Page 9 of The Erion Triad

“It’s time, Erix,” he said. “As the panel retracts, Tann, I want you to place the crystal into our mate’s hands.”

“Then what?” Juliran said.

“Then we all touch it,” Zaen said. After which, he had no idea what would happen, exactly.

Erix pressed the command and the panel retracted into the edges of the bed. The healing mist cleared. Their mate lay too pale. Too still. She had never fully recovered from the torture she had endured at the hands of the scaled ones. Never flourished. She had suffered physical torture, but her mental anguish was wasting her, even though she had everything her body could need. She was already skin and bone, but now she almost looked like a corpse. Her soul was withering, an effect they hadn’t been able to heal, despite their best efforts.

But they would never give up. No matter what it took, they would prevail. She was worth everything, even if she didn’t believe them.

Juliran curled a limp strand of hair behind her ear, running his fingertips along her chin so gently, as though she was made of the finest china.

Kyel nodded at Tann. “Do it.”

Tann carefully placed the crystal into Lucie’s lifeless hands, his face a tense mask. Tann released the golden pincers as the crystal rested into Lucie’s limp hands.

The crystal glowed with the blues and greens of the Erion Homeland, growing brighter and brighter. The lights on Erix’s panel danced. The data on the screen above her head jumped into hyperactivity. The crystal was having an effect, but so was the entity using it.

“Now, brothers,” Zaen said. “There is no time to waste.”

As one, they reached over their mate and curled their hands around the crystal.

Chapter Four

Lucie

Daylight slid over Lucie’s closed lids. She groaned and turned to her side. It was daytime, and time to get out of bed. She was still so, so tired despite having slept. She could quite happily sleep the day away, and possibly tomorrow as well. The princes would probably let her if she wanted to. Truth be told, they didn’t know exactly what to do for her lately, despite their best efforts to help her. She was beyond grateful, but she didn’t even know how to save herself, let alone three of the hottest aliens she’d ever met.

And they were seriously hot. Their horns didn’t detract at all, instead lending them a wild edge that made her wish she was actually their mate. That, and their tatts that swirled over their chiseled muscles, and taut bodies honed to perfection with their taste for battle training had her staring at them all day, wondering what it would feel like to touch them. Silk over steel, probably. Soft skin over the surface of strength and hardness.

She’d spent many a midnight hour wondering what it would be like to be the center focus of all three of them. Nobody would bat an eye. In fact, it was their norm—three guys to one girl. She could imagine the way they would touch her, gentle and full of reverence at first, and then when their patience was at an end, they would take her how they wanted. She would probably love every second of it. What girl wouldn’t?

They were also incredibly intense, and when they set their entire focus on her, her brain shorted out. It was as though they could see to the center of her soul. They said it was the mate bond, but she hadn’t felt anything except terror.

That was why she knew she really wasn’t for them. That was how she knew she had to leave them so they could find their true mate. It was a special bond between Quads, unbreakable and precious. They only had one in a lifetime. It was the reason why she’d held herself back. Her heart thumped with the weight of a rock. She had to step aside so they could find their true mate. Even if it killed her, she would do that for them.

The warm embrace of sleep buried her beneath a seductive pull and a wall of white washed over her until there was nothing in her head except whiteness and the feeling of exhaustion. Why was she so tired? She thought for a moment, but it seemed too much trouble and she let herself drift in a sea of never-ending fog. She sank down, down, down.

“Out of bed, sleepyhead!”

Her eyes snapped open. A figure loomed in front of her. “Grant?”

Her boyfriend opened his palms in a placating gesture. He’d just gotten out of the shower. A white towel was wrapped around his trim waist, and his hair was wet and slicked back. A few ends dripped onto his shoulders. “Who else would it be?”

She yelped, bolting upright in bed, eyes darting everywhere. Sunlight filtered through her gauzy curtains, a breeze catching the seam in the middle that never closed just right. Her gaze flew over familiar, faded floral wallpaper on the walls, noting the hole where the door handle had slammed into it one time. Her soft and lumpy bed beneath her. Her bedspread thin, but warmed from sleep over her legs, the familiar canary yellow of the cover singing a happiness she yearned for. It was familiar, yet her heart hammered like an anvil in her chest. She pressed her fingers to her temple. “I’m in my bedroom?”

Grant sat, making a dip in the bed, and put his hand on her knee. “Where else would you be?”

She eased her knee from beneath his touch.

He frowned at her movement, and then at her. “What’s going on, Luce? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

She tried to think, to work out why she was so confused, but her mind was filled with a blanket of white fog that blocked her thoughts. Even her dream of three sexy men became slippery and waned away. She tried to follow it but as soon as she started to dig too deep, she became stuck as though she waded through molasses. There was something important she had to remember, but as soon as the thought occurred to her, it sank into the molasses and she was unable to grab it.

“I…”

Grant chuckled, the sound grating. “Must have had too much to drink last night.”

“I did?”

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