“No.” Lev’s eyebrow arched again.
“Never.” Tor’s hands clenched into fists.
I did not respond, for my answer was the same. No. Never. I would never abandon my people to the offspring of another male. They were my people. My child would inherit the sacred mantle of leadership.
“And now you understand. You must all mate her.” The regent raised his hand to silence me as I opened my mouth to argue. “You weren’t asked to be born the three rulers of the planet. You didn’t ask to be separated as infants. You were meant to be together, as one. You were born to rule, but your life has been, and will be, full of sacrifice. For the sake of the planet, for future generations, the feuding must end. Our warriors must once more rise in service to the Interstellar Coalition. We must protect our planet from the Hive, not fight amongst ourselves. If we do not once again meet our warrior quota, we will be removed from coalition protection. I received word that we have eighteen months to comply, to once more contribute to both the bride program and the warrior ranks, or Viken will be abandoned. I would see Viken unified and strong again. Protected. Proud. Before I die, we must restore Viken to its place as a powerful force in the fight against the Hive.”
The Hive was a race of artificial beings that killed indiscriminately in their search for resources and new biological beings to assimilate into their collective. They took all free life forms and implanted them with technology, neuro-processors, and control mechanisms that stole a living creature’s mind and soul. All member planets in the Interstellar Coalition contributed resources, ships, and warriors to the ongoing battle with the Hive and their indiscriminate evil.
The Hive had to be stopped. And the regent was correct. Viken had not sent its full quota of warriors, or brides, for many years. The thought that we might be abandoned had not occurred to me. The threat to the planet was real and unacceptable. Two solar cycles was barely enough time to breed a female and see the child born. Which meant we were truly out of time and out of options. I hated him for this, for telling us the truth. But I knew what must be done, no matter how much I didn’t want to think of it.
“You have remained outside of the realm of interstellar politics and government, until now. Now, you must step up to the mantle and accept the responsibilities you were born to bear. All of Viken must be protected. We must be united. Viken must be strong. That is the truth, and it’s the dream for which your parents sacrificed their lives.”
Lev growled. “They died not because of peace, but because of war. The rebel factions hunted and murdered them in a bid for power. The Viken civil war ended because you split us up, not because you kept us together.”
“You were babies then and could not yet rule,” the regent added. “Now, now you have returned to Viken United, to the central sector of our planet to bring peace, not in a short-term measure, as your placement was, but forever. You three must put aside your differences and become a true united front. Together you will be powerful. Three brothers. One infant. One future.”
“Fuck,” Tor murmured. They were my sentiments as well. There was no escape from the regent’s plan. There was no escape from the need to protect our people from both the Hive and the rebel factions on our own world. The rebels wanted a return to tribal ways, to a hundred different sectors, each with their own ruler, their own agenda. They wanted to return to the way Viken lived hundreds of years ago, before we became a member of the interstellar community, before Viken was one planet among many.
The rebel faction leaders wanted war and strife, they each wanted to rule their own little kingdom with absolute control and iron fists. They wanted to believe they were omnipotent. Gods.
They were antiquated ideas leftover from thousands of years of culture. They had no place in the new world, in a world where the Hive could wipe out our entire planet’s population in a matter of weeks if our foolish ways left them unprotected. We needed our warriors out in space, on the battleships, not bickering over backyard crops and women.
“You could have told us about the coalition’s demands, about the warrior quotas falling,” I said. “You could have told us about your plan, about our bride.”
My brothers crossed their arms over their chests and nodded.
The old man arched one gray brow. “And would you have agreed? Would you have submitted to the matching process?” The regent tilted his head, the expression on his face one of relief. We were done arguing. He’d proven his point. I was not unreasonable, and neither, it would appear, were my brothers. We had not agreed, but we were listening.
Tor rubbed his jaw. “How did you match one of us? And to whom was this bride matched?”
The regent actually looked embarrassed, the pink in his cheeks a color I’d never before seen on his lined face. “The medical checkup you each had last month was a ruse for the testing. We sedated you and completed the testing while you were in a dream state. Some was done while you were completely unconscious.”
At his words, I shuddered. I knew exactly what he spoke of. I’d gone in for a general health screening, as was required, and woken sweating, with my heart racing. The experience had been unusual. I’d never woken in a med unit with a hard cock before. Nothing I thought of had broug
ht it down. I’d had to excuse the doctor and use my hand to alleviate the discomfort. It had been some kind of dream, something so intense that I’d been beyond aroused. The fuck if I remembered what I’d dreamed. “So, which one of us is her match?” I wanted to know. I needed to know. I did not want to fuck a female who wasn’t mine. I’d do it once, if that was required to protect the planet, but I would not bond with her, I would not allow myself to care for her if she wasn’t mine.
The regent chuckled. “All three of you. We combined your profiles in the program and she was matched to you, combined. She will not only accept all three of you, in the manner you each prefer, but she will need each of you to be truly happy. Each of you possesses a trait she needs, something she craves, something she will require to be made content.” The regent paced, his hard gray boots peeking out from his robe as he walked. He wore a soft robe with battle-ready boots imbedded with blades. Soft words, followed by the sting of an iron will. The look suited him. “I did not wish to bring you here until the match had been made, until the transfer was to occur. I could not risk one of you refusing her.”
Since that was blatant fact, none of us replied.
“Fine. Fine,” Tor repeated. “So we are supposed to fuck this woman until we breed her? In the same room? At the same time?” he asked.
The regent shrugged. “You can share her, or you can take her one at a time. I’ll leave the details to you.”
Tor nodded. “Good. Then she will travel from sector to sector and we will each fuck her.”
Regent Bard held up his hand. “As I said, you must each take her in a short time allotment to ensure that all of your seed merges and you all have an equal chance of siring. While fucking her together is not required to breed her, the mating laws do require—”
Lev ran his hand over the back of his neck and stood to pace. “Are you serious?”
Tor moved away from the wall. “We don’t even like each other and you expect us to come all over her at the same time?”
Anger flared at what the regent required. Taking turns was one thing, but together? We hadn’t laid eyes on each other in thirty years and we were supposed to fuck her together?
The regent held up his hand again. “The law is clear. You know that a mating union must join all parties as one. In your case, with the three of you as her mates, you must all claim her at once. Otherwise, the bond is not sealed and she will be forever shunned.”
Tor crossed his arms over his chest, his body rigid. Clearly, he didn’t like that idea. “She will bear the child who unites the planet. How could she be shunned?”