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My body goes tense as another wave of anxiety pushes down on me.

Lazar steps towards me. He moves differently than how Otho tried to approach me. I don’t slink back from him. The sight of his shirtless body makes me tremble – after all, he just fucked me hard and fast, just as the two others had…

…but Lazar’s aura had been different as he did so. His was calm – verdant like green grass, ripe with life. Now, as Lazar approaches, the green leaves of his aura slowly massage their tendrils into my mind, and I take a deep breath in, realizing I’d been hyperventilating.

“Brennan. Otho. Give us a moment.”

Lazar may not be the leader of this triad, but the two Aurelians obey his words without question. They give me one, last look – as if they’re carving my features into their memories, so as not to lose any detail of them – and then they leave up the stairs.

Now, I’m alone with Lazar. Tears spring to my eyes. They’re not tears wrought by sadness, but of being overwhelmed – both emotionally and physically.

I wish I could be stronger – like the heroines in all those books I’ve read. But, when you’ve just had the trajectory of your future change instantly – when you’ve completely altered the rest of your existence, and the significance of your place upon this universe – It’s hard to remain strong and cold.

“I know,” Lazar says softly, and for I moment look up – wondering why he’s answering my unspoken question.

But then, I realize he can merely sense how I feel through my aura, deep within his mind.

My first instinct is to try and blunt my emotions, so Lazar can’t read me as easily. I try to wrest control of myself. I can’t let myself be so vulnerable to these men.

I need to remember the circumstances of how we met.

I was stolen from my home.

I was an innocent, sheltered virgin when these aliens carried me down the stairs into this basement. In all the years prior to that fateful night, I’d never even had a real boyfriend before, much less any physical experience with one.

And then, just as abruptly, I was fucked mercilessly by all three of those huge, dominant aliens. It changed every aspect of me instantly. It awoke – and that’s even before the Bond took effect.

Now, my psyche hasn’t just been altered by our mating; but the trajectory of my future has as well. Now, for better or for worse, I’m linked to these three towering aliens forever.

This all happened way too quickly. I couldn’t have been expected to handle it correctly. I was overwhelmed, and only now am I understanding the consequences.

I should feel sick, but I don’t – just stressed and anxious.

My gut is what worries me the most.

It tells me that everything is going to be okay.

You’d think that would reassure me – that I’d ‘trust my gut’ as all those anti-kidnapping videos had urged, when my father had prepared me for an eventuality like this.

But nothing could have prepared me for this – and my mind rebels against the gut’s audacity to think that ‘everything is going to be okay.’

Nothing is okay! My mind knows with chilling certainty that nothing can ever be okay again.

All my life, I’ve lived trapped behind huge, stone walls. Now, I’m not just thrown into a universe I can barely understand, but I’m now linked to these three, dominant, possessive aliens.

I’m not truly free. I exchanged the walls of my father’s estate for the mental chains linking me to my Bonded triad.

They’ve trapped me in a different way than my father did. Now I’m linked to them, there’s no way for me to ever learn howIwant to live – me, as an individual, without the desires of the Bond tainting my decisions.

I look over at Brennan, as he stands with his back to me. Brennan is a cold, ruthless leader – and it’s clear he makes the decisions around here. I’ll have to follow his example if I ever want this to turn out the way I want it to.

So – whatwillhappen to us?

If I convince my father to call off the Aurelian Law Enforcement, and the triad turn themselves in voluntarily, they’ll face a massively reduced sentence; but still be sent away to a distant prison camp for at least two hundred years.

I’d be expected to remain waiting for them for ten times longer than I’ve currently been alive.

And if, by some miracle, I manage to somehow think of a solution to all this – some wild plan that will stop them from going to jail? Then, what happens?