by Bethany Aan
Sean nodded and started to say something else, but was interrupted by Jace’s annoyed voice.
“Crap on a cracker,” Jace muttered. Ri chortled at his use of her Earth saying. A sweet chorus of kimi chitters mimicked her laughter, which only made her giggle harder. He grinned up at her and winked.
“What is it, love?” she asked. He held up his hands, covered with a film of the gel he’d been applying to Sean’s wound.
“I forgot to put a towel in my kit last time I used it. My hands are covered with the salve and I need to bandage Sean again.”
“I’ll do it,” Hunter bit out, seeing that Ri was about to offer her help. Sean glared at him.
“I don’t trust you,” Sean growled. “You tickle.”
“Tickling is for children,” Hunter scoffed. Ri raised her eyebrows at him.
“You didn’t seem to think that last night,” she reminded him with a saucy grin. “Or do you see me as a child, my love?”
“Tread lightly, brother,” Jace said in a sing-song warning voice. Sean grinned openly at Hunter’s dilemma.
“Tickling is for children and love-making,” Hunter amended quickly, then got back some of his own as he tilted Ri’s face up, his gaze burning into hers with sensual heat. “Especially when the object of one’s love-making is tied up and can’t do anything about it.”
Ri glared at him for that as her cheeks went hot with memory and the fact that Hunter decided to reveal such an intimacy in front of Sean. Beside her, the older brother’s eyes widened with discovery.
“She likes to be restrained, does she?” he asked, his eyes narrowing on her with approving speculation.
“Stop it!” Ri protested, laughing and trying to hide her deep blush by hunching her shoulders up and her head down. “All of you! This is not about me. We need to get Sean bandaged.”
“And I will do so,” Hunter said, grabbing the roll of bandages from Jace’s kit and making quick work of wrapping Sean’s belly. He tied off the end. “See? Done.”
“I would have had more fun,” Ri murmured, her eyes locked to Sean’s muscular torso for a long moment. Did she just imagine that he flexed his pecs at her, or had he actually done so? His completely angelic smile assured her that he’d done it on purpose.
“Which is why I did it,” Hunter informed her with a wicked grin. Ri blinked at him, then stared.
“Are you trying to keep me from getting to know him better?” she asked with sudden understanding, stunned that her mate would do something to frustrate her when he’d already as much as given his blessing on the match. He shook his head, chuckling.
“Nope,” he said. “I’m trying to keep him from making you fall in love with him.”
Ri snorted and rolled her eyes.
“Is that how it’s going to be?” Sean asked quietly, glaring at his brother.
“Would I thwart my beloved older brother?” Hunter’s eyebrows went up in innocent question, his hand over his heart even though he’d just admitted that was exactly his plan.
“In a heartbeat,” Sean bit back.
“Definitely,” Jace nodded, his grin absolutely devilish as he teamed up with Hunter to face Sean. “It’s much more fun that way.”
“You are all idiots,” Ri announced, glaring at them as she got to her feet. She deposited her kimi comb in the basket, along with all the fur she and Sean had collected, and stood up with a fierce scowl on her face. She had no idea how she was keeping herself from laughing, but her men thought her adorable when she tried to look mean, so she gave them her best growl. “I’m going home to eat breakfast. You guys stay here and be brothers, if you must. When you can be human beings… er… adults again, you may join me.”
“Awww, but we were having fun!” Jace called after her plaintively as she threw her chin up and stomped off, basket in hand. As she went, three little kimi heads popped up over the edge of the basket.
“We’re going to have more kimi poop for the garden,” Hunter sighed, shaking his head. Sean grinned, thinking about the mess the little creatures were sure to make.
“Too bad I’m not allowed to bend over to pick stuff up yet,” he lamented, shaking his head in mock regret as his hand touched the fresh bandages on his belly. “Looks like you’re on your own for poop duty.”
Hunter scowled at him. Jace shrugged.
“He’s not wrong.” Turning back to his patient, Jace held up a syringe. “No bending, no lifting, and once you get back upstairs I want you to stay there for another day or two. No stairs. Pain killer?”
“No,” Sean sighed. “I’m fine for now.”
“You’re not healing as quickly as I’d like,” Jace sighed, then shook his head and, without warning, jabbed the needle into Sean’s arm. Sean grunted and gave his brother a look that should have burned him alive. Jace grinned and arched his eyebrow to make his point. “Mainly because you won’t hold still. So you’re going to take it easy and rest for the next few days. If I have to make it an official order and send two of my medics up here to keep you sedated, I will. Or better yet, I’ll put you in the med center and strap you down.”
“I’d like to see you try that,” Sean said, an eager smile spreading his lips. Jace laughed.
“Right now, all I’d have to do is thump you in the belly and you’d be begging for mercy,” Jace snorted. “These kimis could take you, if I asked them to. So stay still and let the nanos work.”
“Then give me something to do while I’m convalescing,” Sean begged, relenting. “I’m going crazy with boredom.”
Hunter blinked at him in surprise then exchanged wry glances with Jace and chuckled ruefully.
“What?” Sean asked, glaring at his brothers.
“You sound just like our little warrior, when she was wounded and confined to quarters,” Hunter revealed. “You two are quite a pair, you know.”
“Then why try to slow my courtship of her?” Sean asked with frustration. Hunter shrugged and hung a long arm around his older brother’s shoulders as the three made their way back to the suite, Sean massaging the tender injection site.
“Because you’re my brother, and thwarting you is my job,” Hunter said gravely.
Since he’d been the one to teach Hunter that ‘duty’ in the first place, Sean couldn’t really argue. He was sorely regretting that he’d been such an excellent big brother, such a thorough teacher in how to annoy a sibling.
“Now, have you any ideas about what to do when winter comes?” Hunter asked as they walked. “We have had trouble keeping the greenhouses warm enough for fresh food during the snows. I’ve had to augment natural solutions with the precious fuel cells from the Trephinia, but that can only last so long. I didn’t get as far in my studies of alternative energy sources as you did, so your input will be greatly appreciated.”
“Let me see the reports from the past winters, and I’ll see if there’s anything you’ve missed,” Sean said, glad to be of use in some small way. “And I’d suggest a new geological scan. You haven’t had one in ten years. New fissures or chimneys may have opened up that we can tap into for free heat.”
“We haven’t been able to scan because the necessary equipment was damaged when the ship was hit by lightning,” Hunter reminded him.
“The Adelphae’s systems are working,” Sean said speculatively. “We should see about cobbling together an entire working system between the two ships and your command center, and take new scans of everything. I understand the Trephinia’s were damaged, but we have the shuttles from the Adelphae that we can use, if we want to explore.”
“We’ll add new scans to the duty roster,” Hunter nodded, taking mental notes. “We’ll be overrun with volunteers to fly the shuttles for that, though. My men have been land-locked too long. What of your medical facilities? Is the equipment there working well enough to perhaps establish a new compound further away?”
“Hunter, I don’t have the manpower yet for another med center,” Jace protested, scowling at him. “Whether we have the equipmen
t or not, if we don’t have the medics, we can’t support another settlement.”
And that was how the great Second Site debate began. Talking about the coming cold weather and provisions that they needed to consider for their people, the three brothers strolled home.
