“Rachel,” the lawyer’s voice cut through the room. “You do have a choice. You go back to jail and wait for a shiv in the shower, or you go with your mates to a new world and you live.”
“It is your choice,” Warden Egara added.
“Those aren’t the choices I want. I want to go home, to my job, to my fucking cat!”
“That life is gone. I will work on the appeal, on seeing justice done, but you need to take care of yourself. Get the hell out of here,” John insisted.
She spun and faced us, her hair swirling over her shoulders as she moved. “I don’t know you. Either of you.”
Maxim finally spoke up. He put his hand to his broad chest. “You know me, here. The match, it was almost perfect. Our minds need time to catch up. Deep down, you know I will take care of you.”
“This isn’t what I wanted,” she countered, studying our sizes as she crossed her arms over her chest. So brave.
Maxim slowly shook his head. “I am sorry, mate. But I just found you. I don’t want to lose you. I can’t stand by and allow you to risk your life.”
She sighed, turned away. She ran a hand over her face, groaned in frustration. “God. This is unreal.”
“You will die, Rachel,” the lawyer repeated. “Go. Fuck all these bastards. Get the hell out of here. You have a chance at a new life. Live it.”
She shook her head, but the lawyer couldn’t see her. “This isn’t my life,” she repeated.
“It is now.”
Turning on her heel, she faced Warden Egara. “The rules of the Interstellar Brides Program state that I have thirty days to accept my match, correct?”
The warden nodded while my stomach plummeted. I wasn’t familiar enough with the rules of the match to have known this.
“That is correct. You may refuse the match within thirty days, however—” the warden walked over and took Rachel’s hand, “—you have been matched to the Colony, therefore if you reject Maxim and his second, the testing center will match you to another warrior there. You will not come back to Earth.”
“You came back,” Rachel countered. “Surely, other brides have come back.”
The warden’s face smoothed out, hiding all emotion. “Yes, I did. As have two others. Each incident was a very special case, nothing like yours. A woman matched to Trion returned recently, but her mate was believed dead and she was transported in the middle of a battle. She has since returned to Trion with her son. My mates were both killed by the Hive and I accepted reassignment to assist others in finding happiness. Your men are alive and no longer fighting on the front lines. There is peace on the Colony and your match is strong. You may choose to be matched to another, if these two fail to win you over, but you will not return.”
“Make your choice, Rachel,” the lawyer said. “You’re an escaped convict now and while I can smooth things over, the longer I take to respond, the worse it will be for you if you decide to go back to prison.”
Rachel’s agitation spiked and she ripped her hand from the warden’s to pace, her hands trembling. I ached to pull her into my arms, but I didn’t dare touch her. It seemed she would shatter with the slightest increase in pressure. And I also knew she would not be happy with what came next. Maxim stood, his face expressionless, as he waited for her decision. But the Prillon collar we’d brought for her hung limply in his palm. That collar would connect our mate to both of us in the most intimate bond possible. Her emotions would become ours. She would become acutely aware of exactly how badly I wanted her. Combined with what I knew Maxim must be feeling, I had no doubt our volatile little mate would be overwhelmed.
Tense silence stretched as Rachel rubbed her hands over her face and neck, through her hair in self-soothing gestures I longed to handle for her. The tenderness welling up within me was both welcome and completely unexpected. I’d been a hard fucking bastard for a long time. I’d believed myself incapable of such soft feelings. But that was the miracle of a mate and I prayed to the gods she would not refuse us.
“Fine. Fine! I’ll go.” She didn’t sound convinced, but that didn’t matter. She’d agreed. Once we had her on the Colony, we could show her how much we wanted her. Needed her. She would discover what it meant to be loved and protected by two ruthless Prillon warriors.
“Good luck, Rachel. I’ll keep the warden updated on this end,” the lawyer said. “But until she files her official report, this conversation never happened.”
“Agreed.” Warden Egara went to a table and picked up a tablet, slid her fingers over the screen, studied it. “Rachel Pierce, per Coalition protocol, I must ask you several questions. You have agreed to the match made by the Interstellar Brides Program testing that was saved to your profile. Is this correct?”