Mated on Hades Read online

  Right?

  Except that she was supposed to be here for him. And he was attracted to her.

  Even if she was an acquisitive, lying human.

  "You helped the Latharians with their upgrade?" Skepticism dripped from his voice as he interrupted her ludicrous story. The Latharians were even more advanced than the Hadesians; there was no way they'd needed the assistance of a human with their programming.

  He'd noticed how vague she'd been about her work on earth. Even if she had done something with computers and programming at some point in her life, she'd clearly not wanted them to ask anything about it. Probably because she couldn't actually do more than very basic tech and didn't want to admit it.

  Tarrik wasn't impressed. His attitude would have been very different if she'd been honest about her abilities, or lack thereof. Maybe she was just trying to show off and fit in, but lies and exaggerations weren't particularly impressive to him.

  There definitely hadn't been anything in her Celestial Mates file about skills with computers - although he wasn't going to confront and embarrass her in front of Mrik and his parents by letting her know that the agency's file had informed him of her current unemployed status. However, when he sent her back he was definitely going to add ‘lying’ to the list of reasons why she was an unsuitable mate,. And if his mother hassled him over sending his "mate" back, he would tell her privately how Juliette had lied to her.

  The lie about helping the Latharians had just been one step too far though. His mother was practically hanging on Juliette's every word, and he could see her already becoming attached. It was better to at least lay the groundwork for the others to realize how dishonest Juliette was being, so his disinterest in mating her wouldn't come as a surprise.

  Juliette turned her head and glared at him. Probably upset about being challenged when she'd thought she was getting away with her ruse. Of course, part of him couldn't help but notice how attractive she was even when she was glaring. He was definitely beginning to understand why some beings in the galaxy decided to take humans as breeding mates, regardless of their reputation. Still, that wasn't enough for him, even if his cock was getting on board with the idea.

  "Yes, I did," she said frostily.

  Then - surprise, surprise - turned her attention to her plate of food, looking entirely offended at being questioned. Across the table, Mrik snickered, his mother gave him a dirty look, and his father just heaved a sigh and shook his head. Tarrik just gave them all a dark look back. They didn't know she was lying after all.

  But still, a little faith in him, the person they'd known all their lives, over this entirely new presence, would be nice.

  ******

  Insufferable asshat! Jules was still seething over Tarrik's oh-so-superior questioning of her abilities over dinner. No one else had had a problem believing her - and she would have really liked to talk more to Mrik about their ship's upgrade to see if it had encountered the same issues the Latharian's had - but after that comment she'd bitten her tongue. It was that or lay into the smug alien over the meal, which would very likely have ended in them calling Celestial Mates to come take her away.

  Jules didn't fool herself into thinking Sirilla and Tobik actually liked her. They would have liked whoever Celestial Mates had sent for Tarrik. Mrik was obviously just amused by the whole situation.

  In some ways, she had a bit of begrudging respect for Tarrik because even if he was a complete jerk, at least he was very clear and upfront about it. Definitely not a back stabber. He thought she was useless and didn't hesitate to make it known. Jules preferred honesty over subterfuge.

  He was still an asshat though.

  And her pride had been piqued.

  So she'd done what she did best... she'd hacked into the house's main computer, found out where his ship was located in the yard, and then snuck out to go find it. Getting in had been pretty easy - security was mostly automated and she was familiar with the operating system - and then she'd gone right to his ship, opened one of the outside panels and gotten to work.

  It was more work than it had been on the Celestial Mates ship, mostly because she had to also hack into the ship's motherboard and then begin working on the update, but the issues turned out to be very similar. Humming to herself, she re-routed the necessary operations and got everything lined up in a manner that would have the crystals running at peak capacity.

  She was just finishing up when she heard someone cough behind her, making her jump.

  "What-" She recognized Tarrik's voice even through the deep growl. "-do you think you're doing to my ship?"

  "Fixing it," she said, tapping the last command and then closing up the panel to smile at him brilliantly. She'd been looking forward to Mrik running the diagnostics tomorrow - the way he said he was going to so he could try and figure out how to fix things while they were here on the ground - and finding it operating perfectly, but apparently that wasn't in the cards.

  Tarrik grabbed her by the arm, dragging her around to the entrance, a dark scowl on his handsome, red features.

  Maybe she should be afraid... but Jules' survival instinct really was terrible. Plus, even though he was holding her arm firmly, he wasn't hurting her at all. She was pretty used to driving people a little deranged anyway, so this was a reaction she was accustomed to. She'd actually found his mother's happy warmth to be harder to deal with in a lot of ways.

  Listening to a male mutter imprecations and insults as he pulled her along to 'face her fate' made her feel right at home.

  ******

  Whatever crazed impulse had driven the little human, Tarrik was going to spank it right out of her as soon as he discovered how much damage she'd done. If it was only a little, he wouldn't spank her very hard. His tail lashed.

  Personally, he almost hoped it was a lot, despite the inconvenience it would cause. He definitely wouldn't mind working out some of his pent-up frustration on her luscious ass.

  Especially since half of the frustration he was feeling was sexual.

  The sleek black outfit she was wearing hugged her entire body, accentuating her curves, and he'd been so distracted by the very enjoyable rear view that he'd actually paused to admire it before interrupting her.

  As soon as they reached the bridge, Tarrik moved her to Mrik's chair.

  "Sit." He growled the word.

  She sat.

  Smart girl. His tail started sneaking along the floor towards her again before he noticed and jerked it away. Stupid tail.

  Standing beside her, close enough that their bodies were almost touching, Tarrik bent over Mrik's console to run the diagnostic and find out how bad her spanking was going to be. In the back of his head he was already imagining how her flesh would jiggle under his hand and her penitent apology afterwards.

  Instead, he was dumbfounded.

  "What the..."

  He ran the diagnostic again, very aware of the smugness now practically radiating from the female beside him. Out of the corner of his eye he could see her leaning back in the chair, arms crossed over her chest, with self-righteous satisfaction oozing out of every pore.

  The final results flashed, same as before.

  Straightening up, Tarrik frowned down at her. She smirked back up at him, which was also attractive but he was too confused to really notice that right now.

  "What the hell are you doing unemployed? You're a garking genius!"

  "Is that an apology?" she asked, standing up so that he was no longer looming over her quite so much. Of course, as close as he was to her, that just meant that her breasts were now practically brushing his chest. Tarrik wasn't going to back up though, just because he'd been in the wrong.

  This was his ship, for one, and for two... with the results that had just come back it made no sense for her to be unemployed. There was still some kind of deception going on, he was just no longer sure what it was.

  "I'm sorry for doubting you," he said grudgingly. "The information Celestial Mates gave me indicated you were un
employed and unskilled."

  To his surprise, a bit of remorse flickered across her expression, along with something else. And she still didn't back away from him. Their physical closeness was becoming harder to ignore. He could feel his tail starting to creep again. "I... I was a freelancer. In between jobs."

  Tarrik raised his eyebrow. "A freelancer huh?" he glanced down at the console again and felt a grin spread across his face as his excitement started to rise again. "Well you can freelance for me any time. Do you have any idea what these numbers mean? How much farther and faster we'll be able to go? I could kiss you!"

  He turned back to her and somehow their faces were closer than they had been before. Eyes wide, she stared directly into his, and for the first time he saw the little flecks of green and gold scattered throughout the deep brown. Beautiful eyes. Eyes a male could become lost in if he didn't keep ahold of himself.

  Breasts brushed against his chest.

  He swayed?

  She swayed?

  Maybe both of them swayed.

  And their lips met.

  Bodies pressed together.

  Soft female flesh molded against him as her hands rested on his chest, her mouth opening under his. Heat and need rushed along his veins, his hands holding her hips tightly, his tail winding around her ankle and beginning the long slide up her leg as his cock throbbed against her.

  It was like his entire brain short-circuited.

  Chapter 3

  The male could kiss.

  Boy oh boy could he kiss.

  He was hot. Like actually physically hot, his body heat wrapping around her like a blanket. Something was rubbing her leg and making her skin tingle, the hard ridge of his cock rocked slightly against her belly, and his fingers were caressing her lower back in a way that made her nipples throb and her lower body clench. He sure as hell didn't feel like a manbaby.

  Not only that - he actually hadn't acted like one either.

  He'd called her a genius.

  He'd apologized.

  And realizing the information he had been given by the agency, she understood his previous attitude a little better. No wonder he'd been so skeptical.

  He tasted like smoke and sin, and she wanted more.

  But he suddenly pulled away, practically shoving her back against the console as he did so.

  The expression on his face was... almost horrified.

  "I... I..." He stammered the words out. "We can't do this. We should go. Come on."

  Turning on his heel, he walked away, his tail unwinding from around her ankle and leaving her there cold and alone.

  Her lips felt swollen, she could still taste him on her tongue, and her body was throbbing with reaction. Watching him walk away after kissing her like that... well, fuck. It hurt.

  Twice in one day he'd managed to hurt her feelings, something no one had even done once in a day for years. What was it about being on Hades that had her dropping her guard? Or maybe it wasn't Hades, maybe it was something about him.

  Jules had never considered herself a slow learner though.

  "Come on, Juliette!" His voice echoed from down the hall and into the bridge.

  Scowling, Jules quickly typed a few more commands into the console. It took her less than thirty seconds.

  Smirking, she turned away and headed into the hall after the asshat. Let's see how he liked that.

  ******

  In the early, orange light of a new day, Tarrik did not feel rested at all. He'd barely slept last night, tossing and turning - he'd even accidentally rolled onto one of his wings the wrong way, something he hadn't done since he was a child. Forgetting the sensation of Juliette pressed up against him, her mouth opening for his tongue, was apparently impossible.

  But he wasn't ready to mate yet.

  Right?

  When they'd been kissing he'd almost forgotten that. He'd been so thrilled at how she'd fixed the upgrade, thinking about how fast the ship would be, how much farther into space he could go... and then he'd realized he wouldn't be the one going. If he mated her, he'd be grounded so it wouldn't matter what the ships were doing, they'd be doing it without him.

  The realization had hit him like a ton of bricks right in the middle of the best kiss of his life.

  Traveling was his passion. Not just for the travel itself, but for what they did out there, for knowing he was a part of something and being able to see it happen. He was pretty sure that running the business from Hades would suck out part of his soul... Eventually he could see himself doing it, but not yet. Especially not since he'd thought he would have at least another year before he'd need to.

  Now it was all slipping away, thanks to a little human who was certainly a lot more than she'd appeared to be.

  Tarrik needed to get away. One last trip. His parents wouldn't deny him that. One last trip to get his head on straight, Juliette could stay here and get to know the groundside of business... maybe she'd even like it. At best, she'd love it and be happy to run things here while her mate traveled; at worst, she'd be so antagonized by the situation that she'd leave.

  There was a lot of middle ground between those two options, but he'd figure out how to deal with it. His entire life had been upended in the space of a ten cycle. That wasn't nearly enough time to wrap his mind around the new world order. Another few months away from his mother's pressure and Juliette's sweet lips, and Tarrik was sure things would be a lot more clear.

  He just needed some time to acclimate. That was reasonable, right?

  Unfortunately, when he made his proposal over breakfast, his mother obviously didn't agree with him. She didn't come right out and say it, but she was definitely displeased. For some reason, Juliette just smirked at him from across the table when he said he was going to take one last trip.

  Thankfully, this time his father interceded with his mother for him, reaching out to lay one hand over the tentacle twitching on the table.

  "Love, it's not an unreasonable request, and it's only a few more months," Tobik said. Immediately Tarrik's spirits lifted - and then plummeted again at his father's next words. "As long as he takes Jules with him, I see no problem."

  "With me?" Tarrik asked. Dammit, he needed to get away from her and the physical temptation she presented... how was he supposed to get his act together and figure out what he wanted with her on board with him. Especially since... "There's nowhere for her to sleep."

  "Of course there is," his mother replied, immediately cheering up. "She can share your cabin. The bed in there is certainly big enough."

  "Then it's all arranged," Tobik said before Tarrik could protest. His father gave him a stern look that Tarrik recognized and he shut his mouth, knowing protests would be useless. "You can take the four twenty-cycle circuit and Jules will go with you."

  "Fine," Tarrik said, cutting off the word sharply to indicate his displeasure.

  At least he got his one last trip.

  Sitting across from him, Juliette smirked again.

  ******

  Since she was going with him, Juliette took the block off of the ship's systems... but not until after Mrik told Tarrik what she'd done so that he knew he wouldn't have been able to go anywhere without her letting him anyway. He'd fumed and she'd smirked, all while Mrik laughed at Tarrik's expense.

  To give Tarrik credit, he didn't yell, stomp, or even vent his anger at Mrik. He just glared at everyone. Ordered Mrik run a scan on their systems to make sure she hadn't messed with anything else. And then took her to their cabin so she could unpack and settle in.

  Jules almost wished he had acted like a manbaby or a jerk; it would have made it easier on her.

  She sure as heck didn't want to be attracted to the big lummox anymore. Not after the way he'd rejected her last night.

  "Welcome to your new home for the next four twenty-cycles," he said, stepping aside so she could enter the cabin behind him, his tone dryly sarcastic. "As you can see, you would have been better off with my parents."

  Rather than tel
ling him that the room was about the size of her entire living space back on Earth - and unlike her home there, this room wasn't crammed with equipment - Jules just looked around as she walked past him. Sparsely furnished, the massive bed on the far wall dominated the whole area. It was even bigger than the bed in her room at Tobik and Sirilla's, and she'd thought that was huge.

  Turning around, she enjoyed the disgruntled look on Tarrik's face as he set her bag down next to the open closet door. Since his clothing seemed to consist mostly of pants and a kind of tunic vest that she'd seen on a lot of winged Hadesians, there was plenty of space for her meager belongings.

  "This looks great," she said. "As long as you keep to your side of the bed."

  Now his expression was almost infuriated. "Of course I will! I'm not the one who can't keep her hands to herself."

  "Excuse me?" Jules' hands slammed onto her hips as she glared back at him. "Since when have I not kept my hands to myself?"

  "Uh, that would be last night when you kissed me."

  She gaped. "You kissed me!"

  "I sure as hell did not," he snapped back. "I'm not even attracted to you."

  "Is that why your cock was digging a hole in my stomach last night when you kissed me?"

  "Look, just stay on whichever side of the bed you pick, keep your hands to yourself, and this trip will be over before you know it."

  Jules was still sputtering and trying to find a good retort as he swept out of the room. Jerk! She couldn't believe she'd let him have the last word.

  "Stupid butt monkey," she muttered, flopping back onto the bed just to see how it felt. It was ridiculously comfortable of course. Which only made her more irritated with him for some reason, even though he had nothing to do with it.

  He'd definitely kissed her first.

  At the very least, they'd kissed each other.

  Her lips pursed as a wicked idea occurred to her. It would be playing with fire a little bit... but on the other hand, he definitely deserved it. And it would be even more amusing than keeping his ship grounded until her say so.