Page 28 of The Erion Triad

She took Juliran and Zaen’s hands and looked up at Kyel. She needed to touch them and anchor herself. Without them, she was lost. “We have to get out of here.”

She headed towards the front of the diner, pushing through the crowds that used to come and see her sing, while she slaved away waiting tables for them. She hadn’t realized what or why she’d been here, and now looking around at it, knew it wasn’t the same.

The colors were slightly off. The diner was larger than she remembered. And there was no way she could be back on Earth and in her old life. Having her mates here was the only logical thing she could make sense of.

She needed to go somewhere safe. Somewhere she could think. A place where she could have some peace of mind. Where the voice wouldn’t come back and torture her and keep her away from her mates.

A safe place.

She thrust out her hand, pushed the front door of the diner open, strode right into her bedroom, and stumbled on top of her bed. She turned to sit and leaned back on her hands. “What happened?”

Her mates clambered through the doorway after her, and the door clicked shut behind them. Kyel’s sharp gaze scanned the room, while Zaen’s muscles tensed, ready for an attack. Juliran re-opened the bedroom door to reveal the living area beyond. The diner had vanished. The bed felt real beneath her, the mattress as lumpy as she remembered, and bore the same faded cover and curtains.

“We’re in my apartment!”

“This is where you lived?” Juliran put his hands on his hips and looked about.

Every worn and torn surface seemed even more pronounced compared to the luxury of the palace. The palace! Why wasn’t she in the palace? Why was she even in the diner? How had she gotten here?

She hung her head in her hands and closed her eyes. “I’m so confused. I don’t know what’s happening.”

There was a dip next to her and Juliran slung his arm about her shoulders. “What’s the last thing that made sense to you?”

She slumped into his body, letting his warmth and hardness calm her. His thumb made distracting circles on her shoulder, but she didn’t want to stop him. Kyel knelt in front of her while Zaen stood behind him as though guarding them all. Forever protectors.

“Singing in the diner,” she said. “Luke always lets me sing when the band comes in.” It was the only time she felt truly alive. The only time she was able to reclaim her true identity and forget about the rubble of her life.

Kyel put his hands on her knees, his large palms searing her skin. “I didn’t know you could sing, Lucie. It was… angelic.”

Heat flooded her cheeks. Kyel was no nonsense and wasn’t prone to giving compliments away, so this coming from him was huge. Pride made her heart swell. “I like singing.”

“You’re not just good, Lucie. You’re talented. Really talented. I could have listened to you all night,” Juliran said.

“As could I,” Zaen said, his eyes glinting.

“We will talk about talent and singing later, after we have helped Lucie escape,” Kyel said.

A trickle of fear slid down her spine. “How can we escape this?”

“Lucie, can you remember anything about the Erion crystal?” Kyel said.

Of course, she remembered the damn crystal. Right from the very start it had been the center of her troubles. “The reptile made me touch it and it started to glow. They were excited and then… you…”

Every time she remembered how they’d rescued her, she welled up.

Juliran let her slump more into his embrace, offering her the security she was searching for. “We know. It’s hard. Just take your time. This is important, Lucie. We need to know how much you remember. Can you tell us? Please?”

She wiped away tears she hadn’t realized had fallen, “They—thereptiles—took the crystal. Together, we chased them, shot their spaceship, and got the crystal back. Then you took me back to your planet.”

The more she remembered, the clearer her mind became. The brothers as well as herself had been welcomed with fanfares. They’d been met by their three fathers and mother, the kings and queen, and their sister where they’d landed. The guys’ family had treated her like a princess. They’d been kind to her. So kind.

It had helped with the distress and confusion of coming face to face with her new life. The weeks of torture had gotten her over the first shock of realizing she wasn’t on Earth and that there were in fact aliens. And they weren’t nice. At least, none she had met until she was rescued by her mates. But knowing she would never get home was an ache that didn’t go away, although they had done everything they could to ease her distress.

She was welcomed as a mate, the first for their homeland in decades. She’d felt like some kind of celebrity, but something dark had come back with her. Something insidious that lived inside of her and had grown stronger each and every day. There hadn’t been a thing she could do about it to make it go away.

She clutched Juliran’s shirt, peeking around the room. The voice never went far away. Just when she thought she might have a moment’s peace, it would always return.

“Lucie.” Kyel’s strict voice brought her back and helped control her terror.

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