Page 23 of Lacey's Warriors

A softly glowing shield of glowing blue light surrounded her, cutting her off from the flow of evil, shielding her from their direct touch. But their whispers reached her, hissing promises of cut flesh and broken bone, aroused moans while speaking of the joy of breaking a man’s mind. Of watching a victim chew off their own tongue as the pain overtook them. The vile, crazy ravings of a billion female voices screamed for her attention, demanding that she join them in their unending search for the bliss of causing someone pain.

“No,” she tried to shout. But, in the way of dreams, her voice came out in a whisper.

The darkness surged at that sound, and she became aware of a terrible, ancient presence swimming through the dark river of souls in her direction. The broken spirits around her began to flee, leaving her floating strangely alone in…nothingness. Through that abyss, a massive presence swam closer, a mind so powerful it would crush her as easily as a child stepping on an empty robin’s eggshell. Panic urged her to go, to flee, to get the hell out of this things way before it came any closer.

Already she could hear the somehow seductive, persuasive feminine voice blowing in on a vile breeze, urging her to join them, to become a part of the Hive.

“No!” she tried to scream again, but only that damn whisper came out. “Never! I will never join you!”

“Lacey!” Gwarnon shouted right in her ear, so hard it jerked her out of her dreams. “Wake up!”

Sucking in a gasping lungful of air, she clutched at the slippery cream sheets pooling around her bare waist, the sweat on her the skin of her torso cooling in the room’s ambient breeze.

As her lungs struggled to work, Chel sat up from where he’d been lying next to her, his dark eyes wide with worry. “Myalyah, what is it?”

“Nightmare,” she gasped out, a hard shiver of revulsion filling her as hints of her dreams floated through her head, quickly losing their substance. “I was back in the arena.”

“Shhhh,” Gwarnon murmured as he pulled her into his arms, leaning back against the headboard of the bed in their shared room at the Baladium.

She’d thought that, after the contest was over, they’d be able to leave right away.Wrong.They had given the women a day to recover, then there was some ceremonial shit they had to do before they could leave the Baladium. The galactic version of PR, she guessed, and there was some business she had to attend to regarding her winnings. Evidently, she was now an obscenely rich woman, as was Roxy.

After the battle in the arena, she’d been brought back to rest and recuperate by a staff that had treated her like a Goddess.

“How soon did I pass out after I got here?” she asked as she traced her fingers through the dark hair on Gwarnon’s arm, admiring the hints of blue.

“We managed to get you onto the bed, and that was it,” Chel said as he ran his hands over her arms again and again, soothing himself. “Though we did take the liberty of cleaning you up as well. Are you hungry?”

Her stomach gurgled, but she shook her head. “I’ll eat in a little bit. How long was I asleep?”

“Ten hours,” Gwarnon said as he nuzzled his head on top of hers. “How are you feeling?”

The nightmares receded as the men stroked her, and she let out a soft sigh against Gwarnon’s chest as she snuggled closer. “Good. I still can’t believe it’s over. It hasn’t really sunk in that we won yet.”

“Well, you did.” Chel wrapped his arms around her and Gwarnon as much as he could, worry and fear trickling through his mostly closed side of the bond. “We are so proud of you, myalyah.”

“You fought like a true Warrior,” Gwarnon rumbled in agreement, then his arms tightened on her as he added, “When we saw the Hive were to be your opponents…”

She swallowed hard, fear dancing its icy fingers down her spine as she remembered the dark tornado of insanity that had sucked her inside of it. “It was terrible.”

“What do you remember?”

The room seemed to grow darker, somehow, as she allowed herself to remember the battle. “I don’t recall everything, but I remember that I was trapped in this river, no, this tornado of souls. Evil souls, corrupt and vile. Then…something bad, worse than the souls around me, started to swim through the tornado toward me. It tried to get me to join them, told me I could be a part of their family, but I refused. I already had a family, and when I thought of them, how much I love them, the darkness kind of…spit me out.”

Gwarnon and Chel exchanged a hard to read look as they no doubt communicated with each other via implant. Their sides of the bond were closed off, but she caught hints of fear and worry. When they looked at her again, they both frowned at her in a way that had her stiffening in Gwarnon’s strong arms.

“What? Why are you looking at me like that?”

“We believe you touched the Hive mind,” Chel whispered, his face a pale, cheesy color before he swallowed hard.

“And survived,” Gwarnon continued in a rough voice. “No, not just survived. You somehow hurt them, or did something that caused those two Hive members to commit suicide.”

Searching her memories, Lacey slowly shook her head. “No, I don’t think they killed themselves. I think the…big keeper or guard or whatever that thing in the tornado was made them do it. That thing felt like…a security system of sorts. Like, if one of the Hive were to suddenly stop following the program or presented a threat, it would step in and do…something.”

More silent communication between the men before Gwarnon said aloud, “Do not speak of this with anyone until I have had a chance to discuss it with Lord Rell.”

“Why? Why are you guys suddenly so scared?”

“What you have just told us could greatly impact our galaxy. Having access to the Hive mind…this could play out many ways, both good and bad.”

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