“Did you have anything to do with this?” Sawain Noctstalker asked the man she was charged with protecting. Her gaze, however, stayed planted on the incredibly tall, indescribably handsome Tollerian walking toward the ticket counter. Ja’On. His name echoed in her head.

Her stare slid to the lanky man standing beside her. “Answer me, Ambassador Cartwright.” His wolfish smile gave him away. Shaking her head in dismay, she heaved a long sigh. Farden frig. The last thing she wanted or needed was the Earthling interfering in her love life.

Like I have, technically or otherwise, a love life. No. What she had was a duty to perform for the Earth ambassador who sat on the IG-200 committee of modernized planets. A job she performed with almost scary regularity because Carville Cartwright couldn’t seem to keep himself out of trouble if his life depended on it.

She shook her head at him and his life-partner, Thomas Mack. Slight of build, and a good head shorter, Thomas Mack gaped at Carville.

What had he called the darker-hued man? Oh, that’s right—Hispanic. She didn’t know what that meant and didn’t care. “Thomas Mack?”

Thomas Mack had the unmitigated gall to chuckle at her outraged expression. But he sobered when she growled low in her throat. “This is not funny,” she muttered. Turning on the heel of her serviceable boot, she grabbed Thomas Mack by the arm and made to push Ambassador Carville in the opposite direction of the Tollerian. We are not doing this during our layover.

She didn’t have any idea of ‘what’ exactly the two men had planned for her, but she knew it involved sex with the hunk of muscle currently engrossed in an animated discussion with a ticket clerk. A blush heated her cheeks. Memories of being in Ja’On’s arms as he fucked her hard nearly brought her to her knees. Damn, the warrior had the goods.

“Let’s call this—a bonus for a job well done,” Carville commented as he strode past her and made his way to the counter where Ja’On waited.

“You did admit you loved the stubborn man,” Thomas Mack added. His smile came rushing back.

She licked her dry lips. In her peripheral vision, she saw Carville strike up a conversation with Ja’On. The Tollerian warrior extended his hand to Ambassador Carville. Her heart thundered and her blood pressure shot straight through the ceiling of the intergalactic spaceport. A tingle of pure lust raced up her spine as she recalled how good his big hands felt on her—and in her. How he gripped her hips as he plunged long and deep into her pussy. Moisture gathered on her feminine folds.

Ripping herself out of her lurid musings, she swallowed against the knot of lust growing in her throat. “I did?” Of course she loved the oaf. What warrior wouldn’t love Ja’On? Not any in their right mind, was the answer. He was hot. She was hot for him. And, when they came together during their rare trysts, they didn’t just sizzle but set the bed on fire.

Her boss was more than aware that loving someone, like lusting after Ja’On, was beside the point. She was Valkryean. Her oath to the Great Warrior Goddess stood between her and any hopes of happiness with the Tollerian. “When did I say that?”

“Yes, my dear, you did. Last season when you were celebrating Edenhigh.”

She groaned. Recalling nothing of the Wine Celebration, she propped her fists on her hips. “Did you purposefully get me drunk?” The accusation slipped past her lips so fast she didn’t realize she’d openly admitted to failing in her duty until it was too late. She ground her teeth together so hard a muscle jumped in her jaw. A wave of guilt wafted over her, but she thrust the pesky emotion away. I should have transferred to a species that doesn’t covet danger the way the two of you do.

Thomas Mack shrugged and walked away. His leather jacket shimmered in the bright lights of the concourse. People teemed around him, and she struggled to keep her gaze on the man. “Farden frig.” She gazed left then right. “Where is your partner?”

The Ambassador didn’t answer.

Noise rose from the food court. The sound of a Mongolash keeley slug screamed through the open area. Caught up in the morash of species moving in a chaotic stream toward departure platforms and waiting rooms, Sawain sighed as her nervous tension inched up. Momentarily disoriented, she lifted up on her toes. There you are. A sense of relief flooded her.

Truthfully, finding Thomas Mack in the mass of species searching for their appropriate departure point or the correct counter to claim boarding passes was not an easy feat considering the strange visuals created by the architectural elements of the space port. The Correlian marble walls and the iridium-topped counters shimmered with his reflection. She peeked up to see the star-like pendant shades shift as the automatic blowers thrust on for the artificial environment.

With no option except follow them, Sawain forced a calm, hopefully nondescript expression to grace her face. It had become an almost impossible task by the time she reached Thomas Mack at the ticket counter. She leaned her elbow against the counter.

Ja’On’s brilliant amber eyes met hers and locked. His full kissable lips cracked into a grin. He extended his hand to her. A warm bubble formed in the pit of her belly as his fingers curled around hers. Heat and tiny twinges of static shot up her arm. Farden frig. A tremor of desire tripped up her inner thigh muscles to tease her core. This is bad. This is really, really bad. Her pulse raced so fast she thought she might faint as his warm fingers engulfed her cold ones.

“Warrior Ja’On.” She managed to jerk the welcome from her desert-dry throat. “Fancy meeting you here.” She tossed accusing glares at Carville first and Thomas Mack second before returning her attention to the giant warrior. “Are you working on a new symposium for INTV?” Preferably on a planet far from the IG-200 conference.

“Actually, I’m meeting my new team at the Intergalactic Conference.” He released her hand and took on the pose of a man who had all the time in the world, crossing his burly arms over his chest and resting his weight on one leg. “It seems we’re not only going to the same destination, Sawain, but are booked on the same transport.”

Farden frig. Farden frig. Farden frig. Her nipples tightened to hard buds when he inspected her from the top of her unruly blonde curls down her frame—paying special attention to her breasts and hips—until his gaze landed on her shoes. He then reversed his gaze’s path with a slow thoroughness that sent her libido into hyperdrive. “I see,” she squeaked.

Mental images of the past, memories she’d held dear during the long, cold nights on Earth when she was lost and alone amongst a species she didn’t understand, stroked over her in a pulsar blast of remembrance. Recollections of him plowing into her ass assaulted her. A fresh burst of moisture dampened her panties.

Trying without much success to get her proverbial feet beneath her, she peeked her tongue out with the intent on licking her lips when another memory assailed her—his tongue dipping into her mouth as his firm grip massaged her ass. “We should go to our designated waiting area.”

“I thought we might stop by the space-bar for a drink,” Carville countered smoothly. “The air is quite dry in here.”

Torn between telling the honorable ambassador that he was out of his mind for even suggesting she allow him to risk recognition and a possible brawl because he sat on the most unpopular committee in all of the Community of Modernized Planets, or hauling Ja’On off to the closest maintenance closet so they could get hot and sweaty, she shook her head. “Absolutely not.”

“What can happen to us, Sawain?” Thomas Mack asked as she ushered them down the corridor to their assigned private lounge. He didn’t fight her, but she sensed he wanted to. “Not only would we be guarded by a Valkryean, and we both know the terror you cause in the hearts of would-be assassins, but a Tollerian too.”

She didn’t’ deem to answer him as she escorted him past the faux waterfall and turned him to the right. Get in there. She was at her wit’s end. The recorded sound of water rushing through the speakers echoed in the background. The consistent shushing noise of the water hitting the base only enunciated the throb in her crotch. Every pulse and every whoosh flowed through her. “After your close brush with the pirates, I’d think the last place you’d want to visit is a bar,” she snapped.

“What!” Ja’On shouted. A frown marred his brow.

“Shh,” Carville hushed. “It was only a minor thing, and Sawain had it handled within moments of the criminal boarding our private transport from Earth.”

Ja’On gripped her upper arm, and glared at her. “Were you injured, Sawain?”

“Only a few bruises. Nothing to worry about.” Thomas Mack waved the incident away. “Like Carville said, she had him subdued like that.” He snapped his fingers.

How many ways can I kill two men without leaving a trace? More than I care to admit. “I’m fine.” Ja’On, maybe not so much. He wasn’t an easy target, to say the least. At well over six-feet six-inches in height, he was a powerhouse when vexed. She couldn’t imagine how much strength it would take to bring him down. Personally, she didn’t want to find out.

Ja’On didn’t say anything else. He started pulling her toward the private lounge reserved for passengers carrying diplomatic credentials.

“Let go of me,” she said in a vicious whisper. His display of superior strength only ratcheted her desire for him up ten notches. The throb in her crotch turned to a driving pound. “I’m a Valkrye. I can take care of myself.”

“You are the woman I love,” Ja’On stated in a tone that could have caused frostbite. “I’d not let you out of my sight, let alone protect two Earthlings who are forever finding themselves in the crosshairs of a pulsar gun.”

“He loves her?” Thomas Mack shouted.

“Thomas Mack, chill. I want to hear this,” Carville responded.

Ja’On didn’t expound until he had her in the lounge. Cream colored walls. Heavy furniture. It didn’t look up to either the fight or the sex that it was about to witness. “She didn’t tell you?” He loomed over her. His hand came up to cup her head. “She is my mate.”

“You are not my mate,” she countered. Realizing she was in the thick of it, she pulled free of him. They squared off in a silent war of wills.

“Back up. She loves you. You love her. What’s the big deal?” Thomas Mack threw his hands in the air, a move synonymous with the man’s attitude.

She’d vowed if Thomas Mack ever figured out the greater schematic of the galaxy, a sun might go supernova. And, he wasn’t alone. She sighed when she noticed Carville wore a perplexed expression too.

Sawain pulled up the last vestiges of her discipline in a valiant yet lame attempt to cool her passion for the mocha-skinned warrior. “I will not cry mercy.” The problem stood between them. She wouldn’t give herself up to him completely—therefore, and in accordance with the oath she’d taken over a decade ago that tied her to the Warrior Caste, he wasn’t her mate. “I’ll die first.”

“You will submit,” Ja’On contradicted. He walked to the door and turned the lock. He drew the shades.

“Do you know what the hell is going on, Carville?” Thomas Mack asked.

“I haven’t the foggiest.”

Standing stock-still, she refused to explain.

Ja’On sighed hard enough to bowl them all over. “She is a Valkryean.”

“That’s an explanation?” Thomas Mack sounded positively confused.

Seeing the hulking oaf wasn’t going to go into the particulars, she relented. “My oath stands between us being together. He won’t dominate me completely and I will not cry mercy. We are at a river neither of us is willing to ford.”

“According to my culture, I must protect those weaker than myself,” Ja’On finished the explanation. “Even from myself, if necessary.”

“I am not weaker than you,” Sawain stated. Her tone held a deadly note.

“Yes, my mate, you are.” He took an intimidating step toward her. “Would you like me to prove it?”

“How are you going to prove it to her if you have to protect her?” Carville asked.

“Like this.” Ja’On took on the same pose that had originally attracted her to him: his gaze unblinking, his body stiff, unbending. “Are the missives she has sent me about the two of you correct? You are lovers of both male and female flesh?”

A shiver raced down her frame. If she didn’t know him better than she did, she’d wonder what he was up to, but their long-range, long-term relationship had given her insight into the man who made her quiver with desire. “Don’t do this,” she warned him. “I will not fuck my bosses.” Well, not with you calling the tune. Her vivid imagination had other ideas. It painted a picture of Carville fucking Thomas Mack while he pummeled her pussy. She added Ja’On to the mix and shook with raw passion.

“Why not?” Carville interrupted them. “It isn’t as if we’ve never gotten naked together before.”

A low, ominous growl rumbled in Ja’On’s chest.

Shut up or I will kill you. “I am a warrioress, Ja’On…”

“My mate. You will call me by my correct title or I will put you over my lap and spank the insolent stubbornness from you.”

“How is that not protecting her?” Thomas Mack wanted to know.

“It’s complicated,” both Sawain and Ja’On said at the same time.

No less complicated than her kind’s rules regarding mating were for her kind. It was just different. The Tollerians had a highly complex set of rules regarding their society and how they disciplined those they loved. Punishment for a child was simple—it taught a lesson. Sexually, it required mutual consent.

Her nipples tightened more, turning to painful buds as she envisioned being on her hands and knees, getting fucked by Carville while she sucked Ja’On’s thick, hard cock. Stop! Her silent command went by the wayside when Carville began undressing his life-partner. “You want to do this here? Now?”

She gazed across the small room. Beyond the locked door and the drawn shades, she heard the low drone of people moving around the spaceport. A crackling energy stroked over her when Ja’On entered her three-feet of personal space.

“You will cry mercy, my mate,” Ja’On predicted. She tried to dodge his hand but wasn’t fast enough. His fingers circled her biceps. “Am I clear?”

“You can’t make me.” She went ramrod straight in his arms. When he dipped his head to kiss her, she turned her face.

His lips landed on her cheek. He chuckled.

“You know the rules,” she whispered.

He ought to since he’d plied her with so many questions over the course of their years of grabbing quickies. You know I will fight you to the death to keep my freedom.” She meant it.

The air grew heavy with sexual tension as they stared each other down. His hands drifted down her arms. He took her right hand and led it to his erection tightening his pants. “Stroke it,” he ordered her.

Thomas Mack opened his mouth to speak.

“Shut up!” Carville shouted.

His voice drew her attention away from the Tollerian glaring at her, giving her a perfect view of Carville releasing his cock from his pants. He forced his life-mate to kneel in front of him. “I’ll give you something to do with your always-in-perpetual-motion mouth.” His hand tangled in Thomas Mack’s hair as he rubbed the crest of his cock on Thomas Mack’s lips. “Open. Now!”

Thomas Mack opened his mouth. His tongue swiped across the tip of Carville’s cock. A harsh groan mixed with Thomas Mack’s whimper.

Carville’s face flushed. His hand tightened ever so slightly in his partner’s hair. Her pussy throbbed as more of her juice spilled. She ached to be touched. To be fucked.

“You are a naughty mate for peeking at them,” Ja’On’s voice penetrated the sexual fog clogging her brain.

“I wasn’t peeking. I, well, I can’t see them exactly.” Her mind faltered.

“Look upon them, Sawain. Watch how Thomas Mack sucks Carville’s cock.”

Sawain couldn’t help but stare. Her breath caught in her chest when Ja’On raked his teeth down her neck. Goose bumps skittered across her skin. He nipped a path along her collarbone. Tiny jolts of pain shot straight to her pussy. She moaned. Farden frig, you turn me on.

“You like that, don’t you Mate? You like seeing Thomas Mack’s total surrender to Carville.” Ja’On purred against her neck. “Beg for it, Sawain. Scream Mercy.”

Her body went haywire as Ja’On wrapped his arm around her waist. He was ready for her move when she tried to bolt. His laughter surrounded her. “You cannot get away so easily from me, my mate.” He caressed her butt. “I can smell your heat. This pleases me.”

She wanted to deny it, but it was a lost cause. “Good for you.”

“Such impertinence.” He pushed her away.

Catching herself on the arm of chair, she huffed. Her pussy ached for his cock, but there was no way in hell she was going to submit to him.

“For that, you will be punished.” Ja’On strode to where Thomas Mack was busily working his mouth over Carville’s cock. He peered at her for a moment. “Is this what you want, Sawain?” He freed his massive erection from its prison.

Slumping down in the chair, her hunger for him growing, she watched Thomas Mack shift course and lick the tip of Ja’On’s shaft. A spurt of a foreign emotion struck her. Jealousy.

Truthfully, he was playing by the rules of Valkryean mating, but not those of Tolleria. There, if memory served, mating involved a very gentle meeting of two people in an exhibition of their love. According to the customs dictating her caste’s partnering ritual, he could and should employ whatever additional partners necessary to cause her to cry mercy.

Quivering with lust when Thomas Mack began taking more of Ja’On’s thick shaft down his throat, she bit back on the shout of frustration welling in her throat. She wanted to taste him. She wanted to bring him to climax. Not fair.

Everything was fair in the world of Valkryean mating.

Swallowing hard, she clutched the supple leather of the chair arms. I’m made of stronger stuff. Her frustration ramped up, and she wiggled against the seat cushion.

Carville chuckled from his position a few steps away.

Her gaze returned to the two men. Ja’On gripped Thomas Mack’s head and began to thrust his cock into the man’s mouth.

Sawain eyes never left the highly erotic scene playing out in front of her. His jaw clenched as another groan escaped his lips. I am going to kill you.

She knew what he was trying to do. Tempt her. Lower her defenses. Make her weak. Never!

Ja’On growled, his hips pistoning against Thomas Mack’s lips. Torture was the only word that popped into her mind. Ja’On was torturing her.

The more he fucked Thomas Mack’s mouth, the more her pussy creamed. The more her cunt clenched with need. She wanted his cock. She wanted the dark-skinned warrior so bad she could practically taste him—feel his hot cum rolling down her throat. “Argh!”

“Cry mercy,” Ja’On prompted her.

Her eyes ached with unshed tears. Why can’t you just let us be as we were before? Why are you pushing this? Her training came to the fore to save her from saying the words. “Never!” she cried instead.

“Ambassador, if you’d give my mate something to occupy her time while I take your fine, young man here.” Ja’On brushed his hand over Thomas Mack’s head.

“With pleasure.” Carville came to her. His much-smaller cock bobbed with every step he took. “Suck on it.”

Clamping her jaw shut, she snorted. “I am your bodyguard, not your concubine.”

“I am your employer, the one who saved you from having to take a position in the Rhadarian ambassador’s guard.” Carville tilted her face to his with gentle pressure on her chin. “Or have you conveniently forgotten that fact, Sawain?”

She hadn’t, mainly because he wouldn’t let her. “What do you want from me?”

“Sex. Oral. Now,” Carville informed her. “You know how I like it.”

Another low growl came from Ja’On.

The sneaking suspicion that Ja’On felt jealous entered her psyche. She tried to hide her smile by tilting her face to the interior wall of the waiting room. Turnabout is fair play.

She slid from her perch to kneel and took Carville’s cock between her lips. Handling the situation as if they were engaged in a contest of oral satisfaction, she took his whole length down her throat. Her tongue snuck out to tease his balls, Carville’s favorite move.

Raking her nails down his chest, she peeked up at him through the veil of her lashes, imagining it was Ja’On’s dick she serviced. It wasn’t a new ploy or even original for her kind since the chances of a prospective mate getting one of them to surrender were slim to none. Her kind was taught from very early in their education as a warrior that they would need this tactic should they meet a man who complimented them, but couldn’t come up to the very high bar set for them.

She knew who she loved.

Sex with her bosses was merely a distraction when her hormones got the better of her. On occasion, she’d let one of them call the tune, but they knew her whole heart wasn’t in the sexual games they played.

Problem with this game was how it set her entire body thrumming with desire. Frig She didn’t doubt she could have all three of them and then take Ja’On across a mattress for another wrestling match.

“God, you give good head,” Carville muttered. His fingers tangled in her blonde tresses. His cock stroked smoothly over her tongue until he thrust one last time. A low moan punctuated the tightening of his sac. His hot cum shot down her throat.

Licking her lips, she sent her lover a sly smile. “Thank you, Ambassador.” Her smile disintegrated when she caught sight of Ja’On coming in another man’s mouth. Snarling at him, she fisted her hands to keep from clawing the other man’s eyes out. It wouldn’t be hard either because Ja’On held both of Thomas Mack’s wrists in a single hand. His other kept moving over Thomas Mack’s bald head. “I’ll kill you.” Painfully. Slowly. Make you feel every last second of your life while you pray for me to end your life.

“Tsk, tsk, my mate,” Ja’On said. “Have you forgotten who I am?”

“I know exactly who you are. You are a pain in my arse,” she retorted.