He doesn’t care that I’m covered in seed.
I feel safe – safe like I’ve never felt before…
…but also scared deeply.
I crave their affection.
I crave their attention, their need, and their utter desire for me. I am getting addicted to the way the Aurelians treat me…
…and yet I know the moment that they claim me, I’ll lose everything that made me special to them. It’s hard to believe, as Varian holds me tight – his big hand gently stroking my hair – but I am convinced of the awful truth.
They only want me because they have not had me – yet.
The want I feel is everything – and yet the claiming of me will turn this magical relationship into something else. I’ll become just another woman in their eyes – just another little pleasure slave in their already massive harem.
I’ll watch as the next girl they encounter gets the same treatment that made me feel so special. The same addictive longing that fades into nothingness.
I nearly sob in Varian’s huge arms, but I force it back. Instead, I turn my mind off – letting myself drift away in his protective embrace.
12
Varian
I know it, as certain as I know life is good.
She is my mate.
All my suspicions are now gone. I don’t care if she was sent by a noble family to spy on us. I don’t care if she’s even an assassin, sent to drive a hidden knife into my heart when I least expect it. She’s mine.
I stroke Mia’s hair softly, and I can feel the torment inside of her. I don’t know what past this woman has. All I know is that Mia has suffered greatly in her life, and I know my battle-brothers and I can end that suffering.
“Forgive me, Lalana,” I whisper to myself.
I have not taken another woman since she died – not until today - and I’d never thought I could feel the pain of love again. Mia has opened old wounds – and also cut a new one, deep and bleeding into the root stem of my heart.
A tendril of pain runs through my mind as I imagine the sense of loss I’d feel by claiming her if she was not our Fated Mate. If she is not, then there’s no other woman in the universe who it could possibly be. Mia just feels right.
If it’s not her, we might as well give up searching for our mate right now – there can be no other woman to bear our sons; I’m sure of it.
I breathe in deeply, and Mia’s scent floods my nostrils; mixed with the smell of my seed and the seed of my battle-brothers.
I grow introspective. We suddenly realize we’ve grown soft, my battle-brothers and I, in our relentless pursuit of money. There was a time, not that long ago, when the three of us were fighting for our lives against the Scorp – those massive, half-mammal and half-reptile hellspawn that are the scourge of the universe. During our hundred years of service to the Aurelian Empire, we’d been fighting space battles in the Aurelian Army; facing death and glory on a daily basis. All three of us came out of our hundred years of service unscathed – a rare feat for an Aurelian triad. All three of us survived. Many other triads are not so lucky.
I can’t even imagine what it would be like to lose either Gallus or Cyrus. I can feel their auras in my mind constantly – comforting and familiar. Gallus exists there, always so certain, brave and bold. Cyrus remains with his infuriating, infectious confidence – that cockiness that sometimes makes me want to slap him. I have a deep love for both members of my triad. We’ve all saved each other’s lives a thousand times over.
But now, we live a life of indolent luxury; hunting money instead of Scorp, and tasting fine wines instead of the blood of our enemies. We’ve grown soft.
Mia’s breath slows in my arms. I realize she’s has fallen asleep, almost instantly – as if her body is reassured that she’s completely safe in my arms.
What would her aura be like, in my mind?
My cock stirs, even though I was just sated. It would be the greatest pleasure in the world to feel Mia’s aura blossoming in my soul; knowing that she exists, always. Our gift to her, if we were Bonded, would be in giving her thousands of years of youth and vigor, to experience the full and rich beauty of life. Then, reassured of our long lives together, I could give Mia the gift of my seed, and watch her belly swell with my son growing inside her.
Oh, Gods! I ache for that. I ache to see her body transformed by both the pregnancy and the Bond – her breasts swelling with milk for my sons, and her stomach growing as my seed takes root and grows into a strong, healthy Aurelian son.
I come from a long, long line of men exactly like me; cloned for further than our history can record. I can imagine each one of them drawing their last breath, closing the cryo-chamber doors above them and hoping desperately that somehow, someway, the next in the line of their recycled genes will find that one, destined woman who can give our lineage hope.
The one woman who can give our lives meaning.
I stand slowly, careful not to wake Mia. She’s so small and precious in my arms. Mia is a fighter, I know – but I can also tell she has secrets; hidden scars and pains that I will never know until she finally opens herself completely to me.
I carry her to her room, opening the door and gently setting Mia down onto the bed. She looks so tiny lying in this enormous, Aurelian-scale bed – so small and vulnerable.
Careful not to wake her, I
