That made him chuckle. “I am average size for a Warlord.”
“You said warlords get mates. So, they call you Warlord Rezzer,” I said, testing it out on my tongue.
He tipped his head slightly. “And you are Lady Caroline.”
“Lady?”
“All mated females are referred to as Lady. It as a term of the highest respect.”
“But I’m not mated.”
His green eyes narrowed, focused on me as if he had laser beams coming out of his eyeballs. “You are. The cuffs on your wrists mark you as mine. The seed slipping from your core mark you as mine. You are mine.”
I looked away. “But you don’t want me.”
He pushed off the wall, came over to me. Loomed. “That is where you are wrong. I didn’t want to be tested. But I’ve been yours since the moment I saw you. I will not give you up.”
He said nothing more, and I turned away, unable to believe him, no matter how much I wanted to. “Is that a window?” I asked, pointing at the space on the wall beside the table. It looked like some kind of curtain blocked out the outside, and I needed a distraction.
Rezzer reached out, touched a small button on the wall and the blind slowly rose, revealing the planet outside, the Colony to me for the first time.
I walked over and put my hand on the glass, stared outside. The landscape was barren and rocky, the ground a scorched mix of reds and brown stone with ragged looking vegetation fighting for life in twisted displays of tenacity. It reminded me of pictures I’d seen of the red deserts of Arizona. The sage. The cacti. I wondered if they had scorpions here. Or snakes.
“Is it anything like Earth?” he asked from behind me.
I realized he’d remained quiet as I saw my new world for the first time. I shook my head. “Not where I lived. My view was buildings. Buildings that touched the sky. Eighty floors and more. Concrete everywhere. No green. Swarms of people. I lived in a city. But I’ve seen pictures of places like this.”
“I don’t think I’d like that much. Atlan, where I grew up, is green. Verdant. Open.” His hand came down on my shoulder, squeezed gently. “Caroline, I didn’t want a mate. That is true. But I want you.”
I let my fingers slide down the glass. “What’s the difference?”
“A mate was any female in the universe. You are one of a kind. Mine.”
I thought about that as he continued.
“I can see now that you intentionally prodded me, made me angry, coaxed my beast. It worked, and for that I will be forever grateful. Why did you do it?”
I turned then, tilted my chin up to look at him. He pulled a chair out from the table and sat down. “Better?” he asked.
I nodded, thankful I didn’t have to crane my neck.
“Why, Caroline?”
I sighed, starting to like that he didn’t call me CJ. “Because when you said you’d take me to the doctor where I could choose another, you were being noble, thinking of me, not yourself.”
“You stripped naked because I was noble?” he added.
I blushed at that, remembering my boldness. I wasn’t feeling so bold at the moment. “I wanted to help you. And I…”
“You what?”
He’d bared his soul to me. How could I do less? “I didn’t want to give up the hope either.”
“What hope? What was your dream? Your heart’s desire?”
I sighed, suddenly feeling gullible again. Like a fool. “Warden Egara, well, the whole Interstellar Bride Processing Center actually, has been doing a really good job of recruiting mates. Promising the women something that seems impossible for someone like me.”
He frowned. “I don’t understand.”