Harper:

Viola and I head to the dining hall, wheeling my suitcase behind me. It’s darker now, and there are no lights, of course. “What do you do after dark?” I ask her as we walk. “And please don’t say ‘sex.' I mean, what do you do for light?”

“We have oil lamps,” she replies. “Well, not oil. Tallow.” She wrinkles her nose. “It can smell a bit fishy.”

“So not everything is perfect?” I tease her.

She laughs. “I never said it was. Was life on Earth perfect all the time?”

She has a point.

Vulrux and Dennox are already in the dining hall, as are about a dozen others, including Sofia and Ryanna. The two Zorahn scientists are nowhere to be seen. Vulrux is sitting next to Sofia, I can’t help but notice, and it sends a stab of resentment through me. I tell myself sternly to cut it out.

Both of them get up as soon as they see me, looks of relief on their faces. “You gave us quite a scare, Harper,” Dennox growls, taking my elbow and leading us away from the curious gazes of the others. “I thought you were taking a nap. When we couldn’t find you…” His voice trails off. “Thankfully, Thrax told us where you were.”

“I woke up.” I narrow my eyes. Like I told Thrax, these two guys aren’t the boss of me, and the sooner I point that out to them, the better. I step closer to them and lower my voice since public screaming matches aren’t really my style. “Are you saying that I have to tell you whenever I leave the house? Because that’s controlling, possessive, and ridiculous.”

Vulrux folds his arms over his chest. “You’ve been in a coma,” he retorts. “You’re weak. If you accidentally leave the safety of the paths, you could get washed down the mountainside. Yes. Until you’re fully recovered, we will accompany you.”

I glare at him, but then I remember Viola’s words. They’ve already lost one mate. I can understand their protectiveness; they don’t want to lose another. I might be on the fence about this whole mating-bond-thingamabob, but that doesn’t mean I have to be a jerk about their concern. Besides, their worry is somewhat justified—I am still pretty shaky on my feet.

“Okay.” I give them a small smile. “I didn’t mean to worry you.”

Their expressions soften. Dennox takes my hand in his. “Are you hungry?” he asks. “Thrax is one of our better cooks.”

“I’m starving.”

Dinner isn’t maggots. If I’m being honest, Dennox is right; the food is pretty good. There’s a thick meat and vegetable stew served with an unleavened bread with a nutty taste. Dennox and Vulrux sit on either side of me, and they make sure that I eat two large helpings. “You need to regain your strength,” Dennox says when I protest. “Eat.”

Their attention is nice, and their presence on either side of me acts as a buffer between me and the others. There are a lot of Draekons. Fourteen of them, in fact. They introduce themselves to me, and I nod and say hello, but I’m sure I won’t remember their names or their faces. There better not be a quiz at the end of the night. “What’s the matter?” Vulrux says to me under his breath after the fifth Draekon introduces himself.

“I’m not good at names,” I whisper back. “I don’t want to offend anyone.”

He puts his hand on my thigh. “I’ll remind you,” he promises me. “Don’t worry, Harper. We’re here for you.”

Man, if this is what having mates is like, no wonder Viola’s glowing. As I eat, I covertly watch Arax and Nyx. It’s obvious that even when they’re talking to the others, their attention is on Viola. When her bowl is empty, Nyx silently refills it. When she leans on Arax’s shoulder, his expression softens, and he puts his arm around her waist and draws her in.

Would that what it would be like with Vulrux and Dennox?

“Earth to Harper. Come in please.”

I look up with a start, and Ryanna sits down opposite me. “Where were you all day?” she asks me. “I came looking for you early this afternoon, but you weren’t around.”

Vulrux and Dennox are both missing from their seats. Vulrux is standing in a corner, staring out at the rain, holding a cup in his hands—kunnr wine maybe? Dennox is listening to something that Thrax is saying. Lost in my daydreams and the pleasant feeling of fullness after an excellent meal, I hadn’t even noticed.

“We went swimming,” I reply. Naked.

“Nice,” she says. She nods in Dennox’s direction. “Doesn’t say much, does he?”

“Dennox?” I frown at her, puzzled. Dennox wasn’t super-chatty today, but he was also the one who agreed to take me to the lake. “Why do you say that?”

“Because he really doesn’t,” she replies with a roll of her eyes. “Of course,” she adds thoughtfully, “When he does speak, people listen.” She grins cheekily. “I hope you like the strong, silent type, Harper.”

Everyone’s acting like the three of us are together. Like it’s a done deal, like my consent doesn’t matter. Even Ryanna. My good mood evaporates. “Can we talk about something else?” I beg her. “You’ve been here for more than ten days. How’s it been? Are you really okay with living here forever?”

She shrugs, her attention half on me, and half on Thrax. Hmm. Viola might be right about the two of them. “I can’t think of forever, Harper,” she says. “So I don’t. I’m taking it one day at a time. There are lots of things about home that I miss, like coffee, but there are also things I don’t.”

“Like what?”

“Like the constant struggle. I work in retail back home, at a grocery chain in the closest town to us. I’ve been there since I was fifteen, but I’m still on part-time hours because they don’t want to pay benefits. I live on my grandparents’ farm, but I’ve had to sell off pieces of it every year just to keep my head above water.” She grimaces. “Whatever I seem to do, it’s never enough. The farm is being foreclosed. I volunteered to go to space in desperation; I needed the money to save my family home.”

I can relate. My apartment building was in a very dodgy part of Los Angeles. Three times a week, cop cars were outside my door, sirens blaring, guns drawn, looking for low-level drug dealers. Once, there was even a bomb scare in the apartment next to mine. I’d have loved to move to a nicer neighborhood, but I was a teacher, and that was all I could afford with my salary.

Ryanna gives me a steady look. “What was I fighting for? A roof over my head? Arax moved out without complaint and gave us his home. Food and drink? Here it is, offered with generosity. Medical? Vulrux has spent hours by your bedside in the last ten days.” Her lips twitch. “Although he might have had ulterior motives.”

I ignore that last comment. “You’re not sad or angry?”

“I’m keeping busy,” she replies. “I can either sit around and feel sorry for myself, or I can make myself useful.”

“What is there to do?” In the space of a day, the rainfall has become part of the background noise. “Aren’t you terribly cooped up?”

“A little,” she admits. “But there’s lots to keep me occupied. There’s wood to chop. The roofs are made of a kind of tree bark, but they need to be woven, and they’re replaced every year. There are knives to carve.” Her eyes shine with excitement. “That’s the bit I like the best. Thrax is teaching me how to throw them. In the dry season, I want to go hunting.”

She leans forward and lowers her voice. “Every single person here was exiled from their home, Harper. The instant they tested positive for the Draekon mutation, they were thrown into quarantine. None of them got a chance to say goodbye to their families or their loved ones. Can you imagine how awful that would have been?” She bites her lower lip. “Given what they went through, I can’t complain too much about missing my caffeine fix.”

Maybe it’s because everyone is on their sixteenth day on this planet, and I’m just experiencing my first, but Viola, Sofia, and Ryanna don't seem resigned to being here, and they aren’t miserable and pouting. In fact, they’re rising to the challenge.

Time to stop acting like a spoiled princess.

I finish talking to Ryanna, and then I get up and join Vulrux in his corner. He seems distracted. “Are you okay?” I ask him. “Is something bothering you?”

He looks up with a wry twist of his lips. “Am I that easy to read?”

I put my arm around his waist without even thinking about it, and he stiffens. I flush and try to draw away, but he stops me. “Stay,” he requests. “Normally, I like the calm of the rains. This season, however, I cannot wait for the downpour to end.”

I get the sense that there’s more to his statement than restlessness, but I don’t probe. Dennox watches us from across the room, his expression unreadable. When I catch his eye, I beckon him over, but he shakes his head and stays where he is.

Vulrux’s house, like all the others, isn’t huge. There are two square rooms, a wide wrap-around porch, and a larger-than-expected bathroom, with a Draekon-sized tub in it. “You have a bathtub?” I say, dumbstruck. “With hot water?”

He raises his eyebrow. “You weren’t expecting one?”

“No,” I confess. “Your camp is a weird mix of modern and primitive.” Too late, I wonder if I’ve offended the two men, but neither look annoyed by my tactless comment.  “How can the water be warm?”

“A contained fire, insulation from our space pod and kunnr reeds for pipes,” Dennox replies readily. Back in the dining area, his mood seemed quite dark, but he seems to be in better spirits now. “We’re lucky. Odix is a student of ancient civilizations, and Strax and Dazix are builders. The three of them are responsible for our creature comforts.”

Vulrux hands me a towel. “Would you like to use the tub?”

Heck yes. A hot bath and clean underwear from my luggage? Things are definitely looking up. “I’d love to,” I reply, taking the towel from him. “Thank you.”

“You have nothing to thank me for, Harper.” Vulrux seems to be on the verge of saying something else, but he changes his mind. He looks at my bulging suitcase. “I’ll clear some room on the shelves for your possessions,” he says instead.

I wish I knew what was going on. Both men are acting like there’s something on their minds. Perhaps, after spending some time in my company, they’re rethinking things. I was in a committed relationship with Tom, but once he’d met Megan, he stopped paying attention to me. Maybe Vulrux and Dennox want to upgrade mates as well, the way Tom had done.

So what, Harper? You don’t even know these two guys. You survived Tom breaking up with you; this is nothing compared to that.

But the sinking feeling in my heart is real. “That’d be nice,” I tell Vulrux, fighting the sudden swell of emotion. “Thank you again.” Then I run into the bathroom before I burst into tears in front of them and embarrass myself forever.

I soak in the herbal-scented water for what seems like hours. On a small shelf next to the tub, there’s a bowl of an oily liquid that I correctly assume is soap and a stack of coarse woven washcloths.

Dipping it in the liquid, I run it over my body. The slight roughness of the cloth causes my skin to tingle. My nipples pebble at the friction, sending a sparkle of pleasure through me.

Mmm. I’m alone, and while the bath is doing a great job at draining away my stress, I know one other thing that works even better. I can’t even remember when I last touched myself. I’m definitely overdue.

Closing my eyes, I allow my fingers to drift lower.

Two men at once. I wonder what that feels like, especially considering how large the two Draekons are. Will they take it slow, or will they thrust into me in unison?

Stop it, Harper.

But my imagination is on fire, and I can’t stop the images that flood through my head. Vulrux’s stubble scratching against the soft skin of my inner thighs. Dennox’s broad hands squeezing my breasts.

Gah! There must be aphrodisiacs in the alien food because my girly bits have been purring for a while now.  Come to think of it, I’ve been constantly horny since I first woke up and saw my Draekon saviors. Collecting more of the oily soap, I slip a finger between my folds. Instantly, my hips jerk forward, asking for more.

Holy crap, I’m already so close. It was never like this with Tom. He always complained…

No, stop, I tell myself firmly. Don’t think of your ex right now. Don’t think of anyone. Just get in, get your orgasm, get off. Don’t think of a guy. Especially not Vulrux and Dennox’s sexy bronze bodies, water streaming from their tattooed muscles as they beckon me into the underground lake.

Oops. Too late.

My fingers circle the sweet spot alongside my clit. I don’t waste any time teasing my arousal; there’s no need. My naked swimming session with the two hottest guys in the galaxy has more than stoked the fire.

They’ve been sweet and attentive, helping me down the stairs. Protective, sitting on either side of me, making sure I had plenty to eat. And the way they’d reacted when I’d pressed up against them in the lake, trying to get away from the water snake? There had been heat in their eyes. I’d felt wanted, sexy.

A little cry escapes me, and I clamp my mouth shut. Gotta rub this out on stealth mode, Harper. Don’t want the guys to hear and rush in to help me. Judging from the half-mast hard-ons they were sporting in the water, they’d be only too happy to give me a hand. A shiver runs through me at the thought of the two men leaning over me, their gazes filled with lust. It would be so easy to call out and—

No, Harper. Don’t think of them.

But I can’t stop. A few more strokes and my orgasm is on the horizon. My fingers move faster as I imagine Vulrux’s head between my legs. Dennox’s big hands squeezing my breasts, his thumbs teasing my nipples. I remember the way their eight pack abs ripple with every movement, the way their huge cocks swing between their muscled legs. They’re so damn big that I wonder if I can even get my hand around them when they’re hard. What will dragon dick feel like against me? Inside me?

My orgasm hits, shockwaves pulsing through me. A loud moan rolls from my mouth. My muscles clench over and over, squeezing on air, begging for giant dragon dick. A final gasp and my head falls back against the tub with a clunk.

I have never come so fast, or so hard.

Or so loud. Shit. I wasn’t quiet at all. What if Dennox and Vulrux overheard me?

They did.

The door to the bathroom crashes open, and Vulrux rushes in, Dennox at his heels. “I heard you cry out,” he says, and then his eyes take in the entire scene. My flushed face. My right hand positioned between my legs. My erect nipples.

A slow smile breaks out over his face. “We’re your mates, Harper,” he says. “It is our duty to tend to your needs. All of them.”