Lucy rubbed her forehead, an ache drilling into the center of it the longer she thought about their situation.
Sparx bit the inside of his cheek and stayed silent, obviously thinking.
“Do you really think she’ll fight the mating?” he finally asked, now looking as concerned as he should have been from the moment they’d allowed Matrix to carry a screaming Rue out of the command center over his shoulder.
“Oh yeah,” Lucy breathed, her shoulders tight at the thought of what would happen if Rue was determined to be the stubborn woman she was by nature. “I don’t know why, but I never thought that it might not be a good idea for Rue to be with someone so…” She paused for a moment to try to find the best word.
“Handsome?” Sparx offered with a twinkle in his eye.
“Of course,” she agreed with a wink, loving the teasing side of him she got glimpses of every now and then—even though now was not the time for her to notice his cuteness. “But I was thinking more along the lines of alpha. Rue’s always dated the same type of easy-going, non-confrontational guys in the past. They were as far from being alpha as you could get.”
“Oh,” Sparx said, the twinkle in his eye dimming a bit at the realization that Lucy had come to much earlier.
“Yeah.”
“They’re mates.” Sparx shrugged as if that was all that needed to be said. “She won’t be able to deny her mate, regardless of what her normal type is. She will just have a new type. The type that Matrix is.”
“Oh dear,” Lucy said again, this time at how clueless Sparx was regarding how things worked with women. “That’s not how this works.”
“No, Lucy.” Sparx turned to face her slightly on the couch. “That is how this works. He will be unable to resist her. Rue will need Matrix, just like you needed me. Whatever anger she is experiencing, she will have to overcome.”
“Rue hates being cornered.” Lucy groaned and dropped her head back again, this time resting it against Sparx’s muscled forearm where it was draped against the back of the couch. “Not only that, she absolutely cannot stand men that are bossy.” Covering her face, she hid away from the world for a moment. “What have I done?”
“You didn’t do anything,” Sparx interrupted, pulling her palms away from her eyes where they’d been rubbing. “She signed up on her own, did she not?”
“Yeah, but—”
“Let it play out.” Sparx kissed the backs of her fingers as he tried to talk her down. “You cannot control what happens between the two of them any more than we could control what was destined to happen between us. Focus on the good this means.”
“Good?” she asked, searching for the silver lining but unable to make it out, considering how worried she still was about her friend.
“That Rue will now be living on Djaromir.”
“Oh, well…I guess that is a good thing.” Lucy breathed a little easier, the previous concern over Rue being sent back to Earth evaporating with Sparx’s reminder. “Although she’s not going to be here, right? How far away is the tunnel city Matrix is the warlord of?”
“Gunninng is more than two days trek on foot.” He frowned before shaking his head. “I believe I will be reconsidering the offer from the Phaetons for more of those vehicles.”
“That bus thing that you picked us up in from the shuttle?” When he nodded, she followed it up with another question. “Is that a problem?”
“It is and it isn’t.” Sparx ran a hand over the shaved portion of his head, an action Lucy had noticed he did when he was deep in thought. “Djaromir is deadly. Especially if you’re unprotected outside of our gates. The temperatures can be cold enough to freeze you to the bone or hot enough to cook your feet as you walk on the ground.”
“Jesus,” she said softly, pulling back in horror at the description. “So why in the hell would you not want to use those buses?”
“Because—” he stalled, obviously searching for what he wanted to say. “This planet has made us who we are. We are strong because this Djaromir has made us strong. To survive, we’ve had to be strong. Our treks from one city to another teaches us how to handle, and more importantly, respect our home.”
Lucy cuddled into his side, leaning her head against his chest. She understood what he was saying, she really did. She’d noticed the first few days that she was here how steeped the lives of the Djaromir were in tradition. Their culture had a huge impact on their daily lives, from how they heated the large ovens Sparx had shown her to the way they stored their supplies for the colder months.
“I just worry that we will lose what makes us strong.”
Feeling an overwhelming urge to comfort her mate, Lucy climbed onto his lap. Wrapping her arms tightly around him as she perched there in front of him. Rocking back and forth, she breathed in time with the large chest she was pressed against.
“Well then,” she murmured after a while had passed. “We won’t let that happen.”
“I love you, mate.”
“I love you too, babe.” Lucy lifted her head, a smile teasing her lips as she stared up at him.
“What?” he asked, cupping her face.
Lucy turned her face into his touch, nuzzling the large work-roughened hands of the warlord she’d quickly fallen for. Wiggling closer, she worked her hips in a small circle over his lap, easily locating the hard bar of his cock under her ass.
“I’m hungry, Sparx,” Lucy whispered
