Trinity. Grace Goodwin
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until the light of the spire died. When that happened, I would fight for the people in my city, choose a family to rule I found worthy. The battles would be bloody, but currently three families held the wealth and power to potentially ascend to the throne. The day the light of the spire went out would be the first day of a very long, very brutal war.
The tower stairs were dark, but I had no trouble seeing my way as I paced through the shadows. There was no need to count the twisting steps, for I’d been this way hundreds of times since my return from space, from the Hive wars.
It seemed my entire life would be dedicated to battle and blood.
So be it. Gods, I was a broody fucker. I needed an Aleran ale, an hour with the hottest setting on my shower tube and my bed. In that order.
Exiting the base of the watchtower, I slowed my pace, in no hurry to return to my quarters. Below me, surrounded by the twisting alleyways and dense tapestry of stone homes, the royal citadel glowed in the center of the city. The strange tower had been there longer than our people had kept records, built by an ancient race of space explorers who left our primitive planet with two gifts—the citadel itself and those who carried their alien bloodline.
The citadel was both a beacon of hope to all of Alera and a bitter reminder that our people had been abandoned when I was a child. I barely remembered the day the king was found dead, the queen missing. My father, now a retired captain of the city guard, still clung to his faith that the royal bloodline lived on, that his beloved queen would return to free us from the chaos of endless civil conflict.
The light shined, so Queen Celene was alive.
But where?
And why had she yet to return?
The younger generation had given up hope. War was coming, no matter how valiantly the clerics fought to keep the peace. I wanted no part in it. The rich fools would fight over something they could never hold. There would be no ascension ceremony, no new queen, not while the light of the spire shined over Mytikas. Queen Celene’s city.
As if the thought had garnered the attention of Fate herself, the NPU implanted behind my ear buzzed with an incoming message.
“Prime Nial of Prillon Prime.” The voice ringing in my ear was clipped and professional, not asking permission to send the communication through so much as warning me that the comm was coming.
I stilled. “Prime Nial?”
The night was not cold, but a shiver of dread raced over my skin as I waited for the most powerful male in the galaxy to talk to me. Gods, why was he calling me? Now?
Prime Nial ruled not just Prillon Prime, but the entire Interstellar Coalition and its fleet of warships. The Coalition military, made up of at least two hundred fifty planets, was his to command in our war with the Hive.
Epic responsibility and power, and he was wishing to speak with me.
I owed him a life debt. My blood turned to ice in my veins. What was so wrong that he would need to call in that mark? What did he need, a man with so much power? How could he need the assistance of a lowly soldier? I was nothing more than a pawn on Alera. In the grand scheme, I was as small as an insect.
“Prime Nial? This is Captain Leoron Turaya. How may I assist you?” My voice cut through the night.
“Leo? Can you hear me?” The Prime’s voice was deeper than I remembered, and the faint sound of a female in the background drifted to me across the vast expanse of space.
“Tell him to hurry. I don’t trust those people,” she said. Didn’t trust who? What was going on?
“Yes, sir. What can I do for you?” How the hell was he placing a direct call to my NPU? The neural processing unit was standard issue for everyone in the Coalition Fleet, and most diplomats from the individual planets chose to have them inserted as well. Universal translators, they made communication across all the races easy, but I’d had no idea the Fleet could transmit directly to me from halfway across the galaxy. From the ground to a ship? Yes. But from Prillon Prime into my skull?
“I have a very important, extremely delicate task for you, Leo. Are you alone?”
I spun in a slow circle, checking my surroundings. I was on the side of a mountain in the middle of the night at the base of a watchtower. Every sane person on this side of the planet was asleep right now. Besides Gadiel far above me, but he was too distant to overhear. “Yes, Prime Nial. I am completely alone. How may I be of service?”
He cleared his throat and I clenched my teeth. I knew Nial well from my fighting days. He’d saved my life, and I’d sworn to answer his call if he needed me. “Don’t call me Prime, Leo.”
I couldn’t help the way the corner of my mouth tipped up. He might be Prime, but he always said he was just a Prillon warrior saving the Coalition from the Hive, just like any other.
“Fine, Nial,” I replied, ensuring deference could still be heard. “I have not forgotten the life debt I owe. Ask for anything. It will be yours.”
His sigh made my head hurt. “I am transporting three women to Mytikas within the hour. I’m sending you the location of the specific transport station now.”
The coordinates were recited in my ear by the transport computer and I recognized the location. “That’s on the opposite side of the city.”
“Can you arrive in time?”
I looked out over the quiet city streets. Mytikas was a sprawling metropolis that filled the valley between two mountain ranges. “Yes. It will be close, but I can be there in an hour.” I’d need to run down the mountain and break a few laws when I reached my EMV, but the vehicle was fast. I’d make it.
“Thank the gods.” I could hear the relief in his voice.
“He can get there? They’re going to need help. And I don’t like the idea of them transporting to a strange planet without someone there we trust.” The woman’s voice was louder now, and soft, but not tender. Hers was a voice accustomed to giving orders.
“Yes, love,” Nial said. “Leo will be able to meet them.” That tone was one I’d never heard from him before, and I almost didn’t recognize his voice. He sounded… gentle. Which, when I thought of the giant Prillon warrior, was not a word I had ever associated with him before.
“Thank god,” the female continued. “Especially with Trinity’s little problem.”
“Congratulations on your mating, Nial,” I said. He’d called her love, which let me know exactly who the new Prime was talking to. Lady Jessica Deston, his mate. I assumed his second was nearby. And what problem?
“Thank you,” he replied. “How did you hear the news? Alera is far from Prillon Prime.”
I laughed, the sound bursting out of me. “Everyone in the galaxy heard about it, you lucky bastard. If you didn’t want everyone to know, you and Ander shouldn’t have claimed the beautiful lady in the fighting arena during a live, interplanetary broadcast.” I’d watched the entire event of the two Prillon males claiming their female. Sacred and erotic, there was no doubt Jessica belonged to Nial and Ander. I was happy for my friend, but had felt nothing as I watched the ceremony. The female he’d been matched to via the Interstellar Brides Program, a woman from Earth, was striking, and very responsive to her mates as they’d claimed her. I’d been pleased that Nial had found happiness, but my body remained as it had always been, dormant.
While a Prillon was connected to his mate and his second by collars that shared feelings, emotions and even sensations, an Aleran male had no such connection. Finding a mate was not easy, especially when an awakening only occurred for The One. And only for her. My cock would not rise until she was before me. Oh, I could feel a shadow of desire, stroke my length in anticipation of sinking into my mate’s tight pussy, but there would be no completion, no satisfaction, until I was buried deep between her thighs. Only then would I come for the first time.
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