She cleared her throat and held out her right hand, palm facing up. “I am Doctor Anna, daughter of Isaac, Jonah, and Jesse, mates of Esther.”
Kojo laid his enormous black hand over hers and gently squeezed. Heat radiated from his palm to hers, yet oddly, she shivered as if chilled.
“I am most pleased to meet you,” Kojo replied with a light sparking in his dark eyes, like the first star appearing in the night sky.
“As I am you,” Anna finished the proper greeting, regretting the end of their hand contact when she returned her arm to her side.
The Latino male stepped toward her, making her feel like the walls were closing in as she was surrounded on two sides by broad chests.
“May I introduce myself?”
“Please do,” she managed to say this time.
“I am Lieutenant General Marco, son of Barto, Fresco, and Cris, mates of Lia.”
Again, Anna was surprised by the sound of an accent she’d never heard before. She held up her hand and repeated her introduction.
Marco answered with the appropriate verbal responses. Except, when it was time for Anna to drop her hand, he turned their joined hands over so Anna’s was on top. Then he bent forward and placed his mouth on the back of her hand.
His lips were soft and warm, and Anna’s head spun so wildly she thought she might fall over. She gathered her wits about her as he slowly lowered her hand and released his hold on her.
She glanced up at the Russian whose blond hair came the closest to touching the ceiling. His feet seemed frozen to the floor as he stared at her with icy blue eyes. She shivered again, and this time, it was because she did feel chilled. How the hellitude was she supposed to warm up to this guy enough to drop a trouser leg for him?
When he didn’t seem willing to take the first step in her direction, she moved toward him. “May I introduce myself?” she asked respectfully.
He nodded curtly.
She gave her credentials and waited for him to offer his palm and his introduction. She had to wait longer than was considered good custom before he finally raised his right hand, palm facing up.
“I am General Vadim, son of Viktor, Ivan, and Gleb, mates of Vera.” His consonants were just as cold and hard-edged as the rest of him.
She hated the hesitation in her movements as she raised her hand to lay her palm on his. It was such bad form to hesitate, but he intimidated her on a cellular level.
“I am most pleased to m-meet y-you,” she tripped over the last two words, and her cheeks heated.
“As I am you,” he replied, but his gaze seemed to register her apparent falsehood as his eyes narrowed slightly and his jaw tightened. He dropped his hand, and Anna gratefully returned her arm to her side before her internal shakes became obvious on the outside.
Stars above, how was she going to make it work with him? She hoped he’d soften a bit once they became more familiar with each other over the next four weeks, but she wasn’t going to hold her breath.
Anna stared at the three very different-looking faces. If an offspring ever did result from this mating, it certainly would be easy to tell who the sperm donor was.
That was something that had been puzzling her about this mating ever since she’d viewed their holograms.
Usually, the matchmakers picked three males who shared some cosmetic similarities in order for the child to be more readily accepted by all the males and not be singled out for preferential treatment—or ignored—by any of the males. Why would the Council assign three so distinct-looking men to her?
Chapter Two
Kojo glanced at the three members of his newly acquired mating quad. They each looked too nonplussed to make the next move. He nodded to the padded bench behind Anna. “Would you like to sit?”
She startled at his words before bobbing her head in agreement. There was something beguiling about his obviously inexperienced mate. Her big brown eyes held an innocence he hadn’t seen in a woman’s eyes in a long time, due to the fact that the only women of his acquaintance were the professional ones hired to service the men of the military.
Once Anna was seated, it was proper for the men to sit, but the General seemed to prefer standing—practically at military attention with one eye on the door. Was he expecting a General from the Third Quadrant to join them?
Kojo thought that was highly unlikely, but nothing about this meet had been what he’d expected.
Marco sat on the bench to the left of Anna, so Kojo chose her right side and settled back to get to know his mate. It was obvious by the way she was rubbing her thumb over the knuckles of her left hand, she was feeling extremely ill at ease.
He glanced again at the other two men. Yeah, he could understand her discomfort. She was a small little thing surrounded by three mountains of muscle, and as a member of the intellectual elite, she probably only viewed them as beefheads with no brains.
That thought pricked his ego and prodded him to do what he could to prove his worth.
He broke the awkward silence. “So, tell us something about yourself, Anna. Your bio material contained very little information about you, merely your general stats. I know you’re one point five two four meters, fifty kilograms, have brown hair and eyes, and are a bio-researcher. There must be more to you than that,” he encouraged her to share.
She turned her attention to him and blinked a few times. “Um.” She bit her bottom lip, and her eyes narrowed as if she was contemplating some advanced scientific equation.
He chuckled. “I don’t need anything too personal, so don’t tax yourself. Just something easy like…what do you do in your spare time?”
Her shoulders lost some of their rigidity. “Oh, spare time… I surf history.”
“Any particularly favorite time?” Marco jumped in.
Anna’s head swiveled towards the First Quadrant officer. Her cheeks colored with a light pink. “Ancient Earth,” she answered quietly.
Marco grinned. “Me too. Do you ever watch the documentaries?”
Anna leaned towards Marco, her initial shyness seemingly gone. “Yes! I love the diversity of the animal population in those nature ones. It’s such a shame the ancient ones didn’t think to send more species on the pioneer ships.”
“It was probably a matter of size constraints,” Kojo offered. “They had to maximize the number of humans they could transport with an adequate food source. There wasn’t much room left over for the animals that couldn’t provide a sound nutritional benefit,” he finished, feeling satisfied he’d shown he was more than the sum of his muscles.
“That didn’t stop some families from bringing pets,” Marco rebuffed.
“And how many of those ended up being eaten when food supplies ran short?” Kojo asked.
A soft gasp drew his attention to Anna. Her brow was creased as her mouth turned down at the corners.
Hellitude, he didn’t mean to upset her. Obviously, his social skills were rusty, and of course, they would be. He spent one hundred percent of his time with military men, ensuring the security of his quadrant from the increasing threat of enviro terrorists.
But his conversational skills were at least somewhat passable compared to the General, who still hadn’t contributed anything since his introduction. He merely stood at the side of the room, silently observing the scene.
Kojo turned to Anna and placed his hand over hers. “Please accept my apologies for my brusqueness. I have been living in the company of men for many years, and I nearly forgot what my mother once taught me about the gentler sex.” He added a slow smile to his words, hoping to ease past her barriers.
“You don’t see women at all?” Her gaze swept around the room to include all the men.
Marco cleared his throat. “There are a few employed to perform special services for the military, but for the most part, we live a segregated life.”
Studying the men, Anna didn’t have to guess too hard at what special services the professional women offered. She’d heard men, particularly the phys
ical ones, like the ones in the military, needed a regular outlet for their sexual energy. She’d even heard subtle rumors that sometimes the men turned to each other when a woman wasn’t available. Similar tales had been whispered about the boys in the dorm pods at the Academy of Science as well.
Anna tried to imagine her three mates touching each other, and a strange wave of dizziness crashed through her brain at the same time a throbbing started between her legs. The room felt suddenly warmer, and she undid the top button of her blouse.
Three pairs of eyes seemed glued to her movements, and she realized her innocent gesture could be interpreted as the beginning move in the mating process.
“Uh, is an-anyone else feeling warm in this r-room?” she stumbled through her words.
Marco’s lips slid up in a smile that made Anna feel even warmer. “Yes, I do believe I’m getting a bit overheated myself.” He reached his fingers up to his close fitting collar as if to start unbuttoning it, which was not at all what she intended.
She grabbed his forearm to stop him, and her gaze fell on the pins on his shoulder. “What do the stars mean?” She turned to look at the other two men. “You all have three or more of them.”
“That’s our rank,” Kojo explained. “It shows our level of experience. Marco and I are Lieutenant Generals. Vadim is a General.”
“And what exactly do you do?”
“I’m head of security in Second Quadrant,” Kojo answered.
“I’m head of security for First,” Marco said.
They all looked at Vadim to answer.
He nodded. “Yes, I am security head in Fourth Quadrant.”
It was such a relief to hear him speak again. It made him much more human. She was beginning to think he was a statue. A very imposing statue.
“All three of you are heads of security in your quadrants, really?”
They nodded.
Now, she was really confused. Why the hellitude would the Council match her with three men of such high ranking in the military? “I don’t understand the Council’s reasoning behind this match. It’s so out of bounds from their regular protocol. It just doesn’t make sense.”
“Yes. It does,” Vadim spoke.
All eyes turned toward him, and they waited for him to continue.
“Marco, what is your incident rate for domestic terrorism?”
“Ten per cyclum and increasing.”
Vadim nodded. “And you, Kojo?”
“Less, but also rising.”
“What domestic terrorism?” Anna interjected. She hated that they were having this conversation around her as if she wasn’t even here, and she had no idea what they were talking about.
Vadim’s cold stare pinned Anna. “Have you heard of the Open Air Society?”
“Sure. They think we should continue exploring space for a more Earthlike planet. Somewhere we can live without the need of bio-domes,” Anna answered. “What do they have to do with this?”
“They’re fed up with our convention of making do with what we have here on Profortuna. They want more resources spent on space exploration,” Marco explained. “They’re making their dissatisfaction known in more aggressive ways. So far, they’ve only targeted places and things, not people.”
“Oh, hellitude,” Kojo cursed. “Why didn’t the Council tell us?” He looked at the other two men. “We are Anna’s protection detail.”
Anna gaped at him. Protection detail? What? Why…? “How is that supposed to work? You each reside on a different part of the planet. We couldn’t be further apart, and we’re only mandated to get together once every moon cycle.”
Marco cleared his throat. “The civilian population hasn’t been informed yet, but there are troop movements in motion to increase the military presence here in First Quadrant. I expect the two of you will be getting your new orders very soon,” Marco addressed his last comments to Kojo and Vadim.
“Why here?” Anna asked.
Marco met her gaze with concern and maybe even some tenderness in his deep brown eyes. “First Quadrant has the highest population of the intellectual elite.”
“So?” she whispered, afraid of his answer.
“The terrorists are targeting scientists,” Marco explained gently. “They rationalize that if scientists aren’t alive to continue researching how to maintain the status quo, then maybe resources can be freed up to support space exploration.”
Anna felt like she’d swallowed a lead ball. “Oh, shiitake,” she swore under her breath. “My research. I’m a target.” The room tilted as if she were on a ship caught in a solar storm.
Kojo’s large hand pressed against the middle of her back. “Put your head between your knees,” he ordered. “That’s a girl. Now, deep, slow breaths.”
Anna did as she was told and grew aware of Marco’s hand softly stroking her head as Kojo rubbed her back in soothing circles. It was the most intimate touching she’d ever received, and…she liked it. It was calming and warmed her center core, and it nearly distracted her completely from the idea that someone might be trying to hurt her. She let herself enjoy it for a moment more before saying, “Okay, I’m better.”
The men helped her upright with a hand on each of her shoulders.
“So what do we do now?” she asked, looking at each man in turn.
“We secure you,” Vadim spoke first to Anna.
The other men seemed startled by his words as if they’d forgotten he was in the room after their little cuddle with their supposed mate. Once the men realized they were here to protect Anna, not get familiar, they should have developed an appropriate military strategy. Vadim was disappointed in them and their emotional response.
“Oh, stars,” Anna groaned. “Please don’t tell me you plan to lock me up somewhere.”
“You don’t value your safety?” Vadim asked.
She shook her head. “That’s not it… I-I’m slightly claustrophobic. Living this narrow existence between my personal pod and the research lab is restrictive enough. Please don’t confine me further.”
“You sound like an Open Air Society sympathizer,” he accused.
She sat taller as she threw a glare at him. “I would never advocate for violence, but I believe in freedom of thought. And yes, I’d like to have the freedom to live beyond the bio-domes, but I don’t see that happening in my lifespan. In the meantime, my responsibility is to continue my research to ensure our manner of living is sustainable, and we thrive.”
He studied her during her little speech. Her direct eye contact indicated truth as she denied his accusation, and her erect posture and increased volume suggested a passion for the work she spoke of.
Yes, she was deserving of his protection.
He disregarded her remarks about confinement and directed his next words to Marco. “Where are the most defensible pods in this quadrant?”
“No! I said I won’t…I can’t be locked up,” Anna protested.
Kojo ran his palm down her arm as if to calm her. “We aren’t going to lock you up. We’re going to protect you.”
His touch must have worked because she turned her attention to Kojo and let Vadim focus on finding a solution.
Marco ran a hand through his overgrown hair. “Sector two was initially designed for the financial elite. It’ll have the best security features.”
“And will be the most predictable location,” Vadim added. “Tell me about the other sectors.”
“One, three, and four are primarily research facilities and personal pods for scientists. Five contains personal pods for the majority of the population. Six and seven are industrial. Eight and nine are agricultural. And ten is the military base.”
“It is clear where we will take her,” Vadim stated.
“It is?” Kojo asked.
“I told you I won’t go,” Anna insisted.
Directing his attention to where it mattered, he spoke to Marco. “Make arrangements for us to occupy two connecting pods in sector five.”
“Sector f
ive?” Kojo echoed.
“We’ll hide her in plain sight,” Vadim explained the obvious.
“No, we can’t,” Marco argued. “That would put the greatest number of civilians in harm’s way.”
“It will also give us the most cover while we investigate, then take out the terrorist threat,” Vadim replied coolly.
Anna’s eyes widened as she stared at Vadim. He had no emotions. He was an automaton. And he kept ignoring her, which was really pissing her off.
She shrugged off Kojo’s large warm hand and stood. Moving into Vadim’s personal space, she glared up at the giant. “Excuse me, General. I think you are having a hard time hearing me.” She over-enunciated her words.
He inclined his head, and his icy blue eyes finally focused on her.
She swallowed hard and continued, “You can’t lock me up. I won’t go with you.”
A muscle in the side of his jaw clenched as his eyes narrowed. She nearly retreated, but she knew this was a crucial moment. She couldn’t show fear.
He unlocked his jaw. “You are silly and irresponsible if you don’t.”
“S-silly?” she sputtered. “How dare you?”
She stepped closer to him and rose to her tiptoes to get nearer to his face. There would be no more looking past her. “I’m the number one ranking scientist in the field of bio-research. My work is so important to the Council they’ve allowed me to continue full-time without the interruptions of mating for the past seven years. I, stars above, am not irresponsible. I have devoted my entire life to my research.”
She’d never understood the desire to strike someone, but she’d never been this angry with anyone before. Hitting this great hulk of beef wouldn’t do her any good, though. He’d certainly not feel it, and she’d probably injure herself slamming her hand into his steel side.
He blinked once then spoke. “If what you say is true, then you will follow my directions.”
Vadim held himself rigidly at attention as he waited for Anna’s capitulation. He would not give in to his base desire to grab her and contain her prattling mouth with his.
Anna and the Three Generals Page 2