Emma jumped to her feet and stood beside him, grinning.
I took in their outfits. Rubber rain boots on their feet, the pajama legs tucked into them.
“Are those the curtain ties from the other room?” I asked. Tanner and Emma wore green bands that were over one shoulder diagonally like a sash. They matched what was on the window in the living room. Affixed to these sashes were paper clips that held square sticky notes.
Wulf stayed on his hands and knees, which made them all about the same height. He was looking at them with open adoration. I was looking at his bare torso with open adoration of my own. When he glanced up at me, heat in his gaze, I loved knowing he could be this caring with the children, then in private so bold. So wild. “Olivia, this is Senior Hunter Tanner and Hunter Emma.”
Tanner patted the turquoise sticky note. “This is my Hunter belt and badge. It’s written in verian!”
Emma squatted down and grabbed Wulf’s shirt. “Found it! Me Hunter!”
“You did! You found it, Emma!” Tanner praised, patting her little shoulder, then passed the shirt to Wulf. “Why’s it here in Auntie’s room?”
Wulf sat down on his butt on the floor, untied the sheet-cape around his neck, then slipped the shirt over his head. Tanner and Emma launched themselves at him, and he tickled them until they squirmed and squealed, thankfully making Tanner forget his question. I smiled at the sight. Seeing the three of them together made me forget why I couldn’t be his mate.
Two hours later, after a requested lunch of grilled cheese and, oddly, broccoli, the kids were in their swimsuits out back and running through the sprinkler. Wolf and I sat in lawn chairs beneath the small covered patio as we watched. Even in the shade, sweat dotted Wulf’s brow, and he used a kitchen towel to wipe his head.
“Is it hot on The Colony?” I wondered. I wasn’t sure how he would tolerate Florida weather with his size.
He turned his gaze from the children to me. “You can’t breathe the air there, so we live in a controlled environment.”
“You don’t go outside?” I asked, stunned.
“Each base is enclosed inside a dome. A bubble, I believe, is the English. It is not hot. Now Trion, a planet far from The Colony, is very hot in places. Desertlike and dry. You will like it there. Not Trion—well maybe you would, but I was referring to The Colony.”
I reached for my glass of iced tea from the patio table to stall. A drip of cold condensation fell onto my thigh. “Um, I’m sure I would,” I replied neutrally.
I knew The Colony was full of veterans from all planets within the Coalition, including Earth, who had been captured and tortured by the Hive. I didn’t want to offend him by saying anything inappropriate about the place after all he and his friends had been through.
“When you wear my cuffs—”
“I can’t wear your cuffs—”
We spoke at the same time. Stopped at the same time.
I sighed. “Wulf, I can’t be your mate.”
His body was tense again, not as if his beast had returned but as if he was not happy with my news. I didn’t blame him, not after all he’d been through with the Hive and even here on Earth.
“You have said that yet offered no reason. I wish to hear it.”
The kids squealed as they hopped over the hose, the sprinkler oscillating back and forth. They were drenched, and the grass was sodden. They were having fun without either of us having to participate, which was a win, because Wulf and I needed to talk.
I sighed, took a sip of my tea.
“Tanner and Emma. They are the reason I can’t.”
He frowned, watched the kids. The corner of his mouth tipped up when Tanner stuck his butt over the spray. “I do not understand.”
“I can’t go, not with kids. It’s not allowed.”
He finally looked at me, and I saw his dark eyes fill with confusion. “Yes, you can.”
I shook my head. “No. I can’t. The rules say a woman can’t be matched if she has children. She can’t leave them behind.”
“I wouldn’t ask you to. You are mine.” He tipped his head toward the kids. “They are mine.”
He wanted the kids? It was one thing for his beast to say, Mine, when it came to me, but the kids, too?
I opened my mouth to respond, but he cut me off when he set his hand on my thigh.
“You are not being matched. You are my mate. My beast has identified you as such. Therefore you will wear my cuffs. That makes you an Atlan mate, and you, along with any offspring you have, go where I go. I go to The Colony.”
I stared at him, perhaps to see if he was lying, but also to think through his words. “Genevieve and Willow volunteered.”
“They did. But my beast chose you. As soon as you put on the cuffs, when you accept my claim, you are mine and I am yours. By all laws, Earth’s and the Coalition’s, you become a citizen of Atlan. You become my mate. Tanner and Emma become my children. My family. We can leave immediately for the transport room. Once you are mine, the rules for Interstellar Brides no longer apply to you. You are the mate of an Atlan warlord. We do not leave our females and children behind. No one would dare ask.”
“Ever?”
“Never. My beast would kill an army of Hive soldiers to protect you or the children.”
I stared. And stared. I heard the kids in the background but couldn’t focus. All I had to do to be with Wulf was put on the mating cuffs and all three of us could leave Earth?
“Just like that?” I asked.
“Yes, it is that simple.”
He stood as if ready to go now.
“What about the show?” I asked.
He growled, then dropped back into his seat. “I have not forgotten the show. They have my mating cuffs in New York.”
I frowned. “They’re, what, holding them hostage?”
“I am not familiar with this term outside of battle, but they are keeping them so that I can give them to you during the live program. Warden Egara said it was for promotion.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “Of course, they have to get that happily ever after.”
It was to be mine. A thrill shot through me—and scared the crap out of me. It meant going off with an alien I barely knew to a planet far, far away. Sure, I had wanted to volunteer in the past, but there hadn’t been a real, live, breathing, gorgeous alien in front of me. I had the kids to think of now. Would they be happy in space? So I asked him.
“The children? Happy?” he asked. “Of course. There are several children on The Colony now. All have Earth mothers like you, and they are of similar ages. They will have friends, and they will be watched over and protected, raised by the entire base.”
His adamance eased my concerns, but still… it was one thing to go to a far-off country on vacation, but this was starting a life on a new planet. It would be with Wulf and that… I wanted to do it. My gut wasn’t telling me no. It was telling me hell yes. My head was the one screaming that I was crazy.
“Besides needing the cuffs on your wrists, it is important I leave this planet in a positive way so that females will volunteer to be matched to The Colony. It was the goal of this program to begin with and why I came. I will see that through, which means we must go to New York for an interview program. Warden Egara has informed me that we must make goo-goo eyes. Whatever that is.”