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AXXOL

“ D on’t fuck this up,” played on repeat through my skull. I wasn’t even sure if it was my own thoughts or something Rizan was playing for me like the crying songs.

I wanted to be on the bed with her. With them. Even if I felt like an idiot approaching the mattress. They made lounging with her look so easy. Just careless touching and bodies together.

Kroktl didn’t complain there were other males near his mate, even as the alpha came near.

He didn’t tense or bristle a warning but remained lax beneath her, belly exposed in a position of weakness.

Surely he feared I might snag his mate and fuck her now.

Claiming her as my own. Forcing him out of the bed, the room, even the house.

The temptation was there, yeah. I could do it, too. Though I’d have to kill him to drive him away, part of me wanted to challenge him for that right. A lot of me. The alpha BGR+ in me demanded it.

The urge tightened in my gut, twisting my organs into knots. She could be mine alone. I could give her my offspring. If I eliminated Red’s youngling, she might come into heat quicker. It made more sense for the alpha to pass his genetics on through the squad’s mate.

Only mine. My mate. My offspring. Mine .

No one moved a muscle. The squad certainly knew the instincts strangling me, urging their fast and effortless demise. Yet they didn’t move to defend themselves, or even her for that matter. Which gave me pause.

They… trusted me. To make the right choice for the squad.

For her.

Because without her, we would cease to be. We’d kill each other to end the agony of losing her.

Logically, everything made perfect sense.

Biologically, I still wanted to tear them apart.

As I eased onto the mattress—deliberately not touching anyone—something squealed. I quivered with the effort of holding myself in check. “What the fuck was that?”

She had the temerity to fucking laugh. “While the mattress is big enough for all of us, I suspect the bed frame may not be up to supporting so much weight. Make a note, Riz.”

“Done.” Rizan joined in on the laughter. “Are you saying Big Rig’s fat?”

The top of my skull nearly blew off beneath the force of my rising blood pressure. Ugly rage crawled through my veins, biting and clawing. Urging a kill.

A light slap sounded, breaking through the rising tension. I snapped my head around, watching as she lightly patted Rizan’s arm. “If anyone’s fat, it’s me after carrying Akylla, so don’t you dare bring up the f word again.”

Teasing. They fucking dared to tease each other while death crawled into bed with them.

A snarl rumbled through me, my lips pulling back to bare my teeth. “You’re both idiots.”

She crossed her arms over her tempting, swollen breasts heavy with milk, her nose tipping up. “I beg your pardon, but I’m actually considered to be of above average intelligence for a human.”

Body stiff, I vibrated with intense focus of holding my shit together. “Stop it. Before it’s too late.”

“Humph. Too late for what? For you to capitulate to me?”

Despite the strain shearing through me, I scoffed. “Never.”

“You heard him.”

Kroktl groaned out a laugh. “Oh no. I feel sorry for you, Big Rig.”

Regret. For me? Bewildered—and even madder because I didn’t understand—I lifted my head to look at him, hoping his body language would give me a clue.

Though he still lounged, no, sprawled on the bed, completely relaxed, on his back.

While his mate sat on his chest, her bare, pink flesh grinding on him as she turned. Her soft body bracing.

Into a launch straight at me.

NATALIE

Usually I have a plan of attack, especially when I’m undertaking something risky. Like hopping into bed with a hungry, angry T-rex.

Somehow I never had a plan with Axxol. I usually mouthed off a challenge—which the alpha wouldn’t be able to refuse—and then dealt with the consequences.

He loved to push my buttons with his snide, dismissive remarks about humans or my lack of genes and intelligence, and I loved to get my digs in about making him grovel.

This time, I intended to make him beg.

He caught me effortlessly, snagging me around the waist and slamming me down on top of him hard enough I lost all the air in my lungs. Encased in granite muscles, slightly taller than Kroktl and just more, everywhere, Axxol could eat me for lunch. Literally. One gulp.

He wouldn’t hurt me. Not on purpose.

Riiiight , I thought, as he snapped viciously an inch from my face. Not human-sized teeth but rows of T-rex razor blades ready to shred my skin off layer by layer.

If he did try to hurt me, Kroktl would stop him.

Though that would put us all at risk. The last thing I wanted was for my squad to start fighting, especially over me.

A little bit of play fighting would—should—be fine.

Axxol said he loved it when I fought back, and the big alpha could certainly take way more damage than I could deliver in my human body.

Though I had managed to gouge my nails into his flesh and draw blood.

I’d never hurt Kroktl like that. Never wanted to. Although once they saw the blood on my fingernails, they all wanted me to scratch them up.

I’m more than just human now. With the Myrm cells complete, I carried some of the most powerful technology in the universe, even if I couldn’t wrap my mind around all the science of what the squad could do.

What I could do. Because the same power surged to life inside me. A massive array of transformers and super-charged batteries powered up, casting fiery sparks through my veins.

Making a low, vicious hiss, Axxol started to roll me beneath him. But that would be too easy. I certainly didn’t want to let him win so easily. Once he got inside me…

This little battle would be over before it even began.

Twisting in his grip, I slithered against him, making it hard for him to hold on to me. Since I’m smaller and lighter, he couldn’t press his advantage without using his teeth and claws. For all his threats, he didn’t want to hurt me.

His fingers locked around my throat, his breath hot on my ear. “This isn’t a game you want to play.”

I panted, still squirming in his grip. “Oh, yeah?”

“Don’t make me bite you to hold you still.”

Kroktl growled a low warning, whether to Axxol or me, I wasn’t sure. If my fingernails strengthened to the point of tearing through dynos hide, maybe my teeth could do a little damage too. It was worth a shot, and Axxol’s chest was right there. A nice meaty slab of muscle to sink my teeth into.

I gripped a mouthful of his chest in my jaws, pinching skin and muscle between my teeth.

A roar rolled through him, so deep I couldn’t hear it with my ears. The kind of predator sound that silenced an entire jungle and sent prey into hiding. His body vibrated with the sound, shaking me hard enough to rattle my teeth together if they weren’t dug into his chest.

His fingers tangled in my hair, trying to jerk me free, but I refused to let go.

“Fuck!” He roared again. “Help me get her the fuck off before I kill her!”

Kroktl dropped down against my back, sandwiching me between two huge alien warriors. Solid sheets of pure muscle and vicious power. Raw, predator musk in my nose. Even now, the sharp scent of his raptor made my nape prickle with warning.

Killer. Stalker. Danger.

“If you even think about hurting her, I’ll kill you.” His voice remained even, almost casual, but certainty echoed in every word. Axxol might be the alpha—but Kroktl was my mate. My first mate.

For a second, I worried Axxol’s ego might object, but Kroktl’s threat steadied him. He twisted his fist in my hair, pulling enough my scalp burned. He rumbled beneath me, deeper than Kroktl’s rattling purr. “I’m going to split you wide open and tear you apart.”

His words made me shiver, not going to lie. But desire mixed with the dread, along with an unfamiliar urge, for me at least. Maybe it was the aggressive bite, or the way I’d clawed him before, but a part of me wanted to bite him so hard I could taste his blood.

:You’re feeling a dynos’ mating urge,: Kroktl whispered in my mind. :That’s a huge fucking problem.:

Anxiety pulsed through me. Dynos? Was I going to shift into a dino-monster too? I didn’t mind their beasts. I’d even ridden on the raptor’s back to get away. But that didn’t mean I wanted to become one too.

Or did he mean it was a problem with the squad? I didn’t feel jealousy in him.

His jaws wrapped around the top of my shoulder, gripping my trapezius in his teeth. :Because I want to be the first to receive your mating mark.: