The Three (12 page)

Anna managed a dazed nod, barely hearing the question. At that moment, Elin could do anything to her.

She felt beside herself with wanting, confused and aroused and straining for something she didn’t quite understand. Elin bent forward to drop a gentle kiss on her damp curls, and Anna gasped at the feeling of her lips in such an intimate place. She moaned out loud when Elin dragged her tongue up the length of her sex. Her thighs trembled, and her face flushed hot in reaction.

When Elin covered her swollen folds with her whole mouth, Anna’s legs shook beyond her control. She felt a building pressure deep in her belly and she knew—she just knew—that this was the unmistakable pleasure Elin had told her about. She rolled her hips desperately and cried out, all shyness gone; only nonsense words and noises remained, pouring forth as if to ease the growing ache low in her belly. She threaded her fingers in Elin’s hair and held her face close, grinding against her lover’s mouth, drawing out her pleasure until she yelled out as her entire body shuddered in overwhelming release.

When the rush of sensation finally ebbed, Anna collapsed back with a weak moan and loosened her grip on Elin’s hair. Bright eyes gazed down at her, and Elin’s lips were swollen red, shining with juices. At the look of pure love in Elin’s eyes, Anna began to cry. Ashamed, she immediately tried to roll onto her side, but Elin crawled up and pulled her into a strong embrace.

“I’m sorry.” Anna swiped her hand across her cheek. “I don’t know…it was just so amazing. I don’t know why I’m—”

“It’s okay. It’s just your body’s reaction to the intensity of what you experienced. It’s perfectly natural.” Elin gave her a slow kiss. “I love you, Anna,” she whispered, kissing her sweat-dampened hair. “Thank you for sharing that with me.”

“I love you, too.” Anna grinned, then rumbled out quiet laughter.

Elin gave her an indulgent smile. “See? The other end of the emotional spectrum.”

Anna laughed harder, still crying. “You’re right.” She burrowed deeper into Elin’s warm embrace. “This was a perfect lazy morning.”

Kael was sitting on the ground, butt planted in the dirt at the base of a tree. Her knees were bent, big feet set apart on the ground. Her dark blue jeans were worn slightly in the knees, and her leather boots were scuffed. She wore a dark green T-shirt that was tighter on her torso than most of her other clothing, barely hinting at the small breasts concealed beneath. She was thrumming with edgy, tense energy. Several dead rabbits lay to one side of her. Anna smiled, almost hearing Elin’s mutters. Occasionally Kael produced a couple of pheasants after a hunt, but rabbit stew was their staple food.

Kael’s deep voice broke the stillness of the evening. “You gonna come over here and talk to me or just hide back there in the trees all night?”

“I was coming,” Anna said, then blushed hard at the double entendre. Well, not since Elin woke me up this morning while you were out running. “I mean, I wasn’t hiding.”

“Then move closer so I don’t have to shout, okay?”

Anna flushed at Kael’s gentle tone. While their relationship was still nowhere near as close as what she had with Elin, she and Kael were slowly building a mutual trust. Loving Elin gave them a common purpose, and so far, their growing friendship was based on a mutual adoration of their lover. But even that was starting to change. Anna could see genuine interest in Kael’s eyes, and she herself felt a timid attraction that grew stronger every day.

“Sit down.” Kael patted the ground at her side. “I was just catching dinner.”

“You don’t mind the company?”

“Of course not. We don’t spend much time together, do we?”

“Alone? No, not much.” Tugging nervously on her earlobe, Anna risked the question that gnawed at her every time Kael made an excuse to go off somewhere rather than stay with her. “Why is that?”

Kael gave a sheepish grin. “I guess it just feels like you’re Elin’s…friend, and I’m not the easiest person to be around. I know I can be a pain in the ass.”

Anna chewed on her lip as she contemplated how to respond. Well, Kael is kind of a pain in the ass sometimes. Then again, I’d say he has good reason to be worried about all the bad things that can happen to us. After all, he lived through so many of them.

“Being a pain in the ass…is part of your charm,” she chanced to say after a few moments.

“Gee, thanks,” Kael said in a droll voice. “That makes me feel better. I guess.”

Anna wrapped an arm awkwardly around her shoulders. “I mean that in the nicest way possible.”

“Is this how you won Elin over?”

Anna’s face grew hot at the teasing question. She was still anxious about talking about her love for Elin with Elin’s other lover. “Nah, I think that was a fluke. There’s nothing I could have done to win Elin over unless she already had it in her mind to take me as I am.”

“I know exactly what you mean.” A subtle twitch of Kael’s lips signaled her gentle humor. “So…was I right?”

Anna bit her lower lip, uncertain how to interpret the question. “About what?”

Kael smiled. It was unforced, genuine, and one of the most thrilling things Anna had ever seen. “That it can feel good?”

“Oh.” Anna’s face flooded with heat. “Yeah, you were right.”

“Are you okay?”

“I’m very okay.” Anna hesitated a moment, then asked, “Are…are you okay?”

“Yeah.” She drew her dark eyebrows together in concern. “Didn’t Elin tell you? You didn’t have to worry about me?”

“She did, but I just wanted to make sure.”

“Anna…I’m happy for you. I’m happy for Elin. In a world this hard, how could I ever be upset about love?”

“You’re a remarkable person,” Anna commented. “Someone like Elin…not everyone would be willing to share that with someone else.”

Kael touched her arm, drawing her gaze upwards. “Well, first of all…you’re not just anyone else. Elin loves you. Besides, it’s not for me to share Elin. I don’t own her.”

“But you love her.”

“Yes, and so I want her to be happy. You make her happy.” Cheeks flushed, Kael toyed with the knife she was cleaning. “And Anna, I think you deserve love, very much. I want you to be happy, too.”

Anna’s throat felt tight at the sentiment, and she cleared it before hastily changing the subject. “How did you learn to hunt like this?”

“I had a lot of time to practice when I was on my own.”

“After you escaped from the Eve Institute?” Anna hoped it was okay to bring that up.

Kael nodded. “Yeah. I was alone for a long time. And I spent all my time learning how to fight, how to hunt.

I’d choose something I wanted to master, and I would practice and practice until I had it.”

“How long were you alone before you met Elin?”

“Six years.”

“That’s a lot of practice.”

“It was a very dark time. A very long time.”

Anna did some quick mental math. “So you’re thirty years old?”

Kael lowered her voice. “Hasn’t anyone ever told you not to ask a lady her age?”

“Lady?” Anna giggled.

Kael gave her a cocky grin and ran her hand over her buzzed hair, flexing muscular arms. “You’re right. On both counts. How old are you?”

“Twenty-five.”

“So you were five when it happened. Do you remember anything?”

Anna closed her eyes. Mama’s dark hair. Dad’s mustache tickling my face. Marina, the most amazing big sister a five-year-old tagalong ever had. She smiled sadly. “A little bit.”

“Elin was lucky. Only two years old—it’s one reason she’s so untouched by things. She doesn’t have to remember everyone dying.”

Anna shuddered at some vague flashes of memory. Mama sick. Soldiers breaking into their home. People dying in the streets. Elin really is so lucky. When Kael didn’t say anything more, Anna steeled her nerve.

There was so much she wanted to know about her companion, but she wasn’t yet certain what she could ask. “Do you—”

Kael lifted a thick eyebrow when Anna’s words trailed off. “Just lay it on me, Anna. And sit back. Get comfortable.”

With a shy nod, Anna scooted backwards until her bottom touched the tree, so close to Kael that their bodies touched from shoulder to hip. “Is this okay?”

Kael exhaled and folded her arms across her stomach. “Yeah.” Her voice was uncharacteristically soft. “It’s very okay. Now ask me.”

“Do you…enjoy living as a man?”

Chuckling, Kael said, “I wondered when this might come up.”

“Yeah, well, you’re so good at it. I mean, I really never even imagined up until you showed me. I had no idea.”

“Thanks.” Kael beamed. “Don’t get me wrong. I don’t want to actually be a man. I just enjoy being masculine.”

“Is it because…because of what happened to you?”

Cool indigo eyes searched Anna’s face, and for a few moments she was afraid she’d said something wrong. But Kael just shook her head. “I don’t think so. I suppose it may have something to do with it, but I never quite felt like a normal little girl. Normal like the other little girls in my class were normal, I mean.”

“Because you liked other girls?”

Kael nodded. “Yeah, but also…I felt more like a boy. At least how I thought they must feel. I always wanted short hair. I wanted to play soccer in the streets with the neighborhood boys. When Mr. Jacobs took me…well, that may have intensified those feelings, but those feelings were always there inside of me.”

Recalling Elin’s words, Anna asked, “So you don’t feel like a woman?” Now that she had started down this path with Kael, she wanted to keep going.

“Not quite like a woman, no. Not quite like a man, either. I don’t know what I am. I just know that I’m masculine, and I prefer being seen as a man in this society. And I love women, even if they sometimes seem like foreign creatures to me.”

“I can truly say that you’re one of the most interesting people I’ve ever known,” Anna said. “I’m so lucky to have met you and Elin. I don’t know what I would’ve done without you two.” Anna twisted her hands in her lap, unable to admit how close she had been to giving up.

Kael captured Anna’s hand in both of hers and gave it a gentle squeeze. “I understand that, too. If it hadn’t been for Elin—” Kael shuddered, and Anna instinctively leaned into her solid body. “I don’t want to imagine what I would have become.”

Anna struggled to regulate her breathing as she stared at her hand between Kael’s. The whole of her concentration seemed suddenly riveted on the scent of her companion and the light pressure of Kael’s hip pressing against hers. “What do you mean?”

“The practicing, when I was alone—” Kael exhaled harshly. “One of the most important things I tried to master was becoming the best killer I could be. And I practiced a lot.”

That wasn’t hard to imagine. Kael radiated dark rage at times, and Anna had been witness to the efficiency with which she dispatched her enemies. She watched the naked pain in Kael’s eyes. It looks like it’s disturbing to remember, though.

“Does Elin know?”

“I’ve spared her the details.” Kael shifted to sheath her knife, her warm breath tickling Anna’s cheek and neck, raising gooseflesh on her arms. “She knows she saved me. I tell her all the time.”

Anna said, “I’ve killed people, too.” She fought to keep her mind away from the powerful sensuality of full lips brushing accidentally against her ear. “Not a lot, really. Four. And only in self-defense.” She remembered Garrett’s killers and cast weary eyes to the ground. “Mostly.”

Kael’s mouth twitched into a wistful smile. “I don’t always feel bad about doing it. I don’t talk to Elin much about that, but…sometimes I think people deserve to die.”

Anna’s eyes slipped momentarily shut in reaction to the scent and faint heat coming from Kael’s lean body, and she had to force herself to concentrate on her words. “I know what you mean,” she replied, feeling short of breath. “I do love how Elin sees the world so innocently. But I just don’t see it the same way. I’m trying, for her sake.”

“I’m glad she has you, Anna. I really am.”

“I’m glad she has you, too.” It was the truth.

Kael seemed embarrassed and bent to retrieve the rabbits. “I like hanging out with you. Maybe we can start sparring lessons again.”

Since the morning when wrestling had triggered Anna’s flashback, she’d only practiced light sparring with Elin. Her gut tugged at her to try fighting with Kael again. He could teach me so much more than Elin ever could. And I trust Kael. I really do.

“Okay,” she said. “Tomorrow morning?”

“Sounds good.” Kael stood, then helped Anna up.

Anna hesitated only a moment before wrapping her arms around Kael’s solid body. Kael brought rabbit-filled hands behind Anna’s back in an effort to return the hug. She nuzzled into Anna’s neck, simply breathing.

“Thanks for coming after me today,” Kael murmured. “It feels good to have another friend.”

Beaming, Anna gave her a squeeze. “Yes, it does.” She brought her mouth close to Kael’s ear. Closing her eyes, she whispered, “You make masculinity beautiful, you know.”

Kael caught her breath and stepped backwards, stumbling slightly. “Thanks. I, uh…I should go clean these rabbits.” Red-faced and holding the rabbits aloft, she added, “And you know…you’re beautiful, too. Really beautiful. And, uh…you should go tell Elin we’re getting ready for dinner.” Another backwards step, and then she turned to stalk away from Anna. “Thanks for the company,” she called back over her shoulder.

“It was my pleasure.”

Deeply involved in her book, Elin didn’t lift her eyes from her reading until Anna reached the high branches of the oak tree where she sat. When Anna clambered onto the branch beside her, she relaxed into a welcoming grin, folded the corner of a page to mark her place, and closed her book. “Hey, sweetheart. How are you doing?”