by Ann Mayburn
They experienced every sensation they might experience as fought through various icy, hot, and windy simulations were transmitted through the suits, much to Lacey’s dismay. She called it her ‘piece of shit’ suit.
She might not like it, but Chel thoroughly enjoyed the sight of his alyah in all that tight fabric. The soft blue suit clung to her every lightly muscled curve, accenting the round arch of her perfect rear end and her long, muscular legs. Legs Chel couldn’t wait to have wrapped around his waist as he surged into her, legs he wanted cradling around his face as he licked her to orgasm after orgasm, feasting on the sweet arousal he could smell even now.
For a moment, he smirked as he imagined Lacey’s reaction if she found out they were aware of her excitement, even when she tried to hide it. Looking at her, so composed and fierce, most would never guess the soft flesh between her legs was wet with need. As she snarled at Gwarnon, her eyes flashing with anger, she gave off the unmistakable scent of a woman in desperate need of a good release.
Orushel and Maoru had certainly noticed but were smart enough not to say anything. Lacy had a wicked temper and a determination that was second to none. His men had sparred with Lacey more than once, and they knew she was a good of fighter. Even without the full benefit of a working crystal implant and only with the primitive training she’d received on Earth, she was lethal.
At first, she’d held back, obviously pulling her blows and not following through with true kill shots. But once she’d learned that she couldn’t really hurt them during training—that the feel suits not only protected the wearer, but also produced sensations—she’d let loose on them all with a fury that was almost incandescent, it burned so hot. Chel knew sparring was an outlet for her, that she used it de-stress, and her attacks weren’t personal, but even he had to admit she was more than a little intimidating when the heat of battle flared red hot in her eyes.
He almost felt bad for her opponents in the Baladium.
He certainly felt bad for Gwarnon.
Lacey enjoyed verbally sparring as much as actual fighting. It must be a common trait among humans, because Roxy was equally verbal when the two women fought together. Chel had actually picked up quite a few human curse phrases watching the women battle through one simulation after another. ‘Trash talking,’ as they called it, actually seemed to be a sort of bonding between the women, one that he could understand. Warriors were often boastful and enjoyed cleverly insulting their opponents.
“Come at me, motherfucker!” Lacey shouted at Gwarnon, her wide cheekbones casting deep shadows beneath the harsh simulated lighting of a Frenghetti swamp. “You told me we aren’t done until one of us ends up in that poison ivy from hell shit. Come on! Stop standing there like a statue and do something.”
Gwarnon remained frozen on the other side of the slowly rotating platform, his balance perfect, his face as expressionless as the statue she called him.
The more Lacey ‘trash talked,’ the more she unknowingly truly hurt Gwarnon’s feelings. Even though Chel had told him a million times that Lacey didn’t hate them, Gwarnon’s life was screwed up by his bitch of a mother and a part of him honestly believed Lacey didn’t want him as a bondmate. Part of the problem was that, unlike Chel, Gwarnon couldn’t really feel Lacey through their growing bond yet. Just bits and pieces—mostly her anger—not the occasional bouts of happiness and attraction that Chel felt through his fragile psychic connection with their future Matriarch.
Chel kept telling his friend to be patient, but he knew Lacey’s constant rejection wore on them both.
“Jesus Christ!” Lacey screamed, cutting through Chel’s thoughts. “Arrgh! I hate it when you go all robot on me. Fucking blink or something, so I know you’re alive!”
Gwarnon’s face didn’t betray a single reaction, his mental shield as high up as Chel had ever seen it—as high as Gwarnon always had it in his mother’s court. A knowing hit Chel in the gut, full force, that if he didn’t do something to stop this now, Gwarnon might seal himself off from Lacey forever.
It was time he had a talk with their Earth bride about some of her misconceptions.
With or without the crystal implant, there were some things she needed to understand.
“Enough!” he shouted, startling Lacey out of her rant. “End simulation. Lacey, come with me. Now.”
She blinked at him, unused to Chel being anything but patient and kind with her. “What?”
Lacey stumbled a bit as the room abruptly turned back into its normal pale olive walls and shiny black floor. Gwarnon reached out automatically to steady her, and she accepted his hand without hesitation. Something inside of Chel eased a little bit at that willing touch, and he hoped that the Lord of Life would give him the words to help him get Lacey to understand they were meant to be together.
Gwarnon asked him via their implants what was going on, but Chel said he’d tell him later and turned off his link.
He’d need his wits about him for the task ahead.
Convincing a woman who thought she hated them that she really didn’t.
That she might someday grow to love them.
Lacey scowled at Gwarnon as she snatched her hand away and stomped over to Chel. “What is it?”
Instead of answering her, he handed her an absorbent towel then a drink before motioning to her. “I would like a word with you, Lady Taylor.”
She frowned at his choice of words, but obediently followed him back to her quarters while rubbing the towel over her shoulder length curls. Once inside, she tossed the towel onto a nearby chair, then rounded on him with her hands on her hips. He tried to ignore the way her hard nipples poked against the fabric of her suit and focused instead on the anger mixed with guilt and the ever present soul deep sorrow buried deep in her heart.
With her head tilted back and her eyes closed, he took a moment to admire her even as he wanted to spank some sense into her.
“I’m sorry, okay! I know fighting with Gwarnon is stupid, I know it. I know it’s screwing with my training, and that I can’t afford the distraction, but I just can’t help it!” She threw her hands up with a growl before dropping them again. “It’s just…it’s just that I can’t stand it when he gets all cold and closed off. I hate it when he does it, and I just want him to snap out of it.”
Understanding gave him another small clue to her soul as he took a seat in one of the chairs, avoiding the couch.
It would be too tempting to pull her into his lap, and that wasn’t what she needed from him.
And her needs would always come first.
“In order for you to understand Gwarnon, you must first understand his mother.” He gestured to the other chair. “You might want to have a seat for this.”
Frowning, she did as he asked, grabbing a deep purple pillow from the couch and holding it to her chest. “This is bad, isn’t it? I can feel…I mean your face is very expressive, I can see this story makes you sad.”
“It makes me incredibly sad, Lacey, and you can say what you really mean. You feel my sorrow, and that is normal and natural for bondmates.” She looked down and muttered something about not being his bondmate, but he ignored it. “Gwarnon’s mother is a sadist and what I believe you humans call a sociopath.”
Chel told Lacey about some of the mental torture Gwarnon had been subjected to at the hands of his mother, how Lady Melissi could bend people’s emotions to her will, that she was the ultimate manipulator. He briefly described all the years he’d hidden the fact that Gwarnon was his bondmate and told her about Lady Melissi convincing Gwarnon that his blood brother Jerit and Matriarch were dead. If Gwarnon believed he had no future, no Matriarch, Lady Melissi had hoped to finally crush Gwarnon’s will and make him her puppet—something she had been unable to do, even at her worst.
He told her about Gwarnon’s break from his mother’s hold, how their mate had joined the Kadothian Military, despite being one of the few Kadothian males who wasn’t expected to serve. As Lady Melissi’s only child, he could
have lived a much easier life, one of leisure where he would have been treated like a prized possession and would never have to face true battle. Instead, he’d worked his way up through the ranks, going on endless combat missions, until he was recruited for a secret branch of the Kadothian military. Then, Chel told a noticeably quiet Lacey about all the good Gwarnon had done, all the personal risks he’d taken to protect people from his mother’s insanity. How they’d secured a small, isolated Territory and made it a secret safe haven for the innocents running from Lady Melissi’s wrath.
“Jesus Christmas.” Lacey looked faintly ill as she said, “Lady Melissi sounds like a monster.”
“Absolutely. To protect his mind and soul from that monster while growing up, Gwarnon learned the less reaction he gave his mother, the less she would torment him. He learned to wall himself off from everything, to feel nothing in order to survive Lady Melissi’s court. Nothing can penetrate the wall he built around himself if he doesn’t allow it. And there are very, very few that get to see the true Gwarnon. With most people, he is as cold and unfeeling as the robot you call him. There are very, very few that have seen him smile—like you have. That have heard him laugh—like you have. Those are the most precious gifts Gwarnon could give you, and those are your gifts to properly cherish…or lose.” He gave her a moment to think about what he’d said before he lowered his voice to a softer tone. “I know you don’t mean to truly hurt Gwarnon when you trash talk him, but you wound him nonetheless. It brings back memories of his mother’s court that he would rather not ever remember.”
Lacey sagged back into her chair, holding the pillow so tight, her knuckles turned white. “Fucking shit, I feel horrible. I didn’t mean to hurt him like that. I was just joking with him. I didn’t know he’d been abused.”
“Just joking?” Chel arched a brow as he laced his fingers together and stared at her. “You were not using him as an outlet for your frustration?”
She gave a dry chuckle and shifted uncomfortably. “You know, my drill instructor used to look at me like that when I did something particularly stupid. Yeah, I won’t bother lying, ‘cause I have a feeling you could tell. I might have taken a little bit of my frustration out on y’all, but I didn’t know Gwarnon would take it personally. I…” Tears shimmered in her gaze for a moment before she blinked them away. “I didn’t know. God, I’m such a bitch. Seriously, I am the last person that would want to bully someone else, hurt them like that, ever.”
“I believe you.” He wanted to reach out and hug away her miserable expression, but he held himself back. “Gwarnon is an exceptional man, alyah, and I swear to you he will be an amazing husband. I know our culture is hard for you to understand without the full knowledge of a crystal implant, but trust me when I say Gwarnon is one of the best men you will ever meet. Despite having been raised in such a corrupt court, he managed to come out with his honor and sense of compassion intact. He sacrifices everything to keep the people his mother rules safe, pretending in public to be under her sway, so he can buy them protection.”
Lacey drummed her fingers on the arm of the chair, her lips thinning out into a frown. “If she’s such an evil person, why don’t they arrest her or whatever?”
“It is extremely complicated, but suffice to say Lady Melissi is powerful, and she uses that power to protect herself. Plus, one of her husbands has precognition. He gets glimpses of the future that further allow her to avoid detection and punishment. Not to mention all the people she has blackmailed, bribed, and bought over the centuries.”
“She sounds like the evil Queen in a fairytale.”
“I am not sure what a fairytale is, but Lady Melissi would indeed make a good evil queen in one of our epic sagas.”
Lacey chewed on her pink lower lip for a moment, distracting him with the desire to kiss her. “And, if I bonded you guys, she’d be like—my mother-in-law? Yikes.”
Happiness flooded him to hear that she was even considering bonding with them. The fact that she’d been thinking about it made him want to rejoice. Tightening his shields so his emotions wouldn’t leak out to her, he tried to appear casual as he nodded.
“Yes. But do not fear, we are powerful and have been working toward a day when we are strong enough to be free of Lady Melissi’s control and protect our people.”
Her gaze grew distant, and her pupils expanded and contracted slightly as she accessed her crystal implant. Though she was only getting drops of information instead of the river that flowed through his own head, he waited patiently until her attention returned to him. There was a new sadness in her eyes, and she let out a long sigh.
“Your legal system is very complex.”
“It is.” He gave her a half-smile. “Then again, the Kadothian society has been around for roughly five times as long as the earliest human society. Things tend to get a little complicated over that much time.”
Lacey rubbed her forehead, the little line appearing between her brows that surfaced when she was thinking deeply. “That’s crazy. I mean, when I really think about it, the concept of how old your society is? It’s hard to even grasp. The people of Earth must seem like toddlers to you.”
“No.” He smiled as he stood, enjoying the way she eyed his body with appreciation. “Not toddlers, but your society is still very young. That is why we’re so careful to not disturb your planet during our bride hunt, and why we are so strict about Earth brides returning to the Milky Way galaxy after they become Matriarchs. We do not want to unduly influence the development of your people.”
Anxiety, sorrow, and fear burned through their bond a moment before she closed her side of their connection down.
Her voice was soft, and careful as she said, “So if I become a Matriarch, I’ll never be able to return to Earth? What about my mother? Can I at least see her one more time?”
He hated that he had to deny her what she wanted, but he shook her head. “We can petition and see what the High Congress says due to your unusual situation, but I will not lie to you and say the chances are high. Gwarnon….” He hesitated for a moment, unsure if he should share this information with her yet. “Gwarnon may be able to smuggle you through the wormhole to say goodbye, but again, that is a very slim chance. Getting through the wormhole is not easy, it requires a special kind of ship and crew. And getting through undetected by the Kadothian military is even harder.”
Grasping her hands into fists in the fabric of the pillow, Lacey stared up at him with an intense expression. “But it can be done?”
“It can. The smugglers that kidnapped you and Lacey managed to do it. But it will be extremely dangerous, and Gwarnon may not even agree to put you in such peril.” He slowly reached out, giving her time to object as he laid a comforting hand on her shoulder. “Would being our bondmate truly be so bad? Could you not find happiness on Kadothia, with us as your mates? Please, Lacey, give us a chance. We were meant to be together, destined from the moment the universe began to belong to each other. And we have worked so hard for you, secretly setting up a Territory right beneath Lady Melissi’s nose, finding loyal people to serve in your court, building our wealth so we can afford to take care of those harmed by Lady Melissi and her plots. I have been dreaming about you since the moment I was born. What more do we have to do to prove ourselves as worthy?”
Lacey made a pained noise, her throat working as she threw hear head back against the chair and swallowed hard before saying, “It’s me, I’m the one who isn’t worthy. You’re too good for me. Don’t you see? You and Gwarnon are like…heroes on Kadothia. I’ve been able to access little bits of information on you both, though it wasn’t easy. What I found about you…well, it humbled me to realize all the amazing things you’ve done. You’ve saved so many lives, and if half of what you say about Gwarnon is true, well— there should be statues devoted to him. Streets named after him.”
He brought her hand to his cheek, letting out a soft sigh when she began to stroke his jaw with her thumb. “I would not tell Gwarnon such thi
ngs. He would be insufferable.”
Laughing, she trailed curious fingertips over his face with a soft expression, watching him carefully as she stroked over his cheekbones, across the bridge of his nose, then down his jaw to his lips before returning her hand to her lap, much to his disappointment.
“I can’t. I can’t feel this way. I have to go back,” she whispered with such anguish that it made his own heart ache. “I have to go back.”
“Alyah,” his voice broke as he stared into her eyes, “please, please do not abandon us. I am begging you.”
Her eyes were wet with tears and her chin quivered as she said, “I have to go back to Earth, no matter how much I wish I could just stay with you. I understand how lucky I am that we found each other. I’ve learned…absorbed…whatever, from my crystal implant that the life of a Matriarch is considered a great honor and prize. No, not a prize, argh—it’s so hard to describe what I’m trying to say.”
He held her hands again, unable to resist the urge to sooth her. “Is there any chance we will be able to convince you to stay? That bonding to us is not a fate worse than death?”
Her blue green eyes met his own, tears gathering in the corners. “Chel, I already like you. A lot. More than I ever thought I would. I even like Gwarnon, when he isn’t being a robotic douche. I feel things for you both that I’ve never experienced before. Powerful things. And, God knows, you’re so hot, I could stare at you all day and the sight would never grow old. The fact that you want to be with me is still surreal, but I’m starting to think this soul bond bullshit isn’t bullshit. I’m starting to think it’s very real, and I don’t know if that scares me more or makes me insanely happy. Every woman—hell, every person—wants to find the love of their life. I just never thought the love of my life might be two guys.”