Page 37 of Viken Command

“Well, I didn’t realize that your mates were the ones the I.C. sent to Viken to do just that.”

“So, your mates lied to you, too?” I asked.

The pity was gone now, replaced by anger. “No. I didn’t ask. I don’t want to know everything, Whitney. I have a baby girl to raise and only so many hours in the day. They don’t tell me everything because I don’t want to know each time a crazy man breaks into the palace to try to kill me or Allayna. I don’t want to know about every assassination or criminal on the planet. I’d go crazy.” She leaned forward and placed her hand on my knee. “They didn’t tell you because they were protecting you. Just like my mates didn’t tell me.”

My head was shaking before she’d even finished the sentence. “No. You made the choice to be left out of the loop. That’s not the same. They didn’t ask me, didn’t give me the choice. I’m their mate. They should have told me the truth, and because they didn’t, I ended up running straight to the crime boss himself, shot with one of those stun guns and dragged to a spaceship to be sold as a slave. That’s not protecting me.”

“The kings disagree. They’ve asked me to try to help you understand. They don’t want you to be hurting like this.”

Tough. It was done. If Leah chose to insulate herself, and I completely understood that, she was the queen. But just because Leah chose to ignore some things didn’t mean I shouldn’t be given the choice. “I thought the mates in outer space were different, you know? Place their mate above everything else? First priority and all that.”

I’d never been anyone’s first anything. My older brother was the magical first-born son. My only serious boyfriend in high school had told me—after we’d been a thing for four months—that he only went out with me because he’d already dated every girl on the cheer squad, and I completed the set. When I went to college in northern California and left the Mason money and notoriety behind in New York? Dating was hard. But then who was I kidding? Dating was always hard. Which brought me back to my present dilemma.

“A guy on Earth did you wrong, am I right?” Leah asked. “Is that why this is so difficult for you to forgive?”

“You mean, did I get burned by a shitty ex-boyfriend on Earth?”

She nodded.

“No. Not really. It’s worse than that.” I leaned forward, set the bowl down. “Girlfriend, let me tell you the story of the Mason family. Prepare yourself, it’s not like a Norman Rockwell painting.”

I settled into the couch, told her of the Mason Ponzi scheme that rocked the US East Coast’s old money families. Leah had been gone from Earth long enough not to have known about it, so I didn’t leave any detail out. She understood what my family had done because she was also an American and knew how things worked.

By the time I was done, her face had gone from shock, with her mouth hanging open, to having her eyes narrowed and grim determination on her face.

“Well, that sucks big hairy balls,” she said when I finally finished, ending with volunteering at the Brides Testing center.

I had to laugh. “You could put it that way. Now you see why I can’t go back to Alarr, Teig and Oran. I don’t trust them. They’re no different than my family—using me to get what they want—and I can’t accept that. Ever again.”

She tilted her head. “I can see that. Okay, I talked with Warden Egara earlier. Since you’ve rejected Alarr, then the testing matches you to another Viken male. You will have thirty days with him—and the other two mates he chooses to join you both—to accept or reject your new match.”

“I feel like I’m online dating. Swipe right for your new arranged marriage.”

She shrugged. “The testing got it right with my guys.” She leaned forward, patting my hand. “Warden Egara will make it right, I know it. This is a very unusual situation, Whitney. I know you’ll be happy here. Give Viken a chance.”

“I did.” I remembered the efficient woman from the testing center. It wasn’t her fault Alarr wasn’t the one for me. “And I thought she had it right the first time,” I grumbled, feeling the disappointment. I really did like Alarr, Teig and Oran. But what I liked, had it been real? I would never know.

“You know,” she said, then paused, clearly thinking. “They tricked you. Used you. I’m not going to disagree with you that they played you wrong. But you have to admit, they were terrible at it.”

“Terrible at what? Sex?” I laughed. They were far from terrible, and that was the problem.

“Not sex, silly.” She smiled. “I’m sure they were very skilled lovers. My point is, you figured out their whole undercover thing within a day.”

“Yeah, so?” I asked.

“They’d been there for months working undercover. While they duped other people, they didn’t get past you. They suck at being bad guys. They are horrible at deception.”

I nodded. “True, but that doesn’t matter.”

“You’re not getting my point.”

I stared at her expectantly. This had better be good because she was right. I didn’t get it. None of it. There was no reason for them not to tell me the truth. None. Zero.

“Only genuinely bad people are good at deception and lies. The fact that all three of them were horrible at it means they’re actually pretty good guys. They’re honorable. Honorable people don’t like to trick and deceive and lie to someone they care about. They can’t do it well.”

I bit my lip, considered. “Like little kids. With some, it’s obvious they’ve broken a vase and tried to hide the pieces. With others, they can blame it on the cat without blinking.”

She pointed to me. “Exactly. Alarr, Teig and Oran are the guys who’ve broken the vase and can’t get away with it. They are good guys. They wouldn’t be part of the I.C. if they weren’t. They wouldn’t be in meetings with my mates if they were anything less than the best of the best in the Coalition.”

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