“Yes.” There were. Every matt was full. “I assumed they were all getting ready for the mission.”
His deep chuckle was pure amusement, and contagious. I smiled, despite my melancholy mood. “These warriors do not need to train. Most of them were active on assignments until we left Zeus. They are in peak condition, I assure you.”
Inspecting the hand-to-hand combat, wrestling and practice with various weapons going on all over the area. I was confused. “So, what? They’re nervous and blowing off steam?” That made sense. Sitting around waiting for bad things to happen was the absolute fucking worst.
“No. They are all here, every single one of them, trying to impress you.”
Oh shit.
He cleared his throat as if what he was about to say was even worse. “The males in this room are all unmated. Since you rejected your match to Commander H—”
“Don’t say his name.” I pressed my fingertips to Oberon’s lips to stop the flow of words. His hot, full lips. The second I realized I was staring, I yanked my hand away as if burned.
God, I really was pathetic. Why couldn’t I control myself around him?
Because you know he is honorable. He would never betray your trust.
Shut up, obnoxious me. Go back to sleep, or wherever you were.
Too late for that.
I knew it was true. Being mated to Zarren had changed me, made me remember what if felt like to be strong, whether I liked it or not.
Oberon. Focus on him. He’s talking.
“I do not wish to upset you. I pledged myself to you, vowed to protect you. That is why I must insist you wear this.” He held out his hand. I looked down to see a mating collar.
“Are you fucking kidding me right now? No way.”
12
Willow
My outburst drewthe attention of the Atlans, who turned as a group to watch the interaction. I knew enough about them to know that if Oberon threatened me in any way, he wouldn’t live to regret it. But why was he doing this to me?
I should want to slap him across his handsome face. So why had my heart done a silly little flip in my chest? Was I completely insane? I’d been sitting her about to cry over Zarren, and now I was swooning with Oberon? Next level. Really. I had to get myself together. “I do not want a mate. I just got rid of one.”
Oberon placed the ribbon in my open palm and closed my fingers around it. “I am not claiming you as my mate. I am offering you the protection of the Arcas family. You are young, beautiful, and unmated. Were you a Prillon female, your family would protect you until the day you chose to remove your collar and announce to the world that you were seeking a worthy mate. You do not have a Prillon family to protect you. Nor an Atlan family. Under Coalition law, you are unclaimed and unprotected. Any of these males could stake a claim on you, Willow. They could take you away from me for thirty days, and I would not have the right to stop them.”
He was right. I’d lived on Prillon Prime for over a year. I knew their laws. Hell, I’d read the laws governing mating in general, and the bride matching protocols in detail. Every word.
An Interstellar Bride could reject her match at any time. But a normal Prillon female walking down the street? They were protected by their families until they were ready to find a mate. When that happened, they would remove the collar themselves and wait, mingle, meet people. If a warrior was interested, he would claim her and puthismating collar around her neck. After that, he had thirty days to win her over. Seduce her. Make her fall in love.
During the thirty days, the warrior fought to win her heart. If he failed, she would move on at the end of the thirty days and meet a new potential mate. Repeat, ad nauseum, until she was settled and happy.
I wasn’t wearing a collar. I didn’t have a mate or a family to protect me.
God. I might as well have a target on my back.
A shudder of ice-cold dread ran the length of my spine. I’d been lucky, so far, that the shirtless warriors on this ship had, up to this point, tried to get my attention before staking their claim. Judging by the concerned look in Oberon’s eyes, my grace period was running out.
“I—thank you. I haven’t been thinking clearly since we escaped.” As far as I was concerned, getting away from Helion before I’d fallencompletelyin love with him, qualified as an escape.
“May I?” Oberon held out his hand once more, this time so that I could give the collar back to him. The moment felt surreal, like it wasn’t really happening.
I turned, angled my knees to point away from him, so he would have access to the back of my neck. His hands wrapped around me as he took one end of the collar in each before lifting them to either side of my neck. His skin was hot where he grazed my neck and I had a strange sense of Déjà vu. Except last time, it had been my hands lightly touching the skin of Zarren’s neck, moments before our minds had connected.
Oberon’s touch lingered at the base of my skull, or perhaps I imagined it. The collar locked into place and adjusted to my neck like an elastic band.
