Page 26 of The Erion Triad

“So much stronger than ever before. It’s like she’s in my mind. In my heart,” Juliran said.

As Lucie sang, all Kyel could do was bask in her music and feel the powerful connective surge roll through them all.

Lucie finished singing. There was a second before the crowd exploded in cheers, whistles, and clapping. Lucie grinned, her smile lighting every inch of her face. She was enjoying herself. Having fun. She had never smiled back at the Homeland. Not once.

Luke came onto the stage and spoke into the microphone. “Now let’s get on with the show. Who wants a little rock and roll?”

The crowd cheered and hollered around them. People called out names of songs. It seemed they had come here to hear Lucie sing. They had come for her.

“What about an oldie but a goodie? Rock around the clock. Grab your partners and get ready to dance,” Lucie said.

People poured onto the cleared area in front of the stage. The band began to play and Lucie sang an upbeat song about dancing around a timepiece. The music was a different in their Homeland, but people enjoyed themselves just the same way. Singing, music, and dancing seemed to be universal things. Lucie’s voice contained a joy all of its own.

“I had no idea. She’s an angel.” Juliran looked at them, his eyes blazing. “We should have known this about her.”

Yes, they should have known she had this ability. A voice like hers came along once in a lifetime. They were so lucky to have her and yet she had not shown them this side of herself.

“Why would she had kept this from us? This is a huge part of her. Were we so ignorant, or…” Zaen trailed off, his gaze roaming over Lucie as she continued her song.

“What is on your mind, Zaen?’ Kyel prompted.

“I’m just thinking that every time we started to get close to her, she shut down. Found something else to do. Ran off somewhere. I mean, she’s obviously influenced by our mating attraction, but she’s fought it off. She never told us anything about herself, really. Don’t you think that’s a bit strange? She is so different here than she was ever with us. It can’t be coincidental. It’s almost as though she was afraid,” Zaen said.

“Of us!” Juliran cast a horrified look between himself and Zaen.

Zaen shook his head. “I don’t think so, but there is a big reason for it. Now that I see the true Lucie, like this, with such talent and confidence, I know the side she showed us was not right. As though she was being held back.”

The muscles at Kyel’s jaw clenched as he mentally listed off time and time again where their Lucie had done just that. Run away. Shut down. She hadn’t revealed a thing about herself. In fact, the more he thought about her actions, the more he realized they weren’t avoidance, they were more because she was scared.

As much as the suggestion was abhorrent, it just might be true.

“The entity,” he said. “It could have been influencing her all along.”

“It may have stopped the mate-sync connection if it has,” Juliran said.

That was true. Although they’d kissed her, it was only on a superficial level. They’d kissed her to make her feel cherished and loved. It had been nowhere what they needed to do to complete the mate bond so they could mate-sync. They’d waited for Lucie’s consent, but it was now obvious that something bigger was holding her back. Holding them all back. The purpose of which he had no idea, but it was doing its best to separate their true bond.

“We missed it. We missed everything about it.” Zaen’s mouth thinned into a furious line. His biceps bulged as he clenched his fists.

His brother’s fury only matched Kyel’s own. This was going to be finished. They were going to fight this thing face to face.

“This will change right now. We are taking her away from this and claiming her. I cannot stand for her to spend another moment in this environment. It is time we really started to honor her,” Kyel said.

“And how do we intend to do that?’ Juliran said, sidling up on his other side.

“Look at her, brothers. This is the true Lucie that has been hidden from us and while she is here, she will never be free. We have to get her out of here,” Kyel said, not withholding the sneer on his face at the crowd of people intent on working their Lucie to death, draining everything she had to give.

Lucie finished her song and smiled at the audience at her feet. Her gaze came their way and snagged onto them. Her eyes lit with recognition, and more than that—heat, longing, desire. Their connection pulsed like a live wire.

There would be no more waiting.

The entity would divide them no longer.

“She recognizes us,” Kyel said, determination driving each step.

People parted before them. He shoved others out of the way when they didn’t move.Nothingwas going to stand between them again. “We will take her away from this place. It is time to fight the hold the entity has on her and fully claim our mate.”

Chapter Eleven

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