Page 25 of Auctioned to the Convicts
“I’m your mate. Your only mate.”
She said nothing, not sure what she could say. Sersie’s kiss last night said he intended to at least court her. And Vaughn. . . Hell, every time Vaughn looked at her, it was as if he were stripping the clothing from her body, slowly, one piece at a time. And she didn’t mind. She shivered just recalling the intensity of how he’d looked at her yesterday.
If she weren’t careful, her unit would dissolve into anarchy like her family unit had back on Argus.
“I mean it, Hannah,” Ky’Li whispered in her ear, his deep voice sending a need through her. “No one will touch you. Only me.”
“We’re a unit, Ky. It’s expected that I. . .” There was no way of putting this other than bluntly. “It’s expected that I sleep with all the men. The Company—”
“They brought you to a Level Four colony to be a whore, and you’d let them?”
She winced and pulled away. That hurt. She hadn’t chosen any of this, not Narkos, or being in a unit. On the other hand, she wasluckyit was only a Level Four colony. If she made waves here, they could send her to a Level 5 prison world where the conditions and the men were much worse.
“It’s the way of life on Argus and many other worlds.”
“Not on Daraan.”
That explained it. He was Daraanian. His world had a higher female population, no need to share.
“The Company has different rules. You need to adjust, Ky, or you will be punished. They can still downgrade you to a Level 5 and send you away.”
His arm tensed around her for a moment before he spoke. “I will make my quota and obey the rules here, but I will not share you.”
Pain lanced across his face. He didn’t see the reality here. She’d be living in a house with three other males who hadn’t seen a woman in seven years, maybe longer for Ren and Vaughn. She still didn’t know how long they’d been here, or what crimes they’d committed.
Either way, she was bound to those men as much as she was to Ky’Li for years to come. Potentially many years.
Sersie had at least three years left before he’d be upgraded to a three and able to return to Argus. She smiled thinking of the botanist. He was sweet and gentle, and that kiss had pulled her in, making her believe she could do this, be with him, with each of them.
“You’re smiling, sha’vi.”
“I’m thinking of Sersie.”
“You’re lying in my arms, thinking of another man?” Ky practically growled.
And it began. She hadn’t censored herself.
“The Company’s rules say I must be in a unit with four men.”
“Youarein a unit with four men. But the rules do not state you must sleep with them. Daraanian law says only one male per female.”
“This isn’t Daraan, Ky.”
This was not going well, and yet she couldn’t be mad at him. She laid back down and simply inhaled his clean, masculine scent as his fingers sifted through her hair down her back and landed on her ass.
In his mindset, she was his. And her body agreed with him. Hell, all of her agreed with him, except by law she belonged to the others as well. Ky’Li was going to have to accept that. As was she.
She needed to help him accept what was going to happen. “Sersie kissed me yesterday.”
Ky’s hand stopped moving against her back. “I’m here for one night healing and he couldn’t keep his hands to himself.”
“I said kissed. Nothing with hands. And it was an innocent kiss. I-I’m not sure he’s ever been with anyone. He was rather shy about it.”
“Good, then he won’t know what he’s missing. But he’s not touching you again. I will see to it,” Ky’Li said with an air of authority to him, but not full-on anger.
“It’s not your choice,” she said as she started to rise.
Before she could get off the bed, Ky rolled her onto him. His mouth captured her.
