“Can you take it, my sweet little Mate?” he snarls, his voice dripping with need as he spanks me again, and the Bond does nothing to turn the pain into pleasure, tears coming to my eyes, but I ache to see this side of him, I ache for him to let go, fully.

“Anything you can give,” I gasp out, and he loses control. He thrusts forward, and I press back, meeting his thrusts, feeling my ass cheeks ripple and bounce with the power of this thrust. He grabs my hips and pounds me, turning into a base beast as he loses all control. He fills me with his seed, and when he’s done, he pulls back. His dick leaves me, and my pussy clenches, trying to hold in the alien’s seed. It comes out in a huge wave, until Ra’al presses his hand against my pussy, sealing me.

Ra’al lifts me easily and sits on the throne with me on his lap. His hand cups possessively against my sex, keeping me plugged with the triad’s seed, as ripples of pure bliss run through me, ripples I realize are purely me…

The Bond is gone. My brows furrow in confusion. It’s like I have the Bond Disruptor ring on, but the three alien auras are in my mind, stronger than ever.

Ra’al kisses my ear, nibbles my earlobe, and presses his hand tighter against my slit. The chain goes from the hand cupping my sex to my neck, and it’s the hottest thing I’ve ever seen in my life, to see myself leashed to the hand that is holding his triad’s seed inside me.

“You are with our son,” he says in my ear, his voice filled with wonder. “He will be prince of this planet, with his brothers,” he says, and kisses my hair, breathing in, exulting in the feeling of our bodies against each other. Orr and Kriz move in closer, wonder in their auras. They take turns kissing me as they gently stroke my stomach, my breasts, and I know they are imagining how I will look, changed by the Aurelian pregnancy.

With his brothers…

I smile, leaning back as Ra’al wraps his other hand around my body, holding me tight against his muscled frame. There’s no rush, not anymore. I don’t just have decades. I have centuries, and we’ll raise son after son. My triad know how to rule, and I will learn, so that I can teach our princes another side, so that they can understand how to rule over not just the ancient warrior society, but humanity, whose generations will live and die as my sons grow strong and powerful.

They will protect this planet for millennia.

I sit there for what must be an hour, protected by the might of the three men, when Ra’al’s smartwatch flashes a deep, blood red.

“Obsidian.” Ra’al’s voice rumbles through my body.

I was waiting for it. I knew it was coming. Instead of dread pooling in my stomach, I have determination and duty. Perhaps these three have become more human since meeting me. But I have become more like them. I know why they must go. There are more lives than just the four of us that need saving.

“Go. You’re needed,” I say, and Ra’al’s unclips the leash from his wrist. It falls to the floor, becoming just a piece of metal when before it linked us together.

Ra’al takes his hand from me. He lifts me and puts me back on the throne. The three men crisply don their robes, tightening the belts that hold their Orb-Blades.

I sit back. I’m sore, but it’s a good soreness, like I’ve been exercising, and I watch my three men with adoration. They stand, tall and powerful—but they no longer smile.

I match their auras, feeling their duty welling up. I sit, straight-backed and determined as their seed slowly pools on the throne.

I chose this.

I’ll be right here, when they return.

Come back to me. Come back to me.

37

Ra’al

Istalk towards the communications room, but my aura has a new tension, and it’s not in anticipation of the space-battle we’re about to plunge into. I try to picture the layout of the battle. The orbital defenses, the guns we’ll have to repel her forces, but I keep thinking of Rachel, back home, waiting for us. We’ll be fighting against terrible odds, every ship Obsidian can push through the rift up against the remaining attack ships of Queen Jasmine’s decimated fleet…

Rachel will feel my fear, going into that battle. I’ve never had fear going into war. Now, Ineedto come back.

Victory will only be possible if Krazak was able to pilot the Reaver deep into the flagship and pull the trigger. Because if those three flagships are moving towards Elsinor, it’ll be a massacre. And once Elsinor is subdued, the people of Abascus will riot, knowing what happens if they don’t rebel against us. I think of Rachel on the throne, the horrible decisions she will have to make, and I want to spare her of that.

In battle, my mind goes to a higher plane, acting on instinct and experience, everything in focus.

My mind is split. When we go into battle, all I will be able to think of is Rachel. My seed taking root in her belly. How in ten months, the pregnancy longer than a human cycle, I can see my son.

I smile. Will he have silver eyes, like me, or blue like her and Kriz?

Will he have a mix of all our features? There is so little known of the Bond, even to my species. Was she impregnated by one of us, or by all? It would be so wonderful to have a little boy who looked just like me, looking up… His eyes won’t be slate grey and empty like an Aurelian born of a cryo-bay. He’ll have his own colors.

“Report to stations. Man the ships. Move them to the plains.” I state the order into my smartwatch, feeling the surge of anticipation. Those ships will be vulnerable, until they shift. Our attack ships were spread out over the planet in case of sabotage or enemy firepower. Now, they’ll be in the plains, all bunched together, awaiting the shift. The Matador is back and operational, waiting for me above Elsinor, but now I’ll be leading an even larger warship, the biggest Obisidan can take through the rift…

Though it came here by standard travel. Fear grips me, fear I’ve never felt before. He’s never shifted something so big. What if I get trapped there, between worlds?