I heard one word… unmated. Setting the female gently on her feet, I kept my arm around her as I bowed low to the Warlord whose next words might very well determine my fate. “I am Lord Niklas Lorvar of Prillon Prime. Cousin to Battlegroup Commander Lorvar. Ambassador and trusted advisor of Prime Nial.” Warlord Wulf was this female’s protector? How had that happened? “And this is Captain Sambor Treval, close cousin to Hunt Treval of The Colony.”
“You are Hunt’s cousin?” He looked to Sambor, who nodded gravely.
“Hunt and I grew up together. He will confirm this. I am a warrior of honor. I would never harm a female,” Sambor assured him.
The Atlan paused as if considering. Around the room, several more Atlans and more than one Prillon duo had begun to take an interest in our conversation as well. Fuck. Attention was not what I wanted, not with this beautiful female in my arms.
“I assure you, Warlord, I am a male of honor. Lucy is safe with me,” I tried to ease the overly protective beast and nearly held my breath as I waited for his decision. Would he leave Lucy in my care? Or steal her from my arms before I had a chance to learn what might please her? Make her sigh? Moan? Scream in pleasure?
“Leave Lucy be,” the Atlan’s mate said to him. “These guys will take care of her.”
I didn’t miss the way she grinned when she said that, although I wasn’t exactly sure why.
“Come on, Rezzer. Dance with me,” she continued, tugging on his uniform shirt. “I’ll show you the moves.”
With one last glance at me accompanied by a snarl of warning—as if I didn’t know that to harm a single hair on Lucy’s head would mean my death—he allowed his mate to lead him back into the steps of the strange dance.
Lucy melted against my side once the Warlord moved on.
“That was intense,” she said, then looked up into my eyes, and I forgot we were standing in the middle of a roomful of people. “Thanks for catching me.”
“My pleasure.” The words were idiotic, but I didn’t care. Touching her was a pleasure. As was looking into her gaze, tracing the outline of her lips with my fingertip.
“Really, Niklas?” Sambor asked, jostling me enough to break the hypnotic hold the female seemed to have on me. I looked up to find him grinning. “Starting fights? I thought you were a diplomat.”
“I believe it was you who said something about enjoying ourselves.” My gaze locked with Sambor’s, and I tipped my head down to indicate the human in my arms. This female was beautiful. Stunning. My cock remained hard despite every attempt my mind made to reason with the insolent organ.
She was here as a friend of the queen. She was human. How was it possible she did not have a mate?
Or two?
Or three? Surely she belonged to someone.
I’d seen more than one group of Viken fighters escorting a female tonight, including the queen and kings of Viken carrying their two precious daughters. Both with dark red hair like their mother.
Like Lucy.
“Holy fuck,” Sambor murmured just above a whisper when he got a good look at the female in my arms. He went rigid, and when one of the kings of Viken stepped on his foot and offered apologies, he didn’t even blink.
I looked down and drowned in her gaze, my entire body going as rigid as my cock. She wasn’t squirming or fighting to be somewhere else. It seemed she liked being held as much as I liked holding her.
“Are you not frightened?” I asked, my voice loud enough to be heard over the music.
“Of you or your terrible dancing?” She actually laughed, setting the fiery curls around her face to bouncing. The rest she had twisted up on top of her head in some strange configuration common among females. “Either way, the answer is no. You’re actually kind of smaller than I’m used to.”
I wasn’t sure if I should laugh at her boldness or feel insulted. I was nearly seven feet tall, by no means small.
“Only Atlans are larger than Prillons. You are mated to a beast then?” Sambor asked. Had he not heard the Atlan, Rezzer, grumble about her being unmated? Or was he simply seeking confirmation? Our gazes dropped to inspect her wrists, which were bare. No mating cuffs.
When the Viken king bumped into Sambor again, I’d had enough. I picked her up and walked out of the dancing throng. Lucy did not resist. But when we reached the side of the room, I had no choice but to set her back upon her feet.
Her smile was open, welcoming and curious as she glanced up at the two of us. “To answer your question, no. I don’t have a mate.”
“Based on the ring in your nose, I assumed a mate from Trion,” I said, looking again for the outline of similar adornments in her nipples.
“Nope, no Trion mate, nor am I seeking one. From any planet.”
“You’re not? I understand that human females were only allowed to leave your planet to mate or fight in the war,” Sambor said to her. Earth was one of only a handful of all planets that allowed their females to fight, a decision both Sambor and I disagreed with, not because a female couldn’t hold her own in battle, but because we were more than willing to sacrifice our own lives so they did not have to.