on each side. While there were governors chosen by challenge and combat to rule the various bases on the planet, a square table meant everyone seated was an equal, which was how it was to be on The Colony. Equal respect for all who had served, and sacrificed so much, to protect the citizens of the Coalition planets.

As leader of all Prillons, whether they be on Prillon Prime, stationed on one of the many battleships, or here on The Colony, the Prime would have been seated at the head of the table. But he didn’t seem to mind his even placement with everyone else. His mate, Jessica, sat on his right and his second, Ander, on her right, protecting her between them. As it should be.

Jessica, like Rachel, was a human female from Earth, but that was where their similarities ended. Rachel was small and curvy, with rich brown hair and soft brown eyes. Her skin a soft, smooth cream with just a hint of brown.

Jessica, or Queen Deston, as I was honored to address her, was taller than my mate and golden like me. Her hair was a shining gold that fell past her shoulders and her eyes were blue, like glaciers on Earth, startling above full pink lips and skin so pale I could trace the lines of her veins in her wrists. She was a beauty, to be sure, and both of her mates, Prime Nial and the gigantic warrior he’d chosen as his second, Ander, never left her side. In fact, they rarely took their eyes from their mate, and I understood their obsession.

I could not stop staring at Rachel, at her creamy skin, her soft curves, her expressive eyes. Every emotion I felt from her through the collar turned my head, making me desperate to see her face, to learn the contours of her eyes when she was happy, or angry or aroused.

The last I’d learned well, and couldn’t wait to see on her face once more.

As my cock rose beneath the table, Rachel squirmed in her seat between me and Maxim. With a soft laugh, she hit my thigh under the table. “Stop that. I have to eat.”

Maxim chuckled but didn’t say a word. He didn’t need to. I’d started things, my lusty thoughts of Rachel’s mouth stretched wide over my cock had made her pussy grow wet. I could smell it, and the sweet scent of her arousal did nothing to rein in my thoughts. Apparently, Maxim was all too aware of her body’s reaction, for seconds later, his own lust blasted through the collars.

“You two are such a pain. Seriously.” Rachel leaned forward and lifted her cup half full of Atlan wine to her lips. “Knock it off. I can’t think.”

Three other governors had transported to join the meal, as well as an Earth warrior who lived on Base 3. His name was Captain Brooks. I had run into him a few times since his arrival at The Colony. The warriors from Earth had only recently joined the war with the Hive, and even fewer survived the enemy once captured. Captain Brooks was one of no more than a couple-dozen humans to survive. And despite Earth’s claims of advancement, they had not wanted their Hive-contaminated warriors back any more than Prillon, or Atlan, or any of the other worlds.

We were all lost souls here. Lost, until first Jessica, and now Rachel, had chosen contaminated mates. Accepted us.

Their presence was a beacon for every warrior on the planet.

Rachel had insisted on finding Brooks immediately upon arrival for dinner. She seemed relieved by his presence, as well as by the Queen’s. While I’d left Prillon Prime for battle and never returned because of banishment, I had always been surrounded by my brothers, other Prillon warriors.

Rachel was the only matched mate assigned to The Colony from the Brides Program. There were a few female warriors banished to The Colony because of their Hive integrations, but they had been claimed quickly, mated and settled. Rachel, though, was different. She was from Earth, knew nothing of our ways, of the ways of any of the other planets’ warriors who lived on The Colony. Nor did she know what it was like to be contaminated. She was the only untainted one among us living on The Colony. She was the alien here.

I tried to imagine the courage it would take for her to leap into her new life, and found myself in awe of our lovely bride once more. She laughed and talked and smiled, no matter the oddity or deformity left by the Hive, from strange silver eyes with no color, to completely artificial limbs made of metal, or bald heads coated with neural wiring, she treated all with generosity and respect.

She made me proud and shocked that I was lucky enough to be one of her chosen warriors. I realized earlier, as I watched her reach out and touch a male’s metallic arm without flinching, saw the shocked wonder in the Atlan warrior’s eyes, that she wasn’t mine.

I was hers.

Three days, and she owned me.

Then there was the Earth warrior. I should rip his head from his shoulders for the interest our mate had in him. But it was not lust, but keen interest in seeing a somewhat familiar face, or at least familiar facial features. He’d brought a smile to her pursed lips and eased the tenseness of her shoulders. Maxim or I could have fucked her to soothe her, but her need to find someone similar, with similar customs and backgrounds, would not have been appeased. We were not from Earth.

And so, albeit grudgingly, we let her near Captain Brooks. They spoke of strange things such as burritos and something called a TV with a familiarity I envied.

Prime Nial rose and we all turned to listen as he lifted his glass in a salute. “We wish to hear about our newest—and only—Colony mate.”

A shiver raced over Rachel’s skin and her anxiety at being the center of attention hit me hard, right in the chest.

Beneath the table, I placed my hand on her thigh, a sign that her mates were here with her. Her gaze lifted to mine, then Maxim’s, and finally to Prime Nial. I followed suit, turning to look at the new Prime of our home world. He was average height for a Prillon warrior, but his left eye was completely silver, as was a good portion of the left side of his face. He was clearly contaminated with Hive technology, and I’d heard rumors that much of the left side of his body was silver as well.

He was frightening to look upon, but by some miracle, by the grace and love of the woman seated next to him, he had challenged for leadership of our world and changed things, for all of us.

Rachel licked her lips and I turned to find her gaze had drifted from Prime Nial to his second, Ander. Ander was not contaminated, not by Prillon standards. He did not have Hive implants. But he was huge, even for a Prillon warrior. His face was scarred, a blade clearly having nearly cut his eye from the socket, the deep, wide scar running from mid-forehead, through his brow, along the outside of his eye where the gash continued from cheek to chest.

I wondered how he’d survived. And, perhaps even more miraculously, how such a beauty as Queen Deston could love a silver-eyed contaminate and a scarred monster.

Their combined presence was like a drug to every Colony warrior. The Prime was contaminated far beyond most of the warriors here, myself included. If there was hope for him, and for ugly fucking bastards like Ander, there was hope for all of us.

Prime Nial tilted his head at my mate and raised his brow in an obvious command for her to respond. I squeezed her thigh again and Maxim settled his hand at the base of her neck. We surrounded her with strength and she took a deep breath to answer her new leader, for she was one of us now. I wasn’t going to let her go.

“I am…well, I was…a biochemist. I got my PhD last year and was in charge of research and development at a drug company on Earth called GloboPharma.”

Queen Deston, Jessica, leaned forward, her expression pleased. “You’re a doctor? That’s so cool. What were you working on?”

“Not a medical doctor, but a doctor of science,” Rachel clarified. “I worked in a research lab on a cure for cancer.” Rachel shook her head, her smile sad. “But we killed more people than we helped. The CEO falsified my reports with the FDA to get the drug approved. When it hit the market things went bad, people died, and they hung the whole thing on my head and walked away with a slap on the wrist and some fines.”

I didn’t know what the abbreviations meant but I knew she’d been falsely accused and found guilty.

“That stinks. But why were you in jail? They don’t usually put people away for stuff like that, do they?” Queen Deston took a sip of her dark purple wine and looked at my mate over the rim of the glass. “Or did you volunteer for the Brides Program?”

Rachel looked down at the food on her plate, took a deep breath. “I was convicted of fraud, conspiracy, forgery, lying under oath, and facing so many civil lawsuits I’d never get out from under them.”

Prime Nial’s dark brows winged up. “How many innocents died?”

“At least four hundred.” Shame, dark and ugly wormed its way into Rachel’s heart at the confession and I longed to take her into my arms almost as much as I wanted to punch Prime Nial in the face for upsetting her.

“Four hundred dead. That is, indeed, a serious accusation.”

Queen Deston jumped to Rachel’s defense. “But she didn’t do it.” The woman lifted her glass to my mate in a gesture of solidarity and respect. “I totally believe you.”

Rachel’s cheeks turned an interesting shade of pink. “Thank you.”

“And it’s not all bad. You ended up here, the sweet cream filling between two hard Prillon Oreos.”

Rachel nearly choked on her wine. Captain Brooks coughed, loudly, and I suspected he hid his own laughter behind the gesture when Rachel’s cheeks went from pink to bright red. I didn’t know what an Oreo was, but it was blatant Earth innuendo, I was sure. Queen Deston’s laughter rang out around the room as her second, her monster of a warrior, Ander, scowled at her. “Behave yourself, mate.”

But Queen Deston simply laughed harder and lifted her hand to his cheek, placing a quick kiss on his lips that effectively silenced his protests.

I understood his dazed but resigned look well.

When Rachel touched me with such tenderness, I could deny her nothing. That did not mean I would not discover what an Oreo was once we were alone in our suite.

Maxim cleared his throat and the laughter faded. “I do not care about her past. She is my matched mate. I have chosen Captain Ryston Rayall as my second. And we are here to celebrate the arrival of a new era on The Colony.”

Prime Nial nodded. “How many of your warriors have submitted to the Brides Program testing?”

“Doctor Surnen?” Maxim turned to the Base 3 doctor and Rachel’s anxiety at being on display, at being watched by so many strangers, morphed to a quiet, simmering hatred.

So, my mate had not yet forgiven us the mistake of taking her to the examination room upon her arrival. I rubbed her leg gently, renewing my determination to fuck that anger out of her later.

The doctor cleared his throat. “Prior to Lady Rone’s arrival, less than ten percent of Base 3’s warriors had submitted to the testing. But since then, the testing rates have tripled. Every warrior on Base 3 will be processed in the next six weeks.”

Prime Nial nodded and addressed Governor Bryck of Base 2. “And your warriors, Bryck?”

The large man nodded with a grin. “I confess, I myself have not yet been tested. However,” he paused, glancing from Queen Deston to Rachel with a look close to hunger in his eyes, “I will correct that immediately once I return.”

“Excellent news.” Prime Nial congratulated us as cheers went up around the table. “The gods blessed you, Governor Rone. Ryston.”

“Indeed.” I could not help but agree as I looked at my beautiful mate.

Rachel

I met Jessica’s mischievous gaze across the table and nearly burst out laughing.

The cream filling in the middle of a Prillon Oreo?

Really?

Of course, she would know. And her mates were even bigger than mine. The Prime was scary, with his strange silver eye. But the other one just looked mean. The scar that ran down the side of his face gave me a shiver as I wondered what it would be like to be bossed around by him in bed.

Hot. That’s what. Really fucking hot. Not that I had any complaints. My mates kept me well occupied, and they hadn’t even taken me together, not yet. I’d heard that Jessica let her mates claim her on a live broadcast to billions of people, after some kind of gladiator-style battle, in the middle of a freaking arena. With thousands of real people watching, in person, cheering her on.

Sex as a spectator sport. The woman had balls of steel. Seriously.

Holy crap. Jessica was awesome, like a sister already, and the queen of an entire freaking planet. Captain Brooks was a Chicago Cubs fan, loved crime thrillers and super-hero movies, and swore he could make the best apple pie on The Colony, thanks to his favorite grandmother’s secret family recipe.

Here I was, sitting between two alien warriors, eating with a table full of aliens from at least five different worlds, and it felt like home.

God, life was weird. And unpredictable. And sometimes, totally amazing. Three days here and I already knew I couldn’t go back to the life I had before.

Some die-hard rebel I’d turned out to be. Blow my mind with a couple of aggressive lovers with huge cocks, make me scream from a few orgasms, make me feel beautiful and cherished and wanted…long story short—I was a goner. Suddenly, all the political bullshit on Earth didn’t matter quite as much.

But still. People had died. And they’d covered it up so they could pull the same crap again.

Unless I stopped them. Somehow. From halfway across the universe. I knew I was on a different planet, but it suddenly struck me that I had absolutely no idea where I was relative to anything else. Earth. The sun. Everyone and everything I’d known my entire life.

All I’d cared about for the last three days was hot, bend-me-over-and-make-me-yours sex. Being with Maxim and Ryston was so good, so consuming, that I’d completely lost myself in them, in their emotions and their physical dominance. In the pleasure I found between them. I’d always prided myself on being a smart, educated, independent woman. But they made me feel like—more. And less. And my brain was having a serious argument with my heart about the whole damn mess.

Guilt assailed me and I took another sip of the wine they’d transported in from a planet called Atlan. It was quite good, but not strong enough to wipe away my desire to make sure GloboPharma’s CEO couldn’t hurt more people back home.

I would have to find a way to contact my attorney, John, and make sure something was done. I might be on another planet, but that didn’t mean I had to let it go.

I lifted my gaze to discover Jessica’s huge second mate, a warrior named Ander, watching me closely. “Like my mate, you were innocent of your crime?”

I was rather proud of myself for not fidgeting under his scrutiny. “Yes.”

“Just as our Jessica was innocent. It seems your Earth judicial system is somewhat defective.”

Jessica leaned over and rested her head on his shoulder as if it were the most natural thing in the world. Ander responded immediately, wrapping his arm around her and rubbing her back in a gentle gesture completely at odds with his massive size and frightening face.

“Yes, it is. I followed the letter of the law. When I learned the truth of the crimes, about all the people being hurt or dying, I shared it.”

“People don’t want the truth, Rachel. We are the truth, the truth about Earth’s new enemy, and yet they hide us here,” Captain Brooks’ voice was resigned and filled with bitterness. “I can’t go home, any more than you can.”

All eyes turned to him.

“No longer,” Prime Nial raised his voice to make sure it would carry to the far corners of the room. Yet there was no need. The captain’s words created a vacuum of sound, as if none dared speak the words themselves, but waited to hear the Prime’s response. “My mate has been quite insistent, telling everyone who will listen of your bravery, veteran. Prillon laws are not Earth’s laws. You are free to leave, to return to your home planet where you will be lauded for your service.”

The captain glanced at Lady Jessica. “You’re from Earth. From the United States. Do you think I’d be lauded for my bravery looking like this?”

The captain rose from his seat and lifted his armor off over his head. None moved to stop him and I stared, shocked at the sight of his bare chest. More than half of his torso was covered in the strange silver circuitry that was identical to what covered Ryston’s temple. The lower half of his left arm was completely silver, so much so that I wondered how I had not noticed the dark glove he wore earlier, when he’d shaken my hand. I’d been so happy to have someone from home to talk to, that I hadn’t paid it any attention. His right arm, from the elbow down, looked like a robotic attachment, with not an ounce of human skin in sight. Odd black markings, like veins, streaked in bizarre patterns within his remaining human flesh, starting at the edge of the implants where man met machine. He was like Inspector Gadget meets the Terminator.

“There is more. On my back, down my left leg.” He bowed at the waist, first to Jessica, then to me. “Lauded, ladies? Or feared? I thank you for the pretty dreams, Prime Nial, but Earth is not so advanced as you might believe.” He held Jessica’s gaze, demanding an answer. “Well? This is our reality now, my lady. There is no going home. Not for any of us.”

Jessica stood and every eye in the room followed the movement. “I was a soldier on Earth. I spent eight years in active duty military, in the Army. My mate, the Prime of your world, carries the marks of his time with the Hive. I love him. The silver in his eye, the marks on his flesh, mean nothing to me. He is mine. Lady Rone is the first bride matched to The Colony, and from the way she looks at her mates, I do not doubt she feels the same way about her warriors. Go through the testing, gentlemen. Have a little faith. If you don’t believe you can return home, to a normal life, then make a new life here with your matched mate. A new normal. Live. Don’t allow fear to stop you. The Brides Program will not send you a mate who can’t love you for who and what you are. Rachel? Am I wrong?”

The silence lingered and Jessica turned to me. Both of my mates watched me with rapt attention and I knew they, too, awaited my answer.