V’rone rounded on him.
“I don’t care about that anymore—you understand?” he snarled. “I just want to claim her—she’s ours by right!”
“But what if she’s not our Queen?” Tem asked in a low voice. “What if we’re just jumping to conclusions because we’ve been lonely so long and she’s so beautiful with all those luscious curves?”
His colony-mate’s anxiety about something which seemed perfectly obvious irritated V’rone.
“She made your Heart-finder arch go off like a Goddess-damned Lexian lotto machine!” he reminded Tem impatiently. “She has to be our Queen. And like I said earlier, if there’s any doubt on her side, all we have to do is a Touch-test. And then, if she still isn’t convinced, we do a Taste-test.” He shrugged. “It’s that simple.”
“I fear that nothing is going to be as simple and straightforward as you seem to think, V’rone,” Rive remarked. “What if this human female refuses to do the Touch or Taste tests?”
“Refuses? Why would she refuse?” V’rone demanded, frowning.
“Because maybe she’s scared of us.” Tem was looking worried again. “I think we frightened her, all grabbing for her like that!”
“I have to agree with Tem’blx—we frightened the human female,” Rive said unexpectedly, as V’rone opened his mouth to refute the idea. “And I think we should let him do the talking at the meeting we’re about to have with her,” he added.
V’rone glared at him.
“Now why should Tem do the damn talking? Am I or am I not the leader and protector of this colony? I’m the fuckin’ Brawn!”
“And I am the Brain,” Rive retorted, frowning. “I’m the planner for our colony and I say that the best plan is to let Tem’blx do the wooing while you and I sit back and keep our mouths shut.”
“You’re sayin’ I’m too scary for her?” V’rone demanded. “You think I’ll frighten our Queen off just by talking to her?”
“You’re not frightening so much as…aggressive,” Tem offered, trying to lessen the tension, as always. “Females don’t always respond positively to that. As the Soul of our group, I’m more in tune with our emotions—and with hers. I truly think she was frightened of us—let’s not make it worse.”
“By letting me talk to her, you mean,” V’rone growled.
But as irritated as it made him, he knew that his colony-mates were at least partially right. He did tend to be more straightforward and—yes, he admitted it—more aggressive than either Rive or Tem. But that was just his nature—when he saw something he wanted, he went for it! And from the moment he’d seen the lovely Mature Elite standing under Tem’s Heart-finder arch, he’d wanted her. Her full curves…her silky hair…her big eyes…not to mention her scent, which was like the sweetest perfume to him, were all calling him to claim her and protect her and make her their Queen.
“I just want—no, need—for us to claim her as our Queen,” he growled at last, after the moment of self-reflection—which was unusual for him.
“Well, she is never going to be our Queen if you frighten her off,” Rive pointed out, raising an eyebrow at him. “Will you agree to let Tem do the talking or not?”
V’rone growled with frustration and ran a hand over his horns. But at last he nodded.
“All right, fine. Tem can take the lead.” He pointed a finger at his colony-mate. “But you’d better do a damn good job! I’m not leaving that meeting empty-handed!”
Tem sighed, his long, feathery antennae waving.
“I’ll do my very best, V’rone. You know I want her too—we’ve all been longing for a Queen ever since we first found each other and formed this colony.”
“True,” Rive said, nodding. “But we must be certain before we claim her. Let us go to this meeting with open minds and explore all options and avenues carefully and scientifically.”
V’rone felt another growl of frustration rise in his throat. He didn’t have time for scientific bullshit—he knew their Queen when he saw her!
And he intended to claim her before this day was through.
SIX
“I still don’t understand why we have to have this meeting at all! I mean—there’s clearly been some mistake.” Terra fidgeted nervously with the long, thin tumbler filled with bright pink oonga juice, made from a fruit grown aboard the Monstrum Mother Ship. It was tart and sweet and refreshing but she’d barely touched it. She was simply too nervous to eat or drink much of anything while she waited to see the three huge Monstrum warriors again.
“You need to have the meeting because you have to make sure it’s not a mistake,” Dra’vik rumbled, frowning.
The enormous Monstrum was sitting on a long bench beside Iyanna, who was seated to Terra’s right. The table at the little outdoor café—if anywhere could be considered “outdoors” inside the huge ship—was sort of like a picnic table back home, only built on the Monstrum scale. Which meant that the top of the table was just below Terra’s breasts and her feet were dangling a good three inches off the ground.