“I’m not having sex with you right now.” She tipped her chin up.

  “Not now maybe, but in about three minutes? Well, I’d not be laying any odds on that.”

  Her dress, like all the others she’d been wearing, simply fell to the floor when he yanked on it.

  Her eyes widened and she blew out a frustrated breath. “You can’t just give me those eyes and lick your lips and expect me to jump on your cock.”

  Ah, Sela was fading and Sera was surfacing. Fine, he preferred the real woman anyway. Unfortunately that one was extremely vexed at that moment.

  “It doesn’t matter if Kira wants Ash, sweet. He wants you.” Giving up on seduction for the moment, he moved around her body and lay across the bed. He patted the mattress but she perched on the far edge instead.

  “That’s not the point. She doesn’t even want Ash. Not really. She just doesn’t want anyone else to have him either. It’s a female thing, Brandt, just take my word for it.” She rolled her eyes at him and he laughed.

  “I’m sorry I said you were being tedious. At the time I hadn’t thought about the Kira and Ash thing. And I didn’t take into account how much you must have hated it to have to go and hide from my sister.”

  “Your sister is a vile, vile creature, Brandt. Once this is over I won’t be running to the other room when and if I see her. But it was my job to do just that.”

  He grinned. “Sweet, you’ve made my cock very hard with your attitude.”

  “And for your information, I’m not mad because of Kira. I mean yes, she’s an idiot and it escapes me why anyone would be able to resist smacking her face a time or two just for fun. But now I can be angry that you’ve missed the entire point of why I’m mad and think I’m as shallow and insipid as your sister.”

  “So tell me then. Why are you upset if it’s not Kira. And I don’t think, by the way, that you’re shallow or insipid.”

  “You didn’t think twice before scampering out to escort Kira back but you actually tried to forbid me from helping the one person on Nondal who needed it most. And then, on top of that you got all high handed with me. For a moment there, Brandt Pela, you were the Ranked man and I was the unranked concubine. That’s what it felt like and I don’t like it one bit.”

  She watched his face as he got it. He sighed, very tired sounding.

  She stood and quickly, he lunged, bringing them both to the very thick rug, rolling so his body took the impact. “Oh no you don’t. I want you here. You gave yourself to me, remember? I do. I’m not giving you back.” He kissed down her bare chest to her breasts, where her nipples stood hard and proud.

  “I’m not a thing.”

  “No you aren’t. Nor did he say you were. We want you. You’re beautiful and sexy and neither of us likes it when you’re angry with us.” Ash knelt beside them.

  “Then neither of you should act like idiots.”

  “You’re right. But, Freka, as you pointed out just the other day, we’re just men.” Ash whipped his shirt off and tossed it behind him. “Is this bed big enough for three?”

  “You want me but you don’t need me. I’m a complication neither of you needs.”

  Brandt looked her straight in her beautiful eyes and shook his head. They’d slipped and moved through. They didn’t have monitors on board and damn it, he wanted to say what he meant. Out loud. “Fuck this whole thing. I do need you. More than I expected to, more than I planned to, more than I knew I could need anyone. You’re not going to push me away because of how complicated things are. I may be heavy-handed but damn it, I love you. I’m not going to allow it.”

  “You may change your mind if we find something out you didn’t want to know.” She held up the comb Rina had given her. With a flick of her wrist, it split open and a data chip fell into her palm. He didn’t miss the emotion in her voice.

  Ash sighed and stood, helping her up.

  “No matter what we find, it’s not your fault.” Ash grabbed her waist and pulled her against his body and she moaned softly.

  Brandt knelt behind her and nipped, hard, on one delicious cheek of her perfect ass. He ran his palms over the smooth skin of her legs, over the taut flesh of her belly and she writhed between them.

  “Don’t get too involved back there,” Ash said, looking around her body and down at him.

  “I’m changing into clothes. Real clothes. And then I’ll do a bit of reading.”

  “No more of this nonsense about changing rooms.” Brandt frowned.

  “My room is bigger, it might be a more comfortable fit for the three of us.” Ash shrugged and Sera threw her hands up.

  “Fine. It’s not like I have any say.”

  Brandt grinned and watched as she dug through the drawers until she located a pair of soft pants and a long sleeved shirt. And for some reason, she looked even sexier in them than she had the scant little things she’d been wearing on Nondal.

  She turned and saw his perusal and snorted. The sweet, smoothness of Sela had been replaced by the sharper bite of Sera. He preferred it. “I like you much better this way. Sela was sexy and all, but Sera is vibrant, sharp, vivid, and far more sensual than I’d started to learn back in Borran. And Sera?”

  She cocked her head.

  “I love you. A thousand times over until I cease to live, I love you.”

  He didn’t fail to notice the quirk of her lips as she fought a smile or the way the stiffness of her spine softened.

  “I’m sorry.” He said it genuinely and out loud.

  “I know.” She rolled her eyes and sashayed from the room. “Oh and I love you too.”

  Smiling like the fool he was, he trailed after her into Ash’s room just down the corridor.

  * * *

  Ash hadn’t lied, it was a much larger room. Sera’s eyes widened a bit as she took it in while heading straight for the computer and other electronic gadgetry in the far corner. First she loaded the data she’d mined that first night and hit a wall straight off. Encryption. She’d need to set a program up to try and get through whatever locks so they could access the information.

  Once that was set up, she loaded the chip Rina had given her and ran it through a virus program before uploading the information it contained.

  Sera looked at the screen and frowned. It wasn’t concrete proof but it was a host of things Rina suspected Owen Alder had been up to on the Edge. She believed Perry was part of it and that Tifrit was also becoming involved. She felt quite strongly that Giles’ murder was arranged by Owen because Giles had been talking too much and had outlived his usefulness. Rina wasn’t sure just how involved Kira was but felt she had some level of knowledge of the situation.

  Ash sat heavily behind her and Brandt sighed and began to pace. She may not like Kira and Perry but their possible involvement hurt the men she loved and that hurt her. She loved them. She wanted to run and hide from it but she couldn’t. Instead she tried to focus.

  “This isn’t good.”

  Brandt undid his hair and shook it out, sending sensual shivers through her despite the seriousness of the situation. It was so long and so dark, she knew the feel of the cool, dark silk as it glided over her skin. She swallowed hard and dug her nails into her palms to focus on the issue.

  “I may need to make a trip home to follow up,” Brandt said.

  “Me as well,” Ash agreed.

  “Why don’t you both head on and I’ll change transport in Pilus? That way you can keep going and I can go back to Borran. The data I got the first night is encrypted. It’s a very sophisticated program actually. It may be a few days before I can get it translated. No use wasting time when you two can get on your way.”

  Ash looked at her, spun her chair to face him, pulled her up and grabbed her hair. “We’ll be together, Freka.” He tipped her head, angling her mouth just where he wanted it and stole a kiss. She’d expected a ferocious one but instead, he delivered a touch so gentle and reverent, tears stung her eyes.

  “We’ll all go back to Borran and then head out once we’re there.” Brandt moved behind them, pressing his cock into the flesh of her ass.

  “Now that we’ve taken care of work, some play is in order, wouldn’t you say?” Ash asked her with a wicked smile.

  “Are you suggesting a vid?” She smiled. They were both ridiculously incorrigible.

  She found herself slung over Ash’s shoulder and she growled. “I believe we’ve discussed how unamused I am by this position.”

  Ash laughed and tossed her to the bed and she bounced.

  “You’re very saucy today.”

  Sera couldn’t pry her gaze away from Ash’s hands working the fastenings on his pants.

  “Something here you find of interest?” He looked particularly feral in that moment, shirtless, bare skin on his skull gleaming, deep concentration on his face. All for her. It made her heart beat faster just to watch him look at her.

  “I’m saucy every day, Ash. It’s just your diet has apparently been quite bland.”

  Brandt burst out laughing and quickly undressed, standing at the foot of the bed, naked, hair loose around his shoulders.

  “So um, you two,” Sera licked her lips, “are you together? I mean, I know you’re together.” She couldn’t believe she was blushing. “But I meant, like as a couple?”

  Ash’s smile turned wicked as he reached out, sliding his hands through Brandt’s hair. “Does the idea please you?”

  “Look, I’m all about the boytouching, let’s make that clear. As long as I’m involved, I can watch and you come back to me, I’m on board.”

  “Like this?” Brandt turned and kissed Ash’s jaw and down his neck. Ash hissed, arching into Brandt’s touch as Brandt tugged on one of Ash’s nipple rings.

  Sera got rid of her shirt and pants before piling some pillows to lean against so she’d be better able to watch. “How long? How long have you been lovers?”

  Ash encircled Brandt’s cock in his fist and pumped slowly. “I wouldn’t say we’re lovers. Not the way we are with you. We’ve given each other pleasure, he’s let me use the cat on his ass and back. I like to make him come. He likes to make me come. It works out.”

  Sera idly tweaked one of her nipples and spread her thighs wide. Both men honed in on her pussy and she smiled. Yes, she was the submissive but in submission there was power.

  “Who tops?” The idea of the two of them together, all that male strength, all that dominance writhing and moaning together made her wet and achy. She’d never actually been in a threesome before so the whole thing was new. But watching her two men together, the small glimpses they’d given her was beyond titillating. It was comforting too in some sense. At first she’d had a twinge of unease, of jealousy. But they clearly needed her, wanted her, desired her and the jealousy had eased until all that remained was how sexy it was.

  “We switch.” Brandt lifted his lips from where they’d been on Ash’s collarbone. “Finger your cunt for me.”

  A flush of heat rose from her toes as she slid her hand down her belly. She wasn’t surprised to find herself already wet as she played her fingers over her clit. Still she wasn’t going to let go of the subject at hand. “Can I watch? You know, you two going at it. Or, well,” she paused as a wave of sensation echoed through her, her clit hardening against her fingertips, “be in charge too?”

  Ash laughed and raised a brow in her direction. “I didn’t say you could come. Hold off.” He waited for her to slow her fingers down before going on. “We don’t need to with you around, Freka. We can both top you. And I don’t need Brandt that way, not with you in my bed.”

  She frowned dramatically, pulling her glistening fingers free and painting her nipples with them. “Well I can’t deny the appeal of that and all, but you know, it would make me so happy to see it. Like say, one of you could top the other two.” She sat up, looking hopeful.

  “You’re very mischievous.” Brandt’s eyes didn’t leave her nipples.

  “Yes and saucy and disobedient and a whole list of things. We’ve established that. But surely you can’t be all hot for each other and just you know, turn it off.”

  Ash turned to Brandt. “Whose turn is it?”

  “Mine, and it’s not that we just turned it off. Ash is still sexually attractive to me, how can he not be? But you’re the center of everything. I want you the moment my eyes open each day until they close at night. What turned me on the most with Ash was topping him. Dominating a man as dominant as me. He’s got an able hand with the cat, yes, but you make me witless with desire in a way no one ever has.” He turned to Ash. “On the bed with her.”

  Ash kicked his pants the rest of the way off and crawled to her. The look on his face made her wet. Wetter.

  “It’s you, Freka. You’re it. We can be three. It works because I love Brandt too and it’s no punishment to have him in our bed. But you make me whole. You make us whole. Do you know that?”

  She pressed the back of her hand against her mouth. Why did he get to her the way he did? No one else, not even Brandt could touch her that way, so intimately.

  “My cock is awfully lonely over here. You two had better remedy that,” Brandt ordered from his place at the foot of the bed.

  Sera looked to Ash, who tackled her on the way, rolling her over and kissing her. She arched into his body, loving the way he felt, hard, male, in charge. His mouth sought her nipples, moaned as he tasted her.

  She opened her eyes to see Brandt still there, just inches away, a smirk on his face and his cock in his hand. “You’re taking your time about it. Both of you.”

  “He feels so good.” She sighed as Ash bit her nipple and pinched the other one until she writhed.

  “She tastes spicy and sticky. Like her pretty little cunt.” Ash licked downward but when the tip of his tongue touched her clit Brandt put a stop to it.

  “I gave you both an order.”

  Ash chuckled and got off the bed, holding his hand out to Sera. With a frown at him and then Brandt, she reached out but soon found herself being picked up, spun and face down over Brandt’s lap.

  Three quick, sharp slaps to her ass and she squirmed against the very hard cock poking her belly.

  “Silly me, I’ve forgotten all my toys at home. However,” he leaned down, still holding her in his lap, “as we know, every day objects can be perverted to our use. And if anyone’s ass needed a little correction, it’s yours.”

  She smiled into the taut flesh of his calf, head upside down, hair hiding her satisfaction.

  The cool edge of something, something flat and hard even as it was smooth, touched the heated skin of her ass. What was that? She tried to place it until he used it like a slapper and then she sucked in a breath and then found the sense to breathe through it as he continued to use it on her thighs as well as that lovely place where ass met thigh and cunt.

  The scent of her pussy painted the air as the flush in her skin built. With that, the presence of that hard cock in her belly grew, pressed, became insistent.

  She slipped away, letting the sensations take her, envelop her in a fluffy bed of serotonin, into that dreamy place.

  * * *

  Brandt tossed away the flip top notebook he carried his data cards in. It’d served as a very fine slapper substitute although he preferred something with a handle to save his wrist. He liked a better gauge on the strength of the slaps. He held back this time, not wanting to over do it.

  From the heavy weight of the woman spread over his lap, he need not have worried. She’d slipped into subspace, her muscles pliant and loose, her fingers open against the rug at his feet.

  “You’re so amazing. So beautiful.” He said it as he softly caressed her skin, feeling the warmth of it radiate from her.

  Ash stood there, still bound by his orders and Brandt sent him a wicked, unrepentant smile as he dipped his fingers into her from behind and she moaned, stirring a bit and pushing against his hand.

  His gaze still locked with Ash’s, Brandt took those fingers to his lips and tasted her, laughing at Ash’s reaction.

  “Ah, ah, ah. I’m topping and you didn’t submit very well, now did you? As I can’t tie you up and…oh but I can.” He stood, Sera still warm and soft in his arms and lay her on the bed. “Just a bit, sweet. I’ll be right back.”

  He grinned as he rifled through the drawers and found what he needed.

  Ash still stood waiting for instructions.

  “On the bed and don’t touch her. Really, why you don’t have toys in your damned transport is beyond me. I’ll have to make due.” Brant straddled Ash’s body and Sera’s eyes cleared a bit to watch Brandt take each one of Ash’s wrists and fasten it to a bed post with one of Ash’s own belts.

  Fire raged in Ash’s eyes as he realized what Brandt was going to do but he kept quiet but for a growl as Brandt dragged his cock over Ash’s on his way down to secure each ankle.

  “Very nice.”

  He grabbed a chair and sat it at the foot of the bed and sat. “Can you see me, Ash?”

  Ash lifted his head. “Yes, you bastard.”

  Brandt laughed. “Sweet, put a pillow under Ash’s head so he can see us better.”

  Sera moved, languid and slow, obeying. She planted a kiss on Ash’s forehead and he let the infraction slide.

  “Come here.”

  She slid off the bed and walked to him, waiting for him to tell her what to do next.

  “Face Ash, hands on the footboard.”

  She turned, showing off the long, feminine line of her back and the still pinked cheeks of her luscious ass.

  “Spread your thighs and fuck me. Make sure Ash can see my cock sliding deep into your pussy and coming back out all shiny with your juices.”

  “Fuck,” Ash snarled, pulling against his bonds.

  “Her cunt is on fire, Ash. Hot, wet and so tight.” Brandt watched, entranced as hunger took over Ash’s face, before transferring his gaze to the sight of the deep red stalk of his cock, shiny with her lube, disappearing into her.

  “At least let me make her come, Brandt. Let me suck on that sweet little clit until she comes all over me and your cock.”