Page 9 of Lacey's Warriors

Gwarnon wanted to argue that he was fine, but Chel no doubt felt his weakness through their bond. “How can you say that? She was clear in her desire tonotaccept our bond.”

“I spoke at length with Lady Casey about the culture of her home world. She told me that Earth woman from the United States tend to be very guarded with their hearts. They usually like to be courted and prefer their regard earned rather than given. She emphasized that, as hard as it would be, we would need to give our Earth bride some time to get used to us. To earn her trust.” Chel began to unbraid his hair as he said, “Casey told me that it is not always safe to be a woman on their primitive home world. The Earth females are typically physically smaller than the males and untrained in battle. Without access to their dormant psychic powers, they are easy prey to the criminals of their planet.”

Gwarnon grunted in anger, but he held his tongue.

Chel sighed as he continued to stroke Gwarnon’s face, his touch soothing them both. “Because of their vulnerability, the females are careful about who they let into their lives and may not feel comfortable having a man declare his love the first instant they meet. In fact, Lady Casey said any woman with a brain in her head would run the other way if a hot guy claimed to be her soulmate on their first date. Which, in essence, is exactly what we did. Instead of being patient and taking into account our bride being traumatized by her kidnapping, we both tried to push her into giving us our kiss within minutes of meeting her—something that would be considered an aggressive and unsavory act on her world.”

Gripping his still white hair in his fists, Gwarnon let out a tortured groan. “Forgive me, Chel. I ruined everything.”

The loose brown shirt Chel wore gaped open slightly as he leaned forward, forcing Gwarnon to maintain eye contact. “Yes, you could have handled that better, but nothing is ruined beyond repair. If I have to be honest, it was rather entertaining to watch the High Congress’s best spy fumble with a woman like that. You are normally so charming, so polished—when you wish to be. This fumbling adolescent phase of yours is entertaining to witness.”

He grunted, wanting to refute his brother’s words, but it was true. “I was…taken aback.”

“That is one way to put it.” Chel was silent for a moment, then he began to rub Gwarnon’s neck in a way that forced his tight muscles to unclench. “Do not give up so quickly, my mate. Our bride is here, on this ship, mere rooms away. Do you know how amazing that is? How lucky we are? How blessed?”

“I do feel blessed and it is amazing. Other than the not wanting anything to do with us part.”

This time a soft laugh did escape, and he sent another prayer of thanks to the Lord of Life for bringing Chel into his world. They’d met when they were both young Warriors, eager to make their mark in the world. For Gwarnon, the military offered him freedom from his vile mother. Waking up every morning, knowing that he didn’t have to endure another day witnessing her cruelty, had been an incredible relief. Two weeks into bootcamp, Gwarnon met Chel and knew at the first brush of the other man’s soul that they were meant to someday be husbands to the same Matriarch.

Leaning into Chel’s soothing touch, Gwarnon allowed himself to think about his late blood brother. How he wished Jerit was still alive to see this moment. He would have loved Chel, and together the three of them would have been the family they were meant to be with Lacey. Except Jerit was long dead. Although Gwarnon had no proof, he knew his mother was behind Jerit’s death. She was the one who told Gwarnon that Jerit had died right after he found their Matriarch. His mother was the one who convinced him that his Matriarch was dead when she’d known all along it was a lie. And, though she’d pretended empathy and compassion of the world’s best mother to her cherished only son, he knew she fed off his grief, reveled in his misery.

His stomach clenched as he stared up at Chel. “When my mother finds out about Lacey, she will either try to manipulate her or kill her.”

“You mother,” Chel snarled, an intense hatred darkening his face, “Is an abomination. We will discuss her later. Right now, we must focus on ouralyahand helping her survive the upcoming battle.”

Gwarnon gave a harsh laugh. “Yes, let us focus on that instead. On how she hates me and will never bond with us. Let us weigh the odds for how difficult it will be for her to survive with only the basic crystal you devised for her.”

Leaning his head on Chel’s shoulder, he shared his feelings with Chel, and his brother turned to hold him tight. “I’m telling you, we still have a chance with Lacey. Instead of focusing on the past, let’s look toward the future and how to make this work. Put your brilliant mind to solving the puzzle of how to win an Earth female’s trust.”

Gwarnon began to absently play with a long strand of Chel’s dark hair. “She will be forced to spend time with us for training, so we can use that time to reassure her that we’re not a threat.”

Chel snorted. “If we train her properly, she will hate us as surely as 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 ouralyahdie. 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.”

“Hezpertits!” 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 ouralyah, we must first focus all our attentions and efforts toward surviving the fight to come.”

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