I hook my free arm around her neck, pulling her against my chest. Leigh lets out a frustrated yelp, and I drag my nose over her throat, her jaw, her hair.
My pulse pounds, my cock harder than ever. I want this female more than anything I’ve wanted in my entire miserable life.
Even now, I resist the impulse to—
Her hand cracks into my nose, and I blink in surprise. Brief pain follows, and I stare up at her, slightly shocked and even more gratified at the violence in her nature. My grin widens.
“You hit me,” I say lazily.
“No shit. Let me go,” she growls, her green eyes furious. “Let me go right now, or I twist these fuckers off, and you learn what it’s like to piss blood.” Her hand tightens around my balls.
I let out a harsh laugh. I release my grip on her throat, and she immediately jumps from the bed, her breathing harsh, her scent, though still delectable and tinged with mine, bitter.
She’s scared.
Guilt washes over me.
“I did not mean to frighten you,” I try. “I was merely playing—”
“If I wanted to play with you, you complete ass, I would tell you.” She’s angry. No, she’s furious.
And what a sight she is to behold.
“You will make a great queen,” I tell her. “You are as fierce as a Roth warrior, and as beautiful as the lava falls of Roth.”
“I will never be your queen,” she seethes, pulling on her hideous Federation uniform. “I’m only here until you get what you want, and then you’re taking me to Earth. That’s the deal. I pretend we’re mates, and the moment the Overlord is overthrown, I’m done.”
“As you say,” I lie easily.
She is wrong.
Leigh will be my queen. She simply doesn’t know it yet.
Her glare could ignite a volcano, and I grin at her, sitting up slowly. The sheet tumbles from my body, and for a moment, her gaze slips to my bare chest.
Ha!
So she is not completely immune to me. My smile grows, and my cock tents the sheet.
“Put some fucking clothes on so we can get this over with,” she snarls, stomping out of my room.
“Do your people often wear clothing while they fuck?” I ask after her, only because I know it will enrage her further and I cannot help prodding at my fiery little mate.
“I hate you!” she yells, and I laugh as the door hisses shut behind her. She is adorable when she is angry.
CHAPTER EIGHT
LEIGH
I don’t know that we’re going to survive this little arrangement. Not because of the Roth Overlord, but because I think we might kill each other before we even get to that step.
I slam a tray down, slopping the oatmeal-like breakfast into the bowl and sprinkling some of the strange alien condiments into it. I don’t know what they are, but they’re out, so they must be meant for the breakfast.
“Good morning,” Nydo’s brother, Lyko, greets me. He makes his own breakfast, following in my footsteps.
I grunt at him. My hair is all over the place because I practically ran from Nydo’s room. I don’t even want to know what they think. I don’t want to know if I smell like Nydo and I have been fucking; the important thing is that his scent will help protect me on the space station, and as much as I loathe the jerk, at least I won’t be abducted again.
Hopefully.
Piper and Billie sit at the only table in the small mess hall on the ship, and I flop into a chair next to them as they stare at me.
“Are you okay?” Billie asks.
“You look…” Piper’s nose scrunches up. “You look like you need your hair combed.”
“Yeah, well, you two look nice and fresh as daisies,” I say, my voice higher than usual. At this rate, I’m going to need blood pressure meds. I shovel a spoonful of the glop in my mouth, chewing and swallowing automatically. “I guess your Roth brothers didn’t make you spoon with them to get their scent on you last night? Or you didn’t mind?”
I laugh, and it’s unnatural-sounding.
Piper and Billie share a glance, and my hand tightens on the spatula-like utensil in my hand, my knuckles white.
“You… didn’t… cuddle with them, did you?” It’s not a question, not really, because it’s clear from their expressions that this is news to them.
“Billie and I shared a room,” Piper says slowly. “We waited for you to come in too, but…”
“Good morning, all,” Nydo says, breezing through the door to the mess. He shoots me a sparkling look, and I imagine wringing his stupid grey neck with my bare hands. Or shoving the spatula into his eyeball.
Neither option makes me feel better.
“Why didn’t they have to sleep with your brothers?” I explode, half-standing.
“You slept with him?” Piper exhales noisily.
“Holy shit,” Billie adds. “Must have been shitty if she’s still so pissy.”
Nydo and I both glare at her.
“I slept with him. I didn’t sleep with him,” I manage. The spatula-thing is still in my hand, and I point it at Nydo, who only smiles at me, his handsome face unbearable.
“That clears it up,” Billie mutters.
“Why did you… sleep with him?” Piper asks, wearing her usual peaceful expression, somehow oblivious to the murderous urges running through my veins.
“Because the turd told me I needed to smell like him to be safe on the space station.”
“And you do,” Nydo says calmly, clearly amused by the entire debacle.
My teeth grind together. I point to Billie and Piper. Piper puts her hands up in the air reflexively. “So why don’t they need to smell like… your brothers?”
“We’re not going on the station,” Billie tells me slowly. “It’s not safe. You shouldn’t either.”
I turn to Nydo.
“She has to go. She needs to be outfitted for our travels. She has to look the part, to sell the fact we are mates.”
“It’s not a fact,” I interrupt him. “It’s a lie.”
“Exactly. Which is why everything must look exactly right.” He nods at his own words, arrogant and handsome, even as he doles out his own portion of morning mush. “You humans have a saying, appearances are deceiving. Correct?”
“Oh, good for you, knowing that one,” Piper tells him delightedly.
Billie rolls her eyes.
Nydo dips his body in a perfunctory bow, raising one rakish eyebrow at me. “Our appearances, likewise, must be deceiving. You will look every inch a queen. Lucky for me, you’re already mostly there. Any Roth King would be lucky to have such a beauty by his side.” His eyes travel over my face, down my body.
My face heats, and I sink back into my chair, too aware of his steady gaze.
Piper lets out a dreamy little sigh. “You are really striking, Leigh. What does she have to wear? This kind of sounds fun. Do we get pretty outfits too?”
“Do you want them?” Lyko asks, his tone too interested to be purely casual. I turn my death stare on him, and the oatmeal-mush falters slightly on its trip to his mouth. “I have some credits to spend,” he bravely adds.
“Oh, no, you don’t have to do that,” Piper says. “I was just curious what our role was in all…” She waves an elegant hand around. “This scheme you have. Nydo is king, and that makes you and your brother, what, princes? Next in line? And you asked for us, so…”
“You can’t make them pretend to be mates too,” I object.
“I don’t know, it sounds fun,” Billie says through a mouthful of breakfast mush. “I like the idea of getting dressed up and fucking over the Roth Overlord. I can think of a lot worse things than being a princess. Like, oh, I don’t know, being abducted by the Roth and shot up full of breeding hormones,” she finishes sweetly, batting her eyelashes at the third Roth brother, Ayro, who fully stops and stares at her.
“I am not sure what I have walked into,” he says slowly. “But I would not presume anything about your breeding hormones."
“Intelligent life from another planet,” I say acidly. “Who would’ve thought?”
To my surprise, the only one who laughs is Nydo. It’s a warm, booming sound, and I staunchly ignore how it spikes my own libido.
Lyko’s smile is genuine as he glances between Nydo and I. “I will accompany you two today, for security.”
“No,” Nydo disagrees. “You will stay on the ship with the other females and guard them. We cannot be too careful when it comes to the possibility of sabotage.”
Surprise clouds Lyko’s face at the reaction, but he merely nods, as though his older brother often calls the shots.
“You’ll give me a weapon,” I demand. “If it’s not safe, then I want a chance at being able to defend myself.”
“Done,” Nydo says easily. Too easily.
Billie frowns, and worry races across Piper’s face.
I narrow my eyes at him. “I want a plas rifle. I am a sniper.”
“You can have whatever weapon you desire,” he says, and when he arches his eyebrow at me, his gaze dipping to my mouth, I’m not thinking about a damn plas rifle at all, but about the way he felt in my hand when I threatened to twist his nuts off this morning.
I can’t get these damn hormones out of my system fast enough.
“I will stay with you two beautiful females and the ship,” Ayro announces, thankfully breaking the tension between Nydo and I. “But if you also want to be dressed in the Roth style, Billie, I would be honored to send some credits with Leigh and Nydo. It would please me greatly to see you dressed as a princess, if you decide you also want to… pretend to mate me.”
Billie beams at him. “I wouldn’t mind pretending, if it helps ruin the Overlord’s plan.” She flutters her eyelashes slightly, and I gape at her.
Is she flirting with him?
I pinch the bridge of my nose.
“Having three royal males mated with human females can only help our cause,” Lyko muses. “It will certainly divert attention."
“I’ll comm you our measurements,” Billie says, and there’s a trace of excitement in her voice.
I cradle my face in my hands. “You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me. They’re gonna dress us up like little Roth Barbies.”
“Does that make them Ken? I seem to remember doing some fun things with Ken,” Piper says innocently, but there’s a coy smile on her mouth, and Billie bursts into laughter. The three Roth stare, Lyko openly admiring her.
I groan. It’s gonna be a long trip back to Earth.