Prime Imperative (The Prime Chronicles Book 3) by Monette Michaels Page A

pals. Not sure if he wanted her for himself or to sell her. But he knows she’s Prime. He scented her.”
    “ Ansu bhau . He won’t stop now that he has her scent.” Borac kicked a stool. “She needs to stay hidden until the Alliance and her gemat gets here.”
    “I had security lock up the Erian. That takes care of that problem.” Damon sat on a bar stool and looked his friend in the eyes. “Who says the Alliance will bring her mate when they come to get her? Her gemat could be dead, you know.”
    Borac frowned. “Damon, my friend, it is very likely—”
    “—he’s still alive and on his way. I know. I know.” Damon swore under his breath. “Whatever happens, we need to keep her safe. Bria’s the curious sort. Nothing keeps her down for long. She’ll want to come out of the secured area and talk to people.”
    “We can’t allow that.” Borac’s words echoed Damon’s earlier thoughts. “She is only safe inside the security perimeter.” Borac had personally trained the security personnel for the employees’ quarters. He’d wanted nothing to harm his wife or their child.
    “Cissy will visit her,” Borac continued. “Or Bria can visit our suite. Tomas will guard them both. That should be enough socialization for your sister.” He smiled. “Bria will be interested in the miracle of Cissy having given birth to a Prime-Terran child and being pregnant with another.”
    If Borac had buttons on his uniform, he would’ve been busting them. The man was extremely proud of fathering two children.
    “Borac,” Damon smiled, “Bria will be interested in your children, but she won’t be surprised. It’s her area of research and the reason why she’s going to your home planet. She wants to show your people—”
    “And her people,” interjected Borac.
    Damon grunted and continued, “—that they can have children outside the Prime race and that the fertility issues have to have something to do with the planet’s environment.” Bria had talked his ear off after she found out she was going to the Cejuru system. She’d been thrilled to get the invitation—and that was before she’d concluded she was Prime. He bet she was more excited now.
    His little sister would turn the Prime’s cultural concepts upside down.
    “The old ones won’t like that.” Borac stated flatly. “Let’s hope her mate is politically connected, because she’ll need all the power behind her she can muster to change centuries of cultural beliefs.”
    “Her mate better be strong, period,” Damon huffed, “or I won’t let him take her off station. I’ll hide her first.”
    Prime bond, be damned .
    Borac shook his head and slapped Damon on the back. “Word of advice, old friend. Don’t come between a Prime male and his marked mate. All Prime males are warriors. They connect empathically during times of Prime battle rage. You mess with one, you mess with them all. Not even I would be able to resist the call of batel rabia .”
    “You’d take me down?”
    Borac nodded. “In an instant.”
    “Bria’s too gentle to live with a warrior.”
    “Oh, Damon…” Borac shook his head and laughed. “…your little sister will rise to her greatest potential with her gemat . Living with Terrans, she sublimated her Prime nature. I know you don’t believe in the bond, but listen to me and believe my words—meeting her mate will awaken her latent abilities, and she’ll become one with her man. One perfect loving unit. It is a wondrous thing to see. My parents had that.”
    Borac’s sigh sounded sad. His parents had died in the last Antarean onslaught. The one which had sent Bria to Gliese 581C and his family.
    “Well, I’ll believe the perfect loving unit crap when I see it.” Changing the subject, Damon said, “I want our Volusian guards on the doors to the employees’ quarters and at the front and back doors to Hades . We can shift the non-Volusians to the other areas of the jump station.”
    The Volusians were a warrior