I didn’t have long to prepare my vows, so I kept them simple, and they came from the heart.
“Gallus. Varian. Cyrus,” I recite from memory. “I vow to cherish the three of you always, in sickness and in health, to love you, to obey you, and to use every day to build our future together.”
Sarah walks up from the front row, carrying a small pillow with three rings on top of it. I thought about having a different ring custom made to fit each of the Aurelians individual personalities, but I needed them to know that I love each of them all the same, and that I cherish each of them equally.
My hand is shaking as I take the first ring. Each of them is crafted from pure gold, with a tiny sapphire and a tiny ruby embedded in the gleaming metal, flanking a golden-hued diamond to represent the sun and the twin planets we now call home; each different, yet inextricably linked together.
I slide the first ring onto Gallus’s huge, white finger, as the ceremony dictates, and I remember when he wore a different ring – one connected to the pleasure dress that had so inflamed me with passion. Standing in front of these three gorgeous Aurelians, I’m feeling the same raw need build and build inside of me.
And yet – there’s that same fear. The fear that despite all of their words and promises, if I’m not Bonded to them, they will not love me the same way; and that they’ll grow tired of me. I’m worried that if their true Fated Mate ever does happen to stumble into their lives, they’ll instantly forget me.
Knowing Varian’s past with Lalana gives me strength. I had no idea the species was capable of loving a woman who wasn’t their Bonded Mate, but she is the proof.
Gallus’s smile disappears as the ring slides onto his finger. He looks down at me with an expression of wonder, his eyes wide as he drinks in the sight of me. His adoring gaze reassures me, and I bite my lip – feeling safer and more secure than ever.
Next, I place the rings on Varian’s finger, and Cyrus’s, and their faces change too; mirroring Gallus’s expression of wonder. They, too, can’t believe what they’re seeing, and I can barely meet their eyes.
Gallus clears his throat. “We never thought we’d find the woman we wished to wed. Most Aurelians travel the universe, never sated until they find their Fated Mate. However, we do not have to face the same fate as the rest of our kind. Fated Mate or not, we have found our woman, the woman who completes us. The woman who wish to honor with every breath we take, for as long as the universe gifts us to be together.” He takes my hand in his; his fingers so huge as they curl around mine. “I vow to protect you always, Mia.”
Varian steps closer, his huge form a protective wall. “I vow to love you and cherish you every day, Mia. You, and no other.”
Cyrus has no trace of the cocky arrogance that so infuriated me when I first met him. He has that same look of wonder on his face, and every second he looks at me I grow more reassured by it. “I vow to give you myself, Mia, and everything I have of me.”
Gallus snaps his fingers, and a guard steps up onto the stage. He holds up a box with naked fear in his eyes, as if he’s scared of what it contains. Gallus takes it from him and opens it.
Inside is a ring like no other I have ever seen.
It’s made of a blueish steel – perhaps platinum – and it glows in the sun. Yet all the light is sucked into the three tiny, black-blue Orbs set into the metal.
Orbs power the interstellar drives of the most expensive spaceships. They power the Orb-Swords of the Aurelians. Orbs are the most prized substance in the entire known universe, barely understood and achingly mysterious, and just one of those little black-blue circles is worth a fortune.
“We are Bonded to you, Mia – if not by fate, then by love.” Gallus takes the ring and slides it onto my finger. It feels as if the ring is wrapping itself around my finger, molding itself tight to me, as though it has a life and mind of its own.
“We will always be there to protect you, Mia, and this ring will guard you always.”
The ceremony on Oasis is different from Deemak, where weddings last weeks and involve a huge amount of dancing, fanfare, and food. The moment the ring is on my finger, I am legally wed to the triad. The high priest raises his arms up into the air.
“I now pronounce you linked by the sanctity of marriage - and now, we’ll move to the…”
Something snaps in Gallus. The alien warrior’s face turns into a beast. He suddenly grabs me up, throwing me over his shoulder. To the gasps of the crowd, he sprints down the pathway with Varian and Cyrus in hot pursuit. The crowd coos and titters at the spectacle, but I’m far past embarrassment.
Gallus crashes through the doors at the end of the aisle, and then rushes me up the stairs like I’m weightless. He carries me higher and higher, to the top floor of this venue – the bridal suite – and he bursts through the doors like a charging bull.
Gallus throw me down across the huge bed.
Varian and Cyrus pile into the room. The door slams shut behind them. Now there’s nothing stopping them from claiming me.
…and yet, suddenly, I’m terrified. Three huge men are in front of me, and they stare at me with primal hunger in their eyes.
I want them – oh, I want them so badly…
But the fear is in my heart – the fear that they won’t hold back; that they’ll lose control in the mating frenzy, ruining me
