Page 17 of The Rebel and the Rogue

He leaned in close, his lips grazing my cheek as he spoke. “Then she’ll kill you on the spot.” He lingered, inhaling, breathing me in. “She might be female, but she’s not nice. She’s the most ruthless among us. She’d have you tortured first. She’d break you, get the transport code and then kill you.”

Shit. He was right. The moment I’d set foot on Astra’s ship, she had all the cards. And I would break. I knew I would. I wasn’t some kind of badass superhuman who could resist torture for days on end to protect an antidote I didn’t really care all that much about. I might be super strong now, but there was only so much I could fight. The serum samples were a means to an end. A path to my vengeance. Nothing more.

To me. Nothing more to me.

To these aliens, that antidote was life. Mating. Children. Family. It was everything.

“I think I hate you, Zenos of Astra.”

His eyes narrowed. “Give me your word, human. You will not go anywhere alone, and you will not disobey me when your life is in danger.”

I was not foolish enough to think I was going to win this battle. And like it or not, if I gave him my word, I would honor it. Damn him. “Fine,” I snapped. “You promise no biting, and I agree I won’t go anywhere without telling you—”

He raised his brows. “And you will not disobey me.”

“And I won’t disobey you if my life is in danger, but only while I’m under your protection. Once this is done, I owe you nothing.”

“Agreed.” He studied me closely, nodded, then walked away. I watched him until he disappeared back into the all-in-one room with the others. Unable to face him any longer, exhausted from arguing with him, I went to the cockpit and slumped down in the copilot’s chair. Nev glanced my way but said nothing. The view was breathtaking. Stars. Galaxies. Colors I’d never imagined before I’d left Earth behind.

But I saw none of it, my mind replaying the scene in the corridor over and over and over until I wasn’t sure if I wanted to rip that annoying male’s clothes off his body or beat him bloody for being such an ass. I decided, after a while, that it was a bit of both.

6

Zenos, Personal Quarters, Astra Legion, Rogue 5

The human was driving me insane. I’d never wanted to strangle someone and fuck them in equal measure before. To make it even more frustrating, I couldn’t fuck her the way I wanted. Wild. Hard. And with fangs.

“This is where you live?” she asked, looking around. The space wasn’t fancy. Nothing on Astra was. We were simple people, content with simple things.

The moment we’d arrived, Astra had demanded the transport code. Ivy had rattled off the long string of coordinates like they weren’t the most important bit of information Astra had acquired in years. The transport was initiated immediately, and the moment Barek had his hands on the vials, he handed one to Astra and took off for the lab like his flesh was on fire.

I knew what he wanted. He wanted to claim our leader. Bite her. Make her scream with pleasure. I wanted to do the same to Ivy, but taking what I wanted wasn’t an option. Not until the antidote had been proven. And not if the female in question didn’t want me in return. I’d seen how that worked out in the past, the way other foolish males had pursued mates who not only didn’t want them but actively disliked them. They’d been good for a quick fuck but nothing more. The look in those females’ eyes had been… well, not unlike the detached look Ivy had now.

She glanced around my quarters, but she saw nothing. Her mind was elsewhere. Plotting. Scheming. She’d upheld her end of the bargain, and she was preparing for the hunt. She wanted her bounty, this Gerian Eozara. I had no doubt if I didn’t keep an eye on her, she’d head to Cerberus Legion right now. She would attempt to hunt on her own—as if she’d make it more than a few steps within that ruthless legion and survive—and that I could not allow.

She wasn’t mine, but that didn’t appear to matter to the instincts raging through my body, demanding I protect her—and not simply because Astra had ordered it. Because I could do nothing less. I would not see her hurt. I knew what anyone in the legion would do if they captured her. What their leader, Cerberus, could do, would do, if he got his hands on her.

Ivy may not know it, but Astra’s ultimatum was protecting her. Keeping her safe.

Now I was stuck with her, the most complicated thing on all of Rogue 5. The other legions didn’t share their secrets, but I would bet my right fang she was the only human on the moon base. One of the very few outsiders not from Rogue 5. Every other male or female from here to Hyperion were born and raised on the moon base. Knew the customs. The rules. The laws, said and unsaid.

She might have studied up on Rogue 5 as I would if I

were venturing to one of the pleasure resorts on Viken, learning the customs and geography of that green planet.

She knew nothing of Rogue 5. Not the real way of life. And she was my responsibility. Mine.

My cock considered the word mine in a completely different way. My cock wanted to mate her, to keep her forever, complete the claiming with the mating fist. If I truly made her mine, my cock would swell and lock me deep inside her, fucking her until we were both completely sated. My fangs wanted to pierce that sweet flesh, mark her so all could see she was beyond their reach.

And if I did both at the same time? She truly would belong to me, regardless of where she was from, why she was here or where she was going next.

There would be no going anywhere next. The thought of keeping her forever equally appealed to me and repelled me because the female who was walking around my space, taking in my small seating area, the eating area and the sleeping room with avid curiosity, pushed every emotional sore spot I had. Riled me in body, mind and soul.

“This is where I live,” I said calmly. At least as calmly as possible with her.

“It’s nice. I had even smaller quarters with the Coalition. Just enough space for a bed, and if I stuck my arms out, I could touch walls on both sides.”

“This isn’t the Coalition.”

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