“Hurry,” Kyel barked, striding towards the tower.
Our mate is hanging on by a thread. If she falters… Kyel spoke through the bond.
We will take her there, Zaen spoke in his head.
Whatever it takes, Juliran mind-spoke.
The wind was cyclonic. Juliran braced himself on one side and Zaen the other, and together they stumbled against the battering, unending wind. Kyel slid backwards. There was a shoulder in his back, and Tann grunted as he pushed forwards. Then he felt the extra help of the soldiers behind his back as they linked arms and advanced. As one, they staggered against the force of the wind.
He glimpsed the wall of the tower against his watering vision. The secret door was within reach. Zaen planted his palm on the panel and the door slid open. They staggered inside and Juliran slapped his palm on the inside panel, closing the door.
Kyel’s skin stung with heated prickles in the absence of the freezing wind.
“Brother. Hurry,” Zaen said, and Kyel realized he’d been standing still.
“Lucie…” Kyel ground out.
“I’m fine. Just. Hurry.” In his arms, Lucie pressed her face against his chest. Her delicate features were strained and pale, and the light faded before his eyes.
He scooped her up and bolted up the stairs, two at a time, holding Lucie tight against his chest. He reached the tower room. The windows had been repaired and the floor cleaned since they’d been here last. The door to the glass case the crystal rested on was open.
He strode to the plinth and set Lucie on her feet. She licked her dry lips. With a deep breath, she settled the crystal on its golden stand.
The crystal ignited.
Blue green light streamed down the stand, down the plinth, across the floor, and lit the walls of the entire room. Beams blasted out from the top of the tower in all directions. The mist and clouds on the ground disintegrated from the onslaught of light-energy. The land was infused by the color of the Erion crystal.
The wind died to nothing. The cries of his people silenced. The clouds rolled to the heavens, and the land became clear.
“You’ve done it, Lucie. You’ve saved all of us.” Kyel caught her in a hug. He sank his face into her hair, breathing in her scent, absorbing her trembling form, lending her his strength.
Juliran and Zaen circled her, and together they embraced their mate as one. Relief. Happiness. Joy. Their emotions bounced through the mate bond clear and true and honest.
A terrible scream of a thousand voices echoed from thin air. Lucie clamped her hands over her ears, her face scrunched as though in pain.
Through the windows the sky grew dark again. The clouds formed into a face. Hollowed eyes, a gaping mouth, sleek curved horns and talloned fingers shaped from the clouds, becoming solid. The face hovered until its eyes found them.
Then it descended.
Lucie said the words that were only reflected in thought. “It wasn’t enough. The power of the crystal wasn’t enough.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Juliran
The miracle of Lucie was overshadowed by the nightmare in front of Juliran’s eyes. He would never have imagined anything like this to happen. His Homeland city devoured by this entity. He didn’t know what it was, only that it was evil and wasn’t going to stop until everything in its path was annihilated. And he was helpless, but to watch it happen.
“What can we do? There must be something,” Zaen said, but he was always full of action, while Juliran’s brain was caught in a mindless loop of horror.
How this happened he had no idea, only that Lucie was connected to the Erion crystal which was the most powerful thing in the universe. Until it had been stolen, it had powered and protected their Homeland for centuries. Something had changed it. Or it had grown somehow. He didn’t know, only that it had an unexplainable connection to Lucie. It was stronger when she held it. Strong enough so that the deadly mist could get nowhere close, but it was just not strong enough. Lucie needed more power. She needed... them and the strength of their bond.
“Lucie! Hold onto the crystal, but keep it in the stand where it is,” Juliran shouted.
“Why?” Zaen growled.
“It needs our connection combined. Lucie herself is not strong enough,” Juliran said.
“The last time she touched the crystal and it was in the holder and connected to the tower, it put her in a coma,” Kyel said.
Juliran licked his lips, hoping, praying that he was right. His gaze went from Zaen to Kyel, and then to Lucie. “But she’s a part of the crystal now. And because we are her bonded mates, so are we. Together, with the magnification of the tower, we might just be strong enough.”
Kyel growled, but he always growled. Zaen narrowed his eyes, and Juliran could practically see the gears turning in his head. “How do you know, Juliran? How can you know for sure?”
Juliran took a shuddering breath, “I don’t. If we don’t try something...”
“We’re all dead,” Lucie finished for him. Her eyes gleamed in the blue light, soft and yet so, so strong.
Juliran’s heart lurched into the pit of his stomach. He didn’t want to agree with his mate, wished that they weren’t in this situation, but that wouldn’t stop the reality of what was happening. Their planet and everyone on it were going to die if they did nothing.
He wished he wasn’t cheated from more time with her, especially since they’d hardly begun, but then he thought of all the bonded Quads formed before the theft of the crystal. All the Quads yet to form. Their parents. Their sister. They all would lose. They all would die. There was no sweet coating these circumstances.
He kissed the top of her head, breathed in her delicate scent of wildflowers as though it was his last breath, putting off the inevitable with everything he could, knowing she was right.
“This entity is using the power of the crystals and our planet to enter our dimension. Logic says the same power is the only thing great enough to send it back. We use our crystals against it, just like it’s using them against us,” Juliran said.
Kyel took a deep breath. “My family. This is up to all of us.”
Zaen nodded his head, his lips in a tight, straight line. “It’s our only hope.”
Lucie nodded also, a single tear traced down her cheek. “I’ll do it.”
Kyel gritted his teeth. “Then this is it.”
Lucie took Juliran’s hand, then placed Zaen’s and Kyel’s hands one above the other, stacked between her two hands, joining them all. She looked at all of them, filling their bond with the strength of her love. “Thank you. All of you. You have shown me what it means to live without fear. You have helped me escape the confines of my own mind—in more ways than one. Thank you for eternity. Know that whatever happens, I wouldn’t have my life any other way.”
“Nor I.” Kyel kissed her forehead.
“We are blessed. Always.” Zaen kissed her forehead too.
The hint of a smile curved her lips. “I only wish we could have mate bonded in real life, not just in my mind.”
Kyel growled. “Then let this work and we will have mate bond sex as many times as you like, mate. I will show you time and time again in as many ways possible how it can be done.”
Pink teased her cheeks, but her eyes gleamed in a way that went right down to his shaft. He shouldn’t be turned on right now, but that knowing gleam in her eyes was all it took. If they survived, he was going to live the rest of his life in a constant state of arousal, that was for sure. He could tell by the lingering look in his brother’s eyes, he wasn’t the only one. That was good. They would have good lives.
If they lived.
We will live. Lucie spoke in his mind.
Juliran wasn’t the only one not able to keep his broadcasting to himself.
Lucie firmed her shoulders and faced the open door to the crystal case. She took a steeling breath and held it as her fingers curved around the crystal. Motes of blue and green circled her skin and the inner glow of the cr
ystal reached for her.
He tried to soothe her fear, her trepidation that washed over him, sending back warmth and love as best he could.
Slowly, slowly, she curled her fingers around the crystal. The room exploded in beams of light that radiated outwards from the tower in strobes of electric blue. They washed over the land, coating over everything like sunlight. The ground began to glow with the energy of the crystal. The grass, trees and shrubs illuminated with the colors of the crystal. The energy color bled into the buildings, changing sandstone to swirls of vibrant blues and greens. The entire land as far as he could see was washed in the stunning colors of the Erion crystal.
A screech blasted around them, and the glass in the tower rattled. Anger and rage made the cloud writhe and boil. The face turned and raced towards them, bearing down on them like an enraged beast.
“It’s not working. I… need more.” Lucie’s voice was small and strained. This was killing their mate. That could not happen.
He wasn’t going to stand by and let her die to save their land. If she died, he didn’t want to go on. He wrapped his arms about her, giving her everything he had.
The light erupted with power. A blast hit the clouds and the face recoiled.
“Kyel. Zaen. Lend us your energy!” he yelled.
They were bonded mates; her energy was theirs. If she couldn’t do it on her own, then the four of them would blast that drumas turd out of the sky. Kyel and Zaen snapped to action and wrapped themselves around him and Lucie.
The ground trembled and the tower shook, not hard, but enough to feel the shift beneath his feet. They were lost in the blast of energetic light that seemed to wash through the very particles of reality.
When the light cleared, he blinked. And blinked again. “Do you…? Can you…?”
“I can… It’s…” Zaen said.
“As beautiful as our mate,” Kyel finished.
On the ground, crystals emerged from beneath the soil. Large and small shards reflecting the energetic light from the tower. The land and everything on it glowed with light from within. The very structure of the land was changing before his eyes.
Above, the mouth on the face gaped wide. It circled the tower, screeching, but couldn’t seem to get any closer. But while the land had changed and was keeping the face at bay, the sky was still blocked by the clouds of the entity.
“We’re keeping it away, but it’s still there,” Juliran said. They couldn’t stand like this forever. “We can’t chance taking our hands away while it’s there.”
“We need more juice,” Lucie said.
Kyel looked as confused as Juliran felt. “Are you thirsty, mate?” Kyel asked.
“What? No! I mean, we need more power. More people,” Lucie said.
“Tann, come and touch us,” Kyel said. If she needed people, he would get everyone in his Homeland to hold hands.
The Captain of the Guard stepped towards them without hesitation.
“No! Thank you, Tann, but I don’t think that would work. Don’t harm yourself by touching us. We’re not bonded. The crystal is linked to me, but so is that thing out there,” Lucie said.
“What is it, mate?” Zaen said.
She licked her very kissable, plump lips. She flashed him a hesitant look before she said, “The other women, Riley and Evelyn, they’re also connected to their crystals. They have also mate-synced to their Triads, making them stronger. What if… what if all the crystals were interrelated and through the mate-sync we could share all our combined energy. Us humans, our Quads, the bonds and the crystals.”
“That would be a very strong power indeed. It might even be strong enough to blast that thing away from us,” Zane said.
“Strong enough to send it into oblivion and erase it from whatever existence it came from,” Kyel growled.
“Good to know you still don’t do things by halves.” Juliran grinned.
Kyel scowled. “Tann. Get the Arabis and Ozar on the comms.”
“At once, Highness.” Tann tapped his comm device.
Rujali, the Alpha prince of the Ozar Quad, appeared on screen. He wore a scowl to rival Kyel’s. “I don’t have time. We’re under attack. From… clouds. We think this is the entity launching its attack on Negari.”
“It is! Rujali, get Riley! Fast as you can,” Lucie shouted.
Rujali’s golden gaze sharpened. “It that your human female?”
“No time for questions, just do as our mate asks. Let’s not dwell on our history, or else we might not make a future. Time is of the essence. She thinks we can defeat this entity,” Kyel spoke.
A tiny golden-eyed woman muscled past Rujali. Riley was one of the few females that might possibly move that great hulk of a male out of the way. “Lucie? Are you all right?”
“I’m fine. For now. Look, there’s no time to explain, but get to your tower. You need to touch the crystal whole it’s in its holder in your tower, and then your mates need to connect with you,” Lucie said.
“Did she say we need to have sex while holding the Ozar crystal?” Klaej’s green face appeared on the screen. Juliran was sure it wasn’t his imagination when he noted the anticipation on the male’s face.
“Geez, isn’t gettin’ me pregnant enough? Lucie isn’t a girl to ask another girl to get down and dirty. That isn’t want she meant… is it?” Riley quirked her brows. Her expression was confused, but open.
“No. Just touching is sufficient. I think it will generate enough power to blast this entity back to where it came from. But, please, be quick.”
“Got it. The mist is comin’ down quick and fast around here. It’ll be a battle, but I’m up for a fight. Someone needs to kick that thing’s ass. Going there now.” The comm went blank.
“The Erion next,” Kyel barked.
Tann tapped his screen. The inside of a craft appeared and a large male with long hair he wore in a messy bun at the back of his head and a trimmed beard came into view.
“I hear there’s trouble on the Homeplanet.” Paxt was right to the point.
“Yes, and I need Evelyn,” Lucie said.
Evelyn scrambled in front of the screen. “Lucie! What’s going on down there?” The small magenta crystal in the center of her forehead glowed and pulsed.
“Aren’t you back yet?” Lucie said, her voice cracking.
“No. We’re a week away. At least.” Evelyn looked frantic. “What’s happening down there?”
“The entity. It’s broken through. But I think I know how to kill it… At least, I thought I did… but you’re not here.” Lucie’s eyes filled with unshed tears. “Don’t come back, Evelyn. The entity is invading and killing everyone on the planet. I think this is the end for us.”
“Bullshit!” Evelyn shouted. Juliran liked her. “It’s not over till it’s over, and I’m sick of this thing trying to kill everyone. We’ve got to give this a go. I’ll do anything. Tell me what you’re thinking.”
Lucie took a huge breath and nodded. She was shaking so much she could barely stand, and yet she held onto the crystal with a white-knuckled grip. Gods, he was proud of his mate. “I think all of the crystals have linked to us girls. We feed it power and it feeds us. Combined with the strength of our mate-bonds, I think we can generate enough power between us to kick this thing into oblivion.”
Evelyn touched the little crystal embedded in her forehead. “It makes sense, Lucie. I’m connected to our crystal somehow. Why else would I have this little baby in my forehead? If I hold our crystal and concentrate, do you think that’s enough to connect even though I’m not on the planet?” Evelyn asked.
Lucie shook her head, shoulders slumping. Her cheeks were pale and the soft skin beneath her eyes looked bruised. Little white tension lines bracketed her mouth. “I don’t know, Evelyn. I really don’t. But you’re connected to your mates and the crystal is connected to this planet. We must try something. If we don’t, then...” She drew a breath and firmed her shoulders. “We have to try anything we can and we’re out of op
tions.”
“Oh, Lucie. I hope you’re right. We can’t have gone through everything we did just to die like this,” Evelyn said.
“Well, I for one, aren’t letting that happen. Almost there,” Riley shouted over the comms.
They had to be quick. He didn’t think Lucie was going to hold out that much longer. The entity had already taken its toll on their precious mate.
Coltan and Ashir appeared behind her and handed Evelyn the Arabis crystal. Juliran had never seen it before. In the past, each Homeland had secreted their crystals away, and because of their infighting, they’d never had cause to share. It was remarkably like their Erion crystal. Although the shape was a little different, it still shone with an inner light and the facets were sleek, smooth and shiny, as though they were related.
Mates. The understanding pulsed though him. Juliran reeled. Were they sentient? A faint feminine chuckle echoed in a distant part of his mind followed by the denser, more masculine energy.
Would this day never stop revealing its surprises?
“Let’s survive it first, brother,” Zaen thought.
“Okay. I’m going to let it think it’s in the tower. It’s the only way I think I can broadcast this thing,” Evelyn said.
“That’s all you can do, Evelyn,” Lucie said, hoping to hell it was right. She desperately hoped that two crystals in their towers, the combined energy field of their human bodies and the strength of the bonds with their mates would be enough to connect all three crystals.
“Riley? You in your tower yet?” Lucie called. A bead of sweat rolled off her forehead and into her eye, yet her grip on the Erion crystal didn’t falter.
There was a smash and Riley shouted over the comms. “Just got ’ere. Good to go, mate.”
“We’re also here,” Riley’s mates shouted.
“Evelyn?” Lucie called.
“We are ready, female,” Paxt said.
“Okay, everyone. Let’s do this. Girls, hold onto your crystals. Males, touch your mates.” Lucie gritted her teeth and closed her eyes.
Juliran sent a prayer to the universe. If there was ever a time for a deity to hear him, it was now. So many lives depended on this shaky little plan to work. It was their one, their only and their last chance. He tightened his hold, bringing his free hand to covers hers, lending them all every ounce of energy that he contained.
The Erion Triad: A Negari Sci-Fi Alien Abduction Reverse Harem Romance Page 16
