Senior Hunter Von, Planet Everis

      I was eager to return to bed. To sleep and dream. Of her. She was close, so close my body operated in a nearly constant state of arousal. In the weeks since my return from fighting the Hive in deep space, I’d wanted nothing but peace, the quiet of the wind in the trees and the water pouring over stones in the river. Quiet and solitude.

      I’d been rewarded with neither. The high mountain home my battalion had been gifted after our return from the war was more than large enough for the group of soldiers who now occupied its cold stone walls and fortifications. We were tasked with governing the region, settling disputes and meting out punishment for those who broke our laws. We were Hunters now, protectors of the weak, keepers of the peace, and justice for any criminal foolish enough to break Everian law.

      Things had been busy since our assignment to Feris 5. We were fifty strong, with a small army of servants and underlings to do our bidding. But the Touchstone, the fortress where unclaimed mates were transported and housed, was in the center of my territory, and every few weeks, when a new batch of potential mates arrived, I brought at least twenty men down from the mountain to keep the peace.

      Marked mates were precious and the brides that were transported to the Touchstone arrived ready to be claimed. Alone. Protected only by protocol and the honor of the men vying for their hands.

      But my bed was empty. Had been for years, but each night since I’d returned to Everis and submitted to the testing, the void grew inside me. I was used to being alone. I was damn good at it. A fact that hadn’t bothered me until last night when I had the first dream.

      A dream of her. My mate. My marked mate.

      My only thought, the only possibility was that she transported here from another world. Yesterday, when my mark came awake. Tingled, heated. She was one of the matched mates from another planet. There was no other explanation.

      I’d thought since my mark wasn’t on my palm that it meant I was defective, that there was no match. No one for me. But it had heated, just like I’d heard from every other Everian who’d come in contact with their marked mate. Yes, it was in a remarkably unusual place, but it worked!

      She was at the Touchstone. The dreams proved it. I didn’t know her name, but her mind touched mine. I would find her. Seduce her. There would be no mercy in me, not when it came to this. Gods, I’d longed for a mate for years. Fighting the Hive was brutal, and the idea of finding the perfect female, the one, had kept me going. Less than one in a hundred Everian men found their marked mates. Most settled into a comfortable life with a comfortable bride. Not all Everian males felt the fire of their marks come to life. But I’d clung to hope. Had used the slim possibility as reason to stay alive so I would have the chance to find her. To make her mine.

      And now the chance was here. She was here on Everis. At the Touchstone.

      I would only have thirty days to convince her to agree to my claim. She might be my marked mate, but there was no law nor protocol to prevent her from choosing another man as her mate in that time. Nothing to guarantee she would choose me.

      Nothing but my mouth on her pussy making her scream, my cock filling her up. I would have to take her body in all three ways to claim her. I would make her writhe with pleasure, bury her in my scent and my touch until she could think of no other, want no other.

      My cock grew hard and I shifted on the bench where I sat next to my fellow Hunter, Bryn.

      Normally, Bryn never shut his mouth, always laughing or tormenting one of us. But he sat beside me, strangely silent as we finished our meal of meat and vegetables. Since returning home, we feasted on breet from the north and roasted bird from our native lands. The S-Gen units on the Coalition battleships had provided thousands of options for food, but with so many member planets, programming every delicacy from every world was unreasonable. The engineers in charge of the S-Gen units analyzed the nutritional benefits of common offerings on each world and made sure everyone had enough to keep them healthy. One or two treats was all we’d been allowed. Now, we were home, and my men and I had kept the kitchens busy trying to bring back the simple pleasures of our pasts.

      “When do we leave for the Touchstone?” Bryn asked, swirling his dark ale in his glass.

      “First light.” We weren’t due there until late in the day, when the official mating presentations would begin, but I could wait no longer. She was there. My mate. I could not risk delaying one moment more. Duty held us here through the night, but tomorrow we would ride. Not that I would waste the darkness, not now that my mind had found hers. I could not wait to return to my chambers, eager for the next dream I might share with my mate.

      Bryn nodded and took the remains of his meal to the recycling unit along the wall. Without speaking to another soul, he exited the dining hall and disappeared.

      That conversation was over. I frowned at my friend’s odd mood.

      Not that I minded. I had a sleeping draught waiting for me in my bedchamber so I could slip easily into slumber. I would hunt her tonight, in my dreams. I would learn her name. Perhaps even see her face.

      Conversation flowed around me as Hunters and the other residents of the fortress came and went, eating, laughing, living.

      I’d forgotten how to do that. Live. I’d spent too long with the Hive, seeing destruction and chaos. I hoped my mate could snap me out of the darkness that surrounded my heart. Four years of battle. It didn’t sound like much, but I seemed slow to adapt to the more relaxed pace of civilian life. Would I ever be able to hear a shout without looking for danger? The crack of a broken twig without looking for enemies? The whir of the fans haunting me like the steady hum of the battleship’s air system?

      “Hunter Von, sir. I have several new incident reports. We need to dispatch Hunters before we leave for the Touchstone.” A junior Hunter spoke from across the table and I nodded to let him know I’d heard. Sleep would wait. My mate would wait, although I put duty before my marked mate for the last time.

      Tomorrow, she would be mine.

      “I’ll be there in a moment.”

      He spun on his heel and walked away, toward the command room. There we would go over the latest batch of assignments, from requests for assistance to investigating crimes, and I would put men to each task.

      The fortress guards were the elite Hunters, protectors. It was important work entrusted to a rare few Everian males. We were the strongest, the fastest, the most skilled Hunters. Most were trained soldiers who had served in the Coalition Fleet and assigned to fortresses around the planet. We were vital to maintaining peace and stability on Everis. I took the role as a privilege I’d earned from the years fighting the Hive. I didn’t take it lightly. The role was crucial to the stability and safety of our people.

      I knew this. But for the first time, being needed by my people wasn’t enough.

      And damn my weak heart for wanting more. But I did. I wanted what I saw, heard, smelled, felt in my dream.

      Eager to return to my quarters, I went to the command center and made quick work of assigning men to their tasks. While a strong group would remain to protect