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13

Daccia

For the first time in my life, everything suddenly made sense.

The dull, aching loneliness at the heart of all Aurelians has disappeared from my life. The constant yearning for somethingmorehas been replaced by the deadliest poison in this universe…

Hope.

When my cock was buried inside Allie, everything suddenly became crystal clear. When I was inside my Fated Mate, I saw the future.

We have to keep her safe.

The realization hits me like a brick. I’m a warrior. For my entire life, I’ve been raised to fear nothing.

Now, suddenly, I realize just how dangerous this universe is.

Right now, as our Reaver powers through space, small asteroids and space debris are hurtling towards us at breakneck speed. Any one of them could pierce our hull – instantly killing us, and stealing Allie from us…

Now we’ve found her – the one, Fated Mate that Aurelians spend their thousands of years of life desperately searching for – it’s terrifying to think how easily she could be taken away from us…

But, at the same time…

I consider those hurtling asteroids. As I look out of the viewport, they seem…slow.

It’s as if time itself has decided to crawl. The creaks, beeps and buzzes of our Reaver – the noises that I’d learned to tune out after a hundred years of service in the Aurelian Army – are now suddenly being screamed all around me.

I know what’s happened. My senses have been sharpened. I can feel the shift. Even looking down at my arms – I canfeelthat I’m stronger. More deadly.

I’ve heard that the Bond transforms an Aurelian warrior into the perfect killing machine…

…I now know that to be true.

Yes, I’m suddenly aware of how dangerous the universe is. Yet, I’m also aware of how powerful I am – and how capable I’ve become to protect my Fated Mate.

Ifanyone– even my own Queen, or Emperor Raegan himself, tries to get between Allie and my triad, then I’ll demonstrate that the rumors surrounding the Bond are true.

Now, nothing else matters – nothing except forher.

I am Bonded to this woman – this criminal, who we’ve been tasked in bringing back to Colossus to face justice.

Now, I’m faced with an opponent greater than any physical enemy, or any tangible danger. I’m faced with a conflict greater than any I’ve ever had to face before.

Since a young age, I’ve been trained. Indoctrinated. The Aurelian ideals of nobility and self-sacrifice – for the greater good – have been drummed into me until they became all that I knew.

But now, I’ve forsaken those vows of duty. The guilt and shame I feel for doing so is raw, but brooding is for the weak.

I must now bear my shame – even as I lead my triad further into disgrace.

I reach into my mind. The auras of my battle-brothers, Kitos and Hadrian, have already been consumed by their overwhelming hunger for Allie. I sense as they take her – as they claim her for themselves, just as I did…

…and then, they softened. The auras of my battle-brothers transformed, until they carried the same sated feel to them as my own.

Now Kitos and Hadrian have experienced what I did – the ultimate satisfaction of emptying your seed into your Bonded, Fated Mate.

Moments later, the door to the main cockpit area opens, and my battle-brothers join me at their stations. I cansmellAllie on their skin. Our prisoner wore no perfume when we took her; and yet her own, natural scent is a thousand times more enticing to me.

The three of us – myself, Kitos and Hadrian – were forged into a Bonded warrior triad by the fires of battle. We saved each other’s lives a hundred times over during our hundred years of service to the Aurelian Empire. We’ve become best friends – as fighters, killers, and Law Enforcement agents.