Sure, he could easily overpower me, but if he did that, he’d win this battle, but not the war. This match, our marriage or whatever, was bigger than just this one event. If he betrayed me now, over this, I’d never forgive him. If something happened to Mindy, and I wasn’t there, I’d never forgive any of them. Life was full of moments, good and bad. If we were going to work this thing out and be a family, if they wanted me to trust them, to depend on them, my mates would have to stand with me when it was really important. Mindy was my identical twin, literally, my other half. This mattered. A lot.
“Send transport coordinates,” Zed said finally, his thumb rubbing the side of my neck gently as he spoke. “We will be there as soon as I notify the others.”
Goran bowed slightly. “Very well. Mindy has sixteen hours left in the ReGen pod. Once she wakes, perhaps your presence will bring her comfort as she remains quiet. While I know the ReGen pod will complete her healing, she will remain in bed for a few days until I am sure she is in full health. And with your mates at your side, I will feel confident that she will remain safe.”
“Thank you. We’ll be there as soon as we can.”
The screen went blank and I turned into Zed’s embrace, allowed his strength and heat to warm me. God, it felt good to have someone to lean on, to help me look after my twin. I’d been doing everything on my own for so long, I was afraid to trust that this was real. That he was real. That I wasn’t alone. For the first time. Ever.
Zed’s deep voice rumbled through my ear where it pressed to his chest. “Axon and Calder will not be pleased.”
Looking up at him, I lifted my hands to his cheeks and let my heart shine out of my gaze. I wanted him to know what this meant to me. What he meant to me. “Thank you, Zed. I love her.”
“I know, love. We wish to give you everything you desire. From orgasms to family, but you will remain safe. That is my only stipulation.”
“What is it about space guys? All bossy and protective. Goran’s from a different planet and he’s the same way with Mindy.”
He took my hands from my face, kissed one open palm, then the other.
“You are my mate. It is my job, my privilege to ensure you are happy, healthy and safe. Now, let’s go to the transport room before I change my mind.”
It looked like I was heading to Trion after all.
10
Axon, Med Center, Outpost Two, Trion
The kings warned me that having an Earth mate would not be easy. I thought it was because they were so different, their customs unusual. The transition from Earth to Viken for Violet would be so great that it might be a bit rocky for her. Too strange. Too much. And with three mates, it made her shift to being a Viken bride even more difficult.
But they hadn’t meant those transitioning issues. No, they meant real problems.
Instead of transporting to her mates, Sophia, also matched from Earth, had been sent to a remote outpost where an attempt on her life had been made. The fools had mistaken her for Queen Leah. Her mates—Gunnar, Erik and Rolf—had had to hunt for her in the forests of Viken for hours, panicked and helpless to defend her. And they had yet to even meet her. The idea of waiting for a mate to transport only to discover the coordinates had been redirected would have given me a heart ailment.
Bella, the other Earth mate who’d been matched to three Vikens, had been kidnapped by a mates’ sister as an attempt by the VSS to infiltrate the IQC and destroy the planet’s direct line of communication with the rest of the Coalition Fleet. They had nearly succeeded in transporting Bella to a distant slave station outside of Coalition control, an act which would have destroyed her and the three warriors lucky enough to love her.
I’d shrugged those off, laughed at the insanity behind those tales. Yes, tales. But I’d been so very wrong. Only now did I fully understand what those warriors had suffered to protect the one female destined to be theirs.
Right now, I wasn’t spending my time fucking my mate for hours on end. Nor laboring with the effort to move into mated quarters. Or showing her Viken United, getting to know her and letting her see her new planet in all its beauty.
I wasn’t buried balls deep in her pussy or showering her with attention and devotion, covering every naked inch of her perfect body with my lips or my hands.
No.
We were on fucking Trion because her sister had been hurt. We were in the med unit in a critical care room with a row of ReGen pods. My arm was around Violet’s shoulders offering her comfort as best I could. Calder was on our left, leaning against the wall like he was holding up the building. Zed stood on our right like a granite statue, his gaze taking in every detail of the room, the people, and the situation. We were exposed here. Vulnerable. None of us had been to Trion before and the details that Zed had shared about some enemy who’d made an attempt on Mindy’s life meant we couldn’t guarantee our safety. The three of us were well trained to defend ourselves, but I didn’t like that Violet was here, that we’d brought her somewhere with a threat to her life.
But our mate was safely standing between us. We were holding it together, but I recognized the restless tension in the other two warriors because I felt it myself. The sensation would only go away once we were back on Viken. No, back on Viken in our new mate quarters with Violet naked and beneath her three mates, preferably with all three of our cocks deep in her at the same time, claiming her as ours.
We stared at a nearly identical copy of our mate in the ReGen pod. Her coloring was off, almost gray from blood loss and pain, and even in the healing unit, it was not helping any of us to calm down. Least of all our mate. She broke from my hold and paced next to Mindy’s prone form beneath the metal and glass like a caged beast. Up and back. Head to feet. Back again. And again. And again.
While Zed had received word directly from Goran while he’d been in the med center with Violet, he’d contacted us immediately with the news and the plan to transport to Trion. I wasn’t excited about this trip, the danger, the fact that Violet’s sister had been injured. In fact, I wanted to spend a good amount of time interrogating General Goran about how he’d allowed this to happen. By the look on Calder’s face, he felt the same.
But Calder appreciated the need for family more than myself or Zed. Coming from Sector One, it was almost crucial for him. But his family was all dead and it was as if he’d lost a limb. A mate—Violet—was the start of a new family for him. For all of us. And by extension, we now had Mindy as well. And grudgingly, even General Goran.
I would give Violet anything, even bring her to Trion as we’d promised, but not when there was even a hint of danger. But, fuck. Her sister had been hurt and I couldn’t blame her desperate need to be with her. I didn’t like it. Zed didn’t like it. Even Calder was tense. Viken. We just had to be fucking patient until we could get her back there.
It wasn’t as if I had a problem with Trion. It was a fine planet. Fine people. I’d fought with many a brilliant Coalition fighter from here, knew of it from their conversation, from universe geography lessons in school as a child, but it was nothing like I imagined.
It wasn’t green like Viken. Sand was everywhere. A desert climate, the structures in this outpost were made of a heavy canvas, temporary dwellings to move as needed. The technology within—transport and medicine—were the same as ours. Perhaps it was the only thing the same. The customs here were extreme. Goran was a high official, the color of his robes indicated it. But his mate was naked within the pod, only a haze to the lower portion of the glass that covered her body offered her modesty, but I could discern the dark line of the chains affixed to nipple rings resting against her pale body.
Goran’s status as Mindy’s mate was blatant. His stance over her in the comm with them was one of dominance and hers of submission. It wasn’t incorrect, just…different. Zed’s need to dominate Violet was similar and that was what he liked in bed, but the male-dominated society here—in and out of the bedroom—was a shift to my thinking.
Obviously, it was
what Mindy had subliminally wanted to be matched through the testing program. Based on the comm when we were on Earth, she was happy. The mating complete and successful. And now, the way Goran was barely maintaining his control as he waited for word on the reconnaissance, he was taken by Mindy. Completely hers. His need for her controlled every one of his actions. He wanted her whole and well and safe more than any of us, although I wouldn’t say that to Violet.
I wanted her safe as well, and as for Violet, as far from here as possible.
And that wouldn’t happen until the timer on the ReGen pod ended, the machine completing all the healing it had been programmed to make, and Mindy herself proved she was well. Until then, Violet would continue to worry, to doubt she would recover. She was unfamiliar with a ReGen pod and didn’t believe the doctor when she said Mindy would be fine. All she had to do was lay there, unconscious and she would heal. Violet had shared how Earth doctors cut patients open, used scalpels and other tools to heal, then having to sew a body closed, like a seam in a shirt. Primitive. It was a wonder Violet and Mindy had survived this long on such a basic planet as Earth.
Watching the timer was like watching a food service machine prepare a meal.
Violet put her palm on the glass. “The injuries the doctor mentioned”—she shuddered then took a deep breath—“would have killed Mindy on Earth. Nothing could have repaired the organs which were so badly damaged. But here, it seems her wounds were considered minor.”
“Nothing is minor when it comes to my mate,” Goran said on a sharp growl. His hands were clenched into fists, his body rigid. If it were Violet beneath the pod’s clear lid, I would be just as tense.
In fact, it was odd to see Mindy within. She looked so similar to her sister it was eerie. Like the kings of Viken who were identical except for the cut of their hair and their demeanor. Raised in the three different Viken sectors, the kings’ personalities definitely matched each.
But now, with Mindy’s eyes closed in a healing stasis, it could have been Violet. And that made me shudder. No fucking way would she come to harm.
“General.” A man called from the doorway.
Goran’s head came up, his steps swift as he approached the messenger.
“We have word from High Councilor Tark. The request for a recess had been denied. With such danger, and Tark’s mate expecting their child imminently, he demands your presence.”
Goran’s jaw clenched, his shoulders rolled back as if he were ready to implode. “Very well. But inform the High Councilor that we will be unable to use Mindy as we had planned. She is still in the ReGen pod and requires several more hours of healing.”
“That will not please the other councilors. Her absence will make us appear weak before the others.”
“Fark the council,” Goran snapped. “Tell him I refuse to place my mate in additional danger just to draw out a traitor—even if she were awake. I will not use her as bait. Not again.”
“Yes, sir.”
Goran turned back to us and approached the healing pod.
I paid him no attention, my eyes solely on Violet. I did not like the sharpness of her gaze, or the odd tilt of her head.
“What do you mean, use her as bait?” she asked Goran.
The poor man’s shoulders slumped and he leaned down, running his hand over the translucent cover enclosing the woman he obviously adored. “The women convinced us to allow Mindy to expose herself, to draw out the traitor.”
“What women?” Zed asked.
“Mine. And Tark’s. The High Councilor’s mate is also from Earth, a beautiful female named Eva. Earth females are stubborn, as I’m sure you have realized.” While he was speaking to Violet, he glanced at me, then Calder and Zed as he said the last. “Mindy and Eva conspired and then convinced us to allow it. In my hubris, I believed I could keep her safe, that the traitor would strike at me or Tark and not at one of our mates.”
“You were wrong.” Violet’s challenge went unanswered by her new brother, which was a good thing, because Calder was dangerously quiet, staring at Mindy beneath the healing pod’s cover, most likely imaging it was our Violet bleeding and injured. In pain.
No fucking way would he have allowed the action that put Mindy beneath the glass.
Goran raised his gaze to Violet and they stared at one another over the woman they both loved. “I was wrong. The attack was swift and organized. The assassin was in and out in the space of a few seconds. No one even saw him.”
Zed cleared his throat. “What does this assassin gain by striking down a helpless female?”
Violet’s shoulders stiffened at the word helpless, but she swallowed hard and waited for Goran’s answer. It was true, here on Trion, women were quite helpless, dependent upon their dominant mate. It was what they wanted, content to let their male lead. Yet looking at Goran, while he held the control, Mindy was the one with the power. The power to reduce him to the simplest male, completely at her mercy.
“The councilors, especially High Councilor Tark, have always displayed their dominance and worth by the quality of female who chooses to serve him, to kneel at his feet and openly display her submission to her master to everyone who sees them. The more valuable the female, the greater the trust and respect she bestows upon her mate. With Eva unable to attend because of the late stages of her pregnancy, and political unrest between the councilors, Tark would have been at a disadvantage with me there to support him without Mindy kneeling before me. The balance of power on Trion is very delicate, moored in politics and tradition that dates back thousands of years.”
“So, my helpless sister on her knees in front of a bunch of councilors gives you and this Tark guy more power?”
Goran nodded. “Yes.”
“This is insane.” Violet threw up her hands and blinked. Hard. “I don’t understand.”
“Mindy is rare and beautiful. An Interstellar Bride. Revered and respected above all others. As is Eva. Only three warriors on the council hold such a gift, me included. Councilor Roark is powerful, and Tark’s ally. His Earth mate is Natalie. Tark himself is the High Councilor of all Trion and has Eva. I am sworn to him, his second. I have been his for years. To have three such valuable females in one councilor’s alliance gives him much power and respect across the entire planet. With power comes stability. Control. Especially with Natalie giving Roark a son and Eva to soon give Tark a child. There are those who would love to take what is ours. Or destroy them.”
“You mean kill my sister. Kill Eva, too. Natalie.”
“Yes. There were several attempts to murder Natalie and their son, as well. There are many councilors who still follow the old ways, like the bastard Bertok, who demands that we return to the ancient traditions of sharing a female in the councilors’ tent, of beating our females into submission instead of training her through endless pleasure. He was greatly angered when Tark’s mate arrived, when Tark refused to take Eva for the first time in front of the others. When he would not beat her or give her to Bertok to use as he wished.”
Violet frowned. “That’s disgusting.”
I agreed. While Calder liked to show off his mate, let others see him fuck her, to let them see her pleasure, it was out of pride. This…this debasing was nothing like it. Calder would never give Violet to another besides her mates. He would not see her hurt or harmed just to prove his strength. None of us would.
“Is it?” Goran countered, studying Violet. “It was our way, years ago, to share a female. Is it not the Viken way as well? Did you not appear here today with three mates devoted to you?”
“That’s different. They’re not mine. Not all of them. They’re kind of on loan until I choose which one I want to keep.”
My breath caught as I listened to her. They’re not mine.
“And you wish to choose between them?”
“No.”
Thank fark, as Goran would say. She didn’t wish to choose, but felt she had to. This would change. We’d prove it to her. It would be all three of us for her
, as all our subconscious minds wanted.
“They would walk away, rather than share your love?” Goran’s eyebrows rose in shock and he avoided looking at any of us, her mates, staring directly into Violet’s eyes. “Then your mates are fools. I would share Mindy with a dozen warriors if that was what she needed to be safe and happy.”
“A dozen?” Violet didn’t hide her irritation now. Her fists were clenched at her sides and Calder’s relaxed repose against the wall was gone as he stepped forward, ready to intervene if Violet physically attacked the general. Well, intervene, or beat the hell out of the man. I wasn’t sure which. “This planet sucks. Mindy is going to get better, and then I’m taking her home. With me. Where no crazy old man wants to fuck her in front of the council because it makes him feel more powerful, or demands to watch you beat her.”
Goran’s eyes narrowed. “What Bertok wants and what I will allow are two different things entirely. Mindy is mine. She surrendered herself to my care when she accepted the match. When she arrived here and accepted my cock into her willing body. I do not beat my mate. Sometimes, she begs for a bite of pain. Sometimes she needs things only I can provide. I care for her and place her life and well-being above my own. Never insult me in that manner again. You love your sister, as I do, and so I will forgive your outburst this once. Do not make the same mistake again. No one will take her from me and live. Do not threaten me, female.” He took a step closer to Violet, but while he was angry, I knew by his tirade he would not harm my mate. He was angry at Mindy being hurt and this speech was for his own peace of mind as much as to explain his stance to his new sister-in-law. “Do not threaten what is mine.”
“Or what?” Violet asked, placing her hands on her hips. “You’re going to beat me, too? Try it. Try it and see what it gets you.”
Oh, fuck. Zed moved now. Violet shook with rage and things were going from bad to worse. Calder was too protective of Violet to see reason, and Zed was too cold and calculating to pull back. Goran had just threatened our mate.
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