“They’re just getting started,” Quinn laughed.
The new arrival sighed dramatically and turned to look at our little group. “Hi. I’m Adrian Davis. I’m mated to?—”
Lyra’s neutral expression shifted as she glanced over Adrian’s shoulder to inspect the large Atlan Warlord on Adrian’s heels. Lyra’s face paled and she shook her head, wrapping her arms around her waist as if she was in pain. “Kovo?” Her shocked whisper put every nerve in my body on edge. She swayed, her entire body trembling.
I settled my hand at the small of her back to steady her and she clung to me. Gasped. Doubled over and wailed as if she’d just been stabbed through the heart with a sword.
“Lyra?” The hulking shadow materialized into an Atlan Warlord—the one she called Kovo?— as he stepped into the well-lit room, his attention focused on the woman who would already be on her knees if I wasn’t holding her up.
Lyra’s head snapped up and she stood slowly, as if every movement caused her pain, every muscle ached, every nerve misfired. “Kovo. You’re dead.” Her voice was barely more than a whisper as if speaking any louder would break her open, the soft tone like a pressure valve for her pain. “You’re dead. Reji’s dead. You’re both dead.”
The huge Atlan walked right up to her—us—and dropped to one knee, his head bowed. “Lyra. Please forgive me. There was no other way.”
He lifted his face to Lyra as the woman who’d entered with him, Adrian, clasped her hands over her mouth, silent tears streaming down her cheeks as she watched her mate kneel before another woman.
Every alien in the room was on his feet, surrounding Warlord Bahre, who had discreetly placed his mate, Quinn, behind him.
Jenkins and I had our backs to one wall, Lyra in front of us. Only the woman, Adrian, stood between us and the exit.
“Lyra?” I reached for her hand, but she shook her head, tears streaming down her cheeks.
Lyra turned away from the kneeling Atlan without touching him and walked toward the large screen where the Prillon watched with a level of calm detachment that indicated he was the only one who knew exactly what was happening.
“You!” Lyra’s outburst was deeper. Intense. The voice I’d only heard a handful of times when we’d been naked.
The male on the screen tilted his head and stared at her, no apology or regret that I could see on his face or in his freakish, neon green eyes. “I have been trying to get you to Earth for quite some time, my lady.”
“You should have told me!” Lyra screamed in rage at the Prillon.
“I contacted you within days of the execution. Told you to start your search on Earth.”
Execution? What execution? What were they talking about?
From his knees, Kovo reached out a hand. “Lyra, please.”
“What about Reji? Was that a lie, too?” Lyra yelled at the screen as she lurched forward, head down, long hair blocking my view of her face. She slammed one hand down on top of the conference table with a loud thud.
“My lady, I do not know the fate of Reji. Not yet.” The Prillon cleared his throat. “Doctor Mersan?”
The copper colored Prillon tilted his head, the smallest hint of regret in his dark eyes, unlike the cold, calculating stare of the commander. “We have received no communication from Warlord Reji for several months.”
“Months?” Lyra’s shout changed to a scream of rage. “Months? He’s been dead for years. Kovo was executed in front of the entire Coalition, shamed for losing control and murdering his own brother!” She lifted the conference table by its edge and upended the entire thing, threw it against the wall, taking an entire row of rolling chairs with it. Tossed it aside like it was made of paper. “You let me believe it! You let me grieve! Fucking liars! All of you! Gods. Damned. Fucking. LIARS!” She lifted one conference chair in each hand and threw them at the faces on the screen.
The chairs bounced off the surface without doing any damage, which seemed to enrage her further. She held her hands in fists at her sides as her chest heaved.
What the fuck was going on here?
“Lyra, please…” Kovo, still kneeling, held out a hand, begging for what? Forgiveness?
Lyra turned on her heel to stare at me. “Gods, Ethan. I’m sorry. I wanted to tell you… I can’t… I can’t control her…”
Kovo was on his feet in a blink. He moved toward Lyra, but he was too late. I was already there, my arms around her, holding her steady. “Lyra. What’s wrong? Talk to me.”
The doctor on screen, Mersan, leaned forward as if he could come through the screen and get to her. “I warned you, Helion. The data from her armor’s bio-medical scan indicated the DNA integrations were unstable. They are having unintended side effects.”
DNA integrations? Side effects?
Commander Helion’s scowl focused on Lyra. “My lady, you’ve been keeping secrets.”
