Argen's Mate Read online

  He reached across the table, offering his hand to me. I looked at his hand then looked into his eyes, taking my hand off my lap and placing it in his.

  “Zoe, stay with me tonight,” he said so only I could hear. “If you’re not ready to commit, share sex with me?”

  While the Uatu made the distinction, we didn’t. Scarlet had told us what that meant. Sharing sex either indicated they used a condom or they pulled out before they came inside a woman. They would only risk pregnancy with their bonded lifemate. Of course, we all had gotten implants on Halor, so we didn’t have to worry about pregnancy. But that wasn’t even the point.

  Just the thought of Argen on top of me and inside me was nearly orgasmic. All of the reasons I was trying to take things slow and get to know him better escaped me as I saw the longing need in his eyes. He wasn’t just asking for sex, he wanted my heart as well. I can’t even say how I knew that I just did.

  I already knew what I wanted. I wanted Argen and only him.

  “Why, don’t you come stay with me? Staff cabins are a little nicer.”

  I was almost sure I wanted him as my life mate, but not quite ready to make that commitment so quickly. Although I felt in my heart that Argen was different, I’d made mistakes with men before.

  I ate a little more from my plate even though I wasn’t all that hungry anymore. First meal had been hours before, and I completely missed the second meal. Normally, I would have eaten it all had my appetite for food not deserted me.

  I finished quickly, got up to take my tray to the return window, and walked out of the mess hall with Argen’s hand at the small of my back.

  Like all of the Uatu warriors, Argen was big. I am 5’7,” and the top of my head was even with his shoulder. He’d lost some of his bulk during his ordeal, but his musculature was still sculpted and impressive. The guy was sexy hotness from head to toe, and I wanted him.

  I also had affection for him and wanted to soothe the pain that sometimes flickered in his aquamarine eyes. Maybe I couldn’t take it away, but perhaps I could make him forget it for a while.

  When we got to my cabin, I took his hand and led him into the bedroom and turned to face him beside the bed. I commanded the lights to low and took his other hand looking up at him.

  “Argen, I really want you. Can we just share sex for now? There are supplies in the dispenser.” I felt suddenly self-conscious, and I don’t know why I should. For whatever reason, I needed that control over what was happening between us.

  “That will do for a start, solmatu,” he said softly and drew me against him for a kiss.

  He held my face in his hands and looked into my eyes for a long moment before kissing my forehead, then my nose, and each cheek before his lips settled on mine. I leaned into him squeezing my breasts against his hard chest and my belly against his erection, wrapping my arms around him.

  Argen put one arm around me and cradled the back of my head in his hand. As soon as I felt his tongue against my lips, I opened for him and welcomed him inside, swirling my tongue around his. I brazenly raised on my toes to press my mons against his hard cock with our clothes between. His hand slid down to my ass, and he pushed me tighter against his cock.

  We both moaned at the delightful sensations that raced through our bodies. Argen seemed in no hurry to proceed, content to savor our kiss and tease me with our clothes between us. But that was enough to bring on my first orgasm.

  When he chuckled as he felt me shaking against him, I knew he had done it on purpose and that he was just getting started. His lips were back on mine momentarily as I shuddered and made little mewing sounds in my throat with each contraction.

  Eventually, his fingers went to the fastenings of my uniform top and started pulling them apart like Velcro. When he’d fully opened it, he pushed it off my shoulders and let it fall to the floor. I stood looking up at him with my shoulders back, presenting my breasts for his appreciation. He couldn’t resist tweaking my erect nipples with his thumbs, sending erotic jolts to my clit.

  Watching my face, he pinched them between his thumbs and forefingers eliciting delicious sensations between my thighs. I closed my eyes and made a humming sound of pleasure. Then he cupped my breasts that were just the right size for his hands to squeeze and massage them. It. Felt. So. Good.

  Just being in the same room with Argen was pretty sweet. After savoring the feel of his hands on me for a moment, I opened my eyes, and he was watching my face. I smiled at him affectionately, then reached for the opening of his shirt which had the same kind of closures as mine.

  Only I didn’t stop with his shirt. I opened his trousers as well, freeing that long, thick cock I had only felt before. Just looking at it made my mouth water. I pushed off his shirt and let it fall then pushed down his trousers and stroked his cock with my hands eliciting an approving groan from him. I started to go down on my knees to pleasure his cock with my mouth, but he gripped my arms and stopped me.

  “Not until you’re mine,” he said softly. But I could see by his longing expression it was hard for him to resist. I knew how he felt even though I had made the rules.

  I nodded a bit ruefully and put my arms around his shoulders and neck hugging him with my breasts pressed against his bare chest. The low growl he made in his throat told me he liked that. His arms came around me and squeezed me just a little tighter against him. Turning up my face to look at him, I parted my lips inviting his kiss.

  His mouth settled onto mine for another long, passionate kiss.

  Chapter Five

  Argen

  I so wanted to feel her mouth on my cock, but I was too aroused to be sure I would not spill my seed into her mouth. My honor demanded that I respect her wishes not to be claimed yet. There was no need to resort to trickery to get her to commit to me. The warm glow in her eyes told me she felt affection for me, and her musk told me that she wanted me as much as I wanted her.

  As I kissed her, I unfastened her pants while toeing off my shoes. Pushing them down, I cupped her mons and dipped a finger into her wetness. Zoey bucked as it grazed her clit, backing up to toe off her boots and step out of her pants. I stepped out of my trousers and paused to admire her luscious body.

  She was toned with full rounded breasts and curved hips and buttocks with a soft belly. To me, she was just perfect, and I was so hard for her. I rested my hand on her shoulder and gestured to the bed, and she got in without turning it down. Before getting into the bed, I reached into a compartment in the wall to check for a microfilm condom.

  Ultrathin, they were guaranteed not to hinder sexual pleasure. I saw there were several, so I laid on the bed beside her and took her back into my arms relishing the warmth of her skin against mine. We kissed and stroked each other for a time before I moved lower on her body to pleasure her beautiful breasts.

  Zoe moaned and stroked my head while I sucked on her nipple and plucked at the other with my fingers. I slid my other hand down over her belly and into her soft wet folds, and she let out a long “ah” as I stroked her clit with my thumb and slid two fingers inside her. I continued to massage her intimately and gently rolled her on her back to get my mouth on her other nipple. She caressed my head and back, arching to my touch, and let out soft little sighs and coos of pleasure.

  I sucked it hard eliciting a delighted whimper as she squirmed against my hand until she came with a series of moans and ah’s. I thoroughly enjoyed the way she gave herself into it, gripping my upper arm and pressing her fingers into my flesh. I loved that I could give her release and that she let me.

  Then she pulled her hips away when she’d had enough, and I let her, taking that moment to reach for the condom. While I wasn’t claiming her physically, I had already claimed her emotionally. Zoe was my woman. She would always be.

  She watched as I placed it on the tip of my cock and it unrolled itself, covering my length and essentially disappearing.

  “Wow, I heard about them, but I never saw one. Now, I can’t even see it.”

&nbs
p; “You won’t even know it’s there.”

  “Will you?”

  “No, not until we finish. Are you ready for me?”

  “Oh, yeah!” she said.

  We both shifted. I knelt between her thighs and put my hands down on each side of her. She opened her legs wide, and I slid into her lowering my body against her.

  “Oh, you feel so good,” she murmured into my ear as she wrapped her arms around me. “Argen…” she added tenderly and hugged me to her while hugging my cock with her inner walls.

  She felt so exquisite.

  I kissed her and took her mouth with my tongue while I staked my claim on her pussy. She was mine and claiming her was just a formality. Soon I was pumping in and out of her---easy at first then harder and harder until I was pounding into her and she tilted her hips up to meet my thrusts.

  She made little sounds of pleasure each time I plunged into her, pressing her hands against the small of my back where the pressure of release began to coil. Her hard nipples rubbed up and down under my chest. I could feel her muscles tensing as I plunged into her again and again. Each thrust took me closer and closer, and I was taking her with me.

  Then she started clamping down on me inside her as she came again and took me over the edge with her. We both cried out inarticulately in our mutual release, throbbing and contracting alternately.

  “Ah Zoey, that was so good,” I told her when I started to catch my breath. I held myself off her on my forearms so she could breathe easier.

  She smiled up at me and caressed my face lovingly. “Yes, it was. You were, Argen, my sweet man.”

  “Solmatu,” I whispered and kissed her lightly. She was so precious to me I knew I could never let her go. From the way she was looking at me, I was pretty sure I wouldn’t be.

  I lingered joined to her as long as I could. As I filled her, she filled me with her warmth and affection. I had felt broken for a long time, first as a slave then as a prisoner beating other prisoners to assuage my rage at what my life had become.

  Now I felt like I was home, and Zoey had driven back my demons.

  I finally had to leave her body and use the bathroom. My sweet love had fallen asleep by the time I came back. I only felt a little remorse for using her so hard because she was all into it.

  Pulling the cover sheet from under her, I covered her and slid into bed, cuddling her against me spoon fashion. I already wanted her again, but I knew she was tired from working as well as our lovemaking. Surprisingly, I drifted to sleep with no trouble as well---probably because Zoey was wrapped in my arms.

  Sometime later, she woke me with kisses. I was dreaming that we were kissing passionately with her pressed against me. Then I awoke and found it was not a dream at all. I was hard for her almost instantly, and the heady scent of her musk drifted into my nostrils.

  I knew I had to taste her and see that beautiful flower of her sex. But first I needed to suck on those tight, hard nipples until she was moaning with need and worked my way down from there, tasting her salty skin and kissing her while she squirmed and panted. Finally, I reached her mons and parted her dark curls.

  Her folds were glistening with her juices, and I blew on her swollen clit, eliciting a little gasp from her. Then I licked her slit up its length and over her clit alternately laving and sucking it. As I felt her body tense as I drew her nearer to the summit of her release, I slid my tongue into her opening. Oh, but her scent was so exquisite, and it filled my senses.

  I meant to hold back when I knew she was almost there. Hearing her soft cries of need as I teased her made me relent. I lapped up her juices and put my mouth over her clit alternately massaging it with my tongue and sucking. At the same time. I slid two fingers inside her massaging her G-spot. In seconds she was screaming and bucking with her inner walls clenching my fingers.

  It was a heady feeling that I could give her that kind of pleasure. I was even harder than when I started.

  “Oh, Argen,” she gasped, “you are so deliciously naughty. I have never been so hot in my life---and I still want you.”

  I wiped her juices off my face on the sheet and crawled up on top of her with my cock laying against her pussy. Lowering my weight against her, I pressed it against her clit making her come some more.

  I started to reach for another condom because I really needed to take her again. Only she stopped me, grabbing my hand and bringing it to her lips.

  “I want you to claim me,” she whispered. “I want to be yours, and I want you to be mine. I can feel solmatu in your arms---even when I am walking beside you.”

  “Yes, my mate,” I murmured, filled with elation. Barely a second later, I was inside her, enveloped in her warmth.

  Zoe wrapped her legs around me, taking me as deep as possible, and cooed her pleasure. By then my need was so great I pounded her fast and hard. She put her feet back on the bed so she could rise to meet me thrust for thrust, enthusiastically as I was banging her.

  This time she didn’t close her eyes as I was pounding into her. She stared into mine with such passion and regard, it almost felt like our souls were melding. Mine! Mine! Mine! It was a litany in my mind… and then I came hard, so hard, I yelled, “Mine!” as I poured my seed into her and gave her release as well.

  “Mine,” she cried, “You are mine, and I am yours.”

  “You are mine, and I am yours,” I uttered between gasps, “as long as I draw breath.”

  “As long as I draw breath,” she repeated, holding my gaze as we both panted from our energetic mating.

  “Solmatu!” we both said it at the same time and laughed together.

  The joy I felt in my heart at that moment was so intense, I will remember it for the rest of my life. That’s when I felt the pain and rage of the last two years fading into the background. It was over.

  Chapter Six

  Zoe

  The rendezvous with Dreadnaught One happened in the middle of the next day and seemed almost anticlimactic after the night I shared with Argen. I think I was still high on endorphins from making love for hours the night before. Those happy hormones and the potent tea we had before getting on the shuttle were probably what was keeping me from feeling exhausted.

  It’s funny how I’d come to think of Dreadnaught One as home. Unlike the Kurellis it was much more utilitarian. It wasn’t as large as the Kurellis which could comfortably carry ten thousand people---even more if they doubled up in their cabins. The dreadnaughts were heavily armed battleships with the capacity for about one hundred fifty people. We had about a hundred ground soldiers and a ship’s crew of about fifty.

  Even though it was smaller than the Sargan battlecruisers, it was more maneuverable and more heavily armed than the battlecruisers. It also had stronger shields

  I never thought I would be happy to see the gray walls and corridors of Dread One, but I was glad to be back. Argen and I walked off the shuttle together. I carried a small duffle over my shoulder while he had only what he was wearing. We paused off to the side while he looked around the landing bay like a man who hadn’t been home in a long time. I could see he was feeling a bit emotional about being back.

  After a moment, I touched his arm and said, “We should stop at the storeroom and get you a proper uniform and boots.”

  He looked down at me and nodded after a moment, and we started walking again, passing through the cargo bay and then to the storeroom. The service bot at the storeroom counter scanned Argen and disappeared among the rows of shelving while we waited. A couple minutes later it returned with a duffle like mine containing everything he needed.

  The Dreadnaught had four residential levels which were protected in the middle of the ship, Then, there was the bridge level that controlled the ship and contained conference rooms a mess hall and a training room. Sickbay was off the same corridor past the storeroom with a direct route off the landing bay for emergency access. That was our next stop.

  Physically, Argen was doing well after a few days rest and decent food, but a
s we boarded Dread One from the shuttle, I suspected he was struggling emotionally. He was pretty good at hiding it from everyone else, but I could see traces of his captivity haunting him flickering in his eyes.

  My friend Nora worked in the clinic frequently, but she was just getting back with us, so Argen was assessed by the AI medic which did a complete body scan and function evaluation within minutes. Argen had numerous healed injuries, a vitamin deficiency, and a brain hormone imbalance. The AI used a different diagnosis term, but it was synonymous with post-traumatic stress syndrome.

  It injected him with nanites, vitamins and a biochip that would cure Argen’s PTSD. The AI also postponed his return to duty for ten days to give it time to work. It would be months before we reached Nadoo.

  Although I wasn’t an officer, I had been assigned an officer’s cabin on Level Two of the residential area because there were no others available. Now it would also have an officer in it.

  Since we had declared solmatu, I had a few days off duty now that I was back on Dread One. But at that point, I wasn’t sure whether Argen wanted to spend some time alone or alone together.

  We went into the bedroom to put our things away. I was already using the tiny closet and drawers on the left side of the sleeping alcove, so Argen stowed his clothes in the one on the right. It didn’t take very long since I had three outfits and he had two.

  At that point, I wasn’t sure what to do or say. I knew it bothered Argen that I had seen him lose his mask of strength those first few moments after we left the shuttle. Even an alpha male has his limits. The prolonged and repeated torture he had suffered would make even the strongest man doubt himself.

  I wanted more than anything to take that pain from him, but I knew it would take more than me to do that. But then I saw a familiar spark in his eyes, and a darker passion than before. I might have been frightened by it in my old life, only I was anything but scared.