Aisha nodded. She wasn’t there yet, saying the words.
He shrugged. “On this ship there are six of us. We are the ones who need mates but have yet to find them. There are more of us, some mated. Some still young enough they do not need a mate yet. They remain back home.”
She nibbled on her lower lip as he walked across the room to a small area of shelves. Damn, he was good looking and knowing what he could do to her just made him that much better.
The lights were low, but she saw him sliding fabric over a leg. Pants. Well, dang it. She was really enjoying this view.
She let out an audible sigh. Probably for the best. It was a little odd to walk around naked, she figured, especially if they weren’t alone. Now that she knew there were at least six, she assumed they weren’t alone. Aisha knew at least one other had a mate, wife, whatever.
Yeah. No. Aisha didn’t want another woman seeing him in all his glory. Because glorious it was.
Out through another doorway, he stopped and waited for her to follow.
“This is our briefing room, although for now we have made other uses of it.”
Two women sat on the floor in a pile of pillows.
Aisha slid behind Deo as they jumped up from their places.
“Oh my gosh, is this her?”
Deo smiled. “Yes, Maddie. This is my Aisha.”
Aisha caught her breath as Deo looked at her. The pride sparkling in his eyes eclipsed the lust that had filled them last night.
A woman came over and gave her a one-armed hug.
“Sorry. I know this is really strange. Like really strange. Good news though, you’ll see a lot of Lilly and me.”
A smaller woman waved, almost afraid to come from behind Maddie. Aisha had some memory of the girl and how afraid of everything she was, except with that other huge guy around.
“Sorry. I’m Maddie, like Deo said. This is Lilly.” She looked around Deo at Aisha. “Are you moving in now? Did you bring anything?”
The wheels began to turn. Lilly was with the other man she’d met at her office a week ago. But who was Maddie with? Deo would most definitely be able to please more than just Aisha, but that would not work for her. He was hers.
Her heart stopped. Or rather it probably didn’t, but she sure as hell thought the world had stopped. At what point exactly did she start to think of Deo as hers? Sure she’d told him what he wanted to hear during sex, because at that point literally he could have done anything, and she would have been fine with it. Literally anything.
But right now. Right now, this odd tightness in her chest at the thought he might want someone else made her stomach churn. She was jealous.
Oh, no. She wasn’t there yet. Was she? Maybe she was.
Maybe it was time to jump ship. Or maybe it was time for something else. Or, well, shit.
“Aisha? So are you? Moving in? Be prepared to be overprotected that’s for sure,” Maddie smiled.
“Um, Maddie, was it?” Aisha asked.
Maddie nodded. “I know Lilly is with that big guy that came to my lab, but I assume you have a mate as well the way you just said that?”
She grabbed Deo’s arm, as if that staked her claim. But, yeah. No one was touching him.
Wonderful first impression. Jealousy.
Crap on a cracker. She hadn’t been jealous of anyone since like the third grade when her crush preferred a normal girl who didn’t accidentally turn her pencil into a snake. To be fair, Aisha sort of preferred that too. Maybe that was why Tan had been an appealing agreement.
He was normal and safe, and she was trying to be normal. Most days. Unless it came to her research. That was how she seemed to get the need for magic out of her system, in her lab.
Maddie was practically bouncing. “Oh, my mate is Kal. I don’t know if you’ve met him.” She was quiet for a second.
“Yeah, no he says he hasn’t, but he’s coming now.”
Lilly peeked around Maddie and finally came into full view.
“You’re the scientist? Did you ever figure out my blood?” Lilly asked, wringing her hands.
The high of knowing Deo was not a man whore, or not trying to have his own little harem was a relief. What the hell would she have done had he wanted her to share? She’d have smacked someone, that’s what would have happened.
Oh, God. She was seriously beyond lust right now. She wanted him, like wanted him, wanted him. Like that whole word 'mine’ he’d said finally meant something to her. He was hers, just as she was his. No. Not yet. No wait. Maybe yes? Wow. This was confusing.
“Brother, I hear you finally brought your mate to meet us?”
Aisha turned to the voice behind her.
Deo did an odd handshake thing and then turned back to pull her forward.
Wow. Big. So big. Were they all this big? Damn their planet had a superpower breeding men.
“You must be Aisha. Deo has talked nonstop about you. We’ve been all hoping he would bring you by soon enough.”
Words. She needed to speak words. What kind of words? She was super smart and yet at this moment freaking out about her feelings took over all logic.
“Hi. Yes.” Those were words that answered some questions. Maybe not his questions, but someone’s somewhere.
She watched as Kal sidestepped her and embraced Maddie.
Aisha’s eyes took it all in. The way he held her, kissed her, cared for her.
“Brother, I hear we have another female to liven the place up?”
Another man, this one familiar. Why did he look so much more scary here, when he was smiling?
“I’m Eadric. Do you remember me?”
A nod was all she managed.
Her lungs hurt. She couldn’t get a deep breath. She was supposed to see a lab. And a ship. Not suddenly figure out her entire world made sense, and she was supposed to give everything up for this man.
Looking up, he caught her
