The Power of Persuasion (19 page)

But that would achieve nothing. Willow let out a long slow breath. His heart ached, and for the first time in many years he questioned the certainties he had lived his life by. Was it possible that his interpretation of the Oracle’s prophecy was wrong?

A wave of sadness flooded over him. He would mediate and pray on the matter as they headed back to the temple. He would also do as he’d been asked, and keep away from Ian Mac.

Chapter Thirteen

“They are back, daughter.”

Neeve grinned at her mother and put down the scroll she’d been studying. “That’s great and just in time, too. If it’s okay with you, I’ll go down and meet Mac at the first gate.”

“I’d rather you waited until he reached the secured compound.”

Neeve rose. “Sure.”

Her mother gave her the Oracle’s benign smile. “Thank you for not arguing with me, First Daughter.”

“I’m trying not to, Gisele.” Neeve came around and kissed her mother’s cheek. “I’m glad you noticed.”

“May I make a suggestion, Neeve?”

Neeve paused. “It depends on what it is.”

“Don’t rush to make judgments. Listen carefully to all the evidence and make your decision based on the truth of the situation, rather than how it first appears.”

“What’s that? The Oracle quote for the day?”

“Just something to think about.”

Neeve waved and headed out of the library. Since reuniting with her mother and sisters she’d found herself becoming more forgiving of their ways and far more understanding of the burden her mother was under to provide spiritual guidance for an entire nation who worshipped her as a god. Three years away from Pavlovan had helped her appreciate the stability of her planet. She still didn’t want to take the job, but at least she had mended matters with her family.

If she could only convince her mother to allow her far more suitable sister Reyna to become the next Oracle, her life would be awesome. Keeping her shields high so that she could surprise Mac, she walked down the seven levels to the much less public secure entrance to the temple’s private apartments.

The low hum of voices caught her attention and she slowed on the curve of the spiral staircase. Was that Mac? Who was he conversing with so urgently? A wave of tangled emotions shot through her mind and she instinctively raised her shields even higher.

It
was
Mac, but whom was he talking to?

She peeked around the corner and caught a flash of long fair hair and then a hand wrapped around the person’s neck pulling them back out of sight. Hardly daring to breathe, Neeve crept closer, but there was nothing more to hear only the sense of complex emotions flying through the air, of defeat, of despair, of
longing
…

Mac came around the corner, his expression distraught and pulled up short at the sight of her.

“Neeve!”

She stayed where she was, arms folded over her chest.

He started toward her. “I didn’t expect to see you.”

“So I gathered. Who was that?”

His shields slammed down. “Who was what?”

“That person you were talking to?”

He shoved a hand through his damp hair. “I can’t tell you.”

“You’re my
mate
.”

“And I owe you an apology.” He hesitated. “Can we talk about this somewhere else?”

She turned on her heel and went back up the stairs until she reached their suite of rooms. Leaving the door open for him, she went inside and stationed herself in the middle of the floor. Mac came in, shut the door behind him and dropped his backpack on the floor.

“Spill.” Neeve snapped.

He straightened and looked her in the eye. “As I said, I owe you an apology. I forgot that I was on a different planet and that the cultural expectations here aren’t the same as on Earth. I inadvertently created a situation where I hurt another Pavlovan.”

“What the
heeze
does that mean? Did you sleep with another female?”

He blinked at her. “No, of course not.”

She finally remembered how to breathe. “Good. So what did you do?”

He rubbed a hand over the back of his neck. “Nothing that will ever happen again. I know this is asking a lot of you, Neeve, but could we leave it at that?” He lowered his shields and opened his mind to her. “I’m the one to blame for everything. The other Pavlovan didn’t do anything that wasn’t perfectly acceptable in your culture.”

Her hands curled into fists. Gods, she was
jealous
…Were Pavlovans able to feel that way? Perhaps only about their mates.

Remembering her mother’s advice to breathe deeply and consider before she became all judgey, she thought about what
she’d
asked Mac to accept about her planet, and how hard he’d tried to adapt for her sake. She’d made it a condition of their mating that he consent to be in a threesome maybe even with another male. Could
she
accept that his decision to stay with her had led him into an encounter with a Pavlovan who wouldn’t have understood that Mac wasn’t used to their ways?

“Was this Pavlovan mated?” She hated herself, but she had to ask.

“I don’t know.” He frowned. “How would I know that?”

“Did you sense any other connections?”

“No.”

“Did you have to tell this Pavlovan about me, or were they aware that I existed?”

“They knew you existed.”

“Then they were probably not mated to another.” She let out her breath. “I don’t like it, Mac. I know that after all my preaching to you I shouldn’t care, but I don’t like the thought of you sharing anything with anyone but me.”

He almost cracked a smile. “You sound just like I used to before I met you.” He came toward her, his hand outstretched. “Will you forgive me? I fucked up, I regret hurting you more than I can say.”

She let him gather her into his arms and laid her cheek against his chest. He smelled of the outside with a hint of the minerals from the springs. She inhaled again and wrapped one arm around his neck.

“Take me to bed.”

He placed his fingers under her chin and made her look at him. “You’re okay about this? I swear, I’ll tell you—”

She blocked his words with her mouth and with a groan; he picked her up in his arms and took her into the bedroom.

Several hours later, she woke up and leaving Mac to sleep, she dressed in a silk robe and headed out onto the balcony. She almost screeched when a green shadow detached itself from the foliage beside the security wall and bowed.

“First Daughter. I didn’t mean to startle you. The Oracle ordered us to secure your suite.”

She placed a hand over her rapidly beating heart and nodded. “It’s okay. You’re one of the
Hakron
, aren’t you?”

“Yes, First Daughter. My name is Ungar. I am honored to be one of your First Male’s bodyguards.”

He had long brown hair with three small braids on each side of his face and warm hazel eyes.

“It’s good to meet you, Ungar.”

“We will be patrolling the balcony area every night while you and the Oracle are in residence. Ulluiao is stationed by the Oracle’s suite.”

“Did you say Willow?”

He paused. “Your First Male could not pronounce the name properly and that’s what he chose to call him. Ulluiao is the head of our unit. Do you know him?”

“My mother mentioned him. How did the trip go?”

“Ian Mac found it hard to keep up at first, but he proved a worthy companion. He was not too proud to share the workload even though he was exhausted.”

“That sounds just like him.” Neeve strolled further away from the windows and Ungar followed. “Did you stop in any of the villages?”

“Only to get supplies on the way back. We had to stay an extra day at the hot springs so that your mate could complete his ‘biotech’ repairs.” Ungar smiled. “On the return journey we met up with two parties traveling to worship at the temple. Word has spread of your joining. They were all eager to meet your First Male.”

Neeve nodded. So the person that Mac had been talking to at the security gate had either come back with him, or had been in the temple all along. Not that she cared. She was beyond that now. Perhaps it was one of the temple visitors who would be leaving fairly soon, and had merely thought to celebrate their pilgrimage with some sexual excess by propositioning the Oracle’s daughter’s male.

Her
male…

But Mac had placed the blame squarely on himself. She let out a breath and studied the calmness of the night sky. This jealousy thing wasn’t pretty. She felt like a hypocrite. She had to let go of what had happened, give Mac the benefit of the doubt and move on. He deserved her trust.

“Did my First Male make particular friends with any of the females you met?”

Ungar’s smile was slow to come and full of quiet humor. “No, First Daughter, he did not. He spoke only of his love and regard for you.”

“Good.” Neeve smiled back at the bodyguard. “Thank you.”

He hesitated. “If you wish to learn more about how the journey, you should speak to Ulluiao. He and your First Male spent much time together.”

“I’ll do that. Thanks Ungar.”

“You are most welcome. Good night, First Daughter.”

He bowed and faded back into the shadows and Neeve hesitated. Ungar had said Willow was just along the balcony. She wasn’t ready to go back to sleep yet, so she might as well go and make his acquaintance.

She turned to her right and walked along the side of the private quarters and around the corner to where her mother had her suite.

“First Daughter.”

She nodded at the blond-haired man who guarded her mother’s door. He exuded a sense of calm resolution that she envied and something deeper, something he instantly concealed behind the intricacies of his complex telepathic shields.

“You are Willow?”

He bowed. “Yes, First Daughter.”

“May I speak to you for a moment?”

“Of course. How may I help you?”

She took the seat he held out for her. “I was wondering how your trip with my First Male went.”

His fingers tightened around the shaft of his spear. “Did he speak of me?”

“No, not at all.”

“Ah.”

“It’s just that Ungar said you spent the most time with Mac, and I wondered if he seemed okay.”

He frowned. “I am not familiar with that last word, First Daughter. What does it mean?”

“Okay? It means all right. I must have picked it up on Earth. I meant was Mac behaving normally?”

“Apart from being fatigued, I would imagine he was behaving perfectly normally for a human.”

“Did he offend you?”

His smile seemed forced. “Not at all, First Daughter. He is an honorable, man who will remain loyal to you.”

She glanced down at her hands. “He didn’t seem interested in any other females, did he?”

“No, First Daughter.” His voice was gentle. “Why would you even think that?”

“Because I’m an idiot?” She rose to her feet before she started bawling. “Thanks. It was nice to meet you.”

He went as if to touch her and then drew back his hand. “The pleasure was all mine. I have longed for this moment for my entire life.”

She stared into his eyes and couldn’t look away. “Willow…”

He was the first to break contact. “You do not need to worry about anything, First Daughter. Ian Mac will never give you cause to doubt him, I swear it on the Gods of Pavlovan.”

“You have the sight?”

His smile was wry. “In this case, I think you might say that I have. Good night, First Daughter.”

“Good night, Willow.”

Neeve retraced her steps and returned to bed. She wasn’t proud of herself for snooping, but at least she felt a little better about what might have occurred. As she climbed into bed, Mac reached for her and enfolded her in his arms.

Of course, if she really wanted to know the truth, all she had to do was ask the Oracle…

Neeve buried her face against Mac’s chest. That was not going to happen. She also had a sensation that if her mother had wanted her to know about what went on, she would’ve already told her. So it couldn’t be bad…could it?

Mac woke up with a headache and found Neeve had already gone. His sleep had been troubled by dreams of Willow walking away again. What the hell was wrong with him? Even as his bodyguards had said their goodbyes and dispersed at the gate the day before, he’d grabbed hold of Willow and hugged him hard, aware of the light kiss dropped on his head and the gentle words of forgiveness and regret flowing from his companion.

And then Neeve had come around the corner and stopped him doing something stupid like chasing after Willow and begging him not to leave him…

So much for his ice-cool status as a killing machine. He was a fucking emotional wreck who should never have been allowed off Earth.

“
Come down to breakfast when you are ready, First Male
.”

The Oracle’s sweet but demanding voice came into his head and he leapt out of bed as if she was standing over him. He intended to politely ask Neeve’s mother when it would be convenient for them to return to the capital city, citing concern for his men as his reason for their departure. But that wouldn’t be for at least three days. Neeve was due to go into her mating cycle.

He took a very fast shower, dressed in his favorite uniform of a black T-shirt and military issue khaki pants and made his way down the stairs to the kitchen. To his surprise, the Oracle, or as she’d asked him to call her, Gisele, sat alone at the table drinking some kind of juice and nibbling at chunks of tropical fruit.

“Ah, Ian, come in and have something to eat.”

He took the chair opposite hers and was immediately surrounded by servers who set his usual breakfast of juice, coffee, fruit and odd-shaped doughnuts in front of him. There was also a Pavlovan version of bacon and eggs, but he couldn’t get over the sight of blue yolks and green fat to try it. The servers disappeared as quickly as they had arrived.

“Where’s Neeve?”

The Oracle finished her juice. “She’s in my study trying to complete the task I allotted her before she goes into her mating cycle.”

“Then I suppose I should expect to meet up with her in our suite.”

“Yes, I should imagine so.” Gisele wiped her mouth with her napkin. “I will select a third for you.”