Seth barked with laughter, but there was no humor in the sound. Only pain. “I’m not dishonoring her. I’m saving her.”
I frowned. “From what?”
“From me. From grief. From loving a man who could die tomorrow. I’m not ready to stop fighting. I can’t go home, back to Earth. I’m different now. Too different for the mundane shit Earth people deal with every day.” He sighed. “I can’t have a mate. I won’t do that to her.”
“So you are a coward.”
I thought, perhaps, the human would punch me for such a statement. But his shoulders slumped and he closed his eyes in defeat. Let his head drop so his chin touched his armored shirt. “I suppose I am. I won’t leave a widow. Children with no father to protect them. If I accepted a mate, I’d be selfish, Dorian. I’d want it all. I’d want to fuck her until she had my baby in her. And then another. Pure and simple.”
Yes, his desire was one most males shared, from all planets. I agreed with him, but I could see his problem. His Earth problem.
“If there was no danger to her, no chance that she would end up alone and unprotected, would you accept her?”
He looked at me as if I were crazy. “Of course, but that’s—”
“Agreed,” I said, cutting him off. “I will be your second. You are a warrior. You will claim your mate as a warrior should, with a second to ensure her pleasure, protection and happiness. She will be cherished by both of us, as a Prillon bride would be. The risks you speak of would no longer be a concern. Should you die, I vow to care for our mate and protect our offspring. And I assure you—” I smiled then. “—she would be filled with that baby twice as fast if she belonged to both of us.”
“What the hell are you saying?”
“You would need to make the same vow to me. That if something happened to me, you would be there for our mate and children.”
That stunned Seth speechless, but I waited. He knew the ways of the Prillon warriors. He’d been in space long enough to know our custom. We always shared a bride to protect her from exactly what Seth feared. A Prillon bride was never alone, never abandoned. If one mate died, the other assured the care and protection of their mate and children. I very much had looked forward to sharing a mate with my cousin, but that was not to be. I respected Seth as a warrior. He was one of the few humans I counted a friend. And he’d saved my life more than once. I trusted him to care for a mate. To protect her, as I would.
But Seth was human, not Prillon. Humans, I had been told, were territorial, more like Atlan beasts than Prillon warriors. Perhaps the idea of sharing a mate was too difficult for him. There could be jealousy. Rivalry. Anger. Instead of making the closest of bonds with a shared bride, it would rip us apart. So I waited for him to consider my offer. I, too, knew the power of patience. Of silence.
When he raised his eyes to me, I saw hope, but also speculation. “And what if she refuses this arrangement? She was matched to me. A human. One man. She might not accept a second mate. Hell, she might be an uptight, puritanical freak who prays for forgiveness every time she has an orgasm.”
I couldn’t imagine such a female, but I had to assume there were some of such mind on Earth. Strange.
“Is this how you would describe your ideal match?” I asked.
“Hell, no.”
I nodded, pacified. I doubted a warrior as strong as Seth would be attracted to such a female. And if that was not what he wished for in one, that would not be the match that had been made. “Accept her. I will be your second. And we will seduce her together. We will convince her that two mates are better than one.”
Seth held out his hand in the odd way humans did to seal an agreement. “She will have final say. And if she doesn’t want both of us, she goes home, or to someone else. I won’t leave a widow behind crying over my grave.”
I placed my hand in his. “Agreed. But unless you don’t know how to bring a woman pleasure, I am not concerned with that possibility.”
He scoffed at my obvious insult. “You talk a big game, Prillon. You don’t know what Earth women are like.”
“Enlighten me.”
Seth shrugged. “Clingy. Needy. Soft. They don’t like to get their hands dirty.”
“I do not require my female to be dirty. I want her to need me and to be soft.” My head buzzed with confusion. “Is this how you describe Trinity? Is she not an Earth female?”
Seth chuckled. “She’s not a woman, she’s a soldier, like my sister, Sarah. Soldiers are different. Hard. Tough. They’ll lead you around by the balls and run your life. I don’t want that either.”
“What do you want?” I asked.
“Hell if I know. If your subconscious bride matching system works like you aliens claim it does, I guess we’re about to find out.”
Indeed.
Chloe
* * *