Paige's Warriors (Bondmates Book 3) (4 page)

Because of the unstable nature of the wormhole that had opened between the Milky Way galaxy and his own Bel’Tan galaxy, no one had any idea how much time the Kadothians had before the wormhole began to shut down and they’d be forced to return home or be stuck on Earth forever. As it was, their scientists were confident they would be able to give thirty-six hours notice before the wormhole closed, but that was still cutting it tight.

Not that this planet was a bad place to be. Earth had yet to encounter another species from their galaxy, or if any visitors had come they had only stopped at Earth before moving on. Their technology was primitive, and they were in danger of making their planet uninhabitable to human life due to pollution, but as a whole they weren’t doing too bad for a fledgling species warring with itself. While Kadothia was united beneath one governing body, the High Council, Earth still operated in independent countries, all battling for the same resources for their people. In many ways Earth reminded him of Kadothia before the Great Sorrow, when separate kingdoms had fought until they almost destroyed the Kadothian race.

Well, they did manage to destroy half of it. The women. Not a single female had been born on Kadothia in ten thousand years, so the males of the race had to go off planet to find their brides. Every Matriarch on Kadothia was born off planet, but had been converted by a blood exchange via a kiss into a female capable of bonding and reproducing with a Kadothian male. His own mother had been from a seafaring race on a planet far from Kadothia and he’d inherited his dark skin tone from her.

While brides came from every corner of the Bel’Tan galaxy to Kadothia, they’d never come from as far off as Earth.

“If you will follow me, Commander,” Cormac said in a formal tone.

They were good friends, but with the subordinates around them watching closely they would keep their conversation strictly professional, at least until they were in private.

As Cormac led Tren through the kitchen area of the farmhouse and down into the basement, he acknowledged the men who stopped whatever they were doing to salute him as he passed.

Tren lifted his chin in return, but right now his thoughts were focused on finding his bondmate. He felt her, a distant warmth that had grown stronger as he zeroed in on her position. It had only taken him a week of jumping around planet Earth to lock onto her. He hadn’t smelled her yet, hadn’t been lucky enough to get that close, but her soul called to him. The urge to go hunt her down was strong, but first he had to talk to Cormac about the proper way to court a bride from this region of Earth.

It didn’t take them long to reach Tren’s temporary quarters beneath the home, and he took a moment to glance around the standard, cream and brown toned three-room suite before turning his attention to Cormac with a real smile.

They crossed the room and met in a hearty, back slapping embrace. “It is good to see you again, Tren.”

“You too, Cormac. It has been what, close to two hundred years?”

“Seems like just yesterday we were taking back the Governor’s Mansion on Haldina from the Hive.”

It had been a bloody battle, but with the help of the Haldina army the Kadothians had managed to break the Hive’s line and push them out of the city.

“The older I get, the faster time seems to go.” He sat down on the edge of a smooth chocolate brown chair made up of millions of nanobots that instantly conformed to his body. “How is your bride hunt going?”

“Frustrating. She was here, then gone, then back again, but always gone before I can get a lock on her. I cannot figure out where she is, or why she keeps leaving, and it is really beginning to piss me off.”

“Piss you off?”

“Earth slang. It means to make one angry.”

“I am sure you will find her.”

Despondent, Cormac shrugged, the long blond and brown streaked braid of his hair falling over his shoulder. “If the Lord of Life is willing. What of you? Do you know where your bride is?”

“Somewhere nearby. I had to return to the ship once I was sure she was close, to begin the process of retirement from my position.”

Cormac gave him an understanding look. “Will it be hard to give it up? You have been Supreme Commander for close to eight hundred years.”

“Not when I have my Matriarch.”

“Good point.” Cormac stretched out his long legs. “How can I help you?”

“I need to know how to approach my bride. To be truthful, after ten failed Reapings I had given up hope of finding my bride and did not research Earth culture as much as I should.”

“I understand.” Cormac flicked a wrist at the wall nearest them, which had become a viewing screen. “Human women love these things called ‘romantic comedies’. They are meant to be humorous, but they show different types of mating rituals that are native to the United States. I recommend you start off with
Sleepless in Seattle
then
Coming to America
. Both are very informative on what to do, and not do, with Earth women.”

A knock came from the door and Tren permitted entry after he saw the visitor’s ID displayed on his internal communicator like a picture in his mind. The door slid open and Nosa, a high ranking Warrior of the Scout class and Cormac’s blood brother, stepped through. Not many people knew the big, intimidating man with skin so black it had a blue tint and long midnight hair was blood brothers with Cormac, but Tren had known both of them for centuries and while they didn’t come right out and say it, they relaxed around him enough to show casual affection to each other. Like right now, Nosa was giving Cormac a warm kiss of greeting that made both men smile.

Jealousy bit at him, but Tren pushed it down. Once he’d had a blood brother that had been the center of his world, but now he was alone. Yearning for Rell tried to fill him, but he’d learned to shut himself off from all thoughts of the man he used to love, anger easily replacing the hint of affection. As he closed himself down, he no longer cared that Nosa and Cormac had each other while he was alone. On some level he knew this wasn’t a good thing, that the disconnection from his emotions was a sign of the madness, but he couldn’t face the pain from the gaping hole in his soul that Rell used to occupy.

“Trenzent?” Nosa asked in a loud voice.

“Forgive me. I was attending to other matters on my com link.”

Both men nodded, but Nosa watched him closely. “How long do you think it will take you to find her?”

“Lord of Life willing, not long. I feel she is nearby, but I do not want to approach her until I am sure I understand her culture enough to keep from offending her and scaring her away. We are so much larger than they are, and I fear my appearance will intimidate her. I need to be able to seduce her with my words instead of looks.”

He watched both Cormac and Nosa look at his scarred face and could almost hear their pitying thoughts.

Two hundred years ago Tren had been briefly captured by the Hive and in that short time had been brutally tortured and mutilated. While he could have been healed good as new, he kept his deformities as a visible reminder, as proof of the Hive’s evil. Too many people living in safety on Kadothia had forgotten what an all too threat their ancient enemies posed, but Tren never would. Still, the sight of his metallic jaw and twisted features would have stood out among the people of Earth, so he’d allowed the Healers to graft skin over his jaw and to smooth some of the muscles in his face until his features were even again. He’d barely recognized himself afterward and had spent a long time looking in the mirror, remembering the man he’d used to be.

His face was still damaged enough to serve as a reminder, but not so out of place that his bride would be disgusted or frightened.

At least he hoped.

Still unused to the skin along his chin, he ran his hands over the slightly raised surface.

“So,” Cormac said in an overly loud voice as he stood. “We will leave you to your movie watching. Please, contact me if you have any questions. And good luck on your hunt, Commander.”

“Thank you, Admiral, good luck to you as well.”

Paige Grant

From the diary of Paige Grant

Today was ten weeks post the ‘Event’, as they’ve taken to calling it on the news, and the world let out a collective sigh of relief as we survived another day without some type of horrible disaster. Every minute there are new theories as to what happened, but so far nothing I find believable. There are very few real hard facts, mostly speculation. Of course those of us on this planet lucky enough to have an education and a basic understanding of the Universe knew the chances of us having some kind of galactic catastrophe were high. I mean, a ton of movies have been made about everything from asteroids to aliens attacking the fragile blue marble we live on. In a way, God had to be looking out for us because the odds that the human race had managed to survive this long without having something happen were astronomical. I guess our luck finally ran out on the day of the Event.

Then again, my friends and I are super lucky that Roxie got us out in time. Our guardian angels were working overtime that day, no doubt about it. Ann Arbor did not fare well, and there were stories of looting, raping, and just plain evil that rivaled the problems some of the major cities had. That’s not to say there weren’t safe places even in the ghettos of some of the most dangerous places in the world.

Remember this quote, future me, because it’s very important right now.

All the darkness in the world cannot put out the light of a single candle.

St. Francis of Assisi

I’m trying my best to be that light, and I guess you know how well I’ve fared. You know how hard it is for me to be around strangers, especially strange men, so I’ve forced myself to volunteer at the public daycare in the middle of town. The family I usually nanny for is stuck in their condo down in Florida. They were on vacation when the magnetic wave hit. Speaking of the wave, it’s affected the atmosphere of the Earth in some funky way, which has led to incredible rainbows of light flaring through the sky day and night. They’re fading, but that first night they took my breath away with their beauty. It was like God was telling me it would be okay.

Some things I want to remember:

Alan Denwich, despite being a big and burly man, is as gentle as a lamb. I never would have known this if I didn’t master my fear.

Mo Temple’s children think he’s the best dad in the world, and they mean it. Their love for him shines true, so even though he’s a little bit of a sourpuss, he’s a good man. I never would have known this if I didn’t master my fear.

Goodnight, Future Me, hope you’ve found your happily ever after.

With a sigh, Paige set her diary down on the bed next to her, the pale purple cover smudged with an old chocolate fingerprint. She was a stress eater, and she was lucky she hadn’t put on fifty pounds over the last few weeks. Then again, with as much as she was cramming into every day, she wasn’t surprised she burned off all those calories from late night snacking binges. The Cinderella themed clock next to her bed read 11:48 pm, and she flicked off the light then flopped back into her full-size canopy bed. The pale pink walls of her room soothed her, and she grabbed her old, somewhat tattered black stuffed cat, the last birthday gift she’d gotten from her mother before she passed away from cancer.

The soft fur of her stuffed animal brushed her cheek as she turned on her side and snuggled into her bed, cold blue illumination seeping in around the edges of her curtains from the security light below. Her modest one-bedroom apartment was above a jewelry store on Main Street in an old brick building from the late 1800s. It was cheap, and more importantly, because it was above a jewelry store with great security, it was safe. This had been a major requirement even before the Event, and now more than ever. The first two weeks had been scary, even here in her sleepy little farming community, and Casey’s father had been forced to shoot a man who’d been trying to kidnap a neighborhood girl. The worst elements of society took advantage of the blackouts and general confusion, and Paige was thankful for the elaborate black wrought iron security gates that guarded her windows and door.

Her home was her oasis, and as she drifted off on her princess bed in her fairytale themed room, she couldn’t help but hope she dreamed of
him
tonight, the cyborg of her wet dreams. Or maybe she’d dream about her other current subconscious obsession, a guy who looked a lot like the actor who played Lucious Malfoy in the Harry Potter movies, but even more arrogantly handsome. Both of her fantasy men were big, so large she barely reached their chests, and they had to lift her up to kiss her properly. She was sure a psychiatrist would have a field day with figuring out why she had sexy dreams about a giant cyborg and wizard pretty much every night, but she didn’t care. Amazingly hot dreams with sex gods won over nightmares about the Event any day of the week. With a smile on her face, she fell asleep and dreamed of them both.

***

The next day Paige frowned at her friend Dawn as she sped down the dirt road that led to the house Casey was renting from her uncle for the summer. “Slow down.”

Dawn’s old hunter green Jeep bounced through a pothole hard enough that Paige’s teeth clicked together while her friend grinned manically at her. “Kimber said they’re all sweaty and shirtless, unbelievably hot, and they’re fighting. You know I have a thing for MMA guys. Plus, I haven’t been laid in months, so there is no way I’m missing this. We have to get to Casey’s house before they disappear.”

“You won’t get laid if we’re dead, either.”

Flapping her hand at Paige, Dawn pouted. “Whatever. You’re so dramatic. Have I ever gotten into an accident with you in the car?”

“No, but you’ve gotten into four of them without me.”

“Three of those were from dodging deer, so we both know those don’t count. Besides, you secretly like the way I drive. You just won’t admit it.”

“And why in the hell would I like being plastered against your windshield like an unlucky bug?”

“Because it reminds you that you’re alive.” She glanced over with a raised, coppery orange brow. “You don’t have sex, you don’t drink, you don’t smoke weed or even a vaporizer. Face it, love, if it wasn’t for my mad driving skills your heart rate would never rise above a bored thump.”

Sighing, Paige gripped her seat as Dawn took a turn quick enough that the big back tires of the Jeep skidded a bit in the gravel. Her friend was right, in her own obnoxious way. After the nightmare with her father, Paige had built huge walls around herself and had withdrawn, needing peace and solitude. She used to like the silence, but now it reminded her of how empty the bed around her was, how much she’d love a firm body to cuddle into.

She felt lonely, but had no clue on how to approach a guy. Sure, she’d had plenty of men hit on her over the years, and she knew she wasn’t so ugly men would run away in horror, but she hadn’t flirted in a long time. Just the thought of trying to chat up any guy made her go cold, but as Dawn’s Jeep slammed through another pothole, the jolt of pain snapped her out of her negative worries.

Ahead on the right was Casey’s small one-story home, and farther beyond that stood a large, white farmhouse with a massive barn out back that was the reason Dawn was in a hurry. Evidently Casey was sick, and Kimber was staying with her to help her out. Only Kimber quickly discovered that, for God knows whatever reason, a couple dozen hot guys were working out at Casey’s neighbor’s house. According to her friend these guys were so hot Kimber thought she might be dreaming and that there were more six-packs out there than at the grocery store. That was all Dawn had needed to hear. One minute Paige had been enjoying a coffee at the local cute corner coffee house with her friend, the next she’d been slamming on her three-point harness in the Jeep while Dawn let out a war whoop.

Paige thought Kimber must be exaggerating or playing a joke, but as they got closer her heart began to beat faster and the weirdest sense of anticipation came over her as the distant forms of moving men came into focus. What if there really was someone over there meant just for her? Prickles climbed up the base of her spine, and she craned her neck to see over the field of tall grass and wildflowers. Before she could get a good look Dawn swung into the gravel driveway leading to Casey’s place, then she slammed the Jeep into park hard enough that both the vehicle, and Paige, protested.

“Dawn—”

But it was too late to scold the redhead since she was already up the chipped cement steps and ringing the doorbell. With a sigh, Paige unbuckled, then slid out of the front seat and nervously smoothed her khaki shorts. They were tighter than she was used to wearing, but she was trying to wean herself off the need to hide her body beneath baggy, shapeless clothes. Even if she was a lot curvier than was fashionable, that didn’t mean she had to wear a tent’s worth of fabric.

After all, her mother had been curvy and everyone in town agreed that Tina Grant had been an astonishingly beautiful woman. She’d died when Paige was eleven, but she clearly remembered her mother’s elegant sense of style and tried to emulate it. Today her pale mint top also showed a little bit more of her generous cleavage than usual, and she had her silver hoop earrings in. With her long brown hair swept back into a half-up, half-down style she couldn’t hide behind it and that made her a little uneasy. A year ago she would’ve never dressed up in a way to attract a man’s attention, and while she still wasn’t comfortable with leering, she’d learned to appreciate having a nice looking man give her a flirty smile. It never went beyond that. She still ran the other way if they tried to approach, but it was a start.

If the Event had taught her one thing it was that life was short and precious, and she could no longer afford to foolishly squander it on being scared.

With this in mind, she made her way into the cool interior of Casey’s home, the faint smell of some kind of berry candle scenting the air.

Trailing after Dawn, she went down the short hallway to Casey’s bedroom. By the time she walked in, Dawn and Kimber were over by the window facing the neighbor’s house with the sheer curtains drawn back, their noses pressed to the glass. From there Paige had a much better view of the men and what she saw stunned her for a moment.

They were beautiful. Each and every one of them a perfect specimen of manhood in their own way. It was like God had collected every type of man a woman could ever possibly desire and put them all in one place. The majority had long hair held back in tight braids that whirled around them as they punched and kicked at each other, all wearing what looked almost like black pajama pants.

The late afternoon sun kissed skin ranging in every color from the deepest black to pale cream, all of the men gorgeously muscled and strong. 

They were all tall, all ripped, and all super yummy.

On the bed, Casey made a little noise of discomfort, and Paige instantly felt guilty for ogling rather than checking on her friend. “How are you feeling, sweetie?”

A weak smile curved Casey’s flushed lips. “Not as bad as that night we stole a bottle of your dad’s moonshine, but pretty close.”

“Ugh, that’s awful.” Her gaze kept trying to wander over to the window, but she made herself focus on her sick friend. “Dawn, you could at least say hi to Casey.”

“Hi, Casey,” Dawn said with a distracted mumble. “Oh. My. God. I have died and gone to washboard abs heaven.”

Kimber, her dark honey skin shining against the pale pink of her T-shirt, fanned herself. “Look at the shoulders on that guy with the long brown hair wearing the dark blue pants.”

“Niiiiice,” Dawn purred.

She wanted to go over there and drool with her friends, but her good manners prevented her from doing it. Instead, she moved to Casey’s side and tucked the covers in around her like she would for the kids she nannied. Someone had to be the adult in the situation and make sure Casey was all right, and as usual it was her. It wasn’t that her friends didn’t care about each other. It was just that they seemed so young to her sometimes, so carefree. She was the practical one who kept them from doing stupid things and getting hurt, the one they turned to when they needed comfort. It was a role she was happy to fill because taking care of them fed a need in her soul, but just once she wanted to be the one staring at hunky guys instead of caring for a sweaty sick girl.

Forcing herself to turn her back on the now pressing need to look, she said, “Can I get you anything?”

Casey rolled her dark eyes. “No, go ahead and join the peeping Thomasinas.”

Unable to resist, Paige elbowed her way through Dawn and Kimber. They were both about a head taller than her, so they made room. It took her eyes a second to adjust from the dimness of Casey’s room to the golden sunlight, but when they did her breath caught in her throat. Holy crap. Kimber was right. There were around two dozen supremely drool worthy men, and Paige’s heart began to beat a little faster, that odd sense of anticipation hitting her hard.

“You weren’t exaggerating. It’s like a farm that only breeds incredibly sexy guys over there.”

They talked about the man candy for a little bit before Dawn said, “You know, they must be worn out and hungry after all that exercising. It would be the neighborly thing to bring them over some cookies or something.”

Before Paige knew it, Casey, who was suddenly feeling better, was shoving them out of the room to go make cookies while she washed up. Once Casey was ready, they meandered down the gravel road in front of Casey’s house to her neighbors a field away. They’d made some treats, brownies and the like, and Dawn had an almost full case of beer. Their cover story was that it was the right thing to welcome the new neighbors, but Paige knew her friends well enough to know that all three of them were on the hunt, including Casey. Evidently one of those super hot guys had hit on her, and Casey was more than eager to talk with him again.