by Lily Archer
Jeren already has it. I can tell by the way he gently touches her shoulder, her back, her arm. She leans into him, their bond completely natural. In the years I’ve known him, he’s never been like that with anyone. But now, his ease with Lana is starting to eat away at me. Because I want the same thing.
Once the day sessions are over, we return to my dorm. Well, now it’s our dorm. As commander of the Alphas, I choose the living arrangements, so I swapped out my roommates for Jeren and Kyte. The entire Alpha Academy is perplexed by our sudden friendship, but it doesn’t bother me. Let them talk. If anyone wants to challenge my leadership, I’ll happily destroy them in the dueling ring. It would be a good way to ease my tension.
“I want to see her again. Just the four of us.” Kyte strips his shirt off and tosses it to the laundry chute. “If we can complete the circle, then we’ll know. But we have to do it somewhere away from the academy. Somewhere private. If the Council of Regents were to find out …” He sits on his bed.
“What would they do?” Jeren checks his knife stash. It’s a habit.
“I don’t know.” I’ve been pondering that question from the start. “But it might not be good. Circles are sometimes seen as a bad omen. They might try to break us up.”
“That would be stupid.” Jeren begins carving his dresser. “If circles are called in times of great conflict, wouldn’t they want us fighting for them instead of tearing us apart?”
Kyte sighs and looks out the window toward the Omega dorms. “Sure, but what if they think that the circle forming is the reason for the conflict? It happened last time. Some of the Regents wanted to break the circle.”
“That’s dumb,” Jeren says.
“I wouldn’t put it past the council. They’ll do anything to protect the fleet.” I rub my temples. “And the rumors about the expanding Sentient threat are probably true. They’re ramping up attacks on settlements in the sparsely patrolled portions of the galaxies. If they’re taking prisoners and melding them with cyborg technology—they’ll have an army large enough to destroy the fleet and take over the galaxies.”
“Let’s say all that’s true.” Jeren stops carving. “Let’s say the Sentients are about to open an all-out war against the fleet. What in the Pillars are we—” he waves his knife around the room, then points it toward the Omega dorms, “—supposed to do about it? We’re four cadets. She’s human. Did you look up how short their lifespans are? How easily they’re killed?”
I swallow hard, and Kyte shifts on his bed.
Jeren’s forehead wrinkles. “So, I’ll take that as a yes. She can’t fight one Sentient, much less an entire army of them.”
“She can’t, but we can. Together.”
Jeren turns to me. “I thought you didn’t believe this was a circle.”
“I didn’t.”
“What changed?”
I feel every heartbeat of hers, can’t stop thinking about her, almost lost my mind when she was in the airship without us, and a million other things that serve to bind me to her. Just as I’m already bound to these males. But I can’t say that.
When I joined the fleet, it was assumed that I would become Alpha Commander. I come from a long line of Alphas who have served the Gretar Fleet with honor. They’ve always stood alone. Always mated with an Omega of the fleet’s choosing. I planned to lead the same life, walk the same path. To become a warrior like my sires, I would have to follow their journey on my own. I don’t make friends. I don’t form attachments. At least, that’s the way it was… Until I jumped on that transport. It was a whim. Or was it? Maybe it was fate calling the circle together? I don’t know what else it could be. Because before that day, I walked this path alone. And now, there are three others with me.
“She’s part of me.” I thump my chest. “And I can feel the two of you in here, too. I can’t describe it, but you’re all there. But it’s not so simple. I just don’t know what the Council of Regents will do if we complete the circle.”
“How will they know?” Jeren asks.
“They’ll know.” Kyte’s tone darkens. “When the circle is sealed it will create an intense pulse of power. I’ve studied the texts on the last circles, on what happened when the circle was completed. We can’t do it on academy grounds. Not if we want to keep it secret. Maybe if we sealed it off-campus, somewhere far into the wilderness, we could evade detection. We just need to be careful and make sure the three of us don’t touch her at the same time by accident before then.”
“I think that’s the safest course.” I like Kyte’s plan. Discretion is the key to keeping Lana safe. “If we truly are a circle, we should find out ourselves. Then we can plan a way to tell the fleet. But I know one thing for certain—I have to find out. I have to know if this—” I rub my chest, “—feeling is real.”
“We feel it, too.” Kyte rises and puts a hand on my shoulder. “The three of us, and then it’s magnified when we’re with her.”
Jeren stows his blade and steps closer. “Might as well see if it’s still there, right?” He grips my other shoulder, and the bond that flows through all three of us blazes to life.
“See?” Kyte closes his eyes.
I feel his calm, and the worry that braids through it. Worry for Lana, and for me, and Jeren. I feel Jeren’s pain that he hides so deep, feel his loneliness and his love for Lana. I stop at that and marvel. Love. When he touched her in the circle, they joined, their essences communing on a level that seems impossible.
“I want the same thing. With the two of you and with Lana.” Kyte speaks through our bond, and I feel the truth of his words.
I take a deep breath and let myself go, give myself over to the bond. “If we do this, we are brothers. From here on out, the three of us will be bound to Lana, if she will have us.”
The portal shimmers, and we break the connection.
Jeren reaches for his knife. “Who—”
With a curse, Lana falls into our room with her characteristic thud.
15
Lana
“Shit!” I roll over onto my ass and rub my knees. “That’s going to leave a mark.”
Kyte, Jeren, and Ceredes all reach for me at the same time.
I look at their three hands, then climb to my feet on my own. “Don’t want to hurt any feelings.” Then I stop. Because Kyte and Ceredes aren’t wearing shirts, and Jeren is only wearing some tight shorts—wait, are those underwear?
I spin and face the portal. “Sorry.”
“How did you even get in here?” Ceredes asks.
I can’t stop seeing his lean muscle, the way he’s got the ‘V’ shape at his waist.
“Lana?” His fingers graze my arm, and the room suddenly seems too warm.
“Tilda helped me, but I know I’m not supposed to be here, and maybe I should’ve called first, but it’s not like you have cell phones, right? So—” I gulp in a breath. “So, anyway, I wanted to talk about the experiment thing you did.”
“You can use your comm next time,” Kyte says gently.
I slap my palm to my forehead. “Right. That little key fob thing. I keep forgetting about it.”
“But you were right to speak to us in person if it’s about the circle,” he adds.
“Okay. Then, good, I guess.” I can’t turn around. What if they can smell what’s going on in parts south? I might die right here. “Wait. What’s a circle? I mean, I know what a circle is. But what are you talking about?”
“You can turn around.” Ceredes’s voice is so close to my ear that it sends goosebumps down my back.
“I like the, um, the view from here.” I’m looking at a white wall.
“Lana.” I can hear the laugh in Jeren’s voice, and he’s right behind me. “Turn around.”
“It’s fine.” I clear my throat and realize what an utterly terrible idea this was. “Maybe we can talk tomorrow in class or something.”
“You tried to talk about it in Master Lintaru’s class, which almost got you a demerit for not paying attent
ion.” Kyte’s on my other side, his fingers on my elbow. “Remember?”
“I know. Though I don’t even know what a demerit does.” I shrug. “Doesn’t matter. I’m going to try and be a good student. I mean, I’ve decided that’s the best course of action.” I swipe my hand through the air. “Earth is done. I can’t go back. You’ve all told me a million times that there’s no going back. And the more I thought about it, the more I realized that maybe I don’t want to go back, you know?”
“I do.” Jeren’s palm rests on my lower back, his touch calming me. “I saw.”
“Right.” I saw his secrets, too. Life with his mother. What happened to him after she died. I fight back the sadness. We have each other now. “So, staying here with you seems like the best plan. And maybe I can, I don’t know, start a new life out here. Do my own thing. It’s not so different than the plan I had on Earth. I wasn’t going to stay with my mom much longer. I wanted to move out and get a job. That’s sort of like what this is. I’ll just get a job with the fleet. See fabulous destinations. Visit amazing new planets. Stuff like that. I know this all sounds crazy, and maybe I’m still in shock. I mean, I did just get here. But it just feels right, you know? Like this is where I’m supposed to be. When I stopped fighting it, I could see it more clearly. So, I’m here to stay, and then I want to see all the things, to explore what’s out there.” I swallow the rising lump in my throat as my words finally falter. “And I was hoping we could all go together. It’s nuts, I know. But I feel this, I don’t know, this energy whenever I’m with you. And you light me up with it. Like in that experiment thing we did. I mean, as a team, you know?” I wince and wait for their laughter.
It never comes. Instead, Jeren wraps his arms around me, his warm body at my back. “I’m in.”
I melt a little, the nerves falling away. “Seriously?”
“Yes.” He squeezes me and lets me go. “You’re never getting rid of me.”
I turn, and Kyte takes me in his arms.
“I’m almost certain I became glued to you the second you woke up in the shuttle.” He nuzzles in my hair as I press my cheek to his smooth golden skin. “Even though you don’t have horns.”
“Um, thanks, I guess?” I laugh a little as he releases me.
His gaze rises over my head to Ceredes.
Will he accept me? I have to admit he’s the one I’ve worried about the most. After all, he’s Alpha Commander. What if he doesn’t want to be stuck with me? Maybe I’m not his usual type of friend or—
He pulls me to his chest with a fierceness that knocks the breath from me. His arms wrap around me like iron bands, and my knees go weak. I didn’t realize how badly I’ve wanted his touch. Not until he gives it to me. The only problem is, now I know I’m addicted. But not just to him, to all three of them.
“I’m with you.” His deep voice rumbles against my ear, and he smells like some sort of clean soap. The thought of licking up his chest dances across my mind in all its inappropriate glory.
“We are a circle, born of the Pillars.”
“Hmmph?” I peer up at him, though it takes an effort to see past his perfectly square jaw. “What’s with this ‘circle’ business?”
Kyte strokes his fingers down my back like he can’t help himself. “We think that the four of us are part of a circle. It means that we’re bound together, our essences entwined in such a way that they can never be severed.”
“Okay? But what does the circle do? And why are we in it?”
“The Pillars call forth the circle when it’s needed.” Kyte’s touch is hypnotic. “The last one was called three-hundred years ago.”
“You mean during the big war?”
“Yes, it was sealed when the war began. That circle is the only thing that saved the galaxies from the Sentients during the Great Calamity.”
“Hang on a second.” I turn to Kyte. “That seems like a whole lot more than all of us starting a clubhouse.”
“A clubhouse?” Ceredes asks.
“Yeah, like we’re going to start a plucky gang of besties, possibly besties with benefits—” I groan. Who am I kidding? There will definitely be benefits. “But now this gang also has to save the universe?”
“We don’t know the purpose of the circle yet, but … yeah, maybe.” Jeren shrugs.
“That’s kind of intense.” I rub my forehead. “I mean. I just got here.”
“Do you doubt the connection?” Jeren asks.
I reach up and put my palm to his chest. “No.” I can’t doubt it, not when I’ve felt him, touched his innermost thoughts.
Kyte clears his throat. “Things will become clearer when we’ve sealed the circle. The bond will give us immeasurable strength and abilities once it’s fully consummated.”
“Consummated?” My heart skips about five beats.
Ceredes looks down at me, his gaze hungry. “We’re not sure about the particulars. It could be that simply all four of us touching will seal the circle.” He doesn’t sound certain.
“Or not.” Kyte’s voice rasps just enough that tension knots low in my belly.
I can guess what he’s saying. And I should be summoning the portal and running away. Instead, I stay in Ceredes’s arms as Kyte strokes my back and Jeren watches me with his dark, soulful eyes. I’m not ready for something like that. Right? Am I? A thrill shoots through me, and my panties are goners once again.
Jeren groans, Ceredes tenses, and Kyte’s fingers still.
I step back from Ceredes and press my thighs together. “I don’t know why this keeps happening to me. It’s so embarrassing.”
“Why?” Kyte looks genuinely confused. “There’s nothing wrong with slick. It’s natural when you’re with your Alphas.”
“Slick?” It’s the perfect term for what’s going on down below, but also somehow devilishly crude.
“Yes, that’s the name for it.” Jeren’s low voice is like a finger trailing down my body. “It signals your desire to mate.”
My cheeks burn. “And here we are with the mating again. Always the mating talk with you three.”
“That’s natural, too.” Kyte steps toward me. “The way we want you—also natural. There’s no shame in it.”
“You … want me?” I think I heard him correctly. “You mean all three of you want to be with me?”
“Yes.” Three voices in unison.
“So, you were serious about the circle being sealed with most probably … mating?”
“Very serious.” Kyte steps toward me, his golden skin and green eyes dazzling. “We wouldn’t hurt you, Lana.”
“We’ll be gentle.” Jeren bites his lip. “At first.”
“We’ll give you everything you need.” Ceredes lets his gaze rove my body. “And more until you beg us to stop.”
Heart. Palpitations.
Kyte strokes my cheek. “You don’t have to be afraid.”
“I’m not.” I totally am. Have I kissed a few boys? Sure. I even let Warren Bradbury feel me up in ninth grade. But I’ve never felt so much desire in my life—and the fact that I want not one, but three men—err males? It’s overwhelming. And on top of that, if we do this, it could mean that we’re setting ourselves up to be some sort of intergalactic superheroes? I can’t even beat Kilden the Beta in fisticuffs, for goodness sake.
“We’re overwhelmed, too. By you.” Kyte leans down and surprises me with a soft kiss. When he pulls me close, I shiver at the sensations that rush through me. My worries fall away, and need like I’ve never known before ignites my blood. I wrap my arms around his neck. His tongue licks across the seam of my mouth, and I open for him.
He groans as he strokes his tongue against mine. I can’t think, can only react to his touches, to the way he angles my head to get a deeper connection as one of his hands roves to my ass and squeezes. Tingles rush through me and end between my legs, each moment of contact heightening my arousal.
When he breaks the kiss, I take a breath. And when he passes me to Jeren, I think I might die f
rom the sheer deliciousness of the male’s touch. He grips me harder, his kiss raw and perfect. I run my fingers through his dark hair as he holds me tight. When I feel the hardness pressed against my stomach, I moan lightly in his mouth. He rumbles a growl in response and nips at my bottom lip before turning me toward Ceredes.
He stares down at me, his blue eyes hazed with lust. When he ropes my hair in his palm, I press my hands against his chest. And when he gives me a brutal, erotic kiss, I don’t know how I’m still standing. He pulls my head back and rests his other hand at my throat as he kisses me. He is sure, dominant, and adept in his caresses, and his kiss leaves me utterly breathless, but I can’t get enough. His hands edges lower across my chest, and I’m desperate for his touch. Kyte presses his lips to my shoulder, and I moan. Jeren watches, his ravenous gaze like a touch in and of itself. How can I say no to this? I’m almost ready to give in to every bit of my desire when the portal flickers to life and Master Harlan stomps into the room.
16
Kyte
“Step away from the Omega!” Master Harlan bellows so loudly that I reach out to cover Lana’s ears.
He smacks my hands away and grabs her by the elbow. “Have they hurt you? Are you all right?”
“I’m fine.” She blinks rapidly. “Everything is fine. I just, um, I was lost and then I, um fell into this room, and they were kind enough to help me. Yep. I’m good.”
Her bruised lips tell another tale, as do her wide pupils and the delicious scent of her slick.
Master Harlan doesn’t seem inclined to argue at the moment. He opens the portal.
We three step toward them.
“Back!” Master Harlan shouts. “I’ll deal with you later. First, I need to get this Omega treated.”
“But I’m not injure—” she protests as he pulls her through the portal.
We all want to go after her, to pull her away from the Alpha who took her. But Master Harlan isn’t a threat. And if we tried anything, our secret might come out.
