Ronan hesitates. “What if we’re not allowed to mate her? Do you think we need to petition first?”
“No,” both Jax and I snap at the same time. Ronan’s concerns are legitimate. But we’ve already decided it’s better to claim her before any plans are announced.
“Right,” he mutters. “I’ll figure it out.”
Riya swallows and takes a step back. To my dismay, she’s turning pale.
Jax reaches for her twisted fingers and takes them into his hands. “Piercing won’t hurt. We’ll numb the areas first—you won’t feel a thing.”
Tension radiates from her shoulders and I have the sense she’s about ready to bolt for the door. “Wh-where will you pierce me?”
I can’t stop the slow smile from spreading across my face. “Anywhere we want to, Riya.”
Jax shoots me a you’re not helping glance. “Where would you like to wear our crystal?”
Her fingers tug on an earlobe.
“Certainly there,” Jax says smoothly, advancing on her. He brings the back of his index finger to brush over one of her nipples through her tunic. “How about here?”
She swallows. “I-I don’t know.”
I’m no good at soothing with words, so I do what I know. I pick her up, sit on my hoverdisk and settle her on my lap. Her body goes rigid at first, but gradually relaxes, the fresh scent of her arousal making my eyes roll back in my head with desire.
My body’s response to having her soft ass resting over my cock is immediate. Her exotic scent—earthy and sweet—fills my nostrils. My cock strains painfully against my pants and my fingers splay around one of her firm thighs, pulling her tighter.
“Riya.” My voice comes out sounding even deeper than normal. “We know you were mistreated before… badly. But you can trust us. If Jax says something won’t hurt, he means it. Zandians don’t lie.”
Except for that one vecker we once called a friend. But I’m not thinking about him now.
I can’t stop myself from going after one of her breasts. I palm it, squeeze it. I lean forward and scrape my teeth over her nipple. “It will give us pride to see you wearing our crystals.” I’m already imagining her naked, bejeweled by us. It’s making me crazy. I drag my gaze up from her breast and catch her chin in my fingers. “Tell me what you’re afraid of.”
She shivers and touches her eye. “I want to trust you. It’s just… my experience with males has been bad. Extremely bad. Not just the shock sticks, but the…” she touches her eye again. “I don’t know if I can be what you want, when it comes to, this.” Her muscles are tight again.
Jax moves closer and burrows his fingers in Riya’s hair. “We will not harm you, little female. We want to bring you pleasure, Riya.”
She lifts her gaze to Jax’s face and rubs her lips together. It’s the same look she gave me in the medbay during the battle. When I had my hand on her ass. Vulnerability. Desire. Fear.
Ronan returns with a box of items and a broad smile.
“Any trouble?” Jax asked.
He shrugs. “Doctor Daneth wants to give her a full examination and gene test prior to mating, but I told him we didn’t give two stars about the results of the test, she’s the one we want.”
I scent something salty and catch Riya blinking back tears. Alarm rockets through me. Is she that terrified?
But Jax puts a finger under her chin. “You see, pretty girl? You’re the one we want.”
She draws in a shaky breath and nods, squaring her shoulders. “Let’s do this, then.”
I’m loathe to move her from my lap, so I tug on her tunic until I free it from underneath her ass. “Lift up your arms,” I command, and she obeys. I gently take the fabric and tug it over her head.
Veck, she’s perfection. Her breasts are small and taut, the ripe buds of her nipples a warm peach. I palm both of them, causing Jax to growl.
“We want to look, too.’
I squeeze and knead her breasts, pinching the nipples until they stiffen even more. “I’m just readying her for you,” I say gruffly.
Jax arches a brow and Ronan rolls his eyes, but they don’t argue. Ronan sprays the same analgesic spray Riya used on me in the medbay over both her nipples, then onto his fingers to rub on her ear lobes. “Where else?”