“I want you. Both of you. My life’s not a Disney princess movie. I don’t want a shiny palace.”
“Everyone must have something that they’re passionate about. Work of some kind. You mentioned your desire for a female… what was the word?” I asked.
“Spa.”
I nodded. “Yes, that’s it. If it is a dream of yours, it must be fulfilled.”
A smile spread across her face and Sambor sighed. I felt his satisfaction through the collar. I’d made her happy. Thank fuck.
“I would love that, but really, right now I just want to be with you. Both of you.”
She stepped into Sambor and placed her hand on his chest. I closed the distance between us and took her other hand.
“Nothing else matters except making my collar turn blue. I… I can’t stand it being black. I thought it was going to stay that way forever.”
I shook my head. “No, mate. We shall wait no longer. It is my greatest desire—”
“And mine,” Sambor cut in.
“—to make you ours.”
* * *
Sambor
Any chance of a traditional Prillon claiming was long gone the second we crash-landed on that asteroid. Yes, a public claiming was a custom that went back hundreds, if not thousands of years. Formality didn’t matter when it came to Lucy. It wasn’t important.
All that mattered was that we were together. When the door to Lucy’s quarters slid closed behind us, the rest of the universe was left behind. The Hive, my job, Niklas’s work was forgotten. All of it would be there tomorrow. Waiting.
Tonight we would make Lucy ours, claim her, turn the collars to Lorvar blue. It was the only thing I could think of. Lucy, the only thing I saw. The collars made it so that she and Niklas were the only things I felt.
“You understand what a Prillon claiming entails?” I asked, undoing the strap on my thigh holster, laying it and the ion pistol on the table beside me, not taking my eyes off Lucy.
Her tongue darted out, licked her lips. I sensed her eagerness, her arousal.
“You mentioned a little about it when we were at the palace.”
Yes, and I’d worked my thumb into that tight ass of hers so she’d know what it would be like.
“We’ll both take you,” Niklas said, reaching for the hem of Lucy’s shirt and lifting it up. She raised her arms to help. When he dropped it to the floor, she was bare from the waist up, her freckled, pale skin reminding me of stars across the galaxy. “I’ll be in your pussy.”
“I’ll be in your ass. I can’t wait.” She was going to be so snug. Fuck.
“Jessica’s claiming was broadcast to the entire planet,” she said.
I slid a finger along her shoulder and down her arm to her elbow, watched the goose bumps rise. “To Prillon Prime and beyond. To most reaches of the universe, for those Prillons fighting far and wide to know that their Prime had found the perfect mate.”
“Our claiming will not be shared,” Niklas said. “I do not want to wait.”
We hadn’t discussed it, but I knew we would not share Lucy with anyone. The sight of her bare skin, the way she responded to us, cried out, surrendered was for us alone. Because our first night tog
ether had been at her request, we hadn’t followed mating protocol. While I’d gone second, I’d fucked her pussy, which wasn’t allowed in traditional Prillon matches until the female became pregnant from her primary mate’s seed. Speaking to Niklas, I needed him to know my wishes on the matter now that Lucy would truly be ours. “Now that we are formally claiming our mate, I insist you take the right of the primary male.”
Niklas’s gaze lifted to mine, shocked, but I knew him better since we’d placed the collars around our necks. Niklas put on a fine show of not caring, but he wanted Lucy, wanted a child with a longing that nearly brought me to my knees. I could wait, had waited. The honor of fathering the firstborn would be Niklas’s once our mate was ready. As it should be.
“What does that mean?” Lucy asked.
Niklas was unable to speak, his emotions overcoming his normally eloquent gift for language.