It never paid to pin your emotions of your heart on anyone. She’d done that before and it had always ended in heartache. No, she had to stop whatever was happening before anything could develop.
She ignored the fact that it was so hard to turn away from them. For some curious reason, she felt compelled to them on a level she never knew existed, but she shoved the ridiculous notion aside. She’d made a promise to herself years ago.
She’d never be that fool again.
Chapter Eight
Juliran
“Does she really live here?”
Juliran looked at the building and surroundings. It was dirty, ill-repaired, and smelled like dank rubbish that had never been collected. The door frame was chipped and needed a good coat of paint in the least, and a full replacement at the most. Dead bushes lined the ill-paved path leading up to the front doors. The entire building spoke of oppression. He had to hold himself back from kicking the door down and taking her out of this place.
“She is poor.” He was surprised. He’d had no idea of her past. She’d never spoken about it, and, he belatedly realized, he’d never asked. He rubbed his chest, knowing that he should have, had needed to do that, but he’d been so happy at finding their mate, that he had done none of those things. “Did she ever say anything to you two about how she lived on Earth?”
Zaen shook his head. “I was intent on making her feel safe and protected in our care.”
“She never said a word,” Kyel said.
Juliran knew that look on his brother’s face. The one that said he blamed himself for everything. “It’s not just your fault. I never asked her either.”
He wanted to punch something. Preferably the brick wall of the building, but when he launched his fist into the surface, it went right through. More carefully, he punched it again, and his hand sunk right through the wall as though it had no substance again. “What is this?”
“A construct of her mind. It seems when she is near, everything is solid. Her mind forms objects as she requires it, but when she is not around, then it returns to a thought state without any substance,” Zaen said.
“It makes sense, given that we should not be here in the first instance.” Juliran swiped the edge of the building. The bricks swished away, revealed black clouds before they settled back. “Black clouds. The same that came from the crystal.”
“The same keeping our world and our mate hostage,” Zaen said.
Juliran kicked a dead, broken bush. The twigs lost substance, swirling into wisps of smoke before reforming as though he hadn’t touched them. “How are we meant to get her out of here if everything is made from this?”
“You’re right, Juliran. Everything here is constructed from these clouds. They make this reality for her. She obviously thinks that this is all real and is accepting it. There can only be one reason for it. Deep down, she must know what has happened to her, but she’s so desperate to believe this is the truth, she’s deeply rooted to this reality,” Kyel said.
“She looked at us on a few occasions as though there was more, but then she became confused and lost her train of thought,” Zaen said.
“The entity is keeping her locked in her mind. I wonder how long she can keep it up before it all becomes too much for her. She looks exhausted,” Juliran said.
“She does,” Zaen said. “We’ve gone along with it so far, but it’s not getting us anywhere. She keeps on shutting down.”
Kyel turned and paced. He stopped, hanging his head. “We have not been good enough mates to her. We’ve not thought to give her what she so obviously needs. It’s no wonder she shuts us out.”
Juliran’s stomach dropped with the sickening realization. He thought he had done everything possible, but the reality was the opposite.
“Then we have to be better mates,” Juliran said.
“And how do you propose we do that? I have done everything I can think of,” Kyel said.
“Not everything. Only what we wanted to do. Look at our parents as an example. They know everything there is to know about each other. Our mother knows what either of our fathers think before they open their mouths,” Juliran said.
To his surprise, Zaen chuckled, “Drives them up the wall.”
“But what do we know of Lucie? What have we asked her? What has she volunteered about herself?’ Kyel said, eyes blazing. “We are all guilty. Me the most.”
Juliran rested his hand on Kyel’s shoulder, “How can you say that, brother? We were all caught up in the excitement of bringing hope back to our Homeland. We all made the mistake of thinking of her as just our mate, and not Lucie.”
“What do you suggest?’ Zaen asked.
“That we get to know her. That we stop treating her as a mate, and treat her as, well... Lucie,” Juliran said. “If the mate bond is strong enough, it will take care of the rest.”
“And what of the entity that has her trapped here?” Zaen said. “It has a strong hold on her, using her energy field just as it tried with the other human females. We must find out how to end this. If we can’t stop its power in Lucie’s mind, what must it be doing to our Homeland out there?”
Juliran shook his head. “I do not know, brother. But I suspect that if Lucie can beat it, then it will have no power at all. It lost all power when the other Triads’ mates managed to beat it.”
Kyel’s mouth downturned, his eyes tightening. “We don’t know how or why they did it, though. We just need to support Lucie for now. Rediscover her, knowing that if we do not do our jobs as mates, our Homeland is doomed.”
“We will have to change our approach. Show her what she means to us. Listen to her instead of trying to force a connection. Maybe if we’d done that from the start, we wouldn’t be here,” Juliran said.
Zaen ploughed his fingers through his hair. “We were desperate, brother. We weren’t thinking clearly. We acted as though she was a female Negarian mate, not a human, but now we have a clear direction. Not all is lost.”
“Let’s hope she doesn’t reject us here as she has in our reality,” Kyel growled.
Juliran didn’t answer him, but he had to believe Kyel was right. Everything else had failed. Lucie was loved—she just didn’t know it or even worse, didn’t return it. That thought left a hollow in his stomach he didn’t think would ever be filled.
Their surroundings blurred and began to disintegrate. Muted colors broke down to black clouds.
“What’s happening?” Juliran asked.
There was no time to answer before the world around them went black. There wasn’t even a jolt beneath his feet before the black surface reformed and they stood in front of a line of merchant buildings. Night had given way to daylight in a cloudy, yet blue sky. The temperature was pleasant, but not as warm as he was used to. Vehicles traversed the black surface and again they had to run towards the lighter colored pathway to avoid being hit.
There was movement inside one of the buildings containing small, harmless looking furry creatures behind a transparent window. A shadow darted within the building. It was Lucie. Her pretty, yet tired and drawn face smiled at a furry animal with long ears. She picked it up, hugged it to her chest and petted its head before she placed it into a cage and started to clean the contents of the dirtied cage she’d taken it from.
“She can’t be working at another job. She has one already!” Zaen said.
“Yet, here she is,” Juliran said.
She was working just as hard as she did during the night. A pang of guilt hit him. There were so many things he didn’t know about her. The fact she worked herself to the bone at several jobs. The fact she liked small, furry creatures. The fact she lived in poverty. How many more things didn’t they know about? She hadn’t mentioned a word about herself, but he’d never asked. He thought of all the times he’d spoken about their lives and what they did and told her what he thought she would like without taking the time to learn about her. He made a promise to himself to rectify that once they were back in reality.
There was one glimmer of hope. She’d brought them back to her. They were at least in her subconsciousness if she had conjured them here.
Juliran smiled. “It seems she is at least thinking of us on some level. Come, brothers. It is time to make Lucie fall in love with us as a true mate should. We have a second chance. Now we have to use it.”
* * *
Lucie
“Luce. You must get up. You’ll be late.” Grant shook her shoulder, a little rougher than was comfortable.
She’d already slept? It felt as though she’d just put her head down seconds before. Lucie forced open her eyes to see the muted pre-dawn grays seep into the room. A glance at the clock told her she’d been asleep for four hours.
She groaned, turning on her side. “I had this… dream. Nightmare, actually.” Her voice was gritty from sleep. She clung to the last vestiges of the dream, before waking would throw it off completely. A part of her realized this was important, even though her logical mind knew it couldn’t possibly be true. “It was awful. There were these… creatures. A cross between an iguana and a crocodile. They walked upright and had a poison stinger on their tails. I was locked in a cage so small I couldn’t stand up.” She shuddered. “They… did things to me. Tortured me. Hit me. Burned me. Nothing I did made them stop.”
She blinked back tears. Now that she started thinking about it, she couldn’t stop. She didn’t know how long she might have been in that cage. It could have been days. Weeks. It felt like years. A nightmare beyond her worst imaginings.
“They laughed at me. I think they enjoyed hurting us. There were other women there too. They took a bunch of us, but I don’t know what they wanted. I couldn’t understand them. Then they made me hold this crystal and it lit up with blue and green lights. I’ve never seen anything so beautiful…”
There was something else after that. Something really important. Shadowy figures hedged her consciousness. Men. Safety. There was a great pull towards them, but something held her back from seeing them clearly. Something stained and malevolent.
Grant flopped back onto his pillow next to her. “Lucie. It was just a dream. Let it go. You need to get up and go to work. I need your energy.”
“Huh?” The air became freezing cold in an instant and she was chilled from the inside out. He needed her energy? That sounded... odd.
She peered at him through slitted eyelids, checking to see that it was actually him. He sent her a lopsided smile. “I mean, you need to get to the pet shop. Remember, I just got that extra shift for you? You don’t want to be late.”
She remembered now. She had to clean the cages of the animals before the Monday morning open hours. It wasn’t the nicest job, but at least the owners paid her in cash when they came in the morning. And it dovetailed nicely into her shift at the diner. What else would she be doing with her Monday morning?
The extra money had come in handy. Grant had to dress a certain way. He couldn’t do business if he looked scruffy. When he secured her gigs, then they could afford to work on her wardrobe.
Her gaze drifted down to Grant. He was dressed in the same clothes as yesterday. “You’re just getting home now?”
Grant kicked off his shoes and fell onto the bed, groaning. “Don’t complain. It’s all for you. I’m exhausted.”
Sympathy washed through her. She shouldn’t complain. At least she’d gotten some sleep whereas he’d been awake all this time. She forced herself to sit, ignoring straining muscles. Maybe she should take a vitamin supplement to get her through the day. It was going to be a struggle. She was just so tired. More tired than usual.
She swung her legs to the floor making herself sit up so she wouldn’t fall asleep again. “How did it go? Did you get a gig for me?”
Grant opened one blood-shot eye. “It takes time, Luce. There’s a lot of competition out there, you know. I’m meeting with him again tonight so I need to sleep and be fresh. Did you do the laundry I asked you to do?”
She glanced at the full basket in the bathroom. Dirty clothes spilled out of the top. How had that gotten so full so fast? “I didn’t get a chance.”
“How do you expect me to look my best if I don’t have clean clothes?” Grant spoke into the pillow.
“I have to be at the pet shop in an hour. Perhaps you could put a load on?”
She swore black clouds swirled in his eyes before he blinked and they disappeared. His face stretched tight in a flash of anger before he schooled it into his usual charm. He sent her a tired smile.
“Luckily I woke you in time. Throw it on now, take a shower—you stink like burgers—and hang it out before you go. You’ll have heaps of time to get there. The cycle only takes forty minutes.” He threw the blankets over his head and turned on his side. Snoring wafted from beneath the covers.
It was amazing how fast he could fall asleep. He really was exhausted. She needed to rein in her frustration. Things like developing her career needed time. Business relationships needed time to develop. Trust took time and hard work. Grant had explained that to her once. Beyoncé didn’t just appear on the charts one day. It took years of hard work before people started to take notice of her, and look at her now. It had all paid off.
The morning flew past in a flurry of clothes washing, showering, ironing her work uniform, and slugging it to the pet shop. Luckily it was on the way to the diner, so she could walk there first, and then continue to the diner. Grant could take the car. He had much farther to go than she did.
She met the owner when she came in at nine. All the cages were cleaned and Lucie even had time to fill their feed bowls before the shop opened.
“Lucie. What a wonderful job as usual.” Margery frowned at Lucie, her eye filling with concern. “You look tired, dear. Are you sure you’re getting enough rest? You know, you don’t have to come in so early to clean the cages. You can come later. It won’t matter to me.”
Lucie smiled as Margery took a note from the register and handed it to her. “I have to be at the diner in half an hour so this fits in really well. Thank you.”
“Just take care of yourself, dear.”
“I’m great. Don’t worry about me. I’ll see you next Monday morning.” Margery cleaned the cages during the week and only needed her on Monday. Lucie ignored Margery’s concerned look, grabbed her bag on the floor next to the front door, stepped outside and nearly face-planted into a broad muscular chest.
Chapter Nine
Lucie
The pet shop door closed behind her with the tinkling of bells. Lucie looked up at Zaen and narrowed her eyes. “What are you doing here?”
One chest was actually three. Three, massive, chiseled, panty-wetting chests. She dry-swallowed as she peered into three faces that she really didn’t want to see until she had to in the diner.
She’d basically wiped them off because of a compliment. Who in their right mind did that? And who would take it so seriously? She should have laughed it off, brushed it aside, read it for what it was—three concerned well-mannered men who didn’t want a woman walking home in the dark. They were nice guys. That was all. She should thank their mother for raising caring men. They’d make their wives happy one day. She’d just read too much into a simple compliment.
It was just that with them… for some unknown reason… it went deeper. As though they had told her what they thought and meant it. Really meant it.
She took a step back. “I thought after last night, you’d…”
Kyel reached out and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. She couldn’t help the shiver that washed through her. A nervous ball roiled in her stomach and she took a resolute step back, securing the strand that always seemed to come loose back into her ponytail.
She had a boyfriend, for heaven’s sake. A man that took good care of her and worked hard for her future. She wasn’t going to throw that away on a stranger’s thoughtfulness. She brushed her hand where Kyel had trailed his fingertip, her skin still tingling. She resisted the urge to lean into his touch.
>
“You can’t keep doing that,” she said.
Kyel’s brows lowered over his eyes. He still looked hot when he was trying to be concerned. “Touching you?”
“Well. That too. But you can’t compliment me again. I have a boyfriend. I told you that.” The words felt like ash on her tongue.
“And does this preclude you for having others compliment and touch you? Like this?” Zaen wound his large, warm hand around the back of her neck and stepped close. His body warmth sank through her clothing, his unique scent filling her nostrils.
She nodded, the movement jerky, her eyes stuck to his. “Yes. That’s exactly what it means.” Her words lacked conviction.
“And do you allow this boyfriend to kiss you?” Juliran smoothed the back of his knuckle across her cheek, tingles scattering across her skin.
“Of… of course.” Did she say the words or merely breathe them?
“Does he kiss you often?” Zaen asked.
“He…” Did he? She couldn’t rightly say at that moment. Her thoughts were muddled. She anchored to Zaen’s heated touch at the back of her neck, strong fingers she could lean into, unable to process much more other than the unparalleled need to feel Zaen’s lips on her mouth. It was almost as though she knew what they would feel like, but then again how could she? He’d never kissed her before.
Hadn’t he?
Her gaze dropped to his lips. She swayed towards him as though on the end of an invisible rope. Standing here like this was so familiar, as though she’d actually done this before.
“Does he kiss you well?”
Funny how she couldn’t really remember how Grant kissed. It seemed to be such a long time since he’d kissed her. Zaen’s breath whispered over her face.
The Erion Triad: A Negari Sci-Fi Alien Abduction Reverse Harem Romance Page 7
