Luna sighed deeply.
She was standing in front of a small group of men, each of them looking down in shame.
The new guy was standing behind her, frowning. Just as she had suspected, he was an annoyance. The entire walk back, she had felt his eyes on her. If she was lucky he wouldn't be too horny, but she wasn't lucky, so she didn't like her chances of that.
"Why the hell were you doing this again?" Luna asked. She had already forgotten the reason. It was so idiotic that she had been annoyed by it before even seeing the injuries inflicted.
"He said I had no chance with you," one of them protested, beginning to rise from his knees. Luna waved her hand absently. It was easier for her to feel sorry for them when they weren't towering over her. Honestly, she got the problem men, but did they have to be this problematic?
Luna sighed again.
"I don't intend to ever have a husband," she said loudly. "You know that. Stop this nonsense."
"But Mistress, if you ever decide to, it wouldn't be him, would it?" The other one asked, eager to prove his point.
"It wouldn't be any of you the way you're acting," she snapped. "Now how did the rest of you get involved in this ridiculous argument?"
"He said it to us too!" one of the others protested. "We couldn't just accept that!"
"That's a lie," Luna murmured under her breath, exasperated. They heard it. The second she started speaking they went completely silent. Probably the only perk of having a dozen or so obsessed slaves, other than that she never had to do any real housework, unless she wanted to.
"Mistress, we overheard it and wanted to prove ourselves," one of the others answered submissively. At least he was honest. In actuality, Luna had already known that. After all, it happened practically every day, even when she was home. An argument would break out, then turn into a challenge, and then a couple of the others would get involved.
The other two, the one who had lied and the one who hadn't spoken, glared at the one who had admitted their selfishness.
"Fights like this aren't the way to prove yourselves to me," Luna explained calmly. At least, she tried to be calm. She didn't understand how so many people could be so stupid.
"And there's no point to it anyway," the man behind Luna growled. "She's mine."
Immediately, every eye turned to him. In the face of their critical stares and judgement, he was bold and did not bend. He wasn't embarrassed or defensive at all, just firm.
"And where do you get off getting that idea?" Luna asked softly. He looked at her, smirking, while the faces of the men behind her were undoubtedly growing darker.
"Simple," he responded arrogantly. "I'm the strongest, and the best. None of them can even hold a candle to me, much less match my fire."
He grinned, pleased with himself for the wordplay. Luna hated it.
"Oh, please," she muttered, tilting her head up and rolling her eyes. "You can't expect me to believe that."
"You're assigned the rejects, right?" he asked boldly. Luna raised an eyebrow. She didn't know where he had learned that from. Maybe from the guards. They gossipped more than idle men.
After a pause where she considered whether to answer his question, she nodded.
"So, how could any of them possibly match me?" He grinned as though he had just won a great victory.
He hadn't. His logic was flawed in so many ways. Just because someone was considered a reject didn't mean they weren't strong. And just because he had been strong wherever he had come from didn't mean that he was above average here. Although admittedly his body didn't exactly belie his words, that physique could be for numerous reasons other than real strength. She had seen it before. Different races' men developed muscles differently, and the strongest wasn't always the best. They weren't even always the winner.
"What's your name?" Luna asked him. The other men stares at her in shock. None of them had told her their names. She hadn't asked. She hadn't, and didn't, care. They were problems either way, but in her estimation, the problems would be worse if she allowed them to feel like they might actually be connecting with her. And she had a hard enough time remembering the names of people she cared about, much less people she didn't care about. Rather than being able to call them by name, it was more likely that she would end up just wasting more time by asking their names over and over again.
"My name is Skalith, Zane Skalith," he said proudly.
"No it isn't," Luna responded.