by Rachel Clark
Suicide was a possibility Devlin hadn’t thought of, but considering Kam’s vehement denial, Devlin dismissed it as unlikely.
“Did he have enemies? Was there anyone who wanted him dead?”
“Enemies? None that I know of,” Kam said slowly. “But he’d been researching something. He’d mentioned a theory about G’baena not being dead. At first, I just thought it was grief talking, but considering that G’baena turned up alive, I’m certain that he knew something about her being sold into slavery.”
Devlin watched the man as he finally connected the dots between G’baena’s disappearance and his brother’s death. Kam’s eyes filmed with tears before anger replaced his grief.
“You think G’baena’s fathers killed Ky?”
“I believe it’s a solid theory,” Devlin said quietly. “We need to speak with Ben and Trey.”
* * * *
G’baena followed the angry emotions of her young friend even though she had no idea how to explain to a man with Del’s past experiences why she would want to kneel at the feet of anyone.
She finally found him in the cargo bay. Thankfully, he was trying to work off his anger in a healthy and constructive way. Already, his intensive physical training was beginning to show in the muscles of his legs and arms.
“Del,” she said quietly, not surprised when he didn’t stop his exercises.
“Why?” he grunted as he continued to lift weights that looked much too heavy for his skinny arms.
“Because at the only happy point in my life on G’trobia, Kam and his brother were the two men I knew I could rely on. I knew, without a shadow of a doubt, they would keep me safe.”
“Didn’t do much good, did they? You still ended up a slave.” Del dropped the weights into place and stepped onto a strange vehicle that seemed designed to move forward but simply spun in place. Del pushed the pedals as the wheel in front of him spun just a small distance above the ground.
“Del, that wasn’t Kam’s fault. He had no control over what my fathers did. My fathers told everyone I was dead, even had an abshei ceremony for me, so Kam and Ky had no way of knowing I needed help.”
“So why would you kneel at that fucker’s feet? You don’t owe him anything.”
She smiled as she answered. “You sound very much like Devlin. I don’t know how to explain what I feel for Kam, or Devlin, for that matter, I just know that I want to please them both.”
Del looked unconvinced, but at least he was listening.
“How about we look at it this way—I’m an independent female free to make my own choices, right?” She waited for him to nod and then said, “So, if one of my choices is to kneel at the feet of a man I respect and care for, then nobody else should get a say in the matter.”
Del stopped moving his feet, and the wheel ground to a halt. G’baena almost couldn’t believe her own ears when he started to laugh. She smiled with him, hoping sincerely that he understood where she was coming from, and this wasn’t the hysterical laughter before the angry rampage.
“Do Kam and Devlin have any idea how much trouble you’re going to cause them?”
“Not a clue.” G’baena smiled happily, grateful to feel Del’s genuine acceptance.
* * * *
Several days later, Kam caught the soft sound of G’baena’s laughter as he entered the dining room. He smiled as he realized that she sat with Devlin and Del. She looked so happy, happier than he’d ever seen her, and a selfish part of him really wanted to be part of it. In some ways, seeing her so happy made Ky’s loss so much more painful. If things had just happened differently…
She looked up then, her face a mask of concern as she sought him out. He hurried to the table, unable to refuse her welcome. The fact that a G’trobian woman even acknowledged his presence was a precious gift, but the fact that it came from the G’trobian woman he’d loved for a long time made it a miracle. His status as a displaced son had destroyed his hopes for the future. This wonderful woman gave them back, albeit in a slightly different package.
Devlin saw his approach and moved to grab a chair from the table behind theirs. Kam still couldn’t fathom humans or their moods, so he was continually surprised to be accepted so readily. An outsider on G’trobia wouldn’t have received the same courtesy.
Del glanced his way but didn’t go as far as inviting him to join them. At least the young man had dropped most of his hostility. Now, he seemed to be simply watching out for G’baena in the same way a younger brother might protect his sister from unsuitable company.
“How’d it go with Ben and Trey?” Devlin asked as soon as Kam sat down.
“Good, I think. They agree with your theory and will raise the issue with the authorities.”
“What issue?” G’baena asked, her curiosity obvious.
“We think Ky was murdered when he got too close to the truth about you,” Devlin said in a low voice. It didn’t take her long to make the connection.
“You think my fathers killed him?”
“Maybe,” Kam said, following Devlin’s lead to be straight and honest with G’baena. “Or maybe someone who worked with them. There have to be slavery contacts visiting the planet, maybe Ky got too close to one of them.”
Tears fell down G’baena’s face, and for a moment, Kam wanted to fall back on old habits and protect her from the worst of life. A quick look at Devlin’s expression changed his mind. G’baena had already seen the worst. She needed to see the justice now.
“Will you come with me to talk to the Kings?”
“I’m not sure,” he said, looking to Devlin for guidance. Kam already knew Devlin would be by her side. “They don’t take kindly to dead men in their court.”
“I’m not sure how they’re going to cope with a dead woman either,” she said with a determined smile, “but I’m looking forward to finding out.”
Kam felt her fear and her frustration at the ridiculous situation. He was a displaced son, she was legally dead, and they planned to march into the Kings’ court with an alien from Earth and the crown princes who’d abandoned G’trobia several cycles ago, and demand justice. There was probably as much chance of them all being arrested on sight as there was that the people responsible for Ky’s death and G’baena’s enslavement would face the consequences of their actions.
He saw Devlin’s slight nod of encouragement, almost as if the man had read Kam’s need to be there for G’baena, and Kam heard himself promise to stand by her side. He managed to refrain from saying the word always, but he could tell by Devlin’s emotional reaction that he didn’t need to hear it aloud to know it was true.
Damn human had better empathic-like skills than most empaths Kam had known.
“Are you going to eat something?” Del asked around an enormous mountain of food. The kid was always eating. Kam didn’t even want to think about how many meals Del had missed out on as a slave. As for himself, Kam had gotten so used to eating only a single meal a day that he was still trying to adjust to the three meals a day the majority of the ship’s crew insisted upon.
“Not now,” Kam said. “I might grab something a little later.”
Kam couldn’t figure out if Del’s disappointment stemmed from not having someone to eat with or not having a chance at Kam’s leftovers. Either way, Kam was ready to relax. He’d spent most of the day in weapons training with Ben, and he could barely lift his arms. A traditional G’trobian cleansing would’ve been wonderful right now.
“Are you injured?” G’baena asked.
“Not injured,” he replied, slightly embarrassed when both Del and Devlin turned their attention to him. “Just a little overworked is all.”
G’baena gave him that look. The look that said she wasn’t about to take no for an answer. She really was taking to this independent thinking idea quite gleefully.
“I will meet you in your cabin in thirty minutes to give you a massage.” Kam saw Devlin’s eyes narrow slightly, but the expression was gone before G’baena turned to face him. �
�Is there any chance of borrowing one of the work benches from the gym? I need a comfortable surface with adjustable height.”
Devlin seemed to hesitate, but he must’ve gotten that look, too, because he quickly acquiesced.
* * * *
“Excellent,” their little drill sergeant said as she stood and shooed them in different directions. Devlin noticed Del didn’t even try to hide his amused smile. It didn’t stop him from eating, though.
It took fifteen minutes and two bruised knuckles to wrestle one of the adjustable benches into Kam’s quarters, but Devlin forgot his irritation the moment he saw how appreciative G’baena was. If only she hadn’t been planning to use it to massage another man, he might have actually smiled.
“Where’s Kam?”
“He is cleansing.”
Devlin couldn’t help himself. He pulled her into his arms and held her close. It felt far longer than a couple of days since the one and only time they’d been naked together. They hadn’t even spoken to Tee-ani yet, let alone finished what they’d started.
G’baena sighed contentedly and then pressed her lips to his. It started as a gentle caress, but neither of them seemed capable of keeping it so. Every instinct roared at him to claim G’baena, to somehow mark her as his own, yet he knew with Kam now in the picture, their relationship was no longer so straightforward.
Devlin laughed quietly even as his tongue played with hers. Straightforward? Nothing about their relationship had been straightforward. Hell, the simple fact that they were a different species and G’baena’s people mated in trios almost seemed insurmountable.
An idea began to niggle at the back of his brain, but he dismissed it ruthlessly. He was human, humans mated in pairs, end of story. Except that, well, some didn’t. Some humans were quite comfortable living alternative lifestyles.
“G’baena?” Kam’s quiet voice filled the room, reminding Devlin that even if he wanted to ignore the other man, it was actually his living quarters. “We could skip the massage for now. The sonic shower has helped quite a bit. Why don’t you and Devlin head back to your quarters and I’ll maybe see you at dinner?”
God, if he hadn’t been holding her, he might’ve missed it. She flinched. Flinched like she’d been struck or maybe caught doing something she shouldn’t have. Devlin’s arms fell from her waist as he stepped away, confusion pounding through him. Did she really prefer the man who wanted her to kneel at his feet? Fuck.
“No,” Devlin said just a little too loudly. “I…uhm…need to check a few things in engineering, so…uhm…I’ll maybe catch you later.” He turned and headed for the door, ignoring G’baena’s gasp of surprise and Kam’s knowing eyes.
Chapter Nine
“G’baena?” Kam could feel her bewildered pain, but what surprised him was how clearly he could feel Devlin’s. The human was seriously confused and so deeply in love with G’baena, he couldn’t think straight. “He loves you.”
“I know,” she said quietly, “but I’m not sure it’s enough.”
“In what way?”
She turned, deliberately making eye contact with him before lowering her gaze and slowly dropping to her knees at his feet. “In a way that I can’t explain,” she said brokenly. The words seemed wrenched from her, the emotional toll of the last few days breaking the fragile spirit of a young woman who had so much more to offer than she realized. Kam touched her hair, caressing her like he’d done so many times before. He sensed her need for this formality, for her to be able to behave the way she was raised without worrying she might upset someone unfamiliar with their ways.
After a few moments of quiet, he sat down on the bed and pulled her small frame onto his lap. He cradled her while she cried, desperately trying to shield his own emotions from the confused woman in his arms.
* * * *
“I don’t fucking get it.” He’d come to the medical bay in the hope of speaking to Tee-ani. He hadn’t actually decided what he wanted to ask her. After all, it appeared Kam would be the man taking care of G’baena, but when Devlin had found Sarah waiting for a patient to arrive, his emotions had basically exploded.
He didn’t miss the slightly amused expression on Sarah’s face as all his fears poured out of his mouth. Great, the captain’s wife was going to label him as fucking nuts.
She let him rant for a while longer before asking quietly, “Do you love her?”
“Of course I fucking love her. Do you think I’d be this upset if I didn’t?”
She snickered as he realized what he’d just admitted out loud.
“Smart-ass,” he said as the anger drained from him. Sarah was one of the most independent, sassy, kick-ass females he’d ever met, and he was suddenly very glad that she’d been the one on duty. Tee-ani would have used all of her doctor’s bedside manner and tact. Sarah, on the other hand, would give it to him straight and possibly kick him in the balls to make certain she hammered home the facts.
“Well, then, the answer is quite simple. You can choose to love her as she is or walk away and regret such a dumbass, idiotic mistake for the next fifty years.”
He was nodding in agreement before he realized he really didn’t have any damn answers. Maybe Sarah wasn’t exactly the best person to talk to after all.
“Just tell me one thing. Why would a woman choose subservience over freedom?”
“Dev, I don’t think she is,” Sarah said quietly, seriously. “I think if G’baena felt that Kam was disrespecting her in any way, she wouldn’t kneel at his feet, no matter what her upbringing taught her. She’s much stronger than even she realizes.”
“So why does she do it then?”
“Maybe that’s something you should ask her.”
A noise at the doorway alerted them to the arrival of a patient. Sarah moved toward the heavily pregnant woman and smiled happily as she shooed him out the door.
* * * *
G’baena hadn’t felt this comfortable in a long while. She’d felt safe in Devlin’s arms, but the moments had been underlined with a large amount of uncertainty. Humans, it seemed, had very definite ideas on how a free woman should act, and it seemed G’baena didn’t quite fit the mold. Curled in Kam’s lap, she felt at ease, almost like she’d come home, but again the feeling was underscored with an undesired emotion—this time, guilt.
She knew humans mated in pairs, and until a few days ago, she’d been happy to love Devlin and live on board in a human way. Even seeing Tee-ani happily mated to Ben and Trey hadn’t really changed her mind about accepting Devlin as her only love, but now that Kam was here, her thinking had changed.
And for that she felt very guilty.
She wiped the tears from her cheeks, squirming in Kam’s lap in the hopes he would let her go.
“Shhh, little one, just let me hold you a while longer.”
“I can’t,” she said quietly, trying to hold back the sob tightening her chest.
He let her go, his sigh sounding full of regret. She moved away from him, trying to concentrate on being strong, and almost leaped out of her skin when the door chime sounded. G’baena stepped forward when Devlin came through the door, concerned something was wrong, but he simply gathered her in his embrace. G’baena held on tight, uncertain what prompted his behavior, but very grateful he was here.
“I’m sorry,” he mumbled into her hair.
“Sorry for what?” She had no idea what he had to be sorry about. She was the one wishing for the impossible and hurting him in the process, so what in the name of the goddess was he talking about?
Devlin released her and took a step back, his gaze seeking Kam’s briefly before returning to hers.
“I’m sorry for not understanding. For trying to make you live your life my way.”
“But you didn’t—”
He shook his head as he stepped closer and pressed the calloused pad of his finger against her lips. “Yes, I did, and I’m sorry.”
“But I want to please you.”
“I know,” he said as he
pulled her back into his warm embrace, “but I also know that you want to please Kam, but only me and Kam, not every male on board.” She was shaking her head before she really understood what he was saying. When the truth hit her, she wobbled at the knees.
“Goddess,” she mumbled under her breath. It was true she hadn’t felt the need or desire to kneel at the feet of any of the males on the ship, including Ben and Trey, the men she’d been trained to obey without question. Shit, she’d even punched Trey in the face when she’d first come on board. None of her behavior since her rescue had been dictated by her upbringing, but rather by her decision, her choice.
She took a deep breath and smiled, feeling rather awed at her own ability.
“Kam,” Devlin said as he turned them both to face the other man, “I understand that G’trobian relationships usually involve twin brothers, but would it be possible to work something out for G’baena’s sake?”
* * * *
Goddess, was he dreaming? Kam was sure he was standing in the middle of the room with his mouth hanging open. He’d watched Devlin and G’baena as he’d tried to rein in his own emotions. It was obvious that they loved each other deeply, despite their differences, and Kam had resigned himself to being on the outside looking in.
Since Ky had died, it was pretty much the sum total of his life. Outside looking in.
So he hadn’t expected Devlin’s offer.
“Yes,” he said, nodding solemnly. “I would like that very much.”
Devlin released G’baena from his grip and encouraged her into Kam’s arms. She hesitated a moment until Devlin leaned over and whispered something in her ear. She grinned over her shoulder at Devlin and then stepped into Kam’s embrace. Kam held her tightly, breathing deeply as he let his emotions wash over the empathic woman in his arms. She moaned quietly and lifted her face to kiss him gently.