“So you have said, as she’s welcoming the strongest warriors in your clan to her bed every night.”

“She chooses well, indeed.” Ruk sounded proud of her, as if sleeping with a different man—alien warrior—every night was not only normal, but admired. “Perhaps now that you are”—he looked at me again—“mated, she will choose to have a child and make our clan stronger. My sister will give us exceptional warriors.”

Wow. These guys were a lot different from any of the uptight assholes I’d known on Earth. I told my dad I’d lost my virginity at sixteen just to see if he’d blow a blood vessel. He’d lectured me for an hour, but his arteries and veins had remained intact.

THUMP.

I jumped at the sound and realized I had completely tuned out the other prisoners.

Cormac stepped forward and moved his hand over some kind of scanner on the wall right next to Ruk’s cell. The barrier disappeared, and Ruk stepped forward to offer his hand to Cormac. The two grasped each other’s forearms like fighters in a gladiator movie, and I took a step back behind Cormac. Now that Ruk was free, he stood to his full height.

Shit. He was a lot taller than Cormac. His hands were too close to eye level, which meant I heard the mushy sound of flesh moving as he retracted those ridiculous claws like a cat. Other than being a giant and having eyes the color of that disgusting pie, he looked almost normal. He smiled—I think it was a smile—when he caught me staring.

Normal? Hah. How the hell had I forgotten those fangs? This guy would give a vampire nightmares.

“We appreciate the little family reunion, but can you get us the fuck out of here?” The first Atlan’s frustration was clear in his sharp tone.

Cormac turned to me and held my gaze. I knew when I saw the stress lines around his eyes and mouth that I was not going to like whatever it was he was about to say.

My mate walked to stand before the Atlan’s cell and shook his head. “You are all covered in Hive tech. You admit being placed here because you have been battling Hive mind control and they are trying to break you down mentally. I have no idea what you will do once you are released. I give you my word I will notify Commander Karter of your predicament as soon as our rescue team arrives and I have a working comm.”

The Atlan punched the barrier seconds before his friend in the other cell. The two thumping sounds created a rhythm like listening to a heartbeat. Thump-thump. “Are you fucking kidding me, rogue?”