Paige's Warriors (Bondmates Book 3) (3 page)

“Bet he shaves his balls. I also bet they’re all prickly like a cactus. Imagine those slapping off your chin.”

Making a barfing noise, Paige flipped Roxie off. “Nasty.”

Unfortunately, Mrs. Westfall saw Paige and yelled out, “A true lady wouldn’t make that type of crude gesture in public, Paige. Be nice to Roxie.”

“Yeah, Paige.” Roxie smirked. “Don’t flip off the war hero. I’m a fuckin’ national treasure.”

Laughing, Paige followed her friend back into the building. Roxie’s comrades sat sipping coffee out of Styrofoam cups, and they greeted their Captain with smiles and good-natured ribbing, the military form of bonding. Feeling like an outsider, Paige quietly moved past them to the side of the building and leaned against it as she looked up at the cloudless sky. As she watched the undulating colors and listened to the faint background hum of people talking, she wrapped her arms around herself and wished she had someone to hold her and tell her everything would be all right.

Lord Rell Thantoh

Cliffs of Goeth, Kadothia

Far above the brilliantly dressed and dancing crowd below, Rell lounged in his seat as the guest of honor to the San’Loas Tribe’s celebration of a successful harvest. This was the first year they’d managed to grow a flower sacred to their people on Kadothia, and it was considered an extremely good omen. The flower itself was beautiful, sparking with golden light as it slowly died after it was cut. That combined with the light floral smell would have made them a favorite on Kadothia, but the San’Loas Tribe would never sell the plant as trinkets. Their people had died to bring sacred treasures like these flowers to Kadothia, the last bits of a culture that had been decimated by the Hive.

He still considered it a personal failure that he couldn’t save San’Doaun, the Tribe’s former planet, now ruled by the Hive’s cruel mercenaries. It had been a long battle, but the planet was located too far from any Kadothian strongholds, and too close to Hive territory, to save. Rell almost perished as the planet fell, but in a last ditch effort to protect what he could, he’d managed to get the dowager queen, nineteen of her grandchildren, and their personal guards along with five thousand civilians, all that remained free of a population that had numbered more than a billion, off of San’Doaun and away to safety. He’d given them refuge in his territory on the Cliffs of Goeth, setting aside a massive stretch of rainforest that was similar to their home world.

The Kadothian Ambassadors had tried to get the Tribe to move to a more upscale territory, but Minerva, the dowager queen, had decided they would stay beneath Rell’s protection. At least until they could get their planet back. For the first few years he’d interacted a great deal with them, but over time he’d grown distant, unable to force himself to engage with Minerva on a social level. Nothing held much interest for him anymore, other than the adrenaline rush of risking his life in battle. While academically he knew that was a sign of the madness, he’d never connected the dreaded deterioration of an unbonded Kadothian male’s mind to his growing apathy.

Then something had changed.

A few nights ago he’d dreamed about a beautiful, tiny woman with hair as dark brown as the finest
benali
stone and eyes an odd shade of pale blue.

Below the San’Loas yelled as they danced to a wild song that got even his blood pumping. The Tribe’s solidly built women danced around a roaring purple and gold fire, while trying to entice the men to join them. By the end of the night each single woman would have slept with an unmated male and if a baby came of that union, then they were considered blessed and married. Some women drank fertility tea in order to make that happen, while others sipped a contraception brew. The men weren’t supposed to know this, but it wasn’t a closely guarded secret.

As he watched them dance around the fire pit below from his balcony among the tree tops, his mind went back to his dream as he replayed it again, drawing comfort from the memory.

When the true dream had started he’d been at some kind of social gathering he was unfamiliar with, one where the women wore enormous gowns with long, crystal embedded trains. The music had been unlike anything he’d heard before, but hauntingly lovely. All around him couples dressed in more odd garb moved in harmony with the melody and at the end of the room he spotted a group of men in black jackets and pants playing some instruments that looked familiar, and others that were completely exotic.

A woman walked past him, and he turned, his body going on full alert as her smell hit him. Delicious. Her dress was similar to the other women’s, long and flowing, but the back of the dress was partially exposed, held together by a series of pearls. They were a few shades paler than her skin and highlighted the smooth expanse of her curvy frame. Her back wasn’t excessively slender or muscular, but instead a smooth expanse of creamy flesh that he wanted to lick.

Her dark hair was piled atop her head and decorated with more pearls, exposing the slim column of her graceful neck. Some curls teased the edges of her heart-shaped face, which only added to the feeling of innocence he got from her. Then, through the fringe of her thick, dark lashes, she gave him a look that was anything but chaste. His cock had hardened in a painful rush, and he’d followed her out onto what appeared to be an enormous double staircase.

When she stopped and turned to face him, he’d closed the distance between them quickly, taking her into his arms and staring down at her.

“You’re supposed to ask me to dance,” she said in a breathy voice.

“I do not know this dance.”

“Oh.” She frowned at him, her dark brows drawing down in disappointment.

“But I do know how to do something that you will like even better.”

With a grin, he lifted her so their faces were level. Her eyes widened right before his mouth covered hers, and she struggled for a moment, then gave into his kiss with a low moan. He stroked his fingertips over the exposed skin of her back, the slight weight of her body feeling indescribably good in his arms as he easily held her weight. Then her mind had brushed his. He had wanted to roar his satisfaction to the Universe, the golden warmth that could only come from his bondmate seeping into his battered spirit as he true dreamed with her. Unlike regular dreams, true dreams were an actual touching of minds, a meeting arranged by the Lord of Life for the souls he made for each other.

In short, his dream had been a miracle.

Unfortunately, he’d woken before they could do more than kiss, but he knew he’d keep connecting to her in his sleep and vowed that next time he’d show her the kind of pleasure she had to look forward to when they finally met.

And they would meet; it was just a matter of time.

“Why are you always hiding by yourself?” came a woman’s rough voice, snapping him out of his wandering thoughts, and he turned to find Minerva staring at him from the doorway, flanked by two of his personal guard.

She stood easily eight feet tall and had a flat face filled with wrinkles, along with what was once a muscular physique covered by an opaque golden gown. Her dark almond skin had grown thinner since he’d last seen her, exposing more of her body’s secret map of blood vessels, and he wondered how much longer she had in this life. At close to six hundred years, she was old for her race, but young by Kadothian standards. Rell was double her age, yet he felt nothing but respect for her when in her presence. There was something about Minerva that spoke of silent strength, and any man who didn’t take her seriously was a fool.

Though her body was weakening, she was still strong enough to kill someone with her bare hands if the mood struck her.

“I am not fit for company tonight, my Queen.”

“You are never fit for company anymore,” Minerva muttered. “I remember when you used to have parties all the time at that big palace of yours by the sea. Now, either my invitation has been lost or you have not had a gathering of any size in almost twenty years. No more parties, no more festivals. What do you do with yourself all day besides work?”

Rell shrugged, knowing her words were true. Before he could stop himself his hand strayed to his pocket where he kept a wide strip of blue ribbon. It held the mysterious woman from his dream’s scent, protected and sealed to always keep it fresh. He’d been inhaling the fabric like a drug addict all day, unable to resist the burst of almost forgotten happiness he got each time he smelled her. She was hope, she was life, and he had no idea who she was.

“I hear congratulations are in order for Commander Trenzent.”

He snapped his gaze from the dancers below to Minerva watching him closely. While her features were grim, the kindness in her gaze hurt his heart. She loved him like he was her family, and he knew his withdrawal had hurt her. He couldn’t help it, the gatherings of friends and family that had once been an essential part of his life seemed tedious, more trouble than they were worth. And seeing Minerva with her massive household only brought to mind the people he hadn’t saved.

Dark thoughts tried to drag him down, but the ribbon in his pocket soothed him. “Congratulations for what?”

“You did not hear? Rumor has it Commander Trenzent is getting close to finding, or has already found, his bondmate. Soon we will have a new Matriarch as a neighbor, one from an unexplored galaxy at that.”

His dreams suddenly made sense.

Tren had found his-their bondmate and had unintentionally opened a link between Rell’s mind and the mysterious woman’s dreams. For over a thousand years Trenzent had been Rell’s blood brother, a psychic and emotional relationship that was as close to filling the role of a bondmate as a male Kadothian could get without a Matriarch in the mix. In a perfect world Tren would be contacting him right now, telling him to come to the Reaping ship, that he’d found their Matriarch, their heart, their future wife. Now, because of an irrational argument, he hadn’t spoken to Tren in thirty years. He’d tried, but his blood brother hated him, and Rell couldn’t stand the feeling of that loathing pouring through the bond. Deep down he knew the madness was nipping at Tren’s mind, and that the mental illness was the reason Tren acted so irrationally about their relationship, but it still hurt.

He could only hope by not agitating Tren, by abiding by his rules of no contact, that Rell was helping his blood brother hold on as long as he could in hopes of finding their bondmate.

Maybe that miracle had finally happened.

Too bad it was almost too late for him as well.

Trying to think past his sorrow, he said, “How do you know this?”

“You really have been out of touch,” Minerva muttered while shifting in her seat, the fragrant perfume she wore wafting over him. “While you were off saving the Universe, do not frown at me, for you know it is true, Commander Trenzent has been the object of much speculation and gossip. He went to the Reaping ship and right away began his search for his bride, narrowing down her location with a few weeks. Right now he is at a command post on Earth and sources have said he is very close to where his future bondmate is. There are betting pools across the Bel’Tan galaxy set up on who she will be, when they will be bonded, and even bets on when they will have their first child and who the second husband will be. Such foolishness.”

“I wish him…” Rell struggled against emotions so strong he could barely breathe. “I wish him the blessings of the Lord of Life.”

“Rell.” Minerva scooted closer to him then laid her large hand on his shoulder before whispering, “You will find your bondmate.”

Knowing she misinterpreted his distress, he closed his eyes. “If it is meant to be, it will happen.”

“You are a good man, you deserve a family, you deserve a good woman at your side. I prayed for you to the Lord of Life, prayed that you will find your bondmate, and I refuse to believe he would ignore my prayers.” She gave his shoulder a squeeze then leaned back.

With his eyes still closed, Rell listened to the music and tried to figure out how he was supposed to get a man who irrationally hated him to consider becoming husbands to the same Matriarch.

Earth

Trenzent al’Doun, Supreme Commander of the Kadothian Empire

Stepping out of the transport pad and into the warmth of an early summer morning on Earth was a surprisingly pleasurable experience, made all the more so by the knowledge that somewhere nearby his bondmate waited for him.

“Commander.” Cormac, one of his Admirals who’d been on Earth for the past four weeks trying to find his bondmate, snapped to attention.

He was dressed in an Earth disguise similar to Tren’s, with the blue material called jeans for his leggings and a soft black shirt with the image of a pyramid with a rainbow coming out of it on it, while Tren’s shirt was plain black.

“At ease, Admiral.” Tren moved further into the yard and out of the big red barn where they stored most of their equipment and the transport pad.

To the untrained eye this place would appear to be a normal Earth home, large enough to house the Warriors who were searching for their bondmates in the area, but small enough to fit in. At least on the surface. They’d burrowed underground beneath the property to set up their real quarters, away from the prying eyes of humans. One of the rules of engagement for visiting a new planet was to not interfere with the natives’ growth as a species, which meant they had to hide all their advanced technologies.