Captured Obedience

by Tasha Winters

  Did she feel it as well? He looked over at his companion. While Paxton had never been receptive to allowing Sterling to connect with him on any level but tangible, sometimes Sterling could get impressions. It happened when Pax was tired and stressed, like when they’d first worked together at the end of the universal war.

  Sterling was working with the injured and doing humanitarian work for Ambrose Northern Tier: North America in between psychic research with the Society. His abilities brought him in contact with Zander later, in the same research project. Pax was newly out of the military, completing his work on chemical detection and other things for Ambrose Southern Tier: North America.

  They’d crossed paths when their work collided with the same patients and had been working together ever since. They moved to Texas to combine their resources. Sometimes, in moments of overly charged emotions, there had been blips on the psychic radar that got past Pax’s massive control.

  Sterling was able to gain a glimpse of the inner man that he didn’t share. Like today. Paxton was confused but felt that deep pull to her just as Sterling was but to what level, he couldn’t get a read. It wasn’t the same as attraction; that was superficial. It was like imprinting in an animal. Claim and protect was the overwhelming desire he had towards this young woman. Sterling looked back at their girl.

  She was showing great signs of distress. The difference between Maya and Paxton was when Pax was over emotional or stressed, his mind narrowed to pinpoint one or two things, he focused and calmed. Maya’s mind went chaotic. Sterling couldn’t read her except he could feel in his gut her terror. Her breath came hard and her chest heaved. He projected his desires, he willed her to look at him, to accept his comfort, his protection. It worked, she raised her head and looked into Sterling’s eyes. Right then a bell dinged, and the door opened into an even bigger area filled to the brim with strange people.

  Chapter 3

  Paxton eyed the fruit, wondering if he could get a better look at it, possibly keep one of them in her pouch. His mind was already salivating at the possible find. Give him plants any day. People were Sterling’s gig. Except this one was different. He didn’t know why but he felt the overwhelming desire to take this woman and run. There were a few times in his life that he wished he had Sterling’s gifts. This was one of those rare occasions.

  “I’m a doctor, a behavioral analyst, for God’s sake. Let me look at her. Release her!”

  Sterling’s temper didn’t often make an appearance in public, but when it did it was usually because he was invested in the outcome. Did he know this young woman? Did he have that strange draw to her, too?

  Paxton had been with Sterling as a fellow member of Ambrose, as his partner, and as his friend for nearly a decade. He had gotten used to the differences in his thinking and Paxton’s. Pax was hardheaded in all the good and bad ways, but he didn’t have psychic abilities. In many ways, he was the opposite of his friend. He was tall, had light coffee complexion thanks to his mother, and thick dark brown hair. He had size, intelligence and brute strength. He was a man who thought on his feet, was loyal to a fault, and protected all that belonged to him. He had the overwhelming urge to protect this woman now standing in the elevator with them.

  Sterling made eye contact with Paxton. Something more than a distraught woman was at stake here. He didn’t know what it was, but if Sterling was so interested he used his position to gain compliance, something was definitely afoot. It meant his gut was, once again, right on target.

  That was Pax’s modus operandi. He was down to earth and had only his gut to inform his decisions. He was not the man who understood people without words. Was that it? Was Sterling connecting with her on another level? Pax never quite understood the abilities Sterling and Zander, their other partner, had with their respective subjects, but he did accept it. Besides, it didn’t matter, he’d back Sterling in a one-legged ass-kicking contest.

  The elevator opened with another swish and the girl looked straight at Sterling then turned her wide-eyed stare to the intake room filled to the brim with people of all races and nationalities. She wailed and careened head first into the throng of people.

  “Hot damn, exercise.” Pax didn’t hesitate. It was instinct to go after her.

  Shoving his computer bag toward Sterling’s chest, Paxton took off after the woman. She was agile and quick even with her hands cuffed. People parted to let her pass if they saw her, but the room was clogged with human life. The congestion inhibited her efforts. He weaved behind her, keeping pace until she came to the end of the huge room. Slowing, Pax watched her as she made an unexpected deviation. She aimed her body for the window. Shit, there were bars covering the outside, but she’d slice herself up dramatically if he didn’t stop her.

  Discontinuing his previous jogging, Sterling ran full throttle, slamming into anyone who wasn’t alert enough to hear him yelling for them to move. He reached out and snatched her lithe, disheveled body hard to him, slamming them both against the wall. Jarring pain travelled up his back as he took the brunt of the impact. She smelled of warm earth, and musky sweat, maybe a hint of honeysuckle and summer. He didn’t have time to decipher the tingling in his gonads because she jerked against him.

  He pushed her against the wall, holding her there with his large, muscular body as he slowed his breathing and watched her match her cadence to his. She was a pretty thing. Dirty and disheveled, but gorgeous. The beauty wouldn’t look at him, but he understood that. She didn’t know him. She was frightened. God help him—every cell in his body urged him to claim her and guard her, likely from himself if he couldn’t control his desires.

  “You’re in good shape,” he said when they had a more normal breathing pattern. No verbal response but she froze all movement. He stood back a step and drew the curtain of hair that had fallen into her face back behind her ear as though he had the right. She didn’t pull away. He spoke with quiet authority. “Do you speak English?”

  Sterling caught up with them. “She doesn’t seem to, does she?” The young woman turned to Sterling, seeking his eyes again when she heard him speak. She was rooted in place. Shocked but likely not because of the humanity around her.

  Sterling gasped. “Good God, Pax. It’s her! I thought it was. Maya. The one in my dreams!” His sentence finished in a pressured whisper so as not to alert the guards trailing behind them.

  “What? This is the little baggage sneaking into your dreams at night?” Pax took a better look.

  “Yes, it’s her. Look, she’s staring as though she had the same dreams I had.”

  Both men watched as her hand tentatively reached to touch Sterling’s lips and she whispered something. They watched her jerk back when the two guards arrived. They reached for her and she fought, biting one of them. Hard. The man howled, and she kicked out at his partner, but when the second guard moved, she nailed Pax in the calf.

  “That is enough of that, Miss Maya.”

  Without another word, Paxton reached his hand around her waist, pulled her hard and tight against his belly, and landed a handful of hard swats on her ass. She raised her soulful brown eyes to Pax’s hazel ones, reached her hand around to rub her ass and settled down immediately.

  “That was the cutest damned thing I’ve ever seen. Did you see that, Sterling? That little minx responds as though she is used to being swatted. We need to take this one home.”

  “We can’t just do that now that the guards have her. It doesn’t work that way.”

  Pax rubbed the back of his neck in consternation. He wanted to scoop her up and take her home. The reason was insane. He wanted her. She stood between the two doctors like it was her natural spot, as though she belonged to them, believed they would protect her. Pax knew in that moment that he’d do anything to keep her safe. For whatever reason, she trusted them, and he was not going to let her down. It was in his nature to defend the weak and if anyone needed a champion right now, it was Maya.

  “Pax, I want to take her home.”

 
Pax did too but playing devil’s advocate was what he did. “You what? She’s uncontrollable, wild. We have work to do.” He said all the expected things.

  “She’s a challenge and we need a new one. She’ll fit right in. I know this is what we’re supposed to do. Our next chapter. Don’t you feel it?”

  It wasn’t a request. Sterling was serious. While Paxton was the regional head of their Ambrose Society, Sterling was head of their steering committee on research. If Sterling wanted to go in that direction, no one would argue. Besides, it went hand in glove with Sterling’s research on assimilation, behavioral implants, and psychic connections. And then there was his new gift, a dream linking ability. The technology was there to do it and he’d helped to create it but to be able to do it personally, and then work with the one you linked with? Priceless.

  “Paxton, we’re taking her home.”

  “I figured. The uncontrollable ones always end up at the house, be they human or, with the advent of Zander, animal. Plants are never unruly and when they are, you prune them.”

  “I’ve already claimed this one. She’s coming home with us. Now, please get the placement paperwork started while I go make the conversations happen.”

  “I feel it too. Who gets custody of the hellion while all this is going on?”

  “You have your meeting shortly, so I’ll take her with me for now. They won’t want to keep her after they see how aggressive she can get. It’s sneaky but it’ll work.”

  “And if it doesn’t?”

  “Simple. We kidnap her.”

  Paxton groaned. “Of course.”

  How would he explain that in the next society meeting? He looked over at this scared little rabbit and saw something indescribable, but no less important than the significance of Sterling’s dream. His dick was filling out his dress trousers uncomfortably as he looked at Maya. She stood straight and proud, but her fear was there.

  He wondered if she’d object to being claimed not once, probably not twice, but three times by the men she was about to live with. He’d like to keep her, claim her for theirs, maybe forever. He needed relief if looking at a scared little rabbit took him to thoughts of satisfying his baser self. Yet, he wasn’t even tempted to look to another one. God, he might be in real trouble.

  Sterling

  “Zander, you need to get over here. You know those dreams I’ve been having lately about a girl in distress? I’ve found her.”

  “Well that’s great, Sterling.” Zander chuckled indulgently. “I hope she’s cleaner than in the dreams. I don’t like grit on the furniture. Bring her home and I’ll be there tonight.”

  “Very funny. I’m serious.”

  “What do you mean you’re serious? You can’t possibly have the woman that was in your dreams in front of you. She was just a figment of your imagination.”

  “Not joking, man. I told you it was a dream link. I mean, she’s being hauled in to the detention center.”

  “Is she dressed the way you described?”

  “Yes, exactly as I described. I don’t know if I’ll be able to extricate her without some assistance, but I promise, it’s her. Zander, there’s something about her, you’ll know when you see her. Paxton saw it too.”

  “Well, okay. Good, I think. I’m in the take down, cleanup, recap meeting part of my seminar. I’ll ditch as soon as possible. I’ll be home tonight. If things change, I’ll call you.”

  “Fine, but hurry, man. I’m going to need some help when I get home. You know Paxton, he’s a great guy but plants are vastly different than warm-blooded animals or humans. His methods to gain compliance are not warm and cuddly. We can’t lose her.”

  Sterling put his phone in his pocket and listened to the detention officer as they all made their way back to the elevators.

  “When we found her in the parking garage, we tried to speak to her and she looked at us like a deer in the headlights. It seemed suspicious, so we tried to detain her. We thought she was a trespasser who didn’t want to leave.”

  Sterling nodded as he felt her hand touch his back. He turned to see Pax had his fingers on her outer hip and had drawn her close to him. Protective move. Interesting and just what he’d have expected from his physical friend. Whether he wanted to admit it or not, Paxton was well on his way to claiming this spitfire. Good.

  The men had seen plenty of trespassers and infiltrators these last years. The center, despite all its faults, was a safe refuge for those who needed it. Well, he thought glancing at his stiffly restrained dream girl, most people had that impression. Her appearance was different, too. Other than her wildly knotted, black hair, she had a single shift made of suede leather he’d bet money was not imitation. It was like some of the African villages that went back to the ancient ways to survive, and yet not.

  Sterling turned to study this striking woman with long black hair that he was sure would be shiny and soft if it were washed regularly. As it was, she looked like she had a layer of dirt on her skin and leather dress. She was dirty but not in a never bathed kind of way, more like she might have had a fight that went to the ground.

  Shifting his eyes to her fingernails, he could see that they were completely packed with dirt. She had dried blood on her legs, face, and arms as though she were scratched by someone or something. She limped and occasionally, she ran her hand over her side as though she was injured. He wanted to scoop her up and walk out of the building.

  So many things were strange, including his deep connection with her. It was incredible how he was attached to her already and Pax, while he’d likely deny it, was taking ownership as well. Sterling could see how Paxton was reluctant to release her to the officers. Maya showed that worry as well. She reached out to Paxton, but Sterling grabbed her hand. Pax nodded encouragement.

  Sterling left his friend to begin the paperwork each would need to sign when agreeing to take her home. They knew the drill. Kind of like therapeutic foster care for immigrants. Paxton had even hired a few of Sterling’s charges transitionally once they were certified as assimilated. But none of those immigrants had affected them in the way Maya already had. They left soon after their documentation came through.

  Pax went to his meeting. Sterling took Maya with him, being careful to keep a light hand on her, not the heavy one Pax had used, to let her know he was there. They all had their ways. The two followed the officers to the intake floor. He could talk to the Center Commander, then they would complete the intake interview, although how that would be accomplished remained to be seen. Then they would take her home and begin unraveling the mystery.

  An hour and a half later, Sterling waved a packet of papers in the air as he approached Paxton, dream woman curled tight into his side.

  “Good news: we don’t have to kidnap her. They’re releasing her into our custody for up to a year. They figure it might take that long. The bad news is we must wait the normal time, one week, before taking her home. And,” he hesitated before stepping from in front of Maya, revealing her to Paxton. “She had to sit in a room and wait for me when she couldn’t stay calm. The detention officer was less than careful with her. She got in a few good hits, but they got in more.”

  Paxton looked at her. She sported more purple marks than when they’d found her. Some, like the one on her face, was darkening into a bruise. Her neck had handprints on it, and she had one eye almost closed. There were new tear streaks on her dirty face and she was holding her hand delicately.

  “Point them out,” roared Pax, “I’ll show them what it’s like to be picked on by someone bigger and stronger.”

  “I took care of it. They must attend six response sessions with me. Don’t worry, they’ll get the message.”

  “Huh. That’s enough for you? Dammit, look at her!”

  “It is, and I have. We need to get her home today but so far, the request is falling on deaf ears.”

  “You’re satisfied too easily. Look at her face.” His finger pointed out the obvious.

  Sterling sighed. “And you
respond with violence too easily. Her face is the result of others with the same problem.”

  “But they hurt her. I popped her ass. Big difference there. I’ll bet she doesn’t even feel it and has most likely forgotten it.” Sterling shook his head. “We need to get this baby home. Zander called. Said he’s leaving soon and he’ll meet us at the compound.”

  Sterling was anxious to get Maya home, too. He wanted to know everything about her including whether she remembered the same dreams as he did but first they had to understand each other, get her fed, cleaned up, and get a physical done. He knew none of those things would be easy, but his excitement was rising. This was going to be so good. She was theirs. He knew it deep down in his intuitive soul.

  The over-zealous officers of earlier confrontations got off the elevators and looked in Maya’s direction. Sterling saw Maya jerk and cower, then take a determined defensive pose when she noticed them. He used soothing words as he held her tightly against his side. Looking up, he watched his partner go storming after one of them.

  Aww, hell.

  Zander

  “Dammit, leave her alone! Did it make you feel like men to attack a defenseless woman, you underdeveloped morons?” was the greeting that came over his phone when Dr. Zander Rice answered less than thirty minutes after the last call. He rechecked the caller ID.

  “Sterling is that you? What the hell is going on?”

  “Zander, thank God. You need to get over here. Ditch your meeting or whatever, but hurry. You need to help us get our girl home and keep Paxton out of jail.”

  “Our girl?”

  “Don’t ask questions, just get your ass over here now. We’re on the intake floor of the center. I’ve got my hands full trying to keep Maya in check, keeping her safe from the over-responsive detention officers, and keeping them safe from Paxton. I need your help.”