Fated Mate Conquered - Luna Voss

1

Turan

It’s that female.

Kora. The one who used to be my prison guard. The one who I think is cute.

Not that kind of cute. She’s too young for me, probably not older than 20 while I’m pushing 35. She’s definitely too young for me that way, but she’s sweet, and I feel protective of her because of the way we met. Apparently she was on the crew of the prison ship carrying me to my execution before I was rescued. But I don’t remember that. The United Planetary Empire pumped me so full of drugs that all I recall of my time in captivity is a blur of pain and confusion.

But those aren’t the feelings I associate with Kora. When I see her face, it brings comfort. I think she must have been nice to me. I’m glad my associates didn’t kill her when they captured my prison ship and broke me out. She stayed with us, helped me recover from the drugs, and is now a pledged member of the Butarza Family, the Vostra criminal organization that my entire life revolves around.

Kora has only been with us a couple of months, and she’s still getting used to the rules. But for a female, that’s permissible. While most other Voorian cultures have discarded the old ways, here in the Vostra, we’re old-school. That means we don’t take suppressants, and it means females are allowed to get away with a certain amount of misbehavior.

Get away with, as in, they don’t get taken into an empty room and shot the way a man would for disobeying orders.

That doesn’t mean there aren’t any consequences.

In the Vostra, females who break the rules get spanked.

And right now, I’m looking at a little Voorian female who has just broken a rule. I may feel protective of her, but in my world, the rules are there for a reason. Sometimes, protecting someone means enforcing discipline.

I stare at her as she walks past me through the crowd, her half-human friend Aspen right beside her. Aspen is my brother Draga’s mate, and so her discipline is not my business. But I happen to know that both women have been expressly forbidden from visiting this part of Dartyr. Although our Family has strong connections in this city, we’re not entrenched enough to ensure our people’s safety outside of the downtown area. That’s why Kora and Aspen were supposed to stay in the downtown area.

They’re not in the downtown area.

I’m about to confront them, when suddenly, they’re gone, absorbed by the throng of people filling the courtyard. I push through the crowd, my eyes searching for the two women, when I catch a glimpse of them down an alley, getting on line for a food truck so popular that it can’t even be seen from the back of the queue.

I move toward them slowly, using my broad shoulders to part the crowd as best I can. They’re still far away, and I can see now that they’re being harassed by a group of three human guys standing in line behind them. One of them is rubbing Aspen’s shoulders, and it’s clear that she doesn’t appreciate it. She shakes him off, and all three men move closer to her and Kora.

My pace increases. Nobody fucks with Vostra women. These humans are about to learn an extremely painful lesson, and I’m not going to be shy about delivering it.

Their voices carry through the crowd as I approach:

“You know, we’re staying at the Plaza Hotel,” one of them slurs, sounding drunk. “You’d do better to get along with us, and maybe we’ll let you see our penthouse suite.”

“Oh, wow, I’m so impressed!” I hear Kora snap back at him. “Did you say the Plaza Hotel? Maybe we should go back to your room with you so you can show us your tiny little shrimp dicks!”

I can’t help but stifle a laugh. That’s Kora, alright. Like I said, cute. Unfortunately, the human she insulted doesn’t seem to appreciate her sense of humor, and he lunges at her. She sidesteps him easily, sending him sprawling into a couple of garbage cans, and then trips one of the other guys as tries to grab her.

Scumbags. They’re going to pay.

Kora and Aspen start sprinting down the city street away from their attackers, and the three humans give chase.

So do I.

The crowd in this part of the city is so thick that I almost lose them. My eyes scan the street, searching. And then I see one of the human men