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The other two of his triad step in closer. They look so massive compared to the wisp of a woman, so innocent and sweet in front of them. “You belong to us now, woman. What is your name?”

“Lola,” she says, in not much more than a whisper. He grabs her by the wrist, pulling her towards them. She’s too terrified to scream. The togas of the Fanatics tent forward as the Mating Rage takes them over, and they’re about to strip her naked and rut her in front of us, their massive cocks hardening.

I can’t stop myself. Without thought, I rush forward. “No! Let her go, you fucking animals!”

The Aurelian with a hold on Lola pulls her closer to his massive body, but the other two of his triad stalk towards me. They are even more terrifying as they approach, with scars up and down their bodies, shaved heads and eyes filled with icy fire. They cannot believe that I would defy them.

The third of Ra’al’s triad, Kriz, moves so fast I barely see it. He goes from standing at ease, to between me and the two Fanatics with lightning speed, his hand on his Orb-Blade, gripping the shaft and ready to draw and activate it in a heartbeat. He moved so fast it’s as if he teleported, but his blond hair ripples with his black robes, coming to rest as he takes a battle stance between me and the two men.

The huge bull of a man, Orr, has subtly shifted. He’s still standing imperiously with his foot on Briana’s bench, but his hand darted to his Orb-Blade, and he looks like he could draw it in the blink of an eye and cut down the two Fanatics from behind before they could even react. Even General Ra’al seems to have moved, nearly imperceptibly flanking the leader of the Fanatic triad who grips Lola even tighter, pulling the terrified woman closer to his muscled frame.

The two brutal Aurelians who were about to grab me are shocked. They stare at my golden-haired savior in confusion, and their hands slowly move down to their belts. Kriz says something in Aurelian, and they shake their heads angrily in response.

“He says you are special. That you cannot be touched,” whispers Kat from behind me. The two Fanatics argue back, angrily.

“What are they saying now?” I can’t keep my voice low.

“They are saying that you disrespected them. That by the laws of the Old Ways, you must be punished.”

General Ra’al stated the words with icy calm, and Kat translates them quickly, making my heart stink. Ra’al’s left hand runs up and down his grizzled stubble, but his right is near his blade. The leader of the Fanatics, holding Lola tight against him, barks out something, and Ra’al nods. “And that the woman was given to him. That she belongs to Krazak and his triad. He is justified. In both cases.”

My heart sinks.

If I thought the triad of men who came to save me were honorable protectors, I was wrong. Kat was right about Fanatics. They’re brute beasts, born of war, and I’ve made a terrible mistake by speaking up. I’ve put a target on myself.

Ra’al’s icy grey eyes look me up and down. I feel naked in front of him, the power of his being flooding over me.

“What are you doing?” Kat whispers from behind me, her voice taut. She can sense how close we’re coming to battle. Neither of the men want to back down, and Kriz must have insulted them somehow by putting his body between them and me.

I wish I knew what I was doing. But I only know one thing. These men are as bad as all the stories, and I can’t let Lola be taken away by the ones with tattoos on their foreheads. Kriz, Ra’al and Orr might have some shred of goodness in them. The other three are nothing more than weapons, and she wouldn’t survive their brute matings. Their robes are tenting forward obscenely, and the sweet young woman wouldn’t last a night.

“You said because I defended myself, I’m off limits.” My voice trembles, my mind screaming at me to stop, but I can’t.

“Yes,” replies Ra’al, wasting no words.

“I’ll trade myself. For her safety, I’ll trade myself, to you and your triad.”

My voice quavers as I say the words that seal my fate.

If they accept, I’ll belong to the three alien generals, and there’s no escape.

6

General Orr

When I was in the tower with Rachel, her scent filling the room, I could barely keep my sanity. I felt her aura when the Bond thrummed. I felt her resilience. Her strength of will. Her defiance, that I knew must be tamed for her own protection. She was terrified, sweaty, worn down by the long battle, a servant woman thrust into the role of warrior.

Instead of cowering in the cellar in with the other servants, she chose the warrior’s path. Now, again, she puts herself in the fray to protect another…

And in doing so, puts every man in this garden in grave danger.

You don’t get between an Aurelian and a human who insulted him. By the laws of our species, Krazak’s triad is right. Calling him an animal is enough to put her in jail, or to be punished physically. Publicly. On a newly conquered planet, the populace must learn to accept our rule. Letting defiance go unpunished breeds rebellion. Rebellion breeds chaos.

And chaos breeds lives lost, Aurelian and human.

Kriz acted rashly, and in the same way I would have. Seeing men other than my triad approaching my Mate made my anger burn up like an inferno, anger I’ve learned to tame and direct for purposes. In my hundreds of years, I thought I had tamed my myself. That my violence was leashed.

Now it’s threatening to explode out again.