Grace Goodwin - The Rebel and the Rogue

“Tempting the gods is not wise, Zenos.” Barek chastised me, but I did not respond. I knew the battle he fought every day with Astra so close to him. The words were for himself, a reminder, as much as for me.

Astra grunted and laid down her cards, which caused the others to grumble and hand over their credits. Three hybrid Forsians were in this room, and there were less than twenty of us anywhere in the galaxy, all of us sworn to Astra Legion. Except Makarios from Kronos Legion. Outsiders believed there were only three or four hybrid Forsians under Astra’s control, and our leader liked it that way.

Makarios had broken from the fold years ago and served Kronos Legion. But he’d been older than the rest of us. When he’d sworn allegiance to Kronos, he’d been just a boy and the leader of Astra had been a brutal ass. But then Makarios had been captured by the Hive and assumed lost. Wrong again. He’d shown up at The Colony, enhanced with cyborg parts. He’d been strong before. I couldn’t even imagine what the Hive had created. He must have hated every moment of it, surrounded by Coalition fighters, the only one from Rogue 5.

And now? He was truly a legend. Mated to a human female who had killed a Nexus Unit and stolen a ship. Makarios was gone from Rogue 5, gone from every space station from here to Xerima. The Coalition was hunting him. We were hunting him. The other legions were hunting him. I’d heard that even the Hive were hunting him… or his female.

We’d all heard odd stories of his human female being one of them, that she could transform into one of the blue creatures that led the Hive, the Nexus Units. I had no idea if that were true, and Astra didn’t give a shit if she was blue, purple or human, she wanted the antidote Makarios’s mate had supposedly created. She was truly mated to him. Had survived his bite. We all needed mates to help us survive. To keep Astra legion strong. Astra wanted that antidote for her hybrids. We weren’t going to lose our minds, as the Atlans did in their Mating Fever, but without mates, we suffered as they did. We hybrids just lived with the pain in our bodies.

It would almost be a relief to be Atlan, to know there was an end to the hunger and madness. To know that without a mate to keep us sane, we would be put down. But we were not so lucky as the Atlans. And I had no desire to die.

I wanted that antidote. We all did. If I’d had it, I wouldn’t have ridden the edge of insanity as my cock filled and fucked that lush human. Her skin had been sweet on my tongue. So had her pussy. I’d grazed her tender skin with my fangs, the need within me insisting I plunge them as deeply as I had my cock. I’d been desperate to make her writhe and moan for a completely different reason. I had almost lost control.

Almost.

I’d held off, barely. Kept sane. Barely. I liked her alive, panting and moaning, whimpering and screaming because of me. Because of pleasure. Not pain.

Had I been able, I would have filled her with my cum for hours because of the mating fist, marked her over and over with my bite. Made her mine—no matter that I’d told her otherwise—and dealt with her anger about it later. But that wasn’t an option for me. For any of us.

We were strong. Mean. Bigger than any of the other races and fiercely loyal. If Astra—the female, not the legion—lost us, her power position on Rogue 5 would be dangerously threatened. The members of the legion would be threatened. No doubt Cerberus or Siren would attack while the legion was weak. Take Astra Legion’s women and children, sell our people for slaves or mercenaries.

Astra appeared to be satisfied with my response. “Anything out of the ordinary? Anything to report?”

“Nothing. Everything appears to be normal. I do not believe we are walking into a trap.”

She tipped her head toward one of the bedrooms. “Get cleaned up. We leave soon.”

I grunted and moved to do as she ordered. I washed in a shower tube and hated that I rinsed the female’s scent from my body. Her taste from my mouth. Her soft whimpers from my mind.

No, those I’d never forget.

When I emerged a short time later, I was in full legion armor. Stolen from the Coalition—we’d taken their latest technology and adapted it to our needs. Instead of gray and black, we’d altered the color to black and dark green and emblazoned Astra Legion’s emblem on both shoulder and chest. Our dark green armbands, worn at home over more traditional and casual clothing, were part of the uniform rather than an adornment. The suit would deflect small blaster fire and protect us in the event we needed to evacuate or enter the cold dark of deep space.

With every layer of protection I added to my body, I drifted farther away from the female and focused on the mission. We would meet with the Coalition fighter who claimed to have the antidote, Astra would bargain and we would leave. There was no other alternative, not if I and my fellow hybrid Forsians wanted to mate, wanted to have children. Peace. A reason to keep going.

Astra had changed as well, her soft, flowing tunic and pants replaced with her own, much smaller battle armor. We didn’t know what we’d be facing, and we didn’t know who to trust. To outsiders we seemed wild and disorganized, but we were far from it. There was no dissension in the ranks; there were no ranks among those of us in this room. We all served Astra and we needed the antidote, so everyone worked together for it. A common goal, a common purpose.

Astra looked me over, the lines around her eyes and mouth making her look fierce. “We are not coming back to this room. We don’t dare. Nevuh and Rhord have gone ahead to ready the ship. You and Barek will accompany me to this meeting. We leave with the antidote at any cost. Do you understand?”

Barek and I both answered. “Yes, Astra.”

We would acquire the prize at any cost, even it if meant taking what we wanted and leaving the Coalition contact dead.

Barek took his usual position ahead of Astra, and I fell in behind. It would take a small army to get through us, and even if someone made it to our leader, she was deadly in her own right.

We arrived in the empty meeting room well ahead of our contact, exactly as we had planned. I took my place hidden in the shadows as Astra sat at the single long table. Barek stood behind her with his arms crossed. We were heavily armed, the blasters at our sides misleading. It was the blades tucked into our armor that we preferred to use to make an honorable kill.

Long minutes passed as we waited in silence. When the door to the room finally slid open, I kept my gaze on Astra. She would signal if she wished me to appear. Until then, I was to remain hidden. She didn’t want to frighten the Coalition contact. Astra wanted the antidote, and she preferred not to kill. Not here. Even Astra would not be immune to the Intelligence Core’s justice should we break their rules for the space station. If we killed, we would have to fight our way back to our ship.

I watched as Barek stepped forward. “Sit.”

His order was clear.

“I think I’ll stand, big guy. Thanks anyway.”

The voice that replied made my chest tighten with pain. My cock instantly surged to life, hard as stone.

“Sit!” Barek bellowed, but I already knew how this was going to go. I knew exactly who had entered the room. I knew her voice. Her breathy cries of pleasure. Her scream of release. And I knew, even before Barek’s fists tightened at his sides, that this particular human female was going to defy him.

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