as Maxim held her up. I wanted to claim her full lips, to taste her, but now was not the time. Her brown eyes, a shade lighter than Maxim’s, studied my face, moving over my features slowly, as if she were having trouble processing what she was seeing.
For a moment, I worried our appearances would frighten her. We were not human. We did not look like the men she was used to.
Would she deny us?
I pulled back, alarmed at the thought. But Maxim’s gentle hold at her waist did not falter, and she did not push him away. The worry faded from my mind. She’d been matched to Maxim. A matched mate. Even if our appearance unsettled her, all we needed was time. Time to win her over. Touch her. Kiss her. Bring her pleasure.
I didn’t dare touch her now, for while I was to be her second, she was not my mate until the collar was about her neck. I wore one, as did Maxim, but until she did, I feared Maxim may have trouble controlling the mating instinct that must be raging through his blood. Once our mate accepted her collar, we three would be linked, the psychic bond would allow us to learn our mate, to read her emotions and her desires. We wouldn’t be able to read her thoughts, but she would not be able to hide the truth from us. We would know if she was aroused or angry, hurting or confused. The collars would bond us as a family, help us learn how to please our mate, how to make her happy.
How to make her stay.
Maxim moved then, one hand running up and down her back, the other, wrapped around her arm, is if she needed help to stand.
“What’s going on?” she asked, her voice shaky.
“Warden Egara sent for us,” Maxim said. “You are in danger.”
“What? What are you talking about?” Rachel held up her hand and stepped back. While I knew Maxim could keep her from moving, he allowed her retreat. She wasn’t going anywhere without us ever again.
“May I speak?” Warden Egara asked.
Maxim stepped back and our mate drew in a deep, shuddering breath and rubbed at her temples.
“Please, Warden.” Maxim bowed his head to the female who held one of the most respected titles in the Fleet. No one wanted to offend a Warden, not when their work meant we had a chance at a matched mate. At life after the Hive war.
Warden Egara didn’t hold back, and her voice was brisk. “Rachel, your lawyer received word that someone has sanctioned a hit on you.”
A hit was an Earth term for murder. The idea didn’t sit well and I clenched my hands into fists. The would-be murderer was in prison, far from here, but I wanted to go back and track that human down and end their life for even considering harming Rachel.
“A hit? I don’t understand!” She ran her hand over her dark hair and I could see her agitation. I wanted to soothe her, but I knew nothing I did, nor Maxim for that matter, would work. Not yet. Once our collar was about her neck, we’d be able to calm her, to soothe her with our own feelings.
“John called me. The judge denied his petition to keep you isolated,” Warden Egara told her. Her matter-of-fact tone was working on Rachel. While she wasn’t calming down, her anxiety and anger wasn’t escalating either. “You will be moved to the general population in three days.”
“So?” Rachel asked.
“So, whomever framed you for your crimes doesn’t want you to have your day in court. You won’t live to present the evidence at your appeal.”
Rachel’s mouth fell open and she stared at the warden.
“What you uncovered was dangerous to many. Keeping you alive only increases the chance for the truth to come out.”
“I gave the truth to my lawyer.”
The warden nodded. “Yes, he told me. He will continue to work your case, to seek justice, but that struggle would become unnecessary if you were dead.”
Maxim growled and pushed Rachel behind him. Warden Egara held up her hands. “I am not threatening her, just stating facts.”
Rage boiled on a low simmer in my body, but Maxim’s reaction was telling. He was always calm, always in control. He knew, as well as I did, that the warden was no threat to our mate. As I suspected, Rachel’s curves, her nearness, her scent, were pushing Maxim to the edge. I’d never seen him so riled, not even when we were being tortured by the Hive.
“Five grand, Rachel. That’s all it takes. You go into general population and you’ll be dead within a week.”
Rachel pushed against Maxim and moved around him to stand toe to toe with the warden. Bless the fire of these Earth women, the warden did not back down.
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“Go with your mates, Rachel. It’s not safe for you on Earth any longer.”
4
Ryston
“I want to talk to my lawyer. Now.”
From the gleam in Rachel’s eyes, I knew she was adamant. We weren’t getting her to transport without the conversation.
“Very well.” The warden turned to an underling who was looking on, gave the signal for the request to be put through.
Rachel paced the transport room as we waited.
“Rachel?” A male voice came through some speakers hidden in the wall.
She looked up, hope alighting her beautiful features. “Hi, John. I was…um, broken out of jail.”
“Yes, I’ve heard. I got a call a few minute ago.” He paused and there was silence in the room. “Warden Egara did the right thing. Going off planet is the only thing guaranteed to keep you alive.”
“But—”
“You will be dead before the week is out. The women who are serving life sentences without parole have nothing to lose. They will kill you and there will be no consequences for them. For you…”
He didn’t finish. He didn’t have to.
“This is bullshit. This can’t be happening.” Her voice broke then and tears slipped down her cheeks. I looked to Maxim to go to her, to soothe her, but he didn’t. He couldn’t. Not yet.
“Do you want to die?” Warden Egara asked.
Rachel wiped the tears from her cheeks with the backs of her hands. “Of course not! But I want to be able to decide my own fate!”
“Rachel,” the lawyer’s voice cut through the room. “You do have a choice. You go back to jail and wait for a shiv in the shower, or you go with your mates to a new world and you live.”
“It is your choice,” Warden Egara added.
“Those aren’t the
