d I wouldn’t be able to respond.
And so, with a willpower stronger than I’d ever used before, I gripped her under the arms and lifted her up, sat her on the desk once again.
The air was cool on my wet dick and my balls ached for release.
“You think we doubt your honor?” I asked.
Her chin tipped up. “Well, something is obviously wrong with me.”
“You are perfect, female.” I meant it. Perfect.
“I don’t wear your collar.”
Ah, that was it. She must have seen a Prillon claiming in her testing dream, knew of the collar’s importance.
“You arrived from Earth in the midst of death and destruction.”
“I’m not afraid of death,” she replied. “I came out here for a reason, Kaed.”
I felt… proud of her in that moment, realized she hadn’t been the least bit panicked at her odd arrival. She’d jumped right in, offering help to the wounded, even if it were just holding a hand, giving a smile and words of encouragement to our injured warriors. She hadn’t feared the danger. But I had, for her.
“No, you were not.” I tipped my head toward Ronan. “Neither is your second. But with your lack of fear comes my responsibility. I am the leader of this battlegroup, Erica. My life is wracked with guilt, grief, anger. Hatred. So many negative feelings would come through the collar, just from me alone, that I am not sure you would survive a connection to both of us with your mind intact.”
She frowned. “I could die? Are you telling me that if you two put your collar around my neck, it might kill me? Because I’m calling bullshit on that one.”
“No, but sometimes, perhaps you will wish you had. The collars connect us, Erica. Not just sexual pleasure, but all emotion. The good and the bad. I will not burden you with a connection to me. To what I must endure in my role as a fleet commander. As for Ronan… I can only imagine the pain and depth of feeling he’s had from being in the I.C.”
“You don’t know either, you can only imagine,” she countered. “With the collars, you’d know.”
“I can handle his energy, for it is a twin to mine, no doubt. But you won’t be able to handle that kind of burden from both of us. I won’t allow you to endure it.”
She hopped down, went around the desk and paced. “You won’t allow it? Who made you the decision maker? We’ve been matched. We’ve been mated. The testing would have given you a mate who can handle whatever you have to offer.”
Ah, her words rang true. My mate was not weak, but strong. Perhaps too strong. “I will not allow you to handle the burdens of my command.”
“We are at a stalemate then,” she replied. Ah, was she fierce. There wasn’t a meek bone in her body. “Perhaps I will have to change your mind.”
Her gaze dropped to my cock, which was still hard. It wouldn’t go down until I came deep inside her. And then, I wondered if even that would tame my need.
“You think to fuck me into compliance?” I asked.
“That’s what you tried to do to me.” Her arms crossed over her chest again.
The corner of Ronan’s mouth tipped up, and I didn’t need to read his mind. She was right. We had.
“And you wished to suck my cock for mine,” I countered.
She arched a brow, not denying it.
“So we drown in sex until one of us compromises,” she offered.
I looked to Ronan who only arched a blond brow. She was being transported to Prillon Prime and Prime Nial the moment we took her to the transport room. The coordinates had been set.
She understood now why I refused to collar her. That seemed to be enough to appease her, at least for the moment. A détente in this one topic. If she was this angry about the collar, shipping her off to safety would not be met with happiness. She would fight me on that decision as well. I could easily overpower her, force her to leave, which might become necessary. Her safety was not up for any kind of compromise or negotiation.
And so I would take this time before she hated me to have her again. To sink into the feelings of being with Erica, in Erica, the pleasure I felt even without a collar. For when I set her on the transport and gave the order to the tech, she would hate me. Perhaps even choose another mate before her return from our homeworld.
But she would be safe and that was all that mattered.