Page 53 of Fighting For Their Mate

“Well, yes,” I replied carefully. “I’m ready. I’m tired of fighting. I’ve done my time. We can’t go back to Earth, but I don’t want to. Dorian can relocate us to a place near his family on the Prillon home world. We can start a new life.”

“Okay.” Chloe dropped a bombshell on us without blinking. “I already spoke to Commander Karter about relocating. He spoke to the I.C. and I can transfer to a command base on Prillon Prime whenever we’re ready.” She batted her eyelashes at us. “I’ve been waiting on you two. I’ve been ready for months.”

“You spoke to Karter?” Dorian asked. Our mate smiled, that secretive, feminine smile that made me crazy, and I felt my cock growing hard once more.

“I can’t stop thinking about the danger to our family. To Dara. When Seth goes out on a mission. I think it will be twice as bad when this one’s born.” She rubbed a hand on the side of her belly. “Commander Karter told me you two will most likely be assigned to a warrior training center in the capital city. That’s where the main military command base is. And another human woman, the queen, is there as well? Jessica? And they have a child, too. Someone for Dara and our new baby to be friends with.”

Dorian looked as shocked as I felt. Our mate had organized our life, changed everything, and had simply been waiting for us to be done fighting. If she’d demanded I leave six months ago, I would have brushed her thoughts aside and gone on and on about the war and my duty, about protecting Earth and the other planets.

But I’d done my time. Sacrificed years of my life and both of my brothers to fighting the Hive. I was tired, not my body, but my soul. Every time I looked at Dara’s joy-filled little face, her innocent eyes, it was harder and harder to leave her and go back out there. Into the dark. And death. And killing. I was

so tired of killing.

Now, the only duty I felt was to her. To Dara. To the little one growing in Chloe’s womb. Dorian was sure the second child would be born with golden eyes and hair, his genetic offspring. I couldn’t wait to see what the little one looked like, the newest member of our family. A new innocent life to protect and love.

Chloe smiled and lifted a bite of mashed potatoes to her lips with a grin still tilting her lips. “The Fleet can send intel to Prillon Prime, whatever communications they need me to listen to and decipher. Anything I need to do, I can do from there. And they are expanding the program, recruiting more codebreakers, so I won’t have to work as many hours. Since Prime Nial has a human mate, Commander Karter explained my situation to him.” She rubbed her belly again and smiled at Dara. “He understood. He said I can work part time, basically set my own hours. The success we’ve had in this sector was the proof Doctor Helion needed to get approval from the Prime to bring more warriors into the program.”

“Oh, um, okay then,” I said, not sure what else to say. I forked up a bite of meat, chewed and swallowed. Holy shit. Why did I feel like I’d just been hit with a sledgehammer? I was ready for a fight, ready to cajole her, convince her to leave this ship. Beg her. Seduce her. Whatever it took. And she’d been ready to leave for months.

Probably since little Dara was born.

“That was easy,” Dorian said, laughing. “Our brilliant mate is one step ahead of us, Seth.”

“Keeping secrets, Chloe. I think we’ll have to spank you for that.”

My mate, my sexy, defiant mate threw her head back and laughed, Dara giggling with her, copying her mother out of pure joy. “You ain’t seen nothing yet, boys. Wait until you’re surrounded by smart, sassy women. I intend to have six or eight daughters to drive you two crazy.”

Dorian leaned down and kissed her swollen belly, where I suspected another beautiful daughter grew strong. “Based on the way we can’t keep our hands off each other, your prediction may come true soon enough.”

My cock swelled beneath the table. A house full of children. Boy or girl, made no difference to me. They’d be loved. Protected. And our smiling mate, happy and content, would be far away from this Battleship, from the Hive, and the danger we had all lived with since the claiming.

“Promises, promises,” I said. “And what if I told you I want a house full of children? A dozen, at least?”

Dorian lifted his head, in complete agreement as Chloe buried her fingers in his hair, loving him, petting him, right there at the table.

The love coming through the collars from all three of us was so strong my eyes burned, my throat closed and the ache of loving her filled me with the sweetest pain. She leaned forward so she could speak just to me over Dorian’s head. “If we eat quickly, do you think you two can take me like you did this morning?”

While her words made me want to toss her—carefully—onto the table and fuck her, I swallowed hard. “Sweetheart, you’re topping from the bottom.”

She had the submissive grace to turn her eyes down and blush, but then she tipped up her chin and met my gaze with her sharp green one. “Captain, I’m nine months pregnant. If I want to be fucked by both my mates, then that’s what’s going to happen. Never, ever argue with a pregnant woman.”

Commander Karter came in then, bent down and blew raspberries on Dara’s chubby cheek. Her squeal of laughter drew a dozen looks, most from the Atlan beasts who seemed to hover near my mate any time she wandered the ship. They all knew what she’d done for Warlord Anghar, and she’d earned the loyalty and protection of every beast on the ship.

And so had our daughter. Which was just fine with me.

The commander allowed little Dara to grab his hair and tug, hard, his smile at her antics rare to see. He spoke to us as he gently untangled the baby’s fingers from his head. “Captains, I think you need to listen to Commander Phan and obey her orders. And while you tend to that important mission, you can let Uncle Karter take care of Dara.”

Karter had become a pseudo-uncle to Dara, babysitting and becoming a baby-talking fool whenever she was around. No one said a word. They didn’t dare.

The look our mate was giving us told me we were in for one hell of a ride tonight. She wanted a hard fuck and we were the only ones who could give it to her.

Dorian and I stood. “Yes, ma’am,” we said with all seriousness.

I took her hand, helped her up and after kissing Dara on the head—who was completely oblivious of her parents because her Uncle Karter was making funny faces and sounds—we led her out of the cafeteria and toward our quarters.

“You’re in charge, mate,” Dorian said. “We’re at your command.”

“That’s right. We’re all yours,” I agreed. It was nothing less than the truth. She owned us both. Body and soul. With the collars connecting us, there was no hiding our need for her. Our devotion had only deepened with time.

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