When he placed me back on my feet, he stroked my hair back from my face. “You feared for me, mate?”
I shook my head and looked into his one golden, one silver eye. “Never.”
“Good girl,” he replied.
I felt Ander at my back, my men surrounding me. I did not worry for the crowd, for I knew the two of them would defend me from every single one of them. I was safe. Nial was safe. We were together. But not quite…
Claiming. Claiming. Claiming. The chant filled the air and a look I knew well settled deep in Nial’s eyes. Lust. Love. Desire. It was all there.
“I must be claimed,” I said. It wasn’t a question.
Ander slid my hair over my shoulder and he lowered his head to kiss my neck and then lower still to my collar as Nial spoke.
“We are connected by the collars, but the bond is not complete. We must both fuck you. Together.” I saw the need on Nial’s face, felt it through the collar, but I sensed also the seriousness behind this requirement.
“Right now?”
“Yes, mate. Right now, in this arena. In front of the entire world.”
Holy shit. I turned in his arms, scanning the faces in the crowd. They were not looking upon us with glee or malice, but with a seriousness that made my knees feel weak. “Why?”
Ander spoke from behind me. “In a normal claiming ceremony, the primary mate chooses his closest brothers to bear witness to the act and swear allegiance and protection to his bride.”
I bit my lip, remembering the chanting I’d heard during the processing center’s simulation. The male voices surrounding me and their chorus of May the gods witness and protect you.
Nial lifted his hand to my cheek, holding my gaze when I felt like running. “I am now Prime. King of this world. The entire planet honors and respects our family above all others. They all wish the honor of bearing witness to your claiming, of swearing their oath to serve and protect you.”
“Oh, God.” I leaned into his hand and tried to remember to breathe. This wasn’t just fucking for pleasure. It was a sacred act, a bonding that joined me to both Nial and Ander permanently, in front of a billion witnesses.
This was what it meant to be a queen on Prillon. I thought back to my idea of being a princess, to fancy dresses and high-heeled shoes, to ballroom dancing with a perfect, handsome prince. This was nothing like that fantasy. This was me and my mates, raw and dirty and fucking on the ground in front of the entire planet.
I imagined the people’s faces as they watched us fuck, imagined them running home as quickly as possible to alleviate their own needs. I imagined the women closing their eyes with pleasure as they heard my screams, and the men, the warriors in the crowd admiring my body and my breasts, envying my mates as they filled me. The idea made my pulse race and my pussy grow wet.
Maybe I was meant to be the queen of Prillon after all.
Once Nial and Ander claimed me, once my collar changed color to match their deep, royal red, there would be no question, no doubt in anyone’s mind that we were the royal family, that Nial was mine, that Ander was mine. And I belonged to them.
That would only occur when they both fucked me at the same time. A wave of desire coursed through me at the thought of them taking me in such a way.
“She is pleased with the idea,” Ander murmured against my neck.
“Jessica, this is a public claiming. We must do it here, in front of everyone. There will be no privacy, for I am their new leader and my bonding ceremony must not be questioned. It is the right of all Prillon citizens to witness it, for you and Ander will be their rulers, a part of me, and they must know and trust that all three of us are worthy. Worthy to lead the planet.” Nial???s words were clear. He wanted me to know now what his people, our people, wanted.
“It is not law,” Ander added, his tongue flicking over the pulse at my neck. “Nial can refuse if you do not wish to do this.”
“But?” I said, knowing there was more.
“But the people will judge him soft, weak, too weak to master his bride.”
I shook my head. What the men had done for me made me want to give them everything in return. I was the link that connected them. I was the link that made them strong. That made us strong. If I had to fuck them in front of an audience—a very, very large one—it did not matter. I would not weaken Nial as a leader by refusing him this.
Let them watch. Let them envy me. I was giving myself to Nial and Ander. No one else. I was proud of my men. Proud to share with all Prillon people that I was the one they wanted, the one they desired, the one to make their cocks hard. It was my privilege to be theirs and I was willing to prove that to the entire galaxy.
“I understand. I will do as you wish,” I replied.
Ander turned me so they were both in front of me. I looked up at my men. One dark, one fair. One a powerful leader, one a powerful commander. I would submit to them both because my body needed it. My mind needed it.
I was theirs. I knew it. It was time they did, too.