Monitors and displays covered the walls, permitting a watchful eye over all off Djaromir. The displays showed radar imagery of the Djaromir surface, as well as all activity in the space surrounding their planet. The Phaeton spacecraft were shuttling off the screen, returning to Phaeton One minus their female passengers.
“I heard you’ve already broken one of your females, Sparx?” Matrix teased as he stood up to greet him.
At the mention of Lucy, the smile that was on his face fell. He’d hoped to use the meeting as a distraction from his female obsession. But his wishes had been dashed within seconds. He worried that he would never find a moment’s peace to unravel his thoughts.
“Her injury occurred in the care of the Phaetons, ‘Trix,” Sparx answered nonchalantly. “The healers have already tended to her, and she will be fine with some rest.”
“Good.”
“I’ve learned you wish to stay for a while?”
Sparx sank into one of the large carved stone chairs in the center of the room as he changed the subject. Five of them were positioned in a circle with a low table in the middle, serving as an area where the warlord and others could gather for meetings. Holding out his hand, he gestured for the other warlord to join him. Colby positioned himself over Sparx’s shoulder and waited at attention for his next task.
“I do,” Matrix answered, taking a seat. “I assumed I would be welcomed.”
“As long as you don’t plan to interfere with the volunteers or my men, I see no problem with that.” Sparx forced a smile as he delivered the rest of his news. “My men are in the process of preparing you quarters in the storage tunnels.”
“What?” Matrix said, his face surprised but also amused. “Do you plan to freeze me out?”
“Not necessarily.” Shaking his head, Sparx chuckled. “I’m simply not eager for you to get comfortable.”
“My stay will be short and sweet. Do not worry,” Matrix agreed with a nod. “I’m simply curious as to how the initial meetings will go. You have to admit that, if Gunninng were the first city to receive their bounty, you would be just as curious.”
“True,” Sparx conceded. He leaned forward and propped his elbows on his leather-clad knees. “Do you remember when K’hor and his lady first mated?” The question had been one of many he’d planned to ask the healers before Matrix interrupted those plans.
“Yes, why?”
Sparx took a second to think on what he was prepared to say to his friend. He wasn’t the type to share with others, so he was already venturing into uncharted territory. But he had questions. A lot of them. Starting with the physical symptoms, which he hadn’t thought important enough to pay attention to when the healers were going over it with his men.
Sparx knew Lucy had been feeling warm and some of her vitals were elevated, but the healers who had looked over her foot had not seemed concerned. Once her helmet had been removed, she’d leaned against him and breathed deep. He’d waited, almost holding his own breath to see if she said anything about his smell, but nothing happened. Lucy didn’t seem to react at all to him after that initial show of possessiveness when Tabitha was all over him.
“We saw what happened with Juniper…” He swallowed hard at the memory of watching K’hor break down over her lifeless body. “Fuck. I don’t think I will ever forget what happened with Juniper and how the heat took over.”
“Yes?” Matrix asked, his expression one of confusion, obviously having no idea what Sparx was trying to get out.
“We were so focused on her, I can’t remember what K’hor said his physical symptoms were. Do you?”
“Why?” Matrix was perked up, moving to the edge of his seat. His expression turned hopeful. “Do you already have a pair that are experiencing the heat?”
“I wouldn’t know,” Sparx hedged, considering he technically didn’t know if what he was feeling was part of the heat or a prime example of simple lust.
He did know that whatever he was feeling, he had planned on keeping to himself for a while longer. He needed time to think over what it meant and what he would do. What he needed to do. Sparx would prefer to completely ignore the strange fluctuation of emotions he was fighting against. He knew it was pure selfishness speaking when he hoped that ignoring the mating would make it go away, but it was a complication he hadn’t wanted to deal with in the first place.
He had so many questions, and the first one was if a mating could be willed away—if that’s even what this was. Also, if it did fizzle into nothingness, what would happen to Lucy? Would she be free to mate with another? Possibly even one of his own men, living within arm’s reach yet belonging to someone else?
Cracking his knuckles, he barely bit back the growl that threatened to burst out of his throat. Just the thought of another claiming her for his own made him want to tear the fictional man apart. Limb by limb. Until there was nothing left.
“I don’t remember K’hor speaking much on what he was feeling, other than pure obsession with Juniper those early days.”
Sparx jerked his attention back to Matrix and away from the fantasy of killing whoever threatened his link to Lucy.
“The healers said that the mating affects our males at a much slower pace than the Earth females.” Matrix leaned back and crossed his ankle over his knee. “They aren’t built for the mating heat like we are, so their reactions are amplified in comparison. It’s one of the reasons why Juniper was so ill. After the healers realized what was happening, we knew what to expect. The few men within Gunninng who’ve been blessed with mates seemed to be the anchor needed for their mates to endure the heat.”
This was the information he needed, Sparx thought. He knew the basics when it came to mating and
