Not two minutes later they were back, something no larger than a golf ball in Ryston’s palm. “I’m going to rip his cock from his body and shove it down his throat.”
“Who, Captain?”
The doctor lifted his gaze from treating Maxim to sigh. “That belongs to Krael. My top medical officer.”
I blinked, slowly. Was he serious? The helpless, worthless idiot who’d shadowed me for hours? “Krael?”
“I’m afraid so.”
Ryston looked to his team. “Go get him. I want him alive.”
“Yes, sir.” They left at once and a cold, completely illogical shiver ran through me when I thought Ryston would leave as well. I recognized the feeling, had felt it often in the prison. Terror. Lonely, helpless terror.
I needed my mates. Both of them. They were fierce and protective and stronger than I could ever be. I’d grown accustomed to having them beside me. The thought of Ryston walking away with Maxim hurt, leaving me to deal with it alone?
I felt like a weak fool, but the idea of him not being with me nearly made my heart stop beating. I wanted him to stay. I needed him. But I wouldn’t ask. I couldn’t ask. Not if he had a job to do. I wouldn’t stop him. Wouldn’t stand in his way. “Ryston.”
Ryston walked to where I sat on the cold, hard floor with the doctor and crouched beside me. His big, warm hand settled on my shoulder and just like that, I settled. “I’m not leaving your side, Rachel. I’ll never walk away when you need me.”
The tears came automatically, a silent river down my cheeks. I ignored them. Let them fall. I wouldn’t stop touching Maxim to wipe them away.
Ryston addressed the doctor. “Is he going to make it?”
The doctor nodded and just like that I could breathe again. “Yes. He’ll need a full cycle in the ReGen pod, but now that we’ve stopped the reactivation process, he’ll survive.” The doctor’s gaze shifted to me. “Thanks to you, Lady Rone.”
I lifted my gaze to Ryston, my body burning with equal parts relief and love. Soul-searing, all-consuming love for my second mate, with his temper and his passion. Maxim was my hearth, my home, but Ryston was my fire. I needed them both. “I love you.”
His hand dropped to my collar, the look in his eyes one I’d never seen before. “I know, love. I know.”
Chapter Fifteen
Maxim, three days later
“I am ready to be claimed,” Rachel said.
Those words stopped me. My legs, my mind. But it stirred my cock. Every Prillon male waited to hear a female say those words. I am ready to be claimed.
By doing so, Rachel would be ours, forever. Her collar would change color from black to copper. Match Ryston’s and mine. It would be a signal to everyone that she was Lady Rone officially, that she’d accepted us, wanted us. No, fuck, needed us and never wanted to let us go.
Ryston must have had the same thoughts. While I felt his surprise and blatant eagerness through the collar, his words confirmed it. “What do you mean, Rachel? Claim? To become ours permanently? To be fucked by both of us, to take our seed deep inside you? To connect us as one? We must be sure.”
She bit her lip, then nodded. “Yes. Claim me.”
I sensed her nerves, however beneath that was an unwavering confidence. “You are unsure about something.”
Her fingers went to the black collar about her neck. I longed for the moment when it would turn the color of copper fire, the color of my family. Mine.
“I want to be yours. Both of yours. I even want you to both fuck me at the same time. But I’m nervous about it. I mean…you’re both so big.”
A deep breath escaped and so did all my worries. I’d spent a full day in a ReGen pod and another day resting. Ryston and Rachel had been careful with me, but today, Rachel seemed to be done with her coddling. I was well again, no traces of the activated tissue remained. She’d saved me. While Krael had gotten away, slipped off before the truth was discovered, he’d transported off planet. We knew of the plot now, knew the evil existed and we’d watch for it. For now though, peace had returned to the Colony. And my mate wanted to be claimed. Who was I to deny her?
“You do not need to flatter us, mate. We are already yours.”
She rolled her eyes and grinned, then bit her lip again. “What if I can’t do it? Take you both, I mean.”
Ryston moved to stand before her, to stroke a finger down her cheek. “I have prepared you well, have I not? The plugs, my fingers? You can take Maxim’s cock and the biggest plug in the set at the same time.”
She glanced down at Ryston, as if she could see his cock through his armor. “But you are much bigger.”