My cock surges again. I’ve always prided myself on being the most rational of the three of us, but now I’m losing all semblance of control. I’d trade it all, though – every logical thought in my mind just for the chance to embed myself completely between her perfect legs, and to hear her moan my name as I conquer her and make her mine.
Oh, Gods! Let her be my mate! Please, let her be the one woman in the world who can complete us…
9
Mia
The sound of the door opening startles me from my hot, warm bath – where I’d been so comfortable, I’d almost drifted into sleep.
“Who’s there?”
I’m not sure if I’m turned on or terrified by the images filling my head. I suddenly imagine it’s Gallus standing outside that door – and the moment he hears my voice, he’ll just throw open the door and come walking in, ignoring my pleas for him to stop. He’ll barge into the bathroom, see me naked in the bath....
…and then who knows what?
I shiver at the possibilities, and cringe at the simultaneously.
Instead, though, I hear a more familiar voice.
“It’s just me.” It’s Sarah – I recognize the voice of the only ally I have in this crazy new life here.
“Oh, good!” I feel relief flow through me.
“Can I come in? I was sent with… a toy.”
A toy? What could she possibly mean?
“Come in,” I urge, and the door opens. I don’t care that I’m naked in the bathtub, and make no effort to hide myself from her. Why? She and I have already shared so much, and I feel no embarrassment around her. I know she doesn’t judge me; and that’s the best gift a friend could have for me right now.
Sarah comes in with a warm smile, clearly oblivious to the drama I’d experienced.
“How are you holding up?”
The water swirls as I sit up in the enormous bathtub.
“Well… that redhead hates me.”
Sarah snorts. “Kendra? Yeah, she’s a jealous one. Let me guess – she told you to just go ahead and fuck them and get it over with?”
My eyes widen.
“Yeah! That’s exactly it! How did you know?”
“She tries the same shit with every new girl. What was your response?”
“I told her I wasn’t interested in them that way – that I’d come here to work.”
“Well, she probably believed that about as much as you do.”
My cheeks burn. Sarah just called me out. No matter how much I keep pretending I’m only here to work as a maid, things have clearly gone too far for us to ever return to that way now.
“So, are you going to do it?” Sarah winks. “Just to get it over with?”
I pause, worried about what I’m about to say.
“It’s just… I don’t know if I want it to be over with, you know?”
Sarah’s smile turns melancholy. “I know what you mean, Mia – I really do.”
She flops against the wall, reminiscing.
“I remember when I first came here – I felt the same way. I… I really wanted to be their Fated Mate – but the moment they claimed me, we all discovered they had no Bond with me.”
She looks up, her cheeks flush.
“I mean, it’s still amazing with them, but…” She sighs. “I wish I could have been their everything.”
I think about her words. Sarah has a great heart. If anyone was their Fated Mate, it should have been her. “Can you tell me about what it means? To be their Fated Mate?”
Sarah sits down on the little stool next to the bathtub. It’s weirdly intimate – like one of those sleepovers the daughters of the wealthy families used to have back when I was playacting the role of their maid – just prior to stealing from them.
“Do you know much about Aurelians?”
I shake my head. “Only the rumors.”
Sarah laughs, the musical sound filling the room, echoing off the tiles of the bathroom. “Some of those rumors are embellished, but some offer barely a taste.”
Her eyebrows wiggle mischievously, and I remember her confirming the improbable size of the Aurelians’ cocks. Now, having seen the tents produced beneath the togas that Gallus, Cyrus and Varian were wearing, I realize that particular rumor was understated, if anything.
“So,” Sarah continues, “You know Aurelians are all male, right?”
I laugh. “Yes, that much I had noticed!”
“Well, because they don’t have any females, they usually reproduce by cloning. When an Aurelian dies, they’re placed into a cloning bay – and if they’re lucky, just before the final moment of death, an exact genetic match of them is created to replace them. In theory it’s a perfect genetic copy – not the same Aurelian, not in terms of memories, or personality, but genetically identical.” She pauses. “But that’s the theory. If they’re not so lucky, or the host has deteriorated too much to provide a clean matrix to clone…” She shrugs. “Mutations are known to happen.”
“Mutations? Is that as bad as it sounds?”
“That’s bad enough – but the real problem is that the majority of Aurelians never live to reach a cloning bay. Cryo-bays, they call them. Most die fighting the Scorp during their hundred years of service, or fighting rebellions and pirates elsewhere in the universe.”
Rebellions and pirates I’ve heard about, but it’s the mention of the Scorp that truly terrifies me. One thing I’m glad of is that I’ve never seen one of those terrifying creatures in real life; especially if they’re as bad as the stories claim…
I turn to Sarah, and ask:
“Wait, how can their race continue, if each generation is a copy of a copy? And how did they come to be so prevalent originally? They can’t grow their numbers with cloning like that.”
“No,” Sarah nods, “that’s right. They say in the old days things were different – it’s all to do with the Bond.”
“The Bond is the connection between Aurelians and their Fated Mate, right?”
Sarah nods.
“The only way for their species to continue naturally is through the Bond. There’s one woman in the
