Page 18 of Lacey's Warriors

Brelin, with his brilliant green and blue hair, threw a fist into the air. “Well done! Lord of Life’s blessing on your bride!”

“Thank you,” Chel said as he began to push Gwarnon down the hall to their room. “I have sent you instructions for her care. Do not fail me.”

Chapter 5

Lacey

Her eyelids were so, so heavy, but for some reason her mind insisted she wake up. A nagging sense that there was something wrong kept poking at her as she tried to slip back into sleep. Thoughts drifted through her mind, and her lower spine gave a few cracks as she stretched out. It seemed like her body was always stiff these days from the endless training that Gwarnon and Chel put her through.

Gwarnon…

Abruptly, she forced her eyes open and blinked away the blurriness.

She was in an unfamiliar room with strange instruments all around her.

Sitting up, she looked down at the soft, pale sea green tunic style dress she wore and fingered the smooth, shimmery material.

An unfamiliar feeling of something sliding over her neck startled her, and she reached up, touching long blonde curls that now reached past her shoulders.

Puzzled, she held a strand out and stared at it as the doors to the room she was in slid open, revealing a smiling Roxy wearing a pair of loose white pants and a sleeveless teal and gold shirt.

“You’re awake!” her friend said with a wide smile.

“Hey.” Lacey cleared her throat and dropped her hair so she could return Roxy’s hug. “Yeah, just woke up. How long was I out for?”

“Only one day.” Roxy reached out and tugged a curl. “Chel thinks you went through the transition so quickly because your body was already altered a little by the slavers. That allowed you to easily adjust to the changes the Kadothian DNA made in your body, like I did. For some reason, your hair grew longer during your transition. I swear, your legs looked like a golden retriever had shed all over them. Don’t worry, I took care of it for you. That and the tumbleweeds you were growing in your armpits.”

An unexpected laugh bubbled up from Lacey, and she grabbed Roxy for another hug. “Thank you.”

Giving her cheek a kiss, Roxy pulled back with a smile. “Don’t worry about it. Anything for a fellow soldier. Look, we’ve only got a few minutes before your men barge in here, so we need to talk.”

A warm wave of desire went through Lacey as she thought of Gwarnon and Chel, of how Gwarnon had touched her, how he’d driven her mad then basically seduced a kiss out of her. She’d be more irritated about it if she hadn’t experienced that brief moment of perfect romantic love with him through their bond before she’d passed out. Chel and Gwarnon loved her and were good men, despite her almost desperate need to believe otherwise. She didn’t know what her future might bring her, or how, but she knewhermen would be a part of it.

“Lacey,” Roxy sat on the bed and took her hand. “You are never going to find two men who will love you more than Gwarnon and Chel.”

Lacey held up her hand, cutting the other woman off. “Don’t worry, I get it now. That connection you were trying to explain that you have with Cormac and Nosa? I felt it with Chel and Gwarnon. It was…there is…I can’t even begin to explain it. I couldfeelthem, their souls.”

“I know,” Roxy smiled, her dark eyes growing soft. “Isn’t it amazing?”

“It seems almost too good to be true.” A shiver went down her spine and she shifted uncomfortably as her thoughts went in a rather dirty direction.

Those happy thoughts died a quick death when Roxy said, “I think you should tell them about…you know who.”

The pang of heartache and sorrow that tore through her chest made it hard for her to breathe. God, she missed her daughter and her mom so much and worried about them every hour of every day, but the less people that knew about Jillian, the better. On the other side of the wormhole on Earth, her daughter Jillian was safe from the dangers of the Bel’Tan Galaxy. According to the NevShoo, Lacey and Roxy’s identity had not been revealed to the rest of the Galaxy. The Baladium protected the identity of the fighters until the very last minute, so no one had an advantage in betting. Oh, their basic stats were given out, and odds were made and placed, but a human fighter was something new and unknown. The Baladium was working that angle to increase the enormous amounts of money being tossed around in the various betting pools.

“Do we have privacy?” she whispered.

Roxy’s dark gaze went distant, then she nodded. “As far as I can tell.”

“Once we win, I’m going to find a way go home, get my mom and daughter then alert the Kadothian ship where I am. Hopefully, Gwarnon and Chel will be able to forgive me once they meet my mom and Jillian. I figure if they don’t know what I’m going to do, then they can’t get in trouble for it. The Kadothian High Congress is already going to be super pissed at them. Chel and Gwarnon will understand that I couldn’t leave my family behind, that it would kill my mom to lose us since my dad passed away a long time ago. Sure, she’ll have our extended family, but me and my mom are tight, and she thinks the sun rises and sets on Jillian. And I would burn down the entire galaxy to keep Jillian safe. I have to have my family with me, Roxy.”

Roxy’s eyes grew wet with tears that she blinked back. “I wish I could bring my parents, but I understand why I can’t. At least they have each other and my older brother and his family. God, I’m going to miss them.” She swallowed hard and wiped the corner of her eye with the back of her hand. “But I agree with your reasoning, even though I worry about how it’s all going to work out. I still think you should tell your men, but I can’t argue with not creating anymore problems with the Kadothian High Congress. From what Nosa and Cormac have told me, there are elements within the government that donotlike Earth females and would ban us all if they could.”

A chime came from the door, admitting four agitated Kadothian males. The gaze of the first two, Nosa and Cormac, focused on Roxy, while Chel and Gwarnon locked onto her like heat seeking missiles. She could feel their worry, then their growing happiness as she smiled at them. God, they really were the hottest men she’d ever seen in her life. Broad, huge, powerful and so masculine it made her ovaries ache. Both men had their hair down instead of back in the usual club-like braid. The blue streaks in Gwarnon’s wild mane of hair shimmered in the light as he knelt before her, relief filling his stormy dark blue and silver lighting streaked eyes.

Chel knelt next to him, so they were arm to arm, hip to hip, and the soothing touch of his soul whispered over her own. Beneath the skin, they were more alike than different. Tears came to her eyes as she soaked in their love for her, no hint of deception in their hearts as they both opened their side of the bond wider, flooding her with affection. She didn’t even realize she’d started crying until she found herself on Chel’s lap with Gwarnon gently brushing away her tears.

“Sorry,” she choked out. “I swear I’m not usually this much of a crier. You guys must think you got bonded to a basket case.” Seeing their confused expressions she couldn’t help but smile despite her tears. “It means a crazy woman.”

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