Holy shit. I was in deep fucking trouble here.
“Don’t call me that.” The warden’s voice sounded, for the first time since I’d met her, flustered.
Ryston answered her. “You will always be a lady of Prillon Prime. Your mate’s brother sends his regards.”
Maxim must have worked to control his emotions because the blast of sensation from him faded and I took a deep breath, grateful that I was back in control of my body. In control, but I wouldn’t stop the memories from flooding me now that I had two men of my own. Two mates. Two huge bodies to lay me between them. Two huge cocks to stretch me open, fill me up, make me scream…
Holy shit. That processing dream was suddenly on a running loop in my head and I couldn’t think about anything but fucking. Being taken. Claimed. Wanted.
Lust was too tame a word for the spiral of emotions spinning through me. Mine. Maxim’s. Ryston’s. I couldn’t tell which desires were mine and which were theirs. But their emotions tasted different in my mind. Maxim like a cold, banked fire, so intense that touching it would singe me to the bone. And Ryston, he was like a wild storm inside me, ardent, impatient and eager.
“Control yourself.” Maxim’s command barely penetrated, but soon after both of my mates must have shut down their emotions as much as possible because suddenly, I could think. I was still thinking about their cocks filling me, their hands all over my body, but at least I could think.
Maybe that was the worst of it.
Opening my eyes, I found that Maxim had carried me to stand inside a strange room with blue lights glowing all around us. Beside us, on the floor, was an odd pool of bright blue water that looked, and smelled, oddly inviting.
Ryston stood beside us. But he wasn’t looking at the warden. His pale golden eyes were focused completely on me.
And just that quickly, I gasped, jerking in Maxim’s arms as Ryston’s emotions flooded me. Longing. Fear of rejection. Hope. Desire. Anger that I’d been threatened. Shame at needing to touch me, but stubborn pride in his ability to resist.
Everything feminine and gentle in me responded to my mates’ pain. I needed to soothe them. I needed to offer comfort in the face of such stoic emotional agony.
“God, I’m in trouble here.” I muttered the words to myself, but both of my mates’ faces turned to focus on me. And they focused. Completely. As if nothing else in the universe mattered but what I might say next. It was uncanny and wonderful all at the same time.
I held out my hand to Ryston, unable to deny him what he so desperately needed for another moment.
His giant golden hand wrapped around mine and I was flooded with his gratitude and contentment, his longing to make me happy, even before he spoke. “My contaminated flesh does not frighten you?”
I squeezed his hand and squinted at him in confusion. “Contaminated flesh?”
Years of physiology and biochemical knowledge jumped to a red-alert status in my mind as I waited for his answer. No matter what was wrong with him, I could find a way to fix it. Figuring out biochemical reactions was my life. Well, was my life. Before GloboPharma, and prison, and…aliens.
Maybe these aliens needed me. Maybe I could be useful on their planet. The prospect of having a puzzle to solve almost made up for my concern over Ryston’s health. Almost. “What do you mean? What are you contaminated with? Where is it?”
Maxim’s quick intake of breath meant I’d said something unexpected even before both of their reactions flooded my mind. Shock. Disbelief. Confusion.
“This, mate. My face. My eye. Maxim’s arm. We both carry lasting marks from our time with the enemy.” Ryston lifted his free hand to point to the silver markings in his temple.
I studied the unique, computerized-looking circuits that had been imbedded in Ryston’s flesh. The entire area was no larger than my palm. Not exactly an overwhelming piece of body art. I wanted to touch it, just to see what it would feel like under my sensitive fingertips, but that was all. And my hope for something useful to do with my future faded as well. “Everyone has scars. Yours don’t bother me.”
It was the truth. A few odd silvery lines? Big deal. I’d seen tattooed bikers with their entire upper torso inked in full-color chaos including skulls, naked women, Celtic designs, animals and all kinds of craziness. I’d seen people who had survived fires, the scars much larger and more obvious than a small streak of silver. Hell, I’d seen worse in the radiology wing of the cancer treatment center.
Ryston’s smile made my heart hurt and he bent down to kiss the back of my hand he held. “You are truly a miracle, mate.”
“I wouldn’t exactly say that.” I didn’t understand what the big deal was but apparently, my reaction mattered. A lot. Maxim’s response was nearly as strong, his emotions bombarding me with hope and relief.
My mates needed to get out into the world and see some truly gruesome things if they thought I’d be turned off by a shimmer of silver in their skin. Please.
They broke me out of prison. They pretty much had me at Hello.
Maxim kissed the top of my head and I was irrationally delighted by the gesture, my chest flooding with warmth at his open display of affection.
I shouldn’t care. Emotional attachment was completely irrational. I’d known these two for all of fifteen minutes. But I did care. For some reason, I cared more than I was ready to admit. And after being alone through the arrest, trial and incarceration, it felt good to be held, to be touched. To be cherished—at least that was what the collar was making me feel.
“We are ready for transport, Warden.”
“Not quite, Governor. While I implanted her NPU so you would understand each other and communicate, her body has yet to be processed for transport to the Colony.”