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I can sense she’s troubled, but finally, she nods. “I…I didn’t think I would.” She turns. “I can feel who you are, Damian…but you’re different.”

I go cold. Different?

She endured hardships. She is not naïve, like those who have lives of indulgence, but even as my Mate, she goes too far.

She doesn’t know what the last months did to us. “I grew up with Raython. I…”

She nods. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have said anything.”

“Tomorrow we will go to the hospital to check on the five women we rescued because of you. You haven’t changed at all, my Mate. I felt that goodness, that selflessness in you the first moment.”

She smiles, but it’s weak. “I’d like to rest, alone, please.”

I reach down, unclasping the leash from her collar, but I can’t force myself to undo the clasp around her neck. I like it. I like seeing her adorned with the mark of my ownership.

My cock surges up again, and she steps away. “Very well.”

Tarak’s already standing. He takes a step towards her, feels her distance, and walks out. I follow him.

I close the door behind us, then look into the platinum-blue eyes of my battle-brother. I can’t help but grin. They suit him. “We must prove ourselves. She doesn’t feel safe yet—but we’ll show her that we can keep those five women safe from the Priests, and then she will trust us.”

He nods, but his aura is uneasy. “Can we? We’re surrounded by Fanatics, men with brands on their foreheads…”

“We’re holy now. They would not dare go against us.”

He nods. “Yes. But those five women…they have no such protection.”

I growl under my breath as I stomp down the stairs.

My battle-brother has regained his sharp wit and strategic mind…

And I hate that he’s right.

17

Athena

Ican’t breathe. I’m being strangled. I gasp awake and grab the collar around my neck. The silver is cool and unmovable, but when I calm myself, I realize it’s not obstructing my airways.

My mind races, but it’s not empty. There are two presences in it, like little bubbles of thought slightly above the place that isme.And those two presences are getting concerned at my fear.

I detach myself from my fear. Like how I used to go to a faraway place when the Toad Lord was humiliating me, imagining being on the grassy planet with the noble triad, my body acting without thought. If I’m going to have two presences in my mind, I need to protect my thoughts.

“Are you okay? Athena?It’s Tarak’s voice in my mind. My jaw clenches as I control my tension, and I take deep, long breaths, pushing the fear away.

Because it’s there. Always. This force in the back of my mind, this force seeping through every moment of my life. I’m on a planet surrounded by fanatical aliens, each one a brutal killer with an Orb-Weapon. I’m in the capital city of an army that declared war on the most powerful empire in the universe.

And I’m linked to two men for the rest of my life.

“Yes, just a…” I focus on Tarak’s aura, the ball of emotion at the outskirts of my mind, and try to focus my thoughts towards him. “Yes, just…dammit!” It reminds me of when I was a kid trying to learn how to whistle. I swore I was putting my lips exactly like the others, but the only sound I could make was a gust of air followed by the laughter of my friends. It took me two weeks to get it right.

I don’t have the luxury of that time now.

I focus on Tarak, feeling his tension, his concern, and make him bigger in my mind.“Yes. Just a nightmare,”I manage, pressing my thoughts into his mind, and cooling my stress.

I will not let them feel my terror. I will not let them know how scared I am. If I do, they’d chain me up to keep me safe.

And I might need to slip away to get a Reaver.