by Elise Jae
When was the last time anyone but the three of us set foot inside this compound?
They are our brothers, joined by the trauma that still haunts Arc, and this job that threatens to kill us all one day. But I don’t want them here.
Before today, I hadn’t considered welcoming anyone else into our home.
That’s when I realize what the simmering feeling that has settled behind the need to keep her here a little longer is. It’s jealousy.
A novel concept… but the way Arc looks at her. Lost and found all at once. He looks at her the way I have always felt about the two of them.
Another piece of our puzzle I didn’t know we were even missing.
CHRISTINA
I feel like movies always show people screaming back to life after a traumatic experience has knocked them unconscious.
I didn’t wake up on a sharp inhale, jerking to sitting like they so often do.
No, I clawed my way back to consciousness.
There’s something heavy in my veins that keeps trying to drag me down.
It succeeds.... More times than I can count.
But each time I fight it longer. I don’t manage to open my eyes, but I hear what’s going on around me….
First there's a burble of a computer and what I imagine skin tingling would sound like.
Later, I hear voices. Voices that don’t know who I am or where I’m from or what to do with me. Voices in a language that isn’t my own.
When I’m finally able to open my eyes, it’s barely enough to see by. My vision is so bleary….
There are two men in the room. But I can’t make them out. Not really. Just that they’re big and both brunette, and… they smell so good.
That weight pulls me back down, one more time. But I’m snuggled into warm blankets, and that smell…. It wraps around me, holding me more tightly, more warmly than the soft cocoon I’ve been swaddled in.
The next time I wake, I blink. Too many times as my brain recognizes that they are going to stay open.
There’s a third man now. A blond who stands a little ways apart from the others. He’s the one who sees I’m awake first. But he doesn’t say anything. A soft smile presses at the corners of his lips.
He’s waiting… waiting to see if I’m going to fall back into my darkness again.
A million and three questions swirl through my head, but the one that comes first…
“Where am I?”
The other two snap to attention. They’re both at my bedside, and the movement shakes the mattress—a mattress I could sink into and never come back out.
Instead of answering, the bigger of the two reaches out, places a hand on the blanket over my shoulder. “Are you alright?”
“I don’t know yet. Where am I?”
“You’re at our home.” The other brunette says. He’s smaller than the other two—which isn’t saying much—and his eyes hold a wariness in their dark depths. The crows feet around his eyes, just a faint pattern of lines, look out of place on his too-young face.
“My name is Shock,” he says before waving a hand at the man who’s still touching my shoulder. “The over protective gorilla there is Arc, he found you out in the snow. And that one is Risk, he might seem like he doesn’t want to be closer, but he’s just worried about crowding you.”
Risk doesn’t say anything, he just nods.
“My name’s Christina.”
The room around me is freezing, and I pull the blanket more tightly around me. But none of them even have sweaters on. Risk isn’t even wearing shoes.
“What do you mean you found me in the snow.”
“Your ship crashed.” Arc’s fingers gently squeeze. “I’m sorry to say no one else made it.”
My mind is still sluggish, but I don’t know anything about a ship. Struggling through the jumble of the last things I remember….
“You didn’t know you were on a ship.” Risk says, his voice is softer, deeper than I expected. “We know you were drugged. Do you know anything about how you wound up here?”
I’m still trying to parse out the jumble in my head.
“Some men jumped me when I was coming back to my apartment.” Definitely not the men standing around me. I doubt I would have managed to get to my front door if that had been the case. “I don’t really remember much.”
“That’s fine. But if anything comes to you, please tell us. We want to know what happened as much as you do.”
Somehow I doubt that, but I’m not going to argue. Their concern is startling, considering I don’t know them, and I’m certain they don’t know me.
“Why is it so cold?”
Risk moves forward, his sandy hair falling down to cover his eyes. He’s pulled another blanket from somewhere and gently places it over me—on top of the half dozen that are already there. “Sorry, the other outposts have geothermal heat… we’ve just never needed it.”
Outposts… Geothermal… I look at them again. Really look at them.
“I’m not on Earth anymore, am I?”
“No. I guess that answers the question of whether or not you had a bondmate who’d be looking for you.”
Shaking my head, drop it back to the pillow. “No, just a mother who is going throw an everliving shit fit when she finds out where I am.”
Funny how that is more terrifying than the realization I was drugged, kidnapped, taken across two galaxies and am now alone in a compound with three men. Even Shock is big enough I couldn’t stop him if he wanted to hurt me. So why am I not scared.
“Are you warm enough?”
I nod. The shivers I had were from learning where I am… and how I got here. “I need to use the bathroom though.”
Arc immediately stands, and some of the warmth I’d attributed to the blankets disappears.
There are more blankets than I thought, and as I unravel from them, I realize how truly cold the room is.
I finally look behind me. To the row of round windows that show a sprawling white expanse… to a broken peak…. Like the shattered top of Mount St. Helens.
This one is just as haunting.
Because I haven’t mentioned it yet… but I know exactly where I am and who they are, and the horrific monsters that live inside the inner caldera.
My head swims as I try to ground myself and I look down at the polished rock slab.
The idea of putting my feet on that floor… I shiver, and then I don’t have the chance to find out how bad that would be.
Arc scoops me up, and the heat radiating off of him is enough to replace the warmth of the blanket. But I know it won’t last.
The others don’t move as he walks me to a doorway. A light flicks on. No windows here. But there are rugs, and he sets me down on the one inside the door, holding on to me as I wobble.
I don’t actually know how long I was out. Don’t know the last time I used these muscles. But they work well enough, and he turns away from me, leaning on the wall as I make my way from one rug to the next.
When I’m done, hot water stinging at my hands, I barely recognize myself in the mirror. Too pale, a shadow of a bruise below my left cheek, a bandage on my forehead. I vaguely remember hitting the floor there when they attacked me.
And I know there are more bruises under my clothes that I won’t be able to see until I’m brave enough to strip down and change.
My eyes flicker to the reflection of what’s behind me.
There’s an enormous bathtub and the idea of submerging myself in steaming water…. A delicious shiver wracks me this time. I almost consider going to the knobs.
Instead, I walk back to the doorway. This time, I reach for Arc and he doesn’t disappoint.
A little part of me wants to ask him to lie down in the bed with me. A space heater against their frozen house.
But when he bundles me back up, he sits down again… almost as if he doesn’t want to stop touching me.
I can’t stop myself from yawning. “What now?”
The three of
them share a look. It’s the first time I think Arc’s looked away from me.
“I don’t think it’s a good plan to move you just yet.” Risks mouth twitches… in a scowl?
I’m not sure.
But I don’t argue… because I don’t want to leave.
I didn’t realize it until the option was tabled… but something… maybe it’s that intoxicating smell draws me to them like a moth to flame, and a dark coiling in my belly wants to ignite.
Two
SHOCK
We left Arc with her and he only came out ten minutes later, letting us know she’s asleep.
Drift sent a message, instead of calling this time. He’d been out to the crash site and was dealing with the proper authorities. We’re off the hook for that. Thank the Saints.
I know I should be worried about her. But Arc is the one who draws my attention. He’s been gone so much, it’s almost uncomfortable having him here.
Uncomfortable because his mind is always somewhere else, and Risk and I are just trying to hold on by our fingertips as he works through whatever this is.
When he’s still with us an hour later, some of that discomfort fades.
I don’t remember the last time he stayed inside for this long without disappearing into the maze downstairs to sweat or burn out his frustrations.
It’s her. I know it is.
And right now, I’m not above using her to get him back.
Christina stumbles out of the darkened halfway from the bedroom and leans against the wall, blinking against the brightness. “What time is it?”
Arc is on his feet immediately, and has her swept off hers.
She put her shoes back on, but they’re not laced, and one threatens to flop off as her feet swing.
I’m tempted to scold him. Tempted to offer to be the one who holds her now.
But it’s not the right time for that. Arc has had too much taken away from him. I’m not about to take her away too.
“Sorry.” Risk says, clearing away the pile of unfolded laundry in the middle of the couch and effortlessly motioning for Arc to put her down. He doesn’t. “We don’t keep normal daylight hours. Since we don’t need as much sleep as you—or the others—we’ve kind of fallen into a habit of keeping the rooms dark and we got rid of the clocks back there. We sleep when we sleep and we’re awake when we’re awake. It works for us.”
“Sounds nice.” Her hair is a mess in its bun, and the thick shirt pulled over her top—Arc must have given it to her after we left—hangs half off one shoulder.
She looks like she’s been thoroughly fucked, and if I didn’t know Arc the way I do, I might have wondered.
But we’re all sensitive to choice. We’ve all had our own taken away too many times not to be. Arc is just more sensitive than the rest of us.
It doesn’t matter that he wants her—and I don’t need to ask Risk to know that he sees it too—he’s not going to do anything until that drug is fully out of her system. He’s not going to trust her until he can be one hundred percent sure whether or not she wants it too.
“We need to get you something warm to wear.” I say, realizing how long we’ve been staring. “You’ll die of frostbite if we don’t.”
“That’s a good plan. I could stay in bed all day, but that’s not as much fun when you’re wrapped up for warmth instead of for fun.”
“And,” Arc says without looking at me. “We need to let your sisters know you’re here.”
“Sisters?” I look at him just in time to see him wince.
Chris’ voice is soft, sleepy, when she says, “I didn’t realize you knew.”
“I’ve seen a picture on a fridge.”
“Sisters?” I ask again, hoping someone will actually tell me what’s going on.
“Chris is the youngest of three sisters. You know the two elder.”
“Are you kidding me, you knew the whole time?” I look at Risk for backup, but he’s never argued with Arc. Never once said a word against him. And I know he won’t now.
“Not the whole time, but yes.”
“Why didn’t you say anything?”
“Because I didn’t want you or Risk to hold it against her.”
Hold Jessica’s grudge against her.
This beautiful woman, who has crashed into our life and is already exerting an inexplicable gravity is the youngest sister of a woman who has the ability to carve Arc’s heart out… and she doesn’t even know it.
Risk finally joins the conversation with a chuckle. “Are you sure it isn’t because you wanted to keep her here and you thought we’d send her to Jessica as soon as she was healthy enough to move?”
“Also yes.”
“You can’t be mad at him. I kept it a secret too. I knew exactly where I was and who you were—if not in name—but I didn’t want to leave.”
Risk chuckles under his breath. “Jessica is Arc’s biggest fan.”
“He means she kind of hates him.”
I say it, knowing it’s a jab he doesn’t deserve. But I can’t help myself. And as soon as the words are out, I regret them.
“Why?”
I wait, I may have brought it up, but it’s Arc’s admission to make, and he gets to decide how he words it.
And I realize my mistake before his lips part.
Realize that, no matter how he’s drawn to her, he’s going to do the same thing he does to everybody else.
Whether he just pushes her away, or it’s a full-blown shove….
“Her bondmate is my brother. To say we have family problems is a bit of an… understatement.” His tongue darts out to wet his lips. “I may have accused her of commissioning a murder and him of carrying it out.”
Subtle. “You didn’t actually say it.”
“Doesn’t matter.” The way he looks at me might be enough to trick me into believing he doesn’t care. But he does.
He hasn’t been able to stay away from us enough for me to miss the way Jessica and Trench’s bonding has affected him.
I sit on the couch beside him, knocking my knee against his. It’s been a very long time since I’ve actually had to tell him to knock it off along with that movement. And it manages to dislodge a softer smile.
My gaze slides to Risk, who’s watching us. Always watching. But when I beckon, just the smallest tip of my head, he, too, sits with us on the couch.
“Would it be possible,” Christina leans back, looking up at me as she rests her head on my chest, her blinks are slow, her words tired. “To maybe not tell my sisters I’m here?”
“Of course.” Arc answers before I can ask why.
Why she would rather stay here in this icebox than go somewhere she could be warm and comfortable. Why she would choose to stay in the home of three men she just met and doesn’t know, when she could go to the safety of her sisters…
Risk shakes his head. It’s a tiny movement, one I only see because I’ve gotten used to the subtle ways he moves.
And I trust Arc with Christina, but it’s Risks judgement that wins here.
CHRISTINA
I fall asleep again, and this time, I do startle awake. It’s a flinch, something triggering my sleep forcing me to wake.
The arms around me, tighten, just a little bit. Like a hug meant to keep me from falling.
All three of them are on their enormous couch. Spread out, they’ve still managed to touch each other in some small way. I’m not even sure they notice.
I’m still settled in Arc’s lap. But they’re all touching me too.
“Are you feeling better?” Risk has slipped off my shoe and is massaging my ankle.
“I’m fine. Just cold.” Though, I’m a lot warmer with the three of them around me. “And I think whatever they drugged me with is still in my system.”
They brought the blankets back out from the bedroom, and Arc wraps another one around me.
“Do you speak our language?” Arc asks,
“Not a lick.”
With a low chuckle that ought
to be menacing, but isn’t, Shock leans forward and taps a few softkeys on his tablet. “An english channel it is.”
The entire wall fills with a movie I vaguely remember an old boyfriend dragging me to. I don’t think I’ll be paying attention this time either. The volume is low enough it won’t distract.
Jessica never said anything about the sian having pheromones, but I swear that scent is some chemical lust bomb.
The longer I’m with them, the more it wraps its way around me, the more I want to do… silly things.
Like kiss three men I’ve barely just met. Or shed all of my clothes for them and risk frostbite. A small reminder flickers at the back of my mind. Stories from both my sisters of cave-man-style antics—sian men dragging their new bondmates straight from the ship to a hotel room.
Clearly I’m still high on whatever the kidnappers used to drug me.
And that is a problem I’m going to have to sort out.
Who they were, why they took me, and what they intended to happen before the ship crashed—
“You need fluids.” Arc says it suddenly, as if the realization literally slapped him in the face.
He hesitates, but shifts me over, and now Shock’s arms are wrapped around me. It’s the strangest thing, but almost doesn’t feel like there was a switch. It feels like they’re the same person. An extension of each other.
Or maybe that’s just my brain trying to justify the attraction I feel toward all three of them.
I peek over at Risk and wonder what it would be like to be held by him.
Shoving that away for now, I burrow my face into Shock’s chest and inhale that deep aroma that seems to be laced in their skin.
It fills my chest with a different kind of warmth.
“You guys are incredibly hot.”
“Thanks.” Shock says, his brows rise and his lips twist.
“You know what I mean.”
“We run hot. It’s why we live here.”
Jessica had said they all lived alone. But she also hadn’t mentioned a weird family feud.
“And none of you are bonded?”
“No.”
Shock’s gaze drops to my lips and I recognize what I see there. I’ve felt that kind of longing for years. It makes me want to shift in his arms, to wiggle my way upright, so I can kiss the tiny scowl that has started on his lips.
