“Kristin!” Rachel tugged on her arm, and Kristin allowed the other woman to pull her along with a chuckle.
“I’m not lying,” she said as she went through the doorway.
“Tyran and Hunt might have something to say about whose ass you can touch, and ass kicking qualifies,” Rachel reminded her.
“Not really,” Kristin disagreed. “I don’t take orders well. Not when it’s ass-kicking time.”
“You will touch no one’s ass, mate.” One of the big guys was talking to her, but he didn’t sound mad. He sounded… aroused.
Or maybe I just had sex on the brain. I had mentally prepared myself to be swept off my feet by two aliens and taken immediately to bed to be claimed—as the warden called it.
Their bickering faded as the door slid closed behind them, sealing me inside, naked under a blanket and speaking with a complete stranger who wasn’t even my mate. He seemed… gentle. A gentle giant, although I wasn’t going to tell him that.
What was I supposed to do now? Go with him? The warden had mentioned this thing about two mates with Prillons, but what did it mean when the guy you were matched to didn’t bother to show up?
I turned back to Trax, who still held my hand, his touch so light that I’d nearly forgotten he still held on to me. “The doctor is too busy to meet me. What now?”
He dropped to one knee before me and bent his head. My mouth fell open.
Was he proposing?
“I apologize for Surnen’s absence. Please understand when I say I am yours, my lady. Your mate. I will serve and protect you, die to keep you safe. Sacrifice all to make you happy. As a Prillon bride, I ask you now to accept my mating collar. This will connect you to your mates, but will not take on my family color until you formally accept our claim. The collar will keep you safe and inform all the warriors and fighters here on The Colony that you are ours and under our protection.”
“I thought you said you were my second.”
Trax offered the slightest of shrugs. “As Surnen is not here to be your primary mate, I have petitioned the Prime to grant me that right.”
What was he talking about? What right?
Trax pulled something from his uniform and held it out. It was the collar he spoke about, and it was identical to the ones I’d seen around Rachel’s and Kristin’s necks. But this one was black, metallic, but… not. It was made of some unidentifiable metal. I had no idea how it stayed about one’s neck as there was no clasp, but it was an alien thing, so I took it from his hand to have a closer look.
“It’s like a wedding ring, but around the neck?”
He looked up, frowned. “I do not know about this ring you speak of, but it is an outward sign that you belong to your mates. Does this… marriage ring form a bond between mates on Earth? Does it form a psychic connection and link your emotions?”
I shook my head. “No.”
“How do your males keep their mates happy if they cannot share emotions?”
“They don’t.” That was a bit rude to all men on Earth, and I heard the bitterness in my voice. Space aliens had no idea what beach bums and surfers considered a relationship. “Well, some of them do. But it’s not easy. They have to work at it.” My father was a case in point. Very traditional. A surgeon. My mother put up with his stern attitude and alpha-male bullshit and had for more than thirty years. I didn’t understand their bond, but I was grateful for it. Their relationship wasn’t perfect, but it was solid. I’d never been one of those kids who worried about dealing with a divorce.
“Prepare yourself, mate. You may be surprised by the power of the bond we will share.”
“All right.” As surprises went, I doubted it could compete with transporting to an alien planet and giving myself to a complete stranger or two. Not just a normal stranger, but an alien. Did they even have all the same equipment?
“How do I put it on?”
“First you must accept our claim and grant us thirty days to win your heart.”
“You say ‘our,’ but I haven’t met both of you. The doctor was my primary mate, but now he’s not?”
“As I said, he is not here, and I have filed a formal claim to be your primary male. He shall be my second.”
Ooookaaay. I hadn’t even met my match, so it was pretty hard to agree to anything. First, second, it didn’t matter.
The warden had said I could leave, and I trusted her word. She was too serious about this whole process to lie to me. She’d been human. Rachel, Kristin and Lindsey seemed happy here. I really had nothing to lose. And this guy? He wasn’t so bad.
Besides, I really wanted to get out of this room and maybe get some clothes on. I’d expected to be met by my mate and claimed by a big alien hunk who was so hot for me he couldn’t wait to kiss me and tell me exactly how perfect and beautiful I was. Instead I’d been met by practically everyone on the base except my mate.