Page 36 of Treasured By the Alien Rogue

I nipped the thought before it bloomed inside me.

“There you are.” Three males almost as big as Xax strolled over from where they had been standing in the shade beneath a shroom. When they stopped in front of us, their wide-eyed gazes locked on me. All three had Xax’s same skin and hair color, plus equally gorgeous teal eyes, though none of them were quite as muscular as Xax. They also wore loincloths and nothing else. I could get used to this view as much as the beauty of the surrounding forest.

“This is my mate, Amanda,” Xax said with a hint of pride in his voice.

I couldn’t remember when a guy had been this happy to stand by my side.

“Amanda, this is Efendest, Julop, and Vessak.” He waved to each.

Efendest was the cutest of the bunch. Julop’s hair was cut close to his scalp, and Vessak had a cute dad bod belly, though, without mates, he probably wasn’t a dad.

“Where did she come from?” Julop asked, studying my frame in a pleasant way without a hint of ick. So far, none of the males had looked at me like I was fresh meat, a welcome surprise. Back home, I’d be getting catcalls already. I was a big woman, and my curves went on for miles. A lot of guys appreciated that.

Guys such as Xax—who wasn’t an Earth male, I reminded myself.

“The gods sent her to me,” Xax said. He shot a tusky smile my way. “The craft she arrived in fell into the lake.” His chest puffed. “I rescued her, and then the gods impaled a plant in front of me. When it bloomed, I knew she was mine.”

With hope on their faces, the three guys tipped their heads back and studied the sky.

“Are there more like her?” Efendest finally asked, his gaze returning to me.

I frowned, trying to remember. “There were other women on the ship.” I explained what a ship was. “We were kidnapped from Earth, which is my home planet. We were brought here and . . .” Everything in between was hazy. “They gave us something that made us sleep, and when we reached your planet, they put each of us inside a smaller space craft and sent us to Zuldrux.”

Vessak’s eyes lit up, and he nudged Julop with his elbow. “We need to look for the others. There could be a mate for each of us among them.” He dipped his head my way. “Thank you, lovely Earth female. Welcome to our village. I hope you and Xax are very happy.”

“Thank you.” He was sweet, but . . . “We’re not here to be your brides.” My words came out more shrilly than I liked. “If you find a woman, you need to bring her here, not . . . try to claim her as your own.”

“I will do so.” Julop pressed a fist against his chest. “I would treasure a mate above any other. If I brought her here, I could woo her until she succumbed to my many charms.” His bright smile grew.

“Don’t push this. If you find someone, she’ll be scared. She won’t be thinking about mating with any of you.”

He nodded sagely. “That’s understandable. I’d still tell her she’d be treasured. Adored for the rest of her days. Wanted.”

He seemed sweet. They all did. With so few females, I didn’t doubt that they’d welcome each and every woman here. But none of us deserved to be forced into a relationship we didn’t want.

“I imagine most of them will want to go home,” I said.

Most? Why didn’t I include myself in that statement? When my gaze fell on Xax, I knew. I was already liking him and Zuldrux too much.

Julop’s face fell, but he sucked in a breath and stiffened his spine. “I will prove to any god-given mate that her place is here with me.”

I welcomed him to try.

“Come,” Efendest said to the other two. “We need to search the area. Our mates could be in danger.”

“Did you need anything from me?” Xax asked, worry flitting through his eyes.

“We were going to tell the traedor we were going hunting, which we’ll still do while we search for mates,” Efendest said. “Now we’ve told you.”

Xax nodded, the concern remaining in his eyes. “Where is Tribon?”

Efendest frowned, glancing around. “He was here not long ago. He said something about swimming in the river. I’m sure you’ll find him there.” He gave me a quick bow before pivoting and striding over to one of the shrooms. A spear leaned against it, and he hefted it, laying it across his shoulder.

The other two males grabbed weapons as well, and in no time, they’d jogged across the village and disappeared into the surrounding forest.

“I doubt there were enough women on the ship for every male on this planet,” I said, worrying my lower lip with my teeth.

Did that mean the Zuldrux “gods” planned to steal more? I needed to have a long talk with Alexa about this and see if she had any influence with the island gods who’d masterminded this plan.

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