Into the Ashes [The Arcadians 2] by Laurie Roma Read Free Book Online Page B

doing
    here and what you mean by saying
    I’m your mate.”
    Savitar sighed. “The truth is I do
    not know exactly how you came to be
    here, only that the God of the Sun and
    the Goddess of the Moons have
    brought you forth from your world to
    ours. Arcadia is a world that has
    faced centuries of wars. As a result
    our population has suffered and has
    caused a shortage of females on our
    planet. Males are born as trios and
    births of females are rare so each trio
    shares a mate amongst the brothers.”
    “Doesn’t that cause all kinds of
    jealousy and anger between the
    brothers, though?” Raven couldn’t
    help but ask.
    Savitar shook his head. “Trios are
    born with a special bond. It is
    difficult to explain, but the simplest
    way to explain it is we share thoughts
    and memories like a collective being.
    Each night when we rest, our
    brains…merge. When we awaken we
    have the other brother’s memories of
    the last rising so nothing is secret
    from one another.”
    “That’s…wow.” Raven couldn’t
    imagine the lack of privacy that
    would mean for each of them.
    “Speaking of bonds…what is that
    blood bond thing that Kadan and
    Tristan did to me?”
    She watched Savitar’s large body
    tense and his eyes glowed with
    intensity. “They claimed you as our
    mate. A mate is…it is like the
    equivalent to your word for wife,
    only it is a much deeper bond for
    Arcadians. By creating a blood bond
    we are able to create a pathway
    between our minds. I know this is all
    strange to you and my brothers did
    not introduce you to bond with the
    care they should have, but seeing you
    overwhelmed them. We have been
    searching for a mate for a long time
    and from the moment we saw you, we
    knew you were fated to be ours.”
    “H–how did you know that? You
    don’t even know me,” Raven
    whispered. Despite her apprehension
    she was entranced by the lust burning
    in his glowing eyes. Never had a man
    looked at her with such hunger before
    and she felt his gaze straight down to
    her very core.
    “I feel it in here.” He thumped his
    large fist over his heart, never
    looking away from her. “There is
    somewhere I would like to take you.
    Will you go with me?”
    Raven nibbled on her lower lip and
    she noticed that his gaze seemed
    riveted on the small action. There
    was something about him that made
    her want to crawl back on his lap so
    she could press her lips to his when
    he looked at her like that. Taking a
    deep breath, she took the plunge.
    “Yes, I’ll go with you.”
    Chapter Four

    Savitar led his small mate down the
    dim corridors until they reached the
    back of the castle in companionable
    silence. He was glad that the halls
    were empty of the other palace
    inhabitants. He knew Raven had to be
    frightened after all she had been
    through since her arrival on Arcadia,
    but the truth was he didn’t want to
    spare a moment of his time alone
    with her with anyone else around.
    Shortly after the sun had risen that
    morning, Savitar had left the palace
    determined to spend the day on the
    hunt for rogues that plagued his
    beloved Citadel. The Citadel was
    one of the largest inhabited cities on
    Arcadia, making it a Mecca for
    warriors and females alike. Located
    near a mountain range rich with iron
    ore, the Citadel was one of the few
    places on the planet that had access
    to the precious metal used to build
    and create. Because of that, there was
    an influx of males that worked in
    various disciplines such as making
    building materials or the creation of
    highly sought items like swords and
    tools.
    Due to the growing population,
    patrols were essential to ensure the
    safety of every unmated female from
    rogue attacks. Rogues sought to
    kidnap females to be shared amongst
    the many males that lived their lives
    without honor and treated the
    precious females as commodities to
    be brokered for goods and services.
    It was a horrible reality of their
    world, but Savitar and his army of
    elite warriors did