“It’s not too late to turn back,” I tell Billie and Piper quietly.
“And what, let my hair frizz in this gross humidity every day?” Billie says, but there’s a little quake to her voice.
“I want to go home too, Leigh,” Piper says, her voice low. “I don’t belong here.”
Right.
I straighten my shoulders and pick up the pace. We’re in it now.
“You made the right decision,” Nydo says. He’s not exactly gleeful, but there’s something so smug about him that I immediately want to kick him in the nuts. “We have a small window to leave.”
He takes the tiny pack from my shoulder, and his expression immediately goes black.
“Where’s the rest?” he asks.
I glare at him. “Very funny,” I say, acid in my tone. “Like we have lots of stuff after being abducted.”
“We travel light,” Billie chimes in.
The biggest of the three, the silent middle brother—Lyko, I think his name is—takes Piper’s pack.
The younger brother, who is likewise huge and intimidating, helps Billie with hers, and the males share a look.
“Let’s get spaceside,” Nydo says shortly.
“Then we aim for Earth,” I say, trying to joke.
“Oh no. No, my mate,” Nydo tells me, eyes flashing orange. “You have much work to do before we take you back to that slum of a planet.”
“Don’t call me that,” I hiss at him. Billie and Piper and the brothers disappear into the ship, and it’s just Nydo and I standing outside, glaring at each other. “What are you trying to prove? It’s pretend.”
He steps closer, forcing me back into the railing.
Both of his arms grip the rail on either side of me, and I am all too aware of his honed weapon of a body. A delicious smell wafts from him, like campfire and spice, and it catches me by surprise, inhaling deeply.
“I will call you my mate whenever I want,” Nydo says, challenge gleaming in his eyes. “Mate.”
“You won’t,” I say. I am not about to let the fucker intimidate me. “You will call me by my name. Nothing else. And not mate.”
“I will call you what I wish, mate.”
Ugh! I grit my teeth, annoyed, irritated, and…
He blinks slowly, and when his eyes open again, they burn pure orange. I bite my lip.
I’m not afraid.
I’m aroused.
Again! Goddammit, I should have taken care of that little problem before I got here. A ten-minute break with my fingers would have maybe taken the edge off.
A slow smile tugs up the corner of his mouth.
“You like it when I call you that,” he says, his voice a rough rasp. “Deny it all you want, little liar, but I see you. I scent you.”
A shiver runs down my spine. “Whatever, you weirdo.” I push a hand against his chest, trying to slip away from him.
It’s like pushing against a brick wall. A toned, warm, muscled, delicious brick wall.
Nydo smiles even bigger.
I stare at my hand on his chest, then glance up to his satisfied smirk.
“This is progress,” he purrs at me. “You’re already enjoying the way my body feels against yours.”
“Gross,” I say, irritated. Because he’s right. Man, fuck this guy.
He cocks an eyebrow at me, amusement dancing across his stupidly pretty face.
Dammit. If he didn’t have the personality of a set of hairy balls, I could enjoy the way he looks. I might read into the way he looks at me, like I’m a lollipop and he’s trying to figure out how many licks it will take to get to the center.
I might make a whole lot of really stupid choices.
My hand is still on his chest. I stare at it for another split second, and then his hand, his calloused, strong hand, catches mine. His grey fingers twine through mine, and I can’t look away.
I force my chin up, meeting his eyes.
“I seem to remember you saying you have a… delicate problem.”
I can’t catch my breath. He’s too close. Too warm, too much.
“I could help you with that. It would be the least I could do to help you, considering our… arrangement.”
My hand slams into his chest, and he smirks as he takes a step back.
“I bet you would like that, buddy.”
I slip under his arm, stalking onto the ship’s ramp. A frustrated scream threatens in the back of my throat, and I shake slightly as I suck in breath after breath, tamping it down, unwilling to let him see just how much he’s gotten under my skin.
I hate that I’m thinking about his offer. I hate that it’s all I can think about as one of the Roth brothers directs me to a chair, helping me strap the safety webbing over myself.
When Nydo walks by me, taking the captain’s chair and prepping the ship for take-off, he doesn’t spare a glance at me.
But I’m still thinking about it. Watching him. Watching his hands work over the control panel. Watching the way his muscles move under the tight Suevan training gear he wears.
I grunt, annoyed, and force myself to stare at the Suevan landscape for what I sincerely hope is the last time.
Hormones are a bitch.
CHAPTER FIVE
NYDO
My female is wide awake. Her gaze tracks every movement I make, and it pleases me that she’s been staring at me. The whole flight out of Suevan space, I felt her eyes on me, and every time I chanced a glance at her, she made herself look away.
The corner of my mouth lifts in a smirk, and I tweak the control panel, putting the ship on autopilot.
“Where are we headed?” she asks.
The other two women are sleeping in their harnesses, and my brothers both left to make a meal for us as soon as we emerged from Suevan-controlled space.
“Hernus-12 Space Station.”
“Why?” She spits the question, like deigning to speak to me at all bothers her.
“Does it matter?” I challenge her. By the gods, I love her fire. “You don’t get to choose where we go. You will do as I bid until we succeed in overthrowing the Overlord.”
“You’re an asshole,” she says flatly. “Just because I agreed to your plan doesn’t mean you get to order me around. That wasn’t part of it. We’re equals.”
I unstrap my safety harness, and walk slowly over to where she sits, her arms crossed over her harness, a defiant expression on her lovely face. I bend down over her, so low my nose nearly touches hers, trying to intimidate her through my size alone. A mistake. As soon as I inhale, I am lost.
Lost for this female.
When I open my eyes again, trying to blink some sense back into my brain, she’s sneering at me.
“We aren’t equals,” I hear myself say.
“Fuck you,” she spits, anger turning the tip of her adorable nose pink. “Just because you are the so-called King of Roth and have some kind of stupid energy manipulation powers doesn’t mean you’re better than me. I would never have agreed to come if I thought you were going to treat me like a servant. Or worse.” Her expression darkens, and I see it coming not a moment too soon.
She jerks her head forward, trying to smash into mine.
I snort. It is adorable, the way she thinks she will wound me if only she tries hard enough.
“Stop,” I tell her, trying to stop grinning and failing. “You will hurt yourself.”