“Something like that.” It was Rachel’s turn to blush. “I don’t think she used the word ‘hard’.”
Kristin practically cackled with glee, her blue mating collar clearly on display, her hair pulled up in a tight braid. “But she should have. Right?”
Amusement bubbled up again, and I found myself joining in despite the knot twisting in my chest. It was impossible not to when I felt like I was in on a secret too juicy to resist. Some of these ladies had two mates. Like me. They knew how passionate things could get in the bedroom.
Mikki tipped her head back slightly, her steel gray mating collar a perfect complement to her black hair. “I wouldn’t trade my warriors for ten Warlords.”
“You couldn’t handle even one.” Caroline giggled. “Rezzer’s beast is so big, it’s like having two cocks in one.”
“Caroline!” Rachel’s screech made us all burst into laughter. “Oh my god! What would Rezzer say?”
Caroline tilted her head and made a great show of thinking about her answer. “He’d agree.”
Next to me, Kristin snorted. Mikki choked on her tea. Rachel put both hands over her face with a soft groan. “You’re terrible.”
“Just honest.” Caroline popped what looked like a strange cherry-grape combo fruit into her mouth.
I smiled, but inside I worried. Every time I felt Marz’s or Vance’s emotions I sensed something dark. Somethingdangerous and thrilling, like standing too close to the edge of a cliff knowing that at any moment, a gust of wind could push me over. I could still taste their emotions in my mind, like the metallic tang of a storm lingering in the air. Like secrets.
Rachel leaned forward and squeezed my knee. “Don’t worry. This storm has everyone on edge. Your mates are honorable males. They’re some of our best. Everything will work out. Just give yourself some time to adjust.”
Caroline’s twins, CJ and RJ, ran past us again, shrieking with laughter as they chased a group of other children around the garden. The sound of their high-pitched giggles pierced the air, fresh and bright as a bell. Their cheeks were flushed from the chase, eyes gleaming with energy as they darted through patches of light and shadow. Their innocent fun broke the tension in the air, and Caroline shot me a sympathetic look, her expression softening. She reached over to pat my hand, the warmth of her touch grounding. “We’re just teasing. Nobody’s judging you. This isn’t Earth. These guys don’t play by human rules. With Prillons, and those collars making you all feel each other’s feelings? It’s no wonder the brides fall in love with both of their mates.”
Rachel nodded in agreement. “It’s a different world,” she said, her voice thoughtful as she glanced at the domed ceiling which displayed the turbulent sky. Dark clouds loomed through the translucent dome. “With different rules.”
As the conversation drifted and the ladies continued to make plans, I found myself glancing toward the sky. I wondered again where Marz and Vance were, wondered if they were half as obsessed with me as it seemed I had become with them. This was the first time I’d been on my own since my arrival and I missed them. Terribly.
Warden Egara hadn’t been messing around when she sent me here. Marz and Vance were both mine now. And yet, notmine. Hopefully, my mates would trust me with their hearts, and their secrets, before it was too late.
9
Marz
As I walkeddown the dimly lit corridor toward my quarters, the air was thick with tension. The odd scent of iron and dust mingled with the faint scent of ozone from the storm raging outside. Vance’s footsteps echoed beside me, his heavy boots clanking in time with mine on the hard flooring. Unease radiated off him, matching the knot of anxiety that had taken up residence in my gut. We’d just come from final preparations. At daybreak, we would head out into the storm, face the unknown that threatened The Colony. It was the kind of risk we’d faced hundreds of times before, but this one felt different.
We had Rowan.
The thought of her, so young and full of life, had me on edge. Her scent, a hint of something sweet and floral, seemed to cling to me even now. I glanced sideways at Vance, my second, the pilot with whom I now shared more than just battle. His gaze was sharp, jaw set tight, and I knew he shared the weight of my worry.
“Marz.” His voice was a low rumble. “Perhaps you should stay behind.”
I grunted, my mouth dry, as if the very air was leeching the moisture from my throat. I was responsible for security on this planet, that included threat assessment. Vance was the best pilot we had, the only one I trusted to bring the team back alive. I didn’t want to admit the truth—that my thoughts were a tangled mess of fear and longing. I buried the emotions deep, throwing up a blank wall so Vance wouldn’t know how fucked up my headspace was at the moment. That I was terrified I would not make it back to my new bride, or worse, that we both would fail to return. I had considered ordering him to stay behind, finding some excuse to keep him at the base so that if things went sideways, Rowan wouldn’t lose us both. The thought was still forming when we reached our new, larger quarters, and the door slid open.
What I saw inside stole my breath.
The cold, stark living space we’d moved into just two days ago had been utterly transformed. The harsh walls, usually bare and uninviting, were draped in thick, fragrant garlands of green, their piney scent cutting through the usual sterile air of the base. Tiny lights, warm and flickering, dotted the garlands, casting a soft glow across the room that made it feel alive in a way I’d never thought possible. In the corner, a tall, triangular, green tree reached toward the ceiling, its branches laden with shining objects and draped in silver strands that flickered with light. The lights that adorned it glimmered in multiple colors, twinkling like the stars we rarely saw from the red, rocky surface of The Colony. A large star at the top seemed to glow with a magic all its own, a beacon of warmth and cheer that pierced the bleakness outside.
And there, standing in the midst of it all, was Rowan.
She wore a gown the color of the deepest emeralds, a green so rich it seemed to shimmer as if the fabric was woven from the very essence of life itself. The material clung to her curves, the smooth, sleek lines accentuating her figure. Its low neckline revealed the delicate rise of her collarbone and a hint of the skin beneath, while the fabric flowed down around her ankles like a river of silk, rustling softly as she moved. I caught the faintest scent of her— like a flower blooming in the night.
She was breathtaking.
Vance’s breath hitched beside me, and I could feel the tension that rolled off him, an unspoken emotion that hung thick in the air between us. He was staring at her, too, with a look that cut me deep, all the more because I shared the feeling of raw devotion behind it. The collars didn’t just connect us to our mate, but to one another as well. We both loved her. She was ours. The gods had granted a miracle to two warriors who deserved naught. Deserved or not, we would never give her up.
“Rowan...” I managed, though my voice was rougher than I intended. “What is all this?”
She beamed at us, her eyes bright and brimming with a joy that was contagious. Her happiness floated into my mind through our mating collars until I was drunk on it, unable to look away from her. “It’s Christmas,” she said, her voice a lilting melody that danced across my senses.
