“Mine,” he said, then repeated again and again. He shouted it, the one word bouncing off the walls of the room as he stiffened above me, buried deep. I felt the heat of him, his very essence, spill into me. Fill me, coat me. Mark me.
Claim me.
“Mine,” I repeated.
When Kiel caught his breath, he didn’t pull out, didn’t flop down on the bed beside me. No, he stayed hard and deep inside me.
“Again.”
“Now?” I asked, surprised.
His hand squeezed mine where our marks touched.
“All night, mate. All night.”
Oh god.
He began to move then, took me hard and fast, sweet and slow, in every position, in every way.
All. Night. Long.
Epilogue
Lindsey, The Colony, Four Months Later…
“I swear this baby is going to come out fully grown.”
Rachel waddled over to a chair and lowered herself down beside me with uncharacteristic lack of grace. I couldn’t help but smile. She might be grouchy because she was as big as a house, but her baby was due any day and everyone was anxious. While Wyatt was the first child, Rachel’s would be the first one born on the planet and the first one from mates brought together by the Interstellar Brides Program. All the warriors were as anxious and eager as her mates.
Maxim and Tyran watched her closely. Tyran took a step in our direction, but Rachel waved him off. He didn’t look pleased to be dismissed and kept watch from afar.
“Well, your mates are big,” I replied.
I glanced across the open expanse behind the main Base 3 building. A flat area covered with benches and trees, flowers from all over the universe and soft, springy grass, the park was the place of outdoor amusement now. We were watching Wyatt run circles around several of the warriors. After all these months, a routine had been created and many of the warriors on the Colony arrived promptly after lunch for afternoon playtime. Playtime—the term was ours—Rachel, Kristin and I had called Wyatt’s daily routine that based on Earth custom—but I wasn’t sure who the play time was for. No one could tell who was enjoying it more, Wyatt or the fully grown Atlans, Prillons, Vikens and other warriors he treated like his personal jungle gym.
A huge Atlan was shifting back and forth from beast mode and chasing Wyatt, making him scream and giggle so hard his face had turned pink. That sound brought a thrill and love to my heart. Kiel stepped out of the group of men who were playing some game with a ball, similar to football, but had rules I still didn’t understand. Kiel grabbed Wyatt and tossed him up in the air. The boy squealed in delight. “Again, Daddy!”
I bit my lip, trying not to let emotion swamp me. Wyatt had started to call Kiel Daddy right from the start. To say that my mate considered my little boy to be his was obvious. He was protective, watchful, caring and had done so much to teach him Hunter ways. The little mark on Wyatt’s palm indicated he had the genes to follow in Kiel’s footsteps. Someday. For now, I was content with him being carried on everyone’s shoulders. He had to grow up a bit before he could start hunting for bad guys.
Rachel had been watching the group of warriors play as well and she rubbed her swollen belly with a smile on her face. “I think he’s going to come out Wyatt-sized,” Rachel added.
I reached over and patted her hand. “It could be a girl.”
“Your mates are going to be in serious trouble then,” my mother said. She was seated on the other side of me, but she’d leaned forward to look at Rachel. Beside her was Rystan’s mother, who’d moved to The Colony from Prillon a few months before our arrival. Being of similar age, the two older women had hit it off from the start and were very close friends, even though they were from two different planets.
“Yes, a girl would change everything around here,” Rystan’s mother said. “All these males need more females about, even if one’s just a baby.”
Rachel rolled her eyes. “Poor little thing. She’d scrape her knee and my mates would lose their minds.”
My mother laughed and I noticed a couple heads turn in our direction. My mom was in her mid-forties and, since our arrival here, had blossomed. No stress. A new friend. She looked ten years younger and glowed with happiness. I had a feeling it wouldn’t be long before a few of the warriors began to express interest. Ryston’s mother was Prillon, and I didn’t know her as well, but she walked with a regal bearing that, as of yet, none of the warriors had dared approach. But with her mates both gone now, her grieving would only protect her for so long. She was not too old to start again. Both of the women might be beyond the age to bear children, but there were plenty of older warriors around who would be happy simply to have their affection and company.