The Power of Three (10 page)

“
I love you. You know that.” Ash
hesitated. “If this is because of what happened before you left?
I—”

“
All forgiven. You were right. If
Soreya hadn’t been there I would’ve probably died.”

Ash turned onto his back and stared up at the
ceiling. “Do you really think she’s the one? It seems so
unlikely.”

“
Tell me about it. I couldn’t believe
it myself.” Esca glanced at Ash’s now-serene face. “But you felt
something, didn’t you?”

“
She is extraordinary.”

Esca allowed himself a small
self-congratulatory smile. “Her skill set is unlike any I’ve ever
seen. She can plug into any power system and manipulate the
information.” He kissed Ash’s shoulder. “And even better, she fucks
like a dream.”

“
Esca…”

“
You’ll find that out for yourself.” He
sighed. “I wish you’d met her first. I think I’ve scared the hell
out of her. She’s never dealt with a male telepath before, let
alone a blundering idiot like me.”

“
She must be in shock with all these
changes.”

“
Yeah.” Esca sat up and looked down at
Ash. “I’m hoping you’ll be able to help her with that.”

“
If she lets me. At the moment her
shields are practically impenetrable.”

There was a note of interest in Ash’s voice
that made Esca want to smile. His mate wasn’t used to being shut
out of anybody’s mind.

“
You’re okay with me sleeping with her
though, right?”

Ash’s smile was wry. “As if I could stop
you.”

“
And you’re okay if she wants to watch
us, or join in?”

“
If that’s what she wants, and if
that’s what the fates have decreed, who am I to argue?”

Esca leaned down and kissed Ash’s mouth.
“Imagine it, you and me and her…” He kissed his way down Ash’s
chest and licked at his nipple. “I think about it all the
time.”

Ash slid his hand around Esca’s neck and
brought him close. “Think about a shower and fucking me first.”

“
That
will be
my pleasure.”

* * * * *

Soreya curled up on the couch and tried to
watch the still-bewildering Pavlovan news. Esca had reluctantly
gone to see the military physician, leaving her alone for a few
hours for the first time. She’d been in the apartment for almost
three weeks now, had met her new work associates at the university,
gotten to know the staff and her way around the kitchen, and barely
seen Ash. When she did see him he was impeccably polite, his
shields as high as hers and his attempts to get to know her
nonexistent.

She sighed. Not that she’d made any efforts
in that direction herself. If she was honest, he was something of a
challenge. She didn’t know enough about him yet to feel confident
enough to initiate anything other than the occasional ‘have a nice
day’. He intimidated her on so many levels. She suspected he
thought she was a complete idiot.

As if on cue, the outside door to the
apartment opened, and Ash came in, his steps slowing as he saw her
sitting there. He wore another of his impeccable suits and his hair
was tied back at the nape of his neck. He should’ve looked too
pretty, but there was a distance about him that made his beauty
inaccessible rather than approachable. She still couldn’t get over
how he and Esca were a couple.

“
Private Lang.”

Dammit, she had to stop being such a coward.
She raised her chin, smiled into his beautiful blue eyes and got
that shock of recognition that made her want to either throw
herself at him or run away very fast.

“
You
can
call me Soreya.”

“
Thank you.” His smile was charming.
“That would be nice. Between you and Esca and your military ranks
and last names, I feel I should be saluting all the
time.”

Another pleasant socially acceptable reply
with nothing behind it. He turned toward his suite. “If you’ll
excuse me, I’ll—”

She shot to her feet. “I feel like I’m making
you uncomfortable in your own home. Do you want me to leave?”

He stopped and turned toward her, his
expression mild. “Not at all. I apologize if I’ve made you feel
unwelcome. That’s not been my intention at all.”

She sighed. “Now I feel like an ungrateful
brat.”

He held the door to his suite open. “Why
don’t we continue this conversation while I change?”

Soreya stomped after him. His rooms were laid
out in exactly the same way as hers and Esca’s, although his bed
was bigger. She couldn’t help but stare at it, wondering what he
and Esca got up to together on those crisp cotton sheets.

“
I have a bigger bed because I’m First
Male.
Technically
, I’m
supposed to host all three mates in one space.” He unbuttoned his
jacket and laid it over a chair.

“
First Male?” Dammit, sometimes despite
her shields, he seemed to read her mind as easily as Esca did. But
then her face had probably given her away as well.

“
It’s how our culture differentiates
between mating threesomes. Esca is designated Second
Male.”

“
I bet he didn’t like that.”

His smile was the warmest she’d seen from
him. “No he didn’t. At eighteen he was very vocal about it, too.”
He gestured at his pants. “Are you okay if I carry on
changing?”

“
Sure, go ahead. I’m military. I’ve
seen it all before.”

But that wasn’t true. Her mouth dried as he
pulled off his shirt to display his upper body and muscled arms. He
wasn’t as big as Esca, but he was stronger than he looked. She
blinked as he pulled off his pants and underwear and walked into
the bathroom, giving her an outstanding view of his perfect ass and
long silver hair that almost reached his buttocks.

“
I’ll just be a minute.”

She sank down into the nearest chair, one
that allowed her an eyeful of Ash stepping into the shower and
slathering himself in soap. Her fingers itched to help out. She
curled them into fists and eventually sat on them. The Pavlovans
were having a terrible effect on her morals. She’d gone from
enduring her solitary existence to fucking a telepath and was now
drooling over another.

Her mother would be proud.

True to his word, he wasn’t long and soon
returned, a towel wrapped low around his hips.

“
Do you want to go out for dinner, or
shall I cook you something?” he asked.

She was too busy watching drops of water roll
down his chest and disappear into his towel to realize he’d asked
her something until he repeated it.

Twice.

“
Soreya?”

Jerking to attention, she blinked. “You can
cook?”

“
I love to cook.”

She stared at him. “Why are you suddenly
being so nice?”

He sighed. “Because I thought it was time one
of us made the effort, and it’s easier for me.”

“
Why? Because with a word from you I
could be on the next shuttle back to Etrusca, and certain
death?”

His gaze sharpened. “Do you really think I
could do that to a female, especially one with your extraordinary
talents?”

She hunched a shoulder at him. “You think I’m
an idiot.”

“
Why do you say that?” He took a silk
dressing gown off the bed and put it on.

“
Because compared to you I
am
an idiot.”

“
You have the potential to be one of
the most powerful telepaths in the universe. You just need to
believe it.”

“
Huh.”

His grin surprised her. “You sound just like
Esca.”

“
Soldiers don’t deal with meershit
well.”

“
It isn’t meershit, and I’ll explain
why as we eat.” He held the door open for her and she went past
him, aware of his scent and the damp ends of his hair. “Esca won’t
be back until later, and it’s Chase’s half day so we won’t be
disturbed.”

* * *

She fascinated him. Beneath her average looks
and well-toned soldier’s body lurked the mind of a telepathic
genius. Even though her shields were perfect, he could sense that
behind them lay unlimited power and a potential that made him crave
her like a drug. And it wasn’t just about what she could do for him
politically if she truly was their third. She called to him at a
visceral level. He wanted her naked, his cock buried deep in her.
He wanted Esca with them too so that they could give her everything
a female could ever want in bed, and then even more…

“
What do you want me to do?”

He checked back his first salacious answer,
which would have probably had her running out the door or
assaulting him, and pointed at the refrigerator. “How about some
wine? Do you like fish?”

“
Sure.”

He got her to sit up at the counter while he
prepared the fish and sauce and poured them both a glass of wine.
She watched his hands intently as he worked and kept up a steady
stream of conversation that surprised him. Had she decided to give
him a chance to get to know her? Did he want to? Something was
drawing him toward her, and he didn’t like it at all. He was
usually the one in control, the one with the superlative powers
that everyone else deferred to, but she could be so much
more...

“
Esca said your father wasn’t
Etruscan.”

“
No, he was a trader. My mother met him
when she worked at the space dock.” She shrugged. “She always told
me she fell in love with him at first sight.”

“
Maybe they were fated to
mate.”

“
Obviously not for life. The moment he
heard she was pregnant, he disappeared and never came
back.”

“
That’s surprising. Usually, if a pair
bonds that fast they
are
mated
for life.”

“
Not in this case.”

“
I wonder who he was?” Ash swept the
chopped vegetables into the pan and stirred in the wine.

“
Why does it matter?”

“
Because they produced you.” He pointed
his spatula at her. “A telepathic marvel.”

“
Or a genetic freak.” She blushed and
took a long slug of wine.

“
Would you object if I tried to find
out more about your father?”

She held up her glass in a mocking salute.
“Go ahead.”

“
Thank you.”

“
Will it make me more acceptable to
you?”

He turned down the fish and swung around to
face her. “Do you care if it does? You already have Esca.”

“
So do you.”

“
Does that bother you—that I fuck
him?”

“
How could it?” She opened her eyes
wide at him. “He’s only messing around with me. You’re his
mate.”

“
I don’t think he’s messing around.”
Ash put the fish on the warmed plates and brought it over to the
table where he’d already placed a salad. “Come and eat.”

He collected his own plate and the
half-finished bottle of wine and sat opposite her. Her moan of
appreciation as she sampled the fish did strange things to his
stomach and made him want to lean across and kiss the shine of
sauce from her lips.

“
This is delicious.”

“
Thank you.”

“
You really are good at everything,
aren’t you?”

“
Obviously not everything. I’m supposed
to be this great diplomat and yet I can’t string a coherent
sentence together when I’m near you.”

“
You sound just fine to me.” She
carried on eating. “Your shields are almost as good as
mine.”

“
Almost?”

She nodded. “Now that I’m sitting close to
you, I can pick up a little more.”

He instinctively checked his defenses, and
felt the brush of her mind against his own. “And what does it tell
you?”

“
That I find you
fascinating.”

He smiled into her eyes. “The feeling is
mutual.”

“
And it terrifies me.”

“
Why?”

“
Because.” She put down her fork and
gestured at the space around them. “I don’t belong
here.”

“
It’s just an apartment. Surely what’s
important is who lives in it.”

“
And that’s you and Esca.”

“
And you.”

“
I’m just passing through. It’s just so
foreign to me.”

“
You’re not enjoying your work at the
university?”

“
Being a test subject?” She shrugged.
“It’s interesting and I like the people I’m working
with.”

“
But you still don’t think you fit
in.”

“
I’m Etruscan. I was brought up to
believe I was scum and existed simply because I was of use to my
government. Coming here where everyone is a telepath is literally
mind-blowing.”

“
Don’t you find it freeing?”

“
Yes, and that frightens me even more.”
She blinked at him. “I’d never met an adult male telepath before I
joined Esca’s Special Forces team.”

“
And then you had sex with
him.”

She groaned. “Yeah.”

“
And then he introduced you to
me.”

“
Yeah
.”

He picked up her plate and stood up. “Not all
mated couples have sex with everyone within their group. We can
just link minds and not bodies.”