When she went back over how upset Kai was when he learned the truth—that his mate was still on Earth unprotected—it was my turn to touch Kai when his beast rumbled to the surface. And yes… adorable. Although, if I stopped to really think about how powerful these Atlan warlords truly were, it was frightening. All that power, all that strength now completely focused on their mates? Wonderful and terrifying at the same time.
When we were all caught up, Lavender looked at me. “What the hell is in those pictures, Lark?”
“That’s what I’d like to know.” The unfamiliar voice caused both of us to turn our heads.
“Commander Helion.” Kai stood up and offered him a warrior’s greeting, but I was half convinced the move was more to place himself between me and the big Prillon, than to be polite.
“Warlord. Now that you and your mate are settled, I’d like to speak to Larkspur in ops. I have some questions about the night you captured those images.”
“Okay.” I gave my sister a quick hug and promised we’d talk more later. Helion was already walking out the door. Kai and I followed.
Kai
* * *
I escorted my mate to the operations center for Base 3 and stopped in my tracks once Commander Helion cleared the entry. I don’t know what I expected. Not this. Every monitor in the room was covered in images of the night we’d almost lost Warlord Maxus. I knew Larkspur had been hiding in a hollowed out, crumbling section of the parking garage’s ceiling, but I didn’t realize exactly how clear her view had been.
I was there that night. The chaos on the ground as we battled the Hive Soldiers sent to retrieve Maxus—and the Nexus unit’s mind control attack that nearly killed him—appeared somewhat tame and organized when observed through my mate’s camera lens. I had no idea how many images filled the screens, but there wasn’t a bare space.
Too many. Dangerous.
My beast didn’t like the situation either. It’s fine. They’re friends. They aren’t going to attack our mate.
Me protect. Scare them.
No. I fought off a burst of laughter. So unlike me, but I was hardly myself since meeting the female who meant everything. Thank the gods. I’d been a miserable fucking wretch, and so had my beast. They’re warriors. They won’t be afraid of you.
Yes. They will. The beast showed me exactly what he wanted to do, transform, smash some stuff. Roar.
You’ll scare our mate.
She loves us. Not afraid.
Did she? Love us? Love me? I did not know and I refused to dwell on the question. Even if she didn’t love us yet, we had time. Shut up and don’t cause any problems.
The beast grumbled but retreated. He would remain watchful, as would I. Helion had a mate now, that was true. However, he’d been an unpredictable ass for so long, I didn’t trust him in general. I sure as fuck didn’t trust him with my female.
“Come in.” A Prillon I did not know waved Larkspur in his direction.
She looked over her shoulder at me—a fact which made my beast preen—and waited until I took her hand to approach the massive male.
“Greetings, my lady. I am Thomar Arcas. This is Sebastion Arcas, my cousin.” The two Prillons stood shoulder to shoulder, both obviously integrated by the Hive. I knew the Arcas name. They were as close to royalty as Prillon Prime got, descended from one of the original ruling families.
“Thank you for coming. I’d like you to meet my mate, Willow. She is also from Earth.” Commander Helion held out his hand and a small human female with golden hair rose from a chair and walked toward my mate.
“Hi. I’m Willow. I’m from Las Vegas.” She held out her hand and Larkspur took it in her own and squeezed in the human way of greeting.
“Larkspur. Miami.”
“Yes. It’s lovely to meet you.” Willow released my mate and moved in front of Commander Helion, who wrapped his arms around her as if she needed comfort. She seemed perfectly fine until she resumed speaking. “I was a Hive prisoner for a long time. Thomar, Varin and a few others rescued me and some other women from a Hive lab where a handful of Integration units and Nexus 5 were working on an experimental breeding program.”
Larkspur gasped and lifted a hand to cover her mouth, clearly distressed. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what to say.”
“It’s okay. It was horrible, but it’s over. I’m free now and I have my mates.”
Sebastion Arcas moved to claim the hand Willow held out to him and I got my first look at what was rumored to be Prillon Prime’s newest, powerful, political trio. Both Arcas males now served on Prime Nial’s war council and Helion, as always, was neck deep in everything. Willow, bolstered by her mates, continued. “I’m glad you and your sister escaped.”
Larkspur shuddered. “So am I.” The distress in her tone made me regret that the Hive who’d threatened her were already dead. I wanted to kill them again. As a point of fact, I didn’t like this situation. They upset my mate for no apparent reason.
