Paige's Warriors (Bondmates Book 3) (19 page)

“I think he’s an anomaly if he
doesn’t
have one. Think about it, Paige, a thousand years alone, unable to form a romantic connection with any female other than his bondmate, his soul slowly dying. He would grasp on to whatever chance he had in the hopes of someday finding you.”

Paige ran her hands through her hair, her muscles suddenly twitching with the urge to move. Literally unable to sit still, she jumped up from the couch and began to pace around the room. Her whole body felt jittery, and she shook her arms out then bounced on the tips of her toes. “So he probably has a blood brother that he hasn’t mentioned yet. Why would he do that?”

“Oh, I don’t know, probably because most American brides freak out about polyamorous relationships.” Jaz raised her eyebrows as Paige glanced at her while pacing. “It’s true. They’ve been advised to let you get to know them first before they spring a second husband on you.”

“A second husband?”

“Shoot, I forgot to tell you about that. See, Trenzent would only become blood brothers with a man who can share the same Matriarch.”

Taking in a deep breath, she tried to force her racing heart to calm down, but it was pounding away as the fuzzy feeling in her limbs intensified. “I’m not sure how I feel about this.”

“Easy, Paige. No one is asking you to make any decisions about future husbands at the moment. Okay?”

“Okay.”

“And know that the Commander would never, ever introduce a man to you as a potential full or partial bondmate if he didn’t believe with all his heart the man was worthy of you. If he tells you he has a blood brother hiding somewhere in the Bel’Tan galaxy, hear him out. And if the thought of two men together disturbs you, let him know that as well. Be honest with each other, and I promise you good things will happen.”

“Oh, polyamory doesn’t bother me.” Jaz pursed her lips, and Paige sighed as her muscles stopped trembling. “Seriously, it doesn’t. I’m a live-and-let-live kind of girl. Plus, who am I to judge how others live their lives?”

“That’s a very enlightened attitude for someone from a small-town in the Midwest.”

The way Jaz said that let Paige know the other woman wasn’t trying to be mean, but she still bristled a bit. “Yeah, well, small-town doesn’t mean ignorant. I go to school in a very liberal city where it’s not unusual to see poly relationships. In fact, the owners of the bar where Dawn works are silver-haired swingers. I bet they’ve see more action than a frat house.”

“Oh my God.” Jaz shook her head. “Geriatric swingers?”

Wrinkling her nose while she grinned, Paige nodded then took a seat again, her limbs loose like jelly. “Yeah. But they’re really nice people, and they’re happy, so more power to them. Besides, it’s not like I’m in the bedroom with them. Why would I care what they do in the privacy of their own home…or at swinger’s parties or whatever. Know what I mean?”

Jaz tilted her head to the side with a smile. “I do.”

A loud chime filled the room, music from some unknown but pretty instrument.

“Casey’s here,” Jaz murmured, “along with her husbands, Warriors Lorn and Nast.”

Standing up quickly, Paige was dizzy for a moment before sinking back down to her seat. “Whoa.”

“I know the Healers told you to take it easy.” Jaz fussed over her right before she said, “Permission to enter.”

The doors slid open and a loud squeal reverberated through Paige’s head. With a moan of pain, she clutched her hand over her ears and winced. The high-pitched noise echoed painfully, and she scrunched her eyes tighter, glad the ache went away quickly. Moments later her friend’s familiar body pressed into hers as Casey hugged her tight.

“Hi,” Paige said as she gave her friend a squeeze. “If you could not deafen me with your dolphin impressions that would be awesome.”

“I am
so
happy to see you,” Casey cried as she buried her face against Paige’s neck. “You have no idea.”

“Casey.” An insanely handsome man with long red and blond hair gently stroked her friend’s back. Paige recognized him, even if the last time she’d seen him he’d been naked in bed with Casey. “Breathe.”

To Paige’s surprise, Casey began to calm down, then took in a deep, watery breath. “Thanks. Sorry, didn’t mean to lose it like that. I, um, I’m really,
really
happy to see her. She’s like my sister.”

Now Paige was tearing up and that only started Casey crying again. When Paige noticed a familiar tall, broad silvery blond man watching them with a small smile, she wiped her face as best she could, embarrassed at her outburst. Normally she wasn’t a crier, but these past few days and all the surprises they held were catching up with her. Or it was the hormonal surges she was receiving as part of her regime. Great, she was formally meeting Casey’s husbands for the first time and she had the equivalent of super strong PMS.

And she was hungry again.

When her stomach audibly growled, Casey laughed, her black gown shimmering with a slight gleam that highlighted her friend’s hourglass figure. Across her ample breasts a series of elegant swirls formed an intricate black tattoo against her pale skin. Paige now knew that mark had formed, by freaking
magic
, on her friend’s body after her bonding ceremonies. If Casey took another husband in the future, the mark would be added to.

Though right now Casey looked perfectly happy as things were. Her friend practically glowed with good health and it was easy to see how in love she was. Her husbands certainly adored her as well. They watched her every move and communicated to each other without needing to say a word. It was kind of eerie how close they were. The men’s movements perfectly complimented each other, and as they both turned to look at Paige at once, she found herself flushing beneath their intense regard.

“If I may be so bold, Paige,” the redhead named Nast said in a serious voice, “we owe you a great debt of thanks.”

She glanced at Casey, who looked equally puzzled. “What are you guys talking about?”

“Commander Trenzent,” Lorn, with his glowing blue eyes and braided blond hair, said, “is a man we both have a great amount of respect for, and consider not only a friend, but a brother. We fear he has been battling with the madness, so it brings us great relief to know he has found you, just in time.”

Paige pressed her hand to her suddenly upset stomach. “He’s been battling the madness?”

Nast gave Lorn an uncertain look, but continued, “His temper has been growing shorter, his patience and compassion waning, and he holds irrational grudges. All early indications of the madness. We feared we would be the ones who had the dubious honor of escorting him to the prison moon.”

“Oh my God…” The thought of losing Tren had her clutching the couch in an effort to ground herself when she felt as if she were flying apart. “Why didn’t he tell me?”

“I do not presume to know his reasons, but from everything we know about the madness, in the beginning you do not even notice the deadening of your emotions. As a Warrior battling the Hive in a never-ending war—”

“Battling the Hive, what are you talking about?” Everyone in the room looked at each other, totally avoiding her gaze. “Hello? Has everyone suddenly gone deaf? What war?”

Lorn was the one who went to one knee before her, but it wasn’t in a sexual way whatsoever. No, his gaze and demeanor were deadly serious as he gentled his voice. “Can you access your crystal implants yet?”

“No, they’re still umm…growing or whatever.”

“Are you aware of the Great Sorrow?”

“When you lost all your women? Yeah.”

“And you know the Hive escaped from Kadothia?”

“Um, yeah, I think Tren told me about that.”

“At first the ancient Kadothians were unaware that a large group of females managed to make it off planet. We were too busy trying to save our race from total extinction and by the time we seriously turned our attention back to the Hive, they’d had time to grow. They took a bunch of our men with them as…breeding stock and torture toys. And they’d managed to secure a planet far from Kadothia and reproduce, though their birth rate is still very low.”

“Oh my God.”

Nast’s nostrils flared and his features tightened. “We have been trying to rid the galaxy of them ever sense, but they are a cunning enemy.”

“No compassion, no love, and the only pleasure they get is from torturing a sentient being,” Lorn added. “We call them the Hive because they think as one, act as one. They do whatever is best for the collective whole because the collective whole is what helps them survive.”

“Don’t forget the fact that they’re psychic assassins who can take over the mind of a poorly bonded Warrior,” Casey said in a subdued voice as she took a seat in the chair facing Paige. “My husband Nast almost died when a Warrior recruit he was training was taken over by a Hive member who infiltrated the safe zone and used to slaughter everyone around him.”

Paige’s gaze swung to Nast, and she watched as Lorn put his hand on the other man’s shoulder, giving the red-haired man some much needed support.

Casey suddenly announced, “Girl talk time! Boys out. I know you two have stuff to do, so go do it.”

After both of them gave Casey a long, lengthy kiss that involved a lot of groping, the men left them.

With an exaggerated sigh, Casey flopped back into her chair, fanning herself. “Woo, someone get me a glass of lemonade because those two are hot.”

Suddenly thirsty as all get out, Paige lurched out of her seat and almost fell. Thankfully Casey stood and steadied her, then gasped. “No fucking way, you’re taller than me!”

“What?” Paige realized she was looking down on a friend she’d always looked up to. Literally and figuratively. “No way.”

“Yes way,” Jaz said with amusement. “According to the ship’s computer, you’ve grown four inches.”

Casey took a step back and stared at Paige. “Crazy. How tall are you going to get?”

“The Healers said I need to be at least five foot ten to comfortably handle Tren’s—um, demands on my body.”

“His demands?” Casey asked with a giggle. “You need to gain ten inches to handle his ten inches?”

“More like fourteen.”

“Holy…okay…yep, I can see why you would need to grow to handle that cockmonster.”

Jaz threw her head back as she laughed hard. “Cockmonster? Dear Lord, Paige, I am so glad you decided to do the growth regime before trying to tame that beast.”

“It wasn’t really my choice,” she muttered as she strolled over to the table and picked the olives out of the salad, loving their salty burst on her tongue as she munched them down. “Tren refused to have sex with me because he’s afraid he’d split me in two. He’s a freaking dick tease, that’s what he is. Shows me all that beautiful purple penis and lets me play with it, but not allow me to take it for a ride. I’ve been literally cockblocked by a big cock.”

Moving around a snickering Casey, Paige considered the rest of the food. The picnic stuff was gone, and now Italian dishes like lasagna and garlic bread tempted her with their wonderful smells. Her stomach growled, and she filled a bowl with spaghetti before spearing a meatball and chowing down on it. A moan of pleasure hummed from her belly, and she wolfed down half the bowl before realizing Jaz and Casey were laughing at her again.

“Easy,” Casey said while shaking her head. “You’re going to choke. Speaking of choking, have you tried to fit the cockmonster in your mouth yet?”

“You’d be surprised at what you can fit in your mouth if properly motivated.”

That set both women into gales of laughter, and Paige grinned. If only Dawn and Kimber were here right now, they’d be so proud of her for coming out of her shell. Usually she’d be too shy to talk in front of Jaz, but now she found it easy to include the woman in her circle of friends. She knew what it was like to feel like she lived on the outskirts of life and didn’t want anyone else to feel that painful loneliness. No wonder the Kadothian men went mad if they didn’t find their bondmates, always being on the outside looking in. Everyone wanted to belong, wanted to love someone.

Her appetite receded, and she returned to her place on the couch, stretching out on her back with a yawn. “I wish I had a pillow.”

“Hold on,” Jaz said before darting through a hidden door. A moment later she returned with a magenta pillow covered with sparkling gold embroidery and handed it to Paige. “Lucky girl, Tren has you sleeping on pillows stuffed with
allas
feathers. Very rare, very hard to make, and cost a fortune. Also very romantic on his part. A Kadothian male likes to spoil his woman and show her that he can provide for her every need. For Tren, this pillow is like a love note to you, something that shows you how much he cares.”

Her head sank into the perfectly soft surface and the loveliest aroma filled her senses. It smelled like…sugar cookies dipped in chocolate and filled with strawberry jam. Delicious, but comforting with an edge of the incense of a wood fire and a faint scent of pine. Peace consumed her, and she sighed in delight. “Perfect.”

“After you sleep on it, that pillow will continue to be perfect, but only for you.”

“Huh?” Paige replied sleepily.

“Never mind.” Jaz stroked her hair back in a motherly way that Paige found comforting. “You get some rest.”