The Gifted 3: Passions Ascended (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting)

by Cara Covington

  Actually, there really wasn’t anyone here, other than Logan Firth, that she didn’t like. From what she’d heard from others since arriving in this realm, she was lucky to have only one asshole colleague.

  He’s not an asshole, and you know it. It’s not the fact you don’t like him that pisses you off. It’s the fact that you like him a lot. Too much. The fact that you want to get naked with him, spread your legs and…

  “Oh shut up.” Even though she’d said that entirely too quietly for anyone else to possibly have heard, when she looked up, Logan was looking straight at her, a smirk on his handsome face.

  As if he’d not only heard her but also understood her. Of course that wasn’t possible. She was of the Gifted, and he, quite obviously, was not. He wasn’t a descendent of the Chosen, either, for she could see no ember within him.

  Time to pull up your big girl panties. She closed her eyes at that thought and vowed to get even with that inner voice of hers. Before leaving the room, she had one thing she needed to do.

  Suppressing her inner smartass, she walked over to where their colleagues congregated around the star of the moment. Others stepped aside, and she was face to face with the man she told herself she didn’t like at all.

  Clean, fast, and concise. She held out her hand. “Congratulations, Logan. I think your campaign is spot-on.”

  “Thank you, Diana. I appreciate the compliment.”

  “Not at all.”

  “I’ll see you tonight. Are you bringing a date?”

  Some chitchat was expected. “No, I’ll be coming on my own. You?”

  “Not a date, exactly. My stepbrother is back home, after a year of working with Maria’s Quest in Indonesia. He’ll be my plus one.”

  “Maria’s Quest is a wonderful organization. Your parents must be very proud of him.”

  She hadn’t meant to deliver such a back-handed compliment. Logan’s reaction surprised her. He laughed right out loud.

  “Diana, I look forward to seeing you tonight.”

  Not if I see you first.

  That would be nice, but the truth was she’d have to be polite and sociable this evening, too. It was expected.

  “Until tonight.” Perhaps she could spend what little time she had to spend in his presence chatting with his as yet unknown to her stepbrother. The man did charity work. It would be easy to treat him with warmth and respect.

  As long as that warmth didn’t dribble onto Logan Firth. He had a place in her life, and that was at the top of the enemies list. Putting him anyplace else just wouldn’t be smart.

  I’m destined to have two particular mates, men of power. I can only let Logan be an adversary. It was all she could do not to tear up at that thought.

  Duty done, Diana headed back to her office. She had a couple hours more work to do before she could call it a day.

  Maybe she’d take a few minutes afterward and pop over to New York and visit Cheri before getting ready for the party tonight. Spending time with either or both of her sisters was a sure way for her to get herself and her life into perspective. She smiled when she thought of the irony of it. Both Cheri and Meghan considered her their warrior-sister, she knew they did. I wonder what they’d think if they knew that as much as they needed me for strength, I need them right back for the same reason.

  * * * *

  “Are you ready for this?” Logan pulled his Audi to the side of the road just a half-block away from the Weymouth estate. He turned his attention to his best friend—his stepbrother—because he needed to see him when he answered.

  “I’ve been ready for months,” Cameron said. “I knew when it began—when the first triad mated. Mom was right about that. She’s been right about everything.”

  “She has that talent.”

  “The day I came home from Indonesia, I began to feel as if the journey I’ve been on since I was thirteen, and my dad married your mom, was about to come full circle.”

  “I know. Neither of us knows what to expect, exactly.” Then, because he couldn’t help it, he grinned. “And neither, by the way, does the lovely Miss Reynolds.”

  Cameron chuckled as he shook his head. “Damn, Logan, I still can’t fucking believe you’ve been able to hide your power from her all this time.”

  “I probably wouldn’t have been able to if she’d been looking for me. But she wasn’t, so…” He shrugged because there really was no need to finish the sentence.

  “Please tell me you didn’t deliberately go about ticking her off, setting her up as an adversary in the last few years.”

  Logan sighed. “I can’t help myself sometimes. It is a rare talent I have.”

  “Damn it, man.” Cameron put his head back against the seat and fell silent for a few moments. “As soon as you told me you’d met her and that she was working for the same company, I should have come home.”

  “You can’t spend your entire life trying to curb my impulsiveness.” Logan grinned at his brother.

  “Impulsiveness? You’re the least impulsive person I know. It’s that go-for-the-throat, take-no-prisoners mien of yours I was thinking about.”

  Logan couldn’t deny it. “You know me better sometimes than I know myself. Seriously, brother, I promise that I didn’t go overboard.” Logan frowned. “At least I don’t think I did.”

  “Well, I guess if it was all going to be smooth sailing, it would be boring. Have you at least been able to get a handle on her and how she feels about this whole prophecy thing?”

  “You have to figure she’s on board with it because she’s here, in our world. But I couldn’t risk too deep of a probe to know how she feels, exactly.”

  “Well now. Mom said those of the Gifted who stayed behind, who became known as the Chosen, did so of their own free will. She stressed that free will was very important in the scheme of things. So if she’s here, she must be willing.” Then he sat up, rubbed his hands together, and nodded. “Drive on, brother. I’m eager to meet my mate.”

  “Right.” Then Logan smiled because being a pain in her ass had been fun, but he’d rather be that in a different, purely physical way. He was glad that tonight, finally, the wall he’d been keeping between himself and Diana would come down. He was already more than halfway in love with the woman. He grinned over at his brother. “I guess it’s time for you to meet her, and for her to meet us.”

  Logan opened his senses fully the moment he stood with Cameron on the steps of the Weymouth mansion. In the next instant, he felt his brother do the same.

  “She’s here.” Logan said that quietly, focusing on what his power told him. He intercepted the hum and knew she sensed his power—his and Cameron’s. He figured she would have to know what that meant for her, generally, but she would have no idea the source of the magic was them, specifically. She wouldn’t know that until she laid eyes on them.

  They took their time once inside the large home. Of course, the first order of business was to congratulate their hosts on their fortieth wedding anniversary. People were gathered all through the lower level of the building. There was a library, and a salon, as well as a great room with glass doors that led to the gardens out back.

  William and Emily were holding court in the great room, both of them standing near the fireplace opposite the patio doors. The line moved quickly, and it didn’t take long for it to be their turn.

  “There you are, Logan. Glad you could make it.” William shook his hand, the older man’s grip firm but not brutal.

  “I wouldn’t have missed tonight’s party, sir. Congratulations to you both.” Logan was on a first-name basis with both William and Emily, but he always used the manners his mother had drilled into him. When he took Emily’s hand, he kissed it.

  “You look lovelier every time I see you, Emily.”

  The woman laughed. “Ah, Logan, it’s the Irish in you talking.”

  Not Irish, but close enough. He grinned. “May I present my brother, Cameron Gilbert. Cam, meet our hosts and celebrants of forty years of wedded bli
ss, William and Emily Weymouth.”

  “I’m pleased to meet you. Congratulations to you both.”

  “Thank you. I understand you’ve been overseas, working with Maria’s Quest.” Emily’s expression let them know she thought this was something very good.

  “Yes, ma’am. I’ve spent the last several months in Indonesia.”

  “How long will you be stateside?” William asked.

  “For the foreseeable future, sir. I’ve been asked by the charity to head up a project working with inner city kids right here in Los Angeles. I’m looking forward to the challenge—and to being close to my family for a change, of course.”

  “Excellent. That is one of the things I truly admire about Maria’s Quest,” Emily said. “They embrace the concept that charity truly does begin at home.”

  Logan and Cameron moved on because the line behind them of people waiting to greet the hosts was long. Having been a guest here several times in the past, he led the way through the downstairs area. There were a couple of bars set up—one outside and one in a corner of the great room.

  Logan raised one eyebrow, and when Cameron nodded, they stopped at the bar. William Weymouth was a man of simple tastes. Though he provided the best in wine, bourbon, Scotch, and other spirits, there was also a good selection of beer, and even water and soft drinks.

  She’s outside, in the garden. Logan sent the message to his brother knowing full well that Diana, in such close proximity, would now be completely aware that there were other people of power close by. She would have intercepted that little zing.

  Together he and his brother stepped outside. He saw the moment Cameron’s eyes lit up and knew that he’d caught her wisp of magic—likely probing, trying to discover where the source of the magic she’d intercepted could be.

  Her use of her power led them directly to her.

  Her back was to them, and he took a moment to appreciate the view. She wore a dress in classic black, one that fell to just below her luscious derriere. Her beautiful black hair was down, and it was the first time he’d seen how long it was. Logan absolutely loved the way the ends of her tresses teased the top of her ass cheeks.

  She’s worried. She’s not thinking it’s her mates who’re here but someone who’s an enemy. What the hell, man?

  Cameron’s observation was spot-on. Logan wanted her senses heightened, but he didn’t want her worried or afraid.

  “Diana, it’s all right, love.”

  At her name she turned, saw them, and then tried to look around them to see if there was someone else behind them.

  “Darlin’, please stop worrying, you’re killing us both.”

  Her gaze snapped to him and his brother, and then her eyes widened.

  “I…you….but…” Diana literally sputtered, and Logan would be willing to bet a year’s salary that had never happened to her before.

  “It wasn’t time before to let you see, but now it is, so I’ve dropped my wall. Surprise.”

  She continued to gawk at them, and Logan thought her response was better than he’d thought it would be.

  “This is Cameron Gilbert, my stepbrother.”

  Cam stepped forward and took her right hand in both of his. Then he raised it to his lips. “We meet at last, my mate.”

  Cam’s words snapped her out of her stupor. “Mate? Mate?”

  “Technically,” Logan said, “that’s mates—plural.”

  “Oh no! In fact, oh, hell no! No! Destiny couldn’t be so…so cruel!”

  Logan felt his brother’s gaze sear him. He turned to meet it with his own. “You didn’t tell me you’d turned our mate into your nemesis.” Cam’s words, edged with steel, let Logan know not only that he’d dipped into Diana’s mind, but how pissed he was at what he found there, where Logan was concerned.

  “What can I say?” Logan shrugged. Maybe he had gone overboard, but there was nothing he could do about it now. He felt his smile, the one Cam had told him was goofy, spread across his face. “Diana is such a damn delight to tease.”

  Diana shook her head. “This is…more than I can cope with right now.” She didn’t say anything else. She just handed Logan her drink and fled.

  He raised the glass to his lips and took a sip. “Hm. She drinks the same wine you do.”

  “Good to know.”

  In the next instant, Logan felt a shift. He frowned. “She left. She took her leave of our hosts, stepped outside, and left.”

  He hadn’t considered for one moment that her reaction to what he’d come to think of as “the big reveal” would be that extreme. Over the years, he’d come to admire Diana for being a woman who never backed down. If she believed in a campaign, she fought for it, tooth and nail. She might accept being ruled against, but she never, ever, quit.

  A frown crossed Logan’s face. In the moment when Cameron kissed her hand, he got an image of what she’d been looking for, what she’d thought the presence of others of power meant to her. It took him a moment to gather in everything that had been blasted to him by her power in those few precious seconds.

  “I wish she hadn’t vanished. Damn it, there are others out there, and they’re not the friendly sort. Why didn’t mother tell us about that particular little wrinkle?”

  “Perhaps she didn’t know, Logan. She wouldn’t hold anything like that back deliberately.”

  “No, she wouldn’t. Fuck. I guess this is my karma for acting the asshole with her for the last few years. We have to find her, Cameron. And then we need to make her tell us who the Fortunas are and what the hell is going on.”

  “Well now. I’d say you were a little scared there, big brother.”

  “Yeah. You could say that. Aren’t you?” Just the idea that his strong-willed, strong-minded Diana was afraid scared the crap out of him.

  “Well, no. I addressed her as my mate, you will recall, and in my heart I claimed her as such. That means…”

  “That means you can find her no matter where she goes. Cam, you’re fucking brilliant.”

  “Yes, I know. Let’s go find our woman.”

  Chapter 2

  She’d kicked her shoes off and sent her pantyhose home so she could pace more effectively. The sensation of beach sand under her bare feet was a particularly pleasant one for Diana. Until she’d come here, to this world, she’d never had occasion to do this, to walk along the shore of an ocean. The sensation of the thousands of grains of ground-up stone and shells accumulated over eons paired with the constant, eternal rhythm of the sea was a one-two punch of therapy.

  There had been a few times when she’d come to the beach just to relax and a few times when she’d come, like now, to pace away anxiety.

  The most recent time had been not long after Meghan had met her mates and she’d sensed that attack on her, when Mario and Pietro Fortuna had used a tranquilizer dart and Meghan had lain unconscious before them. Diana had been forbidden to interfere, and so she’d come here, and she’d paced and waited for Ryan and Jeremy to get there and help her.

  Now it was her own situation that found her pacing. She could barely wrap her head around what had just happened.

  How the hell had it happened? What crazy twist of fate had left her with the certain knowledge that Logan Firth was one of her two destined mates and his stepbrother was the other one? It couldn’t be. It shouldn’t be, and yet, deep inside, she knew it was true.

  Well, at least now you know why he’s always set you off so easily, beginning with the very first moment you met him.

  If her inner voice didn’t shut the hell up soon she’d… Diana came to a standstill. She couldn’t do anything about her inner voice because it was a part of her. As much a part of her as her magic.

  He had set her off from the first moment they’d met. In fact, there wasn’t a single other person, ever, who’d managed to do that. And, yes, maybe in the back of her mind she’d wondered about him. But when she’d looked, early on in their acquaintance, she’d seen no ember of power within him.

  Her
destined mates were both descendants of the Chosen. That was a fact. He must have shielded his magic from me, and he must have done so right from that first moment.

  How had Logan known to hide his magic? He was just a descendant of the Chosen. Or was he?

  When she’d felt that lick of power earlier this evening—such a strong presence—and then felt a similar one from a separate source, she hadn’t been thinking mates. She’d thought that, somehow, the last remaining Fortuna twins had tracked her down and were at the party.

  Diana’s eyes widened. Oh crap! She immediately cloaked her magic and could have kicked herself for not thinking to do so as soon as she appeared on this beach. She knew better than to broadcast her powers far and wide to any perceptive enough to sense them. She didn’t need those two unmet twins showing up now. Neither did she want either Logan or Cameron interrupting her as she wrestled with the unbelievable turn her life had just taken. She would deal with them, but on her terms and when she was good and ready. Because she had been broadcasting, she used just enough magic for just long enough to see if there was anyone of power near. Her power found no one. Sighing in relief, she sent it deep. Possible disaster averted, she returned to her pacing and her musing. She would deal with her destined mates when she had her emotions under control. When she had a damn plan.

  Free will. Each of us came here knowing that our destined mates could chose to walk away from us, and that would be that. But the men aren’t the only ones with that choice. I can walk away from them, too.

  She would not spend any more time thinking in the back of her mind about how strongly she was attracted to not only Logan but also his brother, Cameron. No, she wouldn’t think about that at all! And she certainly wouldn’t think about the fact that she’d gotten used to thinking of Logan as the enemy only because that was all she believed she could think of him as.

  Diana stopped pacing and instead, simply gazed out at the blackness of the Pacific Ocean. Both Cheri and Meghan had, of course, recognized their mates at first glance. That started her pacing again. She’d only recognized them tonight, but she’d known Logan for five years. Maybe the fact that Cameron had never been with Logan before when she and Logan were at the same place was the reason she hadn’t recognized him? That would make sense for the “mate” part. Maybe the men did have to be together for her to have recognized them. But what about Logan’s magic? She had a pretty good idea where her brothers-in-law had been on the magic scale the moment they’d met her sisters, and both Logan’s and Cameron’s abilities far eclipsed theirs.