“Thinking.”
I barked out a laugh. “You don’t even know what I’m thinking.”
“I do know what you’re thinking. This is what you always do. We fuck up, then we fuck, then you hate yourself because we fucked.”
I looked over at him, hating that he was right. “That’s not what I was thinking,” I said halfheartedly.
He snorted and ran his hand gently down my naked back. “It was what you were thinking, pet. And you need to stop it. How can we ever move forward when you are always forcing us back?”
“I don’t trust you,” I whispered softly, staring into his eyes.
“We get that. And we’re going to keep proving ourselves to you. But you have to help us out. Hell, I’ve killed five Vepar since we’ve been here, all because they dared to look at you wrong.”
“Five?” I squeaked.
He grinned. “Don’t get squeamish on me now. You barely even flinched when I almost gutted Simeon like a fish earlier.”
“Something is wrong with you,” I replied.
His smile grew even wider at my words.
“Probably. But I know it does something for you when you see me go all crazy on anyone who is giving you a hard time.”
“Why did you three set me up for these tests?” I asked, ignoring his last statement because it was the truth.
“Because it’s what we want.”
“You want me to be your mate?” I asked.
Suddenly all the earlier levity disappeared.
“You can’t even comprehend how much. You think we made you our prisoner but it’s been the opposite all along. You’ve captured us. And the funny thing is...none of us want you to let us go.”
I couldn’t say anything in response. His words did something to me, they gave me hope that I’d been trying desperately to get rid of.
I laid back, unwilling to look at him anymore. I was too afraid of what he would see in my eyes.
“So how will this all work?” I asked, thinking about the trials and how a part of me actually wanted to win now.
“You mean being the mate of three Vepar?” Thane asked slyly.
I ignored him. “You know what I mean.”
“The trials used to be the opposite. It was the men who would compete for the woman’s attention that they were interested in mating with. When most Vepar women lost the ability to conceive the Council changed it. The thinking was that the strongest and most cunning women might have the best ability to have a child. It became a sort of culling strategy as the Council tried to fix the fertility issues.”
“How did they know that it wasn’t the men who were having the issues?” I said, feeling defensive for some reason for all the Vepar women.
Thane gave me a look. “Do you really think Corran wouldn’t have ruled out everything before going to drastic measures like thinking about mating with a human?”
I reluctantly couldn’t argue with that. I had never met anyone as brilliant as Corran, as obsessed with detail, and determined to get everything right. It still bit my insides however at the thought of the female Vepar having to prove their worth.
“You’re thinking about this the wrong way,” he says with a wry grin. “This goes back to our beginnings when both males and females did everything they could to show their ability to provide and complete the other person. This is no different.”
“I don’t see you and the others having to go through anything to show me you’re the best,” I remarked saucily, sparking hunger in Thane’s eyes. “Maybe there are other Vepar more suitable for me, more likely to produce strong offspring,” I taunted him.
Thane growled, his eyes began doing that glowing thing and suddenly I was a little bit afraid. When he spoke, it was like he had been possessed, like there were other voices mixing in with his own.
I couldn’t help but shiver.