Casey's Warriors (Bondmates) by Ann Mayburn Read Free Book Online Page B

and of the history of our race. They know becoming the wife of a Kadothian male means unwavering love and pleasure from their husband, along with security. It is considered an honor to become a Matriarch and it is a position that is highly coveted. With Earth women, I believe we must go a slightly different route.”
    “Are you saying we should abolish the Sacred Rights?” Lady Elsin hissed, her displeasure sparking through the room causing Lorn to jerk at the sensation of knives slicing at his skin. The pain faded quickly when Lorn’s father soothed his mother.
    “Absolutely not. I am merely saying we make some adjustments taking into consideration the stunted psychic potential of Earth females and the limited timeframe due to the instability of the wormhole. This would not be unprecedented. For the Matriarchs of Bintaina we adjusted the rights to take into account their hibernation cycle and for the Matriarchs from Nolun we altered the rights to include their twin.” He met Lady Elsin’s gaze head on. “My proposal is this. At their very basic level the rights of courtship were instituted so no Matriarch would be forced into a bond against her will. We use the courting rights as a way to ensure all parties are willing participants because without true love the bond is weak and will quickly fail during the trial period. From what we’ve learned from our Scouts we know that once the enzyme from our kiss begins to affect them, the women of Earth become much more receptive to our efforts to win their heart. While it is nice that the women of our galaxy know from the start what our intent and emotions are, Earth women do not have the same advantage. I believe in order to give them the free will we all hold so sacred, we make it mandatory the first kiss has to come willingly from the woman. The men can try to seduce it from them, but the woman must be the one to initiate the kiss.”
    Lady Yanush and Lady Elsin stared at each other and Lorn wondered what they were saying on their private mental link. After a few moments Lady Yanush nodded. “Agreed. Continue.”
    “After the first kiss, if the chemical reaction happens as it should, the Warrior will then need to give his intended bride a climax at least once before he brings her back to the Reaping ship. There the Warrior can attempt a full courting and be close enough to the wormhole that if it begins to close he will be able to make it back home, hopefully with his Matriarch.”
    He paused and slowly looked around the room. Lorn could see Trenzent’s despair, his desperation, and he echoed the Commander’s strong emotions. They’d lost far too many males with weak partial bonds to the Hive because there were not enough Matriarchs, and each death weighed on the Commander. Lesser men would have broken beneath the strain, but he remained strong. One night after a particularly bloody battle, Lorn and Trenzent had gotten drunk and the Commander revealed to Lorn the only thing that helped resolve the guilt and pain over losing one of his men was helping another man live long enough to find his Matriarch.
    Finally returning the gaze to the High Congress, his silver eyes hardened. “The bitter truth is we are losing to the Hive, and without more well-bonded Warriors we stand no chance. I know every member of the High Congress is sick of having to attend the funerals of our fallen Warriors, dead because of a lack of Matriarchs. With this in mind I would also suggest we triple the number of potential brides. Because the Reaping of planet Earth will more than likely be a one-time event, as we’ve never recorded a wormhole opening in the same place once it closes, there is no threat of taking more women than the planet can afford to give and still remain stable. Not only do the women of Earth possess a natural psychic barrier that would protect them and potentially their offspring from the Hive, but on a more basic level our Matriarchs give our Warriors something to live for,