"I've found him."

"Him?" Hassan asked, arching an eyebrow curiously. "Who him? Could you be more specific, brother?"

"My mate," Shaikh Bogden Dhal Wuher Al'Abdalha said simply as he looked across the table at his brothers. He folded his hands together to keep from drumming his fingers anxiously on the table as he waited for his brothers' responses.

"Many blessings upon you, brother," Urik said, pounding on Bogden's back so hard he grunted and fell forward. Urik was strong, the strongest of all the brothers. The man could crush someone if he wasn't careful.

Bogden was just grateful that his brother never challenged him for leadership of their pride. Urik might win. Luckily, he said time and time again that he didn't want the mantle of leadership. He much preferred not being in charge of the pride, just himself.

"Thank you, brother," Bogden said after righting himself.

"So, where is he?" Hassan asked as he plopped down in a chair across the table from Bogden. He looked excited, but not as excited as Bogden felt that he could share this news with his brothers. "When do we get to meet him?"

"That part is not so easy." Bogden grimaced. "I do not believe he knows we are mates."

"He doesn't know?" Hassan asked. "How can that be? A mate always knows."

"He's not a Katzman." Bogden grimaced as he watched the surprise and shock on his brothers' faces as he imparted that bit of information. "I found him when I was in service to the High Ruler. Anjali is from Elquone like Commander Chellak Rai's mate."

Bogden couldn't help but smile as he remembered the sexy little man he'd discovered while on a rescue mission with Commander Rai. He knew the moment he spotted Anjali inside the cave that they were meant to be together.

"Ashu!" Urik swore softly. "You really know how to make thing complicated, don't you?"

"What are you going to do?" Hassan asked.

"Offer a contract for him?" Bogden asked. He hated the idea of offering a contract for his mate but he couldn't think of any other way to get the man now that Anjali had returned to his home planet of Elquone. "What else can I do?"

"Meet him?" Hassan asked.

"We've already met, Hassan. We rescued Anjali along with Trajan and Saris after they crashed on that deserted planet." Bogden grinned proudly. "Anjali is the one that knocked Toc Jerell on his ass."

"Then ask him if he's even interested in being with you. Get to know him a little better."

"And if he says no?" Urik snapped. "You know what will happen to Bogden if he's denied his mate, his mayht. Is that what you want for him?"

"No, of course not, but…" Hassan shook his head.  

"I will have my mate, Hassan."

"Isn't there just some way you can, I don't know…" Hassan waved his hand absently in the air, "work him into it slowly or something? Do you really have to purchase his contract?"

"Hassan!" Bogden snapped then immediately regretted it when his youngest brother's head dropped forward. "Look, Hassan," he said, calming his voice and his facial features, "I promise to give him whatever time I can but now that I know he is out there, I can wait no longer to claim him."

He really didn't need Hassan's agreement to claim his mate. It was an instinctual imperative to claim a mate once they had been found. Bogden could no more deny that natural part of himself than he could stop breathing. Anjali was his.

It helped that Bogden had recently been appointed the Shaikh of the Leonid Pride upon his father's death. Bogden now ruled all of the Province of Leonidia, as his father had done before him. His word was law and final. Still, it made things easier to have his brothers' agreement and support.

"So, will you help me obtain my mate?" Bogden asked hopefully as he looked across the large wooden table at his brothers. They nodded their heads. "Alright, I'll have Yasir get the ball rolling first thing in the morning."

"What if he says no, Bogden?" Hassan asked.

"Why would he? I'm offering him a good life here. As my mate, he'll help me rule our people. He'll be the Hahyda, the heart of our pride."

"I don't know, Bogden." Hassan shrugged. "It all seems so cold and calculating to me. I mean come on, a contract? Weren't those outlawed by the Federation of Planets? Look at all the trouble Chellak Rai went through when he had a contract with his mate? He almost went to prison."

"Hassan," Bogden said, "You know I don't have any other choice. I need my mate. As for the contract, that is what is needed to bring Anjali to our province. I figure if we complete the mating ceremony when he arrives then no one can say anything."

"I know. I just feel bad about--"

"Hassan, things are still precarious on Katzmann. You know that," Bogden said. "Our life here is dangerous even without the interference from the Federation of Planets. I have to bring Anjali here as fast as I can and complete the mating before his contract is sold to someone else. I don't have time to romance him."

"Yeah, but it's like you're buying him. Why can't you just get to know him first? Isn't that what normal people do?"

"Hassan, we are not normal people." Bogden chuckled.

"No, I guess not, but this still feels wrong."

"Once I get Anjali here and complete the mating ceremony, I'll make sure that there is nothing that he wants for. If he's anything like most people I know, he'll be in heaven."

"If you say so," Hassan grumbled. "But I still don't like it."

"Would you rather I didn't send for him?" Bogden asked, his voice hardening with aggravation. Everyone knew what would happen if Bogden didn't have his mate now that he'd found him. The separation would drive Bogden insane.

"No, but—"

"Look, let's just do this and we'll deal with the fallout after he's here, okay?" Urik said, looking between the brothers.

"Urik." Hassan laughed. "Ever the voice of reason."

"Bite me!" Urik snarled, making Hassan laugh even harder.

"Okay, I'm going to go talk with Yasir. I'll be back in a little while," Bogden said as he stood to his feet. He could barely stop himself from rolling his eyes at his brothers. They were always arguing with each other.

Maybe it came from growing up together but he knew neither of them would hurt the other, or him. They were brothers, with Bogden being born first, then Urik, and last came Hassan. 

They were also closer than he believed most brothers were. Bogden knew that his brothers would do anything for him just as he would for them. Needing his mate wasn't going to change that. Bogden wouldn't let it.