Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. I’d been seduced to the dark side. I’d turned into a slut, a whore, a dozen different slurs raced through my mind. I was a good girl, wasn’t I? Maybe not. Maybe I was bad. Maybe I was corrupted. Maybe Zane wanted me to resist them? Maybe he wanted me to fight them? Or reject Dare? Maybe, deep down, he didn’t want me to enjoy both of them?
I had no way of knowing, and I couldn’t ask him in front of Dare. Hell, I wasn’t sure I had the courage to ask him anything at all. He was the commander of an entire fleet of ships. Maybe he just wasn’t made to be happy. Maybe, even after what he’d said, he didn’t really want a mate at all.
As Dare continued to stroke my skin, Zane gently pulled his cock free. Suddenly on my own, I collapsed onto the chaise and curled into a ball around myself. I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know what to think or say or feel. I felt lost. Just a few hours in outer space and I’d turned into a woman I didn’t recognize. I’d let two men I didn’t know fuck me and use my body in ways I’d never imagined. And I’d liked it. I’d come all over Zane’s cock like I couldn’t wait for more. And it wasn’t enough for him. The collar’s link between me and my men, while so arousing during sex, was now a curse. Without it, I wouldn’t know of Zane’s disappointment. I wouldn’t feel like I’d failed him somehow.
Just as I was working myself up into a state, Zane’s strong arms wrapped around me. He lifted me and settled me across his lap, my ear above his beating heart and my body curled up in his arms like a small child’s. He was huge, a monster among men. My monster.
“What troubles you, Hannah?” One hand stroked my back and the other he lifted to settle against the side of my face and neck, holding me to him as Dare sat beside us and ran his hands over my hair.
I couldn’t speak. There was no way to explain the chaotic swirl of emotions that threatened to explode out of me in a crying fit that would put a two-year-old’s temper tantrum to shame.
To my relief, they didn’t push me for answers, just held me and petted me as if I were the most precious thing in the universe.
After several long minutes I got myself back under control and relaxed in Zane’s arms. I even managed a smile at Dare, who watched me with concerned green eyes, very unlike Zane’s. Now that I had time to process and think, I noticed he was slightly darker, his coloring more dramatic, and his eyes were a deep green, like summer grass, not dark amber like Zane’s.
Dare was gorgeous, too, but in his own way. He was several inches shorter than Zane, and his shoulders weren’t quite as broad, but were still massive.
I looked my fill, studying the hard angles of his face, and realizing that he was still clothed. They were both still fully clothed, only their cocks were free. Their still hard cocks. For some reason, that irritated the hell out of me.
“Why am I the only one naked?”
Dare’s smile was infectious. “Because you’re the most beautiful.”
I grinned. Flattery was going to get him nowhere. “I disagree.” They were both beautiful, my mates. But I didn’t know anything about them. “Who are you, Dare? You said you’re a pilot, but what do you do?”
He rubbed a strand of my long black hair between his fingers as if the color fascinated him. “I am a pilot, Hannah. I am the leader of the ninth battle wing.”
“Another soldier.” I leaned against Zane, grateful when he seemed to know what I needed without me having to ask. He wrapped both arms around me and held me tight, so I wouldn’t float away in a sea of panic. Their explanation for the need all Prillon warriors had to name a second suddenly felt a lot more real. I barely knew these two strong men, but I didn’t want them to die. The thought made me shiver as pain lanced behind my eyes. “What does that mean? What is a battle wing?”
“I feel your worry, mate. Do not fear. We fly the small fighters, designed for scouting missions, tight places and direct, ship-to-ship combat.”
I imagined a scene from my favorite movie in which the small ships zipped around each other in space firing lasers and blowing each other to smithereens at lightning speed. My heart, which had barely recovered from our sexual play, began to thunder in my chest as I imagined Dare in one of those ships, being chased. Fired at. Blown up.
God, what had I done? What was I supposed to do here on this battleship? Accept these two warriors, wait a few weeks or months for one of them to die, and just get a new mate every time? I knew myself too well for that. My heart wouldn’t be able to take it.
It wasn’t just this fear of their deaths that worried me. That was more than enough, but I sensed something through the collar. There was no explanation for it, but I knew I was attuned to these men in ways I never imagined. There was this feeling, this nudging concern that Zane knew more than he was saying, as if he were keeping a secret, hiding something from me.