“All due respect, Commander, but you don’t. Not yet. Not until you have a mate of your own.” Dorian stepped forward slightly, placing his hand on my arm as if he was protecting me from the commander. I expected the Prillon to take offense, but he seemed to understand the caveman maneuver, even sympathize with Dorian’s primitive nature. He was a good man. A great leader. And I wondered why he didn’t have a mate.
Commander Karter bowed slightly, just the slightest tilt of his hips, to me, not to my mates. “Lady Mills, based on the standard black on your collars, I see you have yet to claim these two as your mates.”
I flushed hotly then. While he no doubt knew we’d fucked like rabbits that first night, the collars didn’t lie about the lack of an official Prillon claiming. He knew what was required since he was Prillon himself. Seth and Dorian had to fuck me at the same time, to spill their seed in me. Only then would the collars change color and complete the match. It was like saying wedding vows, except for the fact I was going to have two cocks deep inside me. There was no going back. And unlike Earth, there was no divorce.
Seth and Dorian remained silent.
“Forty-eight hours, fighters. I don’t want to see the three of you before then. I don’t want reports from your supervisors telling me you’ve answered a mission ping. As far as I’m concerned, you’re on leave. And as for your mate’s role within the command center, I need her back at her post, healthy and happy, as soon as possible.”
“All due respect, Commander, but I don’t want my mate going on any more missions.” Seth’s voice was cold as ice.
I opened my mouth to protest, but the commander beat me to it. “The Hive set one trap. There could be more. She saved the entire battlegroup. She saved your lives as well.”
“Yes, sir, but that doesn’t mean I want her in any further danger,” Seth said. The hand about my waist tightened and he turned us around, led us out of the transport room.
“If I need her, she goes. There’s only one way she sits on my bridge, Captain. You know the rules as well as I do.”
“Yes, we do.” That was Dorian, and he was grinning. What the hell had just happened?
“And, Captains?” We turned slightly, to look at the commander. He pointed toward us. “Get those damned collars the right color.”
I’d thought I’d blushed before, but now I felt like my face was on fire. Nothing like your boss telling you to go get double penetrated by two hot, sexy mates.
Dorian flanked my other side. I felt small, sheltered and a little clueless. “What did Karter mean?” I asked.
“That he wants us to fuck you until you’re well and truly claimed,” Dorian said. “Until our collars turn gold.” He was so calm and even-toned about it, I would have expected him to be speaking of dinner or the weather—even though there was no weather on a battleship.
I rolled my eyes and Seth saw the action, grinned. “Not that, the other thing.”
Dorian nodded to someone who passed, then we turned a corner, went down another corridor. “About you going on missions?”
“Yes,” I replied, making sure he didn’t go into more detail about how they were going to claim me, like who was going to take my pussy and who was going to take my ass. I didn’t care which was which, and wondering what they would do was…exciting.
“As commander, Karter’s hands are tied about sending the most skilled team on a mission. He’ll risk any asset at his disposal to save his crew, to defeat the Hive.”
“Right,” I said, trying to prod him along. Why did he have to be so damned patient?
Perhaps Seth sensed my irritation, because he continued for Dorian. “There’s only one thing that will make it impossible for you to be sent out again.”
“And what’s that?”
“If you’re pregnant. They’ll risk soldiers. Officers. Entire ship crews, but the Coalition never risks its children. They are the one thing every warrior here fights to protect.”
I slowed at his words, but they kept going and stopped a few steps ahead of me.
“So you’re going to try to get me pregnant in the next two days so I can, what? Be chained to a desk?”
Dorian walked over, tipped up my chin so I had to look into his light eyes. “That is what the commander spoke of, not what we intend. Come, we will talk about breeding you in our quarters.”
I sputtered at that. “Breeding? I’m not a damn cow.”
Dorian grinned and took my hand. Seth winked.
I felt their lightheartedness through the collars and realized they weren’t serious.
Once we were in our quarters and the door slid closed behind us, I crossed my arms over my chest and tapped my foot. Waited. “This better be good.”
“We’ve talked about a baby before,” Seth began. He worked at the clasp of his thigh holster, took it off. “Hell, we’ve come deep in your pussy enough that you might be pregnant now.”