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.

OceanofPDF.com

CHAPTER FIVE

OceanofPDF.com

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.”

“Get away from me,” she snaps, unbuckling her harness. “I’m only doing this so I can get back to Earth, so I never have to see your stupid, stupidly handsome face ever again.”

My mouth splits into a wide smile, pleasure tingling through me. I tilt my head to the side. “You find me good to look at.”

She stands abruptly, throwing her hands in the air in irritation. “Did you not hear the part where I hate you? For fuck’s sake, you don’t even think we are equals. What part of this do you think is going well for you, buddy?”

Every word is a hiss of a whisper, like she’s trying not to wake her companions, who sleep peacefully in their seats. I file away the knowledge she has a soft heart under all her tough talk. Surely I can exploit that later.

Leigh glares at me, as if daring me to try something else.

I want to step closer to her again, to inhale her intoxicating fragrance, but I am worried she will hurt herself by lashing out at me again.

“The part where I tell you that we are not equals because we are mates, Leigh,” I say her name on an exhale. “Because you will always, always be the one I look to first, the one that comes first… in all ways.”

Her green eyes go wide, then narrow again, suspicion thinning her lips. “Nice save. Like I believe anything you say. Especially since we’re faking it.”

She all but runs away, the cabin door automatically closing behind her as she flees me. Does she truly see me as a monster? Someone who would treat her as a servant?

Maybe I have not been as kind to her as I should have been. Perhaps I should have used a softer touch.

I have never been allowed the luxury of being soft, or kind.

Trying to keep my brothers alive has made me hard. Trying to keep myself alive has made me a liar. Trying to survive as a Roth who would be executed if the Overlord knew the truth has made me a coward.

“She’s been through a lot.”

I turn to find the yellow-haired female—Piper, I think her name is—yawning and blinking sleepily. “What?”

“She is upset. All the time. About what’s happened to us,” Piper continues, glancing around, bleary-eyed. “Leigh took it all really hard. We all did, but Leigh isn’t the kind to just forgive and forget. It was horrible, you know.” She rubs her arms, pausing. “Our shipmates being murdered, then the abduction, the breeding hormones, Sueva. Can you blame her? She’s confused and upset that she’s even working with you. A Roth.”

“Why are you telling me this?” I ask suspiciously.

The female sighs. “Because I am a hopeless optimist, I guess. And I need to believe that you all aren’t as bad as the other Roths. Just… go easy on her, okay?”

“Don’t touch me!” the brunette shrieks, then jerks awake.

“You’re okay, Billie,” Piper tells her soothingly. She turns her strange blue eyes back to me, then nods once. “Talk to her,” she says, surprising steel in her voice.

I return her nod. Turbulent emotions roil under the surface. It troubles me that these three women have every reason to despise us, and yet, they have chosen to join us on our quest to depose the Roth Overlord. To return the throne to the rightful king.

My throne.

My eyes narrow as I make my way to the small kitchen area on the ship. Lyko and Ayro have made quick work of the meal, and the heavily spiced sauces sit on the table as the two finish up the rest.

“Thank you for making the meal,” I tell them.