Page 7 of Lacey's Warriors

“No,” she said right away. Memories of the scalding pain from the previous implant remained fresh. “No crystal implants.”

“I understand your apprehension,” Chel said in a soothing tone as he knelt before her, still big enough that their heads were level as she sat. “But I promise you that the implant we will be using was designed for an Earth bride. It will not harm you like the slaver’s implant.”

“No,” she repeated, more firmly this time. “No implants.”

“But you have to have it.” Gwarnon’s fair brows lowered as he glared at her. “Without the implant, you have no hope of surviving the Baladium.”

She stood and yelled, “No implants!” a little taken aback by how tall the men were as they towered over her.

The thought of having another one of those devices in her head, invading her innermost thoughts, torturing her with pain, was too much.

“I don’t want anyone invading my mind. Can’t you understand that?”

“I will not let you die out of ignorance!” Gwarnon shouted back.

“I’ll cut your throat before I let you put anything in my head!”

“Malla malla malla, easy, my bride, my blood brother,” Chel crooned in his velvety soft voice. “Lacey—do I have permission to call you familiar?”

She was too busy glaring at Gwarnon, who looked about ready to choke her, to look at Chel, but she responded, “Sure, yeah, whatever.”

“Lacey, we truly do not mean you any harm. I know this is hard for you to understand, but we have nothing but your best interest in mind. You are our Matriach, the future mother of our children—we would never bring you harm, but you must have a crystal implant if you are going to survive the Baladium. Without it, you are as good as dead. I do not say this to frighten you, but to give you the truth of the matter.”

Gwarnon, his face strangely blank of emotion, said in a controlled, low voice, “There are over a billion species and races in the Bel’Tan Galaxy. And you will, without a doubt, be facing the deadliest of them all. You must have the knowledge you will need to fight them. We are begging you, please accept the implant.”

The reality of the situation came crashing down and her, and her throat grew tight as she had to face a bitter choice. Either she accepted the implant and the knowledge it would give her, or both she and Roxy were as good as dead. She searched Chel’s face, his desperation easy to read in his stance and gaze, then Gwarnon’s cold visage. He was almost as still as a statue, not an eyelash flicker or tense muscle betraying his feelings. It was almost creepy how cold he could become, but as she searched his flat gaze, she could see his fear, hidden deep-deep down inside his soul.

“Okay,” she whispered, hating that her voice broke with the tears she was barely managing to keep at bay. “Do what you need to do.”

“Alyah,” Chel said, drawing her attention from Gwarnon’s captivating gaze, “will you permit me to kiss you?”

His question totally threw her for a loop, and she stared dumbly at him for a moment. “Did you just say you want to kiss me?”

Chel’s gentle smile held a hint of laughter as he said, “Yes. Your transformation starts when we share a kiss. I bite my tongue, and a small amount of my blood is shared in our kiss. This starts a reaction within your body that transforms you from a human into a Matriarch and binds you to us forever. You will come to Kadothia, our home planet, with us and be our beloved wife, where we will rule our Territory together in honor and peace.”

Taking a couple steps back, she gaped at them. Her heart pounded as bits and pieces of history the faulty implant had tried to teach her rose up from her memory. The Kadothian males took their brides from other planets because their DNA was screwed up somehow from an ancient war. As she strained to remember, she recalled that once the brides left their home worlds, there were never allowed to return. Something about Matriarchs only being safe on Kadothia, and needing to be protected because of the bonds they held with their Warriors. None of it made any sense to her, but if Chel and Gwarnon thought she was their bride, they’d take her to Kadothia and never allow her to return to Earth for her daughter.

“What is wrong?” Chel asked. The smile fell from his face, the joy leaving him like a light diming from within. “You are terrified.”

“I won’t bond with you!” she growled, the hair on her arms standing up as adrenaline flooded her system. “Never! After this fucking bullshit is over, I’m going home to Earth and forgetting I ever even heard of the Bel’Tan Galaxy.”

Gwarnon’s jaw flexed as he said, “I am afraid that is impossible. You know too much to be allowed to return to your people. Even if you refuse our bond, you will be forced to stay in the Bel’Tan Galaxy. You are not entirely human anymore. The slavers changed your form to make you capable of surviving in the Bel’Tan Galaxy. The humans would know at once that you are different from them. The first time you go to a doctor, it could start a panic and give your civilization information that it is not ready for. You cannot go back to Earth.”

Fury filled her, and she almost gave into the temptation to put her fist in his face. “Iamgoing back. No one—not you, not anyone—can stop me!”

Gwarnon took a step closer, and she silently snarled at him as he leaned down a bit to look her in the eye. “Do you know how to get through the wormhole? How to fly a ship? How to navigate through time and space?”

“No,” she whispered, her adrenaline rush fading, leaving her feeling sick to her stomach.

Chel moved closer, his presence a soothing balm to her soul. “Let us worry about the future later. Right now, we must focus on our only goal—you surviving the Baladium. We will help you in every way we can, but you have to trust us.”

She moved over to the sofa and sat down heavily, her mind whirling with everything she’d learned. “I don’t know what to say. I feel like I don’t know what is real anymore. Who or what I can trust? How do I know you’re not some…intergalactic hotties the aliens are using to try and manipulate me? Trying to distract me with your amazing bodies and faces.”

“Intergalactic what?” Gwarnon’s icy mask shattered into one of pure confusion as Chel said, “You think our bodies are amazing?”

She waved her hands in the air, cutting off Chel before he could speak again. “It doesn’t matter. You’re right. I need to survive the upcoming battle, but I’m not going to let you alter my DNA and bond with me or whatever. There has to be another way.”

“As you wish,” Gwarnon took a step back, but Chel put his hand on the other man’s shoulder.

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