Grace Goodwin - Trinity

Faith took a deep breath, let it out, as Warden Egara prepared the wicked looking tool for her turn. It was like an ear-piercing gun, but with a needle meant for an amniocentesis or alien probing instead of adding studs to a little girl’s earlobes at the local mall’s jewelry kiosk.

“Don’t faint. I’m in too much pain to catch you,” Destiny taunted.

“Spare me the drama,” Faith said to Destiny, who still held her hand over the spot where the NPU had been placed. As Warden Egara stepped closer, Faith swung her long, brown hair up over her opposite shoulder to bare the spot needed for the injection. “Mother taught us the Aleran language, Warden. I’m not sure why this is necessary.”

The whistle of pressurized air moving through the needle made me wince right along with Faith as the NPU pierced her skin. “There are over two hundred and sixty worlds out there with thousands of languages. Most worlds are not like Earth; they are much more advanced and welcome travelers from other planets.”

In other words, Earth was a primitive, unenlightened and unimportant place in the grand scheme of things. Mother had told us she wanted to hide on a planet so far removed from the politics and bullshit of the Interstellar Coalition that she’d chosen Earth for those very reasons. No one in almost thirty years had thought to look for her here. Until I’d screwed up and called Warden Egara a few days ago. Asked for some information on Alera and the ridiculous Aleran Ardor mother had insisted I was coming down with.

My body was going haywire and I got desperate. Stupid lack of discipline and a mistake I wouldn’t make again. One stupid phone call, and they’d come for our mother within two days.

Mother. Shit. She was out there somewhere. The small space ship that had been in our front yard gave me hope that she was still alive. They’d broken into our home in broad daylight while my sisters and I were at work. Dad had been asleep on the couch. And later, watching the surveillance video from our home security system, my sisters and I learned they’d pointed some kind of stun gun at him to keep him asleep. The aliens had landed, put the drop on Dad, shot Mother with some sort of light blast, and carried her unconscious body out to their ship.

She’d been limp when they took her. No blood that we could see on the video, but that didn’t mean she was still alive.

In fact, if what Mother told us about the light of the sacred spires on Alera was true, I had a feeling whoever took her might want her dead.

Alera. The planet was one our mother had spoken of for as long as we could remember. But we all grew up just like normal kids. Dad had officially adopted me when I was two. Mother had married him and then had my twin sisters. We all went to school. Typical stuff like science fair projects, prom. Graduated. I went on to law school, like our dad. Faith was a biologist with a strange title working for the forest service. And Destiny? Well, Destiny was our battle specialist. We’d all been trained in basic martial arts from a young age, but for Destiny, fighting was like breathing. She loved it. And she was damn good at it. She managed a dojo and taught classes six days a week. She was so toned that watching her move was like watching a wild tiger, light on her feet but scary as hell.

Unless our house had been part of a sci-fi movie set we didn’t know about, the Alerans had finally come for our mother. Bad guy Alerans. After years of listening to Mother talk about her home planet— our planet—I knew we were the good guys.

And now they had her. Why? I had no clue, but I wasn’t going to sit on Earth and twiddle my thumbs. We were her daughters. We had to find her.

I knew what she’d say. I was heir apparent. It was my duty to go to Alera and take my rightful place. Period. No searching for her. No trying to save her. She’d scold us all and insist that the future of Alera was most important.

Yeah, no. Not to me. And not to my sisters.

Dad was staying here, on Earth, until we contacted him with news. The Alerans didn’t know my sisters and I existed. I’d never understood Mother’s insistence that we have no family photos on the walls, no school pictures. Our rooms had always looked like guest rooms. Pretty, but not personal. We didn’t leave our clothes out. Or our shoes. There weren’t toothbrushes or makeup on the counters in the bathroom.

Our house looked like a guest house. A vacation rental. Always.

I’d hated it growing up. Capital H. But now I understood. They’d taken her and hadn’t even looked for anyone else. Had no idea she had children. Daughters.

Heirs.

But if she had been taken by Alerans, and we all agreed she had—me and my sisters, plus Warden Egara and even Prime Nial, the ruler of Prillon Prime and The Colony—we had to find her on Alera. Why would they stay on Earth? They knew nothing of the planet. Staying on Earth did them no good. Even if they killed her, they’d go back to Alera and reap their reward.

“Does this work on animals? Think of how amazing that would be. The symbiosis of the universe would be… complete,” Faith said, angling her head to the side to give the warden better access so she could wipe the spot with some rubbing alcohol.

Destiny was still pacing, a bundle of raw nerves. “Symbiosis? Really? They could be torturing our mother right now and you’re thinking about communing with animals? Do you imagine the bad guys even consider symbiosis? Hell, would they even know what it means?”

“No.” Faith grinned, completely unrepentant. “But Trinity certainly does.” Faith glanced at me, her hand going to the side of her head. She’d switched into speaking Aleran. “With her super-sexy Ardor coming on, she’ll want some serious symbiosis with a hot alien hunk as soon as we get to Alera.”

I rolled my eyes as Destiny waggled her brows and grinned. “Oh, yeah. Hot, sweaty, symbiosis. Probably more than once.”

“I can understand you,” Warden Egara added. “And I’ve shared the details of Trinity’s oncoming Aleran Ardor with Prime Nial—”

I groaned, blushing. I didn’t need everyone in the universe to know my pussy was wet all the time and aching for a huge cock. That I was becoming a horny slut, eager for a male to take me for a wild ride. Earth guys wouldn’t do. I’d tried that. Ten minutes of making out like high schoolers and my poor date had collapsed, unconscious, on his couch. I was like a freaking sexual vampire. Afraid I’d killed him, I stayed for a bit just watching him breathe. That had scared the hell out of me and I’d called the Interstellar Brides processing center first thing the next morning.

And given away mother’s location. Got her kidnapped. Tortured. Shit, maybe dead.

“Don’t, Trin. I can see it all over your face. This isn’t your fault.” Faith shook her head, giving me her very best motherly impression.

“It kinda is, Faith.”

“Bullshit, Trin. Biology. That’s all this is. Maybe we should just get you taken care of here. There’s got to be a few hunky aliens around who wouldn’t mind a quickie.”

“I don’t need a quickie. Thanks though.” No. Nothing quick would do. I needed a big Aleran male to shove me up against the wall and do me. Hard. Really hard. For hours.

God, I clenched my inner walls, aching and eager to be filled. This mating urge was getting out of control, but I clenched my teeth—and other places—and ignored it. Again.

“—and Prime Nial has assured me he will have an official Aleran consort waiting for you in the transport center,” the warden continued. “I don’t know much about Alera, but I’ve been assured your Ardor will be soothed by the consort.” She offered me a small smile.