a matter of time. Her reasoning for denial was nonsensical. She thought she needed to protect him? Heh. But he knew she wanted to mount him. She was constantly aroused. Her eyes always followed him, and she made sure to stand right next to him. She’d left whatever danger had happened on her own world and had come straight to him for safety. Right into his bed. And slept naked in his room, without a single worry creasing her brow. She’d subconsciously known she was coming to her mate.
She didn’t understand that when she was in trouble, she’d run straight to him. And he was the one who would keep her safe.
They used the public transport again and finally, they arrived back at the compound. His brothers immediately swarmed around them the moment they entered the domicile, loudly tossing out blunt questions.
“Why did you ask her so soon?” Chief thundered. “Can’t you ever wait? You have no patience.”
Zayzon blew out a breath. They obviously knew the news.
Rook waved his tablet in the air. “Everyone on the colony knows what happened,” he confirmed. “It’s going viral.”
“Yep.”
“I can’t believe she said no,” Trunk declared, as if his Bride weren’t standing right there.
“Who was in the room with you?” Heavy questioned. “Was it Pycana?
Pycana? Oh damn. He’d thought one of those females looked familiar. “Yes,” Zayzon answered, “it was Pycana.”
“Pycana pulled the vid of your proposal and shared it with the entire colony. She’s had it out for you ever since you denied her sister.”
Zayzon winced. He’d forgotten about Pycana’s sister.
“Heh. Claws has angered so many females with his blunt refusals he can’t even keep track of who he’s angered.”
He shrugged. It was true.
“Did you bring back food?” Cannibal asked.
“No,” Zayzon growled at his brother’s idiotic question. “Why would I be thinking of food right now?”
“Well, I would be…”
“Hi, everyone,” Lila of One broke in. “It’s nice to finally be able to understand and meet all of you, I’m Lila.”
All six of his brothers turned to stare at her with stunned silence.
“Why did you deny him?” Scar barked.
Lila looked taken aback by his brother’s harsh tone. She pressed into his side. “Well, I—"
Zayzon wrapped his sleeved arm over her shoulders and pulled her in tight. “It doesn’t matter why she denied me,” he snarled. “All you need to know is that you’re to treat her with respect.”
“We will all treat Lila with respect,” Chief shouted.
“Of course it matters why she denied you,” Scar grumbled. “It’s ridiculous.”
His other brothers ignored Scar and began greeting Lila warmly. Zayzon took the time to introduce his Bride to each of his brothers by their crew names, as he knew they preferred. “You met everyone earlier, but let me make sure you know them by name. This is one over here is Heavy, and here is my brother Trunk, that one is Chief, and there’s Scar for obvious reasons, and this eating machine is Cannibal and this young pup over here is Rook.”
“Ooh. Seven brothers?”
“Well, actually there are nine of us. Our eldest brother, Daxon, is working off planet, and Hook moved out recently with his Bride but he’s still part of our crew. Now only seven of us live here together. Our crew is known as the Fever Brothers.”
“Eight strong,” Trunk yelled out.
All of them, including Scar, raised their fists in unison and chanted, “Eight strong!”
“Oh wow,” his Bride breathed. He liked that she wasn’t scared or intimidated by the crew. Other females, and even males, often scurried away in fear at their collective vocalizations. But the only thing this female seemed to fear was the outdoors, and maybe strangers, but other than that his Bride was a tower of quiet human strength. Pride glowed in his chest.
“Why are you called Fever Brothers?” she asked.
“Our crew was given that designation because of our intense fever-bond with our Illibrium.”
“And our number one position in the leaderboards for crystal acquisition.”
“This too. And also, we really are brothers. Not all crews are comprised of brothers from the same immediate line. This is unusual.”
“Is that why everyone was staring at us outside? Are you famous on this colony?”
“Everyone is frightened of his Claws. They keep an eye on him. But they might’ve been staring at you because you were wearing those ridiculous clothes. But truthfully it was because they’d all seen the vid of how you’d denied Zayzon,” Scar grumbled.
Her chin dipped to her chest.
“Lila, what is the name of your line?” Chief asked, obviously trying to change the subject. “Where