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“I’m going to sleep.”

I turn over so I’m facing away from Rallan. I hope it’ll make him realize he’s unwanted. Instead, he shimmies closer to me until he’s the big spoon. His arm snakes around my waist, and he pulls me flush against him. I can feel that he’s hard against my back, but he doesn’t make any remarks about it or try to do more with it than just hold me.

“We will speak in the morning,” Rallan says.

I don’t fight him on it. I don’t tell him to find a different bed, and I definitely don’t tell him to stop holding me. He’s been holding me for weeks now, and I can keep telling myself it’s just because I fall asleep while he’s doing my hair. But we both know it’s because I like how it feels to be in his arms.

“Hey, Rallan?” I ask as sleep starts to soften my muscles and expand my inhibitions.

“Hm?” The sound vibrates down my back from where his chest is pressed against me.

“If Vex got the house ready for us, where’s he staying?”

I let my head loll back a bit more until I’m right against him and can feel his chin resting on the top of my bonnet. He doesn’t answer for long moments, and when he finally does, I don’t know if it’s the beginning of my dreams or if he’s actually answering. I only know that I don’t really hear anything as I let sleep take me away.

“I am thinking we start with the houses closest to the great hall. Not all males will want to live that close, but it will be safer for the newer females.” Rallan’s voice is what wakes me in the morning, but I don’t know who he’s talking to. Not that I care very much since I can feel his arm wrapped around my body.

During the night I must have managed to snuggle between Rallan’s legs with my head resting on his upper abdomen. I smack my lips and nuzzle closer to him. I can feel a huff of laughter come from him as he places a hand against my back and strokes me through my tunic.

“No, I understand that, but we need to get work done on Beren and Lyath’s farm as well,” Vex says, not sounding the least bit perturbed that I’m currently snuggled up with someone who isn’t him.

Wait.

My eyes shoot open, and I push away from Rallan so fast that I take the blanket with me as I scramble away from him.

“Come on, man,” Vex says as I all but fall out of bed, yanking the blanket with me to keep me fully covered.

“I didn’t know she was going to leave me naked in bed,” Rallan says with a laugh.

I shoot him a glare. He just places a pillow on his groin where his dick is out of its pocket. I turn my glare to Vex next, who has the decency to look embarrassed to be sitting on the foot of my bed, having a conversation in my bedroom while I’m fast asleep.

“What are you doing here?” I snap.

“Your mates were discussing our plans for the day before you woke up screaming and crying and kicking,” Rallan chuckles again, and it takes everything in me to ignore his comment. I’m not taking the bait, no matter how good he is at dangling it in front of me.

“You live here too?” I ask Vex. He gives me a barely-there nod. “He knew?” I tilt my head in Rallan’s direction, and again, Vex nods. “Okay, I hate both of you. I’m going to find Deja and Nia. Don’t come looking for me. Don’t bother me.”

I march out of the room with my blankets, not even giving them another look.

“You are not wearing pants!” Rallan calls out when I’m close to the front door.

I put on my most angry face and return to the room to grab a fresh pair of shorts and a new tunic. I narrow my eyes at the men sitting on my bed. Vex looks guilty. Good. Rallan looks like he’s enjoying himself immensely. Not good.

“Have a wonderful day, Simone,” Rallan says with a smile way too big for how terrible of a morning this has started out. Then he kicks at Vex. “Say goodbye to our mate. You cannot woo her if you cannot even tell her to have a good day.”

My left eye twitches as I realize what’s happening. I’m being teamed up on. It’s made so much worse to know that my ally,or who I thought was my ally, is actually a traitor. “No one is wooing me.”

Rallan rolls his eyes. “I have successfully wooed you,” he says and then turns back to Vex. “Tell her to have a good day, maybe say her name, and then also mention how beautiful she is. She is the most beautiful female. I am sure you know this.”

I open my mouth to say something right as Vex does. We see each other and close our mouths. Then I start to speak about telling them that I hate them again, but Vex starts to tell me to have a good day. Overall, it’s awkward and unnatural, especially when I remember how easy our relationship was before he dumped me. I turn from the two scheming jerks, not giving them a chance to attempt their wooing any longer.

“I’ll fix this,” Vex calls out right as I get to the front door. Somehow, this makes everything worse.

“That was not telling her to have a good day,” Rallan groans, and I hear his horns hit against the headboard. “How did you woo her the first time if you are this bad at it?”

I don’t hear Vex’s response because I’m walking out of the house and toward the great hall. The only thing I know is that I need to come up with a plan. The last time I let my heart be swept up by an alien, he dumped me, and I ended up thinking I was going to die naked and alone in the middle of the woods on an alien planet. I doubt things could get that bad again, but I’m not willing to take that chance.

I thought since they hated each other, I could rely on never having to choose between them. If they’re working together, though. Then my excuse of having to choose is moot, and now I have to face the fact that I don’t want to be with them because I’m scared.