Settler's Mine 2: The Lovers

by Mechele Armstrong

  “O’, you’re kidding. ’Ere you say? No one is allowed to dig ’ere?” Proletariat man slapped his buddy with the two dicks on the back. “Did you ’ear t’at ,Tenack? We s’ouldn’t be digging ’ere.”

  “Ayep. I heard.” The man licked his lips again. He winked at her.

  Zelda had him up against the wall before he could move, the knife she’d pulled out of her boot up against his throat. “You lick your lips at me one more fucking time, I’ll cut them off. You hurt any women here, I’ll cut off both your cocks.” He didn’t say anything. Zelda kept a close watch on his buddy, who made no moves to intervene. “Tell me you heard me.” Nothing. “Tell me you heard me.” She ground the knife in. The blade wouldn’t break skin, but it did hurt with the twist movements she made.

  “Ayep.” His voice came guttural. Breathless.

  “Ayep what?” Easier doing threats up front than having to repair some woman’s life and kill the jackass.

  “I heard you.”

  She released him, resheathing the knife in her boot. “Now that we’re clear on that, let’s be clear on this. No one digs here. This is near my private zone.” Something everyone in the mine knew because she’d made it clear. No sense hiding her quarters away. She reached for the knife again as Tenack smirked. “Something funny?”

  “Nayep. Not a thing.”

  She’d said private to see if they’d react. Maybe Tenack could learn from his mistakes. He would, or he’d be on the next transport ship off the rock. “Good. So we understand each other then?”

  “Yes. Yes, we do.” The Proletariat nodded his round head.

  “I’m Zelda.” She surveyed the two with their haphazard mining equipment and half-assed way of digging into the rock. Either they were grossly inexperienced, or they weren’t here with digging as their main purpose. Even Amory had mined better his first day than these two bastards, so she’d guess the latter. What could they be up to? Maybe she should send them up and have them socked out the nearest airlock of a leaving ship. That would make things run smoother on her end. “I’m the owner. I’m the law of this mine. Cross me, and I will do what I said to you.”

  They both nodded.

  She stepped closer. “Who are you both?”

  “I’m Swill.” The man’s blistered lips looked as if they might crack open at any time. He probably had similar lesions all in his mouth, which had to hurt while he ate.

  “I’m Tenack.”

  She nodded, making a mental note to check out the names and see what was listed on the governmental databases. Not many this far out had access to the governmental checkpoint computers, but although she didn’t advertise it, she did, though she didn’t use it on everyone who transported to her mine. Not many knew what access she had, and most assumed she didn’t have any confidential checks available to her. A special chip gotten from a favor she’d done for friends had netted her a world of information.

  “What have you two done now?” An exasperated voice came from behind her.

  She turned to see a man, dressed all in black. His skin tone was light, almost completely pale, and so was his long, almost-white hair, which he tied back with a queue. “I can’t leave you two alone. Whatever it is they have done…Miss…?” He looked to her for her name.

  “I’m Zelda.”

  His eyes widened. “Oh. Oh, what did you two do? It’s a pleasure to meet you, Zelda. I’ve heard a lot about you.” He pumped her hand up and down, while glaring at the men. “I apologize for whatever it was they did.”

  She extricated her hand after a tiny tussle over it. “You are?”

  “Gemini.”

  The name sounded familiar. She’d approved his request to come onboard. “And you know them how?” She waved a hand.

  “I hired these two to work for me.” He sounded frustrated, on the verge of hitting them with his own shovel.

  “Doing what?” She looked to the two short, stout men. What on Settler’s Mine would they be good for, except…well, she couldn’t even name one thing.

  “I’m here to find my…” Gemini leaned in. “I’m here to find my heartstone. I’m paying them to help me look. They were all I could afford. It’s important that I find it.”

  “I’m sure it is, Gemini.” Now that could explain their half-assed attempts. If they’d taken platinum from a rube like Gemini, they had no intention of doing much looking for his heartstone. Their plan would be to do as little as possible and leave him high and dry.

  She appraised him carefully. If Amory was old to find his, this man was ancient. And he’d be desperate. Desperate enough to hire these two fools? Probably. “They were digging where they had no business to.”

  “You two pack it up.” He affixed them with a distressed face. “I do apologize heartily for their misstep. Perhaps, I can treat you to a dinner to make up for my workers’ lapse in judgment.”

  The two of them picked up several mining implements and packed them up. They cast glaring eyes Zelda’s way.

  “Perhaps.” She did take drinks with people at the mine from time to time. It had been a while. Perhaps a night out would do her and Bren some good. Maybe it would help them forget about their friend’s trials.

  “Z?” Bren rounded the corner, his laser in hand. “Everything OK?”

  “Yeah. Yeah, it’s fine. Why do you ask?” She looked at his drawn weapon and the look of concern on his face.

  “Because you paged me on the com link. To get here ASAP.” Bren sounded breathless, as if he’d dashed here. He looked back and forth between her and the three men with her. “I thought you needed me.”

  “I didn’t page you.”

  “You did. I’ve got it right here.” After reholstering his laser, Bren pulled out the pager. “I figured since you never page me, it must be urgent.”

  She looked at the screen and frowned. “I don’t know. It looks like me, but I didn’t page or call you.” She’d never paged him before. And this little confrontation was hardly worth getting her man hot and bothered over because it certainly wasn’t the fun way to get him like that. Though she did like seeing him come running, gun drawn, because he thought she was in danger. Maybe their security system had been compromised. She’d have to check on that, too.

  Gemini held out a hand to Bren. “You must be Bren, if this is Zelda. It’s a pleasure. Why don’t you both join me for dinner? I have things to make up for.” He waved a hand. “You can’t get good help these days. As I’m sure you two are aware since your security chief quit a while back.”

  He’d been fired. But that wasn’t common knowledge. “Yes. Yes, it sure is hard to find good help.”

  Bren yanked on her hand. “Come on. Walk back with me, since I ran all that way.” She allowed herself to be drawn away from Gemini.

  “We’ll do dinner.” He smiled graciously.

  As she and Bren walked away, she saw him slap one of his workers on the top of his head even as he railed at them. She’d have to look up information on this Gemini, too.

  * * * * *

  Amory clutched the glowing rock tightly in one hand, hardly believing he’d found his heartstone. The missing piece of his heart.

  The stone would glow for ten to twenty minutes or so, as long as he remained close by. Then the light would fade, and only glow again when he came into contact with his mate’s heartstone.

  His mate.

  He could find her now. He could…have sex now.

  He could go home to Tania and claim her. She had to be his mate. He pushed down any doubts. Tania was his mate. How often had he told the Fates that?

  Whooping, he leaped to his feet, scattering tools all around in a mad dash. He held the stone up like a beacon. “I found it!”

  A few cheers sounded from nearby miners. Renewed clangs resonated around the cavern. Anytime someone found their heartstone, the happy news made others dig that much harder, that much faster. Celebrations were heartfelt but short from those still in search of their own stone. Each clang of the rock brought about hop
e that the next piece of rock chipped away would reveal your heartstone.

  Not for him anymore. He had his. His fingers clutched around the cool stone tightly as though someone might take it from him. Not that they could. The heartstone would only glow for him. No one else. It was fated to be his and his mate’s.

  He took the looped leather cord that his mother had given him when he’d reached puberty. He’d carried it with him all this time with nothing to put on the end. Now, he could wear the necklace. Slowly, he attached his heartstone to the cord, threading the end through the small hole in the rock. Heartstones usually were found with one tiny hole to make it into a necklace. Another of the many things about them that no one understood.

  He could leave and go home to Tania now. Zelda and Bren would never see him again, nor he them.

  Sobering, he pulled the necklace around his neck. What did that matter? They were only the people who owned the mine where he’d found his future, not anyone important, like Tania. They wouldn’t care two minutes after he was gone, as long as he paid what platinum was left on his bill. Probably wouldn’t even remember him for two seconds after he left.

  Sitting back down on the ground, he stared at his heartstone, at the thing he’d searched his whole life for. Smooth around the surface, the stone tingled under his touch. Cool for now, the heartstone would warm once he found his mate. Or mates…

  No, Tania had no one else yet. Once they’d bonded, it was always possible they’d find their third. Mates of three were heartily desired, though not always found. Amory’s family had been a coveted threesome. Only one other type of threesome was more prized by Union Alliance than what his family had been.

  Mine.

  The heartstone was his. He stared into its inky depths, thanking any God he could for letting him stumble upon it. Bren. He must remember to thank Bren before he left. If Bren hadn’t sensed the heartstone there, Amory might not have found anything.

  Would he say good-bye to the big man then?

  He didn’t want to say good-bye. Only wanted to leave. But he had to. He owed the other man his life now.

  He tried to call to mind Tania’s image, to think of her face. But all his mind could picture was Bren pumping into Zelda from behind the way he had when he’d first met them. How her body had moved with each thrust into her. How their bodies had clenched as they found their final pleasure. She’d turned to him, breasts unbound, bouncing with every word she’d spoken. They’d been dark tipped and hard.

  His cock sprang up into his first erection. He shuddered from the feeling of his member growing turgid. His hand moved down his chest to clutch at his rigidness.

  No.

  His first erection had been over Bren and Zelda. Dammit. His first erection was supposed to be about Tania, perhaps even to be with Tania. Not those two. This was all wrong. He willed the hardness to go back down. His rebellious cock grew tighter as more thoughts of the couple assailed him. Such a feeling.

  Get out of my head.

  His hand clutched the stone tightly. Only they weren’t there. Not really. Amory had been the one to bring them into his mind. They didn’t even know they’d come into his special moment. He had to shake Zelda and Bren off, get them out of his life, so he could go back to being normal again.

  Tania.

  Only he couldn’t bring to mind her face. Her features would linger momentarily before being replaced by a mocha-skinned beauty.

  No matter how many times he tried to deny them, they kept appearing in his mind. In his memories. The only thing that would free him was distance. And now, he could achieve that. He could go home. To the woman he’d vowed to return and claim.

  He was happy about that, damn it. As he should be.

  He slowly unfurled his hand from around his heartstone before staring down into its glowing depths, asking questions the hard piece of rock had no answers for.

  * * * * *

  Bren’s pace quickened until Zelda was dashing to keep up. “Why are you in such a rush? Where are we going?” She kept up at her own pace. He could run if he wanted to. She wouldn’t.

  “Amory was about to find his heartstone.” Bren blew out a breath. ”I had wanted to be there. But, then, you paged me.”

  His heartstone? Her heart fluttered. So soon? If only the search had taken a few days more. What was she saying? She had no claim on Amory or his search. Let him go off and get his heart broken. It was all the same to her. Only with Amory, nothing was the same. Hadn’t been since the day he’d walked into her life. “I didn’t page you, Bren. Are you sure he was going to find his heartstone?”

  He looked at her skeptically.

  “The situation was just two yokels digging near our private quarters. I had to roust them. That’s all. I put the fear of me in one of them because he’s a double-dicked bastard. Why would I need your help with that?” Bren knew she could take care of herself. He liked that about her. He could as well and was a good man to have at your back in a fight. Together, they’d won every fight they’d ever been forced into. Neither of them sought out a battle. But they’d fight hard when pushed.

  “Well, if you didn’t page me…who did?” Bren’s expression shifted to puzzled. His eyebrows drew up.

  “I don’t know.” Her fingers tapped together by her side. Why would someone page him as if she’d done it? That act made no sense. “But I will find out.” She would. And bust some balls. No one had a right to do that. “Amory was about to find his heartstone? How do you know?” Now, she hurried along, making Bren take big strides to keep up. Would Amory leave before they saw him? Asshole just might, if he’d found his stone. And why shouldn’t he? He owed them nothing. Nothing but platinum.

  Bren chuckled. “I don’t know for sure. It’s just a feeling I have.” He kept up with her quick pace. His boots pounded the hard stone.

  Bren’s occasional instincts were usually on the platinum.

  Even if Amory had found his heartstone, she and Bren were setting themselves up for too much. It was impossible he could be their third for many reasons. But, at least they’d know for sure before he left the mine. If he’d had to leave before he’d found it, they’d have never known the outcome.

  Walking into the caverns near Amory’s dig site, Bren pointed to a hunched over figure. “He’s found it.”

  “So he has.”

  Amory was putting things in his little bags. Soon, he’d be on his way and back to whatever girl had put a hook in his heart. And when the snag was yanked out, as it would be by the Fates, Amory would be left painfully hurt.

  Zelda sighed, her hand clenching into a fist as if to defend Amory. But there was nothing she could do about that, unless she was Amory’s mate. No matter how much his going home was a bad idea, he’d never listen to her. Etruscan propriety was legendary, and he’d been raised with a large dose. No matter how much she’d think of him after he was gone, she’d never tell him. Amazing how many people journeyed through her life every year. But yet, Amory’s memory would prod her long after he’d gone. She’d never reacted to anyone else the way she had to him.

  Except Bren.

  But that didn’t mean anything. Not until a heartstone said it did.

  The dull stone rested around Amory’s neck on a fancy leather cord, which looked to be hand woven.

  They approached him with their arms linked together. Neither of them wanted to see him go. Amory had his own decisions to make, and with his feelings for and vow to the girl back home, he’d never include them. Without being mates, they couldn’t and shouldn’t interfere, no matter how much of a mistake they thought he was making.

  As Amory turned fully toward them, his grin couldn’t get any wider. The smile took up his whole face.

  Zelda hadn’t seen that look on his face the entire time he’d been at the mine.

  His face glowed almost as much as a heartstone would from the power of his happiness. She’d thought he’d had been handsome before. The light on his face made him look downright beautiful. She’d see
n few beautiful things in her lifetime. Bren was one. She’d now count Amory as another.

  Amory opened his mouth with a word of greeting on those full lips. And that’s when his stone emitted a dark blue, neon glow from its core, lighting up the cavern.

  * * * * *

  The light had faded, and Amory was packing when familiar voices behind him made him startle.

  “He’s found it.”

  “So he has.”

  Amory turned to face Bren and Zelda. They had linked hands, and stood several feet from him. He hadn’t heard their approach. “Yes. Yes, I got the heartstone out. And it’s mine. I found my heartstone!”

  Their faces went slack as they stared at his chest.

  He picked his prize up in his hand. His fingers burned with warmth. “See. It really is mine, guys. Thank you, Bren, for looking there with me. I can’t tell you how much I owe you for the direction. I’m on my way out of here. Back home.” Back to claim the woman he’d pledged to. He tried to call up more happiness, but couldn’t seem to find anything like that emotion. No matter, once he got away from here, he’d return back to the way he was before he’d come onboard Settler’s Mine.

  They stared at his neck, immobile and silent. Why didn’t they say anything? Why weren’t they congratulating him, or asking him for the rest of their platinum? They should be saying something to him. He hadn’t expected this silence.

  “Isn’t it excit…” Amory’s eyes went down to the heartstone warming his hand. The stone glowed a vibrant blue, even more than it had before when he’d located the rock. The light pulsed in a pattern. “…ing. I can’t believe I finally found…” He broke off, looking at the stone again.

  The heartstone was glowing.

  Again.

  Even brighter than before, the stone gave off a glow that made his hand appear blue. It warmed his hand, almost hot to the touch.

  The stone shouldn’t be glowing now. The glimmer had stopped when he’d been packing up his gear. The only reason his heartstone should glow again at any time was when…he’d found his…mate.

  Heartstones warmed around one’s mate. They pulsed around one’s mate. They did exactly what his was doing now.