I mean she has already tried to get off planet twice without her mates knowing.”
Nosa relaxed and held out his hand. He clasped the other man’s in the greeting used between friends. “An honor to meet you.”
Cormac did the same, adding, “Lady Casey has made amazing progress as a Matriarch. You must be proud.”
He opened his mouth to respond, but an overwhelming stimulus came through his bond with Gwarnon. Joy, confusion, elation, fear, back to confusion, and then more elation. The roaring flood of feelings from his normally calm and closed-off blood brother almost brought Chel to his knees.
“Gwarnon!” he yelled to his mate via their crystal implants. “Are you all right!”
More bomb blasts of emotion, this time wonder and a sense of awe that had the hair on his arms rising.
“Yes,” came back Gwarnon’s mental voice, so thick with emotion it was little more than a growl. “I have found our alyah.”
Stunned, Chel found himself just kind of…floating, like his mind untethered for a moment. Drifting, his wandering thoughts wondered how one was supposed to deal with this moment when it finally happened. He’d imagined it so many different ways, but never with Gwarnon pretending to be a space pirate so they could come to the aid of two Earth women at the Baladium of all places.
Somewhere, the Lord of Life must surely be laughing his divine heart out.
“Are you okay?” Cormac reached across the table the same time as Nosa, both laying a hand on his own.
Staring at the two men, he breathed out, “We have a problem. Gwarnon is my blood brother, and he just met our mate.”
Chapter1
Lacey
Just when she thought nothing could surprise her anymore, the Universe liked to prove her wrong. This time in the form of a gorgeous man who resembled a pirate-themed stripper with a body that was beyond amazing. His sudden appearance at the doorway of their room on the NevShoo ship certainly threw her for a loop. The moment she saw him, a weird, falling sensation gripped her, similar to going over the edge on a really tall roller coaster. Or parachuting out of a plane.
To make matters even weirder, the smoking hot pirate guy dropped to his knees before her and babbled out something about thinking she was dead and her being his bride.
“Excuse me…” Lacey stared down at the massive man kneeling before her. “But who the hell are you?”
He bowed his head. His glorious long white hair fell forward to obscure half his masculine face. “My name is Gwarnon Felushi of House Tricell, Warrior of the Kadothian Empire.”
Roxy exchanged a startled look with Lacey. “Uh, nice to meet you?”
“Please…” His voice fairly trembled with emotion as he stared up at Lacey with such longing, it made her breath catch. “Will you share your name with me?”
Good golly, he had to be one of the most beautiful men she’d ever seen. Her body warmed as they stared into each other’s eyes, her nipples tingling as they tightened beneath his gaze. She wanted to touch him, to see if his body was as rock solid as it looked, if his skin was as smooth as it appeared. And that hair… She would love to wrap all that silken white hair around her naked body.
Taking a step back before she gave into the urge to lick him like candy, Lacey said, “I’m Lacey Tyler, Specialist with the United States Army.”
“Lacey Tyler,” he repeated with obvious relish and a slight accent. “Your name is as beautiful as you are.”
A pang of self-doubt and old, festering insecurities flared to life for a moment as her mind argued that he was just flirting with her to try and gain an advantage for himself. To make her stupid so she fell for whatever bullshit he had planned because she was attracted to him. That was what her ex-boyfriend had done—flirted with her until she gave in, told her everything she wanted to hear, while he secretly sabotaged her chances of getting a promotion in the Army that he wanted. The time before that, she’d fallen for an asshole from her high school who’d had sex with her as part of a dare.
Not that she could complain about that prom night mistake. It led to Jillian, her five-year-old daughter and the light of her life. Soul ripping pain tried to break free from the prison she’d shoved it into her mind, but she wouldn’t let it. She was in enemy territory, and she didn’t have time