Something brushed her foot.
She jerked, only to look down and find Amory, sitting at her feet.
He slid his hands under her boot and slid it off. Stretching out his hands to crack his knuckles, he then slipped his thumbs up under her foot and drove them in while holding the top. He pressed up and down the flat of her foot.
Meanwhile, Bren kept rubbing her neck and shoulders.
Her head rolled back as sheer bliss rushed over her. So many pressure points were being hit. By her mates. The only ones in the galaxy she could let her guard down like this around.
Bren pressed a kiss to her neck. “Enjoying?”
She nodded. “This is a great way to relax. Thank you, both.”
Amory nodded. “It will be. All the time.”
They both stopped to look at his face.
He easily shrugged his shoulders. “After I come back from seeing Tania, we can do this every night.”
Bren muttered a curse under his breath.
Zelda stiffened and pulled her foot away from his hands. The Etruscan vows were all encompassing. She knew that. So why did this keep striking her the wrong way? Maybe because she wanted him to honor vows with them. To make vows with them as the Fates had intended. They’d been mated for a reason. The Fates had wanted them together, and while they had a sense of humor, the Fates always knew what they were doing.
Amory sat back on his ass. “I’m still going home in a week. Less than a week now. That hasn’t changed.” He crossed his legs under him. “I have to see Tania. It’s only fair to her.”
“Fair has no place in the galaxy. Life isn’t fair, Amory.” Bren draped his arm over Zelda’s back. “I don’t think you’ll be going home in a week.”
Not by himself.
“Yes, I will.” His chin jutted out in stubbornness. “My vow to you was only to stay here that long. I have to finish things with Tania before I can truly be with you as mates.”
“But, you’re coming back? That’s what I’m hearing, right?”
Zelda didn’t shoot Bren an evil look as he continued the conversation, though she wanted to. What the fuck did that matter? Amory still wanted to leave them.
“I’ll come right back.” Amory nodded.
“No.” Zelda pulled away from Bren to sit up straighter in the oversize chair.
“Z.”
“Zelda.”
“No.” She stood up to walk to the bed. She ran her hand idly over the post.
“You two could come with me.”
Her hand tightened around the wood. “I can’t right now, Amory.” She couldn’t leave Gemini alone at the mine. It wouldn’t feel right, though the security chief hadn’t done anything to deserve her misgivings. She couldn’t leave the mine for this.
“Bren could come with me.”
“No.” She turned to face them. “You will not leave this mine without me. I can’t go now. Tania will have to wait.”
Amory blew out a heavy breath. “She can’t wait. I owe her the truth in person. We pledged.” He stood up and walked over to her before taking her hand in his. “I know what happened. I will come back to you, I promise.”
Bren groaned.
Zelda’s eyes narrowed. “This has nothing to do with my past. My past that needs to stay in the past.” Bren ducked his head with a wince. “It has to do with a lot of things. And you will not go back now.”
“I will not be dictated to by you. Or anyone.”
She didn’t answer. He couldn’t leave her side. He wouldn’t. Her hands tightened more. To lose a mate might kill her. Some said Zelda was invincible. Nothing could hurt her. They were wrong. Which was why she kept Bren so close at hand. Why she would keep Amory so close. Too much could happen out there, the wilds of the galaxy where she had no control. At least here on the mine, things fell under her command.
“Being told what to do isn’t part of being a mate. You don’t do that to Bren.” Amory dropped her hand and stalked back over to the wall.
“I trust Bren.” She did. With her life. With her love, heart, and home.
Bren pushed up on his knees. “And to be mates, you have to trust Amory, too. Or it will never work, Z. He’s not going to get himself killed.”
But Amory might. She rubbed her face in her hand. How dare they gang up on her? “I…”
His voice lowered. “It’s important to him to do this, therefore it’s important to us for him to do this. We have to trust him. Or we’ll never have anything as mates.”
The com went off with calls coming in. Clyde. Trouble in the bar. Along with a call from the space dock about a late delivery.
Zelda opened the door as dinner arrived with Bren in tow behind her. “Don’t wait for us. I don’t know how long we’ll be.”
Amory’s voice called behind her. “I won’t wait for you.”
She marched down the corridor. At least with a bar fight, she wouldn’t have to think about the situation at hand.
* * * * *
Amory woke to great disorientation. His head felt about three inches thick, or like it was encased in foam.
He lurched as he tried to sit up. Only he kept moving, even after he’d righted himself. Colors swirled in front of his eyes like a rainbow on adrenaline. He had to close his eyelids to keep the nausea building from the dizziness.
Stopping himself from swaying ‑‑ sure he sat without the shaking he’d been doing ‑‑ yet he still continued to move.
This was much worse than any hangover. His parents hadn’t believed in the drugs, which would help the effects of a hangover get better, so he’d experienced his fair share of them in his younger days.
Wait a minute. He was sitting still. Yet, he was still moving. He could feel the quake from a motor under his butt.
His eyes opened all the way and fought to focus. He tried to keep the dizziness and nausea from taking him over again.
He wasn’t in Zelda’s bedroom anymore. Where was he? On something that moved. Fast. That meant ‑‑ he wasn’t on Settler’s Mine either.
What was he in?
A shuttle.
Small one from the looks of it. Cargo hold with the small bunk he lay on and not much else beyond a cockpit.
Cockpit? Someone had to be flying, but he couldn’t see who the person was. They must be waiting for him to wake up.
He jerked his arm, only to find it attached to the metal part of the bed by the same damn handcuff chain that Zelda had used. Had he exchanged one prison for another?
“Bren? Zelda? Where are we going? This isn’t funny.” His dry throat managed to garble out the words. “What’s going on?”
A man he didn’t know stood up at the front of the shuttle. He had a chilling smile and white blond hair.
Amory’s stomach fell to his knees. Zelda and Bren were nowhere to be seen. That couldn’t be good. Maybe this pilot was taking Amory to meet them. But why? Why not keep them all together?
The man wasn’t Quatarian. Maybe Proletariat. A few blisters wrecked the smooth lines of his lips. “’Ello Amory. I’m Swill.” He held out a hand.
After a moment’s hesitation, Amory held out his hand. Swill knew his name, which had to mean something about this being legitimate. “Where am I going? Where is Zelda?” Why hadn’t they accompanied him? “And Bren? Are they following us?”
The last thing he remembered was a snit with his mates. Amory had laid down in the bed for a nap before both his mates came back home, while plotting ways to alleviate Zelda’s fears.
Nothing much registered after that.
A sore place on his arm drew his attention. A place where a needle might have stuck into his skin.
Drugged. He’d been drugged by something. That’s why waking up had been and was still so difficult.
“Zelda is back on Settler’s Mine. S’e asked me to see you back ’ome. To your people. Said t’at was w’ere you belonged.”
Back home? “No.” Amory shook his head. “She wouldn’t have sent me off the station. Not like this.”
Gods, not like this. He’d not had a chance to say good-bye. Or try things as mates. She’d been talking about keeping him. What the hell had happened?
“I ’ave a message from ’er. S’e said to play it for you. It’s audio.” Swill hit a switch by Amory’s bunk and Zelda’s voice boomed from the speaker. “Up too loud.” He adjusted some controls to bring down the sound.
“…Amory. This is for the best. Bren and I decided you weren’t meeting our needs. So we’re shipping you back home. Sometimes it works out that way. Good luck and don’t let the door hit you in the ass.”
After a pop, the com shut off.
Zelda’s voice faded away.
But Amory could still hear the message being broadcast. Hear every inflection. Hear every painful word. He’d hear Zelda’s message for the rest of his days.
Amory tried to control his breathing. Tried not to show any emotions. “So you’re taking me home?”
“T’ose are my orders. I’m not supposed to let you off until we get to your planet. T’en, I’m done. You can go anyw’ere after t’at. Zelda suggested the Pompador system.”
Pompador. A system in rivalry to Union Alliance. “Can you release me? From this?” Amory clanked the cuff against the bed, making a resonating bell sound
Swill shook his head with an apologetic smile. Or maybe that was a sneer. Hard to tell. Of all the people to witness Amory’s degradation, a stranger was easier to deal with than someone Amory had known. “S’e was clear on t’at. Keep you in t’em until you got back to your family.”
“Very well.” Amory laid his head back down on his bunk. His head felt numb, even as his heart pounded. “Let me know when we get there.” Not like he had much else to do. Unless there was a saw somewhere under his bunk, which was doubtful.
“I will.” Swill retook the shuttle pilot’s chair.
Amory closed his eyes as he felt under his bunk to see if there was anything he could use to his advantage. He could locate nothing, which meant he was stuck for the duration of the flight. He’d become well acquainted with the chain when it’d been on him. Nothing was breaking those suckers off.
Bren and Zelda didn’t want him.
His own mates.
He’d heard the words in Zelda’s own voice.
Which was too bad because they were mates.
The only shot Amory would get at having a serious relationship was Bren and Zelda. He wasn’t about to lose that because they were acting like pricks.
All their pretty words of having a mate had gone down the waterfall. Amory was in the canoe, which had just been propelled over the falls. Now, he had to regroup and decide what action he would take next.
Like he had any choice.
The only feasible action was the one he came up with first. Drug him and send him off indeed. Their action was not going to keep him away from them for long.
He’d use his time at home to tell his fathers, tell Tania and apologize, and then head right back to Settler’s Mine to reclaim what was his.
Not meeting needs.
He’d see how they liked being tied to the bed until they saw reason.
And they would see reason. Amory wouldn’t be denied his mates now that he’d had a taste of what they were. Not even a full taste. Such a tease. Give him mates, then send him away.
Things between the threesome had gone too far for him to turn back now. He’d held Bren’s cock in his hands. Had his first touch of pussy from Zelda.
But you didn’t have them together, did you? Because of your own stubborn pledge to Tania.
No matter, he’d be going back to Settlers Mine soon enough to rectify that.
He blocked the com message from his mind and concentrated on getting rest, to be prepared for the journey he’d make alone.
* * * * *
Gemini watched as Zelda strolled into her rooms, much as he’d waited for them both to leave Amory again. Expecting to find a lover who wasn’t there. He could visualize her face as she looked to the bed and the man simply didn’t exist in her room. Could picture the horror and surprise at finding Amory missing. The only thing that would be better was seeing the look, but he couldn’t get that close.
He waited a full minute to let her ingest the impact of that empty bed before he called her on the com. “Zelda, I need to speak with you about something.”
Her voice came surprisingly steady. “I’m busy right now, Gemini.” She clicked off the com, breaking their contact.
He was sure she was. Trying to find out if Amory was onboard the station. Which Amory wasn’t. And Gemini could shed some light. He reopened the com link. “I think it’s about your mate. I’m heading to your office now. You want to meet there?” He moved quickly away before the door to her rooms opened, and she saw him creeping.
“Yeah.” Her clipped answer came two seconds before the com went dead again. Had she thrown the gadget in her distress? If only she had cameras set up in her quarters. If he hadn’t thought it would be detected, he’d have installed one. Just so he could witness the beginning of her end.
Gemini sauntered slowly to her office as if he was out for a stroll, taking his time. Let her stew for a few minutes waiting on him. Saw several of his nasty accomplices milling around the mine, leaning against walls and smoking. This wouldn’t do. Frowning, he pulled out his private com. “Tenack?”
“Ayep.”
If Gemini hadn’t been worried about the soft-looking man, he’d have sent Tenack with Amory instead of Swill. At least with Swill, you could have a conversation. But the two-membered man had been without a willing body for too long. And sometimes, Tenack wasn’t picky about who the orifice belonged to when he had sex. Amory had needed to make it home in one piece, or Daddy would spoil things by calling on Zelda. “You need to corral the wild bunch. Now. Keep them down in hiding a little while longer.”
“They don’t like it.”
Gemini’s voice rose several timbers. “I don’t give a fuck what they don’t like. Keep them out of sight until I get the Queen Bitch off the station.” He snapped off the com with a clack before Tenack could give him an “ayep” or argue. Amateurs. They had no idea the greatness of his coming plan.
He reached Zelda’s office and pressed the call to enter.
She sat at her desk like it was any other day, but he saw the tension lines around her eyes and mouth. They were the only signs he saw that she’d had a shock. Otherwise, she looked serene as ever. “Gemini.”
“Zelda. Did you find everything in order in my reports?”
“Yes. You said this was about my mate, not some fucking reports. Get to talking. What do you know?”
“Your mate’s Amory, right? One of them.”
Zelda nodded, crossing her legs.
“From my reports, he came running around the hallways of the mine like a madman. Kidnapped one of my men at knifepoint. Forced him into a shuttle, the one he’d set up to use, but never did, and took off. Said something about going home, come hell or deep space.”
“One of your men? And where the fuck were you? Dicking around? Why didn’t you get there and stop this? You’re the security chief.”
“Yeah. The man took Swill. Took him by knife and hauled him along with him as he ran. I was at the other end of the station in my office working on that paperwork you asked me to do.” Gemini held back a smile at the dig. Maybe she’d blame herself. That by giving him menial chores, she’d lost her mate. Regardless, she wouldn’t like the implication. “By all reports, things went down fast. I couldn’t get there in time. By the time I did, he was already taking off.”
Her face pursed to a light frown. “Why didn’t you contact control and have him grounded? Keep his shuttle in docking. Why’d you let him go?”
Gemini held out his hands as if in supplication. “I didn’t get to do that in time, either. By the time I was notified, things were too far gone. Amory already had the man in his shuttle. Didn’t take them long to pull off docking clamps and go. I arrived as his shuttle flitted away.�
�
“Did he hurt your man? Swill?”
Odd question. Why the concern about a minion? “Not yet. That I know of. Just took him aboard the shuttle and rocketed off from here. As crazy as he was acting, I am worried about my man’s safety.” He faked a look of grave concern as though Swill’s welfare was all that was on his mind. Would that rev her up?
Zelda uncrossed her legs. “Why take him? On the station, maybe I can see it, but why take off with him?”
Gemini shrugged. “I don’t know.” Maybe because the man was taking Amory, not the other way around.
“Let me see the reports.”
Gemini handed over the fabricated eyewitness reports that he’d compiled for this occurrence. Of course, Zelda would want to see them immediately. She’d find details of what had happened taken down meticulously on his computer.
He waited until she looked up from the screen before offering his hand at retrieving her mate.
“I’ll send out a squad after him immediately. They should be able to track the shuttle and bring him back to the mine. If that’s what you want to do.” Gemini narrowed his eyes. Would she say what he wanted her to? Would she go after Amory herself? He was counting on her taking that stance. “A squad I’d lead, of course.”
“A squad about what?” Bren shuffled in. He’d come into her quarters the back way and approached Zelda’s desk. He hadn’t heard of Amory’s run around the station because the situation hadn’t happened. “I got your call to come immediately, but some locos delayed me.”
Gemini had been working the woman over. Had Bren disrupted what he’d been doing? Would that affect her reaction? And would she notice that Bren had more than likely met up with those Gemini was seeding the station with? Damn Tenack.
“Amory took off. In a shuttle. Going home.” Zelda’s voice held no emotion. But yet, her feelings seeped into the air. Anger. Sadness. Disbelief. A thin mouth line told him more than calm words could say.
Gemini enjoyed every emotion he could glean that she was feeling.
Settler's Mine 2: The Lovers Page 15
