Page 14 of The Arabis Triad

She shook her head, latching onto his comment. “No. We don’t. We have marriage, but not this thing you told me about. This ‘mate’ thing. We don’t do that. At all. Nope.” She could barely think, let alone get her mind around three men—three extremelysexymen with a heat level off the scales—and one women,her.

The idea was so foreign it wasn’t funny. Yet still, a flicker of heat wound lazily into the pit of her stomach. She wasn’tunadventurous, but three men was at the far, far end of her limit.

Especially that ‘until the rest of our days’ comment. There’d be no walking away if she didn’t get away now. This was some serious commitment she had no intention of entering into.

“That is the history of our species. It’s also a surprise to us to learn that we have found our mate with a human,” Man-bun said.

She licked her lips. Three sets of eyes tracked the movement, which she quickly stopped. “Yeah. So, you can see it’s probably a better idea to find someone of your own… species.”

Man-bun crowded her, tucking a strand of hair behind her head with a gentleness belying his size. She looked up, noticing the top of her head only came to his shoulder.

“That cannot happen, mate,” he said.

“Evelyn, My name is Evelyn.”

“What a pretty name. It suits you.” His eyes crinkled as he smiled. The effect was stunning, transforming his serious expression into something heart-stopping. “Evelyn. I am Paxt. That is my brother Coltan. You have been introduced to the idiot, Ashir. There is only one mate for a Triad. There will be no other. We go our whole lives looking and when we find each other, it is a cause for celebration. Do you not feel the connection inside you?”

She squirmed. She did feel something and it felt alotlike lust. Lust she didn’t want to feel. There was also a warm thread, a touch of consciousness that wasn’t just hers, but she quickly discounted it. She ached from head to toe. She was beyond exhausted and her head throbbed with the beginnings of a migraine.

She steeled her voice. “No. I feel nothing. I just want to go home.”

The men shared an uneasy glance. Coltan approached her, standing shoulder to shoulder with Man-bun—no, Paxt. She peered up at him, coming only to his shoulder as well.

“Evelyn.”

She shivered hearing her name on his lips. He stroked her jaw. She let him, drifting away with that gentle touch.

“The scaled ones brought you to our universe,” he said. “We have never heard of your planet before. We have no idea where it is. We would not see you so upset and would return you if we could.”

“What are you saying?” Her voice was strained. Hollow.

“There will be no returning you to your Earth. You are of this universe now.” Ashir stood next to his brothers, crossing his arms over his chest.

His tattoos seemed to float and swim in her vision. Side by side, she distantly recognized their familial coloring before her pounding heart threatened to beat a path out of her chest.

“We will protect you. Care for you. Give you everything you need,” Coltan said.

She needed to set things straight with these men—aliens. She wasn’t going to lead them on, because if there was a slight chance of getting home, she’d take it, and they seemed like the sort that took commitments seriously. Like, scary seriously.

“If you gave me everything I need, you’d find a way to take me home. I’m not your mate. I will never be your mate. You’ve made a mistake. I’m not going to give you what you want. Stop this, let me leave and find your proper mate. Your true mate. I’m not that woman. I’ll never be that woman.”

Even as she said those words, there was a wrongness about them she couldn’t define. She tilted her chin, nerves and muscles stretched, bracing for anger. An argument at best. That usually happened when she told men what they didn’t want to hear.

What she didn’t expect was for Coltan to sweep her off her feet and cradle her in a tender hold. She clung to his shoulder to stop her limbs from trembling.

“I see you do not believe us,” he said, “but that is all right. It is our job to show you just how important you are to us. We are going to care for you now and show you what we know to be true. There is no one else for us. Only you. You are our home. Our life. Our reason for being. Soon you will know that as well and there will be no debate about being anywhere else but at our side as our one and only true mate.”

They towered over her, intense and immovable and her breath stuttered in her lungs. This was all kinds of crazy. They acted as though she hadn’t even spoken. And now she was cradled in Coltan’s arms as he carried her down the hallway and into what could only be a bathroom, his brothers right behind. She wondered how the hell she was going to get away from them.

If she’d even succeed.

Chapter Seven

Evelyn

“Didn’t you hear a word I just said?” She pushed both palms flat on his chest, trying to get out of his arms, but he tightened his grip, not enough to hurt her, just enough to make her realize she didn’t have a hope of getting away unless he wanted to put her down.

Her mouth watered at the sight of the shower. She’d been living in filth for so long, she’d almost forgotten what it felt like to be clean. She could smell herself, and it wasn’t pretty. She had to give kudos to these men, declaring their romantic intentions while she looked like this. It was no ordinary feat.

---