The Power of Three (6 page)

“
Considering your gifts, I’d assume he
was.”

“
I never met him. He was from
off-planet.”

“
Which might explain your particular
talents.” He shifted slightly toward her. “I’ve never met another
telepath who can manipulate the information stream like you can.
Captain Jong said that you only had the basic skills necessary to
communicate.”

“
I have good shields. Sometimes our
government sets traps using other telepaths. I always had to be
careful.”

He sighed. “And now, after all your caution,
you’re stuck with me in a cave on the side of a mountain with a
fifty-fifty chance that I’ll get you killed.”

“
Fifty percent is better than it was
before you arrived. Wassain left me for dead.”

“
Me too.” His soft laugh brushed over
her skin like the finest silk. “Your optimism amazes me. I’m
sitting here full of regrets for all the stupid shit I haven’t
accomplished in my life.”

“
You don’t think we’re going to
survive?” She twisted around to stare into his eyes. “Now you’ve
got me thinking of all the things I regret, too.”

“
Sorry, Lang.”

She kept staring at him as the truth of his
words sunk in. What would she regret? She’d had to live so
cautiously and so carefully just to stay alive, and it had brought
her here anyway and risked another man’s life. She let out a long
shuddering breath. “There is something I’d regret.”

“
What’s that?”

“
Not kissing you again.”

He went still. “Lang, if I kiss you, I’m not
going to want to stop there.”

Heat coalesced low in her belly. “Do you
think I’d want you to stop?”

With a strangled sound, he picked her up and
sat her on his lap so that she straddled him. His mouth descended
and then there was nothing in her world except him—his taste, his
tongue, and the thump of his heart and harried breathing. She
shoved one hand in his hair and held on, her body moving against
the hard swell of his cock and his broad muscled chest.

“
Oh Gods,” she moaned as she started to
come just from the friction and the overpowering need of his desire
flooding through all her senses. He pressed his hand against her
ass pushing her into the roll of his hips and the rod of his
cock.

“
I want
you
.”

“
Yes,” he groaned against her lips.
“Please.”

She attacked the waistband of his pants,
ignoring his sudden intake of breath as she unzipped him and stared
at his standard issue black underwear. He was so aroused his cock
was already pushing out of the top of his boxers. She bent her head
and licked the exposed part, sucking it and the soaked fabric into
her mouth. He tasted as raw and desperate as she felt.

His hand fisted in her hair. “I’ll come if
you keep doing that, and I want inside you.”

She sat back and he helped her pull down her
pants and underwear, shoving them off one leg to expose the
important parts. While she struggled to push all the unnecessary
fabric out of the way, he lifted his hips and pulled down his
boxers to reveal the thick column of his cock.

“
Oh,” Soreya breathed. “I
wish…”

He lifted her again. “Next time. Just—”

She took him in, took more and more until she
was full and aching and rocking blindly against him as he continued
to push upward. His fingers grazed her clit and she took even more,
drowning in the sensations, in the rightness of having his body and
his mind enmeshed with hers.

“
Lang…”

She rose up and then pressed down again and
he followed her rhythm, his mind as hot and needy as his cock, his
thoughts so consumed with his delight in her that she felt like a
goddess. She moved faster and his hands came to her hips to help.
His mouth fused with hers as did his mind, and she was lost in him,
in them, in whatever they were creating together.

Faster now, his thrusts joining her downward
plunges, keeping her filled and sending her to a dark, hot place
where nothing existed but their need for each other. She climaxed
and he kept pumping into her, sending her even higher. Her nails
dug into his shoulders and she bit down on his lip, making him
writhe beneath her as she finally climaxed in endless, shuddering
waves.

She didn’t want to move ever again. She
wanted to stay there, on his lap, his cock buried inside her
forever. Would he feel the same? Was this how her mother had felt
with her father? She’d told Soreya that she didn’t regret a
thing.

“
Lang?” he whispered.

“
Mmm?”

“
Do you have another name?”

She raised her head to look into his eyes.
“Yes, why?”

His smile was breathtaking. “I feel that
we’re at a point in our relationship when I should know what it
is.”

“
Soreya.”

“
That’s beautiful.” He touched her
cheek.

Unaccustomed tears rose in her throat and she
pushed at his chest to disentangle herself. “It’s nothing special.”
She started to rearrange her clothing, and ended up sitting on the
cold ground, freezing her ass off as she struggled to put one foot
back through her panties.

“
Soreya.”

“
What
?”

“
I know this is difficult for you and
my timing is lousy, but we
will
be discussing our relationship further when we get back on
the ship.”

“
If.” She finally untangled her panties
and pushed her foot through. “And this isn’t a relationship—it’s
just sex.”

“
You always have sex like that, do
you?”

He was smiling openly at her now.

“
Sure.” She shrugged. “Don’t you? I’ve
gotten really good at faking it with my superior
officers.”

For a second he looked put out and then a
slight smug smile appeared again. “As I said, we’ll discuss this
when we get back on the ship.” He patted the blanket next to him.
“Now come and sit here and we’ll attempt to get some sleep.”

* * * * *

As she slept, she leaned closer into
him and he willingly took her weight. Just holding her made him
feel good. Strike that, holding her was
awesome
, but even breathing her in was enough in
the particular circumstances. He kissed the top of her head like a
crazy besotted fool, and she murmured his name and put her hand on
his chest.

He felt
complete
, like she was the missing piece in his
head and his heart—the balance to his love for Ash, a female
version of his male lover. Which, according to his people and
traditions, was how it was meant to be. Who’d have thought he’d end
up such a traditional old romantic? Ash would be amused.

Through his tiredness, Esca’s mind was
already busy working out the diplomatic tangle of his wanting to
bring an Etruscan into his country, an Etruscan who was considered
scum by her own people. There had to be a way…

* * *

His alarm went off and he opened his eyes
into the darkness of the cave. It was freking freezing. He gently
shook his companion’s arm.

“
Lang? We’ve gotta get
moving.”

Her eyes flew open, and he registered the
interesting mix of blue and grey.

“
Yes, sir.”

It didn’t take them long to gather their
stuff, arm their weapons and start for the landing zone. The rocks
were slippery with ice and his breath froze on every exhale. It was
deathly quiet out, with no signs of the pursuit below.

That worried him.

“
Shall we try and contact
the ship, sir?
”

He looked down at Lang, her face barely
visible under the hood of her jacket.

“
Yes.”

She joined her superlative power to his and
projected outward.

“
Ten minutes
.”
Trenx was much clearer now.

Esca judged the terrain ahead and projected
their speed and current location. They should just make it if they
kept a steady pace.

“
Let’s go.”
His
leg was already bothering him but there was nothing he could do
about that. The cold always made it worse.

The route was neither easy nor
straightforward, but he kept on, Lang close behind him. As they
approached the flat summit, the unsubtle roar of a descending troop
transporter was already rattling the rocks. A glint of something
metallic caught his eye. Before he could warn her, Lang was down
and rolling into a ball.

“
Esca, move it!”

He followed her as weapon fire streamed over
where their heads had just been. She was crawling on her hands and
knees, her face plastered with dust, her expression grim.

“
One minute to landing,
Major.”

Lang grabbed his arm and pointed at a
crevice in the rocks. “
We can get through
there, and make a run for it as soon as the shuttle touches
down
.”

He nodded through the smoke and noise.

“
We copy your situation,
Major and will provide covering fire.
”

Captain Jong’s calm voice filled his head and
he sent up a quick prayer to the Gods.

“
Did you get that,
Lang
?”

“
Yes, sir.”

She didn’t look back, all her attention on
the descending shuttle and the deadly circle of guards closing in
on it. As the shuttle landed, he closed in right behind her.

“
Wait for Jong’s signal and
then run like hell
.”

The door opened, and Esca slapped
Lang’s shoulder. “
Run.”

Desperately trying to protect her smaller
body from the flying bullets, lasers and miscellaneous firepower,
he kept pace with her. The shuttle door appeared through the smoke
and he practically threw her in. She turned to help him up and he
took her hand, not stupid enough to deny that he needed
assistance.

“
No!”

She screamed and leapt over him, her foot
glancing off his shoulder, knocking him sideways as a huge roaring
pain scythed down his back. He felt her behind him, pushing and
shoving him upward, her tiny frame staggering under his weight.

“
Help
me
!”

He tried, but it was becoming increasingly
difficult to avoid the roaring void of pain and the peacefulness of
oblivion. But something about her voice made him keep moving, keep
breathing, keep striving…

Hard hands grabbed him and the door of the
shuttle shut with a thunk. The engines roared and the floor beneath
him shuddered.

“
We’re away, sir.”

“
Lang?” He whispered as his vision
started to fail. “Where the frek are you?”

* * *

She opened her eyes into an environment
familiar to any soldier, a hospital bed, and frowned.

“
Private Lang?” A female dressed in
white sat down on the bed and smiled at her. “How are you
feeling?”

“
I’m good.”

“
I’m Mayek, the ship’s physician. When
they first brought you in you didn’t
look
too good. You were covered in blood and
unconscious.”

She licked her dry lips. “It wasn’t my blood.
Is Esca okay?”

“
He’s asleep at the moment, but he’s
going to be fine.”

“
That’s great.”

“
He’s a very brave man.”

Soreya managed a smile. “He is.” She yawned
and tried to cover her mouth. “I’m sorry.”

“
Don’t be. You’re suffering from
exhaustion and mild hypothermia. The drip’s in to give you proper
nutrients and a dose of painkillers when necessary. It’s intuitive
so you shouldn’t be in any pain. Use the call button if you need
the nurse.” The doctor patted her hand. “I’ll pop in tomorrow
morning and see how you are doing.”

“
Thanks.”

After the doctor left, Soreya surveyed her
small room, which contained only one bed. Where was Esca? She
frowned as she sensed his growing restlessness, the way he was
fighting the medication being steadily pumped into him. Without
meaning to, she put her hand on the wall beside her bed and tuned
into the workings of the ship.

She studied the schematic of the small
sick bay. Three other rooms like hers, one other occupied. Dammit,
she couldn’t leave him in pain like that. She
needed
to touch him, to reassure herself that he
was okay.

It took her only a second to figure out how
to disconnect herself from the network and yet still appear to be
there. She picked up the drip and held it over her head. There was
no one in the hallway and it was only a few steps diagonally across
the space to Esca’s. She waited until the solitary nurse at the end
of the hall walked away, closed her door silently behind her and
let herself into his room.

He lay on his side, his face creased with
pain, covers thrown off and his whole body shaking. With a soft
sound, she hooked her drip up beside his and carefully got into bed
with him, her back to his front.

“
Lang.”

“
Yes. I’m here, now go to
sleep, okay
?”

He gathered her close and with a sigh relaxed
against her. She sent him the healing power he’d taught her how to
produce, felt it move inside him, calm him. Her eyes closed as she
admitted that being with him calmed her, too.