Surprise Mates. Grace Goodwin
and Wyatt are the only ones who can destroy me,” Kiel murmured.
Lindsey’s face took on that sappy, lovey-dovey look.
“Oh, Kiel,” she whispered, then sniffed and lifted her chin. “We’ve come for a surprise birthday party.” Her words were the reminder for all of us as to why we were here. “What kind of trouble could we possibly get into?”
Kiel’s eyes went wide, and he slowly shook his head as if the possibilities were endless.
“This is why the Prime and every male in attendance agreed it had to happen within the walls of the palace.”
“Palace,” Rachel humphed. “More like a fortress.”
“Exactly,” the three males said at the exact same time.
The hum of the transport pad had us stepping off it so the second transport from The Colony could arrive.
“This is the reason we didn’t let you ladies transport without us,” Maxim said as we stood in the large room and waited.
The space was twice as big as the transport room on The Colony, and I had to assume it was kept busy. I’d never been to Prillon Prime before. Heck, I’d never been anywhere else in space but where Olivia and Wulf were stationed. My BFF and her hulking Atlan mate were the reason why I wasn’t on Earth, not because I’d been matched. I was, in fact, one of very few humans out in Coalition space who were single and not fighting the Hive. At least that’s what I’d been told. As in, the only single lady. Fighters didn’t count.
Now I was going to the Prime’s palace for a surprise birthday party for his mate, Jessica, another human. This was epically big.
Epic.
Even more so than a girls’ weekend in Vegas. This was Prillon Prime, baby!
I’d never met Prime Nial, or the birthday girl for that matter, but I’d chatted with them, along with Jessica’s second mate, Ander, on a phone call. Or screen-to-screen call. Phones were beyond old-fashioned, like a horse and buggy, for these guys.
I had to catch up on space terminology. Without a mate to help me adjust to my new life, I was getting behind.
Not that I didn’t have mate offers on The Colony. The Atlan Warlord Braun was an absolute sweetheart, a great big freaking teddy bear… and I didn’t want him. Not like that. Same with Captain Marz and his Prillon second. Same with the other Atlans. The Viken fighters. The large selection of available mates on The Colony was, frankly, overwhelming.
Worse, not one of them felt right, as if I wanted one to be mine. Braun was, if nothing else, my friend. I trusted him and I liked him, but I didn’t want to take off all my clothes and rub my naked body over his.
Not even a little. Which was just sad because he was hot. Like sex-on-a-stick hot. But my indifference was also the reason my guardian, Warlord Wulf, gave every male on The Colony the hands-off vibe when it came to me.
The truth was, I was on The Colony to be with Olivia, Tanner and Emma. They were my family. Not by blood but by choice. Either way, I didn’t want another one. Not yet. I wasn’t ready. If I hooked up with any of the honorable warriors on The Colony, they would want forever. Like, forever-forever, and mating and babies and the whole thing. And that was a large commitment. Gigantic.
These next few days, I just wanted to have some fun. Maybe have some hot sex with a virile alien or two, take the edge off, and get back to my de facto niece and nephew and my best friend. I was happy there. Mostly. Bored sometimes but content. I didn’t want anything to ruin my new life.
I’d had no one on Earth. No family. Few friends. A low-paying job where I was invisible most of the time. Only Olivia and her kids mattered to me. Without them, I would be alone and, worse, lonely as hell. To Tanner and Emma, I was Aunt Woocy, and nothing mattered more to me than making sure those babies were happy and healthy.
I wasn’t enough of a selfish bitch to use any of the warriors on the colony just for sex. Those guys had been through so much. Battle. Capture. Torture. Integration. Rejection from their home worlds. I was not going to play with them like that. To have some fun, I would have to go off world—like here on Prillon Prime—and make sure whoever I had some fun with knew that’s all it was. Fun. Temporary.
Luckily the women from The Colony were all super nice and cool enough to want me to join them. I had a feeling Lindsey would have had T-shirts made that said Earth Girls Unite if she could. Since she’d been a PR rep on Earth and was still going at it, working on trying to bring new Earth volunteers to the Brides program and planning a huge surprise party for her BFF, the Lady Jessica Deston, the freaking queen of the entire Interstellar Coalition of Planets. Safe to say, Lindsey had probably been a little distracted.
“We ladies are perfectly capable of transporting by ourselves,” Rachel said, patting Maxim’s arm. Then she smiled. “But I like it when you get all protective and growly.”
Both he and Ryston growled to match her words. I bit my lip, trying not to laugh. Every male I’d encountered in space was bossier than the next. Protective. Dominant. All alpha-male hotness. Wulf was that way with Olivia and the kids, but he was also that way with me. He was like the brother I’d never had. If a girl from Ohio could have a seven-foot-plus Atlan beast as a brother. An overprotective, growly, beat-the-pulp-out-of-anyone-interested-in-getting-in-my-pants big brother.
“There is no chance you will transport without us. You would probably transport to Viken’s Trixon Resort,” Maxim grumbled.
“What’s that?” I asked.
“A retreat for new mates to get to know each other.” Rachel made little air quotes with her fingers. “It’s hedonistic. Think tropical five-star resort that caters to every sexual desire.”
I got hot at the thought. Who wouldn’t want that? “Like a spa but with sex?”
Maxim was the one who nodded. “Exactly.”
Rachel went up on her tiptoes and kissed his square jaw. “I’ve talked to Whitney, you know. She told me that place is only fun if your mates are with you. Not that I don’t enjoy a little solo fun.”
Maxim’s body went rigid as his gaze met his mate’s.
“Don’t tease us, mate,” Ryston growled. “We don’t have time to watch you at this moment. We are due at the palace.”
Rachel’s cheeks flushed as red as my hair, and she finally surrendered her son to Ryston, who cuddled the sleepy toddler close to his chest.
Cuteness overload.
I could tell Rachel was equally embarrassed and aroused by Ryston calling her out. I was jealous. So jealous. Body and heart aching with longing. I wanted a guy or two who’d get hot about watching me flick the bean. Hell, I wanted a guy or two just to look at me without staring at me like I was going to save their eternal soul and grant them new life. I wanted sexy fun—without Wulf glaring at every male in sight like he might dismember them if they stepped in my direction.
I was distracted from my thoughts by the gorgeous queen of Viken, who walked by. I couldn’t help but stare. Yeah, I knew who she was by her red hair and her dress—I’d been a stylist on Earth and knew fashion, even in space—and the fact that she had three hot, almost identical guys with her. She passed with her hot kings flanking her on a side as protection, and each one with a menacing and heated look that made me squirm. I had to wonder if they’d been to that sex spa place on Viken. Trixon Resort. That was going in the mental file for later.
Shit. I was in trouble here. Sex-on-the-brain twenty-four-seven kind of trouble.
Or was that twenty-six hours, forty-two or whatever the hell kind of calendar they had on this crazy planet? I had no idea. All I knew was I hadn’t been with a guy in way too long, and my body was hungry for some attention like the shape-shifters I’d read about in some of my favorite romance novels. Touch