Bonded Read online

  Neichon held a hand up, and Valeron fell silent.

  “On one condition, Inara,” Neichon continued.

  Her stomach dropped. How had she, even for a second, expected otherwise?

  “Of course there’s a condition,” she said bitterly.

  “Never fear, Inara,” he said softly. “It is not such a terrible request.”

  When his hand reached out to stroke her cheek, she surprised herself by leaning into it. His touch was electrifying, the contact of his bare flesh against hers sparking tremors of heat and desire down her body. Right to her very core.

  Inara didn’t know what made Spygians classify someone as their mate, but if it was attraction, then maybe they had something here.

  Yes, I’d like to know what it’s like to be with a Spygian. Even better, more than one.

  She blinked at the stray thought, surprise coursing through her veins. Why would she even be considering such a thing at a time like this? Her only concern should be escaping the Malucons.

  Still, she couldn’t help but wonder, if she had a chance of making love with these men, without creating any permanent sort of bond…would she take it?

  She had a feeling she would.

  “What is your condition, Spygian?” she all but whispered.

  Neichon’s burning golden gaze flickered down to her lips. “All I ask is that you hear our plea that you become our mate. If afterward you choose not to stay, you are welcome to take one of the jets and leave.”

  She considered his words, her eyes narrowing. “I only have to hear you out?”

  “Yes.”

  “And if I say no, you’ll let me take your jet, and keep it?”

  Neichon nodded, his long, silky hair dancing around his heavy pectorals. Gods, but she wanted to touch it. Touch every inch of him. The man made her horny as hell.

  Inara’s eyes traveled to Valeron. He appeared distinctly unhappy at the bargain Neichon was striking, but he didn’t say anything. He wouldn’t, she realized. Neichon was the leader. His word was law.

  “You have yourself a bargain, Neichon.”

  Neichon’s lips curved into a satisfied smile. Stepping back, he lifted his hand and pushed the transmitter button on his arm cuff to create an auditory connection to his ship.

  Nothing happened.

  He frowned and touched the button again. “Central Command, this is Neichon. Can you hear me?”

  Again, nothing.

  Inara let out a deep sigh and tapped her foot. Patience had never been one of her strong suits.

  His frown deepening, Neichon tried again before turning to Valeron.

  “I’ll try.” Valeron edged closer toward the two of them, the muscles in his honey-toned abs rippling as he walked. Inara did her best not to stare. Or drool.

  Pressing the button on his arm cuff, Valeron said, “Central Command, this is Valeron. Can you hear me?”

  There was nothing, not even static to indicate his message was getting across.

  Inara bit back an irritable growl. As soon as she’d found an alternate way off this planet, forces conspired to keep her here. Figured.

  “I’ll tell you what, Spygians. While you two try to make contact with your ship, I’ll see if I can spot the Malucon shuttle.”

  Turning her back on the two men, she strode to a nearby tree and began to scale it, using the thick branches to get her footing, as well as to provide cover. With any luck, the Malucon shuttle would be a fair distance away, giving her enough time to get back to her own jet.

  When would she finally learn her lesson? The only person she could count on was herself.

  * * * * *

  While Neichon once again attempted to contact their ship, Valeron watched their mate’s swift and agile ascent up the tree.

  “By severn, she is most definitely not what I expected in our mate.”

  Neichon paused and turned to watch Inara. Her lush, round ass swayed as she took the next step up, disappearing beneath the thick leaves of the tree.

  “No,” Neichon said, his voice hoarse. “She’s better.”

  Valeron couldn’t agree more. The woman was tough. Brash. Irresistible.

  Once she was no longer in sight, Valeron turned to his pod leader and arched a brow. “Why didn’t you inform her there are two other members of our pod?”

  Neichon shook his head. “You saw how she reacted to the thought of the two of us. I didn’t want to frighten her away.”

  Valeron considered those words. Neichon was right. He hated to lie to their mate, but he couldn’t think of it in those terms. It was really more giving her time to get to know them before they bogged her down with further revelations.

  After attempting one more time to contact the ship and failing, Neichon sighed. “It’s not working, and nothing happens when I attempt to activate the transporter. There must be an issue with our signal.”

  “Which means we are stuck on this forsaken planet,” Valeron muttered.

  “For the foreseeable future.” Neichon scowled and trotted over to the tree their mate had climbed, glancing up into the leaves. “If only we’d thought bring along weapons.”

  “Why would we? We thought we’d be transporting here, picking her up and bringing her back to the ship without the Malucons being any the wiser about it,” Valeron pointed out.

  “True.” Neichon glanced back at Valeron. “Hopefully Reyu or Petros will soon realize the signal isn’t working and get it fixed.”

  “But it could take days, considering they knew we were transporting to this wasteland to search for our mate,” Valeron said, voicing his worst fears. “Truly, it’s a miracle we found her so quickly. They would expect it to take more time.”

  When Neichon nodded in confirmation, Valeron let out a groan. “This is torture.”

  Even if Inara decided to become their mate, they could not complete the mating ritual without the other members of their pod.

  Inara’s gorgeous ass once again appeared as she began her descent. Valeron strode to Neichon’s side and whispered, “We need a backup plan, in case our cuffs do not become operable within an acceptable time frame.”

  “Yes, brother, I so realize,” Neichon said.

  Inara’s booted feet came down on a heavy branch that hung ten or so feet from the ground. Displaying how limber she was, she bent and grasped the branch with both hands, then swung her legs down and landed beside them with a soft plop.

  Wiping her hands on her breeches, she said, “No sign of the Malucons. Hopefully they’re far from here.”

  Despite the gravity of their situation, Valeron could not help but rake his hungry gaze over their mate. She was truly beautiful with her wildness and self-assurance. And oh, those gorgeous, large breasts. How he longed to close his mouth around them, suckle them one at a time.

  His rod, already semi-erect from her mere presence, rose to full attention. Given the customary Spygian loincloth he wore, it was impossible for her not to notice. She glanced down at him, and her lips twisted.

  “You Spygian boys sure have a one-track mind, don’t you?”

  “I’m afraid we cannot get our transmitter to work,” Neichon said.

  She grimaced. “So that means no transporting, huh?”

  Neichon shook his head gravely. “It appears we’ll have to accompany you to your spacejet after all. Perhaps among the three of us, we can get it back in working order.”

  That wasn’t the most comforting of plans, but unless their transmitter issues were resolved, Valeron supposed it would have to do.

  Inara placed her hands on her hips, a habit Valeron had noticed. “So now you boys want a ride on my jet?”

  “I’m afraid so,” Neichon responded.

  She gave a beleaguered sigh. “Well, it’ll be a tight fit.”

  No doubt. Spacejets were generally built for two. But they could manage it, for a short distance at least.

  “Okay.” Inara directed her gaze toward the distance. “We’d better get started then. We’re still quite a w
ay off, and darkness is quickly approaching.”

  With those words, she took off across the forest, leaving Valeron and Neichon to stare after her in frank appreciation, until Neichon finally shook his head and came to his senses.

  “Come, brother.” Neichon started down the path after Inara. “We’d best not keep our mate waiting.”

  Chapter Three

  By the time Inara and the two Spygian hunks decided to stop and camp for the night, it was already close to dark, and her libido was on full blast. Simply standing beside them turned her on as never before. Their big, muscular bodies exuded sex appeal. No doubt it was due to the fact that Spygians were a species who derived their strength from sex. Biologically speaking, they would need some physical tool to draw a potential mate to them.

  Biology or not, they were hot. If they had wanted nothing more than a temporary fling, she would have been all over it. But they’d made their position clear—they sought something more than sex. They wanted a mate.

  As in forever.

  That wouldn’t work for her.

  “This looks like a good spot to camp.” Neichon marched over to a copse of tall bushes and pushed some of the leaves aside to reveal a tiny clearing of grass. It looked soft and was almost completely hidden by the bushes.

  Inara nodded in approval. “Good eye.”

  “It should provide enough shelter,” Valeron said.

  “We’ll need a small fire,” Neichon said. “I’ve heard the nights can get chilly on this planet.”

  She eyed the spot he’d found. Though it provided plenty of safety, after they built a fire in the clearing there would barely be enough room for the three of them.

  “No doubt you’re all torn up over the fact that we’ll have to sleep cuddled up together,” she commented dryly.

  Neichon shrugged. “That would have been the case at any rate. Given that none of us have any provisions for camping, we might freeze otherwise.”

  Valid point.

  “I’ll go gather enough firewood for the night.” With those words, Valeron turned and stalked away. Unable to help it, Inara watched him go. The curves of the Spygian’s perfect ass were visible through the thin fabric of his loincloth and the powerful muscles of his back and calves flexed with every step.

  Yu-um.

  Inara turned back to see Neichon watching her, a little smile on his lips.

  Oh damn.

  After clearing her throat to hide her discomfort at being caught staring, Inara said, “Perhaps you Spygians should consider wearing more clothing. You’d be less apt to freeze that way.”

  He gave a nonchalant shrug. “The loincloth is customary among my people. It’s what we are used to wearing.”

  She couldn’t very well argue with that.

  Inara pushed past the bushes, stepping into the little clearing, and sat on the ground. As she expected, Neichon followed her, sitting down right beside her.

  “So tell me, Inara, how did you survive your planet’s decimation? What brought you to this part of the universe?”

  Ah, the question she’d known would eventually come. The entire time they’d traveled together, she’d debated how she would answer this. She’d decided she couldn’t tell them everything about her past. She wouldn’t divulge who her family had been, not when she’d promised her uncle she would never tell another soul. He might be gone but she would still respect his wishes.

  “I escaped.” Dragging her knees up, she wrapped her arms around them. “My cousin and I.”

  He tilted his head to look at her, and a long lock of silky hair fell over his shoulder. “How?”

  “We had a…a friend.” More like one of her uncle’s guards, though she wasn’t about to admit that. “He sneaked the three of us on board a Malucon ship. We stowed away for several weeks, surviving off the cheese and cured meats we’d brought with us. We slipped off the ship undetected when the Malucons stopped at a port on their way home.”

  Neichon’s eyes widened. “You avoided being massacred by stowing away on a ship belonging to the very people who decimated your race?”

  She gave him a shaky nod. When he put it that way, it sounded crazy. Perhaps it was, but it had been the only way her uncle could think of to get her and her cousin safely out.

  He let out a sharp whistle. “That takes a strong force of will, little one.”

  “It was horrible,” she confessed. “Beyond terrifying. But we made it.”

  As if he sensed her horror at reliving the memory, his hand closed over hers, fingers perilously close to her thighs. To her surprise, his touch was enough to make the emotions surrounding those horrible weeks fade away.

  “How did the Malucons learn you still lived?” Neichon asked.

  By a horrendously bad stroke of luck.

  “Someone spotted us as we attempted to slink away and yelled out a greeting to the ‘Chiveans’. Several of the Malucons from the ship heard it and saw us.”

  His brow furrowing, Neichon squeezed her fingers. “What happened then?”

  “We fled through the streets, all the while knowing they would eventually catch up to us. Our friend, Bale, spotted a single-flyer spacejet and ordered my cousin into it. Told her to flee to some other planet.” How frightened Cindra must have been. Due to her status back in Chivea, she’d hardly ever been alone. To have to fly away, leaving behind the only people of her kind who remained living…to this day, Inara didn’t know where Cindra had found the strength.

  “What of you?” Neichon asked softly.

  “Bale distracted the Malucons while I continued running.” He’d given his life for her. “Eventually I found a sheikh who agreed to take me in.”

  As his mistress. She’d been too desperate to refuse, though to her surprise she’d found she liked the man. But they’d only had a few short weeks together before the Malucons had gotten him. She’d narrowly escaped the same fate, and had been forced on the run again.

  Neichon tugged her hand into his, entangling their fingers. “I’m sorry for what you’ve gone through, Inara. I would not wish such a thing on anyone.”

  Her palm tingled where it met with his, sending currents of arousal through her body. Suddenly the ghosts of her past were the last thing on her mind. With his luscious gold eyes staring down at her and his full lips forming a pout, not to mention the barely there clothing he wore, the only thing she wanted was to be with this man.

  And who could blame her? It had been months since she’d had a man, and never one so fine as this one. The past year-and-a-half had been consumed with fleeing the Malucons and searching for Cindra, with only a few moments of stolen pleasure in between.

  Her breasts heavy with desire, Inara gave in to her impulses. She leaned toward Neichon and tugged his head down, dragging his lips to hers. He gave a little grunt that hinted at his surprise, but didn’t waste any time in tugging her to him, lifting her so she could straddle him. His tongue ran along the seam of her mouth, then slid between her lips, stroking her with sensual abandon.

  Heart hammering in her throat, she pressed her hungry body to him. Her pussy quivered with awoken desire, reminding her that she too was a sexual being. Maybe not one who thrived on sex as the Spygians did, but it had always been something she’d very much enjoyed.

  Neichon’s hands left her hips, lifting to cup her breasts over the thin fabric of her tank top. She arched into his hands, her nipples pebbling into hard little buds.

  “Yes, that feels so good,” she gasped, grateful for once that she didn’t have a bra. Right now, less fabric to get in the way seemed very good.

  Neichon made a sound in his throat and moved one hand to tug down the low-cut fabric, baring her breast. He reared his head back to examine the rosy tip, then let out a loud groan. “Gorgeous.”

  She grinned, pleased that he found her as enticing as she found him.

  When his mouth lowered to her breast, his tongue laving the stiff bud, she let out a soft cry. Heavens, that felt amazing. Just one stroke of his tongue had he
r on the verge of coming.

  Her pussy twinged with desire, aching for him. The stiff rod she felt pressed against her belly told her he felt the same.

  She couldn’t take it anymore. She had to touch him. Feel the silky softness of his bare flesh against her palm.

  Her hand snaked down between their bodies, brushing across the muscular plane of his stomach. Past the cool, thin barrier of his loincloth. He gasped when her fingers closed around him, the heated flesh of his thick erection practically singeing her flesh.

  “Oh my,” she practically purred. He was so big. So thick. Another trait of the Spygians, as she remembered one of her uncle’s maids once whispering to another when she’d thought Inara was out of earshot.

  Heavens, but the horrendous chase she’d had to endure over the past few days was almost worth it, to claim this as her reward.

  “I want you, Spygian,” she whispered.

  Neichon groaned, pushing up into her palm, and she moved her other hand down, cupping his testicles while she began to stroke his hard length.

  “So good,” he gasped.

  He spoke only the truth.

  Emboldened by his response to her, she pressed her lips to his once more before breaking away to suggest, “I can make it better.”

  His eyes darkened to molten pools of golden liquid, and for one moment she thought he would lay her down right there and rip her breeches off, but instead he did something totally unexpected. He slid her off his lap, depositing her gently to the ground. He rose and stalked to the edge of the small clearing.

  Blinking in astonishment, she studied the lines of his back, knotted with tension. “What—what’s wrong?”

  “I cannot claim you as I desire until you agree to become our mate,” he said, his words clipped.

  Her eyes widened and she wrapped her arms around herself to combat the sudden chill she’d received when he’d gone. When her pussy clenched with unquenched desire, she squeezed her legs together, trying to dispel the pressure. “Surely you can’t be serious.”

  He turned to face her, a muscle in his jaw ticking.

  “You are serious,” she breathed. When he nodded, she dropped her arms and rose to her feet. “So we cannot just fuck?”