Her husband picked up her clenched fist and kissed her knuckles. “Vixen. Perhaps your judgment is not the most reliable at the moment.”
She gave him a stricken look. “I would never endanger Angelica, Ram. I owe her as much as any of those other women. I feel this is our best chance to keep her safe. We locate the meks immediately, before they become invisible in the city, and we take them out.”
Tok growled low. “I have stepped back and allowed the Daggers to function without interference, but you have an unrealistic faith in your ability to deal with the meks. You force me touse outside measures to ensure Dr. Angel’s safety.” Tok glared at Steffania.
Tris exchanged glances with Ramsey. Steffania and Tok’s argument seemed ready for round two. Ramsey rolled his eyes and straightened from his slouch.
“I appreciate and share your concern for Angelica’s safety. I promise we will not let anything happen to her.”
Tok grunted. “Ignorant Verdantian. Your promises mean nothing. You don’t know what you face.You’re as bad as your woman.”
Ramsey gave a long-suffering sigh. “Then tell me what I need to stop the meks. We have the most sophisticated weaponry available.”
“And still… you have nothing that will stop them. I’m calling inoutside help.”
“And what form will this help take?”
Tok shrugged. “You don’t need to know.”
Ram examined him intently. “Which means I won’t like it.”
“No Verdantian. You won’t, but it is the only chance you have of stopping these things. I only hope our ‘help’ can get here in time.” Tok rose and eyed Eva Sweet. “Sweet Eva, accompany me.” Eva threw a glance at her commander, and an unhappy Steffania nodded.
“Go with him, Eva. If he says we need assistance, I have to believe him.”
The commdevice on Tristan’s wrist chose that moment to buzz repeatedly with the ferocity of an angry beporza. He stood and caught Ramsey’s eye. “Excuse me. I need to take this.” At Ramsey’s nod, Tristan turned and walked toward a secluded niche where the noise from the bar didn’t hurt his ears. “Tiny, it’s Tris. Talk to me.”
As he listened, he began to shove through the crowd toward the closest exit. Thrusting the back door open in front of him, Tris burst out and sprinted toward the medcenter. “I’m cutting across the city center on foot. I’ll be there in ten.”
Chapter Nine
Mage put aside his irritation at the thorough manhandling and interrogation he’d just received from Angelica’s security team, though he’d no one but himself to blame. He was glad the Daggers took her protection seriously, and as soon as they’d verified his identification, they’d been all courtesy. The Daggers swept Tristan’s apartment with silent efficiency and vanished, but he chafed at even that modest delay.
He’d ruthlessly expedited the preparations for putting the Revertar into dry dock orbit. He’d blasted through twenty-hour days and fallen into his rack to snag a few hours’ sleep before he hit it again. He wanted as much shore time as possible with Tris and Angelica. He walked into Tristan’s silent, dark apartment. It was no surprise. The man would not expect him back for days. Just as well that Tris isn’t here. While Mage couldn’t speak for Angelica, there were moments he found it difficult to maintain rational thought in Tristan’s presence. The man’s charisma sucked him under despite Mage’s resolve to remain clearheaded.
He wanted time with the lovely doctor to put a positive spin on the possibility of something long-term between the three of them. His insistence Angelica be included in their “relationship” had been spontaneous, born of an unwillingness to desert a lovely vulnerable woman he legitimately cared for. But as he lay in his bunk on the Revertar, the more he thought about a triad, the more he embraced the idea. It would gut him to have to choose between her andTris. He couldn’t bear the thought of hurting either of them, and he was selfish enough to want both of them.
He wanted a family. He wanted permanency. How to achieve that and still pursue his love of space had always confounded him. In the few moments he’d had to himself, he’d realized a relationship that included Tristan and Angelica was the solution—an alternative to the long years of loneliness that otherwise stretched in front of him.
He hesitated to speculate on Angelica’s reaction. By Her light, I hope she goes for it. He tossed his duffle on a bed in what he thought might be a guestroom, cleaned up a little and climbed the interconnecting stairs to Angelica’s apartment. A sense of anticipation tingled through him. Perhaps their conversation could extend to some “glad-you’re-back” sex.
He considered that Tristan might view his having solo sex with Angelica as an effort to derail their budding relationship. Seven hells. A relationship. Well, that’s what Tris had said, and by the Great Mother, Mage wouldn’t risk fucking it up, but how could Tristan possibly mistake how he felt about him? He’d instilled years of hopeless yearning into the kiss he put on Tris the night Tristan invited himself to dinner.
Shivers of anticipation—and apprehension—coursed down his spine when he contemplated the consummation of their “relationship.” He scoffed silently at the irony. The years had rolled by with no one touching his heart. Now, two people knotted his emotions into a tangled mass, the two inexplicably interwoven in his heart. He’d need their cooperation to make whole cloth out of this snarled skein.
His hand paused on the handle at the top of the stairs—locked. He swiped the universal sliver pass Tristan had given him across a digital display pad. It unlocked as readily as the door to Tristan’s apartment and the employees’ entry to the medcenter. Goddess bless the man for his foresight. It would have been awkward to get back early only to spend the night sitting outside the door like an orphan waiting for Tristan’s return.
Mage pushed open Angelica’s door into a lightless apartment—lightless but for a shaky blue dot wandering his chest. Shit! He jerked the door closed. Someone had aimed a plazar emitter at him. He cracked open the door. “Angelica?” At the sound of a gasp, Mage opened it further. “It’s Mage. I’m coming in. By Her light, don’t shoot. The Daggers have been and gone. The apartment is clear. You’re safe.”
“Oh, Mage! Computer, lights at sixty percent, audio silence cancelled.” Her voice sounded raw, as if ripped from her throat.
“Acknowledged, Dr. Giverny. Be advised Blue Dagger override of security protocol Alpha Eight in effect. Intruder identified as Known Person, Magellan DeLan, Captain, VNV Revertar.”
She gave a soft sob.
“Sweetheart, what’s wrong? Why were you sitting in the dark?” Why did you aim a plazar emitter at me? Mage slipped through the door and closed it behind him as the lights came up.
As he crossed to her in the soft glow, Mage assessed her. Wrapped in a nebula pink kasmere robe, she had curled into a defensive posture in the corner of the sectional. Her knees were tucked against her chest. Her outstretched arms braced on her kneecaps. One hand clutched the plazar emitter still centered on his chest.
He cleared his throat. “Angel, can you point that somewhere else?”
“Oh! Of course.” She jerked her arms into her lap and unfolded in a collapse of limbs. “Sorry. I thought one of the creatures had found me.”
“What creatures? The Daggers said nothing about any creatures.” Mage’s scan probed the room for threats. He sat on the sofa next to her and crushed her against him. He dwarfed her. She was warm and fragrant, and palpably terrified. “What’s going on? Where’s Tris?”
“I don’t know where Tristan is. Supposedly, he’s on some business in the city concerning me. You must have met Richard Shuman.” She rooted into his neck and wrapped her arms around him. In a muffled voice, she relayed the events of the recent past.
His concern morphed into anger. Mummers. He conjured up unrealistic fantasies of personally eliminating the cartel boss who funded murder attempts on vulnerable women. “I’m sorry. I neglected to activate my personal transponder. I was the intruder. I must have terrified
you when I came up the stairs.”
“I almost shot you.” She loosened her grip and laid her cheek on his shoulder. “I guess I should be angry, but I’m so relieved it was only you. My brain won’t shut off and my imagination…” She looked at him ruefully. “Well, you can guess the sort of things I imagined.”
“Come here.” Mage pulled her onto his lap. The heat of her plush backside nested perfectly against his groin and thighs awoke his earlier stirrings of desire. She presented a luscious package of femininity he didn’t try to resist. He joined their mouths in a soft kiss that began as reassurance. Her lips parted and the feel of her tongue tangled with his, encouraging and provocative, lit a flash fire of erotic response in him. He tightened his hold, grinding her hips into him. Both of them breathed heavily when he finally pulled away. Her half-lidded gaze met his and lingered.
“I’ve missed you,” she whispered. “Make love to me. I can lose myself in you and the sex would be a welcome distraction.” The message in her violet eyes hit him with such impact he was a hair’s breadth from pounding his chest in a primal display of brute possession. At that moment, he would have found a way to pull the moons from the heavens had she asked. He searched her face but found nothing except honest desire. A smile flirted with his lips and grew to a broad grin.
“If a distraction is what you need, then a distraction I will provide. On your bed, naked. I’ll join you in a minute. I want a few things from downstairs.” She slid off his lap with a sound of pleasure. Mage gave a passing thought to Tristan. By the seven hells, it was therapeutic sex. Tris would understand. I hope. Mage trotted down the stairs. Speak of the devil and he appears.As Mage stepped into the large central room of the downstairs apartment, Tristan walked through the entrance door.
“Hi, honey, I’m home,” Tristan quipped. Welcome gleamed in his smiling eyes.
Amusement and a feeling much more profound shook Mage. He recognized the emotion, though he shied from putting a name on it. It should have been too soon to feel so intensely, but he’d always been absurdly vulnerable to Tristan and nothing had changed.
“I was breaking my neck to get back because of an unknown intruder when Shuman commed me a second time and saidit was you.”Tris frowned, stepped forward and shoved Mage backwards. “You’re a fucking idiot, Magellan. You didn’t activate the ID transponder I gave you. This entire dome scrambled a code-alpha intruder alert because of you.”
Guilt assailed Mage and he halted his automatic retaliation to Tristan’s aggression. He’d forgotten that basic security measure. He’d been in such a gods-be-damned hurry. “Yeah, boneheaded move. My apologies. It won’t happen again.”
Exasperation flashed across the older man’s face, but he shook his head and shrugged. A grin popped out and his manner softened. “You’re back ahead of time. I wasn’t expecting you for days.”
Mage returned Tristan’s warm smile. “I took some liberties with the schedule and busted my ass to return as quickly as possible.”
Tristan’s timely arrival provided him with an unlooked-for opportunity to further his ultimate goal. Mage took a deep breath and prayed for the right words. By the Goddess, I hope I can do this. Just as slipping a megaton starship into dry dock without so much as ruffling a gantry tower took finesse, so moving Tristan and Angelica in the direction he desired would require careful navigation. Anxiety wormed its way into his stomach. His future with Tris depended on the next few minutes, and he hadn’t gotten off to an auspicious start.
“We have an emotionally unsettled woman upstairs, which I suppose is my fault. I was on my way back up to provide a requested ‘distraction’,” Mage said.
Tristan cocked his head and leveled a direct gaze at Mage. Wariness replaced the welcome in his voice, and his eyes narrowed. “What sort of distraction?”
“The sort you are imagining.”
Long moments of silence built and Tris visibly withdrew into himself. The warmth in his silver eyes frosted to glacial ice. “Well, Captain DeLan. Don’t let me keep you.” Tristan turned on his heels and started toward the door.
“Hear me out, please,” Mage called. His confidence nosedived at Tristan’s cutting reaction. “It doesn’t have to be me doing the distracting.”
Tristan’s chin jerked up and he stopped. Turning back, once again he caught Mage in a steady stare. He crossed his arms over his chest. “No?”
Mage shook his head. “I think it would be sexy as all fuck to see you with her.” Please, Tris.
“What… like some gods-be-damned sex show?” Tristan uncrossed his arms to hang relaxed and snorted. “That would turn you on?”
“It will fucking kill me to watch. I’m hard just thinking about it.” Mage’s erection strained at the front of his pants as if to offer proof, and Tristan’s gaze traveled from his face to his groin and then back to his face.
“Never took you for a voyeur.” Tristan snorted. “No matter. Give me a moment to clean up and I’ll join you, but if the lady says no, I’m out. If she’s not willing, neither am I.”
“She won’t refuse. You’re like gravity, Tris—irresistible.”
Tristan rolled his eyes and turned away with a soft mutter. “You’re so full of shit. You seem to resist just fine.”
“Nah, you’re a stud.” Mage laughed when, without looking back, Tristan cocked his arm and held up his middle finger. Relief left him almost lightheaded.
In truth, he wasn’t a voyeur. He’d observed many a live sex show in smoky dives in his years with the Verdantian navy, and before that as part of the mandatory sexual instruction required of every Verdantian noble. The erotic titillation of watching intercourse performed in every possible position had faded by the time he was sixteen and as part of the curriculum expected to participate in the classroom demonstrations. Guess you could kill the joy in anything if you made it into a job. By the time he’d reached adulthood, watching sex stirred little reaction from him. Well, except for those Valuzian hermaphrodites—that had been pretty kinky. However, the thought of watching a man he’d obsessed over with a woman whose slick recesses he could still feel squeezing his cock… ah, now… that was a therator of a different hue. His cock stirred again at the thought.
Feeling hopeful, Mage sauntered into the bedroom where he’d thrown his duffle bag. He dug through clean clothing and found the small wooden box he’d come down for. Tossing it up, he snatched it out of the air with a smile and then turned and joined a waiting Tristan in climbing the stairs to Angelica’s apartment. One tricky ego maneuvered. One to go. At the head of the stairs, he laid a hand on Tristan’s shoulder.
“Give me a moment alone with her?”
Tris studied him thoughtfully and then nodded and fell behind Mage as the two men walked into Angelica’s apartment. At the open door to her bedroom, Mage stopped and motioned silently to Tris, and with a lift of his chin in acknowledgment, the man slouched against the doorframe.
Angelica lay on her back on the bed. A fine sheet covered her and her soft brown hair created a disordered halo around her face. The golden glow of candles provided the only light. Lust to possess her rose in Mage with unsettling intensity. Shit. How was he going to do nothing but watch? He’d signed on for some unadulterated erotic torture. His gaze captured hers as he walked toward her and sat on the bed, placing the small wooden box on the bedside table. Her eyes followed his hand and looked up at him in question. “I’ll show you later.”
He ran his fingers through the hair at her temple and cupped the back of her head, marveling at her delicacy. His thumb caressed her finely modeled cheekbone. “Do you trust me to know what you need?”
She wrinkled her brow with a small laugh. “Yes, of course I trust you. You’d not be here otherwise.”
“I’m serious, Angel. Think before you answer and I’ll ask again. Do you trust me to provide what you need?”
This time long moments passed while she obviously gave thought to his question. Her gaze strayed to the wooden box on the bedside table and then t
o him. If its exotic contents were the extent of what he wanted her to accept he’d have no concerns. So much rode on her answer that waiting was difficult, but he relaxed and schooled himself to be patient.
“We spoke of this before. You know my hard limits, and I trust you not to violate them.” Angelica curled her lower body around his in a flow of sensual invitation and rubbed his back with the inside of one calf and thigh and placed one of his hands on her breast. “Now, will you please get on with the distraction you promised?”
He captured her hand and kissed her knuckles. “I will never knowingly ask anything of you that will damage you emotionally or physically. All I request is you trust me enough to explore.”
“Why am I not surprised that a starship captain wishes to explore new boundaries?” She laughed softly. “Yes. I trust you. How often do you want me to say it?”
“One more time.” Tristan’s crisp baritone broke the intimate moment. “Because, at Magellan’s request, I will direct your ‘distraction’.” He crossed to the opposite side of the bed and looked down at a startled Angelica. “However, I made it clear to our young captain that I don’t go where I’m not wanted. This is to be your choice. Do I go… or do I stay?”
Mage held his breath waiting for Angelica’s answer. Behind Tristan’s cool, imperious expression resided a heart more easily wounded than anyone realized, but he knew from firsthand experience Tris could also be cruel. He earnestly hoped he hadn’t set Tristan up for rejection or Angelica for further trauma. Her eyes tracked to his and Mage squeezed her hand. Words of inducement, reassurance, lingered unspoken on his tongue. This must be her decision.
“Both of you? You want this?” she asked. He nodded. Angelica’s eyes held his intently as if to glean his thoughts. She withdrew her hand. With the sheet clutched over her generous breasts, she scooted up to rest against the headboard, head down in thought. Her chin rose and her gaze leveled on Tris. “Stay.”
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