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  “An excellent idea,” Lucian remarked. “We need all the rest we can get before we go see Tanta Loro tomorrow.”

  “If she’ll see us again so soon,” Drace muttered.

  “She will.” But from his tone, Lucian wasn’t as sure as he would have liked to be.

  “We should get some sleep then.”

  “True enough. Lights Dim,” Lucian said. The lighted walls dimmed until the room was as dark as it had been when I first woke up and found myself alone in a strange bed.

  But this time I wasn’t afraid—this time I wasn’t alone.

  It’ll be all right, I told myself as I closed my eyes and tried to get to sleep. Everything is going to be just fine. I’ll get them split up and be back on my way to Earth in no time.

  Only for some reason the thought bothered me. I couldn’t understand why but while I was trying, I finally got sleepy. Tomorrow I would walk on an alien world hundreds of light years from Earth and face who knew what challenges but for tonight, at least, I was warm and safe and completely protected between the two big, male bodies.

  With a contented sigh, I finally drifted off to sleep with my guys on either side of me.

  Chapter Ten

  Lucian

  I woke up with a soft weight pressed against the side of my chest. A warm, feminine scent drifted to my nose and my eyelids fluttered lazily open just a crack. The room was dim and I was lying on a comfortable surface, broad enough to stretch out on.

  There was another scent in the room as well—the scent of another male.

  Another male and a female—our female. The thought drifted lazily through my brain. For once I wasn’t waking up alone. I was in the sleeping platform with my bond-mate and our female—all was as it should be. She was beautiful and perfect and my bond-mate and I were there to protect her, to keep her safe and love her. We were a unit the three of us—together we were whole.

  I thought with pleasure of the way we had shared her between us the night before. Both of us sucking her sweet, ripe nipples…making her moan as she surrendered to our touch. Gods it felt good to share a female! To finally have a partner to help me please her—after so many long years—to have things as they should be.

  There were places a lone male could go to get his needs met, of course but they were few and far between on Denaris. And it always felt wrong to take a female by myself. No matter how much pleasure I gave her, I always knew she deserved more—that there was something lacking. Someone lacking.

  Not lacking anymore, whispered a little voice in my head. You’re finally complete. I sighed in contentment and stretched, careful not to wake the others.

  I wasn’t the only one stirring. Someone else shifted and the scent of the other male—my bond-mate—grew stronger.

  My nose wrinkled. He didn’t just smell like another male—he had the unmistakable dark, commanding scent of an Alpha.

  That was wrong.

  Not my bond-mate…not my female. I don’t have either. I am alone. I’ve always been alone, I’ll always be alone. That is my life.

  The thoughts drifted up to me like acrid smoke, spoiling my perfect mood.

  I frowned and grew more alert, my eyes opening wide as the last of the pleasant dream was cleared from my head like cobwebs. Where was I and why were there two other people sleeping with me?

  After a moment, my eyes adjusted to the dim wall glows and I saw that Rylee was lying asleep across my chest, her long, curly black hair half obscuring her face. Lying on the other side of her with one long arm thrown over the curve of her hip was Drace.

  The night before came back to me in slow sections…hearing Rylee cry out in fear, coming to comfort her and then asking Drace to stay and help me ease her fear.

  Why had I done that? Why had I asked another Alpha to help me soothe her?

  There was no choice, I told myself, uneasily. Everyone knows a female needs two males to look after her, to tend and comfort and cherish her.

  A female from Denaris needs that, whispered an accusing little voice in my head. But Rylee comes from a planet where they join in twos, not threes. Admit it, Lucian—it wasn’t Rylee who needed another male near to feel complete, it was you.

  That, of course, was ridiculous. I had been on my own for years and from an early age I had accepted that I probably wouldn’t be able to form a bond. I had tried of course, but I simply didn’t fit with any of the Betas from the “good families” my parents brought me into contact with.

  When all of the “suitable options” had been exhausted, my parents had, in effect, given up on finding me a psy-bond mate. My fathers were the Chief and Under-Chief of the Fang Clan respectively and my mother was extremely prominent socially. The idea of inviting a male who wasn’t from one of the best blood lines on the planet to join with the only son of their Triumvirate was unthinkable.

  Over the years I had looked myself—I had even found several Betas while attending school who would have been happy to bond with me. But none of them fit the standard my parents held—none were of the right social class and clan to be added to our family tree. None of them were good enough.

  Eventually I gave up too. Better to be cold than hurt…better to be distant than lonely.

  So I grew up knowing I would always be alone—that I would never have a partner to share a female with or any children to raise. I didn’t mind, I told myself—truly I didn’t. I buried myself in my work, went to the schools my parents deemed acceptable, and made friends with the people I would work with later in life as a highly paid professional. I did everything that was expected of me.

  Until I got myself accidentally bonded to another Alpha. And not just any Alpha—an Alpha of the Claw Clan.

  My parents still didn’t know the situation I now found myself in—nor did I intend for them to find out. I was bonded to a male they would doubtless consider a mortal enemy—a male they would hate on sight. I could just see their faces—my Alpha Father scowling, my Beta Father disapproving and my mother—worst of all—conveying her disgust and displeasure with a delicate lift of her perfectly formed brows.

  They had called me several times lately, wanting to set a date for a family meal but each time I put them off. Until I could extricate myself from the accidental bond to Drace, I needed to steer clear of my family.

  Be fair, whispered a thought in my brain. He isn’t as crude as you feared at first and he’s actually quite intelligent—he picked up on the memory-wipe technique incredibly quickly. And he was willing to stay and help comfort Rylee, even after your rude words to him.

  It was true but none of that changed what he was—what I was. I could never get away from my bloodlines or my family clan and legacy. But even if I could have, the fact still remained that both of us were Alphas.

  I could imagine what would happen if Drace and I walked into a party thrown by my mother or one of her crowd. Even if I dressed him in the finest clothing, his scent would give him away. I could almost see the polite smiles and laughter as we were introduced…and the hostile and disgusted looks we would get after we had moved on. Polite society among the Fang Clan was exactly that—polite, but only to your face. The moment you turned your back, your reputation would be ripped to shreds if you committed even the smallest social blunder. And bonding myself to another Alpha was more than a small blunder.

  It wasn’t that I cared what people said, but it would ruin not only my reputation but that of my parents as well. Also, my business relationships would suffer. They would wonder which of us—Drace or I—played the Beta during our more…intimate moments. And if the consensus was that I took on that role, other males of good families would wonder if I was strong enough to litigate and negotiate for them.

  It would be a social disaster.

  None of that is going to happen, I told myself uneasily. We’ll be in orbit around Denaris in another solar hour and Tanta Loro will tell Rylee how to sever our bond. In fact, I should probably go check and make sure the ship is still on course.

  I