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Sarah pointed her fork at me. “Exactly!” She chewed and swallowed. “The party will be tomorrow night. Dax isn’t keen on having it at our house, but only because he’s never done it before. I assured him that he would be fine.” She leaned in and whispered, as if her mate were nearby to overhear. “Atlan warlords aren’t big partiers.”
“Do I want to know how you assured him?” I waggled my eyebrows.
It was Sarah’s turn to flush.
“You’ll meet some Atlans and make friends. There will be other warriors’ wives and of course, Tia. I think she’s Deek’s cousin twice removed or something.”
I took another bite of the goju root. “Deek mentioned her and a few others who will be there. Her father, too. Angle or something.”
“Engel Steen. Dax said he’s a bigwig, in charge of all the supplies that go off world. He’s rich, too. Fought in the Hive wars for a long time before he came home. Tia’s his daughter. Apparently, Tia and Deek were promised to each other when they were kids, but then Deek never came back from the war in all those years, only being promoted and elected up the ranks. And when he finally did, he was in mating fever. Engel really wanted Tia to mate Deek, but Deek refused and Tia probably knew then that she wasn’t his mate—if she wasn’t aware of it before. Then you showed up.”
“And ruined his master plan?” I put my fork down and took a drink of wine. Atlan didn’t want for wine, which was great. It softened moments such as these when I wanted to take the fork in my hand and stick it in Tia’s eye. I hadn’t even met her, but I was insanely jealous of her having the slightest interest in Deek. Perhaps I had an inner beast of my own.
Sarah snorted. “I don’t think trying to force an Atlan warlord, an elected field commander, no less, to do anything he doesn’t want to do, is a master plan.”
“What do you mean, elected? Don’t they just get promoted, like normal soldiers?”
Sarah shook her head. “No way. The Atlans are hardcore badasses. If some puny human or Trion commander tried to give them orders on the battlefield, they’d probably get their heads ripped off. I saw Dax in action with the Hive. They’re fucking scary when they fight.”
“So, they elect their commanders?”
“Yep. And Deek was a commander over thousands of warriors. Which is why he’s famous now, and super-rich.”
Based on his house, it did seem that way, but Deek didn’t seem to be one to flaunt it. Of course, I hadn’t even left the house with him yet. Still, I’d struggled to get by after my parents died, spent my entire life living paycheck-to-paycheck. It was reassuring to know I didn’t have to kill myself working at a deadbeat job for an asshole boss any longer.
“And every Atlan woman on the planet is going to hate my guts,” I grumbled, poking at my Atlan potato substitute.
“Who cares? He wanted you.” She took another bite, studying my sullen expression as she chewed her food, then swallowed. “They paraded a lot of women through that prison, Tiffani. He rejected every single one of them. Dax said Tia went down there multiple times. He just didn’t want her. He wanted you.”
“I still don’t like her,” I replied.
Sarah laughed. “I feel sorry for her. She’s actually pretty nice… and harmless.” Sarah’s smile faded and I paid attention as she continued. “I don’t think she really wanted him, either. She just didn’t want him to die.”
“That’s… nice.” It was, but a hollow fear seized me at how close Deek came to being executed and that made me like her more and want to like her even less all at the same time. “Yeah, well, I saved him and he’s not going to die.”
“Damn straight.” Sarah picked up her wineglass and clinked it with mine.
“Let’s figure out what you should wear tomorrow night and then I’ll get going. I’m sure Deek is getting restless.”
“And Dax?” I asked, a hint of laughter escaping as I thought of our two huge, intimidating mates huddled in the tiny office nearby, trying to give us some girl time, but unable to go far from our sides. They said it was because of the cuffs and the pain that would cause us if we were too far apart, but I think it was because they just wanted to be as close as possible.
“You know their beasts.”
“I do?”
“Hell, yeah. They’re insatiable. I know Dax can only allow me to hang with you for so long before he’ll give in and track me down.”
I grinned. “And then?”
She raised her glass once more. “And then, they make us come until we remember why we never want to leave their sides.”
I clinked my glass to hers and we both sipped at our wine. Yes, my mate was quite possessive, not only of me but my time. I was thankful he understood my need to connect with Sarah, my only link to Earth. But she was right; Deek, like Dax, only had so much patience where I was concerned and he’d surely have me naked and begging again the moment we were alone.
My pussy clenched at the thought. God, yes, I loved being mated to an Atlan.
Chapter Seven