Shy Talent (StarLords Book 3) (3 page)

“Wow,” she breathed. “I mean, I guess I knew we could be going into danger, but it wasn’t quite real to me before.”

“Do you want to go back down planetside? I don’t want you afraid of the voyage to come. It will be somewhat dangerous, but it will also be one of discovery and freedom if I can manage it. I won’t knowingly take any of us into more danger than we can handle. I can promise you that.”

“No,” she answered quickly. “I want to stay. I trust you to keep us all safe.”

Her eyes seemed to say more than that, however, and he found himself leaning forward in the tight quarters, wanting more than anything to learn what her mouth tasted like. He thought he saw the same yearning in her wide eyes, and he threw caution to the wind, moving the few inches more to capture her pretty mouth with his.

When she didn’t pull away, but rather moved closer into him, he brought his arms around her, pressing her close. He realized with one small part of his brain that wasn’t caught up in the amazing pleasure of her lips, that she was delightfully curvy under the voluminous tunic she wore. Her firm, full, voluptuous breasts pressed tightly to his chest as he plunged his tongue into her warm, wet mouth, and his hands easily spanned her waist, moving down to massage the cheeks of her tight ass.

She kissed like she wasn’t used to the activity, and her shy response enchanted him. He gentled his possession, wanting to woo her response, wanting her to find the same mind-blowing pleasure he felt. He lowered his shields just the tiniest bit in order to see if he could sense any shift in her power. First joinings had to be closely monitored among those with Talent, which was one of his responsibilities as captain. Not that they were ready to take that step, but he knew his power was stronger than any other Specitars, and he didn’t want to hurt her.

What he found when he lowered his shield just the tiniest bit blew his mind again. Her own Talent was a maelstrom of energy that swirled around his, teasing, tempting and pulling at his energies until they entwined and encircled them both. He’d never seen anything like it—except once before. Micah and his lady, Jeri, had such a meshing of their incredibly strong Talents, and they were now happily married and the two strongest Talents among the Council worlds.

He disengaged from her tempting lips, pulling back to stare at her in wonder.

“Do you feel that?” he asked, awe in his voice. The way their Talents were twining together was freakish.

She looked shaken, almost betrayed.

“I’m not a freak,” she whispered before tearing out of his arms and running out the door.

He called after her but was stunned by the revelation of her ability to read his thoughts.
That
definitely hadn’t been noted as one of her Talents on the last testing report in her file. But there was no doubt that she’d just picked up on his thoughts, unshielded as they were. It gave him hope that perhaps she couldn’t read him when he was shielding normally, but still, he knew such a Talent could be hard to deal with. No wonder the poor woman was so reserved. It must be hell to hear every thought running through people’s minds, especially the unkind thoughts that he guessed must be sent her way by people who never would say mean things to her face.

He went after her and found her in the hold, crying.

Not hesitating now that he’d held her in his arms and wanted her back there, he went up to her, shielding tightly, and took her softly into his embrace. She felt so right, he thought absently as he sought some way to explain.

“It was a bad word choice, that’s all. I didn’t think you were a freak. I thought the way our energies were meshing was freakish. There’s a big difference, Bet. I’ve never seen such an immediate and intimate twining of two Talents before. You can slap my face if you want. I deserve it for hurting you, sweetheart. It hardly matters that I didn’t mean to.”

She stilled, moving around in his arms to look at him through tear-filled eyes.

“Why are you being so kind to me?” She looked so suspicious he wanted to laugh.

“Why wouldn’t I be kind to you?” he countered. “You’re bright, pretty, Talented, and you kiss like a dream.” He winked at her, making her blush. “And I’m betting you’re hiding a superior ability behind your quiet exterior.”

She sighed in defeat. “They said you were different,” she said quietly. “I should’ve known I wouldn’t be able to hide anything from you.”

“Isn’t that the other way around?” He arched one eyebrow at her in challenge.

She blushed to the roots of her hair. “I can’t read you, Lord Agnor. Not normally, anyway. Your shielding is too strong. That’s why I wanted to come on this trip. I figured being around fewer people, most with strong Talents that should be well shielded, might be a bit of a break for me.”

He considered her words a moment, then pulled her back into his arms, stroking her hair comfortingly. “How long has this been a problem for you, sweet?”

“The past few years, it’s gotten worse,” she admitted after a moment. “At first, I could only read neutrals and lower-level Talents, but now, even some of the Mages’ thoughts are breaking through.”

He sighed, imagining the pain she must have been put through.

“You need stronger shields yourself, Bet. I can help you there, I think.”

Her wide eyes looked hopefully up at him, and he couldn’t resist leaning slightly down to plant a quick kiss on her lips.

“You’d really teach me?” she whispered when he pulled back.

“Well, I can’t let you go on like this, can I?” He smiled to soften his words, stroking her hair because he simply couldn’t help himself. “Come to my cabin after shift change. We’ll start right away. The sooner you can block out other people’s thoughts, the more comfortable you’ll be.”

“Thank you, Captain.” Her eyes filled with hope and something like hero worship that made him slightly uncomfortable. He released her and walked toward the doorway.

“Call me Agnor or even Ag, if you prefer. A few of my close friends call me that. It would please me if you would too.” He stopped just inside the hatch, turning slightly to regard her with one raised eyebrow. “You know, this little skill of yours could come in handy on our mission, Bet. Have you ever given any thought to putting your mind-reading Talent to use for the good of the Council? We have precious few people who can do what apparently comes to you naturally.”

“I didn’t know there were any others who have this miserable gift.” Her voice was soft with discovery.

“Oh there are a few, but I’ve met none so strong that they could read Mages. And we tend to keep their identities under tight wraps, so that they can be sent out to gather information safely and secretly.”

“They’re spies?”

Agnor smiled cunningly. “Something like that. They do what this ship is tasked to do, just on a more intimate scale. They gather information that helps the Council keep the worlds and peoples under our protection safe. It’s a noble cause. Think about it.”

CHAPTER THREE

Agnor’s mind reeled with the new discoveries he’d made about shy little Bettsua Malkin. Of course, she wasn’t really
little—
though compared to his own taller-than-average stature, she was still shorter than him. She wore voluminous clothing, but underneath, he’d felt a svelte, soft woman with generous breasts and sleek muscles everywhere else. He never would have imagined that.

Now that he knew what she hid under her sorry clothing, he feared there was no going back. He wanted her. Had wanted her almost from the first moment he’d seen her, if he was honest with himself. But now that he’d kissed her and gotten a taste of the way their Talents meshed so intimately, he knew he needed her in his bed. He needed to be inside her soft, welcoming, womanly body.

But how to get there?

She was painfully shy. True, she’d been more open with him than he’d ever imagined she’d be, but he figured that was mostly because he had taken her by storm and found out her secrets in amazingly fast progression. He had even kissed her while she was still in a daze, but it had seemed so natural and felt so right. He couldn’t regret rushing her.

She called to him in a way he had never before experienced. He’d been with many women in his time—tall, short, thin, voluptuous, outgoing, reticent, and some who had Talents that complemented his own in enticing ways—but there was something incredibly special about Bettsua. He couldn’t put his finger on exactly what it was.

Every time he saw her, he was intrigued. He’d been captivated on sight and his enthrallment had only grown the more he got to know about her and the more he was in her presence. There was something indefinable about her that spoke to him on a primitive level he had never accessed before.

Agnor didn’t know what it meant. He only knew that he was beyond intrigued by the Talented Loadmaster. He wanted to know everything about her. He wanted to entice her out of her shell, and into his arms, and then he wanted to test her boundaries and encourage her to be all that he sensed was hiding behind her timid outer display.

He was virtually certain there was more to Bettsua Malkin than met the eye. And he wanted very much to be the man who helped her lay claim to everything she could be, if she’d just give herself the chance.

He made his way back up to the bridge, bypassing the labs and med facility for a later inspection. He had a lot of work to do before shift change in seven hours, but the time couldn’t go fast enough before he had her in his chambers. All to himself.

* * *

Finally, it was time to launch. Agnor had been looking forward to this moment since the day he’d been given his own command. He’d been torn about leaving the
Circe
behind for the
Calypso
, but now that he’d gotten a chance to know his new ship through the building phase, he couldn’t wait to see what it could do in space.

It felt good to be the one giving the orders now, instead of one of many taking them. He liked being master of his own destiny on this state-of-the-art vessel. He had a feeling his enjoyment would only grow as he and the
Calypso
grew together, out there, among the stars.

Push back from the station went well. Agnor knew his chosen pilot was one of the very best, and he left the small maneuvers to her expertise while he checked status reports on his command console. He relaxed a little when the navigator gave their pilot the course, and they settled in for a two-day journey through jumpspace that would lead them to a relatively empty quadrant where they could really try out the paces of their new ship.

Once the course was laid in and the ship successfully jumped, he called all but the pilot to a meeting in the ship’s lounge. Normally, the ship could’ve been left completely unattended on its journey through jumpspace, but the
Calypso
was still new and somewhat untried, so he decided to leave at least one person on the bridge, just in case there were problems.

A low hum of conversation greeted Agnor when he entered the lounge with the last of the bridge crew. He looked around briefly at the assembled team, noting Bet’s quiet presence in one far corner with an inward grin of satisfaction. He just felt happy inside, seeing her face. He didn’t think to question why, at the moment, but the reaction felt good and right.

“Thank you all for coming.”

He motioned them to sit on the various surfaces. There weren’t enough chairs for them all to sit at once, but several made do by hoisting themselves up onto the game tables. It was an informal atmosphere that Agnor truly appreciated. He wanted these people to feel comfortable with him and with each other, and formality would be the first thing he would see broken down a little.

“I’ve met most of you personally, but for those I haven’t yet had the pleasure of encountering, I am Agnor Dallesander.” He purposely left off the various titles of respect and station that could be attributed to him. These people knew full well just who and what he was without him reminding them and possibly driving a wedge between them from the outset.

“Before we go any further, I wish to make a request of you all. Since my recent, rather jarring elevation in power, I’ve become somewhat sensitive to the Talents of others. I would appreciate it if everyone would keep a tight shield around themselves for the time being, until we get more comfortable with each other.” In reality, he had no such problem, but it was the only excuse he could think of to try to help shield Bet from everyone else’s thoughts. If he’d been a multi-Talent, he could have possibly thrown his own shield around her, but being a Specitar meant he had certain limitations.

“It will be good exercise for us all, I think,” he said with a smile, “since where we may go in our travels, tight shielding will be the norm rather than the exception.”

Immediately, he felt a surge of power through the small room as those within put up an extra layer of shielding that he could almost feel tingling along his spine. He wasn’t a multi-Talent like many of the people here, but with his new rise in power, he’d gained some sensitivity to others’ use of Talent that was new and quite helpful to him in his work.

His eyes casually went over to Bet, and he was gladdened to see the slight lift in her shoulders as some of the pressure was taken off her. He had to get to work with her right away on increasing her own shielding. He hated to see her suffer for any reason.

“Thank you, that’s much better. Now to business.”

He went over the rules of the ship and his own preferences on how he wanted things to run. He also asked each section head to speak a bit, as well as each member of the bridge crew. They were his staff, and they would hold the greatest responsibility for the safety of the people on this vessel. It was a bit more intricate than the
Circe
, since all that empty hold space was filled up on the
Calypso
with labs and med facilities and people to man them. He missed the simplicity and intimacy of the
Circe
, but he relished the new challenges this new ship would present him. It was an adventure for him, and one he never would have dreamed would come his way.