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My thoughts are convoluted. They torture me. I’m split.

Part of me wants to be foolish and stay with the Aurelians. A small part, yes – but it’s a real part of me. The Bond can take that part and enhance it and draw it out, until it takes all my efforts to resist that urge.

I climb into bed, still wet and naked. “Lights off,” I command, and the AI turns off the lights.

I’m alone with my thoughts. Well, as alone as I’ll ever be again.

I turn my thoughts to Sawoot and Theme. They don’t deserve to be trapped on this ship. They’re relying on me to get them out of here – before those Toads come for their vengeance.

I have to get them free. That’s my only priority.

Once that’s done, I can figure out what I need to do about…

…them.

9

Vinicus

Iforce the barbell up with a grunt. It’s 300 pounds heavier than anything I’ve ever lifted before, and yet it rises like we’re killing Scorp on a low-g planet. I’ve seen the severed heads of Scorp flying forty feet after I’ve sliced them off. You’re stronger on a low-g planet because things act like they weigh less – except now I’m experiencing that all the time.

But it’s not because things weigh less. It’s because I’m stronger than I’ve ever been. I rack the weight and throw another hundred pounds on each side of the bar. The bar bends beneath the weight, but I throw it up like the huge iron plates are made of plastic.

Shegives me strength.Shegives me power.

I’ll use that power to rip the heads off countless Scorp – to kill any who stand in our way. No one willeverharm Tasha. Not if I’m alive to stop them.

I’m eager to test my new strength out in a fight. This waiting infuriates me. I was sated as I claimed my Fated Mate for the first time, but I won’t be satisfied until she has a baby in her belly. Mine, Aelon’s or Iunia’s – it doesn’t matter. We have a responsibility to continue our species.

I close my eyes and let myselffeelTasha’s aura in my mind, exulted in her femininity.

Iunia and I won’t be killing Scorp tomorrow. We’ll be brought down to the mining camps. There, I’ll command three triads on the anti-air batteries we’ve hidden in the forests.

The waiting will be hell. I prefer a fair fight, rushing into a Scorp nest head on – but when you’re dealing with Toads, there’s no such thing as a fair fight. It’s a battle of who can strike first, and hardest.

I’m just glad their cowardly species is too scared to Orb-Shift right now. Orb-Shifting is the fastest way of travelling – shifting out of space at one point and then blinking back to reality at another.

Lately, though, more and more reports of Aurelians not shifting back have been circulating – of vessels simply winking out of existence never to return. I don’t know what’s causing it. Iunia told me he thinks it’s something to do with the new era of the Bond – as if the universe is preparing for some great upset.

I don’t bother with such thoughts. I bother with keeping my triad safe, especially now that we have a threat on the horizon.

Toads.

I push the bar up and down, thinking of that cursed species. My battle brother Aelon hates them far more than I do. He was the one who’d seen the horrors on that Toad ship, when he’d led the so-called diplomatic mission to find those missing humans.

Iunia and I had remained back on our Reaver. When Aelon had teleported back, he’d thrown up – and that man doesnothave a sensitive stomach. Hell, I’d seen Aelon stay strong after holding a dying man’s hand. I’d seen him gut Scorp and kill space pirates with his bare hands. Yet that day, I’d never seen him so hurt – so utterly disgusted and distraught.

Scorp are simple. They live to kill and be killed – and I’m a specialist in the latter part of that equation. In fact, I even hope a few of them make their way down to the mining camps where we’ll be protecting the humans who’ve hired us. I’ll use my bare hands to kill the Scorp. I might even let them get close to me with their claws and stinger. A new scar or two would center me. Pain calms the mind – and I want to test out the limits of my new body, push myself to the extreme to learn what the Bond has gifted me with.

Gods.

Nothing could have prepared me for the absolute ecstasy – the primal satisfaction – of seeding Tasha. Shecompletesme. I ache to barge into her room and fuck her again, until she screams out my name and begs for me to cum deep inside her again.

And I need to seed her, because she is not with my child – not yet.

Until she is, the Bond will continue building and building in our minds, until our attraction towards each other reaches a fevered crescendo. Only when she has one our sons in her belly will we be sated – and when that child is born, and she’s fertile once again, the Bond will reactivate.

That’s the cycle of it – the purpose of our species. There’s no greater honor to an Aurelian than to have a biological heir. Every Elite of our society would trade their status in a heartbeat for the chance at their Fated Mate.