Lucy melted against my side once the Warlord moved on.
“That was intense,” she said, then looked up into my eyes, and I forgot we were standing in the middle of a roomful of people. “Thanks for catching me.”
“My pleasure.” The words were idiotic, but I didn’t care. Touching her was a pleasure. As was looking into her gaze, tracing the outline of her lips with my fingertip.
“Really, Niklas?” Sambor asked, jostling me enough to break the hypnotic hold the female seemed to have on me. I looked up to find him grinning. “Starting fights? I thought you were a diplomat.”
“I believe it was you who said something about enjoying ourselves.” My gaze locked with Sambor’s, and I tipped my head down to indicate the human in my arms. This female was beautiful. Stunning. My cock remained hard despite every attempt my mind made to reason with the insolent organ.
She was here as a friend of the queen. She was human. How was it possible she did not have a mate?
Or two?
Or three? Surely she belonged to someone.
I’d seen more than one group of Viken fighters escorting a female tonight, including the queen and kings of Viken carrying their two precious daughters. Both with dark red hair like their mother.
Like Lucy.
“Holy fuck,” Sambor murmured just above a whisper when he got a good look at the female in my arms. He went rigid, and when one of the kings of Viken stepped on his foot and offered apologies, he didn’t even blink.
I looked down and drowned in her gaze, my entire body going as rigid as my cock. She wasn’t squirming or fighting to be somewhere else. It seemed she liked being held as much as I liked holding her.
“Are you not frightened?” I asked, my voice loud enough to be heard over the music.
“Of you or your terrible dancing?” She actually laughed, setting the fiery curls around her face to bouncing. The rest she had twisted up on top of her head in some strange configuration common among females. “Either way, the answer is no. You’re actually kind of smaller than I’m used to.”
I wasn’t sure if I should laugh at her boldness or feel insulted. I was nearly seven feet tall, by no means small.
“Only Atlans are larger than Prillons. You are mated to a beast then?” Sambor asked. Had he not heard the Atlan, Rezzer, grumble about her being unmated? Or was he simply seeking confirmation? Our gazes dropped to inspect her wrists, which were bare. No mating cuffs.
When the Viken king bumped into Sambor again, I’d had enough. I picked her up and walked out of the dancing throng. Lucy did not resist. But when we reached the side of the room, I had no choice but to set her back upon her feet.
Her smile was open, welcoming and curious as she glanced up at the two of us. “To answer your question, no. I don’t have a mate.”
“Based on the ring in your nose, I assumed a mate from Trion,” I said, looking again for the outline of similar adornments in her nipples.
“Nope, no Trion mate, nor am I seeking one. From any planet.”
“You’re not? I understand that human females were only allowed to leave your planet to mate or fight in the war,” Sambor said to her. Earth was one of only a handful of all planets that allowed their females to fight, a decision both Sambor and I disagreed with, not because a female couldn’t hold her own in battle, but because we were more than willing to sacrifice our own lives so they did not have to.
Apparently Lucy did not approve of Sambor’s words. She frowned and I did not like to see the crease mar her smooth brow. “Wow. Know everything about us, do you? I understood that a Prillon male got tested for a bride because he couldn’t find one on his own.”
I couldn’t help the smile at the way Sambor’s eyes widened at her well-countered words or the way he bowed his head slightly.
“My apologies. Lucy, correct?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“Then if you are not here to acquire a mate, why are you here?”
Her bright green eyes glanced between me and Sambor with… unhidden desire. Lust. Open and blatant appreciation.
Need.
My cock punched against my pants, eager to get to her, to fulfill any need she might have. I envisioned her in bed between Sambor and me. Naked. Our hands and mouths on her. Our cocks in her. I could almost hear her moans of pleasure, screams of satisfaction.
She set her hand on my chest, and I felt the heat of it through my tunic. Fuck, she was a contrary thing. Tiny and frail, yet a tongue sharper than a Viken’s most ruthless blade. Lightness and now this… heat.
Taking a step closer, she placed her palm in the same spot on Sambor. “I am here to enjoy myself. To have some fun.”
“Please do not let us stop you from dancing some more.” I would deny her nothing, and I had to admit watching her dance would be quite erotic. “Unless the queen bids otherwise, we will remain here and watch.”
“I want you to do more than watch me.” Or at least that’s what I thought she said—her voice had dipped almost to a whisper. “So you’re a lord?” she asked, louder this time, her thumb sliding back and forth across my chest, distracting me.
I imagined that thumb sliding over the crown of my cock, and I was ready to toss her over my shoulder and carry her off to an empty room in the palace so she could do so.
Her scent filled my head, and my heart raced as if I’d just outrun a Hive scout in a stealth fighter. “My name is Niklas.”
“Nik.”
I’d never heard anyone shorten my name before, but the abbreviation made me want to yell mine so everyone could hear me over the thrum of loud music. Gods, she was a bold little thing. No Prillon female would make such forward contact with a male. She licked her lips in Sambor’s direction.
“And you?” She looked up at Sambor, who was armed and had to be almost two heads taller than the petite female, yet she appeared unafraid.
“I am Sambor Treval.” He set his hand over hers and bowed slightly at the waist.
“Sam and Nik.” She sighed like we’d revealed the secrets of the universe and filled her with bliss. I suddenly wanted to hear more sounds from her small throat. I wanted to hear her beg, hear the soft cries of her release. Sighs of surrender. I imagined stripping the wispy green fabric from her body, unwinding the golden strands that crisscrossed her waist and breasts as if unwrapping a gift.
“Are you two together?” Her green gaze flitted between the two of us. “You know, like a warrior and his second?”
Fuck. My cock jerked to attention as Sambor nodded. “Yes, I am his chosen second.”
“How can we assist you, my lady? A beverage?” I asked, trying to regain control of my body after the gut punch that was this small, human female. Bouncing red curls, pale skin too even and perfect to be real. Her green eyes were lined with dark accents that made them appear larger, more innocent. Obviously the work of magic as she was not acting as an innocent would.
She was pure seduction. Beauty.
“Orgasms.”
I coughed, stunned by her boldness. Sambor laughed.
“Orgasms?” Sambor repeated.
“I’ve spent too many nights alone in my bed.” She looked us up and down; then her gaze remained on down, on our cocks. Mine was rock-hard and pressing against my pants. I had no doubt Sambor suffered a similar affliction. “I was hoping that maybe, while I’m here, you two might want to join me?” Her words were bold, but her gaze was averted, unsure—now that she’d offered herself to us.