for an emotional breakdown.
To Lacey’s relief, Roxy cleared her throat and took a step forward, drawing the strange man’s attention. “Roxy Westfall, Staff Sergeant with the United States Army.”
Gwarnon barely glanced at Roxy before returning his powerful attention to Lacey. “It is an honor to meet you, Lady Westfall.”
The NevShoo’s voice came from the speaker’s above. “We accept your proposition.”
“What proposition?” Lacey crossed her arms and peered suspiciously at the ceiling. “We didn’t propose anything.”
“I did,” Gwarnon said. “I have a plan to help you win the Baladium. With the crystal implants—”
“Yeah, no thanks.” Roxy leaned against an empty bookshelf and crossed her arms. “I’m not big on my brain melting.”
“I am not being clear,” Gwarnon said. “I have a way to enable your minds to be able to use a crystal implant without issue. All of the Earth Matriarchs have them, and none have been harmed. It is only when you are purely human that there is a risk.”
“Wait,” Lacey licked her lips then swallowed. “Purely human? You’re going to make us not purely human?”
Gwarnon stood slowly. She tried to keep her gaze on his face, but it was impossible. The tight red leather pants he wore molded themselves to every line and curve of his thick thighs. They certainly hinted that Gwarnon was packing, but she refused to let her gaze stray there. For all she knew, he had, like…armored spikes for a dick or something. She had to keep reminding herself he was an alien, despite how human he looked.
Holding Lacey’s gaze, Gwarnon said, “If you give me permission, myself and my blood brother would be honored to initiate your transition.”
“What about Roxy?”
He finally tore his attention away from Lacey and turned his dark eyes on Roxy. “Her bondmates will attend to her needs.”
Roxy’s dark eyebrows flew up, and she took a step away from the random bookcase she’d been leaning against. “My bondmates?”
Gwarnon nodded. “Cormac and Nosa…or as you call him, Rastar.”
“Rastar? Wait…what?” Roxy’s face suddenly lost all its color, her lips cheesy pale. “I don’t understand.”
Lacey moved quickly to her side, afraid her friend and only ally in this insanity was about to pass out. “Wait, Cormac and Nosa—aren’t those the guys you were dating back on Earth?”
Both women spun as a man’s deep voice said, “Roxy,” from the doorway.
Roxy let out a weird moan, and Lacey had to prop her friend up for a moment as they both stared at the two men coming their way. One of them had black skin that gleamed with hints of purple and blue in a way no human’s skin ever could. He had a slight feline cast to his features and ears pointed like an elf’s but pierced with silver rings. His tanned partner’s long hair gleamed with streaks of every shade of brown and gold imaginable. They both wore what looked to be some kind of skintight black military uniform, complete with bars on their shoulders.
“What the fuck is going on?” Roxy snarled as she left Lacey’s hold and took two furious steps forward.
“We wish you the blessings of the Lord of Life,” the NevShoos said from above. “We will leave you in privacy for your courtship. You have five galactic days to make the transition, or we will be forced to seek alternative methods for their training.”
“Understood.” Gwarnon bowed to Lacey and took a step closer. “If you will come with me, alyah? There is someone I want you to meet.”
“Hell no.” Lacey glanced over at her friend as panic made her twitchy. “No way, I’m staying with Roxy.”
At this point, her friend threw her hands into the air and yelled, “This whole time—this whole damn time—you’ve lied to me! You’re fucking aliens! I can’t believe you’re fucking aliens and you didn’t tell me! God, I almost had a threesome with ET!”
“On second thought,” Lacey said as she moved next to Gwarnon. “Let’s give them some privacy.”
Confused didn’t even begin to describe Lacey’s state of mind as she followed the somehow familiar, ridiculously handsome alien out of the oddly cluttered room that had been her home these past few hours…days…whatever. She was so out of it, she didn’t even know what month it was, or what year. For all she knew, when the alien slavers kidnapped her from Earth and brought her to be some crazy ass gladiator in another galaxy, decades had passed while Lacey was held in some kind of weird suspended and unconscious state.
Her daughter might be an old woman by now.
“What