The Colony Boxed Set 1. Grace Goodwin
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and it felt like home.
God, life was weird. And unpredictable. And sometimes, totally amazing. Three days here and I already knew I couldn’t go back to the life I had before.
Some die-hard rebel I’d turned out to be. Blow my mind with a couple of aggressive lovers with huge cocks, make me scream from a few orgasms, make me feel beautiful and cherished and wanted…long story short—I was a goner. Suddenly, all the political bullshit on Earth didn’t matter quite as much.
But still. People had died. And they’d covered it up so they could pull the same crap again.
Unless I stopped them. Somehow. From halfway across the universe. I knew I was on a different planet, but it suddenly struck me that I had absolutely no idea where I was relative to anything else. Earth. The sun. Everyone and everything I’d known my entire life.
All I’d cared about for the last three days was hot, bend-me-over-and-make-me-yours sex. Being with Maxim and Ryston was so good, so consuming, that I’d completely lost myself in them, in their emotions and their physical dominance. In the pleasure I found between them. I’d always prided myself on being a smart, educated, independent woman. But they made me feel like—more. And less. And my brain was having a serious argument with my heart about the whole damn mess.
Guilt assailed me and I took another sip of the wine they’d transported in from a planet called Atlan. It was quite good, but not strong enough to wipe away my desire to make sure GloboPharma’s CEO couldn’t hurt more people back home.
I would have to find a way to contact my attorney, John, and make sure something was done. I might be on another planet, but that didn’t mean I had to let it go.
I lifted my gaze to discover Jessica’s huge second mate, a warrior named Ander, watching me closely. “Like my mate, you were innocent of your crime?”
I was rather proud of myself for not fidgeting under his scrutiny. “Yes.”
“Just as our Jessica was innocent. It seems your Earth judicial system is somewhat defective.”
Jessica leaned over and rested her head on his shoulder as if it were the most natural thing in the world. Ander responded immediately, wrapping his arm around her and rubbing her back in a gentle gesture completely at odds with his massive size and frightening face.
“Yes, it is. I followed the letter of the law. When I learned the truth of the crimes, about all the people being hurt or dying, I shared it.”
“People don’t want the truth, Rachel. We are the truth, the truth about Earth’s new enemy, and yet they hide us here,” Captain Brooks’ voice was resigned and filled with bitterness. “I can’t go home, any more than you can.”
All eyes turned to him.
“No longer,” Prime Nial raised his voice to make sure it would carry to the far corners of the room. Yet there was no need. The captain’s words created a vacuum of sound, as if none dared speak the words themselves, but waited to hear the Prime’s response. “My mate has been quite insistent, telling everyone who will listen of your bravery, veteran. Prillon laws are not Earth’s laws. You are free to leave, to return to your home planet where you will be lauded for your service.”
The captain glanced at Lady Jessica. “You’re from Earth. From the United States. Do you think I’d be lauded for my bravery looking like this?”
The captain rose from his seat and lifted his armor off over his head. None moved to stop him and I stared, shocked at the sight of his bare chest. More than half of his torso was covered in the strange silver circuitry that was identical to what covered Ryston’s temple. The lower half of his left arm was completely silver, so much so that I wondered how I had not noticed the dark glove he wore earlier, when he’d shaken my hand. I’d been so happy to have someone from home to talk to, that I hadn’t paid it any attention. His right arm, from the elbow down, looked like a robotic attachment, with not an ounce of human skin in sight. Odd black markings, like veins, streaked in bizarre patterns within his remaining human flesh, starting at the edge of the implants where man met machine. He was like Inspector Gadget meets the Terminator.
“There is more. On my back, down my left leg.” He bowed at the waist, first to Jessica, then to me. “Lauded, ladies? Or feared? I thank you for the pretty dreams, Prime Nial, but Earth is not so advanced as you might believe.” He held Jessica’s gaze, demanding an answer. “Well? This is our reality now, my lady. There is no going home. Not for any of us.”
Jessica stood and every eye in the room followed the movement. “I was a soldier on Earth. I spent eight years in active duty military, in the Army. My mate, the Prime of your world, carries the marks of his time with the Hive. I love him. The silver in his eye, the marks on his flesh, mean nothing to me. He is mine. Lady Rone is the first bride matched to The Colony, and from the way she looks at her mates, I do not doubt she feels the same way about her warriors. Go through the testing, gentlemen. Have a little faith. If you don’t believe you can return home, to a normal life, then make a new life here with your matched mate. A new normal. Live. Don’t allow fear to stop you. The Brides Program will not send you a mate who can’t love you for who and what you are. Rachel? Am I wrong?”
The silence lingered and Jessica turned to me. Both of my mates watched me with rapt attention and I knew they, too, awaited my answer.
9
Rachel
These warriors on The Colony planet were hurting and lost. I didn’t understand when Warden Egara had tried to tell me how important the Interstellar Brides Program was. I didn’t get it. But seeing Captain Brooks bare himself to all, vulnerable and ashamed, was like a knife to my heart. He was human, a former special ops soldier. Tough as nails, reduced to shaming himself in public and defying me to reject him.
I stood slowly, feeling the weight of every word before I spoke it. “Meeting a matched mate for the first time goes far deeper than anything you can imagine. I knew as soon as I saw them. I felt the connection. I can’t describe what happened to me when I first glimpsed Maxim, when I heard his voice, or the first time Ryston kissed me, but had one of them been like you, Captain Brooks, nothing I see now would stop me from wanting them.”
Maxim’s hand settled on the back of my thigh, Ryston’s reached for mine and entwined our fingers as a cheer went up in the room.
Hope was like a drug, and now it appeared every warrior in the room was drunk with it.
The rest of the meal passed in a blur. Captain Brooks put his shirt back on and we ate a feast of fresh fruit that burst on my tongue like half-melted orange sherbet and blueberries with lime. The main course served to the men was some strange type of meat nearly two inches thick. Ready to groan in protest, I was delighted when a plate of fresh lasagna loaded with marinara and cheese was placed before me.
Happy, I looked to Jessica, who grinned at me like a coconspirator. I noticed that Captain Brooks, too, had been served the Earth dish. It seemed that conformity on The Colony was to not conform. No one had the same Cyborg integrations. Everyone was different. Different planets, different experiences, even different tastes in food.
As the meal progressed, so did Maxim’s hand, moving from my shoulder to my back, then to my knee. That lasted a few minutes before his hand tugged on my right knee and Ryston’s on my left, pulling my legs apart beneath the skirted table.
I really should have protested, but the lust and pride, the raw desire and tenderness bombarding me from my mates made me helpless to resist them as they teased me, their fingers so very close to my center, but never quite touching.
Not that I was a horny teenager, and I knew this wasn’t the place, but their hot, heavy hands so close to my pussy kept me on edge, a constant reminder that they were mine.
Several times I glanced at Captain Brooks to find him watching