“Come, love.” The world tilted. Brit gave a token protest as Vin lifted her even as she laid her head beneath his chin. Maybe she could sleep just two or three hours, and then she would find a solution to the damage the Triumvirate caused.
Vin’s chest rumbled beneath her cheek, and she closed her eyes, soothed by the rocking of his body as he carried her through the building toward the suite she was forced to share with them. She hadn’t realized she’d dozed off until she was jerked awake when Vin transferred her to the soft leather sofa in Tag’s suite.
“Food first, and then you can sleep.” Vin kissed her on the forehead before walking into the kitchenette.
The chaste kiss was innocent and seemingly inconsequential, but as she touched the spot on her forehead, she realized the acceptance and importance she felt in the act was overwhelming.
“So tell me what is going on with Katya Schaffer,” Vin called from the connecting room.
Brit stiffened and went immediately on guard. She was too exhausted to walk the fine line she’d created between the real truth and the assumptions. Everyone assumed the Triumvirate was responsible for Katya’s illness, which was true, but they didn’t understand the depth of responsibility Brit carried for the creation of the genetic research. It was her fault Katya was dying, her fault that Meghann might be suffering too. The guilt sliced into her, and she hunched forward from the force of it.
She would make it right. There was no other option.
“Brit?”
Startled, Brit blinked up at Vin where he stood over her with food. “She’s ill, very, very ill.”
Vin’s hazel eyes held hers for a long moment, and she feared he was reading her too deeply. She was so tired and too close to letting it all go, to leaning on Vin and Tag. She craved the companionship, the sense of belonging she felt when they crowded her. It made her weak, and neither of them deserved to shoulder her mistakes. For just one instant she hadn’t felt alone, but now the sensation returned with a hollow rush. Despite the ache, it was better this way. Taking a deep breath, she strengthened her barriers and looked pointedly at the sandwich and fruit he held.
“I haven’t been in a kitchen in a very long time,” Vin said neutrally, his gaze still intent on her, still probing.
“I’m sure it’s fine.”
Vin grunted and sat on the coffee table in front of her. He picked one half of a neatly sliced sandwich from the plate and offered it to her. Careful not to touch his hand, Brit accepted the food and bit into it, too aware of his scrutiny—of his proximity. As she ate, she gazed down at her lap, frowning at how his knees hovered closely on either side of hers, making her feel small—protected.
Vin handed her each piece of fruit, and she was too exhausted to do more than cast him dark looks as she accepted each slice from his fingers. Besides, it was unlikely he would be moved from his—their—chosen course of action. Somehow the two of them had decided to take it upon themselves, without her input or consent, to determine what was best for her. Overbearing Neanderthals. Vin was no different than Tag…and yet somehow he was.
Vin was still, where Tag was always moving. She never had to guess at Tag’s thoughts and opinions since he never ceased pressing them on her. Not so Vin. He was silent, not even a thought escaping his mind into hers, and yet she sensed his presence there,
infiltrating
her.
Yes, infiltrating.
Brit tried to think as loud as possible so her opinion of their behavior was not mistaken.
The full line of Vin’s lips twitched as though he was trying not to grin.
Brit pushed a strand of hair behind her ear, wincing at how oily it felt. When was the last time she’d slept? Or taken a shower, for that matter? She looked down at her clothing. It had to have been close to forty-eight hours ago.
Brit stood. “I think I’ll take a quick shower before I nap.”
He cocked a thick eyebrow at her but didn’t contest her reference to her intention to sleep for only an hour or two. Vin didn’t even bother to suppress his smile when she swatted at his leg to move it out of her way. Instead of shifting his leg away, he stood and leaned closer until even an eyelash couldn’t fall between them.
Brit gasped, her nipples puckering beneath her wrinkled blouse, and heat pooled in all the pulse points of her body. With a very undignified grunt of frustration, she slapped both hands against his chest to push him out of the way so she could maneuver around him. His low chuckle followed her into the master bedroom, where she slammed the door to cut the arousing sound off.
Leaning back against the door, Brit pressed a hand to her chest where her heart beat heavy and fast. Damn them. They knew she was in heat and never missed an opportunity to take advantage of the annoying state.
She felt Tag’s essence flood her mind, tinged with his irksome humor, and she just knew he was going to say something to further fluster her.
“Just shut up, Taggart,” Brit snarled, and she felt him retreat slightly. Ignoring his lingering humor that suffused her mind, she studied the master bedroom. The bed was massive and dominated the room with its shimmering midnight comforter that looked like it would be so incredibly soft on her bare skin. Arousal flushed parts of her body she didn’t want awakening right now.
Good gods, don’t look there.
Brit averted her gaze to the two big chests that flanked an antique mirror against one wall. The other wall held two doors. Likely a closet and a master bath. The room was all rich color and dark wood. Her flats sank into the carpeting, it was so thick. She’d heard Drachon liked their luxuries, and Tag’s master bedroom only proved it.
Tag’s master bedroom. Her gaze flitted over the bed again. Did they expect she would share it with them both? The image of their hard, naked bodies writhing on either side of hers on that dark comforter rushed over her mind, and she gasped at the sudden effect on her body.
To escape the view of that bed, Brit stumbled forward into a big, lavish master bath with two sinks and a deep bathtub big enough to fit all three of them. And mirrors. They reflected the angles of the dark-tiled walls and floor. They would give her tantalizing views of both men as they flanked her. She’d be able to watch every shift of every muscle as they— Brit shut down the thought with a moan.
She was never going to survive this.
“Don’t stop now, baby. I was enjoying it.”
Brit groaned as Tag’s deep voice rumbled through her mind, and leaned forward to start the shower. Would having two telepathic mates mean she never had another private thought?
“Pretty much.”
“Typical,” Brit grumbled and quickly took her shower, schooling her imagination to keep to the business at hand. She at least hoped he didn’t have a camera in the bathroom. By the time she dried and dressed in one of Tag’s T-shirts, she was practically asleep on her feet. Despite her weariness, there was no way she was even looking at that bed again, and she quickly swept by it to peer out into the main living area. It was empty and tantalizingly dim, Vin likely having gone to get some sleep in the guest room.
The overstuffed leather couch loomed. Brit eased down on the cushions and pulled the blanket draped over the back across her, eyes closing. She just needed an hour or two.
* * * *
Brit’s overwhelming guilt for Katya’s condition coated Vin, clinging even when her fantasies slid through his mind, feeling like a stroke against his ever-present erection. Pausing at the door of the suite, Vin pressed one hand against the wall and dropped his head. When the image of him and Tag taking her surrounded by all those mirrors came unbidden to his mind, he gripped his cock through his slacks. Her heat was getting worse, and it called to him.
And yet under it all she felt a suffocating guilt for an evil that he was responsible for. It was a damn mess that was only going to get worse as Katya grew more ill. If it weren’t the life of one of his own on the line, he might—no—certainly he wouldn’t be willing to let an innocent woman and her unborn child die because he wanted to keep his secrets from Brit? Certainly his humanity was not worn that thin?
Pushing back from the wall, Vin strode out into the hall and to the elevator.
“And just where are you going,
brother
?”
Vin gritted his teeth against Tag’s sneer of the word ‘brother’ but only said,
“I need to speak with Father.”
The elevator slid open and Vin walked in.
“He’s still with Katya and Raife. He says she’s stable for now.”
“Good.”
Vin could feel his brother’s affection for the other woman.
“We still have time, then.”
“Then you’re going to work with the doc on this? Good luck. She’s impossible when she’s this focused on something.”
Vin snorted as his brother’s presence withdrew from his mind. The woman seemed impossible on principle alone. The elevator doors slid open, and Vin easily found the lab in the maze of halls. He was not surprised the lock on the door clicked when he reached for the handle. As untrusting as he was, Tag would follow his every movement.
Vin slipped into the patient room adjacent to Brit’s lab and saw that the blonde woman slept with her mate curled around her. Raife lifted his head to flick a narrow glance at Vin but must have decided he wasn’t currently a threat. Raife laid back down, his cheek pressed against his mate’s hair, eyes closed.
Raife’s desperation was so strong Vin could practically hear the man’s unspoken prayers for his mate’s life. It was discomfiting, especially when his control slipped long enough to give his imagination time to put Brit in that bed fighting for her life. Heart seizing, he cast the image off, reminding his seething daemos that their mate was healthy and sleeping a couple floors up.
“I need all the data sticks I gave you from the Triumvirate labs.”
Vin sent the thought to his father. This conversation was not going to be pleasant.
Kahn didn’t respond immediately. He was focused on a strip of paper coming from the heart monitor. He made a couple of notations on the strip and folded it neatly in the tray before turning his attention to his son.
“Brim said as much.”
Kahn put a reassuring hand on Raife’s shoulder before motioning Vin from the room.
“He’s compiling the data to transfer to the lab.”
Vin pushed a hand through his hair.
“No, I need the actual data sticks.”
Kahn cast him an indiscernible glance.
“Indeed? Why?”
How to tell his father he’d traded the health and welfare of hundreds of Arcane just to protect the life of one woman he’d never thought to ever mate? Vin took a fortifying breath. He’d been out of the nest for over twenty years, and yet he felt like a child about to disappoint his father.
“Katya is dying because I may have ordered her injected with an unstable gene meant to infect her with the blood magic.”
Kahn’s expression betrayed nothing as he nodded.
“ARSA-2.”
Surprise spiked through Vin. He’d sent the data sticks back to his father and their people on a regular basis, but he’d encrypted special files—files he wanted to be sure made it out of the labs but never made it into his family’s hands. There were things he’d done he didn’t want them to know about.
“Honestly, Vincent, your mother is nearly as proficient as Taggart. Once she realized there were hidden files, do you think she would leave well enough alone? Hardly. Brim will see that all the data you need is securely transferred.”
Vin squared his shoulders and met his father’s gaze.
“I’m sorry I attempted to keep it from you.”
Kahn waved the apology away.
“You did what you thought was right at the time. I never doubted that, even when I realized what you were working on in those labs. What concerns me is that you still attempt to keep it from your mate.”
Vin closed his eyes and turned away, the memory of Brit’s sorrow and pain like a burning coal beneath his skin.
“You don’t understand. The guilt she shoulders from the realization that her research, the research she thought buried, has been resurrected to hurt her so close to home…”
Vin shook his head and looked back at his father.
“Tag and I accepted that we would die from the heat, but now there’s hope. I can accept my death, but I can’t sentence Tag again now that he has hope, and Brit would never forgive me if she knew. Neither of them would.”
“I think you underestimate your brother and your mate.”
Kahn’s dark gaze lay heavy, condemning Vin.
“And I think you overestimate your own abilities. You have for a long time now, son.”
Vin was a confident man, sure of his own intelligence. He’d infiltrated the most powerful faction of the Arcane, fooling even the greatest Elemental empaths and seers all because he believed he was meant to save their people. Yet his father’s gently spoken reprimand rocked him. Vin frowned.
“But our mantis said— My grandfather…”
Kahn sighed.
“When you left the nest, you were so certain of your impact on our people’s future that you completely missed your true importance to our people.”
He locked his hands at the small of his back and turned to face the darkened lab.
“You’re a damn fine scientist, Vincent, but that was never meant to be your contribution to our salvation.”
Vin followed his father’s gaze. Brit’s scent was heavy here, her spirit a nearly tangible presence in the room as though her shadow was cast over the gleaming counters and expensive equipment. Without thought, he whispered her name.
Kahn leveled his dark gaze on Vin.
“Yes. Britony. She’s brilliant in a way I have never seen, as though her intellect is guided by precognition. She’s the key to unlocking the puzzle of our inability to find mates. And she’ll find a way to clean up the mess you made of her research.”
And Vin had made a mess of her research. The synthetic ARSA gene had somehow mutated in Katya and likely countless other innocent Arcane. Brit deserved to know his role in that, and she would need his research to unravel it. Would she hate him once she knew the truth?
“It’s time to trust your mate, son.”