Even now, with Nial and Ander, their mate happy between them, I felt unease at having the males so close to what was mine.
Completely and totally irrational, but all I could do was keep my mouth shut and pretend to be civilized. Perhaps, once the mating had settled in, I wouldn’t be so edgy, so territorial and protective. Maybe.
From what Nial had said, we were the only Alerans on the ship. It wasn’t as if I could ask someone about the Ardor, or about my awakening. I mentally shrugged. Being ignorant only meant we would fuck more until we discovered the truth.
I wrapped my fingers in Trinity’s long, golden hair and tugged gently. Relenting at last, she sat back and leaned into my side. Her floral scent filled my nose. It was enough.
“I know I am nothing more than a lowly soldier, Nial, but I am less concerned with your traitor than
the assassin who nearly killed the princesses within hours of their arrival on Alera. I saw his face. I knew him from my days in the Fleet. He was with IC. The Shadow Unit.”
Ander lifted his perceptive and intense gaze from his mate’s face to mine. “What is this Shadow Unit?”
Prime Nial sighed, his silvery gaze shifting from Ander to me, then back. “They are assassins, Ander. Most of them are Everian Hunters, but every once in a while, a warrior with a very elite set of skills is invited to join them.”
“I have never heard of this unit within the Intelligence Core. Under whose command?” Ander asked.
“Mine. Mine and, soon, Queen Celene’s. Alera has always held a seat on the royal council. The Shadow Core answers to the council, maintaining order and stability within the Coalition.” Nial ran his golden-hued hand through his hair and Lady Deston moaned softly, slipping off Ander’s lap and going to Nial in response to some hidden pain. She wrapped herself around him and he pulled her onto his lap. Ander stood, pacing the small room in agitation. What the fuck were the feelings they shared through the collars?
“I’ve never heard of such a thing,” I said.
Trinity glanced at me, clearly confused as well, but remained silent. While the queen may have shared details—including the Aleran language—with her daughters, I saw now that she hadn’t told her daughters everything.
“It is a secret organization, Princess. One day, you will sit on that council.” In a complete change of tone, Nial chuckled, and sliced his hand through the air. “And you, Leo, a lowly soldier?”
“You move like a killer,” Ander muttered.
“You are no ordinary soldier, Leo, and we both know it,” Nial finished. “It was no accident I chose you. Who else would be best served to protect the three princesses of Alera?”
“Besides her mate?” I countered.
“Good fortune, indeed, that you are mates. Besides your level of skill and experience to assist you in her protection, claiming Trinity certainly makes it easier. If your instinct to protect is anything like mine, it is intense.” He kissed the top of Lady Deston’s head.
Beside me, Trinity stirred on the couch cushion. “Leo? If it’s all top secret, how do you know about this uber-top-secret guild of assassins? And what one of them looks like?”
I couldn’t face her, didn’t want to see the look in her eyes when I shared what I was. I took my hand off her body because touching her felt wrong right now, when I was forced to remember what I’d become in the Fleet. The things I’d done to protect my planet. My people. I wasn’t just a lowly Aleran guard monitoring a watch tower. As if.
I’d fought in the Coalition Fleet, defended all worlds, but in the end, I’d killed for Alera. No one else. “Because I was one of them.”
“Who? One of those shadow people?”
I nodded once. “I was a member of the Shadow Unit. Yes.”
“Who was it? What’s his name?” Ander asked, clearly not interested in the clandestine group, but solely the assassin who had once been one of us.
When Trinity remained silent, I answered him. She hadn’t run away screaming. We both had secrets. We both had a depth, pasts, that affected what we were now. It was Trinity’s heritage, her very DNA, that set her course in life. She might have lived on Earth, but it was her purpose to be on Alera. It was my purpose to be her mate. Perhaps my time serving the Fleet, all the horrors I’d seen, the battles I’d faced, the people I’d killed, were to bring me to this moment, to protect her. To be skilled enough to keep her alive.
I’d been groomed to be hers.
“We don’t have names,” I replied. “We called him Nix.”
Nial lifted a tablet from the table and began entering data onto a screen I couldn’t see. He used voice recognition and a bunch of code numbers and words none of us would remember. After a moment, he sighed and placed it on the table before me, the assassin’s familiar face staring up at me next to a complete military dossier. Including his real name. Vennix Blyndar. Nix. Aleran.
Trinity leaned forward to look, a shudder racing through her when she saw the male’s face. “Yep. That’s the guy who burst through the window, killed the… um, consort, then tried to kill me.”
5
Trinity