Ronan raises an eyebrow. “I hardly think it makes them rejoice.”
I look again at the human men. They are much weaker than we are, unable to work as hard or as long, although they are certainly clever and have assisted well on the training pod.
“They will not be treated unfairly.” To me, just allowing them to stay is a generous concession on Zander’s part considering if the Ocretions ever find out we’re harboring fugitives from one of their death pods, it could mean war. “And who knows. Perhaps they will find another species with which to mate, in the future.” It’s not my concern, in any case.
“Perhaps they will choose to relocate? Zander agreed to find them safe harbor on Jesel, where other human rebels are hiding out. That may be a place where they find mates some cycle in the future. Certainly, they will never get that here.” Ronan begins to affix the bolt. “But enough of them. Let’s take bets on how quickly we can get our female pregnant.”
The thought of putting a young in that taut body of Riya’s has me hard again. But taking on a mate will be more than sex. I’d better start researching how to manage a human female. Hasn’t every Zandian who has one mentioned at some point how emotional they are? How they evoke long dormant emotions in our species? Already I see it in Tarren. She’s under his skin.
Hell, she might already be under mine.
I’d better find out how to bond, discipline, and condition our female if we’re going to make this bid for our future successful.
My cock surges against my uniform pants as I picture disciplining her. Stars knows I could find a million reasons to strip off her clothes, tie her up, and smack that gorgeous ass red. But will she like it? Rumor has it that they actually can get aroused by their discipline. Is it wrong that I hope Riya does?
But I’m getting way ahead of myself. The first task is to secure her as our mate.
Riya
Lily and I walk to the docked training pod after assisting in the new med dome, passing Zandian warriors and humans laboring all around the ruined capital. Some teams clean up rubble, while others erect more of the domes. Already the city appears nearly inhabitable, which is stunning, considering we were in battle just a planet rotation before.
I try to pretend I’m not looking for my three warriors.
Lily glances over my shoulder and lifts her chin. “Over there.”
“What?”
“Your suitors—admirers. Whatever.”
I can’t stop myself from following her gaze and… damn. My breath catches. There they are. All three have removed their tunics, working bare chested, every row of hard muscle clearly defined under peachy-purple skin.
She bumps my shoulder and smiles. “It looked like they were giving you the hard sell in there earlier.”
My face grows warm. “Hard sell. Yeah. You could say that. They just want a female for King Zander’s rehabitation project.”
“Well, yes. But I would say they want you, in particular, to be their female.”
I make a non-committal sound.
“So?”
“So what?”
“What do you think of them?” Lily prods
.
My throat quivers. “Um… I’m not sure.”
“They’re cousins, I think. Rok says they’re some of the best warriors Master Seke has trained. They’re good-looking, don’t you think?”
“I’m not interested,” I lie. I refuse to look in their direction again, but my cheeks warm at my body’s response to being cornered by them. Or—stars—the feel of Tarren’s large hand on my ass. The way I ground my female parts shamelessly over his big thigh the previous planet rotation.
“I know you think they’re handsome,” Lily challenges me. “It’s okay to look. You’re in the pilot’s seat, as far as I can tell.”
We’ve walked past the place where the males are working, and it takes all my concentration not to slow my steps or turn back. “Oh really? How do you figure?”
“There aren’t any available Zandian females. You’re one of what? Maybe twenty-five females on the planet and they’ve determined we’re compatible with their species. You’re in high demand.”