Matched her to Trion, the planet where females were the most submissive in the galaxy.
Zara struggled to her feet and wiped at her eyes, where I assumed more tears streaked her soft cheeks, tears I could not see. Or perhaps the tears were imagined. Emotional wounds. Invisible to my eye.
Our gazes locked, and I rose slowly as well, not even attempting to hide the bulge of the hard cock in my pants. Proof of my desire. Lust. I had needs of my own, and she was stirring everything primitive within me to a dangerous level. She’d felt it in the palm of her hand. “What do you want, gara?” I asked, my voice soft. Soothing.
She used trembling hands to rub both of her arms, as if cold. The ship was anything but sensing our body temperatures and adjusting the environmental controls accordingly.
“Don’t call me that,” she hissed.
One of these days, she’d preen and be soothed by that endearment, know it was honest and filled with desire.
Taking a step forward, I approached. Another. The room was small, and in moments, I stood toe to toe with the defiant female. Using every bit of tenderness I could summon as my body raged at me to turn her around, shove her against the wall and make her mine, I grazed her chin with my fingertips and angled her face up so our eyes met. Held. “Anything, gara. But I do not take what is not freely given.”
Her tongue traced a rapid line across her lips and her breathing hitched. A flush heated her cheeks, but she did not pull away. “What do you want me to give you?”
Everything, I realized. I wanted this female to be mine. Her fire and courage, her sass, the flash of defiance in her eyes. More, I wanted her heart and her body and her trust. I had never encountered another female like her, not even Ivy, with her Hive implants and mate, Zenos, by her side. Never had I met a woman, a human woman, who could escape Jirghogis and steal his titan stick, face down Ulza of Cerberus legion, and stand toe-to-toe with a thief and smuggler she barely knew but instinctively trusted not to hurt her.
She was remarkable. One of a kind.
Mine.
“Isaak?” Zara’s prompt made me realize I’d been staring. I needed to maintain control. Never had I been so close to giving in to my body’s demands for a mate. The need to bury my cock deep drove me with a sharp, knife-edged pain that I welcomed. Embraced. I would ride my need for hours if she would allow me to pleasure her, glory in the fire building in both mind and body until my release was an agony of bliss.
But my desire was built on a lie. Out here in space, I had no home to offer a female. No family name, no riches, no security. I would never take a female into Hive controlled territory on one of my raids. And I could not leave a mate unprotected in this sector of space long enough to go on my own.
I wanted a mate, but I did not deserve one. Not living like I did. If I returned to Trion… there I had everything for a mate, but my parents had made it clear I did not belong. That I was not wanted.
“I want many things, gara. But for now, I want you to take off your clothes and let me look at you.”
Her lip trembled. “And then what?”
She had not denied me, and that was all the encouragement I needed. “Then I will pleasure you, gara, with my hands and my mouth.”
Her lips parted and a pink blush darkened her cheeks further. The signs of her interest were visible, but I needed the words. “Is this what you want? I must hear the words.”
She blinked, and I could practically see her mind debating her body’s desires. “Yes.”
Fark, yes. My cock pulsed in my pants, eager to get to her, to get in her. I would take her, but I would do it as the Trion male I was. I would dominate. Give her what she needed. Her needs would not be denied, even ones I would have to show her she had.
I cleared my throat, dropped my voice into a deep timbre. “You will obey me while we are in this room. I saw your strength. Your bravery. Here, you do not need to be strong. Or brave. You only need to