Page 40 of Viken Command

“You will beg. Grovel. Plead. And even that may not be enough,” King Tor tossed in, his irritation with us now obvious. “You have wronged a female from Earth. Trust us when we say forgiveness will not come easily. And you now have three new mates as well to compete with for her affection.”

I took a step toward King Tor, but he didn’t move, not concerned about my stance or any threat I might present to him. In reality, I was not a threat to him. I was a male who’d lost his mate due to a set of circumstances beyond my control. I wanted a chance to fix what I’d wronged, but it would not be easy. Gods, practically impossible. Based on the king’s words, Whitney and I were no longer officially matched. I had no claim to her, no right to pursue her. To touch her. Pleasure her. Protect her. According to protocol, she was no longer mine. But being official—following orders and rules—is what had led us into this mess to begin with.

If Helion hadn’t ordered us to maintain cover, to remain silent, to use Whitney to the mission’s gain, we would not be in this predicament. We would be in bed with her, claiming her. No, she would have already been claimed. She would not doubt our love and devotion. We’d be constantly pleasing her. Making her the happiest of females on the planet. In the entire fucking universe.

No. No. It wasn’t all Helion’s fault. It was ours as well. We could have defied him, told Whitney the truth of our endeavors at Trixon. Knowing her, based upon the short time we’d spent together, it was clear to me now that she would have understood. “Perhaps we should have told her the truth, but her safety was our top priority, and the less she knew, the safer she was.”

“We understand your reasoning, Captain.” King Drogan tilted his head to the side. “It will be up to you to convince Whitney.”

I noticed at once that he did not refer to her as my mate, but by her given name, and that drove home exactly how permanent Whitney’s decision would be regarding her future.

Surely, she would understand that we’d been keeping her safe. Except she had not always been safe, because we hadn’t trusted her with the truth. I should have known, as my matched mate, we were perfect for each other, and that meant she would be a confidante. Trustworthy.

Instead, our lies had led her into the arms of the enemy, and nearly caused her to be taken by smugglers from the criminal Cerberus legion of Rogue 5. The thought made my blood run cold with dread and shame.

“Who are these new males? They may be her mates through the testing, but they were not the first match chosen,” Oran said. He angled his head toward me. “Alarr is Whitney’s priority match. The perfect match. She is ours, even if they attempt to convince her otherwise.”

“It is not about who came first,” King Drogan reminded.

All I could think of with those words was that Whitney must always come first. We’d fucked that up royally.

“The choice is hers. This is about Whitney’s future. Her happiness. You three do not understand the depths of what you have done to hurt her,” King Lev added.

“We lied to her. We used her as a front for our undercover mission,” Teig explained, although the kings already knew that.

“You did more than that, I’m afraid.” King Drogan said before nodding to King Lev. “Show them.”

Show us what? The kings were more than familiar with the gun smuggling that had been happening and with our mission to end it. Viken was their planet. Even Doctor Helion would not run a months’ long operation on a peaceful civilian planet without communicating with the three kings. Especially, as those three kings had all grown up immediately following the Sector Wars. Separated at birth, they’d survived. Thrived. Each growing powerful in his own right and ruling his sector before Queen Leah arrived to unite them—and unite our planet. They were neither foolish nor rash, and their current tone filled me with dread and made my skin chill.

King Tor walked toward the transport tech. “Leave us, please.”

The male bowed and left without saying a word. King Tor worked the room’s control board as if he’d been a tech himself at one time. After a moment, he tipped his chin toward the comm screen on the wall, which had filled with images.

“What did Whitney tell you about her life on Earth?” he asked, turning his head to look to the three of us.

“Not much,” I admitted. “We were… busy.”

We were newly mated Vikens, three males to one female. I didn’t need to define busy for him.

“Then watch these comms from Earth. Learn about Whitney’s personal history. Face the truth.”

One after the other, we stood, mesmerized, by the primitive feed from Earth. Males and females spoke to the screen, footage of males in restraints, of Whitney and her family in odd Earth clothing. Their names had been written on the display. Short descriptions ran across the bottom of the screen, repeating the narrator’s words.

Another, then another, appeared to have been broadcast over the course of two years’ time. Slowly, I began to understand what I was seeing. Whitney’s father and brother had cheated innocent people out of their hard-earned money. Earth currency was different than that of Viken, but I understood the concept. They were swindlers. Thieves.

Whitney had been questioned because most of the victims had been associated with her. Her father and brother had used her, and her connections at some type of learning institution, to lure people of wealth into his scheme.

Her own father and brother had lied to her. Used her to perpetuate a crime. Forced her to endure public humiliation and shame.

It did not matter that she had been found innocent. An entire country was angry at her, and at her family, for what they’d done. Many of the broadcasters hated her simply because of her blood relation to two amoral human males who had lied to her and used her, two males she loved and trusted. Males who were supposed to love and protect her.

“By the gods, we were fools,” Oran said when King Tor ended the comm screen connection.

“Her father? Her brother? And they did it all right under her nose,” Teig added.

Their gazes turned to me.

“We did that to her,” I said, hating myself even more. “We were following orders, but we still lied to our mate. We were tricking her all the while she was innocent and clueless.”

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