my friend. I trusted him and I liked him, but I didn’t want to take off all my clothes and rub my naked body over his.
Not even a little. Which was just sad because he was hot. Like sex-on-a-stick hot. But my indifference was also the reason my guardian, Warlord Wulf, gave every male on The Colony the hands-off vibe when it came to me.
The truth was, I was on The Colony to be with Olivia, Tanner and Emma. They were my family. Not by blood but by choice. Either way, I didn’t want another one. Not yet. I wasn’t ready. If I hooked up with any of the honorable warriors on The Colony, they would want forever. Like, forever-forever, and mating and babies and the whole thing. And that was a large commitment. Gigantic.
These next few days, I just wanted to have some fun. Maybe have some hot sex with a virile alien or two, take the edge off, and get back to my de facto niece and nephew and my best friend. I was happy there. Mostly. Bored sometimes but content. I didn’t want anything to ruin my new life.
I’d had no one on Earth. No family. Few friends. A low-paying job where I was invisible most of the time. Only Olivia and her kids mattered to me. Without them, I would be alone and, worse, lonely as hell. To Tanner and Emma, I was Aunt Woocy, and nothing mattered more to me than making sure those babies were happy and healthy.
I wasn’t enough of a selfish bitch to use any of the warriors on the colony just for sex. Those guys had been through so much. Battle. Capture. Torture. Integration. Rejection from their home worlds. I was not going to play with them like that. To have some fun, I would have to go off world—like here on Prillon Prime—and make sure whoever I had some fun with knew that’s all it was. Fun. Temporary.
Luckily the women from The Colony were all super nice and cool enough to want me to join them. I had a feeling Lindsey would have had T-shirts made that said Earth Girls Unite if she could. Since she’d been a PR rep on Earth and was still going at it, working on trying to bring new Earth volunteers to the Brides program and planning a huge surprise party for her BFF, the Lady Jessica Deston, the freaking queen of the entire Interstellar Coalition of Planets. Safe to say, Lindsey had probably been a little distracted.
“We ladies are perfectly capable of transporting by ourselves,” Rachel said, patting Maxim’s arm. Then she smiled. “But I like it when you get all protective and growly.”
Both he and Ryston growled to match her words. I bit my lip, trying not to laugh. Every male I’d encountered in space was bossier than the next. Protective. Dominant. All alpha-male hotness. Wulf was that way with Olivia and the kids, but he was also that way with me. He was like the brother I’d never had. If a girl from Ohio could have a seven-foot-plus Atlan beast as a brother. An overprotective, growly, beat-the-pulp-out-of-anyone-interested-in-getting-in-my-pants big brother.
“There is no chance you will transport without us. You would probably transport to Viken’s Trixon Resort,” Maxim grumbled.
“What’s that?” I asked.
“A retreat for new mates to get to know each other.” Rachel made little air quotes with her fingers. “It’s hedonistic. Think tropical five-star resort that caters to every sexual desire.”
I got hot at the thought. Who wouldn’t want that? “Like a spa but with sex?”
Maxim was the one who nodded. “Exactly.”
Rachel went up on her tiptoes and kissed his square jaw. “I’ve talked to Whitney, you know. She told me that place is only fun if your mates are with you. Not that I don’t enjoy a little solo fun.”
Maxim’s body went rigid as his gaze met his mate’s.
“Don’t tease us, mate,” Ryston growled. “We don’t have time to watch you at this moment. We are due at the palace.”
Rachel’s cheeks flushed as red as my hair, and she finally surrendered her son to Ryston, who cuddled the sleepy toddler close to his chest.
Cuteness overload.
I could tell Rachel was equally embarrassed and aroused by Ryston calling her out. I was jealous. So jealous. Body and heart aching with longing. I wanted a guy or two who’d get hot about watching me flick the bean. Hell, I wanted a guy or two just to look at me without staring at me like I