“What do you mean?” I asked.
“What do you mean, what do I mean?” Her blue eyes narrowed a bit. “You haven’t talked to me because you were trying to figure out how to let me down easy?” Her sentence twisted into a question at the end.
“I just told you that I find you smart, and funny, and brave, and--”
“That’s the kind of shit you say to someone right before you break it off with them!” Z shouted with exasperation.
“No. It’s--”
“Yes! You say ‘oh you are wonderful because of x, y, and z, but it’s not you, it’s me. I need to find myself’ or whatever other bullshit reason you can think of to let the other person down easy.”
“No, Z.” I laughed. “I’m--”
“And then you haven’t talked to me in like twelve days, so what else was I supposed to think?”
“I was sleeping for eight or so of those.” I shrugged.
“Good point,” she said with a sigh, but then her eyes narrowed. “Soooo… does this mean you aren’t breaking it off with me? Ahh, not that there was, I mean, we kissed and all, and I ahh, just thought that--”
“Z, I love you,” I said the words even though I knew it would make my life complicated. I said them even though I had only known her for a month. I said them knowing that she loved me too. I said them because she was brilliant, and she made me laugh, and I never wanted to be without her.
I said it even though I also loved Eve.
“Okay,” she whispered as she stared at me. Her eyes were opened wide with surprise, and she almost looked scared.
“I want you to be with me on Persephone.”
“Okay,” she repeated.
“I need you to be with me,” I said.
“Okay,” she whispered again, and we stared at each other for a few moments.
“Are you going to say anything else?” I asked as my heart continued to slam into my chest.
“Hard to think about anything when my brain is screaming,” she whispered, and she hadn’t blinked since I told her that I loved her.
“Is that good, or bad?” I asked.
“I don’t know. I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop. You just told me that you love me. You know I love you, but I also know you love Eve, and she told me she loves me.”
“Yeah,” I said with a sigh. “I don’t know, Z. Sorry. I can only tell you what I feel. Maybe I shouldn’t have admitted to--”
“No!” she growled. “Don’t tell me you made a mistake telling me.”
“Okay,” I said with a small chuckle. “I just want you to know that you don’t have to worry about your place on Persephone. I want you by my side.”
“I wasn’t worried,” Z said with a frown. “I’m pretty awesome.”
“Good, and I agree, you are wonderful,” I said.
“Ahhh.” She finally blinked and then let out a slow breath of air. “Okay, I’m kind of full of shit. I was a bit worried. Maybe I still am worried. Paula and Kasta are super gorgeous, and they are twins, so every guy’s fantasy. They both keep flirting with you, and then they are good at math and computers. I uhhh. It’s stupid, I know, but you weren’t talking to me, so…”
“Don’t worry,” I said.
“Yeah, ‘don’t worry’ says the incredibly handsome tiger-man with four women in love with him. Nope, I think I’ll be worried. Thank you very much.” Z crossed her arms and shook her head. “How is this going to work?”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“Eve said she wants to sleep with me. I don’t know if I’m into that. Ahhh, I uhhh like her and all. She’s a good friend, but I’ve never really thought about it with another woman. It also feels like I’d be cheating on you, which makes me feel stupid because I’m guessing that you don’t feel the same way.”
“No, I do,” I said. “I don’t know how it will work.”
“What do you mean you don’t know how it will work? What kind of answer is that?” Z asked with confusion.
“I love her,” I said with a shrug. “She said she told you what she wants.”
“Uhh yeah. She wants some sort of free love ménage trois. Is that what you want?” Her eyes pierced mine like lasers.
“No,” I said.
“Ha! Adam, you are such a fibber.” Z shook her head.
“It isn’t what you want. So it can’t be what I want,” I said, and my answer seemed to have caught her off guard.
“What do you mean?” she asked.
“I want to respect your feelings. I care about you.”
“Sooo… If I say no three-way with Eve and me, you are cool with that?” she asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Yeah.” I shrugged. “If you loved another man and asked me to join you two, I wo--”
“Whoa, whoa, let’s not get too crazy here.” Z laughed. “That is way too many hypotheticals.” The slender woman let out a long sigh and then smiled “It does make me feel a lot better. Like I said, I really like Eve, but uhh, I don’t think I’m ready to uhh, kiss her, or other stuff.”
“I get it,” I said. “I’m not ready for it either. It makes me feel as if I am not treating you fairly.”
“Okay,” she said with another sigh. “How will this work then?”
“What do you mean?”
“Uhhh. Like, ummm. Shit.” Her face turned red again. “Will we trade off or something?”
“Trade off? Wha--”
“Fucking shit,” she hissed with an eye roll. “Like for sleeping together! Will you just switch between us every night or something?” Her hands were on her lap, and her fingers wrapped around each other.
“Uhhh. No,” I said.
“No?” she asked with confusion on her face, but before I could reply, I saw her eyes widen, and she started to blink quickly. “Oh, I see.”
“What?”
“Just Eve. It’s okay. I get it.” Z’s voice was a pained whisper.
“No. Damn it, Z.” I moved to her couch and put my arms around her slender shoulders. “I don’t want to switch off, or anything like that. Eve doesn’t care, but I know it will hurt you. Also, it isn’t what I want.”
“Ohhh,” she leaned into my armor and let out a long breath. I could feel her heart racing from where my fingers lay across her back and shoulders.
“It seems too complicated, and I--”
“Wait,” she interrupted me and pushed against my chest so that there was more space between us. “You aren’t going to sleep with either of us?”
“Yeah, I was just about to say that I am not comfortable with it.”
“What’s there for you to be comfortable about? You have two hot women who want to fuck you.” Z shook her head.
“It’s not that simple,” I said.
“No, it isn’t that simple for me because I’ll be trying not to think about the man I love with another woman, but you should be happy. This is like every male fantasy.”
“How can I be happy when I know you won’t be? I’m not like that.”
“What if I said I was fine with it?” she asked, but her blue eyes narrowed dangerously.
“Uhh, you aren’t fine with it, and neither am I,” I replied.
“No. I give you permission. It’s fine. I’ll get over it.”
“No.” I shook my head. “I’ve talked to Eve, she knows you aren’t fine with it.”
“So because I’m uncomfortable with you being with both of us, you aren’t going to be with either of us? That’s fucking dumb.”
“I don’t think it is dumb,” I said with a shrug.
“I feel like it’s my fault. It feels like I’m the one being the stick in the mud and keeping you both from having a good time.”
“Z, it isn’t just you. I don’t know if I want this. Eve came into my room to wake me. We kissed, and I felt remorse that you weren’t there.”
“Ahh, so it comes back to the mage.” She sighed and rolled her eyes.
“No. That isn’t what I mean,” I said.
“W
hat if I’m fine with that?” She raised an eyebrow.
“Z, I don’t--”
“You sure?” She smirked. “It’s a big bed. Eve said that Kasta and Paula can fit on it with us.”
“She said that?” I asked.
“Well, no, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Eve wanted them to join us.” Z pressed her hands over her face and sighed again. “This shit is crazy. A mind reading vampire and weretiger want me to have sex with them.”
“I didn’t actually say that--”
“And I’m seriously considering it. Things we do for love, huh?”
“I’m not asking you to do anything,” I growled, and the slight anger in my voice made her eyes widen again. “I’m just telling you how I feel about you. I don’t want to be without you. Yes, I want to be your lover, but it is complicated, so it might not happen. With either you or Eve. I need time. I didn’t want you to think I was ignoring you because I didn’t care for you.” We stared at each other for a few moments, and then the blonde hacker nodded.
“Alright. I guess I have a lot to think about also. Sorry for giving you shit. I keep forgetting you’re not a normal guy who thinks with just his dick.”
“I do plenty of that,” I said as I thought about the creature who lived inside of my soul. The beast only cared about killing, eating, and fucking, but Z had no idea.
“I guess I should get some sleep. We’ve got a lot of work ahead of us,” Z wiggled out of my arms and rose from the couch. Even though I was still wearing my armor, I missed the feeling of my arms around her immediately.
“Yes we do,” I agreed as I walked toward the door to my suite.
“Uhhh, Adam,” Z whispered, and I turned around to face her.
“Yeah?”
“You said you kissed Eve?” Z raised an eyebrow and stepped toward me.
“Yeah. I--”
“Was it good?” she interrupted me.
“Z, I don’t want to compare--” I started to say, but the blonde woman’s mouth slid to mine and our lips connected.
My breath left my body and poured into hers. Her moan of pleasure filled my mind to the brim. Her mouth tasted sweet like honey, and my fingers came around her back to squeeze her tight ass through her suit. When I grabbed her, she let out a gasp and pushed her body into mine. I wished I wasn’t wearing my armor or any of my clothes, but it was probably better this way. Z’s kiss was filled with hot desire, and her mouth made my lips and tongue tingle.
“Damn,” she gasped as soon as our lips parted. She leaned against me, and I brought my hands off her ass so that I could wrap my fingers around her lower back.
“Yeah. Damn,” I agreed.
“Uhhh. Shit,” Z said before she sighed. Then she pulled away from me. Her blue eyes were focused on the floor of my suite, and she was biting her lower lip. “I need to go.”
“Okay,” I said as I let her slip out of my fingers.
“Dunno how I’m going to sleep. Maybe a cold shower,” she whispered as she crossed her fingers together.
“Hey Z,” I said, and she looked up into my eyes. “What is your name?”
“Oh,” she said with a relieved smile. “I thought you were going to ask me to stay. My name actually is Z.”
“It is?” I asked.
“Yeah, but it is spelled weird: Z, E, A.”
“So Zea?”
“No, not like ‘Ze-ah,’ but like ‘sea’ with a Z at the front instead of an S.” The blonde hacker winked at me. “Hey, I didn’t invent the English language, or tell my parents what to name me. I just thought it was funny when you told me to call you ‘A’ when we first met. Maybe I should have known you’d be trouble.”
“I’m glad they picked that name,” I said. “It suits you.”
“Thanks,” she said, and then our eyes met again. My heart was still slamming in my chest, and I felt like I was falling into her blue eyes. “Are you going to ask me to stay?” she whispered.
“Is that what you want?” I asked.
“Is that what you want?” she answered.
“You need to sleep.” I regretted the words almost as soon as they left my mouth, but she just smiled and nodded.
“Alright, Captain. I’ll see you in sevenish hours.” Zea nodded and then walked to my door, it opened automatically, and she exited without looking back at me.
Then the door closed, and I was alone in my suite.
“Fuck me,” I said after I stared at the door for a few minutes. I was thinking about Zea and Eve, and what the hell I was supposed to do. The few minutes of consideration didn’t give me any clear answer, of course, so I left my room and walked toward the bridge.
One problem at a time. I needed to focus on Uraniel if I was going to stop Lith Dae from taking control of the planet.
Chapter 9
Kasta and I spent the next few hours speaking about various strategies for stopping the bird-drones on Uraniel. We couldn’t dive into very detailed plans because we were still waiting for Zea to wake up and check the data sticks, but we were able to discuss the most probable plan based off what Eve had uncovered from the minds of Captain Renalta and Commander Tunar-Roz.
“Zea will probably need to upload the software to the government center,” Kasta said.
“Unless she can figure out how to push the code in remotely,” I said.
“Perhaps she can, but I’ll assume she’s the only one who can break the password on their system, and it will need to be done locally. Otherwise, Lith Dae would have done it already.”
“Yeah. That’s true. I just hate for us to split up.” I sighed and rubbed my tired eyes. We were starting to go around in circles a bit with our plans, but the android didn’t seem frustrated, and I felt better about talking through it. Worst case, my mind would turn into an exhausted bowl of jelly. Best case, I’d find a spark of creativity somewhere in our discussion, and it would be the key to defeating Lith Dae.
“You need rest,” Kasta said.
“Naw. I’m fine,” I said. “Issue is that I can’t be everywhere to protect each location. Zea could get attacked by the drones when she is in the government building trying to open the southeast bunker. Whoever goes into the southeast bunker might encounter automated defenses or armed resistance from the natives. Whoever is in the northwest bunker will have the same problems.”
“I’ve been considering as we’ve talked through this.” Kasta nodded and bit her lip in a movement that seemed completely human. “I can control drones without any need for a terminal. Persephone has many combat drones. I could enter the second bunker with two or three of them. If I encounter a security system, I might be able to force my way through with the drones, or I might be able to re-program some of their systems.”
“You can do that?” I asked.
“Maybe.” She shrugged. “I’ve seen Zea work. She is very clever. My sister and I are skilled at writing code for drones or artificial intelligence, but I would feel as if I was blundering around trying to crack the password on an information terminal. Zea has a skill set neither my sister nor I have.”
“Ha, you should tell her that. She’d probably appreciate it.” I smiled at the blonde android.
“Oh?”
“Yeah. I think she believes there is a bit of competition going on. I told her it wasn’t the case, but it would be great if she heard what you said to me.”
“I will tell her,” Kasta said with a smile. “My sister and I think she is intelligent, funny, and beautiful, but that brings us to another subject if you’ll allow us to talk about something other than our mission for a few minutes.”
“Sure,” I said.
“My sister and I didn’t know the right time to ask her this, and neither of us has been alone with you, so this seems like a good time.”
“Okay,” I said, but something in Kasta’s eyes gave me pause. They were blue, but a darker shade than Zea’s sapphire-hued ones.
“Will Zea allow us into your bed? She seemed interested in the swap with Byron, but may
be she doesn’t care either way.” Kasta asked the question so bluntly, I almost had to ask her to say it again.
“Uhhh. No. I don’t think so, and I didn’t think she seemed interested in Byron.” I rubbed my eyes again and wondered how the fuck I ended up in this position.
“Ahh. That is not the feeling we got from her, our perceptions must be incorrect.” Kasta shrugged. “We don’t want to make her uncomfortable, we just don’t have any sexual release now that Byron is gone.”
“Listen, Kasta,” I said with a heavy sigh. “I don’t think this is a good topic for discussion. Zea and I aren’t--”
“You are Eve’s lover as well? And Zea allows that? It is apparent you three are in a relationship together. My sister and I don’t want to be left out.”
“Okay. Please. Let’s not talk about this anymore. My relationship with Eve and Zea is not settled yet. I like you and your sister. You are both brilliant and helpful members of the crew, but now isn’t the time. We have a lot of work to do.”
“Understood, Captain.” Kasta nodded. “We can speak of it later, but just so you know, there are several benefits to including my sister and me in your lovemaking--”
“No really, that’s enough,” I tried to stop Kasta from speaking, but she kept talking over me.
“-- at the same time. Also, I cannot become pregnant, nor do I have a menstrual cycle that can inter--”
“Kasta!” I growled, and she closed her mouth with a snap. “Stop.”
“Sorry.” she frowned.
“I like and respect you and your sister, can we keep our relationship professional?”
“Yes, of course,” she nodded. “Although you are involved with both Eve and Zea, so I don’t see why--”
“Let’s talk about the mission again,” I prompted, and she nodded.
“The main issue is you being three places at once,” she repeated what I had already said.
“If we knew about the security systems, it would make the decision easier,” I said.
“Or not.” She shrugged. “What if each bunker has a robust security system with dozens of auto turrets or the citizens guarding the place shoot first and ask questions later? There is a possibility that we don’t have enough muscle to do any of this.”
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