We could survive, in theory. The planet would provide, that wasn’t a concern, for we’d survived for a millennia before the Hive menace rose to unite the planets behind the warriors of Prillon Prime. It was the Prillon warriors who’d first faced the Hive and they’d fought the longest. The Hive was a menace and the IQC array, our comms and transport capabilities, were crucial to keeping the planet free of them.
What we did here was important, and every warrior assigned to the IQC had been chosen because we knew exactly what was at stake. We had all fought in the war, seen the Hive and their horrors with our own eyes. But hearing Liam agree with me didn’t improve my mood. Apparently, it didn’t improve Evon’s either.
“When I’m right, I’m going to make you both beg me to touch her.” The heated desire in Evon’s eyes made me grin.
“Is that supposed to be a threat, Evon? Because you’re such a controlling fuck, I figured that was how it would be anyway.” I laughed then, because Liam chuckled at my declaration, and he rarely laughed at all.
“He’s right, you know.” Liam’s chuckle faded to a grin, but his eyes remained all too serious. And there, in that stormy gaze, was Liam’s soul on display. Evon was the strategist, but Liam was the realist. He’d lost his family, grown up hard, the son of a VSS leader. The damn VSS. Our own internal enemy. Worse than the Hive, in a way, since they were Vikens—traitors—who wanted to see a return to civil war, to separate nations now united by the three kings. They’d already tried to assassinate the heir, the Princess Allayna, and return Viken to chaos.
Liam’s father was a leader of the Viken Sector Separatists, one of the men behind the attack on the new princess. By then, Liam was already long gone for the VSS influence. When Liam landed in prison as a teen, and then volunteered to serve in the Coalition Fleet battling the Hive, his family disowned him. He had no blood left, for even his mother hadn’t spoken to him in years. And in Sector 1, family was everything. We were his family now. His only family.
Liam lifted his hand to rest on Evon’s shoulder. “We know you, Evon. You get one look at a mate and you’ll start barking orders like we’re back on Noerzen 5 facing down Hive berserkers.”
That battle had almost killed us all, but Evon had held the team together. We’d fought like Atlan beasts because he ordered us to, because he led the charge, and we’d survived.
“I will adapt. We’ll all adapt.” Evon’s argument was weak, and we all knew it. I grunted in disagreement as Liam spoke.
“No. We won’t.” Liam shook his head and his long hair swung in a dark curtain past his shoulders, hiding the rest of his expression from me. But I could hear the desire in his voice, and the despair. “We’re too different, brother. If you really want a mate, you will have to find warriors more like you. Hell, we all have different needs. My cock gets hard thinking about my mate’s upturned ass, watching as it’s stretched open as I slide into her, one sweet inch at a time. I like to see my handprint turn pink on her pert ass cheeks.”
Liam elbowed me in the ribs, I assumed to encourage me to second his opinion, but I ignored him. I was half a head taller than both of them, and much larger. They had called me the Bronze Beast in our unit because of both my dark bronze hair color and my size. I was big for a Viken, and impulsive. Sometimes I felt out of control, like a beast in mating fever. Massive warrior loaded with weapons and a bad attitude? Not exactly a good combination. I’d gotten in a lot of trouble when I was younger, a fresh recruit. Now, I counted on Liam and Evon to rein me in and keep me in line. On the rare occasions when I was pushed too far, when I lost my head, one of them was always there to step between me and trouble.
“Why are you elbowing me? I know what gets you off. While a willing ass isn’t something I would walk away from, I have simpler tastes.”
Evon laughed, slapped my shoulder. “Exactly. Tastes. You’ll eat pussy for breakfast, lunch and dinner.”
I couldn’t help but grin. “Damn right.” I thought of the dream, of the female who’d come from my mouth, then my cock. Shit. She’d been bound, but I wouldn’t need my mate bound for her to part her thighs, not unless Evon pleasured her first. I was getting hard again and had to adjust myself in my uniform pants. “You’ll have her tied to a bed, at your mercy.”
Evon shook his head. “She’ll give me her trust. The greatest gift.”
“It’ll never work,” Liam grumbled. “A matched mate for one of us is bound to be a little wild. But meet the needs of all three of us? Impossible.”