Casey's Warriors (Bondmates) (6 page)

“How dare you-”

A harsh male voice rang out from the crowd. “My Ladies, if I may?”

The audience turned as one to look at Commander Trenzent as he stood outside the circle of the High Congress. While most men would have never dared to interrupt the High Congress, Commander Trenzent had both the political clout and the experience to back him up. Dressed in the form-fitting black armor of the Warrior class, he exuded danger even standing still. Unlike most Kadothian males, Commander Trenzent kept his silver-streaked black hair short, making his already scarred face even more foreboding. Lorn had fought beside him many times and considered the man a good friend and a deadly foe.

He really hoped his mother didn’t do anything to piss him off.

“Proceed,” Lady Elsin said with a sour twist to her lips.

Commander Trenzent made his way to stand next to the Scouts, the lights gleaming over the metallic prostheses, the result of his capture and subsequent torture by the Hive. While he could have undergone surgery to make cyborg elements blend seamlessly with his skin, he chose instead to keep the damage as a visible reminder of the very real threat the Hive posed against all living creatures. Many of the people on Kadothia who moved here from different home planets that never experienced the Hive tended to dismiss them as a threat used by the High Congress to keep itself in power. But there was no denying the prosthetic left arm and the metallic glint of the portion of his left lower jaw that had been crushed beyond repair. The fact that he remained sane and survived the torture he’d been put through long enough to be rescued made him a living legend among the Kadothian Warriors—someone not even the High Congress could ignore.

He was a big man, imposing, and when he faced off against the High Congress it was without an ounce of fear.

“I have a proposal for the High Congress regarding the females of Earth,” he said with absolutely no expression showing on his scarred face, and determination radiating from his soul.

“And when did you have time to formulate a proposal, Commander Trenzent?” Lady Yanush asked in a dry voice. “As far as I was aware all information about Earth is strictly classified.”

“I’ve learned to think on my feet,” he answered, a thread of amusement mingling with the determination.

Lorn knew for a fact Commander Trenzent had spies pretty much everywhere. The Commander trusted no one and liked to keep himself aware of the myriad political and personal conflicts within the Kadothian Empire. It was, however, surprising to see him speak so boldly about such classified information, even in a roundabout way. Then again, Commander Trenzent was two hundred cycles older than Lorn and not fully bonded as well. No matter how strong a man was, the madness was inevitable, and he wondered if the Commander would try to find a Matriarch among the Earth women. Lorn couldn’t imagine what kind of bride would be the general’s soul mate. A rather hideous image of a beast of a female with the psychic signature of an angry
venan
bull came to mind.

Lorn’s sire barely hid a smirk. “What is it that you propose, Commander?”

The mockery left the Commander’s face as he grew serious. “We all know the sacred courting rights were mandated to help our Matriarchs become accustomed to their mates, but the rights were made for the women of our galaxy who were aware of both their own psychic powers and of the history of our race. They know becoming the wife of a Kadothian male means unwavering love and pleasure from their husband, along with security. It is considered an honor to become a Matriarch and it is a position that is highly coveted. With Earth women, I believe we must go a slightly different route.”

“Are you saying we should abolish the Sacred Rights?” Lady Elsin hissed, her displeasure sparking through the room causing Lorn to jerk at the sensation of knives slicing at his skin. The pain faded quickly when Lorn’s father soothed his mother.

“Absolutely not. I am merely saying we make some adjustments taking into consideration the stunted psychic potential of Earth females and the limited timeframe due to the instability of the wormhole. This would not be unprecedented. For the Matriarchs of Bintaina we adjusted the rights to take into account their hibernation cycle and for the Matriarchs from Nolun we altered the rights to include their twin.” He met Lady Elsin’s gaze head on. “My proposal is this. At their very basic level the rights of courtship were instituted so no Matriarch would be forced into a bond against her will. We use the courting rights as a way to ensure all parties are willing participants because without true love the bond is weak and will quickly fail during the trial period. From what we’ve learned from our Scouts we know that once the enzyme from our kiss begins to affect them, the women of Earth become much more receptive to our efforts to win their heart. While it is nice that the women of our galaxy know from the start what our intent and emotions are, Earth women do not have the same advantage. I believe in order to give them the free will we all hold so sacred, we make it mandatory the first kiss has to come willingly from the woman. The men can try to seduce it from them, but the woman must be the one to initiate the kiss.”

Lady Yanush and Lady Elsin stared at each other and Lorn wondered what they were saying on their private mental link. After a few moments Lady Yanush nodded. “Agreed. Continue.”

“After the first kiss, if the chemical reaction happens as it should, the Warrior will then need to give his intended bride a climax at least once before he brings her back to the Reaping ship. There the Warrior can attempt a full courting and be close enough to the wormhole that if it begins to close he will be able to make it back home, hopefully with his Matriarch.”

He paused and slowly looked around the room. Lorn could see Trenzent’s despair, his desperation, and he echoed the Commander’s strong emotions. They’d lost far too many males with weak partial bonds to the Hive because there were not enough Matriarchs, and each death weighed on the Commander. Lesser men would have broken beneath the strain, but he remained strong. One night after a particularly bloody battle, Lorn and Trenzent had gotten drunk and the Commander revealed to Lorn the only thing that helped resolve the guilt and pain over losing one of his men was helping another man live long enough to find his Matriarch.

Finally returning the gaze to the High Congress, his silver eyes hardened. “The bitter truth is we are losing to the Hive, and without more well-bonded Warriors we stand no chance. I know every member of the High Congress is sick of having to attend the funerals of our fallen Warriors, dead because of a lack of Matriarchs. With this in mind I would also suggest we triple the number of potential brides. Because the Reaping of planet Earth will more than likely be a one-time event, as we’ve never recorded a wormhole opening in the same place once it closes, there is no threat of taking more women than the planet can afford to give and still remain stable. Not only do the women of Earth possess a natural psychic barrier that would protect them and potentially their offspring from the Hive, but on a more basic level our Matriarchs give our Warriors something to live for, something to fight for. Without the bond, we are all one step from madness.”

Complete silence ruled the hall as every male in attendance gave the Commander their support, knowing he spoke the absolute truth.

Leaving his hands open at his side, Commander Trenzent took a step forward. Beneath his resolve was a hint of desperation. “The Hive doesn’t care about treaties, or rights, or disturbing a planet’s population balance. They exist to destroy, to feed, to consume. If you do not give our men the chance to find a Matriarch to either bond with or serve under, I’m afraid for not only our people, but the entire galaxy that looks to us to protect them from our greatest enemy. High Congress, I am begging you, please give our people a fighting chance.”

Lady Yanush bowed her head in the Commander’s direction, a sign of great respect. “We will meditate on your proposal, Commander.”

For long, tension-laden minutes the assembled High Congress sat in silence, debating with each other through their private mind link. Small shifts in expression would indicate subtle emotion, but nothing obvious enough for Lorn to interpret. Instead of looking at the other members of the High Congress he focused on his mother because he knew her best. Her expression went from outraged, to contemplative, and finally resigned along with a hint of fear.

After exchanging a look with Lorn’s sire that he couldn’t decipher, she finally stood. “Though I am not originally of this world, I consider Kadothia my home. Like every Matriarch before me for the last ten thousand years I was brought here willingly by my husbands not only out of love for them, but also out of the need to prevent my birth planet from falling to the Hive. These human women are different. They do not know our history, our traditions, or face a threat like ours. We will need them to love our Warriors in a way none of us have ever experienced, without the truth of emotions that comes with a psychic bond.”

Her gaze traveled over the audience until it fell on Lorn. A brief mental touch full of love and worry caressed his mind before she returned her attention to the High Congress. “Here is our mandate: For the women of the Earth only we will allow an accelerated version of the courting rights. Once the first, willing kiss has been achieved and the woman proves able to convert her hormones enough to bear our Kadothian children, and only after the woman has had a consensual climax with her potential bondmate, will we allow her to be taken to one of our ships. The Warrior must then win her heart through his own devotion and cunning. If he has not managed to do that in the span of sixty Earth days, her memory will be erased and she will be returned to the surface, unharmed and ignorant of our existence.”

Lady Yanush stood and let her gaze travel over the audience. “We could take the entire female population of Earth and it still would not be enough to bond all eleven billion Kadothian males who are still seeking their Matriarchs. As such, we will allow three million of our highest ranking Warriors to search for their Matriarchs. Warriors, it will be your duty to try and convince your bride to bond not only you, but other Kadothian males as well if at all possible. They will of course be men of the husband’s choice, but it must be done. If what the Scouts report is correct you are going to be dealing with women who will see bonding with more than one man as a sin. You
must
convince them otherwise if at all possible. If she refuses, you may of course still bond her but I do not need to remind you of the danger to yourself and your Matriarch if she heads an empty House.”

A stunned whisper went through the crowd and Lorn looked over to Nast, silently promising him he would find their bride.

Nilin stepped up next to Commander Trenzent with a nervous look on his face. “High Congress, I would like to add something.”

“What is it?” Lady Elsin said, an impatient expression thinning her lips.

“We aren’t sure, but the High Priestess believes Earth women may be able to easily bond hundreds of our Warriors.”

Lady Elsin sat with a hard thump and Lorn’s shock mirrored hers. “Hundreds?”

“Yes, hundreds due to their psychic differences. One of the other Scouts bonded to a less sexually repressed Matriarch who has partially bonded forty-two other males so far with no stress on her own shields.”

A stunned silence filled the hall before Lady Yanush blew out a low breath. “You say your Matriarch has only partially bonded one male, correct?”

He squared his shoulders. “I’m hoping my Mary will partially bond more men in the future, but I cannot and will not rush her. You cannot force someone to love, especially a woman.”

A faint smile curved Lady Yanush’s lips. “Indeed. Do not worry, Nilin, no one will try to force your Matriarch to bond any male against her will. We trust that because you love her you will work on explaining to her the necessity of bonding other males not only for her safety, but for theirs as well.”

Nilin bowed low. “Thank you, Lady Yanush.”

Lorn’s sire stood as Nilin returned to the Master Scout’s side, turning to address the audience full of Warriors. “We will release the list of those qualified to seek their Matriarch in one day’s time along with information regarding the customs of Earth. The Galactic Laws of Exploration still apply. You will do nothing to draw attention to yourselves as anything other than Earth natives and will introduce no new technology or information to their world while you are there.”

Anticipation filled the air and Lorn shifted in his seat, trying to contain his own growing excitement. This was the first time in over three thousand years a new source for Matriarchs had been found, and from the sound of it these brides were like none they’d ever encountered. If half of what the Scouts reported was true there would be fierce competition for their favor. While he’d never actually been in love or tried to make a woman love him, it would be cruel to allow a woman he could never love in return to care for him deeply, having a Matriarch to call his own was the dream of every Kadothian male.

He’d resigned himself to at least another fifty cycles of loneliness, to the slow, excruciating death of emotion that was the hallmark of the madness until he was nothing but a primal beast that killed without thought and had to be exiled one of the prison moons. But now, he had hope that something other than that grim fate might await him, and the men he considered brothers. He put his hand on Nast’s forearm and gave it a squeeze, silently urging the other male to hold onto his sanity for just a little bit longer.

Lady Elsin stood and her troubled gaze again found Lorn’s. His sire placed a comforting arm around her as she said in a slightly shaky voice, “I beg you to bear in mind the instability of the wormhole. We will be able to give you four Earth days at best to make it back to the ship once the wormhole begins to degenerate. That gives you very little time to make an Earth woman fall in love with you, but if anyone can do this it is the men of Kadothia. You have one week to learn all you can of Earth culture before the Reaping ship will depart. May the Lord of Life guide you in your quest.”