Garret growled. “Leave Kalia out of this.”
“Why? From what she said, I got the distinct impression that you found her a nuisance. I’d be very willing to take her off your hands.”
Garret leaned forward. “Don’t even think about trying to grab her again. Next time, I will not be so forgiving.”
“You really think you could find us if I didn’t want to be found?”
“I could find you anywhere. She is mine and I look after what’s mine.”
“Do you?” Preston said quietly.
Garret sat back, memories of when he hadn’t managed to look after those under his protection flooded him. Jessie, her body mangled, her throat slit. His parents, their necks broken, holding hands as they’d died together.
“Garret, Garret,” Preston said urgently, bringing him back to the present. “I’m sorry, that wasn’t fair of me.”
“I didn’t protect them.”
“It wasn’t your fault,” Preston said, shocking him. How many times had Preston screamed that it was his fault? “I was wrong. I was devastated and I took it out on you, the one person who knew how I felt. I’ve wanted to apologize to you for years, but I knew you wouldn’t listen. I can’t make up for the way I treated you, but I am sorry.”
Garret stared at him for a long moment. “You mean that.”
“I do,” Preston said. “I know we probably can’t be friends, but I’m hoping that I can go to my grave without you hating me.”
Garret nodded. He didn’t quite know what to say, he had to think about this.
“So, you contacted me for a reason? Have you worked out what’s going on?”
“Yeah. Mikael’s trying to kill you. When he couldn’t get it done himself, he must have figured out a new plan to get me to do it for him.”
“But why?”
“We both know why. Because of his father.”
Preston shook his head. “My father cut all ties with his brother, Mikael’s father, when they were young. My uncle doesn’t know I exist, how would Mikael?”
“What if he did find out? Mikael and his father have never gotten on. What if his father found about you and threatened to make you his heir? That would be enough motive for Mikael to kill you.”
“There are a lot of ‘ifs’ in your theory.”
“Yeah, but we both know that it’s a possibility.” Garret relayed the job Mikael had given them and what happened at the warehouse. “He told us that you were the one that insisted we take the job.”
Preston ran his hand through his hair. “You know I wouldn’t have anything to do with Mikael.”
Garret nodded. “I know.”
“Why didn’t you come to me straight away?”
Garret sighed, not happy with himself. “I was putting it off because seeing you brings up the pain of what happened to her.”
Preston nodded.
“I have to let her go, Preston. I can’t live my life with her memory haunting me. I need to move on.” With Talon, and hopefully Kalia as well.
“I know,” Preston agreed. “I feel the same way myself.” He sighed. “I’m surprised Mikael hasn’t tried to kill his father.”
“He might have,” Garret said, remembering what Mikael had said about his father being ill.
“What about the tip I got?”
“Don’t know,” Garret said. “Maybe someone who knew Mikael’s plan had second thoughts.”
Preston snorted. “Fuck, what a mess. Mikael is trying to kill me so I don’t inherit an empire I don’t even want.”
“This is all just guesswork, of course,” Garret warned.
“But it makes sense. Looks like I’m taking a trip to Twilin.”
“You’re not confronting him without me.”
Preston stared at him for a long moment before nodding. “In three days time I’ll contact you and tell you where to meet me.”
“Fine,” Garret agreed. “Oh, and Preston? Go near Kalia again and I’ll cut your balls off and feed them to you.” He shut off the communication as Preston laughed. He didn’t care how possessive he sounded. Kalia was his. His and Talon’s. He didn’t believe he’d ever have feelings for another woman after what happened to Jessie. But Kalia had worked her way under his shields. Her being kidnapped had just forced him to examine his feelings for her and he’d realized he’d been pretending that she didn’t mean anything to him to protect himself.
At her expense.
No longer. She was going to know how he felt and he was going to take care of her, protect her. He headed toward her room, frowning when he found it empty.
After searching through the ship, he found her in the rec room with Talon. He took a step into the room before stopping as he heard his name.
“I was trying to help and all I’ve done is cause you guys more trouble. Garret must be seriously considering throwing me out an airlock this time.”
“Hey, it wasn’t your fault you were taken,” Talon told her. “You were trying to warn us. I’m not saying that you should have left the safety of the ship, because you should have remained where you were secure, but I know Garret appreciates that you tried to get to us, to help us.”
“Some help I was. I just ended up getting taken.”
“You’re not used to our world, darlin’. Which is why Garret ordered you to stay on the ship. He wanted you safe.”
“He wanted me out of his hair. Contained. Face it, you’d all be better off without me.”
“Not true,” Talon said fiercely. “I like having you here.”
“You feel sorry for me. You know I have nowhere else to go.”
“What I feel for you has nothing to do with pity and everything to do with who you are. I want you, Kalia. I have since we were in the dungeon together. You’re smart, sweet and so hot you take my breath away.”
“B-but what about Garret?”
“Garret knows how I feel and he understands. What I feel for you doesn’t detract from what I feel for him in any way. He’s my mate.”
“And you want me to be your what? Mistress?”
Garret raised his eyebrows. Mistress?
Talon laughed. “Darlin’, do I seem the type to have a mistress? What the hell would I do with one? Do you think Garret would put up with me having a mistress?”
“I don’t understand.”
Garret could hear the hurt and confusion in her voice and it wasn’t acceptable. Talon must have as well, because he started making soothing noises. It was time for Garret to step in before Talon fucked things up entirely.
He stepped inside and locked the door behind him. This was one conversation he really didn’t want interrupted. He moved around the sofa to find Kalia cuddled on Talon’s lap.
“Making a bit of a mess of this?” Garret asked as he sat.
“Somewhat,” Talon replied.
Kalia stiffened, sitting up. She attempted to climb off Talon’s lap, but he tightened his hold on her. “Garret, did you talk to Preston?”
“I did.” He briefly went over their conversation.
“So what now?” she asked. “Do we head to Twilin? Are you going to confront Mikael?”
“We’ll head in that direction. Preston will let us know where to meet him. Now, about what the two of you were just talking about…”
Kalia blushed, looking at Talon guiltily. “Nothing happened…”
“No? That’s disappointing. Maybe I can change that.” Leaning in, he clasped hold of her chin gently as he took her mouth with his. There was nothing gentle about his kiss. He commanded her, slipping his tongue past her lips to ravage her mouth. At first she was stiff and it was easy to sense how innocent she was. But she soon relaxed, giving herself into the kiss, kissing him back with enthusiasm.
“W-why did you do that?” she asked breathlessly as he pulled back. He slipped her over onto his lap.
“I think that would be obvious,” he told her, tipping her chin up so she was looking up at him. “I’m attracted to you. I want you. Talon wants you.”
Her forehead wrinkled as she stared up at him in confusion. “But you don’t want me.”
“I’ve fought this attraction because I didn’t want someone else in my life. I lost someone years ago that I cared about deeply. It was up to me to protect her and I failed. I wasn’t ready to take responsibility for someone else. It took a long time before I acknowledged my feelings for Talon. He wouldn’t take no for an answer, thankfully. You are infinitely more fragile and I guess I’m terrified I will fail you too. That is, if you even want us both.”
Tears filled her eyes. “You could never fail me, Garret. I’m tougher than I appear.”
No, she was infinitely more precious than she realized. But he knew it was important to her that she be strong and independent. He would never take that away from her. And that was what made her different from Jessie. Jessie had relied on him and Preston for everything. At the time that had been exactly what he wanted. Now he had the opportunity to have something quite different.
He and Preston had never been intimate. They weren’t attracted to each other; they would have constantly fought for dominance. Talon was strong, but he wasn’t dominant. He was happy with who he was and his role in their relationship.
Now they just had to convince Kalia that she had a place in their relationship.
“You want to sleep with me?”
“We want more than that,” Talon said, pushing her hair back off her face. “Although that definitely comes into it.” He wriggled his eyebrows, making her laugh.
“This all seems a bit surreal. I didn’t even think you liked me.” She looked up at Garret.
“He’s always a bit of a jerk when he’s horny,” Talon teased.
Garret reached out and whacked him around the back of the head.
“Is that what this is? Sex?”
Kalia looked at him as he gathered his thoughts together. “No, baby. At least not for me. When we realized you could be in danger it was like a sledgehammer to my gut. I knew I wanted you. I didn’t realize exactly how much I’d come to care for you. Talon has felt that way for you since the start. I’m a bit more hard-headed.”
She smiled as Talon snorted and muttered, “That’s an understatement.”
“You want a relationship even though I haven’t told you who I really am? I thought you didn’t trust me.”
“I’d still like to know who you are but I’m willing to wait until you trust us enough to tell us. I know that you don’t have it in you to betray us. What do you say? Will you give the two of us a chance?”
She leaned against his chest, playing with his t-shirt. “Truth is, I’m wildly attracted to the two of you as well. But I never thought… I never thought you cared about me that way. I’m kind of shell-shocked.”
“But you want us both,” he said with satisfaction.
“Yes.” She blushed. “But I owe it to you both to tell you who I am first and then let you decide if you want to continue with this.”
“Okay.” He glanced over at Talon who looked at him in concern. Obviously she thought that what she was about to reveal could change how they felt about her. He didn’t really see how, but he wasn’t about to dissuade her. If this had anything to do with why she had been in that dungeon then he needed to know in order to take protect her.
“My father is Lord Barton Tinus,” she said in a quiet voice, glancing up at them quickly before looking away.
“Lord Barton Tinus?” Garret repeated. “As in the ruler of Alura?”
“Yes.”
Fuck. Her father was one of the richest, most powerful men in the Lexon galaxy.
“What the hell were you doing in that dungeon?” he asked her. Garret ran his hand up and down her back, trying to soothe her. “Why don’t you tell us everything, baby?”
He could feel Talon’s satisfaction through their mating bond. Knew how happy he was that Garret was finally acknowledging how he felt about Kalia.
“I have two sisters, Bronte and Tabitha. I’m the middle sister. My oldest sister, Bronte, married the son of my father’s chief advisor in an arranged marriage. It was my turn next. I adored my older sister and I could see her marriage was making her miserable. I didn’t want that but there was nothing I could do. My father is not a man to be crossed.
“I had a privileged childhood, I never really wanted for anything; most people probably looked at me and thought I had a dream life. But I never had any freedom, I was never in charge of my own life and that was never more apparent than when my father pulled me into his study and told me I was going to marry Sandoval Lyle.”
“Who is he?” Talon asked.
“He’s the oldest son of Royce Lyle. Royce is rich, corrupt and powerful. Sandoval is following in his footsteps. He’s also about fifty.”
Garret felt ill at the thought of her being married off to a man old enough to be her father.
“I’ve only met him a few times. He gives me the creeps. He’d watch me through his beady eyes. At the engagement announcement he told me that I was going to be his possession. That I’d essentially be his sex slave, at least until I’d provided him with an heir and a spare. He told me about all the things he was going to do to me when he had me in his bed. It was sick. I couldn’t eat for days.”
She shivered in his arms and he pulled her in close. What kind of father forced his daughter into marriage with an old pervert?
“So what happened? Do you know why your father handed you over to the slavers?” he asked. And how did you end up pregnant?
“I didn’t have any way out. There was no one to help me and I knew I was going to have to marry Sandoval. But it didn’t mean I had to give him my virginity. I just wanted to feel loved, you know? To know what it was like to be with someone who cared about me.”
“So you slept with someone?” Talon asked.
She nodded. “He was the son of the head gardener. I’d known him for years.”
“You loved him?” Garret asked.
Garret could sense Talon’s tension, his worry. He reached out and grabbed hold of his mate’s hand, squeezing it.
“Adam was my best friend. We cared about each other. But it was more about affection than love.”
“What happened?” Garret asked, not certain that he wanted to know.
“One of my father’s bodyguards found us together. I was dragged back into the house and thrown in my bedroom. Adam was taken to the dungeons. I tried to reason with my father. I begged him not to do it. But he had Adam killed.”
Kalia turned her head against his chest and he could feel her shaking with sobs even though she made no sound.
Talon moved closer, placing his arms around them both.
“This baby is all that’s left of him. Not that my father cared. All he cared about was his alliance. When he found out I was pregnant he was furious. He hit me.” She raised her shaking hand to her face.
Fury filled him. Gods help her father if he ever got hold of the bastard.
“My father said I had shamed him by sleeping with someone beneath me and he wiped his hands of me. I was no longer his daughter. Adam was dead and I was pregnant. I’d never felt more alone. Then in the middle of the night, my father’s assistant came for me with two of his guards. They gagged and tied me up and then they carried me out of the palace and into a waiting hovercraft. We traveled for what seemed like hours. When we finally stopped, they pulled me out and shoved me on the ground. It was dark, I could hardly see, but I was terrified.”
She shook with fear and he tightened his arms around her.
“Three men were waiting for us. Someone must have knocked me out because when I woke up I was in the dungeon.”
“Fucking bastards,” Garret said as Talon ran his thumbs over her cheeks, brushing away her tears. “If I ever get my hands on your father I’m going to remove his nuts from his body and shove them up his ass.”
Kalia let out a watery giggle. “Thank you for the sentiment, but I’d be more than happy if I never had to see him again. I just
wish I could have said goodbye to my sisters.”
Garret ran his hand over her hair. “Well, you never have to worry about him hurting you again. From now on, I will protect you from any harm.”
“We will,” Talon said firmly.
Garret met his gaze and nodded, squeezing his mate’s hand. “We will.”
She looked at them both, her violet gaze taking them both in. “This feels rather surreal. Are you sure? I don’t want to come between the two of you.”
“Oh, that’s exactly where I want you to be,” Garret said in a low voice. “Right between the two of us.”
She stared at him in confusion for a moment before blushing red and dropping her gaze.
“Oh,” she said. “That, umm, sounds nice.”
“Nice?” He chuckled. “I hope it will be much more than nice—hot, sweaty and totally satisfying.”
“So this is just about sex?”
Garret placed a finger under her chin, raising her face so she was forced to look at them both.
“No. Although there will be plenty of sex. This is about the three of us. We want you as our third.”
“I love you, Kalia,” Talon said. “So does Garret, even though he may never say it. Let us look after you, love you, cherish you. You’re meant to be with us. Our mate.”
“I love you as well.” She looked over at Garret, smiling. “Both of you. More than I’ve ever loved anyone before.” She frowned slightly. “I don’t know that I quite understand this mating thing. I mean, you’re both human, right?”
“I am,” Garret said, looking at Talon.
“I’m not, I’m a wolf shifter.”
She gaped at him for a long moment and Garret could feel Talon’s fear of her rejection.
“Really?”
“Yes,” he replied. “Wolf shifters mate for life and we usually take more than one mate. Once bonded we can sense our mate’s emotions, and they can do the same.”
They both watched Kalia closely.
“Kalia?” Talon asked. “I know this must come as a shock—”
“Can I see you shift?” she asked. “Why didn’t you shift in the dungeon and kill the guards? What is it like in your wolf form? Do you still think like a human?”
Worlds Apart (Men of Orion Book 1) Page 11