Her response made my heart skip a beat.
Open your door, Miss Nichols.
No way. No freaking way three aliens were standing on my front porch. I had to wonder if this were a dream.
I set my phone down on the kitchen table as I passed, making my way to the front door, practically tiptoeing the closer I got. More shocked than anything, I opened it wide and stopped breathing altogether.
“Holy crap.”
Three huge men stood on the other side of the door dressed like they’d purchased their entire wardrobe at a cheap Florida souvenir shop. Marlins baseball hats, floral Hawaiian style shirts, pastel Bermuda shorts and even flip-flops. They looked ridiculous. They were only missing the camera about their necks and the sunburn. Were they supposed to be dressed to blend in? The outfits might disguise the average human on the beach, but these three? It was obvious, at least to me, they were far from human. They were all at least six-feet six, built like football linebackers, yet were pure muscle. The only place I’d seen anything like them—minus the ridiculous clothing—was a show on TV about Vikings. Big Vikings. These three were not exactly low profile. With the hats? Giants of pure alien muscle.
Hot, humid air blew into my face from outside the air conditioned cool of my living room and my robe flapped around my legs. I realized I hadn’t bothered to tie it and I was standing there, half naked in front of three aliens. Three strangers who thought they had a right to my body. To my life. My future. My everything. They we
re my matches. From Viken. Here, in Florida. On my stoop.
Rage boiled up inside me, replacing my nerves and anxiety with power.
“Go home, boys. I’m not in the mood.” I slammed the door, or tried to, but the one in front, with glacier blue eyes and a jaw so square a carpenter could use it for measuring corners, lifted his big hand and stopped the door cold.
“You are magnificent, Violet. I am your mate, Zed, and you will not bar us from your home after we travelled thousands of light years to meet you. That would be dishonorable, mate, and completely unacceptable.” He tilted his head to the side and looked down at me, way down, with a glint in his eyes that let me know he would not be bargained with, no matter what I did or said.
I should have held on to my anger. Instead, my nipples grew hard and my pussy clenched with heat at the sound of his voice, the tone, the sharp bite. Damn it.
His gaze drifted over me, taking in the change in my body through the thin material of my tank and I pulled the robe closed to hide my reaction from him. Too late, if his knowing grin was any indication. “You are most definitely mine.”
The words made me shudder, my knees threatened to buckle and I couldn’t stop staring at his lips. Why wasn’t he purple with fangs and big horns coming out of his head? Not that there was anything wrong with an alien if they were like that, but that was so not my type.
But him? Them? Damn it. I was in trouble. They were all drop-dead-gorgeous. Better than the poster of the Trion male I’d seen on my way to the bride center.
But he did have a point. They were here. They had come a long, long way. I’d been raised better than this. And just because I let them in didn’t mean I had to agree to anything they wanted.
Warden Egara promised they wouldn’t hurt me. From what I’d read about the Interstellar Brides Program, the alien warriors who got mates treated them like precious princesses…if you believed the hype. And since they couldn’t exactly transport me off Earth from my living room, I could let them have their say, explain things about my sister and send them home to get a new bride. Or mate. Or whatever.
He was right, I owed them this.
I stepped back and held out my arm to indicate they should come in and take a seat. They filed past me one by one and my entire system went on high alert, the processing center dream coming back to me in full force.
But now I had faces to add to the fantasy. Hulking muscles and intense gazes to add to the mix. None of which was helping me remain calm. In fact, I was more agitated than I’d ever been. Even more upset than when I listened to my sister’s stupid message.
These aliens were here for me. They wanted me. They wanted to fuck me and claim me and take me back to their planet. Me!
I swallowed hard. What had I done?
I closed the door and leaned my forehead against it for just a second, hoping the cool metal would stop the shaking that had started all over my body. Closing my eyes, I silently counted to ten in an effort to fortify my defenses. My mind was in open revolt, screaming at me to kick them the hell out. But my body? God, it was defying all attempts to maintain control. I could smell them now. Man and musk and something so fucking addictive I almost couldn’t think.
Which left my heart as the deciding factor, and damn if the wounded organ wasn’t curling up in a ball of hurt inside me demanding I take what these aliens were going to offer. Home. Family. Love. Protection. Sex that would blow my mind and leave me begging for more. I just knew all of that to be true. Warden Egara had said as much when I’d changed my mind.
“Shit.”
“Cursing does not become a female as beautiful as you are.” That was the ice-man again, Mr. Blue Eyes. Zed. I didn’t know why, but it felt like he was the one I most had to worry about. The most dominant. The one whose word would be law with no negotiation. But, the others had yet to speak, to do anything but stare at me as if they wanted to toss me over their shoulders and carry me to the nearest horizontal surface.
“Sorry.” Jeez. Why was I apologizing? But it was true. I never cursed. My sister? She had the vocabulary of a sailor, so I generally let her speak for both of us when that type of language was…required. And why could I understand them? Their mouths were making odd shapes, clearly not English, but I understood them perfectly.
The pounding in my head localized to the new bump behind my ear and I frowned. The weird technology that huge needle had punched into my skull still hurt. But at least it worked. If they were spewing unintelligible nonsense, I’d be panicking right now.
At least I knew when I told them to get the hell out, they’d understand every word I said.
Turning around, I couldn’t stop the huge smile that spread across my face as I took in the scene. Three huge aliens, shoulder to shoulder, still looking like Vikings on vacation, sitting politely in a row on the tiny couch we’d bought at IKEA. They looked like adults in a pre-school sitting on the tiny plastic chairs designed for four-year-olds. Bare knees scrunched up. Arms bunched in front of them so they’d all fit. “Why don’t one of you move to the chair?”