The Power of Three (5 page)

She followed behind him, aware of the threat
at her back and more than willing to use all her strength to get as
far away from the facility as possible. He took a circuitous path
but it was always up. The air around them grew colder and she had
to focus on her breathing.

He stopped so suddenly she bumped into the
back of him. “We’ll rest here.”

“
I can keep going, sir.”

“
I can’t.” He limped over to an
overhanging rock, picked up a fallen tree branch and thrust it into
the shadows. “This will give us some shelter.”

She followed him, her feet stumbling over the
fallen rocks and gravel and sank down beside him. He grimaced as
her knee collided with his thigh.

“
Sorry, sir.”

“
It’s Esca, and it’s okay. It’s an old
injury that doesn’t take well to the cold.”

“
Perhaps we could try that healing
thing again.”

“
We will once we’ve had some water and
a few rations.” He brought out their meager supplies. “I’ll try and
contact the ship.”

“
From here?”

“
It’s unlikely, but it can’t hurt to
try. If I know Trenx and Captain Jong, they’ll already be looking
out for us on the planet surface.”

“
Even if Captain Wassain says you’re
dead?”

His smile was predatory. “One of Jong’s
strengths as a telepath is the ability to detect meershit. She’ll
not believe I’m dead until she’s personally recovered my
corpse.”

She sensed him communicating, but he got no
response.

“
Would it help if I boosted your
signal?”

He glanced down at her. “You’re full of
surprises, Lang, aren’t you?”

“
I don’t know, sir. I’ve never had the
chance to compare myself to other telepaths. We’re kept strictly
apart.” Something she was beginning to understand in light of the
devastating effect he was having on her.

“
They don’t let you mix?”

“
No, sir. There are hardly any of us,
and we’re almost all female. Most males are exterminated at birth
or as soon as they are identified.” His silence made her hurry on.
“It certainly makes it hard to understand one’s abilities and what
is normal and what isn’t.”

“
So these gifts are innate?”

“
Most of them.” She swallowed hard. “My
mother taught me a lot, mainly how to conceal them.”

“
She must be very proud of
you.”

“
I don’t know about that, sir. They
executed her when I was ten for perverting a minor.”

“
You.”

“
Yes, sir.”

“
That’s appalling.”

“
That’s Etrusca.” She forced a smile.
“Do you want to try it then, sir?”

* * *

Esca studied Private Lang’s upturned face.
She had blue-grey eyes, brown hair and a small, prim mouth, which
gave her the look of a rather severe doll. Not that he cared about
the exterior packaging. His senses were still reeling from the
extraordinary power of her psyche, of the sense that her abilities
called to him alone. The nearest he’d ever had to such an intense
reaction was to Ash.

And that, in this particular set of
circumstances, was both horrifying and wonderful. He wanted to die
for her. He wanted to hold onto her and never let her go. She’d
never met another male telepath up close and personal, and had no
idea what he might be imagining, let alone deciding about her
mating prospects.

Damn
.

He had to get her back on the ship. There was
no option for failure. Once she was safe, he’d deal with the matter
of getting her naked and acquainted with him at a more reasonable
pace.

“
Let’s try it.”

He allowed his mind to blend with hers.
It wasn’t exactly difficult when he’d started to crave the contact
like a drug. Her unique psychic signature shot through him and he
freking shook with it. Faintly, right on the edge of his senses, he
felt Trenx. Grabbing Lang’s hand he squeezed it hard and did the
equivalent of a telepathic bellow.
“Coming
up mountain to rendezvous spot. Need provisions and weapons. Will
contact you when reach designated drop zone area.”

He disengaged, felt Lang pull away too and
realized he was still holding her hand. He wanted to bring it to
his mouth and plant a kiss on her palm, draw each of her fingers
into his mouth and show her exactly how he liked his dick to be
sucked.

“
Sir?”

He glanced down at her confused face and
grimaced at the tiredness and strain behind her eyes.

“
I’m not sure if we reached him, but I
think we did. We’ll find out when we get closer to the top of this
ridge.” He kissed her cold nose. “Have some more water and we’ll
get going.”

She didn’t move, her gaze fixed on his mouth.
He leaned in and brushed his lips over hers, heard her sharp intake
of breath. “Lang?”

Her tongue flicked over her lower lip and he
was lost. He joined his mouth with hers, the shock of the heat
inside a sharp contrast to the cold. His cock kicked up in his
pants. She didn’t hesitate to kiss him back, and for him that was
it. Confirmation that she was the one—that he had to have her and
bring her home safely so that Ash could have her, too.

But first, he had to save their asses.

He reluctantly pulled away. “I apologize,
Lang, that was out of order.”

She wiped her mouth and struggled to her
feet. “”It’s all right, sir. You’re not the first superior officer
who’s ignored protocol and pulled rank on me.”

He caught her elbow. “That’s not what this is
about, and you know it. When we get back on the ship—”

“
You’ll expect me to keep my mouth
shut.” She shoved the water container back in his hand. “I get it,
sir.”

She crawled out of the shelter and walked
over to the side of the trail. “There are lights down below. I
think they’ve found us.”

Esca came to join her, the complications of
mating lost in the reality of pursuit. “Let’s get moving.”

* * *

As they struggled up the increasingly
treacherous path, Esca checked back on Lang but she appeared to be
going strong. If anything, he was likely to be the problem-his leg
didn’t like the terrain at all. The bone-grinding ache was growing
worse with every step.

“
Someone’s trying to contact
you, sir
.”

Lang in his head, her voice devoid of
emotion. He kept moving, but allowed her access to his mind, her
power strengthening the fragile link.

“
Cave at coordinates
three-point-five-point-seven-nine. Now equipped. Rest up and move
onto drop zone at 05 hundred hours. Trenx out.”

“
Roger
that.
”

Esca dragged the map to the front of his
brain and fixed the position of the cave, aware that Lang was doing
the same. He altered course and kept moving up, Wisps of snow
brushed his cold face and the wind cut like the sharpest laser.

The entrance to the cave was extremely hard
to see. If Trenx or his team had been in the area there was now no
sign of them.

“
Up there, sir.”

Lang pointed at a slightly uneven shadow
higher on the bleak rock face wall. Once he saw it, he knew she was
right. He moved past her, his weapon at the ready. “Let’s go.”

The entrance was narrow and involved sliding
between several upright rocks and then sideways between two massive
horizontal slabs into what felt like a surprisingly warm and
expansive space. There was a faint green glow to his left. He dug
the light source out of the gravelly pit and flicked the power
switch to full. Light flashed on the back of the cave where a neat
pile of stores had been placed.

“
Thank the Gods,” Esca muttered. “Or
more likely, thank Captain Jong.”

There were two thin heat-preserving blankets,
basic rations, and a small arsenal of weapons. Esca spread one of
the blankets over the stone floor and gestured at Lang.

“
Sit on this so you won’t freeze your
ass off. We’ll divide the weapons, set up a perimeter alarm, eat,
heal, and then try to sleep. Any questions?”

“
No sir.” She subsided onto the blanket
beside him and he realized she was shivering. He handed her a gun.
“Are you familiar with this weapon?”

“
Yes.”

“
Then make sure it’s fully charged, and
help yourself to anything else Jong left us.” He armed himself to
his satisfaction and felt much better. “I’ll go and set the traps
and charges around the cave while you take care of the
entranceway.”

“
Yes sir.”

He had to grit his teeth to get off the floor
without his leg giving way. “I’ll be back. I’ll let you know when
I’m coming in.”

She nodded, her gaze on the gun he’d given
her, her competent hands checking it over in a way that made him
want to fuck her even more. Frek, his timing was terrible, as were
his basic urges. Why hadn’t she met Ash first? He was the diplomat.
He’d know just how to handle her.

He pulled on the extra-warm jacket Jong had
left him and headed outside. It didn’t take long to set the charges
and the trip alarms. In the silence of the mountain he could hear
the pursuit below. They were making no effort to keep quiet, their
voices loud, and their hunting dogs even louder. He wondered if
they were stopping to make camp. Hopefully the storm would slow
them down enough to make escape possible.

It damn well had to.

Esca turned back to view the cave. From here
there was no sign of habitation or disturbance. He just prayed that
none of the hunting party knew of its existence and could lead the
soldiers right to them. Even if that happened, he’d take down as
many of them as he could before he surrendered Private Lang to
anyone. Not that she’d be sitting idly by twirling her hair. He
reckoned she’d be right alongside him matching him kill for
kill.

What a female.

He just remembered to let her know he was
coming back before he stepped inside the cave and into her raised
weapon. He maneuvered awkwardly through the obstacles to the space
behind. In the soft glow of the green light, he noticed a long slab
of rock propped up against the wall. He hefted it up and slid it
sideways, all but closing the gap to the outside world.

“
Lang?”

She was sitting on the blanket, her knees
drawn up to her chin and her arms wrapped around them. “Yes,
sir?”

“
Break out those rations.”

* * *

Damn him. Soreya rubbed at her lips where the
sensation of his kiss still lingered. She’d been kissed before, but
never with such soul-baring intensity. If he hadn’t drawn back she
would’ve been climbing him like a tree and begging him to fuck her.
Was this why the Etruscan government kept telepaths apart? She
hadn’t tried to leap on any of the other male team members from
Pavlovan. But then none of them had kissed her.

“
Lang?”

She stared at him as he shook the snow from
his thick dark hair. “What?”

“
Rations?”

Color rushed to her face and she bent her
head over the box of supplies to hide her confusion.

“
There’s plenty here, sir.” She spread
the packets out on the blanket. “Not that it makes much difference
what you pick, they all taste the same.”

He sat down next to her, suddenly making the
available space feel small.

“
Give me your hand.”

She obeyed before she thought it through and
watched as her small hand disappeared inside his larger one. The
now-familiar heat of his healing power reached her and she tried to
relax and send it back to him. She sensed he was in considerable
pain and for some reason, she wanted desperately to fix that for
him, to soothe him with her hands, her mouth, her body...

“
Lang, that isn’t helping,” he
murmured.

“
What isn’t, sir?”

“
What you’re thinking.”

She tried to pull her hand away, but he
wouldn’t let go.

“
There is something I wanted to ask
you, sir.”

“
Go ahead.”

“
If we are likely to be captured alive,
will you kill me first? Knowing their opinion of females, I doubt
I’d get away with just being shot in the head.”

He stirred beside her. “If they capture you,
Lang, I’ll already be dead. I’ll do anything to keep you
alive.”

The sincerity in his voice made her throat
tighten with long suppressed emotion. “Thank you, sir, but will you
promise anyway?”

“
Yes.”

She managed to pull away. “Now what can I
give you to eat?”

“
Lang.”

She raised her head and found him staring at
her. “What?”

“
You are a remarkable
female.”

She sat back next to him and waited until he
started eating then followed suit. “How is your leg?”

“
Bearing up.”

She chewed in silence for a while and then
leaned back against the hardness of the wall to contemplate the
shadows of the cave.

“
Hold up.” He wrapped an arm around her
shoulders. “Less stress on your back.”

She didn’t protest and gradually found
herself turning into his warmth and greedily inhaling his scent.
Was this how it had been for her mother? This desperate need to be
understood—to be recognized as having worth by another
telepath?

“
I think my father must’ve been a
telepath.”