Page 59 of Aurelian Prisoner

The way he says the word ‘human’ with such disdain. It’s like he forgets that he was balls deep inside a human female – our human female – just minutes earlier.

But what Hadrian just said isn’t untrue. Our Queen, Jasmine, has been ruling for over two hundred years now. In that time, she’s sired a dozen sons for our Empire – but that’s theonlygood thing she’s done, in my eyes.

Jasmine has her triad under her thumb – even the mighty Emperor. Under her rule, humans have been giveneverything– more rights, freedoms, and even the opportunity for planets and systems once under Aurelian protection to become ‘independent.’

The Empire has weakened considerably under Queen Jasmine. She puts the desires of humans above the needs of our own species.

Kitos slaps his hand against the console in front of him. “I’d rather live as an outlaw than spend the rest of my life in prison. They’ll lock us away – keep us from her. She’s our Fated Mate – and we can’t lose her now.”

I sigh.

I’ve failed my triad.

No. We were tricked.

Allie knew exactly what she was doing.

She knew we couldn’t bring her back to Colossus if we fucked her. Now she’s got what she wanted. First, she fooled that triad of Elites – now us.

Fated Mate or not – one thing is clear…

Whatever we do, we can’t trust her.

I can’t let our Bond cloud my judgement. I know already, though our Bond, that Allie craves her freedom even more than she craves to be our mate.

Anger suddenly surges up in me at my own stupidity. How can I even imagine a future in which Allie bears our sons? She’ll disappear at the first opportunity, Fated Mate or not. How could I have been so stupid? How could I have let this happen?

Hadrian can sense my frustration. I didn’t mute it across our Bond – another failure on my part.

But Hadrian isn’t angry. He murmurs: “If you hadn’t taken her, Daccia, we’d have never known, one way or another. We would have lived and died always wondering ifshe’dbeen the one.”

Kitos sighs too, nodding.

“Without even knowing it, we would have put our Fated Mate in jail. We’d never have seen her again. One way or another, you made the right choice, Daccia. You made therightchoice.”

But it’s a choice we can never take back. It’s a choice we’ll all have to bear the consequences of.

A leader leads. A leader takes the burden. I am the leader of our triad.

But, with the support of my triad, things become crystal clear.

“We aren’t expected back on Colossus for almost thirty standard days,” I tell my triad. “We have time, at least – the most valuable resource in a battle. We need to prepare for life once Law Enforcement learns what we’ve done. We need to liquidate our accounts, fix our ship’s Orb-Drive, and then stay under the radar – for as long as it takes to shift outside of the Aurelian Empire’s territories.”

I turn in my seat to look at my two battle-brothers.

“They’re going to send men after us. We may have to kill our former brothers. This, we must do for the sake of our Fated Mate.”

Hadrian’s aura loses the dull sense of violence. He was looking for an outlet in the confusion of the moment – and punching, hitting or crushing things is normally his solution.

Now, though, he knows I have a plan. Now he feels my certainty.

“Agreed,” my battle-brother nods. “It’s our only option.”

A wave of pain suddenly rises in me. I can feel the fear and stress emanating from Allie.

She must have heard tales of the Bond before. Humanity is both terrified and fascinated by the link between Aurelians and human women. I can only guess at the lies Allie has been told about the Bond.

She might have even heard the common falsehood that the Bond is a form of mind control – that it will force her into subservience.

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