I start reconsidering a mate.I could go anywhere, even work at a port!
“And boy, do we have an assortment of aliens this round!” Ohni continues. “Double the species! You can watch their stats on your screens as each camera follows them in their hungry search for a woman to claim!”
The railing beneath my hands blinks white as a deep, droning rumble pierces the lunar shield.
Oh shit! It’s happening!Adrenaline floods me in hot waves.I’m not ready!
“Here they come!” Cora screams.
The railing flashes green three times, then turns solid. Women cheer in excitement and hurtle themselves over the bar in a stumbling, crazed tidal wave of hormones and flesh. My body feels heavy, and my heart sluggish as it strains to pump faster.
I clear the railing with ease and move with the massive group, scattering into the fields. Finally, my heart catches up to the quick pace of my feet. I look up toward the stars, find the transport, and see the first male jump from twenty, maybe even thirty stories up. He’s so far up in the air that I can’t quite sort his color.
Then another jumps.
Women flood the field, scampering away from the ship and in my direction.
Oh shit. I’m going to get trampled!
A yellow-banded woman with golden hair falls not far from me. I don’t want anyone to get hurt when we’re all just here to have fun. So I break course and stop beside her.
I help her up as someone bumps into me. “You good?”
She gasps and nods. “Thanks.”
As she slowly continues, I run for the fortress, hoping for a place to hide. A blue male in metal-plated leather armor dashes by me with a speed I don’t expect.
I slam to a stop. He flashes me a look and keeps going. His eye is trained on a blue-banded woman.
Thorian! That was a Thorian!
I silently thank Tal for his species lessons. But as I watch him chase after her, it makes me think and look down at my armband.He’sblue, and she’s blue. Is that why I got purple?
I look around but don’t see enough of a pattern to believe it. A gold Jorbiun picks a pink. Then a red Klaphos picks a red.
Suddenly, my body launches sideways. A hot breath of air warms my neck, then shudders to the sound of sniffing. The furry blue Mindor squints down at me. “Faraday?”
“Y-yes?”
He rumbles a low note in thought, then bounds off.
I slump with relief and blink up at the transport still pouring males into the arena. And there, in the doorway, is a huge, purple male scanning the fields.
The Amphiran.I scramble to prop myself up for a better view. He’s dressed in gray armor like a soldier with vibrant green eyes…electricgreen.
My heart doesn’t need encouragement this time. It takes off on its own. But I’m not sure if I want him to see me.
How do I know? How would he? I’m not electric.
I clamber up and get behind a post of the fortress so I can watch him. He doesn’t jump like the others.
A deep voice growls behind me. “Hello, gorgeoussss.”
I turn around, my back to the post, and find a shimmering green male with four arms and a long, thick tail sauntering up to me. His body looks like it’s made of glitter, and his double-lidded eyes are an inky black that creeps me the fuck out.
Before I can run, he grabs me in two of his arms and crawls under one of the lower levels of the fortress, coiling himself around me. His hands areeverywhere.
“Mine!” he rumbles.
