had served under a different I.C. commander prior to this mission, a Prillon warrior named Ronan. But we’d heard the good news that Ronan had found his mate and become Commander Karter’s second in Sector 437. After surviving the destruction of Battleship Varsten, he had permanently transferred to the Karter to be with his new family. He’d left the three of us, Sector 438, and the new crew and commander of Battleship Zeus behind. Permanently.
This left the new commander, Zeus, and his new battlegroup without an I.C. support team. That support was supposed to be the three of us. The Hive stealth ships were still out there. Yes, Commander Ronan had managed to destroy one of them moments before Battleship Karter would have been destroyed, but the I.C. feared there were several more.
The Hive was nothing if not efficient. If they’d built one, they’d built a dozen. A hundred.
Gods help us all. We had to get off this planet and back out into space. I already felt like a caged animal, stuck on the ground.
And now this. A female. A mate. My heart beat faster, my cock stirred. A feeling of satisfaction swelled in my chest.
Fuck.
How was I going to protect her when I had to sneak around at all hours of the day and night? When I had to make hunting down a weapons dealer a higher priority than claiming her? I was the worst mate, undeserving of a female. Undeserving of any female, but especially a female from Earth.
Oran crossed his arms, feet planted like he was preparing to take a hit. “We have no choice, Alarr. She’s coming. She’s ours. We will protect her. Pleasure her regardless of the orders from Helion.”
“Are you reading my mind?” I asked.
“No. We’re all thinking the same thing. This situation is not what we wanted.” He pulled an arrow from the quiver across his back. “But we will find out who is using Viken as a stopover for their stolen weapons. And we will claim our mate. There are three of us. We will keep her safe, catch the bastard selling illegal weapons, and get the fuck off this planet.”
“The sooner, the better,” Teig agreed.
Grinning now, I took in the males I had chosen to join me in welcoming our mate to the family. Good fighters. Skilled. Honorable.
Family.
I nodded in agreement. The plan wasn’t ideal, but we had no choice. Our mate’s transport was imminent. We were still undercover. We had a mate to protect and a mission to complete. There were three of us. We could do both. “Let’s go. She arrives within minutes.”
Teig let out a whoop, and I couldn’t stop the grin on my face from transforming to a full smile in anticipation. What would she look like? Would she be bold or quiet? Wild or reserved? Curved and soft or lean and strong of body?
Did I care?
No. She was mine. My perfect match and I couldn’t wait to claim her.
3
Whitney, Trixon Resort Transport Room, Planet Viken
The wrenching pain of transport faded, and I blinked, trying to gain my bearings. I wasn’t a triathlete. I didn’t run stairs for fun or wrench and twist my body through space to travel to other worlds.
Until today.
Pushing up with my arms, I lifted my torso off the ground to look around. Perhaps it was best that I was lying on a cold, hard platform of some kind. Soft, silken fabric wrapped around me, and I looked down to find myself covered to my ankles in a shimmering gown that looked like dark chocolate candy against my mocha-colored skin. I could feel I had no bra or panties beneath, but when I glanced up and locked gazes with the three males devouring me with their eyes, I doubted I would need them.
Holy crap. They weren’t just any males. They were Viken and were as different as light and darkness. One stepped forward, his deep auburn hair pulled back and tied at the base of his neck. He looked like a Viking warrior of old, his fair skin, soft brown eyes, and red hair reminding me of the hot warriors I’d seen on a cable show I watched last year. But his uniform was pure outer space, Star Trek-style shit. Dark brown, a band of some kind around his arm and a space gun at his hip.
Yes, a space gun. Toto, we’re not in Kansas anymore.
He walked toward me and took a knee, holding out his hand. “I am Alarr, your mate.”
His hand was steady. Mine was not. I shook like a leaf as I pushed off the floor and accepted his help to rise. His touch was warm. Strong. I imagined those long, thick fingers working me over, and I shivered. I’d been on the planet for ten seconds, and I was already thinking about sex.
He smiled at me. “I am pleased to see you in the color of my sector. You are very beautiful, mate.”
“Get our mate a cloak. Now.” I turned at the sharp command and saw a fierce-looking male with military short blond hair and eyes that saw right through me. His look made me shiver again, my nipples hardened, and my pussy clenched with remembered pleasure.
It had not been him in the dream, but someone similar, a male whose voice demanded compliance. Dominance. And while I was on the other side of the universe, I’d woken up from my testing no more than thirty minutes earlier, the sounds and feelings from the it still flowing hot and wild in my blood. And that voice. Shit. He was hot.
I met his gaze and shivered again. No. Cold. Like ice. Ice that burned.
Warden Egara knew exactly what she was doing to us brides, didn’t she? Get us hot and bothered with the processing dream, then ship us off to hot, virile alien warriors with lust in their eyes and cocks as hard as rocks.
Both Alarr and the blond male were not even trying to hide their interest. Nor the way their cocks bulged beneath their pants. And as much as the intensity from the blond male made my pussy clench, I was grateful to have Alarr’s hand in mine, his calm, staid assurance that things with the ice man wouldn’t go too far.
I’d never been pushed out of my comfort zone when it came to sex. But I knew that was going to change, and the thought both thrilled and terrified me.
What the hell had I done? Given up my life on Earth, walked away from my apartment on the coast, the beach, the sand. Walked away from a family who’d ruined everything. Taken a chance. Started over.
Started over. Remember that. No rules. No history. Just me.
And them. My mates. All three of them.
Alarr led me to stand before the second male, his eyes were like blue ice, his focus on me, but it was Alarr who spoke. “Mate, this is Oran, your second mate. He, too, will protect you and see to your pleasure.”
Oran took my hand and bent low, placed a kiss on the inside of my wrist, a kiss that sent a ripple of awareness up and down my spine. Heat, not cold, spread from the small place he touched. “Hello, mate.”
He lifted his gaze, taking me in inch by inch. He lingered on my round hips, my full breasts where the fabric clung like a second skin. When his gaze reached my lips,
