Settler's Mine 2: The Lovers

by Mechele Armstrong

  An image of a man ducking his head in front of her, slapped her up against the face. There’d always been something familiar about Gemini that she couldn’t place. Gemini wasn’t Bbayan but the races were similar. As he identified his true species, she remembered. A Bbayan, who’d been on her station from many years ago. “Coe.”

  His grin grew so wide, it almost split his evil face. “You do remember. I’m touched.” Coe moved around them. “Do you remember how you humiliated me? Kicked me off the mine before I even had a chance to look? Kept me off this damn rock? Made me not find my heartstone?” His nose wrinkled. “Because of you, I never found my heartstone. You kept me from my destiny.”

  “You almost killed a man. And you hurt Bren when we took you down. Of course I kicked you off.” It was the only time that Bren had ever been hurt on the mine. After that, her vigilance had increased even beyond what it had been.

  “When you can’t search the biggest heartstone mine in the quadrant, that limits your chances.” His voice grew high pitched. “You knew you limited me! So I could never find my heart. Never be with anyone. Never have sex.”

  “You broke rules.” Zelda kept her voice steady. The man hadn’t found his heartstone. Now he’d gone insane. How long had he been plotting this? He’d showed up at the right time. Had it not been for Amory, she wouldn’t have been so distracted. A good thing, but distraction, none the less.

  “And now you’ll pay.” Coe’s face twisted up into the face that was more like what Zelda remembered. “It’s time to end the mines. End the heartstones. I’m going to blow this one to bits. Then, we’ll see the leveling of people, as no one has their heartstone. What a better world it will be.” He waved a hand, motioning them to move further along in the shaft, which they did. “You’ll get to see my genius as I take you down the shafts. I’ve set charges. One ignition point that I’m about to set, and they all go up. BOOM! And everyone’s equal. No one is better than anyone else.”

  Her hands clenched by her sides. Coe intended to blow up the mine. With everyone on it. Her stomach twisted. Everyone she’d just brought onboard plus all the ones who’d already been there. Her mates. Oh, Goddess. She had to stop him. Even with Amory by her side, she couldn’t let this man kill so many people.

  Amory didn’t look distressed as they rounded a corner into a portion of the shaft with a corner covered by a ledge overtop. “You know there’s a heartstone in the rock behind you? It’s seeking you out.”

  Zelda couldn’t believe her ears. Had Amory gone nuts, too? Why hold a steak in front of a tiger and tempt him only to really be holding a rock? There was no heartstone in the shafts down here. “Amory.”

  He shook his head at her, hushing her. “Trust me.”

  She stayed quiet, instead of arguing with him. Hard to, but she listened to Amory. Maybe he had a plan. What could it be? He seemed determined to tell Gemini there was a heartstone there. Her mate asked her to do something, who was she not to do the thing he asked? She took a deep breath, praying silently to her Goddess.

  “Do you think I’m naïve, boy?” Gemini got in Amory’s face. Amory didn’t flinch or look perturbed. “There’s no stone.”

  “I don’t think you’re naïve. I am. But not you.”

  What game did Amory play? Zelda tried to survey the area without letting on she was doing it. She didn’t see anything that would say why Amory wanted Gemini to look in the section of rock under the ledge. She resisted the urge to look up. Maybe there was a plan. She didn’t chime in for fear Gemini would get too suspicious.

  Gemini looked to where Amory had pointed. He cocked his head, looking. “There’s no stone.” He stepped back toward the section just under the ledge. Reached out a hand to touch and caress the stone.

  “It’s above you, asshole.”

  Gemini looked up just as Bren pushed over a big gaggle of rocks from the overhang above.

  Amory grabbed Zelda’s hand. “Run.”

  As rocks tumbled, pulled by other stones falling, she did. She blocked Amory with her body as much as she could, ushering him into the next corridor. She fired her pistol even as the rocks continued to fall, burying Gemini underneath them. Bren had started a landslide.

  They didn’t stop until they reached the surface.

  “Where’s Bren?” Zelda looked behind her and all around. Where would he be coming out? If he was coming out. Her heart went up into her throat. “Where should he come out?”

  Amory pointed. “There.” An empty opening.

  They waited for an agonizing minute. Watching.

  Zelda’s heart spasmed. Where was he? Fuck it. “I’m going in to look for him.”

  She barely took two steps and was swept up in Bren’s arm. “I’m here.” He twirled her around.

  Her eyes closed briefly before opening again. He’d never felt so good against her. So real. “How?” She looked at Amory even as Bren set her on her feet. “You said he wasn’t down there. Sounded so convincing.”

  “I was the bait. I had garnered Gemini’s attention, but didn’t let him know that I knew I had it. I was having him follow me to the point where Bren was waiting. Only we didn’t expect you to show up when you did. I couldn’t tell you about the plot because Gemini was there from the start of meeting you.”

  Zelda shook her head. “You were good.” They’d eliminated the danger by concocting a dangerous plan. Goddess, she loved her mates. If they ever took such a chance again, she’d chain them both to the bed.

  “Our mate’s getting less naïve.” Bren winked at her. “By the day. Maybe the hour. We’re bad influences.”

  Amory snorted before wrapping her in his arms. “You trusted me. Thank you.” He planted a kiss on her lips.

  She dissolved into his warmth, letting the feeling of trust and joy envelope her. And promptly fired her phaser at the bastard coming up behind them.

  Amory jumped at the retort. “OK. Let’s save the mate’s reunion until the end, then.” He released her to join in the fight.

  Layla jumpkicked a man who’d tried to strangle Orion. “Nice of you to finally join the party.”

  McTavish pummeled another minion of Gemini’s. Swill. If only he could be tarred and feathered. “I think Zelda’s been busy with the asshat who started all this.” He released the man, who fell in a pile to the floor. “Or so I hope.”

  The troops that Zelda had rallied were winning. “Yes. Gemini is gone.” Without their leader, not that they’d been organized, they’d have even more problems. The day had fallen to Zelda and the mine would be hers again. Her mates stood at her side. Whole. Not hurt. Alive.

  It had been a damn good day.

  * * * * *

  Amory watched as Layla chatted with Zelda. Layla’s two mates, Orion and Balt, hovered nearby.

  Orion stepped over to Layla and Zelda. “We do need to be getting back. We were starting a new job.”

  Balt, the big one with the green hair, said, “A hand job.”

  Orion rolled his eyes. “So you wish.”

  “Like you don’t?” Balt winked at Zelda. “It’s been real.”

  Layla shook her head, amusement showing on her face at her mates bickering. “I better be going before my mates get any more impatient.”

  Zelda lowered her head as if in a bow. “Your debt to me is paid.”

  The other woman took Zelda’s hand and shook it. Her purple eyes glimmered. “I didn’t do this for that. I did this to help you keep your mine.”

  “I had nae debt ta pay.” McTavish boomed. “And ’tis nice ta see yar hair grew back in, Layla.”

  The woman picked at her long hair. “It has gotten long.” Not as long as Natives usually wore it. Natives and Etruscans got along well and his mother had been a Native, so Amory knew more about them than most races.

  If only they’d all hurry up with their good-byes. Amory had places he wanted to go. That only his mates would take him. Of course, they owed these people their lives. With all the minions Gemini had stacked onboard the station, t
heir threesome wouldn’t have been able to prevail without some help.

  Zelda had trusted Amory down in the mine and hadn’t argued him being down there too much. She’d relied on him. He’d seen in her eyes how much she wanted to disagree with him. But she’d kept her thoughts to herself and let Amory lead. He knew how hard that had been for her. It made him need her all the more.

  After disarming all the charges that Gemini had set, Zelda had sealed off the portion of the mine that had caved in on top of Gemini by boarding up the entrances. It had been good riddance to a man who’d almost caused Amory to lose the thing he’d been looking for when he’d come onboard, though he hadn’t known at the time. Who’d have thought he’d find his heartstone and his life all in one spot? Settler’s Mine was really the place where dreams and reality collided. Amory’s had. His eyes sought out his mates. And the reality was better than he’d ever dreamed.

  “McTavish…” Zelda started.

  He startled them all by planting a kiss on Zelda’s lips. A big kiss. “Been wanting ta do that since I’ve known you. Figured twas the best time, so ya wouldn’t kill me. And ’tis no skin off ma teeth to put a rube in his place. I’m just glad I could help yar doctor out.” A laugh broke free of his lips. “And drive him a little nuts.”

  The man had driven Castille up to the Zorbant asteroid belt. To say they had different styles was like comparing a moon to a sun. Castille would probably say his thanks when McTavish left.

  Zelda wiped her hand across her lips. “One free shot. Do that again, and I will kill ya.”

  Which caused McTavish to erupt into more raucous laughter.

  Bren growled good-naturedly. “And I’ll be right behind her.”

  McTavish clapped his shoulder. “A good mate, ya are.”

  Dar nodded to Zelda as he boarded his shuttle.

  While McTavish and the one called Orion could talk all day long. Balt and Dar had been quieter. He hadn’t heard Dar say over two words.

  “Good luck with your mates.” Layla took one last look before following her mates onboard the shuttle.

  They all boarded, a bit more banged up than they’d been when they’d landed. Twenty of McTavish’s men had been hurt along with a few other workers, but nothing serious. Another two of McTavish’s soldiers had been killed. Other than that, there had been no casualties on their side. They’d been lucky.

  Zelda turned to face Amory and Bren. A spark lit her eyes. One of desire.

  Amory shuddered. Yes, time to regroup with his mates. Time to find his bliss.

  Bren moved in closer to them both, wrapping an arm around Amory’s shoulders. “I’ll race you both back to quarters.”

  “Oh?” Zelda arched a brow. “What’s the prize?”

  “Top position.” Bren struck out before either of them could move, his long legs pounding on the stone floor. “And I bet I win.”

  Zelda took off the other direction.

  Amory sauntered around the corner, not in a hurry at all. Whatever position he was in would be a good one, with the lovers the Fates had picked for him.

  Mechele Armstrong

  Have you ever wondered, "What if crayons have a kingdom?” Mechele Armstrong did at age five. Now, turning the imagination of a wide-eyed child into intense spellbinding stories for adults, she is winning over new fans every day.

  Writing stories and poetry as a hobby, she graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University with a degree in Religious Studies and Social Welfare. Although there were challenges with work and family, the need to write and be published, to share her passion for books was always there.

  During a rainy weekend at the beach reading several romance novels she fell in love, not with the hero, but with the genre again. So began a two-year adventure of doing what she loved most, creating worlds with strong heroines and enchanting heroes that will keep you turning pages until the end.

  Using the Internet and the local Romance Writer’s Association, she learned and refined her craft. Living in Virginia with a husband, kids, dog, and fish, she finds time to share her vivid imagination and ability to tell stories of adventure, love, lust, and everything in between.

  Visit Mechele on the Web at http://www.mechelearmstrong.com, or email her at mechele@mechelearmstrong.com.