Viken Command. Grace Goodwin
on my flesh, but I could think. A little.
“She wishes to continue,” Teig murmured.
Only a man could miss the point of my sentence. “Don’t you have a house or something?” I asked.
Teig inclined his head at me like I was a queen. “Of course.” His gaze moved over my shoulder to Alarr. “You may have to convince your mate to indulge your need for a public claiming.”
“Public? What?” The thought made my heart pound in equal parts horror at the idea… and excitement. I’d never considered three guys before, but the testing dream had proven to me that it would be hot, that it pushed some sex button I didn’t even know I had. But public sex?
I wasn’t supposed to have sex in public. I wasn’t supposed to do a lot of things. But standing here with my mates, imagining Oran joining us? Being “bad” suddenly didn’t seem wrong. There was bad, like my family. Then there was naughty, like fucking three hot strangers. And in public? If these two could make me forget my name by just kissing me, I’d probably forget what planet I was on if they got me naked.
My gran would roll over in her grave, but gran was dead. My bad father and brother were light-years away, rotting in jail. My mother was living with her sister and crying herself to sleep every night, making excuses for the men in our lives that I was unwilling to make. They were all dead to me. And I was alive. Very, very alive.
“Come, mate. We will show you to our home here.”
Alarr lifted me from behind, cradling me like a small child in his arms as we walked outside and through a strange village. With his arms around me, everything was in place. The strangest sense of contentment flowed through me. He was my match. He’d said as much. And the steady nature of his touch, the calm strength I felt from him made me feel bold. Safe. If these three males were mine, then Alarr was the glue holding us together. Already, he was my anchor.
Perhaps he made the other two feel the same way? I didn’t know what kind of dynamic the three males had between them, but I would learn. I’d seen drunk men fight over women on Earth. Bar fights. Fights all the way back to elementary school.
This was completely different. Both Alarr and Teig seemed content to be near me. To share the responsibility of caring for me. I had one brother, and he was almost ten years my senior. I’d grown up alone in a huge house, always longing for the chaos and excitement of a large family. I wanted children. Lots of children. Maybe half a dozen, but only if I had help. I wasn’t raising a son with no father. I’d seen too much of that. Too damn much.
But three fathers? If the baby popped out with red hair like Alarr, would Teig be upset? And how did Viken DNA work with human? I had black hair. Dark eyes. My skin was like melted milk chocolate with a dash of cream. On Earth, if I had a red-head or blond man’s baby, that baby was going to look like me. But here? I had no idea, and they didn’t appear to care. They’d said nothing about my skin color, my hair. Nothing.
They looked at me and accepted me. Touched me. Wanted me.
They’d already told me I was beautiful.
Good lord. No wonder I was putty in Alarr’s hands. I’d never been treated like... like nothing about me was unusual. Or suspect. Or less. I’d been labeled my whole life by one thing or another. Female. Black. Rich. Artsy. Rebellious. A flake when I quit prep school. A sell-out when I had white friends. A free spirit when I moved to California. My father had even called me a traitor when I’d refused to vote in the last election. Labels. Fucking labels.
And now? Now I was no one. My body was practically floating with the heady freedom I found in that. Actually, feeling light-headed and overwhelmed, I clung to Alarr as he carried me along the path, Teig two steps ahead, clearing our way.
I had no idea where I was other than on Viken, but this didn’t seem like a town. There were no stores or houses or roads. It was all manicured flower beds with exotic blooms I’d never seen before, gorgeous buildings with soft silks and sheer fabrics blowing in a light breeze. The pathways were lighted by glowing stones carved into the shapes of the actual flowers that scented the warm air. Everything was beautiful. Soft. Erotic.
It felt like an exclusive honeymoon resort on a tropical island like Fiji or the Maldives.
And wasn’t I on my honeymoon? Kind of? I was married now, matched. Mated to three Viken males from another world.
I leaned into Alarr’s arms and relaxed. Warden Egara never mentioned the possibility of a match being an asshole. It wouldn’t be a match then, would it, since I didn’t want an asshole. What woman would? I had to trust in the match, in the testing and that Alarr was honorable where my father was not. That he was trustworthy, that he would keep me safe while I learned about my new planet.
This was my home now, right? He was my home. Oran and Teig, too. And from everything I’d heard, these alien warriors never lied, never cheated. They were as honorable and noble as it was possible to be. Warden Egara wouldn’t have steered me wrong.
I could trust my new mates. I smiled to myself, relaxing. Finally, I could trust someone. Fall in love. Give them everything. I’d already given up my world, my planet. Everything I knew. For Alarr and Teig and Oran. My mates.
Breathing in Alarr’s masculine scent, I smiled, the first genuine, huge, from-the-depths-of-my-heart smile I’d had on my face in years. I was free.
When he carried me over the threshold into a small bungalow suite decorated with more sheer, golden fabrics, glowing rocks, and a bed covered in ivory and big enough for four people, I sighed.
Oh, yes. This was me now. The new me. No more Earth bullshit. No Wall Street, con men or politics. I didn’t fucking care who got elected president or what corporation went bankrupt. No more being judged by my cousins because I went to private school or grew up in a penthouse in Manhattan. No more Walter Mason’s daughter. No more paparazzi. No more lies. No more history. It was all gone now. All of it.
And it was perfect.
Конец ознакомительного фрагмента.
Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».
Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес.
Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.