“My choice,” I replied. “Don’t I have thirty days or something like that? If I don’t like him after thirty days, I’m free.” That was my real goal. I was a pain in the ass, too brash, too pushy, too much of a bitch to find a man. I was supremely confident this alien wouldn’t want me either. Thirty days. I’d get the cobwebs out of my vagina, drive my new alien mate away—as I did every other man—and I’d be home with a nice bit of cash in the bank from the Interstellar Brides Program. Enough to start over. Maybe even start my own financial consulting firm. I couldn’t trade on the floor, but there were ways around that. There was always a side door in my business. Always.
And next time, I’d be the one with the fucking bank account in the Cook Islands.
“You’ll be matched to a male the computer selects, and you’ll have thirty days to accept or reject the match. That is true.” Her eyes narrowed, and she tilted her head as if I were annoying her. “This is not a joke, my dear. These warriors are honorable males who have fought and suffered and watched their brothers die. An Interstellar Bride is their ultimate reward. You will be cherished. Adored. Seduced and pampered. It will not be so easy to walk away.”
I didn’t snort or roll my eyes, but it was difficult. Me? The ultimate reward. Poor bastards. “My subconscious might determine where I’m sent, but I’ll either like the guy or I won’t. This mating will be on my terms.”
Warden Egara actually laughed, and I felt my cheeks burn bright red. “You’re not very familiar with the males of the Fleet, are you?”
“No. I worked seventy hours a week, focused solely on getting the corner office. I didn’t have time to do my own laundry, let alone learn about the men on all of the Coalition planets.”
“Yes, that’s obvious,” she murmured, swiping her finger across her screen. “Males on the matching planets are very dominant. They like to be in charge.”
I thought of the dream. He’d definitely been in charge.
“Some are from very male dominated societies. Women aren’t secondary, they are powerful and adored. But their males are very serious about protecting them.”
“I don’t need to fight or charge into battle to make up for the fact that I don’t have a set of balls, Warden,” I countered. That was Wall Street me talking, the woman who’d had to learn to talk like the men, wear a suit of armor and be the bitch to be listened to. “But I do have a backbone. And a mind of my own.”
“Trust me, he—or they—will know right off about that.”
I knew she was speaking to my more aggressive nature, but I wasn’t going to change now. I’d learned not to be a doormat, and I wasn’t going back to that scared teenage girl who’d constantly worried about being judged. Been there. Done that. Over it.
My aunt had told me it normally happened to a woman around the age of forty. But since I’d been in banking, in the good-old-boys’ club, I’d gotten there early. “And you know this first hand, Warden? How can you sit there and tell me what it’s like? Have you ever been to one of these planets? Met these males?”
She cleared her throat, tipped up her chin. “Yes, I have. I was matched to two Prillon warriors. I was mated to them for several years before they were killed in battle.”
All of my indignant anger fled. “Oh. I’m sorry.” I was. I could tell she loved her mates. “I was being bitchy, and I apologize. I admit, I’m nervous. It’s scary.”
“Yes, it is,” she confirmed. “But like you said, you’re taking control of your life. Your destiny. You’ve been matched, and I think you’ll be quite pleased. We haven’t had a mate reject their match yet.”
“No one? Not one woman has said no?”
“No. Not one.”
I sighed. “There’s always a first time.”
She cleared her throat, her brows raised. “You have thirty days to decide, but if you reject him, you won’t be coming home.”
“What?” This was not what I was expecting to hear.
“You’ll be matched to another male from the same planet. The first male is the best match, however, so keep that in mind.”
Oh, shit. That fast, this thing had gotten way too real. I’d miscalculated. “What’s the match, what planet?” I asked, suddenly nervous.
“You’ve been matched to the Colony, specifically to an Atlan.”
I repeated the planet name, knew nothing about it. A colony? For what?
“Not only do you have a mate, but you’ll have to contend with his inner beast as well. I had two warriors. You have one. A very, very big one if he’s like all other Atlans. And his beast…I have to assume…will be very dominating and intense.”
I remembered the growling. Was the guy from my dream an Atlan?
I swallowed. “Big? As in…everywhere?”
I flushed, and the Warden smiled again. “I would assume so. I have a few questions to finish out the testing. State your name, please.”
“CJ Ellison.” When the Warden just eyed me, I clarified. “Caroline Jane Ellison.”