The Power of Three (17 page)

“
Why didn’t you wake me up?”

Esca sat up and studied them both. Ash didn’t
look away from Soreya.

“
We were busy.”

“
I can see that.”

Soreya turned to look at him. “If you come
closer, I’m sure we can find a way to make you feel good.”

“
What do you have in mind?” Esca knelt
by her shoulder, one hand wrapped around the base of his cock,
keeping it away from his muscular abs.

“
This.”

With Ash’s help she raised her head and
sucked Esca’s shaft into her mouth. He groaned and planted his hand
on the pillow, leaning into each pull, his hips undulating.

“
Now me.”

Soreya released his cock and Ash took over.
She didn’t think she’d ever tire of seeing him like that—his body
aligned with hers, his mouth sucking gently at Esca’s big cock.
They traded places for a while, until Esca was fucking their
mouths, his need apparent on his face as he groaned with each
dragging motion of Ash’s mouth over his flesh.

“
Let me finish him, while I
make you come.”

Soreya wasn’t going to argue with that and
lay back to watch. Not that she got more than a moment to do that
before Ash began to increase his pace, fucking them both, bringing
them all to a climax that made them cry out with the completeness
of it, with the rightness of being entwined both mentally and
physically.

When she opened her eyes, Ash took one hand
and Esca the other.

“
We have something to ask you.” When
she blinked at them, he continued. “We want you to stay on Pavlovan
with us.” Ash rubbed the back of her hand with his thumb. “We want
to make this union a formal one where we’re blessed at the temple.
We want to be your family.”

Esca’s thoughts flowed into her, of them all
together, surrounded by kids, and friends and, Gods, she wanted
that, wanted it so much…

She started to cry. What the hell
was
wrong
with her?

Ash squeezed her hand. “It’s okay, we don’t
have to have an answer right now. Think about what you want, talk
to your grandparents. We’ll wait.”

“
It’s not that.” She hiccupped. “It’s
just that I’ve never been wanted before, never had anyone since my
mom was alive, it’s—”

Their arms came around her, wrapping her in
love and warmth and she cried even harder, until her nose was
running and she knew she looked a fright. Not that they seemed to
care as Esca found her a box of tissues and Ash held her in his
lap, stroking her hair.

“
I’ll arrange that planetary link for
you as soon as I can, Soreya.” Ash kissed her cheek.

“
Thank you.”

“
Do you want to go back to your own
bed?”

“
I’d rather stay here.”

Esca lay down again. “So would I. I’ve got a
week off, so I’m good.”

“
But what about the lab? I—”

“
Ash will sort that out. He loves doing
that shit.” Esca drew her down to rest on his chest. “Go to sleep.
There’s nothing to worry about. One of us will always be here when
you wake up.”

* * * * *

Soreya smiled as she wandered into her suite
and considered what she would wear to work. She hadn’t been in for
almost a week, but no one seemed to mind. She rolled up her
Etruscan uniform, stuffed it in the back of the closet and picked
something more casual. If she agreed to stay in Pavlovan, she’d
never need to wear the blasted thing again.

She wanted to stay so badly. Picking up her
backpack, she made her way into the kitchen and drank the fresh cup
of coffee Chase handed her as she checked through the contents of
her bag.

“
Oh damn.”

She pulled out the white envelope she’d meant
to give to Ash days ago and stared at it. Both of the men had
already left the apartment. Smoothing down the creased paper, she
went back into Ash’s suite to leave the message on his desk. As she
put it down she noticed the flap was open and could easily read her
name on the paper within.

“
Ash, there’s something I
forgot to give you from the ancestral database people at the
university. Shall I leave it on your desk?”

“
Sure, but you can read it
if you like. You have more right to the information than I do. It’s
about your father.
”

“
Do you already know what it
says?”

“
No. If you want to wait
until I get back this evening so that we can look at it together,
that’s fine.”

She stared at the sheet of paper.
“
It’s okay, I’m a big
girl
.
I can handle
it
”

There was the tiniest of pauses.
“
Let me know if I can help in any way
then
.”

“
Will
do.
”

Behind his calm acceptance she sensed he was
worried about her, but, unlike Esca, he had the sense to try and
keep that to himself and treat her like an adult who was capable of
sorting out her own problems. She appreciated that.

She unfolded the single sheet of paper and
read the contents.

“
DNA analysis of the subject Lang
Soreya indicates that she carries fifty percent Pavlovan genes from
the Meljan family.” She turned the note over, but there was no more
information. “Well, that’s not exactly helpful is it?”

“
What isn’t?”

She turned to see Chase coming through the
door with a pile of fresh sheets in her arms.

“
How would I find out where a
particular Pavlovan family live?”

“
If you didn’t want to contact them
telepathically? You could look them up on Pavlovnet.”

Soreya picked up her backpack. “That’s good
to know, thanks Chase. I’ll see you later. I’ve got to go to
work.”

“
Don’t be back too late I’m cooking
your favorite dinner.”

Soreya grinned and waved goodbye. Chase
always said that because she thought they all worked too hard and
should come home more.

Because she was late, she missed the rush
hour into the city and reached the university relatively quickly.
Her partner was already busy, her gaze fixed on the screen, shoes
discarded as she twirled in her chair.

“
Good morning, Bev.” Soreya sat down
and opened up her workstation. About five hundred messages filed
past her gaze, and she groaned.

Bev snorted. “That’s what happens when you
take a week off for mind-blowing sex, Private Lang.”

“
How do you know what I
did?”

“
I just looked at you.”

Soreya felt her cheeks heat. “I hope I didn’t
disrupt your work too much.”

“
I’m only kidding. I’m just so freking
jealous.” Bev sidled closer on her chair. “Was it really that
good?”

“
Yes.”

“
Are you going to stay in Pavlovan,
then?”

“
I haven’t decided yet.” Even as Bev’s
mouth opened, Soreya kept talking. “Do you know how to look up
something on Pavlovnet?”

“
Sure, it’s easy. What are you trying
to access?”

“
The whereabouts of a particular
family.”

“
Of course, you don’t know much about
anyone, do you?” Bev returned her attention to her screen and
tapped at some keys. “Here you go, what’s the name?”

“
Meljan.”

“
Seriously?”

“
Why, what’s wrong with
them?”

“
Nothing that I know of, it’s just that
they’re like Ash’s lot. Very high up and generally a bunch of
snobs.”

“
Oh, great.”

“
Come and take a look.”

Soreya walked over and studied the list of
names on the screen. There were two possibilities. What had her
mother called her lover? She couldn’t remember.

“
How would I send these people a
message?”

Bev scratched her cheek with one long red
fingernail. “Privately or publicly?”

“
Definitely privately.”

“
Hold on a min.” Bev started typing and
telepathically transmitting information at the same time. “They
don’t seem to want to be contactable. You’re probably going to have
to ask Ash to get you an invite. I bet he knows them.”

“
And what if I don’t want to do
that?”

“
Then you could try their business
office. It’s about three blocks from here.”

Soreya considered that option. If she went
over there, she could at least see if she picked up anything
telepathically from the people she met.

“
Wait—I have an idea.” Bev said. “One
of their companies funds our research. How about I take you over
there and introduce you?”

“
You can do that?”

Bev fluttered her eyelashes at her. “Well,
thanks to you, we did just have this massive breakthrough about how
to train Pavlovan kids to interact with power sources. I was
thinking about taking you out to meet some of our sponsors so that
they’d keep financing us. It’s usually a drag, but everyone’s been
asking who you are since Ash took you to the Senate event.”

“
If you get me in to see the Meljan
family, I’ll smile and talk nicely to any sponsor you
like.”

Bev held out her hand. “Deal. Now let me
contact these guys and see what I can set up.”

* * *

As the elevator doors opened on the offices
of the Meljan empire, Soreya fell in behind Bev and followed her to
the reception desk. She’d spent most of the afternoon finding out
as much as she could about the Meljans, which wasn’t much.
Considering how open Pavlovan society was, they were either
surprisingly discreet or great at controlling the information
stream. She guessed the latter.

“
Good afternoon.”

The woman at the desk smiled brightly at Bev
and Soreya. “You’ve come to see Meljan, senior?”

Bev nodded. “That’s right.”

“
Then I’ll show you in.”

She rose, smoothing down her tight skirt, and
turned to the right into a short paneled hallway with three doors
in it. Soreya’s feet sunk into the soft beige carpet. The place
reeked of money and privilege and something else…something
familiar.

Her gaze fixed on the older woman rising to
greet them at the large conference table and Soreya almost stopped
walking. Luckily Bev kept moving and held out her hand.

“
Thanks so much for agreeing to see
us.” She turned to Soreya. “This is Private Soreya Lang from the
planet Etrusca.”

The woman studied her for a long moment
before holding out her hand. “I’ve heard about you. Welcome to
Meljan Industries, Private Lang.”

“
Please call me Soreya, I’m currently
on sabbatical from the military.” Soreya tentatively shook hands,
shutting down her shields as tightly as she could at the same time.
“I’ve been seconded to work at the university here.”

“
So I’ve been told.” The woman sat down
and gestured for Soreya and Bev to do the same. “I understand that
you have some quite extraordinary abilities.”

“
I’m not sure how extraordinary they
are. On Etrusca telepaths are something of a rarity.”

“
Mainly because the government has them
exterminated like pests.” Meljan senior’s mouth tightened. “What an
unenlightened society.”

“
You seem to know quite a lot about
Etrusca,” Soreya commented. “Most people have never heard of
it.”

“
My family runs an export and import
business. We travel to all corners of the Trios System and
sometimes beyond.” Meljan looked up as the door opened. “Ah, here
come some refreshments.” She turned to Bev. “And how is the
research program going overall?”

Bev started talking, giving Soreya the chance
to sit back and simply study the elderly woman opposite her. Were
family members able to recognize other family members? She knew
there was a special link between trios because Ash and Esca had
told her about it. Shielding as best she could, she put the
question to Ash.

“
Do families have special
links?”

“
I have to wonder why you’re
asking me that, but yes, they do.”

“
Oh, damn.”

“
Where are you?”

“
At Meljan Industries
meeting a woman I think might be my grandmother.”

She took the cup of coffee Bev handed her.
“Thank you.”

“
Are you enjoying your stay here,
Soreya?”

She smiled at Meljan senior. “Very much so.
It is remarkable to be surrounded by telepaths.”

“
You’re living in Senator Ash’s
penthouse?”

“
Yes, I met his Second Male on a
military mission last month. It was due to his connection with the
senator that I was allowed to travel to Pavlovan to aid research at
the university.”

“
How interesting.”

She smiled at Meljan. “I’m glad things worked
out the way they did. It’s been an amazing experience for me.”

“
And for us,” Bev piped up. “We’ve
learned techniques we didn’t even know existed. Being able to
manipulate power sources telepathically will give our population
and our military a huge advantage in many situations.”

Meljan nodded. “And in our industry such a
skill would help with space travel, integrating our systems with
new and emerging economies, and making sure we weren’t being
cheated.” She nodded at Soreya. “I’m very glad you came to
Pavlovan.”