The Power of Persuasion (14 page)

He pulled on a pair of boxers and a dressing gown that he found hanging in the bathroom. Perhaps he should’ve made her talk to him before they’d made love again and she’d fallen asleep. His stomach growled. But maybe it would be better to hear whatever was really wrong on a full stomach.

He left the suite and headed for the main family room and kitchen area, hoping that Chase would offer to make him a sandwich or something. He didn’t even know the time, or how long a Pavlovan day was. The murmur of voices made him slow down, but it was too late to go back. The couple embracing in the kitchen had already seen him.

“Mac!” Esca called out. “Come and meet Soreya, our one and only female.” He kept a casual arm around the petite female next to him.

“Captain McNeil.”

Her accent was different to the Pavlovans and the brush of her mind against his was distinctly original.

“Please, call me Mac. And thank you for allowing us all to invade your home.”

She shrugged. “I served in the Etruscan military. I’m used to being surrounded by soldiers.”

“You’re Etruscan?”

“By birth.” She glanced up at Esca. “Any Etruscan male who shows signs of being telepathic is neutralized, but some of the females are kept to serve the army. That’s how Esca and I met.”

“I saved her life.” Esca said and winced as his mate elbowed him in the gut.

“Actually, that’s true, but I saved him first.”

Mac couldn’t help but smile as Soreya handed him a cup of real Earth-style coffee and something that resembled a square donut.

“Dinners going to be ready soon. But Chase spent all morning researching Earth food and that snack, whatever it is, should apparently keep you going. ” She gestured at the couch. “Come and sit with us.”

Mac followed her and Esca to the white couches in front of the floor to ceiling windows. The city scrolled out beneath them, the lights of the coast and the spaceport a twinkling array in the far distance.

“That’s some view.”

“I know. I couldn’t believe it when Esca first brought me here. I was so intimidated, but this is nothing compared to Neeve’s home, I suppose.”

Mac sipped at his coffee, which was strong, black, and just how he liked it. “I have no idea what Neeve’s house looks like. I didn’t even know she had one. Did she live in it with Malke?”

“Oh, I meant her family home. She’ll probably take you there to meet her siblings at some point.” Soreya paused as if Esca was communicating with her. “That is, if you are really mated.”

“That’s for the Oracle to say.”

“That should be interesting,” Esca murmured.

“Why?”

“Because the Oracle doesn’t always say what you want to hear. I nearly threatened her with violence when she announced I was Second Male.” He shook his head. “You don’t do that to the Oracle. My parents nearly had a heart attack.”

“You were quite young,” Soreya patted his knee.

“Yeah, eighteen isn’t the ideal time to find out you’re going to be permanently on your knees sucking your First Male’s dick.” Esca grinned. “And then I met Ash and he let me go and do what I had to do, and then showed me just how much I was going to love sucking his dick.”

“Esca!” Soreya slapped him this time and Mac fought a smile. “You’re supposed to be reassuring Mac, not making things worse!”

“It’s okay.” Mac put his coffee down. “The whole concept of a threesome isn’t one I’m used to on Earth, but seeing you guys together makes sense.”

“I wasn’t sure about it either.” Soreya confessed. “But—”

“But when she realized she got me
and
Ash, she came around.” Esca winked at his mate. “She came…a lot actually.”

Soreya’s cheeks were now red but she kissed Esca’s chin. “My Etruscan family thought it was a sin for me to mate with another telepath, let alone two. I’m no longer considered part of their family, and I’m okay with that.”

“Okay with what?”

Ash had come through the door. He dropped his case on the floor and advanced into the room shucking off his jacket as he went. Mac watched as Esca and Soreya turned to him like he was a fucking rock star. Even Mac felt his power. It changed the whole dynamic of the psychic space.

“Captain McNeil, how are you?”

Ash smiled at him as he came to sit on the couch next to Soreya. He dropped a kiss on Esca’s cheek and then on the top of his female’s head.

“Please, call me Mac. And thanks for putting us up. It’s much appreciated.”

“Neeve is my cousin. This is the least I could do to help her out. If your unit decides to stay on Pavlovan, we can provide you with accommodation and employment. Soreya works at the university where she teaches her extraordinary telepathic skill set to our youth. I’m sure you have additional skills we could learn from as well.”

“I’m not sure about that. We were selected for having emerging telepathic traits and biogenetically engineered to enhance those abilities along with physical strength. We had to work damn hard to achieve everything.”

“Which is a new concept for us. If you are willing, and only if you are willing, you could help our research scientists quite considerably. Ninety-nine percent of our population is born with some telepathic ability, which is nurtured from birth, but can also be taken for granted. Being able to offer opportunities to enhance that ability in different ways would be very useful.”

When Ash smiled at him, Mac had to smile back. In fact, he wanted to crawl off the couch and go over and put his head right in Ash’s lap and simply soak up his telepathic aura...

Esca snorted. “Stop it, Ash. You’re making Mac uncomfortable.”

“No, he’s not, I’m just…” Mac tried to think of the right words. “It’s like I want to—”

“
Do this?”

Ash’s beautiful mind flowed around his and he instinctively let him in and simply wallowed in the power of the exchange.

“
Yes
.”

His cock jerked against his boxers fighting to get free. Ash gently broke away from his mind leaving Mac feeling like he’d just had the best orgasm of his life.

“Don’t worry, Mac, I’m not jealous. Ash has that effect on people sometimes.”

Mac jerked his head around to see Neeve coming through the bedroom door. She didn’t seem too bothered to see him sitting there with a hard-on panting over her cousin.

Mac cleared his throat as Neeve sat down beside him and rapidly changed the subject. “Have the others settled in okay, Esca?”

“Yes, they are all coming up here for dinner, so you can check in with them then. Kaiden’s got them all in hand.”

“Good.” Mac tried to ignore the way Neeve’s hand had come to rest on his thigh. He wanted to grab her wrist and press her fingers firmly over his cock.

“
You like an audience now?”

He glanced over at the others but no one seemed to have heard her remark as they discussed the upcoming dinner and where everyone was going to sit.

“
No. If you did touch me right now, I’d probably come
.”

“
You’d like Ash to see that, wouldn’t you
?”

Her fingers slid up his thigh, her thumb edging close to his balls and he caught his breath.

Her laughter echoed inside his head. “
I’m just kidding. Ash really can’t help it. Telepathic charisma is a lethal weapon and he has it in spades
.
After you’ve spoken to the diplomatic liaison tomorrow, would you like to come and visit my family home?”

“
If that’s what you want.”

She grimaced. “
It has to be done
.” The doorbell rang. “That will be Trenx. Hadn’t you better go and get dressed?”

Mac glanced down at his dressing gown and the thick thrust of his cock. “
Only if you come and help me choose something to wear.
”

“
Like your uniform
?
You don’t even have anything else, do you
?” She rose gracefully to her feet and held out her hand. “
You’re on.”

He followed her into their suite and shut the door, one hand already wrapped around his aching wet shaft. She immediately went down on her knees.

“Let me take care of that for you.”

“I won’t last more than ten seconds.” Even while he protested he was shoving down his boxers and reaching for her. “
God…”

She sucked him hard and fast as he imagined a man might do and he started to come at the thought of Ash watching him, fucking him,
owning
him…

Perhaps having a third person in your bed didn’t have to be quite as alarming as he’d previously imagined. Luckily for him, Ash was already taken.

Chapter Ten

“
Heeze
,” Neeve muttered as she looked around the gilded entrance hall. “I don’t think she’s here after all.”

“Er, Neeve.”

She turned to look at Mac who was staring up the stairs, his mouth open. “Who are all these women?”

She checked out the six or seven women who were running down the stairs toward them. “Them? Mainly my sisters and some of them are cousins.”

“You have good genes in your family.”

“Or you could say my mother picks great partners.” She braced herself for the impact of a tidal wave of loving concern. “Hi siblings and cousins. This is Captain McNeill. He’s mine, so don’t touch him. Is our mother here?”

Sylvia stepped forward and threw her arms around Neeve. “It’s so good to see you! I’ve missed you. We’ve all missed you.”

“So Aleya told me.” She forced herself to relax her shields a little. “It’s good to see you all, but where is she?”

“Mother’s at the sacred place. It’s the festival of life week.” Sylvia tugged on Neeve’s arm. “But aren’t you going to come in and visit with us? I’m sure we’d all love to hear what you’ve been up to and how you met Captain McNeill.”

“I’m sorry, Sylvia, but I’m three days away from a mating meltdown, and I really need to speak to mother.”

“Oh, I understand.” Sylvia smiled again. “Perhaps you’ll come by when you’ve seen her.

Neeve held onto her youngest sister’s hand. “I’m sorry, I really mean it.”

“It’s all right. Duty must come before pleasure.”

“Exactly.” That wasn’t what Neeve meant at all, but if it worked for her female relatives then she’d go for it. She grabbed Mac’s hand.

“Put your tongue back in your mouth, and let’s go.”

He obediently followed her out and back into the limo Ash had lent her.

“Why didn’t you mention that you grew up in a palace?”

“Why do you think?”

“You weren’t happy there?”

“Did you see those women?”

“Yes.”

“Then you’ll know why I ran away with Malke.”

“I don’t understand.”

“They are all happy living there, waiting to meet their mates and live out the rest of their lives on Pavlovan. None of them want to go to college or explore space, or do anything other than maintain a series of religious traditions that go back for centuries.”

“So they do perform a function within your society.”

“Yes, I didn’t say they were useless, did I? I just said I didn’t want to be one of them.”

He sat back and crossed one leg over the other. “What kind of religious traditions?”

“They serve the Oracle.”

“And you didn’t want to do that.”

“Not really.”

“And were you prevented from doing what you wanted?”

She sighed. “Obviously not, but it still wasn’t easy. All that love and concern made me feel worse for wanting to be different than if they’d all hated me and prevented me from leaving.”

“I know what you mean. My wife didn’t want me to get involved in the super soldier program because she loved me. I chose to ignore her. While I was away being
enhanced
she got sick. I didn’t know about it because my superiors told her that taking me out of the program at that point would’ve killed me. Because she loved me, she chose to die alone.”

“That’s terrible.”

“That’s love.” He shrugged. “They wouldn’t even let me attend her funeral.”

“I’m so sorry.” She sighed. “And now I feel like an idiot for stamping my foot about being loved too much.”

“You shouldn’t. That’s what I’m trying to say. Sometimes love can be stifling.”

“We’re going to have to find my mother.”

“I got that.”

“Chase will help us get organized. Do you think Kaiden will be all right to stay here with the others?”

“I don’t see why not.”

On their return to Ash’s apartment, Mac made certain to go down to the lower level and visit with his fellow soldiers. He paused in the entrance hall but didn’t pick up anything, but contented thoughts and happy people. Everyone seemed to have settled in far more easily than he had expected.

“Mac.”

Bevan and Dec were sitting in front of a screen watching some kind of documentary about Pavlovan. He took a seat on the couch and Dec paused the picture.

“How are things?” Mac asked.

“Pretty good so far. Thanks to Ash, we’ve had a constant stream of visitors asking us about our current careers, prospects, interests, etc.”

“And everyone is okay with that?”

Bevan shrugged. “Why wouldn’t we be? Having been thrown out with the trash on Earth, and left to deal with the shit they did to us without any help, being on a planet where telepaths are
valued
is a nice change.”

“You’re not missing Earth?”

“No.” Dec sat forward and focused his intelligent gaze on Mac. “Why—are you?”

“Not at all, but I came here because of Dr. Neeve.”

“And we came because we trust you and Commander Kaiden.” He shrugged. “None of us left anyone important back on Earth. Since being enhanced and discarded we’ve all struggled to readjust to society and maintain any kind of relationship with our families.”

Mac grimaced. “I know.”

“But being here?” Dec smiled. “With all these people thinking along with us? It’s fucking amazing.”

Bevan nodded. “It is.”

“I have to go away for a couple of days, is Kaiden around?” Mac said.

“I think he was out on the deck with Roberts.”

“Then I’ll go and find him.” Mac gave the two men a casual salute. “Good to see you both settling in.”

Dec waved as he returned his attention to the screen and Mac went out onto the deck that spanned the entire side of the apartment. Kaiden was still out there playing some kind of ball game with Roberts.