I blink.
“Calm the fuck down,” she continues. “You look like you’re ready to burn the whole place down. I didn’t put up with all this sludge on my face and you braiding my hair just for you to torch it. Let’s get in, get what we need, and get the fuck out.”
She purses her lips, putting her hands on her hips. My ferocious little queen. My flame.
“Fine,” I say grudgingly, and then, because I can, because she is mine, I tuck her hand into mine and drag her along beside me, smiling to myself at her small noises of irritation.
Lyko and Ayro follow along behind us, Piper and Billie at their sides.
“You must be the human mate we have heard so much about,” Roghat says. He stares at her in open appreciation, and I consider gouging his eyes out with fire and watching them melt.
Then Leigh nudges me, stepping into my side so that I may wrap my arm around her. I take a deep breath, and I inhale… her. It soothes me, the scent of her body, the smell of the perfumed shampoo I rubbed into her hair only hours ago.
She is mine.
Leigh’s small fingers glide over the small of my back, and I attempt to tamp down the urge to throw her over my shoulder and take her back to my quarters on our ship.
“The female is small. Are all human females as small as these three?” Roghat asks. “They look like one good fucking would break them in half.” He sneers.
Leigh draws herself up tall, and I force my rage into a smirk of my own. As much as I want to strike him down, she will handle this peon. That, I am sure of.
“We aren’t overgrown like the Roth, if that’s what you’re asking. But we have our own talents,” Leigh answers, that same imperious tone that she used with the tailor coloring her voice. It’s fucking perfect, and I drape my arm around her, squeezing her hip possessively.
“You certainly behave as though you are mated, though…” He sniffs, and I know he’s testing the air. “Though she does not wear the marks of a queen. Are you sure this… species is capable of breeding with us? It seems… unlikely, despite their fragile charms.”
“Is this how Roth greet their royalty?” Leigh snaps out, and when I glance down at her, her green eyes are bright with fury. Her hand, however, is clammy against the thin black material of my shirt. “With,” she pauses, her fingernails biting into my back, “insolence?”
“I—” Roghat starts, but Leigh holds up her hand.
“If I want to hear an excuse, I’ll let you know. What I want now is to eat and be treated with the respect I deserve, even if your little… settlement looks like something a medieval peasant would live in.” She sniffs. Her leg shakes slightly, and I pull her closer, scenting her fear.
I do not want Roghat to realize she is anything but the stern, self-possessed queen she pretends to be.
“I love it when you act like this,” I half-snarl at her. She blinks up at me in surprise as I tip her head back, pressing a searing kiss across her mouth.
What starts as a way to distract her turns into something else entirely as her arousal scent blossoms around us. Her fingers dig into my back, her mouth opening on a moan.
Gods, she tastes… I growl, and her tongue slides against mine, my own desire making me ache all over for her, my cock hard.
“Brother,” Ayro’s voice sounds amused. “We know of your obsession with the queen, but it is time to move on.”
She bites my lip and, too late, I remember her asking me not to kiss her on the mouth.
It is too bad that her defiant streak only makes me want to do it more.
I force my mouth away from Leigh, but not before I yank the back of her head to my ear.
“Well done, my mate,” I whisper.
The look she gives me is full of fire and fury, and she tosses her head before following me into the archaic-looking village the Roth sect leaders here prefer. A stone wall guards a bevy of houses, though from the looks of it, they are mostly empty.
I try to hide my disappointment.
Our species is dying, withering away under my uncle’s idiocy and warmongering, and for what reason?
Am I truly any better?
As Leigh saunters just ahead of me, her smooth skin tantalizing under the dark fabric of the Roth-style gown she wears, her head held high, I have to believe I am better.
For her, I will be better.
The Roth at the settlement gather close as we walk through the small array of buildings. They watch us with careful, hooded eyes, their heads bowed in the barest of respect. These are the males that would not bend the knee to the Overlord.
They are thin, their cheeks hollowed out and the circles under their eyes darker than they should be. They pound their shoulders in respect, their heads bowed slightly. They look… weak. But they are Roth, and the fight is in their blood.
If I can convince them, they will war for us. For the future we could have, instead of the extinction that looms ahead.
This is my duty to my people, to my mate, and to the females of Earth.
My heart squeezes as my gaze lands back on Leigh, always on Leigh. I’ve known her all of a few weeks, and how it has shifted my entire worldview.
There will be no more hiding, no more waiting and biding my time.
I would carve a place in the world for the both of us, and ensure Earth is safe… My hands clench at my sides as we walk through an arched doorway to a large, bare meeting room. A large table spans the length of the room, and there is a chair set apart from the others on a dais.
Earth will be safe, I will stop the Roth Overlord from carrying out his plans, but…
She will not return to Earth.
She may be all defiance and fire right now, but I will break her down, until she craves me, until she needs me… loves me. No matter the lies it takes.
I will be king, and she will be my queen.
Leigh turns her face towards me, as if she knows the direction of my fevered thoughts. I can’t help myself—I tangle my fingers in the thick length of braids wrapped around her head, and she gasps, eyes wide, as I tug her back to my side.
“What?” she snarls, as violent as any Roth queen should be.
“Trust no one,” I tell her quietly.
“I don’t. Especially not you. You promised not to kiss me.”
I pretend not to hear her. “I do not like the way he looks at you.”
“Let her go,” the female Billie mutters, her hand at her thigh, where I know she’s strapped a plas knife under her skirts.
All I have attention for is Leigh though, for the green fire in her eyes, so reminiscent of the borealis over the Northern Roth ice caves.
“You may have the place of honor,” Roghat says, a faint smile on his face at seeing the tension between us.
I release my mate and she pats her hair, sitting down defiantly at one of the many chairs along the long table. Roghat immediately sits next to her, and her lips purse, as though she’s not thrilled with that development.
I nod to Lyko and Ayro, and they position themselves as close to her as possible, the other females following suit.
What choice do I have? I have the position of honor, a position I must take if I want them to respect me as king.
I don’t like it. My mate should be with me, at my side, but… I need Roghat’s allegiance. The numbers here are large enough to make an impact in a fight against the Overlord, and I know from experience that the appearance of many Roth settlements are often deceiving. I guarantee there is more to this outpost than they are showing us right now.
The rest of the settlement sect file into the building, taking their seats and speaking in quiet voices. I lean forward on the chair. They’re too interested in her. In all the human females.