Tessa swallowed, trying to push down the thick lump that was lodged in her throat. “What do you want me to say?”
Rylan curled his fingers for her to come forward. She walked over to the chair farthest from the three of them and sat down, but it wasn’t nearly far enough away for her to not smell their intoxicating scents or feel the intense body heat that came from them.
“Didn’t our brother tell you why you were bought?” Soran asked seriously, but she didn’t miss how he kept scanning her body with his eyes.
“I told her.” Rylan’s voice was far deeper than the other two. All of the brothers’ skin was the same shade of red, not too dark, but not too light either. It reminded her of the color that she would see when the sun started to set over the great mountains on her planet.
“You seem intelligent, for a human,” Zarek said, but he didn’t make it sound as though it was an insult. He said it almost curiously but continued to eye her body too. Where Rylan’s dark hair was longer, Zarek and Soran’s black hair was cropped close to their heads.
All three had gotten rid of their long dusters and now only wore leather pants. Their chests looked chiseled out of stone—hard and defined, and so very wide. They were hairless, and she noticed wing-like marks etched into all of their backs before they had taken their seats.
Despite them looking very different, Tessa found them exotically attractive, as she assumed they found her exotic in appearance.
“Tonight shall be very pleasurable indeed,” Soran said with a harsh, animalistic growl.
“Soran, please,” Rylan gritted out and stood. He made his way to the cooking area, pouring four mugs full of pink liquid. Zarek grinned at her right before he stood and moved toward him, grabbed two of the mugs, and walked back to them. He handed one to Tessa, who took it and eyed the contents. It smelled fruity.
Rylan sat beside his brothers again, and she couldn’t help but feel like their prey as they watched her with hunger in their expressions. They leaned back as if in unison, brought their mugs to their mouths, and took hearty drinks, all the while keeping their gazes locked on her.
“Do you know anything about our kind, Tessa?” Rylan spoke clearly, but there was a harsh note to his voice, reminding her of a rusted blade. She shook her head. They had to know the humans that were alive kept hidden. “Our kind hits a point in our lives when the need to find a female and breed with her becomes unbearable.”
“Darkness will overtake us if we don’t find a mate,” Soran added slowly.
Tessa tightened her hands around her mug. So far, she thought she had handled everything quite well, but knowing what they wanted her for, to carry their young, had apprehension filling her. For one thing, their sizes were massive, and surely their children would be as well.
“This isn’t about fucking until there is nothing left to give, female. This is about claiming you, binding you to us, because you are ours,” Zarek said softly, but he didn’t look as stern as the other two. “We don’t want a female to lie on her back and accept everything we have to give because that is her fate.”
“We want a companion, a female to bear us children and live her life with us. We don’t want a slave, Tessa. Well, not unless that pleasures you.” Soran grinned, but it wasn’t lecherous.
How strange everything had turned out, so instantaneous and unbelievable, but then again, wasn’t that how life was? She had been living one day at a time, and after twenty-three sun cycles, she realized that nothing could be taken for granted, and the next day might never come.
That was how she lived her life, enjoying the small things and thanking the heavens that she had been able to see the next sunrise.
But then she had been taken, and these three males were her future now. She could run, jump to her very death over the cliff, and end all of this, but she didn’t want to die. These males were offering her safety, affection, and a family. Hadn’t she always dreamed of children, of having a man who looked upon her like there was no one else?
There might be desire in their dark eyes, but they also looked at her like they were so very lucky to have her in their lives. Could they want her that deeply after only being in her presence for such a short time? Yes, she knew it was possible with any species. Lust and love were very different.
And although she was only feeling one of those right now, she wondered if down the road she could possibly feel the other.