“Mate,” he growled.
“Mine,” I replied.
I pulled my head back enough to look into his eyes, then over his shoulder at Blade. I reached out my hand, and he took it, felt his strength, too.
Needed it. It was as if I’d lost the connection, their energy, when they left Rogue 5. But now, god, I was addicted and didn’t want to live without this feeling, without them, ever again. Every minute they were away was agony. I’d been restless, nauseated. Panicked, even. Scribe and Ivar had done their best to reassure me, to tell me of their fighting prowess. They’d even gone so far as to say my mates’ blood lust, their need for revenge would protect them.
I saw it as blinders, potentially putting them in harm’s way. But I’d been wrong. Thank god.
“Are you hurt?” I asked, looking them both over as best I could. I didn’t see any blood, no dirt or torn clothes. It didn’t even appear they’d been in battle at all. Not any battle I was used to.
I felt Styx’s chuckle. “Harper, we know your healing nature. We would not come to you injured or bloody. You’d take one look, start fussing over us, and we would never get you between us in bed.” He squeezed my bottom with his hand, the message unmistakable. “We won’t wait to claim you, Harper.”
I heard what he wasn’t saying, that they would bite me soon, but that wasn’t what I focused on. “You mean you came back injured and went to the med unit to be healed so I wouldn’t worry?”
Styx rolled his eyes. I’d never seen him do it before and I had to assume I was the only one who could frustrate him like this. Or he’d picked up the very human body language from me. Seeing an alien warrior mimic the motion made me grin.
“Harper,” he growled again.
Blade released my hand, came around and pressed into me from behind. “We were not injured, mate. We promised to come back to you. Did you doubt us?”
I turned my head to look at Blade over my shoulder, but instead he kissed me. His lips were hot, firm and eager. It seemed he didn’t really want an answer.
“You are mine, Harper,” Styx said. “I gave you a choice. You could have refused us. You could have gone back to the Coalition. You chose to submit. Willingly. I am done waiting, mate. The bite will make you mine forever. I am not human. There are no second chances.”
I heard his words as Blade’s mouth was on mine, his tongue delving, learning me once again. When Blade lifted his head, he held my gaze. “Forever, Harper.” I nodded. To the kiss, to Styx’s words, to Blade’s promise. To everything.
“Willingly,” I repeated, breathlessly. “I wanted you before you went with Doctor Mervan.”
Styx’s voice was quiet, calm, but brooked no argument. “We heard the truth in your words, wanted you with a desperation you can’t imagine. My balls ache with the need to claim you. But we would not be deterred from finishing the Kronos traitors. They stood in the way of more than us being together. They would have brought down all Rogue 5.”
His voice carried the tone of authority, that of the leader of Styx. While I saw the heat in his eyes that was solely for me, I knew, deep down, that if I wanted Styx, if I loved him as he was, I couldn’t stifle his need to be in control. It was who he was at the core. And if I were to be the mate of the Styx leader, I had to understand that Rogue 5 would be his mistress. The names inked into his flesh a weight he would always carry, that I would be expected to help him bear.
I was fine with that. I would allow him to be
the leader he was born to be, and he, in return, would allow me to do what was in my heart, what was in my nature. To help others. He would not deny me that, and Blade would be beside me to keep me safe as I healed those in need. Like at the mating feast, I’d healed Kronos who’d tried to kill all of us, but he’d watched over me as I did. Perhaps that was why we were perfect for each other. We fed each other’s needs, and in this instance, I didn’t mean sexually. I was someone Blade could protect, Styx could be bossy and dominant with—and I did mean sexually. And I would be there to heal them, to soften their heavy burdens of running the legion. The dynamic worked.
We worked.
“They also were a danger to you. The rogue Kronos,” Blade added.
His pale hair was long down his back, not pulled back as usual. Neither appeared to have come from a battle. They were clean, their uniforms crisp. Either it was a tame fight they’d gone off to or they really had returned and cleaned up before coming to me. I had to wonder if they had been injured and wouldn’t tell me. That was taking the whole protective thing a little too far. I would find out the truth, but not now. I knew which battles to pick, too.
“And now?” I asked, picking up on the word “were” in Blade’s statement. They would not be standing before me, heat in Styx’s eyes and the hard press of their cocks against me if it wasn’t over.
If I wasn’t safe.
If it wasn’t time for them to bite me, claim me, make me theirs.
Maybe being whole and clean was a good thing. Nothing stood in our way—just as Styx had said—of being together. Not even the time it took to bathe. I was quickly becoming overheated. Both their bodies were so warm pressed against me. And the kisses. God, I was going to burst into flames once they got me in bed. My nipples pebbled against Styx’s chest, my pussy ached, and my panties were ruined. And we were still fully clothed.
Ivar cleared his throat, prompting me to his presence, and Scribe’s.
Holy crap. I was plastered between my men, and I’d completely forgotten their presence.
Styx inclined his chin and thanked them. I didn’t look. I didn’t want to see laughter or annoyance or any other emotion in either of the men’s eyes. I was mortified, and that was enough.
However, out of the corner of my eye, I saw them offer a deferential nod, then exit the room. Their job was done. I was safe, and their protection was no longer required.