Arobi's Queen: A Mate Index Romance (The Mate Index Book 11) Read online

  “I regret that I have no information to help you. If you would like to hire my pack, we could investigate furth…”

  “No,” the male snarled vehemently, just as Bilax had anticipated. “I have no need for your pack, especially not to hunt down a frightened little human like prey.”

  Bilax scowled. Tar-denovak made their female sound helpless and his pack nothing more than mindless animals without enough sense to keep themselves from terrifying her. Even if she were not their mate, they would never have terrorized a queen. The fact that the Itashvanda was speaking of Hayley in such a way… He immediately bristled before he managed to school his features into polite indifference. Thankfully, the security officer took no note of his reaction. The male had his back to him, his wings shifting with frustration.

  Tar-denovak raked a hand over his crest and muttered under his breath before turning his attention back to Bilax. “Alert me through the comms if you happen to see any sign of them. I am sure you remember how to contact me via the official channels. If there is any evidence of the male not treating her right, I will take her from him. There are many males who would be more suitable mates if the council chose to award her to them.”

  “Yes,” Bilax agreed with forced reluctance, playing to the charade despite his desire to bite the offensive male. It was easy to read the security officer’s interest. He needed to get away from the male before he did something tragic that would end up with him locked up and their mate taken away from them. Flicking his tail, he offered one more token protest to encourage the male to leave. “I really think you should reconsider hiring us, but if I see anything, I will inform you.”

  “See to it that you do… And be sure that you stay out of trouble and leave my space station soon without incident.”

  “Of course,” Bilax muttered, not having to feign his hostility.

  The Itashvanda nodded sharply and strode away. Bilax did not move as his eyes tracked the male’s progress through the crowd. Only when he was some distance away did he turn away and duck inside.

  The aroma of food immediately surrounded him, but his good mood was soured too much to enjoy it as he approached the counter. Patrons shifted out of his way, and Bilax smiled grimly. At least this part was going as expected. The sooner he could get the food and be gone, the better.

  A Morith female glanced at him as he braced his hands on the counter in front of him, her eyes narrowing speculatively in her broad face. Bilax bobbed his head in polite greeting. It was never wise to be rude to anyone who handled one’s health or food. Adopting what he hoped passed for a friendly expression—it really was hard to tell given the way their queen reacted to some of their overtures—he rattled off an assortment of food. It was an obscene amount of dishes that included things that his pack enjoyed, plus a number of options palatable for humans among the spicy fare that the Morith were famed for almost as much as their planet’s gems and precious metals.

  As he completed his order, the female grinned and turned away, hustling back to the kitchen, her long, barbed tail swinging behind her. He leaned back as the stinger came close to scratching his face. In a conflict, a Morith’s stinger was a painful weapon; however, when it scratched one of the opposite sex, it induced a sexual frenzy that would become increasingly painful until it was satisfied. When faced with the option of being forced to seek help from one of the prostitutes on the space station or terrifying his queen, he made sure to stay well away from the ruddy-colored appendage.

  Turning away from the kitchen, Bilax stared at those gathered at the numerous tables. There were a fair number of Morith traders swallowing down large mouthfuls of food, as well as an assortment of other species. There were even a few humans sprinkled among the crowd. A Tagith seated next to a female caught his eye and frowned, his fire-colored wings flaring out around the smaller human female at his side. Bilax held back an ugly sneer. No one trusted the Arobi, the feared “beasts of the Agraak.” It was easy to tell by the way everyone watched him as if he were a feral animal ready to attack.

  He turned away with a low snarl. Let them worry and clutch their mates. He had Antari Minor and a long life with a soft queen waiting for him.

  “Do not let them worry you,” the Morith said as she set the packages of food in front of him. Her pale green eyes sparkled with amusement. “Although they will not admit it, every one of them would piss themselves if even one of my Morith brethren so much as glanced at them or their female. We Morith are appreciated for what we bring them—but nothing more. They see us as uncivilized brutes. Be proud that they are wary of you. You are strong and formidable.” Her eyes raked over him in admiration.

  He offered the female a genuine smile as he slid her the credits for payment. “You are kind and truly observant. Perhaps you can help me with a little information as well?”

  The female sighed and chuckled. “That is the way of it. Information you want and not some time with me showing appreciation for our mutual formidability against the common masses.”

  Bilax’s grin widened and he shook his head. “My mate waits for me, but I truly hope you find a worthy male to attend to such a generous female.”

  Her snort of laughter was loud, and she slapped a hand against the counter. “You are a charmer, Arobi. I will grant you that. What is it that I can help you with?”

  “Has there been any word of a peculiar violet-blue Edoka male?”

  “Ah, the one Tar-denovak seeks,” she mused.

  He nodded. “We have a shared interest in the male.”

  “What do you want with him?”

  “Just to see if you have heard whether or not he got off the space station safely.”

  The Morith eyed him for a long moment before she finally nodded. “Ka’sumar is a good male, and a good client when he comes to smuggle certain necessities onto the space station that officials would not be too pleased to discover we have. I did hear he completed a particularly risky job that required him to leave at once.” She gave him a speculative look. “Word is that he slipped away with his usual ease and is heading back to Edokora as we speak.”

  Bilax let out the breath he’d been holding, his smile widening. It was as he expected. The Itashvanda was not going to find the male anywhere on the space station, nor was the male in any position to change his mind and demand Hayley’s return. He was gone.

  “My thanks for the information and food,” he said in a low voice as he gathered the packages.

  The female watched, a smile quirking the corners of her lips. “Good fortune for your mate. The way that male was acting, he fleeced you for a mountain of credits. I hope she is worth it.”

  “A queen is worth everything,” he said solemnly as he took his leave.

  Chapter 7

  Tanji’s tail flicked as he shoved Simah away. His cock ached. Arobi were quick to arouse and easily excited, but the smell of their queen’s delectable perfume thickening with a musk of desire was almost suffocating in its sweetness. He wanted nothing more than to stretch out over the mat and allow it to waft over him.

  No. That was not accurate.

  What he really wanted to do was to throw himself down and fuck.

  Groaning, he pulled himself to a dark corner to lay on his side. His ear twitched, catching sounds of soft conversation between the alpha and their queen. Not too far away, Simah whimpered in similar misery. The only one who seemed to be capable of functioning at that moment was their alpha. Tanji knew Exeri had to ache just as keenly, but was pushing aside his needs to distract Hayley so that they could see to their own.

  He threw his head back, a low whine hissing out of him as he slipped his hand beneath the band of the loose fitted pants and gripped himself hard as he yanked his cock free. Wet precum smeared his hand, and his breath panted out of him as he dragged his hand down its length.

  This wait their alpha agreed upon was going to kill him!

  By the gods, he wanted to fuck so much. Not just fuck, he wanted to breed. He wanted nothing more than to do h
is part in breeding their queen. He gripped himself harder as he imagined holding Hayley locked to him, his cock slapping into her at a furious pace as she cried out and wiggled against him in desperation. He wouldn’t let up. Though his part of it would be small, it was necessary to breed their queen. He was not an alpha, but he played a necessary role in the pack as a beta male. A pack had three or more betas or secondary males. That was the way it occurred in nature, and that was the way that the Agraak had been careful to maintain even in their selective breeding programs.

  It hadn’t taken their masters long to realize that approximately one in every four males was born an alpha, the only ones with the ability to fertilize a female. Alphas were recognized when they were still young, not only for their dominant temperaments, but because they were the only ones with large, rounded testicles compared to the smaller, flatter ones of the beta males. Tanji recalled the way the Agraak had separated the alphas from the rest of the kennel while still young. This was not only to break them to their will, but also because their hormones came in before other males. Without a pack, they would attempt to breed females, and the queens would lose their pups. Agraak rules came to mimic Arobi traditions, but for all the wrong reasons—not out of concern for the health of the males and the family unit, but rather to get the greatest yield out of breeding their stock. They were never allowed to do more than stud, never taking a mate. But now he had a queen and his pack would never let her go!

  Tanji stroked himself quicker, his back still turned to their queen. His cock swelled in his fist and he held back a whimper as his mind held onto what it would be like when he was finally able to breed their queen. It would be so much better than when they were lent out to stud. There would be no shock collars or females in heat strapped into place. There would only be the warm, willing body of their mate.

  He, Simah, and Bilax would rut for hours with their queen before the alpha even got near her. With Exeri half-maddened with the need to rut, two of them would be required to restrain him until they all had an opportunity to cum deep inside her, special cum produced only by a beta male, made to provide a hospitable environment for an Arobi embryo. Only then would Exeri descend upon her while the betas held her in place as he dominated her. It didn’t end there. Afterward, they would need to rut their queen daily to bathe their offspring in the nutritious ejaculations they would deposit directly into her womb.

  He glanced down at his phallus in his hand, breathing in shaky pants. It was round and thick, covered in ridges designed to stimulate, but the tip curved to a point at the bottom of the head. Once it was in contact with the mouth of her womb, it was from there that it would push his offering within her. He shivered at the thought and stroked himself harder, his back tensing and his balls tightening. When he finally came, it erupted from his tip, and he turned his head and bit the mat to muffle his growl. His cock jerked painfully several times, unloading thick ropes of white cum that spewed over his hand.

  Turning his head, he met the tortured gaze of Simah, his own dark belly painted with his cum. The male grimaced at the mess he had made, and Tanji resisted the urge to laugh. Scooting along the edge of the bed, Tanji dug among the bed until he found a small scrap of cloth and hurried to wipe himself clean before throwing the rag to Simah. The other male caught it with a disgusted look but did likewise, neither daring to move from where he lay until his cock had retreated into its sheath.

  “Well, that was fun,” Tanji remarked with a pained grin.

  Simah snorted. “You may think so, but I was pretty certain I was going to die. This manual release doesn’t work as well as the human male among our team said it would.”

  Tanji rolled his eyes. Although they didn’t keep in contact with anyone from their old military unit, they had commed him for advice once they knew that they were getting a human mate. Exeri had not been pleased at first, but even he eventually agreed that the male could have useful information when it came to a human mate. He had no doubt that Frahnkee would have good advice too, but their pack had agreed that a male perspective would likely be a bit more useful. One of his first pieces of advice was teaching them all about manual release rather than the normal habit of suffering until their cocks retreated into their sheaths.

  He shrugged. He enjoyed it. It was not as good as breeding and involved a little discomfort, but it was effective. He did not see any reason to complain like Simah.

  With a wide yawn, he stretched and craned his head around just in time to see the door slide open. Tanji sat up eagerly, the aroma of food filling the room, thankfully overwhelming the scent of their queen’s sex. Bilax paused, his head tilting slightly as he sniffed the air, but Exeri didn’t let him examine it too long. Their alpha stepped up, retrieving the boxes from the male’s hands before stepping away, his hand pressing a panel to activate the table that folded out from the wall.

  Stumbling to his feet, Tanji leaped over the pillows scattered over the mat, his tail swiping behind him as he barreled forward. He could hear Simah gaining behind him and he darted to the side, cutting the other male off. Simah cursed as he stumbled in an attempt to correct his course and fell into a pile of pillows. Tanji chuckled his delight and raced to their queen’s side.

  Just the place he wanted to be.

  Hayley must have heard him coming up behind her—not that he was trying at all to remain silent—because she turned to look over at him, smiling as she observed his satisfied demeanor. He grinned back, happy to have won a smile from her. He nudged her toward the food that Exeri and Bilax were unloading, his smile slipping at their grave expressions.

  The males were speaking in hushed tones. Exeri wore a worried expression in the face of their pack brother’s agitation.

  “I do not think we have anything to worry about. I am just warning you that Tar-denovak could become a problem. I do not think he will be able to amass enough information tying us to the Edoka to launch a full-out inspection of our territory, but if he puts things together before our ship departs, he will take note of the fact that we were seen with him. Ka’sumar apparently has a bit of a reputation for illegal activities. Thankfully, the Edoka already escaped the station, but the way the head of security was threatening me, I do not think it will take much to make him suspicious of our presence or to realize why he was smelling a human on me, despite my excuses,” Bilax grumbled as he pulled the lids off the remaining containers in front of him.

  Exeri nodded, his brow drawing low into a frown. “We will have to be careful not to attract any more attention. How much longer until the captain is ready to depart?”

  Eyes riveted to Bilax, Tanji watched the male shrug. “I saw him loading supplies as I entered. It looked like he still had a fair amount to transfer into his cargo hold. My guess, judging from what I saw… not much longer. More time than we thought initially, but less than an hour now.”

  Their alpha nodded, his eyes sliding over to focus on their queen, who was listening to the conversation in confusion.

  “What is it? Is there something wrong—oh, shit, I knew it. It’s the illegal stuff that you cooked up with the Edoka. It’s going to get us all in trouble, isn’t it?”

  “No,” Exeri growled adamantly. “You are blameless in this…”

  “Damn straight I am,” Hayley snorted.

  “…But we will take all precautions to make sure that the Itashvanda gets nowhere near you. We will be departing soon, and once we arrive at our home territory on Antari Minor, we will settle in our home for a time and wait for this storm to blow over. As long as we leave the space station in time, it is unlikely that he will be able to pursue us any further—but it is wise not to take any chances of being seen with a human female for at least a short time.”

  Their queen’s lips tightened as she considered his plan. “Just how long do you plan on keeping me sequestered at your home?”

  “Not long,” he assured her. “Just a few weeks, until any interest he had in pursuing dies down.”

  Sighing, Hayley shru
gged. “I have no idea what you expect me do indoors for two weeks, but I guess we will figure it out. I certainly don’t want to worry about this coming back to bite me in the ass.”

  “It would be a delectable nibble,” Tanji said playfully as he grinned and handed her a piece of fruit.

  Hayley rolled her eyes but, in the end, it earned him another one of her small, beautiful smiles. As the pack clustered around the table, food moved between them and plates were filled. Regardless of their own hunger, the males saw to their queen first, making sure she had plenty.

  At first, she seemed a bit hesitant and overwhelmed by the attention, but in no time she was eagerly joining in with their meal. Tanji’s tail flicked as he glanced at his family, a happy warmth settling in his chest.

  No doubt they would have their female won over in no time.

  Chapter 8

  They were about halfway through their meal when Hayley felt the engines of the merchant ship fire up. The ship groaned, and the walls vibrated for minutes before it finally pulled free of the space station’s dock. All four of the Arobi males stiffened attentively during that long stretch of time, their ears tipped back, betraying their tension, but once the ship slipped free into space it seemed that every one of them relaxed as if a great load had been taken from them. The males smiled and cheerfully resumed eating.

  Hayley couldn’t pretend that the distance from the space station didn’t likewise give her comfort. The further away she was from those in authority who could enforce whatever rules Earth put in place for its human brides, the better she felt. So, she relaxed and felt a genuine smile pull at her lips as they ate together.

  Still, she couldn’t help but be apprehensive about one small detail: the one threatening to keep her imprisoned in her mates’ home as assuredly as she would have been in the penitentiary system on Earth.