Settler's Mine 2: The Lovers

by Mechele Armstrong

  Taking a deep breath, he answered the com. “Dad?”

  The image from it blasted on the stone wall. “Amory.” Horatio looked back at him with concern in his golden eyes. “It took you a while to answer. What’s up?”

  “I was digging. Then, I had…to get cleaned up.” With some help. He reached up to pass his hand along his still sensitive skin. Where Zelda had touched him. He needed to find his heartstone and get off this damn rock. Before anything else like this happened. “How are things at home?”

  “Good. We’re both doing fine.” Horatio smiled softly. Probably thinking of Jardon, Amory’s other father, who was working this time of day. Jardon was a ship salesman. Horatio was a ship’s mechanic for Union Alliance. “How are things there?”

  Insane. “They’re fine.” No need worrying his father. They already worried about sending him off to Settler’s Mine alone. But neither of them could come with him on short notice. His trip hadn’t been planned far in advance. Settler’s Mine was where they’d each found their heartstones as well, so the site seemed like a good place for him to go.

  “No luck yet, huh?”

  Amory shook his head. All of it had been bad so far. Why couldn’t he find that piece of himself? Was he destined to be one who never found their heartstone? To never have an erection or carnal desires? If only I’d found it by now. Then, he would have had an erection to back up his reaction to Zelda. No. Not just no, but hell, no. He wouldn’t be a slave to his cock when it became what it was supposed to.

  “You’ll find it soon enough. I know you will. I have a feeling.” Horatio tilted his head to the side. “The woman who runs things there. Zelda? She seemed nice enough. Is she looking out for you?”

  “She’s out for herself, Dad. In this for the cash. A taker.” Amory swallowed down his bitterness. He hadn’t paid everything up front. That probably explained the woman’s interest in him. Couldn’t let him go before he settled his bill. No other reason for her to express this kind of interest.

  “Well, she seemed nice to me. She said you were doing quite well. Assured me of it. Said not to worry.”

  Yeah, the only worry about Amory was that he wouldn’t pay his final bill. But Etruscans often took empty words made by others to be promises. None took their vows as seriously as an Etruscan. And Amory had been brought up to believe his word was his honor. “How’s Father?”

  “Ornery as ever.” Horatio cast his gaze down to the floor. “He misses you. We both do.” He lifted his face to look in Amory’s eyes with sadness showing before he blinked, and the look was gone.

  Amory’s mother had only died last year. The loss had been hard on them all. She’d been a gentle, wise woman. Amory would always miss her sage advice. Something he needed in this situation. “Dad.”

  Horatio waved his hand. “I know. I know you had to do what you had to do. And you will find it, Amory. I know you will.”

  He had to. He had to find it and get back home. To his parents. To his woman. “Dad, how’s Tania?” He shouldn’t be asking. His fathers knew they were friends, but nothing beyond that. They weren’t supposed to. Tania and he had agreed.

  Horatio’s face blanched.

  “What? What is it? Is she hurt? Ill? What’s going on?” Amory’s fists balled up. He’d been gone too long to this hellish rock. If only it had taken a day to find what he sought, he’d have been back to his family and the woman he wanted by now.

  “She’s fine. She’s…just Tania.” The man’s lips thinned out as his smile flat lined like a heartbeat going dead.

  Horatio didn’t care for Tania. Usually Amory trusted his judgment, but in this case, he was wrong. Tania was Amory’s angel. “What do you mean?”

  “Nothing. Nothing.” Horatio twiddled his hands around. “I shouldn’t have said anything.”

  “Tell me.” Amory had to hear what was going on. He leaned forward. What could be getting Horatio so nervous?

  “She’s…been in the company of some new people to the village.”

  Amory settled back down. So that was all. “She does love to play hostess. I’m sure she’s enjoying herself.”

  “I’m sure she is, too.” Horatio’s words came out as dry as the plain of Navarone. “How is the mine? Busy?”

  “Yeah. It’s got tons of people.” He shifted the subject back to his soon-to-be lifemate. “Has Tania asked about me? How I am? Have I found it yet?”

  Horatio met his gaze full on. “No. She hasn’t asked either of us about you.”

  Amory’s shoulders sagged. “Nothing?” She could have at least asked about his heartstone status.

  “Nothing.” His father had never put sugar on anything that tasted sour going down. He wouldn’t start now. No matter how much the truth took Amory aback.

  “Oh, well, I’m sure she’s been busy with showing the new people around the village.” Tania would be overjoyed when he came back with his heartstone to claim her. That was all that mattered.

  “She has been busy.”

  “Dad, I better go back to digging. I…need to work.”

  “OK. Be careful, son. Come home soon.”

  “I will.” Amory shut down the com link, blowing out a deep sigh. He stalked out of his room with purposeful steps, intending to go dig. Instead, he found himself nearing Zelda and Bren’s quarters. What he was doing there, he didn’t know. He should be going to dig, but that was not where his wayward feet took him. Instead, he went where he was sure to run into Bren and Zelda.

  Chapter Three

  And sure enough, Bren rounded a bend in the corridor and looked surprised to see him. “Amory.” His puzzled face asked questions with no words.

  “Bren.” Amory stopped walking, letting Bren approach him. The man did in only two strides. “Just out for a walk.” A walk that took him by their quarters where he didn’t have to go. Would Bren put that together?

  Bren’s sizzling smile threw Amory off balance. Weaponry didn’t have anything on the big man. His next question tossed Amory into even more confusion. “Did you have a good conversation?”

  “Huh?”

  “Your father. Z told me she put him through to you.”

  “Oh.” So Zelda had passed along information about him. How much did they talk about him? Somehow that put a warm feeling down in his stomach, even if it was only a mention. “Yeah, it was good.” He didn’t feel quite as restless as he had before the com call. But, his emotions still felt churned up by the whole discussion.

  New people in the village. For some reason, Amory kept going back to what his father had said. “New people hanging around Tania.” That should bother him. On some level, it did. But not as much as those thoughts would have before he’d come to Settler’s Mine.

  Bren nodding, stretching his arms out by his side. “Parents worry. I’m sure they were glad to hear you’re doing well. I was on the way to the bar to check things out. You heading that way?”

  Amory nodded. His dig site was that way. They fell into step together.

  Zelda waited by the door to the bar. “Amory. Bren.” She glanced at Amory. “No problems with your call?”

  “Nah.” He shoved his hands into his pockets. “I’d better be off to dig.”

  “Why don’t you have a drink with us?” Zelda pushed open the door to the bar. “A quick one before you start digging again?”

  Amory hesitated.

  “Yeah. Come on.” Bren patted his shoulder.

  The scorching touch made him roll his muscles. “OK.” Just one drink with Bren and Zelda couldn’t hurt anything.

  Following Zelda, he couldn’t help but have his eyes drawn to the small of her back. He’d heard she had a tattoo there. Was it colored against that creamy mocha skin? Or merely green or black ink? He shook those thoughts off. He’d never know.

  She sat down and motioned for him to sit in one of the other chairs.

  Straddling the seat, he planted himself down.

  Bren took the chair next to him.

  Amory had been sandwich
ed between them. He swallowed. He could feel the heat of their bodies on either side of him. Zelda’s fruity scent and Bren’s masculine smell overwhelmed his nose. He liked the rush that being between them caused to happen within him. He might not feel desire yet, but these two caused reactions in him he couldn’t quite explain.

  Zelda signaled to a waitress who came bobbing over. “Miss Zelda, thank you so much for the job. And for sending my dad to Dr. Castille. He helped so much. I’ll pay you back, I swear it.”

  Zelda shrugged. “Helmsley, just when you can. Get your dad well first.” Her eyes avoided both Bren’s and Amory’s. “This is Bren, my mate, and Amory, a friend.”

  Amory didn’t let the smile bubble up at being called a friend of Zelda, though something clenched low in his belly.

  After they’d been served drinks, Zelda gave the waitress a huge tip, which she thanked Zelda up and down for.

  Amory hadn’t missed the fact she owed Zelda some platinum. Zelda hadn’t had to tip her, but she had. That didn’t track with the greedy bitch image he saw that she broadcast. His forehead furrowed. Both Bren and Zelda had different private sides than public. Bren was supposed to be this stoic fighter, but instead he liked to tease and was gentle. And Zelda ‑‑ well, she was a bitch, but she wasn’t cold-hearted. Amory didn’t understand either of them.

  Taking a sip of his drink, Amory surveyed the bar. And realized they were the talk of the masses. Zelda and Bren must not share drinks often with others. He ignored the utter heat that thought created and concentrated on his drink.

  “Everything OK at home?” Zelda set down her empty glass.

  “Yeah. They were checking on me.” His mouth arced up in a smile. His other father probably would get a report as soon he got home from work.

  “They?” Zelda balanced a hand on her knee.

  “My dads. They and my mom were mated long ago.” He looked at a point on the wall. “My mom died a while ago.” He hated saying the words. But would rather say them than get blindsided by the question. No matter how many times others had asked about his mom, it always caught him off guard. “She was a Native. They’d been together as a threesome for a long time.”

  “Sorry to hear that.” Bren frowned as Zelda echoed him.

  A hand pressed on top of his on the table. Zelda’s. She’d reached over and patted him in sympathy.

  Amory accepted her comfort without a word in argument. Somehow her warm skin did make things inside calm down. Her touch soothed him. “She was sick a while. Her passing eased her pain.” Though he missed her, as did his fathers, they’d all felt that way about her leaving them. The pain for her had ended. In the end, all the modern medicine hadn’t been able to save her. “Death was the end of that journey for her and the start of the next. I can’t be sad for her.” He could for himself and his fathers. But, that didn’t need to be voiced. Somehow Bren and Zelda would understand.

  “That’s a good way of looking at it.” Bren spoke softly. His eyes warmed. “Intelligent way of looking at the next step of life.” He sounded impressed by Amory’s logic. He touched Amory’s elbow before moving his hand away.

  Amory ignored the quagmire of emotions that Bren pulled up. So what? But as much as he tried to deny it, he cared what Bren thought about him. Might as well stop saying he didn’t.

  “Must be hard on them with you away now, too.” Zelda didn’t flinch when Amory’s eyes came up to meet hers. She removed her hand.

  Amory nodded. “They wanted me to go, though.” His smile came easily. “Even though they warned me umpteen times about the dangers here.” They had. Until he’d been able to recite them chapter and verse. He’d ignored all their warnings and come here anyway.

  Bren laughed. “Man, the most dangerous thing here is Z.”

  Zelda arched a brow. “And that’s the way I like it.”

  Amory couldn’t help but snicker at the joke. Bren joined him and Zelda smiled a haughty smile.

  Bren placed a hand on top of hers, reaching across Amory. “Just kidding, baby.”

  Her nose wrinkled in a haughty look. “I’m not.”

  “I’d believe it.” Amory looked down into his drink. “You are dangerous.” He’d said too much, but he liked the look his words created in Zelda’s eyes.

  “Smart man. Both of you are.” Zelda motioned for another drink.

  Bren’s fingers slowly stroked her hand.

  Their eyes met in a telltale fury of emotion. Flickers swept across the table until Amory almost believed he could feel them licking at him, so strong was the current of desire between the two.

  Amory’s mouth twisted. He was witnessing something he wasn’t a part of nor could he ever be until he’d found his heartstone. His throat ached even as he swallowed to clear the lump. He needed to get away from the two of them and clear his head. “I better go dig.” He tossed down coin. “Thanks for the drink.”

  Back at his room, he grabbed his tools. He’d find his heartstone soon and get back to the woman he was meant to be with. Had to. He’d not spend one second longer here than he had to.

  * * * * *

  Zelda pressed herself into Bren’s side. His muscles tightened as he pulled her even closer. His warm body heated her skin.

  Letting out a sigh, she looked up at the ceiling. Rock. Everything was rock at Settler’s Mine from the floor to the walls. The whole community existed in the caverns, which were only lit by artificial lighting. Some hated the lack of sunlight. Not her, she’d had her fill of it, living on the surface when she was a child. But sometimes seeing rock everywhere got old. No matter. She’d fought hard to make the mine what it was. Settler’s Mine would be hers until the day she died.

  This room had been carved from the cavern walls just as every other room there. This was their private space. The one refuge from the outside world they had. Only Amory had breached it when he’d come into their rooms to seek his heartstone. Just the way he’d breached their entire life.

  “Thinking about our friend?” Bren’s huge fingers made sweeping circles on her bare back. He liked to trace the dragon tattoo right above her ass, but right now his hands rested toward the middle of her back.

  She didn’t have to ask who he was talking about. Amory. Her pussy clenched at the mere thought of him. “Maybe.” His face popped across her mind, long, narrow, quite boyish. His hair always looked mussed, like he’d stepped from a shower only minutes before and hadn’t combed it out. How good that lean torso would taste under her questing tongue. She could slurp up his leg until she got to that cock she had yet to see. Better yet, be doing that while Bren took her from behind. She swallowed, the back of her throat dry and tickling.

  She’d almost lost herself and kissed him. Without his heartstone, that was forbidden. Maybe that was what made him so attractive. He was forbidden. She’d always liked to play fast and loose with others’ rules, though she expected others to live by hers. She refused to think about all the other people who had passed through her life without heartstones and hadn’t ignited her like this one man did.

  “But you are now.” His questing hand swirled up her back. Her skin prickled, hair perking up at the tickling touch. “Definitely.”

  Bren knew her likes too well. “You brought him up.” She inflected humor in her voice so he’d take it as the teasing it was. “Yes. Now, I am.”

  Bren fell silent. When he spoke, his tone was quieter than she’d ever heard him. “So am I.”

  Her heart picked up speed. Bren had never shown interest in anyone before, male or female. She had met him when he’d still been young, too young to be claimed, though he’d possessed his heartstone already. Though some would have gone ahead and claimed him, she’d waited until he was old enough before mating him. He’d never displayed desire for anyone but her. Her throat constricted. “Oh.” Somehow she enjoyed his interest in the other man.

  “I don’t understand him. Or myself when I’m around him.”

  “That makes two of us.” Zelda splayed her hand over Bren
’s flat, ribbed stomach. “I don’t know, Bren. Unless…”

  “Unless what?”

  She didn’t want to voice her thoughts aloud. Didn’t want to say it in case the Fates that had dogged her once upon a time still listened. In the past, before she was the mistress of the mine where people found their heartstones, her luck had been awful. Before she had taken the mine through blood, sweat, and tears. Settler’s Mine was the place where she’d found her heartstone so many years ago, the only luck she’d had until she took the mine over. Now, she had one mate, but she didn’t expect to find her second. Not here. Not ever.

  No, she couldn’t speak this idea aloud. She ran from little in life, but until she found out for sure, she’d run from this.

  Bren expressed the thought for her. “Unless he’s our mate. And you know what that means.”

  The thoughts of what that could bring tugged on Zelda’s heart and mind. They made her stomach flutter back and forth in anticipation.

  If Amory was their third, it would complete them. They’d all be bonded together. She’d never thought anything was truly missing with her and Bren, until she’d thought of Amory being their third. Only then had she realized there was a need, a want in her to have her second partner. Did that feeling exist in everyone in a duo? Or was her hopeful thinking getting her into areas she had no business being?

  The Fates had given her one mate. She’d never been given anything from them without a cost.

  But, then again, a whole new world would open up before them as a tri-mates. Threesomes were most desired. They would be given elevated status on most things, from healthcare to citizenship in the vast Union Alliance. Only one other form of three mates was more privileged than they would be. Not that what Union Alliance did mattered to her all that much, but it would benefit them all.

  No. It was absurd to think Amory would be their third. Only those whose heartstones were matches could enter into permanent relationships. Fuck, Amory wouldn’t be able to attain an erection until he found his heartstone. He had made it clear, he wanted nothing temporary with them, even if he located his stone. Their fascination had to have another cause besides him being their mate. “Don’t count on it yet. He hasn’t even found his heartstone. We don’t know anything.”