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They came to see justice. They’ll get death.

Queen Jasmine raises her hands to calm the crowd. “With this justice, the Toad King must denounce Oblog and then bring the other guilty finger, Lord Quavar, to face equal justice! Otherwise, we’ll know the Toad King himself endorses this treachery—and there will be war!”

“Kill ’em all,” snarls Tar’ank. The violence in his being scares me. One of my triad is not just a warrior, but an alien who yearns for battle. It’s hard to believe the Toad King wasn’t aware of what two of his most powerful Lords were doing.

But Toads are a cowardly bunch, and the King is just another one of them. If it means avoiding war and saving his own hide, he’d send anyone to their death…

I hope.

“Now’s not the time for a war against the Toads,” states Garrick, and unease crawls through me. He’s right. The Aurelian Empire is fractured, preparing for an attack from the Separatists.

Separatists who have a history of working with the Toads. The Aurelian Empire would fight a war on two fronts. That’s if the Human Alliance doesn’t take the opportunity to carve a slice of the Aurelian Empire for their own.

The proud, noble species could be overtaken by Aurelians practicing the Old Ways.

I wanted out of the heist business because I knew it would end with me dead or in a jail cell.

More and more, it’s looking like my decision didn’t matter. There’s not going to be a single place of peace in this universe.

The news drones home in on the Toad Finger, giving us a view of his trembling, terrified bulk.

I look at one of the smaller side feeds that is focused in on Queen Jasmine. I watch as she motions for the Bonded woman to come to her platform. She glides across the long stone walkway separating the balconies, the wind running through her hair and making her white dress flutter.

She’s beautiful, ethereal, but I can see how nervous she is as she approaches the most powerful woman in the universe.

They have words, and they don’t look kind.

Publicly, Queen Jasmine honored the triad as heroes. In private? I’m not sure.

In the center of the arena, the sapphire-eyed Aurelian moves without hesitation.

He strides to Lord Oblog, grabs him by his fleshy arm, and drags him to the center of the arena as he screams and begs. His two battle brothers wait in the center of the arena on the parched sand. As one, they active their Orb-Blades.

I look away. From the corner of my eyes I see hot, acidic blood spurting from his neck. The crown falls in the sands.

Queen Jasmine turns away, leaving the balcony with her triad and her sons.

It’s done.

We sit there, stunned, dead silent as we all process what we saw. Was this the first blow in a war that will rip apart the universe?

“So…what now?” I ask the question we’re all wondering as Markrin shuts down the holo-feed.

“We stay here, in Human Alliance territories. We are far from the Aurelian Empire, and far from the Toads. The Priests have a sworn enemy. When they show their faces, it won’t be here.” Garrick speaks with confidence. He’s the leader of the triad because he makes hard decisions with ease. I don’t feel the same confidence as him.

It doesn’t feel like anywhere is safe anymore.

The Bondthrumsso hard my mind erases for a moment. I gasp out, the three Aurelians triggering my need. Maybe it’s how nervous I feel right now, or the tension of the events, but I crave the safety I only feel when I have their huge arms wrapped around me as the fuck me hard, melting into their dominance and protectiveness.

I try to force it down before my mind is gone, but I’m suddenly very aware of the three huge bodies against mine. Markrin strokes my feet, his big fingers pressing against my stress, and I wriggle against Garrick’s lap instinctively. Even as I get my arousal down to a hard edge I can barely control, I feel Garrick’s cock hardening against me, and Tar’ank’s aura flares up as he breathes in, smelling the scent of my need.

It’s a feedback loop that only ends when the three of them have sated themselves in me.

I clench my first, using every ounce of my willpower to fight it off. These last three days my triad has been stuck to me like glue, and it’s made it even harder to fight off the urge waves.

Larixa looks over at me. “You okay?”

“I’m fine. It’s the fucking Bond.” I spit out the words.