She didn’t react to my comment about choosing a second, and I relaxed, enjoying the moment. Holding her. Feeling her in my arms.
“Where are we? I’ve never been in space before.”
“Sector 17. It is quite a distance from your home world of Trion.”
“Oh, um, well, yes. I transported from Trion, but I’m from Earth. Originally, I mean. I’ve been living on Trion for the last two years.”
“You’re human?” I asked, full of wonder. That explained the odd colored eyes, her smaller size. She was from Earth, like Lady Zakar. Yet they looked nothing alike.
“Yes.”
“Explain your presence on Trion.”
She shifted in my hold, and I allowed her to sit up but kept my arms around her. I was content to have her upon my lap, feel her softness, breathe in her scent. My cock, pressed into her hip, and was also quite content as she spoke of her friend, Natalie, who had mated a Trion councilor. She explained that she had escorted Natalie and her new son back to Trion and had made a life there for the past two years.
“So you were on Trion because of a friend, not because you’d been matched to a warrior from that planet?”
She shook her head, then studied me. “No. I wasn’t matched to Trion. I was matched to you.”
Those words from her lips… gods, they made me want to make her mine even more. I had to get my collar on her. Now. I wanted to know exactly what she was feeling when I saw that look in her eyes.
“It is customary for Prillon warriors and their mates to wear mating collars.”
Her gaze dropped to my neck again and she reached up with delicate fingers to trace the material I’d placed around my neck. “I know. I read about it.”
“Once I place my collar around your neck, our official mating trial will begin. You will have thirty days to accept my claim or choose another.”
“I know.”
“Your collar will remain black—unnamed—until you are officially claimed. Once you accept me and my second, your collar will turn green, to match mine, and you will be mine forever.”
She bit her lip, the warmth of her touch barely skirting the edge of my collar. That small touch had the muscles in my neck tensing in reaction. Wherever she touched, I burned. “Okay.”
“Yes? You accept my right to you for the thirty-day mating period?”
“Yes, Trist. I want the collar. I want to be with you. We were matched. I trust in that. I’m ready.”
Shaking at her simple words, I lifted the second collar and placed the slim black band about her neck. When it clicked in place, I felt her.
My chest felt as if it swelled. My uniform was too tight. I couldn’t breathe. And yet, I held on, allowed the chaotic rumble of her emotions to fill every empty place inside me. She was beautiful. Courageous. Passionate. Lust roared through her as it did me, and I knew her link to me would enhance her desire until her need matched mine. Her emotions moved through me in a sensual slide inside my mind. She was soft, feminine, loving, even in her thoughts. Gentle. Vulnerable. Unsure.
That last feeling was not one I liked. Not only did I need the males in this battlegroup to know she belonged to someone, I needed her to know that truth as well. She was mine. My match. My mate. No one else could have her. The collar proved my claim, even though the colors did not yet match. They would. I would do whatever was necessary to secure and protect what was mine.
The sight of that black band around her throat brought me great satisfaction, bordering on physical pleasure. I sighed, relaxed almost. She belonged to me now and no one else could, or would, ever have her.
She gasped and her eyes flared wide. “You’re… glad I’m here.”
I smiled. “Yes, mate. Very glad.”
“How do I know that?”
“The collars, they connect us.”
Her hand lifted to her own neck, her small fingers sliding along the smooth surface. “I’d heard about the collars, about Prillon life, from the warden on Trion. She said Prillons mate in pairs. That I would have two mates.”
“I am now and forever your primary male.” I paused. “But, the warden on Trion was correct. You shall have two warriors to adore and protect you.”
Desire spiked through the collar and I nearly groaned. Gods, yes, she wanted that as badly as I. With a small frown, she looked about. “Who is my other mate?”