Tiegan pressed a calming hand to her shoulder. “Sim-pony…”

“I…” She breathed hard, her chest heaving. “Someone just called to me. In my head.”

“Who?”

She raised her eyes and met his gaze. “I don’t know.”

Eight

Tiegan

Tiegan strodeinto the temporary war room. Lans, Korben, Pin, Zar, and Clavas were already seated.

Korben rushed to his feet. “We heard about the calling.”

“Who could be summoning her?” Lans ran a frustrated hand through his hair. “Does anyone on this planet have that kind of tech?”

Pin frowned. “None of this makes sense.”

“It was different with our mates,” Zar agreed, looking frustrated. “Simpler. This human has brought a new host of problems. It feels like swimming in the deep end.”

Clavas pressed his head into his hands. “How do we fight against an enemy when it has no face or name?” He glanced up at Tiegan, purple eyes imploring. “Is this a dead end?”

“She only heard the voice and felt the calling. There was no more information.”

Clavas frowned.

Tiegan did too. He despised this helpless feeling.

“How do we make a plan in such a circumstance?” Zar rubbed his chin.

Tiegan’s head began to tighten as if an invisible pressure was building. Perhaps he would have been able to think more rationally if not for his growing connection to Sim-pony.

He could feel her emotions. He was certain of it. They were just faint impressions at the moment, nothing like what Korben and the other warriors experienced. But he knew for sure that the desire skating through his body earlier was hers. She had caused his length to flush with sensual tingles, almost as if he had already taken off her tunic and began to play within her heat.

Tiegan’s heras pounded and he wrestled with the sensation even now. This was his first time feeling so drawn to a female and it bothered him that he could not control himself.

The most important mission was to keep Sim-pony safe. If this voice, indeed, was a threat, then he was not the only one on this planet connected to her. That could spell disaster. If this mysterious enemy began to tamper with the other females’ neural connectors, they could influence the humans to turn on their own mates or worse.

Hehadto find the source of that voice, not only for Sim-pony’s sake, but for the entire tribas.

“What do we do, terros?” Pin asked.

At that moment, footsteps thumped on the ground. Tiegan spun and found the females marching into the room.

Si-Moon, Zar’s mate, stomped right up to the table. “You really thought you could keep us out of this meeting?”

Zar straightened. “Si-Moon, what are you…”

“We’re here to talk about the voice Symphony heard,” Sah-ah said, tossing her thick brown curls.

Ki-ah, Pin’s mate, stood beside her human comrade. “When will you Plutonians learn to stop shutting us out of these meetings? We can merge with your zaptens. We can fight in battle. We’re stronger together than we are apart.”

“Eema,” Lans growled, staring at his mate—a woman with long hair and light eyes, “you put them to this, did you not?”

She gave him a defiant look, to which he returned a glare of his own.

“If you’re going to discuss my life,” a new voice said, “I think it’s only fair that I be included.”