I gave a slight shrug, looked her over and considered. “I do not doubt the bond between us.”
“I don’t even know you!” she shouted, tossing up her hands. She walked across the room, then spun around and came back our way, pacing as if she were on guard.
“I know enough to give you my collar,” I said, my words heavy. I’d never said them to anyone before, and I never would again. Lucy was mine. No other female would compare.
“I know you well enough to also wear a mating collar,” Sam added.
“What’s your favorite color? Do you like crunchy or smooth peanut butter? God, are you allergic to nuts? What about meat, do you eat it? Do you live in a house? What about you, Sam? Where do you live? I figured I’d marry one guy, but two is a struggle. I mean, do you even put the seat down? How am I going to survive two guys leaving the seat up?”
“What seat?”
“The toilet.” She was pulling at her hair, clearly on the verge of panic. “Oh shit. I forgot. Those implant things. Do you guys even pee anymore? They don’t on The Colony. It’s so weird. Everything is so weird.”
I stepped into her path and set my hands on her shoulders. “Slow down.”
Her green eyes narrowed as she looked up at me. “Don’t tell me to slow down. I’ve got an alien who wants to put a collar around my neck, and I don’t know how he feels about me except the sex. Sex is not a relationship.”
I held up the three collars, their lengths dangling from my fist. “Put the collar on and you’ll know everything. You have friends mated to Prillons. Lady Rone, Dr. Surnen’s mate.”
“Mikki.”
“Yes, the brilliant female who discovered the Hive’s water transport machines.”
“Yeah, they told me about them, how they can feel each other, know each other’s emotions, if they’re hurt or scared.”
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p; I nodded. “That’s right. You’ll know all of that, how Sambor and I feel about you, if you put on my collar. All your questions will be answered.”
“Just like that? The little things are what’s important.”
I bent at the waist so we were eye level. “Is knowing my favorite color truly important to a strong match?”
“Yes.”
It was important to know the nuances and character traits of another person. Especially one from a planet so different. Cultural differences alone were a huge impact on perspective, which was the issue at hand right now.
I lifted my hand and curled a strand of her soft hair around my finger. “It’s red.” I tugged her close and kissed her eyelid. “And green.”
She pursed her lips, but she wasn’t pacing anymore. Progress.
“Everyone you mentioned was matched through the Brides Program. They were tested and the match is almost perfect. None of them had to worry about leaving the cap off the toothpaste. I mean, you’re an ambassador and I was told about all your achievements as a fighter.” She pointed at Sambor. “You two are amazing. I’m… just me.”
“You are rare, not only in person, but in being unmated and no longer on Earth. Do you deny the connection between us? Is your pussy not wet for us?”
“My pussy should not be in charge of the rest of my life,” she grumbled.
“Put the collar on, Lucy. All will be revealed. Trust us, one more time.”
She rolled her eyes but turned her head to Sambor, who was still sitting on the side of the bed. He nodded. “I wish to share my every thought with you. How I feel. I wish to know you.”
She crossed her arms over her chest, the act was not one of defiance but more like a wall of protection. “If I put the collar on, we’re not going to be instantly mated, right?”
Something loosened in my chest at her words, the fact that she was considering it.
“An official claiming, where the collar changes from black to dark blue, only occurs when your mates take you together.”
Sambor stood, came over and moved behind her so she was between us, just as she would be when we claimed her. Not if.