by Bethany Aan
He nodded, his eyes widening with comprehension.
“And I had a dream the first night we were here, about something coming. It was when you were called away to look at something on the long-range scanners, I think. Now that I’ve touched Sean’s mind twice, I know that the original contact wasn’t a dream. It was him. He found me, across space. I think he was casting about for you or one of your family members, but he found me. I just didn’t know that the first time.”
“So you’ve actually touched his mind three times now?”
“Yes, but there’s more.” She took a deep breath. “We spoke. Not just impulses and images, but actual words in our heads.”
Hunter stared at her.
“I know of no Readers who can do that,” Hunter said slowly. “I didn’t know that Sean could, but I haven’t been in contact with him for over ten years.”
“Ten years? Oh, Hunter.”
“It’s all right.” He hugged her to him. “Now we know he wasn’t dead, it was worth waiting to be with him again. I wonder if my parents know?”
“He didn’t say anything about them, but I got the impression that there were male and females on the ship.”
“Ah,” Hunter said. “Then he was able to command one of the evacuation ships. Good. That’s the best place for his particular talents.”
She smiled down at him. He loved his brothers, was proud of them both. She kissed his lips softly, gently, then held his face so that he couldn’t avoid her gaze.
“Hunter,” she said quietly, “Tell me what happens when he gets here.”
“Well, his refugees will integrate into our colony. We’ll most likely have to build new living quarters-“ He stopped when she laid a finger over his mouth, his eyes begging her not to make him face her question. Her determination was stronger, though.
“Hunter.”
He sighed against her finger, then nodded his capitulation.
“It is not required that you take all of us,” he told her after a minute. “It is tradition, and usually the members of a team are alike enough that their woman finds them all acceptable. But not always. In the end, it is your decision. No one will think less of you if you choose not to accept him.”
“What do you want me to do?” she asked him. His eyes were soft and unsure as he gazed at her.
“I do not want another man to touch you, ever, other than Jace and me,” he told her with hot intensity. “But, if you meet him and decide that you want Sean as well… I cannot stop you. And if there must be another man in your heart, I would hope that it be my brother. I know he would treat you well, love you as we do, and love our children as his own.”
“Then why do you resent the possibility?” she asked softly, ruffling her fingers through the strands at the back of his neck, where his hair mingled with the fur that ran down his back. He practically purred at the caress, just as she knew he would. “If you do not want me to be with him, then I will not be. I love you, Hunter, and Jace. I don’t see myself needing or really wanting anyone else.”
“You have not met Sean yet,” he muttered. “And if Sean decides to challenge for a place in our new family… it is your choice, but it would not be hard to include him.” He sighed and rested his forehead against her breast. She hugged him to her, comforting him.
“What are you afraid of, love?” she asked after a moment, sensing the root of his problem. Hunter laughed, though the sound lacked humor, and looked up at her.
“Will it always be this difficult to hide my feelings from you, little one?”
“I hope so,” she retorted, kissing his nose.
“I am afraid…” he sighed heavily, “That you will end up loving him more than me.”
Arianna blinked at him, incredulous.
“I do not love Jace more than you,” she pointed out. “Why would you think I would love Sean more?”
“Because, Sean is…special. You’ll understand when you meet him, when you have a chance to spend some time with him.”
“You’ve always lived in his shadow, haven’t you?” she guessed. He glared at her. She’d guessed correctly, then. Sighing, she pulled his face back to her breast and rested her cheek on his head. “Hunter, I love you and Jace equally. I don’t love one more than the other. I love you in different ways. I suspect that, should another man ever capture my heart, it will be the same. No more love than I have for you two, but different from what I have with you. Kind of like a mother and her children, I’d think. She loves each of them with everything in her, but in completely different ways, because they’re completely different people. It’s the same thing with you and your brother for me. Can you understand that?”
“Yes.” Hunter said, holding her tightly. “But that doesn’t mean I want to share you any more than I already have to!”
She laughed delightedly at that. Rising back up to look down at him, her smile changed to that sexy little curve of the lips that he knew was just for him. She shifted on his lap until the hardening ridge of him rested comfortably between her legs. Leaving both of them breathless, she kissed him, her hips rocking provocatively along his shaft.
She spent the next hour showing him how very much she wanted and loved him.
Later that day, after a long nap and a short but passionate romp in the bathtub- during which Hunter made absolutely certain that she was as clean as she could be, inside and out - Hunter and Arianna were back in the med center. Ri was perched on the scanning bed, Hunter standing beside her, his arms crossed impatiently over his chest as Jace scurried around setting up his newly-reprogrammed testing equipment.
“Jace, is all of this really necessary?” Hunter asked after awhile.
“Oh, yes,” Jace said, throwing his brother a grin. “I’ll tell you why after the first series of experiments. I don’t want anything to taint this first batch of information. After that… we’ll see.”
“You’re being cryptic,” Hunter muttered, then cut a sideways glance at Ri. “I hate it when he’s cryptic.”
“Be patient,” she said, laughing softly. “He has something up his sleeve. Let’s just let him have his fun for now.”
“He’s annoying when he gets like this.”
“He’s in geek-mode, and that makes him irresistible,” she retorted. Hunter turned to face her, situating himself between her knees, his eyes changing from annoyed to quite interested.
“You enjoy geeks, do you?” he asked huskily. She grinned and nodded, looping her arms around his neck.
“I do,” she sighed happily, teasing him. “It’s a flaw, I know, but I’ve never been able to resist an intelligent man. And when one is as handsome as Jace…”
Hunter growled and kissed her, long and lingering, until Jace smacked him on the back of the head.
“Stop,” Jace said. “Save it for the second batch of experiments.”
Hunter whirled to stare at his brother.
“You’re going to monitor us as we kiss?” he asked, incredulous. Jace waggled his eyebrows.
“If I could do it while you were making love, I would,” the physician said, grinning. “I have a feeling there’s some phenomenal energy activity taking place at that point.”
Hunter glared, his scowl telling Jace that such a measurement would not be taken while he was breathing. Arianna grinned hugely. She loved watching these two go at it. It reminded her so much of her family.
“All right,” Jace said, tapping the screen on the scanner a few times to bring up the program, then looking at his mates. “First, I want to get another scan while you two are Reading each other. I’m looking for something specific this time, based on the data from last night.”
Hunter and Ri shrugged, waited for Jace’s signal, then Read each other, trading images of various things around the compound first, then quickly devolving into mental pictures of the things they wished to do to one another.
“Knock it off!” Jace thundered when Hunter had sent Ri such an erotic image that she nearly came. Both of them started and looked guiltily at him. He
was scowling deeply. “I told you: save that for the second batch of experiments!”
“How did you know what we were doing?” Arianna asked, instead. Jace looked a bit flustered.
“I told you… we found some unusual data after you left this morning. That’s all I’m saying until I’m ready for you to know.”
Hunter and Ri went back to more innocent Readings, but their grins stayed firmly in place. It was such fun to tease Jace sometimes.
When the first set of experiments had been recorded, Jace looked at his mate and brother soberly.
“Are you up for another trip out to talk to Sean?” he asked quietly. Hunter stiffened, but Arianna shrugged.
“Sure. Just tell me what I’m supposed to do when I get there.”
“Talk to him. It seems that, from what you said after your trip last night, you spiked highest when you started actually ‘speaking’ to him telepathically. I want to see if the computers can now measure that energy spike.”
“Okay,” Ri said, lying back on the scanner and getting ready to send herself through space.
“One thing, though,” Jace said. “I want to see if you can do it without being linked to Hunter, grounded.”
“No,” Hunter said, quietly, succinctly.
“But we need to-“
“She’s not doing something like that without having me along,” Hunter growled. “That’s final.”
“Do I get a say in this?” Ri asked. Hunter shook his head. She mentally shrugged. It had been worth a shot.
“Not this time. I will keep myself from feeding you energy, if I have to, but you will not take such a trip without a safety precaution. We don’t know what will happen.” He turned on his brother. “And I can’t believe you would even consider such a thing.”
“I had a plan in place,” Jace said, shrugging, “But you’re the commander. If you don’t want to risk it…”
“I do not.” Hunter frowned. “And in this case, it is not as Commander that I deny the request. It is as her mate and protector.” Jace sighed and nodded.
“Then we’ll try it this way. But don’t augment her unless she needs you to. Just be there with her, in case she does need you. I think I should be able to separate out the two wavelengths.”
Hunter nodded, then lay down on the scanner facing Arianna, their heads nearly touching on the pillow Jace had thoughtfully provided. They looked at one another and, when Jace indicated, reached up and held each others’ faces between their palms, touched foreheads, and merged energies.
Almost instantly, Arianna was flying, her mind arrowing out through space in search of the touch of Sean’s being. She found him very easily. He seemed much closer than he had been hours ago. She gently nudged his mind, asking if it was a good time.
Sean’s essence flared for a moment when he sensed her, and she could feel his smile. He was lying in his bed, drowsy but aware of her.
How are my brothers? he asked by way of greeting.
They are fine, eager to see you, she laughed, and you’re a rat for not telling me!
And how would you have taken such a revelation? Would you have stayed for an explanation or would you have run?
Well, I would certainly have had some questions! she informed him. He chuckled at her tone.
We are currently doing a few experiments, she went on. Are you up for helping?
For you, my sweet Arianna, anything.
How did you know my name?
I pulled it from your mind.
What else can you pull from there?
The erotic image he sent her had her entire body flushing back on Hunter’s world. She felt Hunter’s frustration and Sean’s laughter.
That’s personal! she protested. You may be their brother, but that doesn’t give you rights to me, you know!
I believe my little brother is jealous, Sean sent. Arianna mentally rolled her eyes. Brothers were brothers, even when they were big, sexy, cat-like alien warriors who could read minds across space itself. She felt his apology, though, as he said, I am sorry for intruding. That was not well-done of me, and my mother taught me better. I could blame the late hour and the fact that I was more than half asleep when you popped in… but I won’t.
Let’s get serious, then, she sent. I can’t stay for very long. Jace is taking scans. He just wanted me to talk to you a bit, to measure the energy spikes.
He’s figured out how to do that? Sean’s pride and interest in his brother’s discovery were genuine.
Yes! We’ll fill you in when you get here. I’m sure that he’ll want to take readings on you, as well, since you apparently have a different energy signature than most Readers.
That’s true. Though I’ve never sensed anyone quite like you, either, Sean admitted. Your mind’s touch is… unique.
I’m not Thorsani, she told him with a mental shrug. Perhaps that’s it?
You’re not? He sat up on his bunk, banging his head as he did so. She couldn’t hold back her mental giggle. He sent her the image of his glare. She sent him one of her grin. He growled at her mentally.
No. I’m human. We’re from Earth.
Now that is interesting… my brothers and an alien woman! Who would have thought?
Arianna chuckled to herself. Along her connection, she felt Hunter’s strength begin to ebb and she started guiltily.
I have to go. Hunter is grounding me, but he can only keep that going for so long. I wonder why it is so draining for him, but not for me?
Another question that Jace will want to explore, I’m sure, Sean chuckled. Arianna felt a sweet mental caress from him before she withdrew. As she gently left him, he thought, Until we meet again, sweet Arianna…
She made it back to her body in record time. Either Sean’s ship was moving at an incredible speed, or she was learning to travel faster with her mind.
Hunter was much better after this projection than he had been hours before, but still tired. He opened his eyes when she was fully returned, staring at her in awe.
“You did that mostly on your own,” he breathed. “How are you able to do that?”
“I don’t know,” she said, kissing him softly before disentangling their energies and sitting up. Looking at Jace, she asked, “Did you get what you needed?”
“Jax?” he asked the other medic. Jax was staring at his monitor, shaking his head.
“I don’t believe this,” Jax muttered. Without explaining, he brought the information up on Jace’s screen for them all to see. Jace sucked in a breath and swore in consternation. Hunter sighed. Ri stared, really wishing she could read Thorsani.
“It still doesn’t measure,” Jace said with a bit of wonder. “How in the hell could it not measure? We reset the parameters for an incredibly high number. There’s no way…”
“Then set it higher,” Hunter said, his voice reasonable and level.
“I do not know if we can,” Jax said slowly. “We can set it to accept information to a certain number of decimal places. After that, as you know, it has to go to exponentials. We’ve already reset it for the highest number of those that the programming will allow.”
“Scientific notation?” Ri asked. The men looked at her in question. She tried explaining it.
“We’re already using a version of that, in our base number system,” Jax assured her.
“But I’m glad you are not too shy to volunteer information that we might not have,” Jace said, throwing her an atta-girl grin. “I think it’s just that our medical programs were never meant for this kind of thing. We don’t have it in the systems to measure those outputs, have never needed it before.”
“Then rewrite the programs,” Hunter said.
“We’d have to get the computer team in here for that,” Jace said wearily. His eyes locked on Arianna. “What in the world do you have in you that would do this, woman?”
It was mostly rhetorical, but she shrugged anyway.
“I don’t know, but I’m starving again.”
Jax snorted. “I would be, too
, if I’d expended that kind of energy.”
Ri grinned and hopped down from the scanner, intent on getting some lunch.
She woke up in one of the hospital beds, Jace and Hunter sitting on either side of her, an IV running into each arm. Blinking in confusion, she looked at each of her mates.
“What happened?” she asked, surprised at how weak she felt.
“You passed out cold,” Jace said succinctly.
“Why?”
“We’re not sure, but Hunter has a theory.”
“I think it’s because you weren’t being augmented,” Hunter said quietly. “I grounded you, but I didn’t share much energy this time. I believe that makes a big difference.”
“Oh,” she breathed, not really wanting to get up or move much. Her body felt limp and useless, and she told her ever-attentive doctor that.
“Now that you’re awake, we can feed you,” Jace said, smiling tenderly at her, “And Hunter can send you some energy. I wouldn’t let him until you woke up. I wanted to see what was going on, try to figure it out.”
“Glad to be your lab rat,” Ri muttered, glaring at him. He grinned at her effort to be scowly. He thought she was adorable when she was mad. She supposed he had never seen her truly angry. Hunter had, but Jace had been unconscious at the time. And come to think of it, Hunter wasn’t exactly intimidated by her anger, either. He Read her and sent her a mental image of a cute, tiny kitten trying to be intimidating and fierce, ears laid back as it attacked a bit of fluff. Ri discovered that she could growl. Hunter thought that was adorable, too.
“Jax will bring you some lunch,” Jace said, patting her blanket-covered leg.
“Jace,” she said softly, reaching out to take his hand when he tried to leave her side. He stopped, looking down at her. She smiled tenderly at him. “Get some rest, sweetie. You’ve been working all night. Take me home. We’ll eat, and then we’ll take a nap. You’ll work better later, if you rest now.”
Hunter rolled his eyes and left them, saying something about taking care of a few things. Ri knew that he was merely giving them some time alone. Jace sighed, looking around the med center. He seemed to realize how tired Jax was, the other warrior’s face drawn and his eyes red with fatigue. He knew that Jax would keep going, though, until he dropped or Jace released him from duty. Knowing it was best, he capitulated, nodding at her.
