unwilling to accept the truth just yet. Helion was right. Fuck him, but he was right. Telling our mate the truth would put her in more danger. Refusing her would put us all at risk. No simple security guard would refuse an Interstellar Bride. Fuck, the three kings had accepted their bride, and their daughter had united the planet for the first time in decades. Helion’s voice had me opening my eyes in resignation.
“Weapons will continue to make their way into the wrong hands, Captain, and your mate, while important, is not as valuable as the lives of thousands of other innocents. You will complete your mission there at Trixon, or I will see you rot in the brig for the next twenty years for treason. Do you understand me?”
“Fucking bastard,” Teig whispered the words loudly enough that Oran and I would hear, but Doctor Helion would not. I raised my hand in silent warning. Doctor Helion was already annoyed with me, I did not need to get myself arrested for treason. I would be unable to do anything to protect my new family from a prison cell. A new family I very much desired, despite the fact that I had yet to meet my mate. My cock stirred at the thought of her arrival. Soon.
She was from Earth. She was mine. She would transport to me within the hour. That was all I needed to know. I knew nothing about her, but I was already feeling possessive and overly protective. Gods help her when I actually had her in my arms. I’d never let her go. Never let her out of our sight. One of us would be with her always. Keeping her safe.
I looked up at each of my chosen fighters and held Teig’s gaze. His nod was fierce, no hint of his usual playful nature. This was life or death for our female, and we all had to understand and accept the risks.
With Teig’s agreement, I turned to face Oran. His fair gaze narrowed, his need to control burning from his eyes and turning his light skin a darker shade in contrast to his golden hair. But he, too, knew the risks, and what it would mean if we walked away from either our mate—or our commander. He clenched his fists but nodded. We were in agreement.
Our mate would arrive. We would keep her safe—and innocent of our mission—until it was over. We would protect her, finish our job, and get the fuck off this planet and back to work.
“I understand, Doctor.”
I cleared my throat and knew the fair skin that accompanied the fire-red hair on my head had heated with anger as we spoke. The doctor was not a stupid male. He would take one look at me and know I meant what I said. I was not a new recruit, fresh from the Coalition Academy. Neither were Oran or Teig. We were I.C. operatives recently assigned to the Battlegroup Zeus. From there, we were sent out on missions as ordered. None of those assignments had taken us to Viken, until now.
I was an I.C. captain with over a decade of fighting experience in this war. This side trip to our home planet to track down some weapons smugglers was temporary. And while we would find the source of the weapons, I would also be mated for life. It was time to remind him of that.
“While we are here at Trixon, you will ensure that my female and all three of her Viken mates have proper accommodations awaiting our return to Battleship Zeus. As soon as the mission is complete, we will transport back to our battlegroup. And, from now on, only two of us will be assigned to a mission at any one time. We will not leave our mate unprotected.”
While I kept my gaze on Helion on screen, I saw Teig and Oran nod their heads in agreement.
Helion waved his hand at me as if I were an idiot or a child. “Of course. As you said, I am Prillon. I understand the need to protect your mate, Captain. Perhaps my faith in you is misplaced if three I.C. assets are so poorly trained they cannot manage to protect one innocent female at a vacation resort.”
Was he baiting me? “We will protect her at all costs.”
“Of course, you will, which is why this discussion is over.” The doctor continued, and I held my tongue. “But there are three of you on Viken, and your covers place you as part of the elite security detail. However, your access to the more… sensual areas is limited. Perhaps you can keep your mate safe… and use her to accomplish the mission. A win-win.”
I had an idea where this was going, and I didn’t like it.
“You, Captain Alarr, are in the perfect place to welcome a new bride. The training huts of Viken are well known for their sensual arts, especially the vacation resort of Trixon.” He leaned closer and grinned at me the way only a Prillon could, his sharp features not quite able to make his mouth curve in a true smile. He looked like a snarling monster, but I was not about to tell him that.
“Use her, gentlemen. I know all three of you are listening to me. This is your mission, and the arrival of a new mate is the perfect distraction, the break we need. Being elite security is one thing but being mates with a new bride will allow you access to every hut. Every meeting. Every club. I have no doubt the resort will allow you to partake of the offerings during your personal time. And if Commander Clive is behind this, as I suspect, he will not think twice of you gaining access to these new… areas.”
Rarely had I wanted to punch a superior officer. This was one of those times. Commander Clive ran security at Trixon. We had absolutely zero proof that he was part of the smuggling operation, but Helion insisted. Said he’d met the man and didn’t like him.
Instinct.
Whatever. I preferred proof before I condemned a fellow fighter. Logic.
And every logical bone in my body was screaming at me to take my mate and run. Unfortunately, that wasn’t an option.
Helion was still talking. “Pleasure her as you go but use her presence to our advantage and find the ship, find the supplier and plant that tracking beacon on the delivery vessel before it leaves Viken air space.” He leaned back and smiled. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say he had manipulated the Interstellar Brides testing match just so he could use this scenario to his advantage.
He made it sound so simple. Find the smugglers here, track them to a delivery of weapons and then place a tracking beacon on the delivery vessel so that when it returned to Coalition space, the I.C. could track it down and their suppliers within the Coalition Fleet.
Simple. Easy. Right? We’d already spent months following the illegal weapons supply to Viken, to this very resort, but we still had no idea who was behind the shipments.
But we did have a good idea of when the next delivery shuttle would arrive. All we had to do was pleasure our mate, keep her oblivious to our mission, track down the smugglers, sneak into the delivery area, place a tracking beacon on a Coalition shuttle without being detected, and then take our mate to Battleship Zeus to live happily ever after.
“What a fucking mess.”
Doctor Helion pretended not to hear my complaint. “Since you have already discovered where they are storing the weapons prior to delivery, you cannot afford to lose track of them now. They must be monitored at all times. After you discover who is running the smuggling operation, and you have placed the trackers inside those crates, and verified that the crates have been loaded onto the delivery vessel, only then may you go back to Battleship Zeus and return to your previous mission, hunting for the Hive stealth ships. I’m sure you will have no trouble ensuring that one of you is able to remain with your mate at all times. But until then, I need you on your home world. On Viken. At Trixon. Doing what you need to do to protect the other Coalition worlds. Keep track of those weapons. We’re too close to give up now. Mate, or no mate.”
“I don’t like this.”
“I
