any new recruit hates their commanding officer.”
“This is true, but maybe that will help convince her that we can be trusted. As a Warrior, she will know and respect that we treat her as an equal. By touching her, we will be able to help establish a bond.”
“Her skin was so soft.” Chel rubbed his head against Gwarnon’s. “And when she wasn’t furious or sad, the scent of her arousal was decadent. I wanted to shove my head between her legs and take in a long inhalation of that rich, earthy perfume of her musk. To see if she tastes as tangy and sweet as she smells.”
“I doubt she will feel aroused by us anytime soon.”
Chel let out a huff of laughter. “This is true. My point is, her body responds to us even if her mind refuses to let us in. If there is one thing I know we are both good at, it is giving pleasure. We just need to give her time to adjust to us and to her situation. I am sure if we were to encounter Lacey on her home planet, in her environment, we would have met a much different woman than the one we faced today. She has been kidnapped and sold by aliens she didn’t even know existed. That would be a traumatizing experience for anyone. Now, throw in a battle to the death, and two men claiming to be her eternal beloved, and her mind may not be able to take much more.”
Gwarnon’s battle scarred hands clenched into fists. “I agree that she has been through much, and I wish we had the luxury of slowly courting her, but we do not. Every day she rejects us is another day lost in her training that could mean the difference between her life and death.”
“Easy,” Chel soothed as he ran his hand up and down Gwarnon’s arm. His touch helped Gwarnon push back the hurt and helpless rage that seethed inside of him. “The Lord of Life brought us here for a reason. I doubt it is to watch our alyah die. I refuse to believe he is that cruel.”
Gwarnon almost said aloud that Chel was wrong, that the Lord of Life could be incredibly cruel, but he bit his tongue. His blood brother was a man of deep faith, and it hurt him when Gwarnon questioned the will of the Lord of Life. But Gwarnon couldn’t help it. He’d seen far too much misery in his young life, too many atrocities that went unreported, too many deaths, to have complete faith in the Lord of Life. It shamed him to admit it, but he figured if the Lord of Life was always listening, like the priests said, he’d forgive Gwarnon for his silent doubts.
Standing, Gwarnon smoothed his white hair back then scrunched his face beneath the prosthetics that changed his features. “I could probably remove this now. The NevShoo now know who I am, and while they’re irritated at our deception, they are also intensely grateful that we will be able to aid their fighters.”
Chel grimaced, his gaze distant as he accessed his crystal implant. “I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but Orushel says your mother is looking for you.”
“Hezper tits!” Gwarnon swore viciously, his troubles compounding by the second. “What does she want with me now?”
“I don’t know, but she has put out the call that you are to be found.”
“The last thing we need is for my mother to figure out where we are before Lacey and Roxy compete. Who knows what kind of havoc she would expect me to cause on her behalf? And if she figured out our attachment to Lacey before we can bond her…” He swallowed hard as a lifetime of his mother’s inventive brutality raced through is thoughts.
“That would be unhelpful,” Chel, always steady and strong enough to weather Gwarnon’s emotional storms, said in a soothing, but firm voice. “However, like we told our alyah, we must first focus all our attentions and efforts toward surviving the fight to come.”
Slowly, drawing strength from Chel through their bond, he steadied himself until his thoughts were once again a still, deep ocean within his mind, not a raging maelstrom. “As always, my brother, you are right.”
Chel stood and clasped Gwarnon’s shoulder, the small lines around his eyes deepening as he smiled. “She is incredibly beautiful, is she not? And fierce, like a Warrior Goddess from the old Kadothia sagas.”
“She is indeed.” He leaned