The Colony Boxed Set 1 E-Book

Grace Goodwin

• Herausgeber: Grace Goodwin
• Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
• Serie: Interstellar Brides® Program- The Colony 1-3
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2020

Seitenzahl: 758

Beschreibung

The Interstellar Brides Program will never be the same...The leader of the Interstellar Coalition has lifted the ban on sending brides to the wounded warriors on The Colony. Survivors. Warriors. They fought in the Hive War and earned the right to claim a mate.But these warriors are outcasts. Contaminated. Destined to live out their lives far, far away from anyone frightened by their unnatural strength and alien enhancements. Honorable fighters, they continue to serve, to protect the Coalition worlds, despite their fate.Three women. Three love stories that rekindle hope, romance and passion for the courageous warriors who believed they were lost forever.Buckle up and prepare to be transported to The Colony for three intensely sensual and thrilling romance adventures that will leave you breathless and make you believe in happily-ever-afters, and reaffirm Grace Goodwin's core belief--everyone deserves to be loved.Don't miss out on this USAT Bestselling universe.Your adventure with books Surrender To The Cyborgs, Mated to the Cyborgs and Cyborg Seduction begins in 3...2...1...One click now!

Leseprobe

The Colony Boxed Set 1

Interstellar Brides® Program: The Colony - Books 1-3

Grace Goodwin

Contents

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Find YOUR Interstellar Match!

Surrender to the Cyborgs

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Epilogue

Mated to the Cyborgs

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Epilogue

Cyborg Seduction

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Epilogue

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1

Rachel Pierce, Interstellar Brides Program Processing Center

“You can’t escape us.” A rough male voice whispered in my ear. The room was dark, nearly black, and I could not see his face, but his tone excited me. I should have been afraid, terrified, and yet my body arched off the bed at his words, eager. Wet. Throbbing with need.

I tugged at the bonds about my wrists, the unbreakable cuffs secured over my head. The fit was snug, but not painful. They ensured that I was well and truly captured, yet unharmed. There was no give in the restraints, but the soft yield of the bed under my back was soothing. So were the calloused hands that ran over my heated skin, that cupped my upturned breasts, the insides of my spread thighs, my bare mound.

“Our little prisoner.”

I stilled at the voice. The second voice. There wasn’t just one man in bed with me, but two. Two sets of hands.

“Ah!” I cried, when little erotic bites elicited a fiery burst of pain at the tips of my nipples. Two mouths.

I couldn’t see their faces, but I could feel their hands, hear their ragged breathing, feel their heat, smell their dark, spicy scents.

“I want to touch you,” I replied, licking my dry lips. I tugged once again on the binds, but they were unforgiving. I didn’t need to see them to know they were big, so much bigger than me. Their hands were large, spanning the breadth of my belly, dwarfing my breasts, which were far from small, gripping my knees and holding them apart so that my naked body was open to their every urge, every desire.

I should feel panicked, for while I didn’t seem to know these men, I knew them, felt safe with them. Safe enough to be tied up and at their sweet mercy.

I’d never been into bondage play or any kind of BDSM before. Not even a little kink tossed into a wild night. My sexual experiences ranged between high school fumbling and wham-bam-thank-you-ma’am kinds of encounters.

This, this was something else entirely…and I liked it.

I liked the heavy weight of the cuffs about my wrists. I liked the way there was no give in the rope. I liked the way the men were touching me, arousing me to a fervor I’d never known before. And they were only touching.

When a hand dipped between my thighs, I arched my back, pushing my hips into the touch. “She’s dripping. You like to give over control.”

I didn’t know that to be the case before, but with these two, now, I did. Hell, yeah.

I moaned at the feel of his fingers stroking over my folds, circling my clit, pulling back its protective hood for…oh fuck. His hot breath.

When his mouth closed over my clit, I cried out, tugged involuntarily. Hands on my thighs held me open, exposed, available.

I couldn’t do a thing but take whatever they wanted to do to me. To give to me.

“You’ll come first, then we’ll fuck you.”

I had no problem with that whatsoever. “Yes,” I replied on a breathy moan to the man who was licking my pussy.

The other was working my nipples with his mouth, alternating between them. I felt the rasp of a trimmed beard, the soft hairs tickling my tender skin and awakening every one of my nerve endings. “You can feel it, can’t you? Our need, your need, building and building. The collars join us, link and share our pleasure.”

I felt the weight of something about my neck, felt the eager intensity of the men’s desires, their domination, my submission, swirling around us like a vibrant, red aura. I was hotter, wetter, more eager than ever in my life.

I was going to come. There was no way I could stop it, for while I was bound by rope and cuffs, I was ensnared by their attentions. My pussy ached, swelled, pulsed. My clit throbbed. My nipples stung.

“Yes, I’m going to… I need, right there…just a little—no!”

The men knew I was going to come and not just from my mindless rambling or the way my body shook. It was the damn collars. They knew one more flick of a tongue against my engorged clit, one more decadent bite on my nipple and I would have succumbed to the most powerful orgasm.

Instead, I was sweaty and needy, tears slipping from my eyes, desperate for them. My body was almost electrified with need. Just a touch in the right place and I’d go off.

The man by my head moved to lie down beside me, his hot length pressing against my side. Hands gripped my waist and flipped me over on top of him, my arms still up over my head, over his as well. If I leaned down a few inches, surely I would kiss him. Shifting my legs into a comfortable position, I straddled him. My breasts chafed against the soft hairs on his chest. My slick skin slid easily over him. My pussy coated his cock, which I rested upon, the girth of it parting my folds. Our breaths mingled and yet I still couldn’t see him.

“Please,” I begged, wiggling my hips to get his cock at my entrance, so I could get him deep inside me. I needed him deep inside me. I had never thought it before, and if that made me a total slut, I didn’t care, but I needed cock.

A hand came down on my upturned bottom, the sting of it a surprise. While it hurt, it morphed into even more pleasure and I gasped, then groaned.

“We say how,” the man behind me said.

“We say when,” the one beneath me finished.

A palm cupped my stinging bottom, pulled my cheeks apart. A hard finger, slick and coated with something cool slid over me there, finding my back entrance, circling, then pushing in.

The sharp bite of the stretch had me panting, stilling. The finger worked the lube into me, more, then more still.

“Are you ready for our cocks, mate? To be ours forever?” The man behind me spoke as he gently yet thoroughly prepared my ass for…oh god. Our cocks. Forever.

Yes. I was ready. More than ready. Time didn’t exist, only the feel of his finger as he worked me, stretched me open, the feel of the hard, muscled body beneath me. Hands stroked my back, my sides, my hair.

“She’s ready.”

I’d been ready for a while but didn’t mention it, afraid I’d get spanked again. They were in control, so I bit my lip.

I felt them move, heard the rustling of their actions as I was lifted up so that the cock beneath me nudged my pussy. Yes! I wiggled, trying to lower, but he would have none of it. I realized when I felt the other’s cock at my prepared back passage that they were going to take me together.

Really together. Not one after the other. Not one in my pussy, the other cock in my mouth. Together, as in double penetration.

As I panicked, a sense of eagerness, of extreme arousal washed over me. I felt the men’s desires mingle with my own through the collar and it tempered my panic and soothed it with mindless need.

“Please,” I begged, feeling their cocks pressing. The one at my pussy slid in easily, the wet sound of my arousal as loud as our breaths. In a smooth stroke, he sank deep, filling me. He groaned. I groaned. God, he was big. Thick. Hard. So fucking deep.

“I’m going to come.”

I was. They’d primed me so well that I was shaking with it.

“Not yet. As soon as you are ours, when you take both our cocks we will be truly joined. Only then will you be collared, mated, claimed.” The man behind me spoke in my ear as he pressed inward, the broad head of his cock slowly opening me. My body held barely any resistance to his efforts. Perhaps it was the lube or his intent, but I truly believed it was the collars that connected us, that made me relax, to breathe out, to give over. They’d wanted me to submit and this act was the ultimate submission.

I could do nothing but take whatever they wanted. When they wanted. How.

It was that knowledge more than the second cock sinking into me that had me coming on a blissful scream. I was so full, so open. Exposed. Vulnerable and yet powerful all at once.

It was too much, the pleasure. I was truly imprisoned, caught not only by the bonds over my head, but the cocks that joined us. We were one.

When I felt their hot seed spurt from them, I screamed again, then again.

“Miss Pierce!” The voice repeated itself and a hand shook my shoulder. “Stop screaming, please.”

I was thrashing, felt the way my hands were bound, knew it was real.

“Rachel!”

No, it wasn’t real. The voice shouting at me was a woman, not the deep rumble of either man.

I blinked, once, then again. Bright light filtered through the seams of my closed eyelids, turning my vision a deep, dark red until, unable to deny the annoying woman’s voice, or the too small hand on my shoulder. I opened my eyes.

Fuck. There were no men. No hands, mouths, cocks. There had definitely been an orgasm though. I was sweaty and I could feel the heat of it, the pleasure still coursing through my body. My pussy rippled and pulsed around…nothing. My bottom clenched. Empty. The wet result of my arousal made my bottom slip and slide on a strange exam chair. It was like I’d been tied down, naked, at the dentist’s office.

My hands were bound, but not by the men’s cuffs and I wasn’t in a soft bed. No. I was restrained to the testing chair in the Interstellar Brides Processing Center. The men were nothing more than a dream, a figment of my sex-starved imagination. I hadn’t been with a man in a long damn time. Over a year.

Apparently, my body had gone from zero to orgasm in about five seconds flat. But it had been so good, so hot and hard and…

“Miss Pierce. I need you to look at me.” There was that annoying female voice practically barking orders at me. I didn’t care for her tone. Not one bit.

I focused on the face swimming before me and waited for my vision to clear. When it did, I found a somewhat unpleasant young woman’s face looming over me. I remembered her now. Unfortunately, I remembered everything. “Warden Egara.”

“Good. You’re awake.”

“You wanted me tested and now you’re taking the dream away from me?” It had been a dream. Since when had reality included two hot, virile lovers who fucked me at the same time? When had I ever had an orgasm that strong? That intense? When had I ever been so desperate to be touched that just thinking about it had nearly made me scream?

Never. Smoking-hot, dominant lovers were not part of my reality.

My reality included prison. Harsh lighting. Bad food. Stale air. Several hundred women who looked at me like I was fresh meat. Loneliness. Betrayal.

“Yes, Miss Pierce. I’m terribly sorry. I don’t normally stop the testing so abruptly, but I have to admit, I was a little nervous about your screaming.”

I couldn’t help but flush. “Let’s just say the dream was very… vivid.”

She looked down at her tablet, apparently having decided that I was not dying in her testing chair. She went around the generic table and sat down. The room was clinical, stark. I’d think I was in an office conference room if not for the fancy testing chair I sat in. No, that I was tied to like a mental patient. The restraints around my wrists were at least four inches wide and an inch thick. I wasn’t sure what kind of superhuman women they normally strapped down, but the only way any normal girl would get out of these was with a hacksaw.

I looked down at myself, oddly pleased to see that I wore the bland, gray testing gown instead of the orange prison pants and white t-shirt that had made up my wardrobe for the last few months. I was naked beneath, and bare from the knees down. Medical gowns, it seemed, were standard-level ugly no matter what planet they were from. And I wasn’t a fan of my bare ass sticking to the chair. Where was the standard-issue granny panties and sports bra?

“The testing was successful, a match was made at a ninety-nine percent.” Her smile transformed her face, and I realized that she wasn’t that old, probably even a few years younger than me. Her brown hair was pulled back in a severe bun, a style that reminded me of Wild West school marms in the old movies. Her gray eyes held a keen intelligence I could respect, but her words alarmed me. I was here at my attorney’s insistence. But I’d never really believed in this whole matching process. I mean, really? How the hell could some alien computer select a man who would be perfect for me? I didn’t believe it. But that didn’t stop the little kernel of hope from bursting to life with a painful buzz in my chest.

I frowned to hide the reaction. This was not how things were supposed to go. “I’ve been matched?”

“Yes, to a Prillon warrior.”

“A Prillon?” I knew nothing about the other planets in the Coalition. I’d had my nose in a petri dish and my eyes on the lens of a microscope for the last decade. “I told you I didn’t want it. A match. This. I don’t want to go off to some…some planet.” I spit out the last as if it were foul on my tongue. “I told you. I shouldn’t be here, shouldn’t be in jail. I’ve done nothing wrong, except expose the truth. I’m not going to leave Earth because someone else broke the law.”

The warden looked at me with sympathetic gray eyes. “Yes, I’ve heard of your case, heard your claims of innocence. From a process standpoint, the testing doesn’t change that you’ve been convicted of a crime. It doesn’t change that you are going to be in jail for the next twenty-five years.”

“I filed an appeal.”

“Yes, your attorney informed me and I wish you the best of luck.” Her gray eyes softened and I found my anger fading beneath the onslaught of pity I saw there. “I’m sorry, Rachel. But your innocence or guilt is irrelevant to me. And believe me, your new mate won’t care. You’re here. You were convicted. They must have had evidence.”

“It was planted,” I countered.

All hints of the orgasm had faded, replaced by the same anger, frustration and bitterness that had followed me for the past five months. When the Whistleblower law went into effect, it hadn’t included me. No. I’d been quickly taken away, falsely pinned with crimes I didn’t commit by people who committed far worse just to hide their own.

Yes, I’d been the lead researcher at GloboPharma. The trials had been under my supervision. But I’d pulled the plug when things went wrong. I’d followed the FDA guidelines to the letter. The data in my reports was truthful and accurate. Yes, I’d known that the company had hundreds of millions of dollars on the line, looking for a cancer cure. And the treatment worked, it just killed too many healthy cells in the process.

I’d filed my reports and expected my superiors to do the right thing.

The day I heard that the FDA approved the drug, I’d nearly puked up my hot mustard and salami sandwich at my desk. I’d called the president of the company personally, and when she wouldn’t listen, I called the CEO.

They all ignored me, and sent some goons to wreck my house and shut me up. They’d fired me, discredited me, and, little did I know, kept my data and lined me up to take the fall if things went bad.

And things went really, really bad. At least four hundred people died before the FDA figured out it was the new drug doing the damage. When they came looking for someone to blame, GloboPharma handed them my head on a silver platter.

Fuckers. I refused to go down without a fight. I was not going to run like a scared puppy and live the rest of my life on another freaking planet. I had to do the right thing. I had to fight. If I didn’t, the bastards who did this to people would just do it again. And again. And again. I went to graduate school and completed my PhD just last year in biochemistry. I studied physiology as an undergrad so I could make a difference in the world, so I could help people. I never wanted to be in a fight like this. But now that I was here, I couldn’t walk away. I didn’t have a choice. It was either fight or rot in jail. And if I let them beat me, they’d just do it again, make another mistake. Kill people. Lie about it.

“I can’t leave. I have to go to court. Please, I want you to understand.”

“Your appeal is two months away,” she replied, not commenting on my rant. She knew what had happened, the charges, the trial, my conviction. It was all in my file on that tablet of hers. Everything about me was on there, including what I ate for lunch three months ago and my bra size. “Your lawyer recommended that you be tested for the Interstellar Brides Program, just in case.”

My lawyer was a nice man, accomplished at his job, but he had highly skilled, very well-placed people at the FDA and GloboPharma’s army of attorneys fighting against him. He’d told me it was going to be a hard fight, but I didn’t care. I’d done nothing wrong. I’d found out what others had done, were doing, to tens of thousands of frightened people desperate for a cure. They’d taken advantage of people who were sick and scared. They’d forged documents, lied, conspired and put my name on everything. The company paid a stupid fine and walked away. I was the one in jail for forgery, fraud, conspiracy. And that was the short list. I didn’t care what they said about me. I wasn’t giving up.

“Yes, two months, then the truth will come out and I’ll be free.”

She didn’t look hopeful. “Mating a Prillon is not the end of the world, Rachel.”

“Yes, it is. Literally. I wouldn’t be on Earth any longer.”

“I’ve been there. To Prillon Prime.” She angled her head toward me. “I was mated to a Prillon warrior six years ago. It was the best thing that ever happened to me.”

“Yet you’re here,” I countered. Her lips compressed into a thin line and a shadow passed through her gray eyes. I’d said something to hurt her. “I’m sorry. I don’t know your story, your life. I’m just—” I tugged at the restraints “—trapped.”

When she did not respond, I studied her carefully stoic expression. Yes. She was young, probably younger than my thirty-two by at least four years. But the pain in her eyes was old pain. Old and hardened into armor around her heart.

“How could you have gone to Prillon Prime six years ago? The Brides Program only started two years ago.” Two years since the aliens landed. Two years since everything on Earth went into a tailspin and we learned we weren’t alone.

Two years, and our governments were still struggling with each other like bullies on the playground fighting for territory. Nothing changed. Nothing would ever change. Human nature was…well…all too human.

Her smile was controlled, and didn’t reach her eyes. “Well, I was not in your position. I was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. My mates found me before Earth was officially brought into the Coalition. I didn’t have a choice, Rachel. Not like you. I was only with them a short time before they were killed by the Hive, but I loved them and I don’t regret a moment I spent as their mate. I understand your fear of going to another planet. But you’ve been matched to a decorated Prillon commander. I have no doubt you will grow to love him. His second will, I’m sure, be just as impressive.”

“Second?”

She nodded. “Yes, all Prillon warriors share their mate with another. It is their way. If one of your mates should be killed in battle, you, and any children, would have the second to protect and care for you.”

“Two men? A threesome?” Was she crazy? I didn’t want a ménage. I didn’t want one space alien, let alone two.

My body recalled the two men filling me with their cocks just moments ago, in that damn dream, and heated instantly. No.

No. No. No. I was not walking away from my appeal just to go have hot alien sex. Just, no.

“No way,” I said. If I could have sliced my hand through the air, I would have. As things stood, I had to settle for rattling the chair beneath the cuffs attached to my wrists. Looking up into her eyes, I shook my head again to make sure she understood exactly what I was saying. “No, thank you. I know John said I should come down here, but no. I can’t leave. I refuse the match.”

“Then you will go back to the maximum security prison until your appeal.”

The idea of going back to solitary confinement was miserable. A jail cell or space. The choices were grim. The knowledge that I was innocent set my resolve.

“I appreciate your concern, Warden. But I’m innocent. I have to believe I can win this. I can’t let them get away with lying to the FDA and all those poor patients and their families. I won’t go off-planet and ruin my career. If I run, everyone will believe what they said about me, that I lied about the risks, that I lied to protect the company. I didn’t. I gave them the real data and I can prove it. I don’t want to go to another world. I like this one. I had a good life. I want it back!”

Tears filled my eyes, but I willed them away. I missed my house, my sports car, my freaking cat. I had never wanted to sleep in my own queen-size bed so badly in my life. But I’d cried enough. Hell, that was pretty much all I’d done the first couple months in prison. No more. I was innocent and I would prove it. Go free. Go back to my life in the lab. I would continue my research and save lives. That was the only thing I’d ever wanted. I refused to give it up.

My dad would roll over in his grave if I walked away from this fight. He’d watched my mom die when I was just five. I barely remembered her, but I remembered the way her bald head had felt when I hugged her. I remembered the smell of sickness in my house.

After she died, my dad had tried to hang on. He’d made it until I left for college. And then he’d drunk himself to death.

Guilt. What a weak word for the emotions that roared through me when I thought of my father. I never should have left him alone. I knew he still missed her. I knew he fought his own demons. But I’d been eighteen, and eager to go out into the world and start a new life. I’d moved a thousand miles away for college, only returning home a couple times a year. I’d walked away, and he’d faded right under my nose. Big mistake. Huge.

No. I was not walking away from this.

Warden Egara sighed and I did not welcome the disappointment or resignation I saw in her eyes, as if I was making the wrong choice.

“Very well. Please know the match has been made, recorded and filed in your record. If you change your mind, it is your legal right to contact me. Should you choose to become a bride, all charges will be dropped, your record will be cleared and you will be sent to your mates immediately.”

As she spoke, she lifted a strange, hand-held device to the side of my neck and I yelped as a sharp, biting pain struck just behind my ear.

“Oww!” I twisted away from her, tugging on the restraints with renewed determination. “What was that?”

“I’m sorry, Rachel, but it was necessary.” She walked away and placed the odd, cylinder-shaped object down on the table before turning back to me with her data pad firmly in hand and a frown on her face. “And I’m sorry for the headache you’ll have for the next few hours. Normally, you would be in transport while your brain adapted to the NPU, but you won’t have that luxury.”

“NPU? What is that?” I wanted to lift my hand to the side of my neck and rub the aching spot there. What the hell had she just done? “What did you do to me?”

The restraints about my wrists came undone with a single swipe of the warden’s finger on her tablet. She lifted her gaze from the tablet to meet mine, and I saw no sympathy there, more like pity. “The NPU is a neural processing unit required for transport off the planet. Its neural technology will merge with your brain’s language centers, allowing you to understand and speak all known languages of the Coalition Fleet. You can’t be processed as a bride without one.”

“I don’t want to be a bride.” As I rose to stand, a guard walked in with the all too familiar shackles, a long chain rattling between the wrist cuffs. I knew where he would take me, back to prison, back to solitary confinement where the guards would treat me like I was invisible, a rat in a cage that needed food and water, and nothing else. Still, that was better than the alternative. I didn’t want to be more to them than another inmate, another mouth to feed. I didn’t want them to notice me.

But I was innocent. Surely my attorney and my friends on the outside would figure out the truth. I had to believe the judge sitting my case would see through the prosecution’s lies.

“If you didn’t want to be a bride, then why did you follow your attorney’s recommendation for processing?” Her question struck a nerve, but I refused to back down. I refused to believe the justice system would fail me so completely.

“Just in case.”

Her nod was quick and precise. “Exactly. And now you have an NPU, just in case.”

She threw my own words back at me, but the underlying tone made it clear she believed I would be back, sooner rather than later. And if the system failed me and I was convicted, maybe I would come back. That dream. My body still ached with lust. I wanted those big hands on my body. I felt like I was a touch starved idiot, but I wouldn’t stop thinking about the way their hands had stroked my skin, their huge cocks had stretched me open. The intense pleasure as I’d ridden them to the strongest orgasm of my pathetic life.

A fake orgasm, from some stupid computerized highjack of my brain. If I understood the process correctly, I’d been living another woman’s actual memories, experiencing what she experienced.

The whole thing freaked me out. And I didn’t want to leave Earth. I wanted my damn life back, and I was going to get it.

I could survive another two months in solitary. I refused to break. But a nagging voice had begun to haunt me in the quiet silence of my existence in the prison. Even if I beat the charges and won my appeal, what would become of me? Even if I were allowed to go home, would I ever be truly free? If the charges were dropped, if my name was cleared, there would always be those who doubted, who would consider me and any data I found to be tainted. No lab would touch me. At least not in the US. I’d have to relocate, start a new life.

And if I didn’t win, if the system failed? I’d either be shackled and jailed for decades or be sent to a new planet where I would be at the mercy of not one huge alien, but two.

Sounded like, one way or the other, I was already doomed to serving a life sentence.

2

Maxim, Governor of Base 3, Prillon Colony Planet, Sector 901

The crush of heavy combat boots filled the narrow hallway with a loud, clomping sound. My steps were eager, too eager, and yet I could not force myself to slow my pace as I hurried to the communications center. Warden Egara, the female in charge of The Colony’s new Interstellar Brides Processing center on Earth, waited to speak to me. I had to assume she had news, news of a matched mate for one of the soul-weary soldiers under my command. News those of us condemned to live out our lives on The Colony very much needed to hear.

“Ryston.” I nodded, my expression grim as my chosen Second, Captain Ryston Rayall, my friend and brother-in-arms for many years, fell into step beside me. Covered head to toe in the mottled black-and brown-armor of a Prillon warrior, I was both relieved and worried by his presence.

“I hear there is news from Earth.” His expression was grim. Despite the pale golden color of his hair and eyes, his gaze was dark. Rejected by his family after his rescue, he’d become a shadow of his former self. Mean. Bitter. Reckless and unpredictable. Bad news would not improve his temperament nor his current mood.

“I am on my way, brother. Patience. I do not yet know what Warden Egara will say.” I thumped him on the shoulder in affection. He was my most trusted friend and closest ally on this base. I would trust no other with a mate, despite his recent sullenness. He was a fierce fighter, honorable to the core. I had no doubt a female’s sweet touch could banish the darkness from his heart and bring my friend back to life.

“She is probably going to tell you that none of you fuckers have a match and we’re all fools for hoping.” His growl was full of pain, but he could not hide his hope from me. If he did not hope, he would not have rushed to be at my side to hear the news from Earth.

“That would imply that I am not perfect, Ryston. We both know that is not the case.”

Ryston’s soft chuckle was his only response, but some of the tension drained from my shoulders and neck. It was good to face whatever might come with Ryston at my back. As Governor of Base 3, it was my duty to set an example for the other contaminated warriors here. All good men, the warriors on The Colony had served their planets well, fought the Hive menace and suffered at the enemies’ hands. Everyone on The Colony carried the scars of that fight, for what the Hive captured, they tried to make their own. Hive Integration Units tortured Coalition fighters, converting them into new machines for the Hive to deploy, new Hive-controlled soldiers, walking weapons. Those of us lucky enough to survive and return to our units with our minds intact were sentenced to a fate that, for some, was worse than death—banishment. For as advanced as the Interstellar Coalition’s technology had become, there were still things that could not be undone.

Microscopic cybernetic implants, living cyborg flesh, optical implants, brain stem filaments, enhanced muscle fibers, artificial intelligence that merged with our bodies on a cellular level, with our very DNA. For centuries, Coalition fighters rescued from Hive Integration Units were simply executed. But nearly sixty years ago, Prime Nial’s father had established The Colony, where contaminated warriors could live out their lives safely and away from potential Hive interference or control. Away from those untainted.

Safety was highly overrated. The Colony became more a prison than a mercy, warriors doomed to live out their lives without hope of a home or a mate, fighting a never-ending battle to live a life filled with purpose, with honor. Few women fought in the Fleet. Fewer still were captured by the hive. For those females who were captured and survived, they ended up here as well. But they were so few, so very rare, that a man could go months or years without ever setting eyes on female flesh. We were feared by our own people, and forgotten by the other planets, by those we sacrificed so much to protect. Forgotten until the other worlds began sending their warriors here as well.

Now the contaminated fighters banished to The Colony world included Atlan Warlords, Trion and Viken fighters, as well as Prillon warriors, and, recently a handful of human fighters from Earth. Divided into eight bases, The Colony was ruled by eight Governors and one Prime. Governors were chosen by election. If no clear winner emerged the selection process followed the traditions of Prillon Prime, where leaders were selected by battle and blood. The strongest ruled. The strongest led by example.

As I must now. As Governor of Base 3, it was my mate testing that everyone was eagerly, and warily, watching. If there were no mates for the strongest of us, then there was no hope for the others.

And so, when Prince Nial became Prime, The Colony buzzed with renewed life, with hope. For the new Prime of our home world was contaminated himself. Despite his imperfections, he’d found a beautiful and submissive mate, a mate strong enough to accept his claim in the battle arena on Prillon Prime, witnessed by millions. Like the others, I’d watched on a live vid broadcast as Prime Nial and his second, Ander, claimed her body on the bloodied battlefield like warriors of old.

My cock stirred at the memory. For Prince Nial and his bride, Lady Jessica Deston, had visited The Colony shortly before that final battle. Lady Deston was a warrior herself, and had spoken harshly of Prillon’s policies. She’d vowed to help the contaminated find mates. She’d given us a new name—veterans—and claimed we deserved honor and respect. She’d given all of us courage. And she’d followed through on her vows, accepting her contaminated mate in front of millions.

Warden Egara from Earth contacted The Colony just days later about beginning the Interstellar Brides Program protocols for our warriors. I’d been the third warrior processed, an experience I remembered little of other than waking with a sense of loss and a cock so hard it felt like iron in my hands.

Like the other governors and a handful of highly respected warriors here, I had submitted to the program’s testing several weeks ago. Though I could not believe any female would accept a damaged warrior such as myself for a mate, I could not stop my heart from racing in my chest at the summons I answered now.

If any Colony warrior had been matched, then there would be hope for matches for all of us. The battle-scarred warriors banished to live out their lives here desperately needed a bit of hope.

We rounded the corner to find everyone in the comm station waiting with a suffocating silence. The warden’s words could either save us, or doom everyone on the planet.

On the large screen at the front of the room Warden Egara’s lovely face filled the entire space. But there were deep creases beneath her eyes and a darkness in the gray depths I’d not seen before. “Warden Egara. Greetings. It is our pleasure to see you again.” The Warden had recently traveled to The Colony to complete the initial rounds of testing and we’d had to keep her under lock and key, practically a prisoner. Her presence made the unmated males on the planet eager to claim her.

“Governor Rone. I wish I could say the same.” She closed her eyes and took a deep breath as if bracing herself before she spoke. “Maxim, I need your help.”

My hands were in fists at my sides before I could control my reaction. “Anything, my lady.” Beside me, Ryston’s shoulders were tense, his hand resting on the ion blaster at his side. The room was blanketed in silence. A female in distress—even light years away across the universe—made every man in the room remember instincts so basic and primal that we would have been growling had we not wanted to frighten her.

But then, she’d been mated to two Prillon warriors. Perhaps our aggression would comfort rather than scare her.

“It’s not for me.” Her eyes darted from me to Rytson and back again. “It’s for someone else. A bride. A Colony bride.”

The news made my heart race. “A match has been made then?”

“Yes. But she has refused transport.” Warden Egara rose from her seat in front of her comm device and paced on the screen before us. Behind her, I recognized the setting of a processing center, the medical equipment, the sterile utility of the white walls and exam table.

Ryston stepped forward, a frown on his face. “How can she refuse transport? I don’t understand.”

Warden Egara rolled her eyes. “Earth laws don’t always make sense. And they have not adapted to being part of the Interstellar Coalition. They do not understand what’s at stake…” Her voice trailed off and she crossed her arms over her chest.

I looked away from the screen and to the human warrior seated at the flight control station. He was highly intelligent and well liked here on The Colony. He was the only human in the room who might make sense of this madness. “Trevor?”

Trevor looked from the warden’s worried face to Ryston’s angry one to me. I had no idea what he saw there. “She’s right. Earth laws are crazy as fuck, more politics than justice, I’m afraid.” He looked to the screen. “Who did she get tangled up with? The Feds?”

The warden shook her head. “No. GloboPharma and the FDA.”

“Fuck me.” Trevor whistled low and my blood boiled. Trevor met my gaze without flinching. “She’s screwed.”

I did not know what screwed meant, but it didn’t sound positive.

“That was my assessment as well.” Warden Egara’s uniform was a dark gray and hugged her curves. The insignia on her chest marked her as an official Warden of the Brides Program. She held one of the most highly respected and revered titles in all the Coalition Fleet. The warriors who fought to defend the universe against the Hive held close the promise of a perfectly matched female. Many cold, dark nights on the battlefield, I’d dreamed of such a match. When the Hive captured our unit, when Ryston’s screams echoed my own, when the brave warriors around us died or were swallowed whole by the Hive’s twisted reality, I dreamed of a mate. Dreamed of soft skin and a hot, wet pussy. Of her cries of pleasure as I filled her while Ryston played with her body. Hope kept me alive through those bleak days. Hope for a matched mate.

And yet, this human bride denied her place in the universe. Denied her importance to the hearts and minds of the warriors who had suffered the most. Denied her matched mate?

Cold fury chilled my body and pulsed through my veins like sluggish ice on a river in winter. This human woman had no idea what she was doing. It seemed she fought a battle against an enemy, knowing she could not win. I did not doubt her courage, just her intelligence. She would rather sacrifice herself than accept her matched mate? The very first bride matched to a Colony warrior, and she refused him?

Another rejection would hurt the warriors here more than having no match at all. And that was completely unacceptable. “Tell me how we can help you, Warden. A refusal will demoralize the entire planet.”

“I know. But she has pinned her hopes on the court system here, on a new trial. She claims that she is innocent of the crime and refuses to be forced into transport.”

So, she did not want to be a bride at all. “Do you believe her innocence?”

“Yes. I do. And her determination to seek justice is admirable, but it doesn’t matter.” Warden Egara returned to the screen, her face on the display once again, completely filling the floor-to-ceiling monitor, her projection nearly as tall as my body. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but you have to come to Earth. You’re going to have to break her out of prison.”

“How are we to accomplish this? Will the human authorities cooperate?” Ryston asked. Of course, he asked and used the word we. He knew I was going, and I never went into battle alone.

“No. They won’t, but it doesn’t matter. We have to get her out of there. I received a call today from her attorney. He’s a decent guy, but she won’t listen to him either. She’s been safe in solitary confinement. Until now. The judge denied the attorney’s petition to keep her out of general population.”

“General population?” Trevor cursed. “If she’s truly an innocent, they’ll eat her alive.”

The warden did not look amused. “It’s worse than that. She’s a whistleblower and she’s got evidence that could bring down a lot of people in Washington. If we don’t get her out of there in the next three days, when she’s scheduled to be moved, there’s no question that they’ll have someone on the inside waiting to kill her.”

I looked to Trevor for translation. While the NPU in my head allowed me to understand the Warden’s English perfectly, she spoke with some slang that did not compute.

He seemed to understand my confusion. “On Earth, some prisoners are kept isolated for their safety during a trial. Jails are like a community behind thick walls and razor wire. It is a dangerous place. Someone on the outside can order, or pay another criminal, someone locked up in jail, to harm another prisoner. Kill them.”

My jaw tensed and I could see Ryston stiffen.

“When someone is already serving a life sentence, committing another murder won’t change their sentence. But having money and connections on the outside can make their lives better on the inside.”

As it was for the warriors here. Some, like me, were lucky enough to remain in contact with our families on Prillon. My mother sent supplies and treats via transport, communication and images of my family. Messages. But others received nothing but silence, no support, no communication. It was like they didn’t exist. Serving a life sentence was something every warrior on The Colony understood.

Trevor shifted in his seat. “Once she goes into general population, she won’t be protected. She’ll be living with murderers and hardened criminals. Anyone who wants her dead will be able to reach her. She won’t survive more than a few days.”

His clarification helped and I did not need more details. One glance at Ryston and he nodded his chin in agreement. We would go, and we would go now. “We will come directly to your transport room, Warden. Please initiate the transport codes for us.”

“I will. Thank you.”

She reached forward to disconnect our comm, but I held up my hand to stop her, needing one final detail.

“Warden Egara, if I may, whose mate is she?”

The Warden’s smile was full of pity.

“I’m so sorry, Maxim. She’s yours.”

3

Rachel, Carswell Penitentiary, Solitary Confinement

I sat on the bed, the only reasonably soft surface in my cell, my scratchy wool blanket wrapped around me. My knees were tucked up to my chest and my back pressed into the corner. I was alone, the silence of the space almost deafening. Even with one of the four walls being bars that opened to a long, main hallway, all was quiet. The painted cinderblock walls and gray sealed floor offered nothing of interest to look at. The single tiny window to the outside world was so high up that I couldn’t look out even if I stood on top of the bed. I knew, I’d tried. I could see the sky, know if it was clear or cloudy, but no ground. I didn’t even know what direction I faced.

I’d heard this section of the facility had been designed that way. We’d come in through an underground tunnel, turning several times before stopping. The path from the converted prison bus to this confinement wing provided several additional turns with no windows. It was impossible to keep any bearings. No ground to look at.

If I didn’t win my appeal, I would not see anything more of the world other than a few clouds for the next twenty-five years. That idea drove many to insanity, or to take their own life. What was a life with nothing in it? The clothes were drab, the cell drab, the food even more drab. There was nothing left.

But I had hope. God, I clung to that hope by my chewed-to-the-quick fingernails. What else was there?

The evidence my lawyer had would set me free. It proved my innocence. That one thumb drive was everything that stood between me and a life in hell. Until then, I waited. Day after day of nothing.

I ran my hand over my face, trying to think of something… anything besides my case, my tiny cell, my new life. It was easy to think about the testing dream, for it had been perfect. I’d been free, no bars or concrete walls. I’d had two men who wanted me with desperation. I’d felt wanted. God, had I needed. And the things they did to me!

I was no prude. I knew where my clit was and ensured my lovers did, too. Lovers, but not two at once like the dream. It had been a fantasy of mine. What woman didn’t dream about two men who knew exactly what they were doing? And they hadn’t had the Brides Program testing dream like I’d had.

Holy hell, that had been hot. Twice as hot.

My nipples tightened and my clit throbbed just remembering their hands, their mouths, their cocks.

The dream lingered in my blood and I wanted to touch myself, knowing I was wet. The ache there had my hands slipping down between my thighs. Remembering that there were guards watching, I pulled my hand away. I wouldn’t taint the dream by touching myself and having the guards watch. I’d touch myself at night, when they turned the lights out. Again and again.

God, even my orgasms were controlled. And bland. Even if I used my fingers to circle my clit and slip inside my pussy, it wouldn’t be anything like what those men in the dream made me feel. For twenty-five years I’d have in-the-dark, masturbation delivered orgasms. Nothing else.

And just that fast, I was back to feeling sorry for myself.

Maybe I should just call that Warden Egara and leave. Leave all of it behind. The lawyers and prison guards. The guilt.

Strangely, the hair on my arms rose as if lightning had struck mere seconds before I heard voices. They were tipped low, but deep. It wasn’t lunchtime and I hadn’t heard the loud buzzer indicating the floor’s locked entry door was opening. There was no squeaky wheel from the food cart. No footsteps, until now. Someone, or two someones, were walking along the hall quickly.

“How will we know who she is?”

I jumped to my feet, curious. Nothing different from the monotonous routine ever occurred.

“Warden Egara says we’ll just know.”

The voices became louder. I could hear others down the line of cells calling out to them. From walking past, there were four cells between mine and the main door, and two after.

“No. No. No.” It sounded as if they were playing Duck, Duck, Goose.

When the big men walked up to my bars, they stilled. Their eyes were on me, roving over every single inch. I felt it, their gazes, as if there weren’t bars between us and their hands were on me.

“She is the one,” the taller man said to the other. They held guns in their hands, guns unlike anything I’d ever seen. Smaller than a tiny pistol, they were very shiny metal and no competition for the rifles strapped over some of the prison guards’ shoulders.

To call the other man short would have been humorous, for they were large. Very, very large. The shorter one was easily a few inches over six feet. They were like lumberjacks and Highlanders combined. They weren’t wearing plaid, but form-fitting armor of some kind that made them look like gladiators wearing armor molded to define every muscle. The strange black armor was mottled with browns and greens, almost like military camouflage but more like the swirls found in decorative marble.

One had dark, deep coppery brown hair and dark skin, the other was golden and light, his hair and skin both a pale yellow. And Terminator parts. But I wouldn't consider them now. The dark one had eyes like milk chocolate, the light one’s eyes were amber. But neither was human. The angular lines of their cheekbones and oddly shaped eyes made them look just strange enough to make my heart race in panic. But their massive frames and muscular bodies made my pussy cry out in welcome. I knew those features, those huge hands. This was the race of alien warrior I’d seen in my dream at the Brides Processing center. And thanks to the warden and her brain games, all I could think about as they approached was the size of their cocks…and what it might feel like to be sandwiched between them.

My body reacted viscerally. Yes, they were handsome. Yes, they met every single one of my checkboxes for what I considered to be a hot guy. Times two. My palms were damp and my heart literally skipped a beat, but I felt a connection as if there were a thread between us. It was more than just the processing center dream, it was instinctive. Deeper.

I felt like I knew them.

“Rachel Pierce of Earth. I am Maxim and this is Ryston. We are your mates from the planet Prillon Prime.”

Oh. My. God. They were mine? My mates from the match.

I couldn’t move. My feet felt as if they were anchored into the concrete just like my bed and the stool.

“What are you doing here?” I whispered. I craned my neck, twisting in an attempt to look past them, knowing the guards would be coming. How had they gotten past security?

“We are claiming you,” the dark one said. “We are taking you with us. Now.”

“Taking me…you can’t be serious.” I looked at the bars and knew it wasn’t going to happen. The guards were not going to release me to go with these guys. No way. And I couldn’t decide if that made me happy or strangely disappointed.

“Transport.”

Transport? This was insane. Was I becoming delusional and hallucinating now that I’d been alone for so long? Was I dreaming again?

They seemed confident in their words. They didn’t look for the guards nor seem to worry that they would encounter them anytime soon.

“But, I said I wasn’t ready. I don’t want to be a bride. I… I refused the match.” Looking at these two had me wondering why I’d done so. If these were my mates, perhaps being sent off-planet wasn’t such a bad idea.

No. No! I had my name to clear, my life here on Earth. I wanted a choice, and this didn’t feel like one.

But neither was prison. That wasn’t my choice either.

“We will discuss this back at the transport center.” It was the dark one that spoke, Maxim. Only him. The other, the golden one named Ryston, remained stoic beside him. While it seemed he was not the leader, I didn’t doubt that he was a commanding figure all on his own.

“Transport center?” I was a scientist. I had two advanced degrees, and yet I was reduced to simple questions.

“Your life is in danger and we will not allow your innocent notions of justice to cost you your life. We are taking you with us for your own protection.”

I laughed then. “That’s noble of you, but you’re forgetting one thing.” I pointed to the bars that kept us separated. “I’m a prisoner here. They’re not going to let you take me.”

“You think ionized steel can keep us from you?”

“Well, yes,” I countered.

The dark one, Maxim, stepped up to the bars, took one in each hand and grinned at me as he pulled them apart like they were no more substantial than pieces of aluminum foil.

I stumbled back, bumped into the metal edge of the bed and sank down.

When the other, his second, joined his efforts, the bars were pulled apart within seconds, just like in a Superman movie.

If I had time to think about it, I’d find the action hotter than hell. But the odd sound of the steel bending wasn’t the only thing I heard. The buzzer at the end of the block indicated the entry door to the cellblock was opening. Another sound, one I hadn’t heard before, yet very obviously an alarm, blared. I winced at the loud noise, but was mesmerized by the men.

Maxim stepped through the opening they made followed by Ryston. The cell was small to begin with, but with them inside, looming over me, I felt like we were standing inside a thimble. I backed into the corner, afraid. It was one thing to have sexy fantasies about them, it was another to have them break into a jail cell to kidnap me and take me to another planet.

“Do not fear us. Never fear us,” Maxim said, reaching his hand out and grabbing my arm. His hold was gentle, yet he pulled me to stand on the mattress before him with ease.

“Contact made. Transport now,” Ryston said as the hurried sound of boots hitting concrete sped toward the cell. He spoke into some kind of unit on his wrist. The last thing I thought of, before a hum filled the space, my hair rose on my forearms again and the shouting of guards was heard over the shrill alarm, was that I’d been mated to two men from Star Trek.

Captain Ryston Rayall

This Earth female was our bride? It had been hard to move when we’d stopped at her prison cell. I’d asked Maxim how we’d know which female was ours within the cellblock. I’d quickly counted six cells when we transported in. It would have been easier to transport directly into our mate’s cell, but Warden Egara didn’t know which one held our female. So, instead of transporting into the wrong space, we’d walked along the hallway and found her by gut instinct alone.

Yet standing before us, wide eyed and clearly attracted to her mates, just as we were affected by her, she was afraid of us. Her eyes widened and her pulse raced at the base of her neck. The thin orange material she wore did nothing to disguise her sweet, feminine scent, nor the unmistakable scent of her arousal.

The bars between us, the humans who would keep her from us, the stubborn pride that our mate held onto like a shield, none of that would be allowed to keep her from us.

Apparently, Maxim felt the same for he wrapped his hands around the steel bars and pulled. I moved immediately to assist, eager to reach our female. The bars were no match for our enhanced cyborg strength. For once the Hive implants in our bodies were put to good use. Prillon warriors were known for their strength, but with Hive enhancements in every major muscle group, we were monsters, stronger even than an Atlan warrior in Beast mode.

Her trembling hands were all that prevented the deep growl from escaping my throat as we entered her cell. I could practically taste her in the air, the warm scent of her skin and her wet pussy made my cock rise to attention.

Mine. Mine. Mine. I’d never expected to have such a strong reaction to a female.

It was like someone had reached into my chest and squeezed it. I’d been tortured, my Prillon body parts replaced by Hive technology. I’d been held against my will and I could not tolerate seeing our mate a prisoner. I knew pain, knew my body, but I’d never felt like this. It was as if a part of me, a part of my body I’d never known had been missing, was found.

I was, for once, whole. It didn’t matter that I had an optical implant or cellular enhancements in all major muscle groups. I was finally at peace. No bars could separate us from what was ours. Rachel Pierce was mine. Yes, I would share her with Maxim, and glad I was to have such a strong and noble warrior to help me care for her. I was honored to be chosen as his second. But as I looked at Rachel, with her shining brown hair and creamy skin, her lovely face and full lips, her body so curved and soft and perfect for fucking, I had no interest in technicalities.

My only interest was getting her out of this fucking prison uniform and filling her with my cock. She would be pampered and fed. I would bathe her and feed her, protect her and learn all of her secrets. She was mine.

My reaction shocked me. And I was not the warrior she’d been matched to. I could not begin to imagine the depths of Maxim’s response to her. And so, I took my place as his second and let him reach for her.