Page 12 of The Rebel and the Rogue

What the fuck?

Astra’s entire body went still, and blood pounded through my head as I waited for her response. She was my leader. I was blood sworn to follow her orders. But this? No. Gods help me, no.

Bite her? Barek?

No, Astra. No.

“If you are lying, you will die,” Astra warned.

“I know. Do it. Tell him to bite me.” The defiant human raised her hand, one finger pointed up in the air and her brow arched high above one eye. “But no mating bullshit. This means nothing, big guy. We clear on that? You try to mate with me, and I will kill you.”

The human female had fallen directly into Astra’s hands. If she lied, she’d die. Astra didn’t have to raise an ion pistol to kill her for playing us. The human would kill herself, and we wouldn’t have to worry about Coalition rules.

The lieutenant hadn’t blinked an eye. In fact she had suggested it. Was she so daring she was willing to risk her own life, or was she telling the truth? Bluff or bravery?

At the slight nod from Astra, Barek moved forward toward the female. My female. “My bite will make you scream, female. Then we will see if it is in pleasure or in death.”

“Just shut up and do it.” The lieutenant tugged the armor away from her neck, exposing the long, bare flesh I’d recently kissed. Sucked. Tasted.

My mouth watered as she angled her head to the side.

Barek got closer. He looked at Astra, something dark and dangerous in his eyes. Was that need? Regret? The room was too dark, but Astra seemed to sense that he needed something from her. “Nothing will change, Barek. Bite her.”

Barek nodded slightly and turned his attention to the human. Moved.

Closer.

He leaned over her and opened his mouth. I saw his fangs. Her smooth, pale skin. So soft. So sweet. So damn mine. He didn’t want to do it. I knew it. The only female he wanted to sink his fangs into was Astra. But it was her order, her command, and he did her bidding.

The lieutenant stood as still as a statue, her gaze locked with Astra’s in stubborn defiance.

Fuuuuuck.

My body moved before I could regain control, the bellow from my lungs one I’d never heard before. I was on him before anyone in the room could react. I picked up my longtime friend and threw him across the small room, where his body smashed several inches deep into the wall. He slid to the ground with a grunt but was on his feet in seconds, fists clenched, death in his eyes.

Astra launched from her chair and stepped between us, and by the gods, that was the only thing that kept me from killing him.

“Enough.” Astra waited for Barek to nod before turning to face me—and her. She looked us both over for long, silent moments. “This is the female you fucked.”

She didn’t question, she knew. Most likely scented me on the human And that made me growl, knowing the female walked around with my scent, my cum all over her.

“Yes.” There was no use denying it.

I

looked to the lieutenant. Her mouth hung open, eyes wide. Clearly she hadn’t been expecting to see me ever again. She’d been cool and confident facing a leader of a Rogue 5 legion but was stunned dumb by the sight of me. I wasn’t sure if I should preen or growl.

“Then you will do it,” Astra said. “Bite her.”

Behind me, the lieutenant gasped. “No. Absolutely not.”

I looked down at her, the brave face she’d worn until now completely gone. She looked… shaken.

Oh shit, had she been bluffing? Was I the one to kill her then?

Astra was ruthless. “You will accept the bite of one of my Forsian hybrids, or the deal is off.”

The lieutenant shook her head. “No. I have the antidote, I just don’t want him to bite me.”

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