Paige's Warriors (Bondmates Book 3) (27 page)

She’d managed a little bit of downtime to learn about her territory and knew there were several villages in the sheltered cove below, as well as communities within the cliffs themselves on the sides facing the ocean.

The railing she leaned on was made of a soft white stone with tints of peach, the same stone that made up the majority of her palace.

While she was aware of the crowd following them, her personal guards made sure she had plenty of privacy and kept them at a distance.

Turning, she leaned back on the railing and found Tren and Rell studying her with identical expressions of lust.

She hadn’t realized she’d closed her bond with them, but it was becoming automatic for her now when she was in situations that required her full attention. Now that she eased it open a bit, she knew her ever randy husbands wanted to get their hands on her in a way not appropriate for public. Behind the thin fabric of her gown her nipples tightened and grew, plainly visible bumps that had her flushing.

Trying to give them a scolding look before closing the link again, she walked up to them and crossed her arms, the soft rush of a waterfall in the distance providing a soothing backdrop to the voices in the distance.

“Would you two stop it? We just did it on the transport.”

“We did not do ‘it’,” Tren complained in a low growl.

“I want to do ‘it’ again.” Rell slowly licked his lower lip, his desire pushing at her shields.

“Many times—properly,” Tren added while rubbing his thumb over her cheek, then her mouth.

“Stop that.” She took a step back, glancing over her shoulder at the crowd then at her unrepentant husbands. “People are watching.”

“Of course they are.” Rell grinned. “Do not worry, physical affection is accepted.”

“There are children present!”

Laughing, Tren scooped her up into his arms, ignoring her squeal of protest. “Then let us take you where there are no young eyes.”

She glanced over at Rell, who was also smiling wide as he slid his arm over Tren’s shoulder in an easy, affectionate gesture. “Are you encouraging this kind of behavior? Shouldn’t you be protesting that I should meet people first, do my duty?”

“Your number one duty,” Rell informed her with a heated look, “is to let us love you.”

Unable to hide her smile, she huffed and looked away from her super hot blue-eyed husband and glanced around. They’d entered the main part of the building and into a three-story high open foyer that reminded her of Grand Central Station. Two balconies encircled the main open space and every inch was occupied by men and women of just about every skin and hair tone in the rainbow standing at attention. Feeling like a fool, she tried to discreetly get Tren to put her down, even sending a blast of scolding emotions at them both through their bond. They merely pushed their desire back at her and by the time they entered the silvery transport with its comfortable seating against the walls, she was trying to pretend her panties weren’t soaked and she wasn’t rubbing her hard nipples with her arms.

With Cormac and Nosa in the lead, she was taken through the palace to her personal floors, which consisted of the entire Western tower.

When Tren placed her down onto the polished gray and black stone mosaic floor, she had to steady herself against his arm. “Oh, Tren, Rell…it’s beautiful.”

Suddenly a piercing chime went through her head, super loud, and she dropped to her knees with a yell.

Instantly Tren and Rell were at her side, and she yelled, “What is that noise?”

“Describe it,” Rell said loud enough for her to hear him.

“Four high-pitched beeps followed by a whistle.”

“We are linking up with your com link,” Tren said in a grim voice.

A moment later her vision faded and became replaced with an image of a crying Casey almost hysterical as she told Paige that Roxie was missing. She was deployed on an emergency mission then her unit was ambushed. The Kadothian Warriors watching her back on Earth were dead and no one knew where she, or her troops, were. Casey begged Paige to contact her as soon as she could.

Staggering back, Paige caught herself against a large table holding a vase full of gleaming orange flowers near the door. “Oh no, Roxie?”

Cormac made an enraged growling noise that tore at their bond, his pain overwhelming.

She cried out, and Rell caught her as she fell, while Tren tried to console Cormac and Nosa as they literally howled with grief. Their heartache tore through her, and she struggled to close the partial bond, the effort seeming to take years even if it was only less than a few minutes. In that time, she’d absorbed their piercing despair and overwhelming fear for their bondmate, along with a deep and savage anger that made her want to cut out the throat of anyone who dared to harm Roxie.

Panting, she gazed up at Rell through watery eyes. “Roxie. Is she dead?”

“Shhhh,
alyah
, we do not know yet. Cormac and Nosa could tell us if they were there, but here in the Bel’Tan galaxy they cannot sense her.”

Steadying herself, she managed to stand on her own two feet and looked at Cormac and Nosa, her heart breaking for them. “We’ll do whatever it takes, but we’ll find her. I promise.”

Desolate, Cormac faced her with dead eyes. “Matriarch—”

Nosa grunted and grabbed on to Cormac’s armored shoulder, his nostrils flaring as he stared into his blood brother’s eyes.

A maelstrom of emotions hit her as Cormac whispered, “Roxie, she is here, in the Bel’Tan galaxy.”

Nosa added, “Far away, but she is here.”

“What?” Paige looked from Rell to Tren. “How can she be here? She has to be bonded to come through the wormhole, but Cormac and Nosa are here. How did she get through?”

Cormac closed his eyes, and Nosa threw an arm around his blood brother, holding him close as he said, “Slavers have her.”

Dear Beloved Reader,

I hope you’ve enjoyed this trip to Kadothia and are already looking forward to the next one-which will be Roxie’s book. When? Soon-ish? Unless you’re in the future and Roxie’s Warriors is already out. You can find out more info by visiting
http://www.annmayburn.com

Thank you, once again, for giving me the chance to entertain you. If you enjoyed the book please consider leaving a review!

Ann

Other Books by Ann Mayburn

About the Author

With over thirty published books, Ann is Queen of the Castle to her wonderful husband and three sons in the mountains of West Virginia. In her past lives she's been an Import Broker, a Communications Specialist, a US Navy Civilian Contractor, a Bartender/Waitress, and an actor at the Michigan Renaissance Festival. She also spent a summer touring with the Grateful Dead-though she will deny to her children that it ever happened.

From a young age she's been fascinated by myths and fairytales, and the romance that was often the center of the story. As Ann grew older and her hormones kicked in, she discovered trashy romance novels. Great at first, but she soon grew tired of the endless stories with a big wonderful emotional buildup to really short and crappy sex. Never a big fan of purple prose, throbbing spears of fleshy pleasure and wet honey pots make her giggle, she sought out books that gave the sex scenes in the story just as much detail and plot as everything else-without using cringe worthy euphemisms. This led her to the wonderful world of Erotic Romance, and she's never looked back.

Now Ann spends her days trying to tune out cartoons playing in the background to get into her 'sexy space' and has accepted that her Muse has a severe case of ADD.

Ann loves to talk with her fans, as long as they realize she's weird and that sarcasm doesn't translate well via text.