Page 59 of Bonded By Savages

“We leave in one week. Prepare yourself.” Orr and Kriz turn, but Ra’al stays, his eyes drifting upwards. He doesn’t look at the window at my mate, instead staring off into the distance of space. He blinks in recognition as he sees me again.

“Damian. Tarak,” he says, as if greeting us once more, but then he turns, entering his Reaver.

It takes off into the night like a ghost. I feel Tarak’s aura. There’s no more pain. No more rage. He’s a mirror of me, a sheet of glacial ice. We will be cold like this until we break the Aurelian Empire under our fists.

We are war machines. And we will be until Raython is avenged and the universe is tamed.

We walk back up the stairs. Athena has her hands on the window sill, staring out, watching the Reaver disappear into the night sky. She turns, goosebumps over her pale, naked flesh.

“Something’s wrong.”

“Nothing is wrong, my Mate.” I state the words with iron precision.

“What did they want?”

“The war begins. We pledged our swords to Obsidian. We leave in one week.”

Her eyes widen. A surge of pain goes through her aura. If I was not a ball of steel, it would wound me. “You’re going? You’re going to leave me here?

I nod. “Yes. In one week. You will be safe here. No one would touch a holy triad’s Mate, gone to war. The battlefield is no place for you.”

“A triad? There’s just two of you. And if you go…what if only one comes back? Or none? I love you,” she says, her heart breaking, her eyes wet. I see the pain in her eyes, and I must be strong.

As she speaks, each word wounds me.

“I want to tell you to go. I want to tell you to get the hell out of my bedroom and let me sleep, but that’s not what I want. I don’t want you to leave me. How can you? You’d leave me alone here, terrified you’re not coming back?”

“Raython was alone when he died. We stood next to him, but he died alone.”

Tarak steps towards her, and she takes a step back. “We told you he disappeared when we Orb-Shifted. It wasn’t that clean. He evaporated in front of our eyes, his skin dissolving, a brave, noble warrior turned tonothing.He died badly, Athena. A man I fought next to for centuries. He never had fear. In those last moments…he felt a primal terror. He was terrified because he tasted you, in our vision, and he knew, in those last seconds, he would never touch you.”

I grunt. “We will go. And we will come back victors. The Aurelian Empire must fall for order to be restored in the universe.”

“You don’t care about order.”

“There’s ten billion souls on Trebulous about to be engulfed by Scorp. That is our first mission. To save that planet.”

“You’re not going to save that planet.” The grief and fear in her voice has gotten cold.

“No. We’re clearing the planet then spearheading the attack into the Aurelian Empire. Victory will be swift. They cannot Orb-Shift. With Obsidian guiding us, we can.”

She shakes her head. “So that’s it? You’re going to follow a War-God in a quest for vengeance and leave me here?”

“You don’t know what we’re up against. This Queen Jasmine is not a stupid woman. She has twelve sons. She doesn’t care about her Empire. She cares about saving their lives. She would bring out the planet killers to end this war. She’d kill anyone. And I understand it. To have a son…”

Tarak steps closer to her. This time she doesn’t step back. “We must act quickly to end the threat before it appears. Obsidian can end this war before it begins.”

Athena reaches up to her collar. She undoes the clasp and throws it to the ground. “You can take me in front of the crowd tomorrow night. You can show the universe you own your Mate, and that you leave her.”

I step forward, and she holds her head up, defiant. “Don’t speak like this, Athena. We will return.”

“Maybe you will. Maybe you won’t. I felt that good in you, Damian…Tarak…in Raython as well. That good is pure, but it’s lost.” She smiles, sadly. “I hope you’ll get me pregnant tomorrow. Not because I want to be safe, or be holy, or have these religious fanatics worship me. Because I’m alone. You’re standing there, in this room with me, but I’m alone.” She swallows hard, tears coming to her eyes. I know I’m causing her this torment. I know I have to be strong.

She smiles, the saddest smile I’ve ever seen. “I can’t just live for myself. When I was captured by Toad, I thought about ending it all. Then I felt you three. The thought of you coming to rescue me, the four of us together…that gave me something to live for. I’m strong. I can stand being tortured, starved, I can stand it all, if there’s a reason. But I can’t stand the thought of living without any light, without anyone, without any purpose…” She trails off.

“I don’t expect you to understand. Not yet. When we are victorious, you will.” I state the words boldly, knowing them to be true. When we have crushed our opposition and brought the universe under our control, we will be given a planet—a whole sector—where we will rule as kings and queen.

“I understand. The three men I felt kept me going. When things got dark, you three kept me going. But those men died with Raython. And whether you come back victorious or die, those three men are never coming back. I have only one hope. That your son would have that goodness, and I can find a way to protect it.”

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