Page 61 of Bonded By Savages

I jolt back to reality when I hear a humming, energetic buzz from inside the house. It’s like I’m in a trance. I need to know what it is. I walk through the open side doors of the house. Laura is in the kitchen, with a tray of croissants, and she says something to me I don’t hear as I walk to the main entrance hall of the manor.

The sound is coming from below. I walk around the main staircase, to the second set of stairs the leads below. I hear a grunt of pain, then a hiss of energy, and I walk down the stairs, stopping when I see through a glass wall.

Damian and Tarak are clad in black armor, thick and reinforced, and they have their Orb-Blades drawn. They circle each other, violent dancers, waiting for an opening. I know they can feel me here, but they ignore my presence, their icy auras focused on their training.

Damian slips, and Tarak darts forward, but it was a ploy. Damian twists, letting the blade singe his chest before slamming the hilt of his blade in the back of Tarak’s neck. He falls in a heap. Damian extends his hand, pulling him up, and they begin again.

They’re training with live blades, because they know they will be up against the soldiers of the Aurelian Empire. Tears stream down my cheeks. I know they can feel my pain. Perhaps they are exposing themselves to it, that when they are on the battlefield, they will more easily be able to tune me out. They’ve grown at least two inches taller than when I met them, and their muscles strain against the now ill-fitting armor.

They used the Bond to grow into the perfect war machines. They circle each other with murderous grace, slamming their Orb-Blades together. Then as one, they deactivate the energy of their blades, leaving only the black metal, and throw them aside, grappling with each other. Tarak slams his fist into Damian’s chin, and I feel the pain through the aura of the man, but see nothing on his face as they train, wrestling and fist-fighting.

I turn away, walking up the stairs, and stand at the bedroom window, watching the sun casting its warmth over the city. I stare at the Arena of Blood, imagining myself in front of the crowd as the two beastly men take me, hard.

Despite everything, my body reacts. My nipples harden against the pleasure dress, which strokes me with a thousand little fingers, tantalizing me. Deep down, I ache for them.

I wipe the tears from my face.

I’ll face my fate. I’ll be with them, and then I’ll be alone, and no matter what, I’ll live for the hope of a son. I ache for it, and the Bondthrumsin my mind, encouraging me to take their seed, a pleasant, powerful sensation that I control. Even the Bond can’t overwhelm me now.

I’m strong, and I don’t need to detach myself anymore.

I’ll face the braying hordes watching me in the Arena of Blood. I’ll let their energy wash over me as my two warriors take me, and I’ll face my future.

Alone.

I lean down, grabbing the fallen silver collar, and pick it up, staring at myself in the mirror. I put it around my neck and close it shut. The leash dangles, just waiting for Damian to lock me to him. I look beautiful. Fragile. And I’ll appear so tiny when the two beasts are taking me. How will they do it? Will they press me down against the fine black sand, spreading my legs and taking me? Will one hold me up, spreading me open for the other?

Or will they put me on my hands and knees, so I can stare out at the stands filled with triads, all of them staring at me as I am seeded by the two brutal beasts?

Heat flushes between my legs as I imagine Damian linking me to his wrist and showing the universe I belong to him. I used to believe. Now I don’t belong to anything at all.

He’ll attach me to his wrist, but we will not be joined. He gave up everything for war. For revenge. To crush the men who took his battle-brother, and to rule over a conquered universe. They’ll bring peace. They’ll protect innocents like the people on the space station I grew up on. I can’t hate them. The only thing I feel is pain at what we could have had.

The two of them gave up everything.

Even me.

24

Athena

Iwalk with my head high through the black cobblestone streets of Obsidious. Aurelians stop in their training as we pass, a holy Bonded triad and her two warrior protectors. We could have flown. I wanted to feel the hard roads under my sandaled feet before they sink into the fine sands of the Arena of Blood.

I thought Damian would leash me to him. Instead he lets me walk with the silver collar around my neck, the unlinked bracelet on his wrist. He won’t pull me to this last, sorrowful mating. He’ll let me choose my own fate.

I changed into a black pleasure dress. It felt right. The cool night air strokes my body as we walk. The street is cleared for our route, but to either side, other streets towards the Arena of Blood are filled with triads walking, some with women leashed to their side.

They’re coming for one thing.

To see a Bonded Mate taken in front of the crowd. To imagine the day when they too will get their Mate.

And to see if I earn the golden collar of a seeded Mate.

Damian and Tarak follow a step behind, Damian to my right, Tarak to my left. Guards bowed heads as we passed the main gates, and even Fanatics knuckle brands, staring at us with religious fervor. Surrounded by thousands of alien warriors, not one would dare lay a hand on me.

It should have been exciting to walk past Aurelians wearing only a thin pleasure dress, my body on display yet completely safe with my two guardians. Instead I feel nothing.

We walk in silence. Even our auras are empty until the black Coliseum towers over us. A triad of soldiers lets us in the side door, which leads to the space between the half-ring of the Coliseum and Obsidian’s palace, a thin hallway between two towering structures. Above, there is a bridge leading from the top of the Coliseum’s tower to the highest point of his imposing, gothic palace.

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