I’m still not sure that will ever happen if I’m with you.”
“You are our mate. Whatever you’re using doesn’t completely disguise your taste.” Colm leaned in close and his eyes narrowed.
She shrugged. Well, that cleared up any doubt about what he’d felt when he tasted her. “That really doesn’t matter. I won’t stop using these tools until I’m certain that it’s the best choice. If you take it from me, I’ll be gone before you wake up the next morning. I won’t be resented or simply tolerated because you think mating with me is the only thing you can do now. We have options and I’m not going to let you take them away from us.”
“You have options? I can really only see two of them for you. Accept us and the mating or try running until we catch you. We’re not giving you up now that we know.” Colm took a slow step forward. “We don’t give up what’s ours.”
“Goddess, you’re being stubborn and deliberately blind. The feelings from the taste will fade eventually and you know it. The instincts won’t truly kick in until you smell me or I smell you clearly.” She shook her head. “Until then, we can walk away from this. That might be the best option for all of us. I’m not what you want.”
“You say things such as that and you really expect us not to want to strip you and scrub you until whatever is on you is finally off?”
She sighed and looked at the wall for a moment as she tried to push down her mounting frustration. “A lot of this isn’t about you two, although I do have my doubts about if I could ever be anything more than just a mate to you. I don’t want you to accept me simply because of that. I deserve more than that. I’m not sure I can deal with Thent life and then there’s my magic. Maybe it won’t be dangerous, but it’s always going to be there. Something that makes me more of a burden at times, because you’re going to have to teach me even the basics.”
“I still don’t know how you know some of the things you know, but I’m beginning to believe that it’s more than the crystal. I think it’s also because of your lineage. Yes, the chatar told us.” Linc’s head tilted as he caught her sharp look at him. “Your doubts will fade with time. We’ll make sure of that. You are and will be a priority for us. You seem to be dealing fairly well with life in a Thent.”
She definitely didn’t like the gleam in his eyes. “It’s temporary. That’s how I’m coping.”
“Some coping. You’re relaxed and comfortable, not tense.” Colm took a step to the side and eased closer to her.
“Damn it, why don’t you two listen? It’s not as though I’m such a prize. I’m not beautiful or perfect and definitely not your type. Don’t you think you deserve someone better? Someone who’ll be able to trust you easily. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to have that kind of simple belief in anyone again.” She nearly choked on the word perfect.
“I think she’s hit every one of them.” Linc looked over at Colm.
“Every one of what?” She narrowed her eyes.
“Every excuse. I think there might be a couple that you missed. You left out not being able to cope with being with us both sexually.” Colm smiled, but the predatory intent pushed it far beyond comforting.
“Probably because it would be such an obvious lie.” Linc exhaled slowly. “We’re not going to forget that you’re our mate. That’s not going to change, but we’re not going to strip away your defenses. You’re going to do that.”
“No.” She stared at him. Had he gone crazy? Why would she want to do that?
Colm nodded. “You won’t settle for second best and now neither will we. We want you.”
“Physically, you want me. You don’t know me.” She felt cornered and frustrated by their insistence that there wasn’t any way but their way. She was also a little afraid that they were right. Her doubts burned inside her, but the natural attraction to her mates pulled her to them. Her body ached to know their touch, but she also wanted to know them as men. What scared her most was Linc and Colm might simply tolerate her. She might not be able to walk away from them even knowing that.