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She’ll soon learn.

I am the leader of this triad. I am burdened with making the hard decisions. Natali turns away, and her aura shrinks from within me.

Suddenly, those pure white snowflakes stop cooling my torment. Her absence gives me a new pain. It makes me realize that I now have something to lose – something greater than myself, or even my mission for the Empire.

“You won’t even try,” Natali accuses.

Try? Try, and risk losing the one thing that gives my life purpose?

She needs to understand what I am burdened with – the responsibility that falls on my shoulders.

“I am the leader, Natali,” I scold her. “This ismydecision. You may try to convince your father – but if you fail, then wemustturn ourselves in. It’s the only way to protect you.”

I step forward, and extend my arms. I no longer have pride – I only have my desire to protect my Fated Mate.

“We’ll be with you eventually, Natali. You must understand. I can’t put our destiny at risk for what is merely a human lifetime.”

12

Natali

You’d think it would be the reference to ‘a human lifetime’ that offended me – as if the entire lifespan of a human begins and ends so quickly as to be irrelevant to a mighty Aurelian.

But, instead, it’s that other word.

Our destiny.

I feel rocked. I step away from Brennan, and all my shame at my nakedness returns as our auras split apart. The Bond retreats from my mind, and I realize how foolish I’ve been.

I just begged a stranger to steal me away; wherein him stealing me away had been the beginnings of all this trouble in the first place.

I scold myself. Those thoughts were corrupted by the Bond. The Bond made my rational brain switch off like a light switch, and I was begging and pleading from a place of hormonal, emotional irrationality.

But no longer. Now that I have a moment of relief, I feel my senses return; no longer driven by my desires, or amplified by the Bond. In fact, I’m terrified I even asked Brennan to do something as reckless as steal me away – to go on the run from Aurelian Law Enforcement; the most tenacious hunters in the universe.

I wasn’t myself – and because of the Bond, I’m terrified I’m losing control of my own mind.

I rush away from them - into the tent to shower. As I stand beneath the icy deluge, I remember every one of Brennan’s words.

Maybe he didn’t know I could hear him. Maybe he thought I was still asleep. My Bond-heightened hearing let me hear every word, though – and those words shook me.

I thought there was something deeper between us – something real – but now I realize I’m just another way for him to serve his species. I canfeeltheir auras – and as much as they superficially resemble them, I need to remember that these Aurelians aren’t human.

They’re deeper. Darker. Their consciousness is scarred with the wounds of centuries of combat.

The universe has so much pain in it – and every, long year of their extended lifespans has seen these three Aurelian warriors take more of that pain inside themselves.

They’ve done their duty – they’ve done what’s right, even when they know it’s wrong. Even the purity of Otho’s ivory aura has cracks in it. Even the fresh newness of Lazar’s verdant green aura is blighted with rot.

Their emotions are intense and targeted. There’s so much rage in them – so much potential for violence. At any moment, they could devolve into wild beasts; and yet I’m pleading with them to steal me away.

I let the waters of the shower wash over me, trying to cool my emotions and let my rational mind take over. The cold water is usually too much for me to handle. Now I crave it. I need to think with my brain, not my body.

As I do so, I realize one chilling truth:

The humans who’d ambushed them the night before – the night I’d tried to escape – had never stood a chance. Even cunning, intelligent Lazar is a brutal beast when he fights, or fucks.

I’ve allowed my desire to cloud me to the violent nature of these warriors; and now that implication terrifies me.