The Power of Fate (The Triad Series Book 5) (10 page)

“From what I hear escaping wasn’t an option.”

“I tried in the early days, but every time they caught me they made things worse.” He grimaced. “I spent so many days trapped in a small, dark space with no contact with another being that I thought I would go mad. Eventually I gave up and let them do what they wanted.” His smile was brief. “There is probably not a creature on Pavlovan who is less godlike than I am.”

On impulse, Orin reached out and cupped Rekk’s chin. “I don’t see a coward. I see a survivor.”

With a stifled sound, Rekk brushed his lips across Orin’s thumb. “Poor Mya, having to drag me across country when she wishes to be with you—an honorable male.”

“I don’t think she sees it like that.” Orin tried to ignore the way the blood was sizzling in his veins and his cock was thickening. He really should let go of Rekk’s chin. “I fucked up before she left on her last mission. I’m surprised she’s even speaking to me.”

“You did?”

“Yeah. I tried to push her into finding our Third.”

To his relief, it was Rekk who sat back. “She did not wish to complete your Triad?”

He shrugged. “She has some… issues about Triads. She’s never told me exactly what went down in her family, but I guess it was bad.”

He should have asked her. He should have gotten the truth out of her years ago instead of pretending it would never be a problem.

Rekk returned to working on releasing his foot, and silence fell between them.

“I wish I could go back ten years and start again,” Orin blurted out.

“To when you were first mated to Mya?”

“Yeah. We were both so young when we met.”

“Mayhap we all have regrets? They do say hindsight is a wonderful thing. I suspect I wouldn’t have been so eager to get away from my family obligations and explore the universe if I’d known where I’d end up.” Rekk’s smile was wry.

Orin’s breath hissed as Rekk eased his mangled foot out of the remains of his shoe.

“Damn. That looks bad,” Orin muttered.

Rekk hesitated, his hand hovering over the swollen ankle. “I could try something.”

“Like what?”

“My family has some healing abilities. If you will permit me to lay my hands on you?”

Orin wanted to tell him to lay his entire body on him, but he’d take anything he could get. “Sure. Knock yourself out.”

“I don’t think it will come to that, but my powers are rather depleted at the moment.” Rekk closed his eyes and took a long, slow breath. Inside Orin’s head, a soft, glowing force saturated his thoughts. “Yes. I can feel…”

As the heat of Rekk’s power flowed through Orin’s bones, he grabbed hold of the other man’s shoulder and held on for dear life.

“Almost done,” Rekk murmured.

Orin tightened his grip. “Why don’t you ever talk to me telepathically?”

Rekk’s startled gaze flew to his face. “Because you asked me not to.”

“When?”

“When we first met you suggested my power was overwhelming you. It’s all right. My shields are not working properly, and those who get close to me are bombarded with too much… me.”

Orin moved his hand into Rekk’s hair. “And what if I wanted to be bombarded?”

“I do not understand.”

Orin cursed under his breath and brought his mouth to Rekk’s. The kiss turned crazy hot within a second as Rekk parted his lips and let Orin’s tongue tangle with his own. With a strangled sound, Orin shoved Rekk down onto the bed and climbed on top of him, hard cock rubbing against hard cock, minds finally,
finally
, totally in sync.

The sound of footsteps outside the door made Rekk shove him away hard. Orin ended up on the floor without really knowing how he got there. By the time Mya came through the door, Rekk had disappeared into the bathroom and Orin was climbing painfully back onto the bed.

“You okay?” Mya flew to his side. “Did you fall?”

“Yeah, kind of.”

She helped him sit up and looked down at the ruins of his shoe and then his foot.

“Wow. It looks a lot better than I thought it would.”

Orin waved a vague hand toward the bathroom. “Rekk did some healing stuff on it.”

“Rekk did? Is he all right?”

“How the heeze should I know? Ask him when he comes out.” Mya continued to study him. “
What
?”

“You’re really agitated. Do you have a fever or something?”

Only in my balls
. Orin forced himself to lie back against the pillows. “I’m just tired. Did you get any supplies?”

Thank the Gods that managed to distract her long enough for him to get under the covers and give his dick a stern talking to.

“Do you think they’ll follow us here?” he asked.

“Probably.” Mya was busy pulling stuff out from her bag. “Is there any way we can call for back up?”

“Not from my lot. The lines are too public.”

“My so-called security team disappeared in Paloma. I’ll see if Rekk can help me contact Roberts.”

“The guy from Earth with the odd telepathic abilities?”

“The humans I’ve met here are all like that.” She grimaced. “Some kind of military program messed with their brains and natural telepathic abilities. Sometimes it’s like communicating with a robot rather than a man.”

“That sucks.”

“I think Rekk would agree with you.” She looked over at the bathroom. “He’s been in there quite a while. Do you think I should go and check on him?”

“Up to you.” Orin shrugged. If he went in there and Rekk was naked in the shower, he wouldn’t be any help hurrying him along at all… Gods, when had his thoughts degenerated into imagining soaping and sucking another male’s dick? He’d always thought their Third would be a woman.

“Orin…”

He looked at Mya who was now right by the bathroom.

“I don’t hear anything.”

“Knock.”

She did and then called Rekk’s name before cautiously turning the handle. “It’s locked.”

“And I don’t sense him anymore, do you?” Orin leapt off the bed hoping his ankle was good enough to bear his weight. He joined Mya at the door, pressing his ear against the wood.

“
Talk to him
.”

“Why, what do you think he’s done?”

“Gone.” He crouched down and inserted the corner of his plastic special-issue police keycard into the tiny gap between the door and the frame. He pulsed a thought through it and heard the lock snap open.

“But why?”

Orin groaned as he painfully straightened up. “Probably because I kissed him.”

“What?” Mya grabbed his arm. “
Why?”

The bathroom was empty and Orin’s gut turned over. “Let’s worry about that later.”

Chapter 8

He was a fool and a liability. Rekk finally stopped running when he was deep within the trees, bending down to gasp in some much needed air. He was definitely the loudest thing in the forest. He hoped there weren’t any large prey animals in this part of the world because, if there were, he was probably being tracked and would soon be dead.

“At least I’d serve a useful purpose,” he muttered as he straightened up. His gaze swept the mottled greens and browns of the woodland and moved upward until he was staring at a small patch of blue sky. “At least I’ll die a free man.”

If he were no longer with Mya and Orin, they would be safe. That he was sure about. Being with him was dangerous, not only because he was being so relentlessly pursued, but because he couldn’t hide his telepathic abilities. Poor Orin had been as mesmerized as Mya. His kiss… Rekk licked his lips. Orin’s hard cock… his
mind.

That was what he turned people into, and he
hated
it. That’s why he’d been captured and kept. Because he couldn’t keep his thoughts in check.

Something flew overhead, shattering the silence, and he instinctively ducked. He had no plan. All he wanted was to be left alone. Maybe, when Mya and Orin left, he could carry on his journey to the Temple alone. His returning memory meant he had some sense of where he was now and in what direction he needed to travel. He would have to cross Hakron and Nevek territory, but those groups tended to keep to themselves. He would do his best to avoid contact with anyone.

Finding a large tree, he hunkered down at the base, stretched out his legs and leaned back, trying to relax. Mya and Orin were trained military professionals. He had no doubt that whatever they faced, they would win. But what if the Etruscans left them alone and simply came after him? He’d rather that happened than his protectors get hurt.

He wouldn’t be taken back alive. That was a given. If necessary, and if he couldn’t avoid the Etruscans, he would provoke them into killing him.

He’d loved being outside when he was a boy and hated being dragged into the house for his lessons by his tutor. As he’d grown older, his duties and his lessons had increased to such an extent that he’d rarely seen daylight. Rekk frowned. Duties for what? He couldn’t remember anything directly before the space flight and the crash when the Etruscans had captured him. He’d escaped one prison for one that was far worse.

Had they wiped his mind deliberately? He could see why that might have appealed not only to their scientists, but also to the woman who used him as her sexual toy. Maybe they’d taken his memories repeatedly, which was why he no longer recognized anything around him and only had flashes of his past.

“Don’t move.”

He flinched as the barrel of a weapon jammed hard against the side of his neck.

The accent was Etruscan. The voice unfamiliar.

The man searched him for weapons. Something about the rough way he shoved his hand under Rekk’s T-shirt was enough to set off his simmering rage.

“No more!”

With a savage growl, he head-butted the man in the stomach, smacking the weapon away.

With a startled yelp, the soldier staggered backward, falling on his ass, and Rekk was all over him, wrenching the weapon from his hand and holding it against his temple.

“
Rekk? I’m right behind you. Don’t shoot.”

He stared down at the soldier’s terrified face. Had he ever killed anyone before? He couldn’t even remember that.

Orin touched his shoulder, his voice gentle. “I’ve got this, buddy. Let me deal with him.”

Rekk nodded once and let Orin take control of the weapon and the prisoner. Orin knocked the man out and tied him up, his movements efficient and practiced.

“I know you want to kill him, and I totally understand why, but if he dies the rest of the Etruscan pack will know instantly, and they’ll be all over us.” Orin tightened the man’s gag. “This way he can stay put for a while longer while we get away.”

Rekk slowly rose to his feet. “I’m not coming with you.”

“You want to stay here and wait for the Etruscans to take you back?”

He glanced down at the man’s weapon. “I thought to provoke him into killing me or turning the weapon on myself.”

“What the heeze for?” Orin snapped. “I just saved your ass!”

“Why?” Rekk demanded, stepping right into Orin’s personal space. “You and Mya were supposed to leave. What are you doing here and where is Mya?”

“Mya is perfectly capable of taking care of herself.”

“Whereas I am not?”

“We are your designated bodyguards. Our mission is to get you to the Temple.”

“I don’t want your damned help!”

“I’m not offering you any. I’m
telling
you I have to complete my mission!”

Rekk turned around and stormed off into the forest. Orin followed him.

“Where the frak are you going
now
?”

“Anywhere that you are not!”

Orin grabbed hold of his shirt, spinning him around. “You are staying with me.”

“Why? So I can distort your thinking? Make you want to kiss me again?”

“Distort my
thinking?
Man, you do that, but—”

“It is
wrong.
I am not… worthy of your attention.”

“Are you telling me I don’t have the right to have feelings for you?”

Rekk growled. “You don’t have feelings!
I
am the problem. I make you feel things that don’t exist!”

“Yeah?” Orin twisted his fist into Rekk’s T-shirt and yanked him so close there was no air between them. “You make me so fucking hard I can’t think of anything but stripping you naked, offering you my ass or taking yours.” He shook Rekk. “You think I want to feel like this about a man I’m supposed to be protecting with my life?”

All the anger drained from Rekk. “No. And that is the point I am trying to make. You don’t
have
to feel like this. One day away from me and you will be back to normal. I corrupt everything I touch.”

“You don’t seriously believe that, do you? You think what I feel is nothing but something
you’ve
created?”

Rekk met Orin’s outraged blue gaze. “You know it’s the truth—my shields are damaged. I… attract people.”

“So everyone you meet immediately wants to fuck you?”

He nodded.

“Wow, conceited much?” Orin shoved him in the chest. “Then listen up. I want to fuck you because you’re mine.”

“Orin…”

“Shut up.” He stuck his finger right in Rekk’s face. “You’re mine and Mya’s. When you work that out, you come and find me, and you’d better be on your knees begging to suck my dick.” Orin checked his weapon. “Now come on, we’re supposed to be meeting Mya in the next town. We can reach it through the woods.”

Rekk tried again. “I think you and Mya would be safer without me.”

“And
I
think you’re talking out of your ass. Mya and I are under orders, and neither one of us likes to fail, so get a move on, soldier!”

Rekk started walking in the direction Orin pointed. He could work with this. Mya and Orin would get him to the Temple whether he liked it or not. Once they were there and separated, Orin would quickly recover from his infatuation and everything would be well. He wouldn’t even think about his bond with Mya.

So if that was the case, why did he feel as if he were making a terrible mistake?

“
Incoming. Don’t shoot—unless you want to shoot Rekk who’s an ass for running off in the first place
.”

Thank the Gods. That was Orin’s voice. Mya lowered her weapon but didn’t put it away as she scooted off the bed and went to the side of the door. She unlocked the security code and stood back as Rekk was shoved into the room followed by Orin.