Lacey's Warriors (Bondmates #6) - Ann Mayburn Page 0,47
We made love then fell asleep. When I woke, Lacey was gone! She left us a brief note apologizing and insisting she wasn’t our true bride. Why would she do that?! Why would she leave us?!”
The last word came out in something close to a roar, and Nosa and Cormac reacted at once. While Cormac shielded their Matriarch, Nosa roared and leapt at Gwarnon with surprising speed and pinned him to the ground. Chel released a low moan of despair, but he helped Nosa subdue Gwarnon as he trembled, the beast using his pain and fear to gain hold over his mind.
“Do not give in to the madness!” Chel pleaded with him. “Hold on, please.”
“Why? Why should I hold on? She rejected us. Our bride left us. I cannot even feel her anymore.” His grief choked his voice. “She does not love us.”
“Yes, she does. Do not give up,” Chel urged. “Please, my brother, my beloved, do not leave me.”
“Then why would she abandon us? We were to be bonded today!”
From the shelter of her husband’s arms, Roxy yelled, “She does love you, but she is a mother. She loves her daughter more, and she knows she needs her.”
Shock filled Gwarnon as all the extra puzzle pieces began to fall into place in his mind. “What did you just say?”
“Lacey—she has a daughter. I think Lacey probably returned to Earth to get her little girl.”
Chel slumped against the wall, his eyes gone wide. “A daughter? Why would she keep this from us?”
“Seriously?” She poked Cormac, making him move an inch so she could see them better. “You guys have repeatedly told us that no one from Earth can come to Kadothia with us. No one. She didn’t share her plans with me, but I think she didn’t tell you so you wouldn’t try to stop her.”
“I would never separate a mother from her child.” Gwarnon took in a shuddering breath. “I knew she hid something from me, that something held her back. I never expected…a daughter? Who is the sire? Why is he not caring for his offspring when her mother is away?”
Roxy shifted away from Cormac with a frown darkening her already deep brown eyes. “The, uh, sire wanted nothing to do with the child, and Lacey hates him.”
Gwarnon, still heady with shock, asked, “Was it the soldier or the boy?”
“The boy.”
“I shall gut him myself,” Gwarnon muttered.
Chel slipped his arm around Gwarnon’s waist, giving him his quiet strength. “But, first, we must find our bride.”
“It won’t be easy,” Roxy warned them as Gwarnon mentally worked on rebuilding the cage that surrounded his inner beast, his madness. “She believes you’ll try to take her daughter away from her. She’ll run, and hide, and do everything in her power to avoid you. I know she doesn’t hate you, and I know she wants to be with you, but her daughter will always come first.”
“As it should be,” Chel said as all the men nodded. “I would expect nothing less from my alyah. But you should have told us. We could have assured you both that children are always allowed to come with their mothers, even from Earth. We are not monsters. We would not force you to leave your offspring behind.”
“But you do force us to leave everyone else we love, so how could Lacey have guessed that?”
All four men looked guilty as Nosa said, “You are right. Earth Matriarchs make an enormous sacrifice by agreeing to be our bondmates. Even acknowledging that, we cannot go against the galactic protocols. Imagine if we allowed brides to bring their families with them? How big of an impact would it have on your world, to have hundreds of millions of people suddenly vanish? It could devastate your planet.”
“I know. Logically, I understand, but I won’t lie and pretend the thought of never seeing my family—of them never knowing our children—doesn’t make me terribly sad.”
Gwarnon leaned closer so he could whisper to Chel, “We have a daughter.”
Blinking at him, Chel’s smile was tentative, his eyes still wet with tears. “We do. But Lacey still left us.”
Shaking his head, he whispered, “It does not make any sense. Lacey’s crystal implant must have let her know that children are always welcome to come with the mother. That we consider them our children as well.”
Chel laced his fingers together with Gwarnon’s, his worry scratching along their bond. “But she didn’t have that crystal implant until recently. Her reluctance to bond makes sense now, as does the