Ascension Saga (Interstellar Brides): Book 2

We all turned to Prime Nial, Jessica turning to stare at him next with so much love on her face I had to look away. He looked from her to Leo, and finally, his gaze rested on me. Sighed. Even ran a hand over his face. For someone who was half Hive parts, he looked like a guy who was completely pussy-whipped. Prime or not. “It’s dangerous.”

“Too dangerous,” Leo protested, giving me a squeeze that was far from playful.

Prime Nial raised his hand. “It’s dangerous, Trinity,” he warned. “These are highly skilled warriors. Leo’s sworn not to speak of his role, but under the circumstances, sharing a little was understandable. My role allows me a little more lenience. The Shadow Unit.” He sighed once again. “They are sent into Hive occupied territory to do reconnaissance. They know a hundred ways to kill with their bare hands and are skilled in the use of every weapon from every star system. Your mate may seem mild, but he’s anything but.”

I blushed, because while he was talking about his cool demeanor, I was immediately thinking of his wild fucking.

“You are not baiting a wild animal,” Nial continued. “But a highly intelligent, trained killer.”

Leo. My Leo was one of these warriors? He’d gone into Hive territory alone? Been sent into the most dangerous, deadly, horrifying places in the war and told to fend for himself. To kill, over and over?

The vision of Leo somewhere, tortured and alone, like he’d been in that cage, filled my mind and I turned around in his hold, wrapped my arms around his waist. “I’m so sorry, Leo.”

Ander grunted, totally ruining the moment. “Nial tells you a monster is hunting you, and all you can think about is comforting your mate?”

He wasn’t my mate, not really. Not yet. We hadn’t gotten married, or bonded, or whatever kind of weddings they had on Alera. But he was mine right now. And while I seemed to rule his dick, we were just… going out. Seeing each other. Hell, hooking up. But mated? Not quite. Still, love didn’t care about terms, did it?

Ander was right about one thing. “I don’t care if this Nix guy kills me. Not if you catch him. Find out who has my mother. Protect my sisters.”

“No. Fuck, no.” Leo’s arms tightened around me until I fought to breathe. “I forbid this. No. You will remain here, on Battleship Karter. I will hunt him down. I will kill him. You will not risk yourself.”

Sighing, I wiggled until he loosened his hold a little and I could look up into his eyes. “How long would that take? Weeks? Months? I don’t have that kind of time. My mother doesn’t have that kind of time. I can’t wait. There’s too much at stake.” Turning to Prime Nial, the most powerful military commander in the galaxy, I begged him to see reason. “The four spires are lit. The entire planet knows my sisters and I exist. Whoever has my mother surely must know by now. They might kill her if they think she is no longer necessary.”

He stared at me, his whiskey-colored eyes thoughtful. “Why did they take her after all this time? Why did they travel all the way to Earth and drag her, as you said, from her bed? Why not cut her throat and be done with it? Take the throne? Why are they keeping her alive?”

Leo cleared his throat. “The royal gemstones. Does she have them?” He looked down at me, waiting for the truth.

I didn’t lie, but I couldn’t tell him everything either. “No. But she hid them.”

“Do you know where they are?” he asked.

Swallowing hard, I nodded, but didn’t speak.

“Where are they?” Jessica asked. “We should go get them and bring them back to the Karter. If they’re that valuable, if someone kidnapped the queen for them, then we can lock them up. They’ll be safe until you get this all figured out.”

She was watching me, the sharpness in her gaze in complete contrast to her earlier contentment. But then, that was the main reason I’d fled from Leo’s lap. It was too easy to feel safe there. Safe and warm and consumed with the need to get him naked. Inside me. To forget about all the bad stuff, the bad guys. How my mother could be hurt or dying. And my sisters. Were they well? Safe?

I sighed. “They have remained safely hidden for nearly thirty years. I don’t think they are in any danger of being found.”

Leo narrowed his eyes. “And you know, for certain, they remain safe?”

“Yes.” I’d seen them. Held them for a moment when I’d gone to the place my mother had told us about. That only she and her three daughters knew of. To prove they were there, that they really were still safe. The gemstones were concealed in a hidden compartment inside the citadel. And beyond that, the secret compartment lay within a hidden room below the sanctum. A puzzle within a puzzle. “Whoever holds her will not learn their whereabouts. My mother will not tell them where they are. She’d die first, to protect us.”

She was strong. Strong enough to survive. To flee across an entire galaxy and start a new life while pregnant with me, mourning my father. Brave enough to risk her heart and fall in love again. Have more children. Prepare them for the future we now faced. I couldn’t imagine it. “Queen Celene is the strongest woman I know.”

They didn’t ask again and relief flooded me. I didn’t want to fight. Not about this. They had to trust me in this, and fortunately, they were. Perhaps it was because it was the queen, herself, we were referring to. Nial was giving her the respect and deference she deserved in knowing how to rule her planet, to keep it safe from any kind of threat.

“You are determined to do this?” Leo asked. I had to wonder, in this moment, if he saw me as Princess Trinity, and not as Trinity, the one he called mate. I respected him for that, for he’d said he would bow to me as princess. He would defer to my judgment, at least in this.

And my heart grew even more in love with him for it.

“Yes.” I looked up into his eyes, held his gaze. “I need your help, Leo. Please. Don’t fight me on this. Use me to draw him out. I’m willing to take the chance. I have to protect my sisters.”

“It is my job to protect you, but in this, I can’t. I will never forgive myself if anything happens to you.” And that was the crux of it. But this wasn’t just about me. It was about Faith and Destiny and the future of Alera.

“Then kill him first.”

Prime Nial met my gaze, unblinking. “We need a plan. As Prime, I can’t allow you two off this ship until we have a plan in place.”