Page 33 of The Erion Triad

“Lucie, there is no work. He has done nothing for you.” Zaen moved into her line of vision and put his warm palms on her shoulders, staring down at her.

She peered up at him. “But I’ll be out on the street again if we can’t pay the rent. I’ll… I’ll have to live in my car. I’ve done it before and… I don’t… don’t want to do that again. If I don’t work, we can’t live here.”

She shuddered, remembering the nip of a cold winter night through car windows that offered no protection. Once it seeped into her bones, it took days for the chill to work out. She didn’t have a bathroom in a car. Or a kitchen. Nowhere to cook. The pain in her stomach was worse than the chill in her bones.

“That’s right, Lucie. Remember where you’d be if it wasn’t for me,” Grant said.

Kyel snarled. With a quick movement, he wrapped his hands around Grant’s neck. “Whatever it is you’re doing to our Lucie, you will stop.”

Grant smiled, despite the fingers locked around his throat. “I’m doing nothing other than what she already thinks of herself. You think she considers herself your mate? She doesn’t know how to let anyone close. In fact, she goes out of her way to keep people at arm’s distance. She’s nothing but a cold fish, incapable of loving anyone. You’ll never be able to mate-sync with someone like her.”

“Grant… how do you know about us being mates? How do you know about our mate bond?” Lucie asked. How could Grant really know about all those things? How could he even know who they were?

“You really are a stupid human,” Grant said. His lip curled as he sneered at her.

She blinked at him, uncomprehending. It was such a strange thing to say. People didn’t call themselves humans. No humans did, in any case.

“But… you’re human too,” she said.

Grant pushed Kyel’s hand off his throat. With no more than a twist of his fingers, he had Kyel on his knees, his wrist wrenched at an angle that bent his arm right around. Kyel’s face scrunched in agony. Juliran shouted and Zaen launched to his feet.

“No, you don’t. One move from me and I’ll take his hand right off. I can do it here. She expects it,” Grant said.

His eyes had changed. Instead of light blue, they were black. Not just black, but writhing with black clouds that seemed to go on and on forever.

She recoiled, fighting the whiteout in her brain. “Who…whatare you?”

“You have the power to make me anything you want, human. You turned me into this boyfriend of yours, but you can make me more. So much more. If you help me, I’ll let go of this mate and let you go back to the palace. That’s what you want, isn’t it? To go back to their bed in the nice white palace, see their sister, their parents? It’s the family you’ve always wanted, isn’t it? Just let me out of here and I’ll take you there. I’ll take you all there.”

It was the voice! The same voice that had been in her head. It was still there. Only now, it wasn’t just a voice. It was Grant. And they weren’t in the palace. They were in her mind. Somehow, someway it wasn’t just a voice anymore.

“Don’t listen to him, Lucie!” Zaen yelled, and Juliran tightened his hold on her.

“Let them go. Please. Use me, but don’t hurt them,” she pleaded.

A cruel smile twisted his lips. “I will use you alright, but only you can get rid of them, Lucie.”

She looked between her mates, the men that meant more to her than her own life. “How… how can I let them go?”

“Lucie! Don’t listen to him!” Kyel said.

Grant crunched his wrist and he yelled in pain. The sound went right through her.

“I… I have to. I… I’m not your mate. Not your true mate. I don’t… don’t feel anything.” She held her hand over her aching heart. “Not the thing you said I’d feel. It means I’m not the one for you. If I don’t let you go, you’ll never find her.”

White edged her vision, seducing her with a tempting pull. If she went into the white, she could let them go. They would be free.

“That’s right, Lucie. Let it take you,” Grant said.

“He’s tricking you, Lucie. We know you’re our mate. We’ve always known it to be true,” Juliran said.

“I… can’t feel it There’s… no connection.” Tears blurred her eyes. She wanted it to be true, but she had to face the harsh truth.

“We feel it, Lucie. Listen to us. Not him,” Zaen said.

She let her eyes run over their faces, committing everything to memory. “No…”

“You will listen to us, Lucie. We are your mates. We will never do you harm. Listen to us and trust us,” Kyel said through gritted teeth.

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