“This is really impressive work, Sera. Did you even sleep last night to put all this together?” Ash asked, looking up at her, loving that her hair was long again, the way it was when they were together.

  “I get by.”

  Brandt sighed and Ash felt sorry for him. He’d hurt Sera’s feelings and he sure as hells knew what that felt like. “So I think we should focus on him, then. Of course keep an eye on the others, but let’s stick close to Stander when we get to Nondal. Our intel says he’ll be there in five turns for a general meeting of their trade company. They do big business on the rim. We leave before first light and should arrive the day before he does.”

  Sera nodded, gathering up her papers. “Is there anything else?”

  Brandt reached out and took her hand. “I am sorry. I’ve offended you, I didn’t mean to. I know you’ve had a lot to deal with in the last day and my attitude didn’t help. I want this to work and I’m asking for more than is fair, I know, but I’d like to move past this.”

  She sighed and pulled her hand back. “Fine.”

  “There’s the issue of you being my concubine and also the implantation of the communication chip.”

  “Communication chip?” Her voice rose a bit.

  Brandt explained, “You know what the situation on Nondal will be like. Total surveillance in some instances. We can’t speak openly but it’s necessary we have the ability to communicate. Ash and I have chips implanted, coded to each other. Experimental but they work. They operate on a special frequency. Ash will need to implant yours.”

  Her eyes widened with undisguised interest. “Hells. I heard about these things but I thought it was all silly stories. It’s like what, telepathy?”

  “Of a sort.” Ash held up a small glass tube with a silver cylinder inside. “It’s undetectable in almost all cases because it mimics bone. I’ll place it against the back of your skull, near your spine. It will establish a neural pathway and connect with ours on the frequency each communicator is set to.”

  “You can hear my thoughts? I’ll have no privacy at all?” How the hells would she survive that?

  Ash shook his head. “No, no. I’ll give you a bit of instruction but it’s rather simple. You just open a neural doorway to speak and close it when you’re done. We can’t hear your thoughts unless you want us to.”

  Sera knew they were right. They’d be watched and listened to almost constantly on Nondal but the idea of some creepy little brain comm unit was seriously disturbing.

  But unavoidable.

  “Okay. Put it in.”

  “Sit there. I’m going to put it in with a needle. I’ll have to touch you.” Ash phrased it like a request.

  She appreciated that he actually asked and nodded her assent as she sat and pulled her hair away.

  Brandt knelt beside her and held her hand. “It’s going to be fine. It feels…odd until you get used to it, but it doesn’t hurt and it’s saved my life more than once. We’ll be able to hear you within a twelve click radius.”

  Ash’s fingers were warm and sure at the back of her neck. She felt the cool swipe of antiseptic and then the prick of a needle slowly entering her skin. It went deep and then a strange, metallic taste filled her senses as her spine stiffened and her teeth clenched.

  Brandt murmured softly, brushing his hand up and down her arm while holding her hand.

  Ash moved away and put her hair back in place.

  “It’ll take a few hours for the pathway to establish itself and for your frequency to key into ours. Do you feel all right?” Ash helped her to stand.

  Sera thought for a bit and nodded. “Now, what was that other bit about me being your concubine?” She looked to Brandt, wanting to focus on anything but the weirdness of what had just happened.

  “You need to be used to my touch, Sera. Gentled to my presence. That’s not something you can just will yourself to do. You jump when I touch you or when Ash comes into the room. And I know,” he spoke a little louder to stop her from interrupting, “this is hard for you, but as a concubine you’ll need to be very sexual with me. I’ll need to kiss you and touch you. All over. And more. You know that.”

  “I do know that, but I can’t just be accustomed to a stranger’s touch overnight.”

  “Which is why I think we should start now. We should sleep together on the transport. I’d like to work on small touches and build up from there starting now.”

  “Build up to fucking.” She said it with a subtle raise of her eyebrow.

  “Yes, or a very good approximation of it at the least. I wish it didn’t have to be this way.” Brandt shrugged.

  Ash snorted and Brandt turned to him with a glare.

  “You mean to tell me you can look at her and not want her?”

  Brandt’s hands flew up angrily. “I said I wish it didn’t have to be this way. I’m not saying it’ll be a chore to have her in my bed. But I prefer my bed mates to come to me willingly and not as an assignment. And it would be less of one if you weren’t trying to goad her every five minutes!”

  “Me? You’re the one who insulted her and now you’re trying to maneuver her into your bed!” Ash tossed back.

  “Jealous?” Brandt taunted.

  “Yes! Gods damned! I am. I want her so much my teeth hurt and she’ll be next to you, naked and willing and I hate that.”

  “Not everything is about you, Ash. Have you thought about how hard this is for Sera? For even just a moment?”

  “As if either of you actually remember I’m in the damned room.” Sera leaned her fists against the table top. “If I am to be a member of this team you’ll both address me. Stop speaking around me like I’m not here. This is a job. It’s better than sitting in a muddy hole in the driving rain, trying not to shiver from the cold. I get why it’s important and okay, fine. But I’m not a thing. I am not even a woman Ash used to fuck. I’m the third member of this team and you will treat me as such. You need me, damn you both.”

  “I’m better than sitting in a muddy hole?” Brandt tried not to laugh.

  “Marginally so.”

  Ash snorted laughter but then sobered. “You’re right. I apologize. You are the third member of this team and we do need you. But you’re wrong on one thing. You were—are—a lot more to me than the woman I used to fuck. I’m not proud of having to let you go, but it was what I had to do. It wasn’t that I didn’t love you.”

  “I don’t want to discuss it. I’m well aware as Brandt’s best friend, you’ll be allowed to show me sexual attention in Nondal. I will tell you right now to keep it to a minimum or you’ll be drawing back a bloody stump. Don’t use this to manipulate me.”

  “Okay, so let’s move on as long as we all understand each other.” Brandt looked to both, waiting for them to acknowledge what he’d said. Getting it, he nodded and pushed his chair out. “Evening meal back here in two hours. It’s time we worked on some team building.”

  Sera nodded shortly and left the room, needing to get away from them both for a while before she exploded.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Moving down stairs in a skirt was a lot harder than she remembered. The heels she wore were high and delicate and if she wasn’t careful, she’d step on the hem of the gown. Then she could add to her embarrassment by falling.

  Still, Sera hid her secret thrill at wearing something so feminine and sexy. The slits on either side went all the way to her waist. She had to move artfully, carefully or she’d be showing the world her pink parts. At the waist, the material of the dress was drawn tight with a golden tie that thrust her breasts—such as they were—up over the top of the bodice.

  Brandt had been right, she needed to get used to her role as a concubine. Which meant moving at ease in the clothes she’d need to wear as well as being comfortable at his sexual and affectionate touching. At least she had some experience with the clothes. The gown she wore was quite similar to the ones she wore nightly for Ash.

  Showtime, Sera. Sliding her palms down the silk of the dress, she walked into the main room, waiting for them to notice. It didn’t take long.

  Brandt turned to her, lips slightly parted in surprise. “Where’s my drink, darling?” she purred, wearing a sexy smile.

  His smile in return was enough to make her stomach flutter. “Don’t you look lovely.” He approached her with predator-like grace. Stopping just shy of touching her, he reached out, his hand cupping the back of her neck and pulled her to his body. She let herself fall into him, the cushion of soft to hard. Lush lips passed over her own gently, just a brush, before letting her go.

  “Do you still enjoy ale, Sera?” Ash interrupted, voice brusque.

  Shaking off the spell of Brandt’s touch, she turned and nodded as she took the tall glass Ash handed her. She took a few deep swallows to try and get past that kiss.

  “Nicely done, Sera. That’s a beautiful color on you,” Brandt murmured, his hand sliding around her waist, cupping her hip possessively.

  “Thank you. It’s nice to know I’m not entirely rusty after years of uniforms and smelling like gun oil.”

  The sexual tension between them thickened. Her breath caught as his tongue darted out to catch a drop of ale on her lip, sending shivers from nipples to her pussy. “You’re not rusty at all,” he murmured, lips just barely touching hers.

  “And dinner is here. I’m starved,” Ash all but growled as he pushed past them both to the low table where the food had been placed. He plopped down on a pillow and looked up at the two of them, annoyance clear on his face.

  Brandt propelled her to the table with a guiding hand at the small of her back. He nodded to the pillows at his feet and she slowly got to her knees. Warm, lethargic desire rolled through her at the familiarity of the movement. It’d been a very long time since she’d knelt before any man.

  One of Brandt’s hands caressed the side of her face and neck for a moment before he sank down next to her. Sera realized she might be able to lose herself in the role, to accept her need to be sexually submissive within the context of the person she’d have to be while on assignment.

  Whether she could find her way back later was something else entirely.

  “Oh, look, your favorite.” Sera picked up a small meat roll stuffed with greens and brushed it over Brandt’s lips. He opened, nipping her fingers as he took it into his mouth.

  Brandt found himself utterly charmed by Sera. He laughed at her playful nature as she fed him and stole bits from his plate and even Ash’s a few times. The depth of his attraction for her crashed into his system. Seeing her on her knees there the moment before he sat down next to her, the power of it, of those deep blue eyes blinking up at him, made his cock so hard he’d winced every time he’d moved. It’d nearly brought him to his own knees.

  But it was complicated and would only continue to get more so. She used to be Ash’s woman. He still loved her. And Brandt loved and respected his friend very much. More than that, Sera carried wounds from her break-up with Ash and Brandt didn’t want to hurt her. And they were all three on a team together.

  He had no idea how he’d get through the next weeks with her posing as his concubine. But he looked forward to it anyway.

  In truth, he’d dallied here and there but he’d never actually had a full-time relationship with a woman. The dynamics were far different, more complicated even as he found himself fascinated and drawn in by the beginnings of just that sort of thing with Sera.

  He wanted what he shouldn’t want. But that didn’t stop him from wanting it.

  Sera’s heart raced at Brandt’s touches. At the warmth of his skin and his elemental scent. His hair caught the light just right and glints of blue were shot through the ebony strands. His lips had been soft and juicy and hinted at what was to come.

  She should not want him. It was totally unlike her, which was so very odd. For a very long time she’d simply turned off that part of herself. After Ash, there’d been a dark time when she’d loosed all her anchors and found herself in places she hoped to never return. Part of her had been relieved by the absence of such a powerful bond.

  Afterward though, once she’d decided to live again, she had relationships here and there and enjoyed sex on occasion. But she never craved being topped by any of them. It was as if her time with Ash had been so special, so perfect that when it ended so horribly, it killed her desire for submission. But there on her knees, the heat of Brandt at one side and Ash’s hard, arrogant body just to the other side, she began to lose hold on caution and let herself examine the possibilities.

  She should be far more worried about the next weeks in Brandt’s bed but desire began to trump caution. The way he’d touched her as she’d knelt before him…she knew their sex play would turn rough and hard-edged and the knowledge thrilled through her system.

  Which made her think about Ash and the way he stared at her with hungry eyes. He’d be touching her too. She knew he’d push it as far as he could when they got to Nondal and it panicked her. Not so much because she couldn’t take it, but that she craved it and had never stopped. Ash had been a part of her for a very long time and even after she’d left, he’d kept part of her heart. Hells, most of her heart. That’s why she’d never been able to get rid of the tattoo on her hip.

  Despite loving him still, she couldn’t trust him. She couldn’t trust herself or the way she felt when he’d dominated her. He’d been her drug, her lover, her friend, her master in the bedroom. No one had ever made her feel that way since.

  Until she’d gotten to her knees and looked up at Brandt.

  * * *

  And Ash wanted. He wanted Sera with a depth of longing that twisted his gut. When she’d gotten to her knees before Brandt, he’d bitten his lip so hard he tasted the metallic tang of blood.

  His memories of his time with Sera had kept him company for the last ten years. But time had softened the ache. Seeing her there like that sent it racing through him with a depth of clarity and longing he hadn’t felt since the first weeks after she’d left. The dull pain of her absence in his life was now sharp edged. The hunger for her was near desperation and he knew he’d do whatever it took to get her back.

  Watching Brandt slowly begin to seduce her to his power and will had fascinated Ash. He wasn’t jealous. He’d expected to be. He just wanted the scenario to include him. Even though Brandt had topped him several times, watching him dominate Sera was a totally different feeling. Bittersweet. It made Ash hot and hard and filled with need. He’d begun to envision a threesome with the two of them topping Sera but sharing their lives as equals in every way. The thought pleased him. And he planned to move heaven and terra to make it happen. It would happen.

  After the staff had taken the food away, Sera got up and brought a cordial to Brandt and then one to Ash.

  “Sit here, Sera.” Brandt patted the cushion on the couch next to him.

  She kicked off her shoes and pulled her legs up under her body as she reclined into his side. One hand stroked up and down his forearm in dreamy rhythm.

  “Would you like to work on using the chip?” Ash’s voice was soft, not angry.

  Sera took a deep breath. “Okay.”

  Ash moved a cushion to the floor in front of her and sat on it. “I want you to close your eyes and relax from the tip of your toes up to the top of your head.”

  She did it.

  “Now, think about sliding up your spine.” He reached around her body and slid his middle finger up and over each bump of her spine until it stopped at the base of her skull. “Now. The spot where I’m touching is a door. Think of a door and open it and when you get inside, flip the lights on.”

  Sera followed his instructions.

  “Now, I’m going to speak to you and you’re going to answer me but not out loud. Just think your answer, all right?”

  “All right.”

  “Can you hear me, Sera?” Brandt asked.

  “Yes of course.”

  “Open your eyes.” Ash squeezed her hand and she looked into his pale blue gaze. “How do you feel?”

  She realized he wasn’t speaking out loud and laughed at the novelty of it.

  “Amazing!” But she’d thought it and both men laughed too. All in her head.

  She spoke out loud this time. “That’s it? I just have to talk to you in my head?”

  “Just open that door. You don’t have to do the spine and door thing. You know where it is now right?” Ash tapped the base of her skull and she realized his hand had been resting there all along.

  She felt it, like a small spot of warmth laying against the bone. “Yes. Weird.”

  Ash laughed again and moved his hand away. Her skin cooled at the absence of his touch. “You’ll get used to it. Just open it and speak. The frequency will alert us and we can open our chip to speak back. We don’t have to be in the same room. Like we said earlier, it’s effective up to twelve clicks. To turn it off, just close the door. We can’t hear your thoughts if you’ve shut the path.”

  She did and they sent thoughts her way so she’d know what it felt like.

  Ash stood and tossed the pillow back on the chair nearby. “Your record is no longer public, we’ve pulled it. Tomorrow morning we’ll start calling you Sela. You’ll have to totally take on your cover identity. The name is similar on purpose. Even though you look a little different, if someone thinks they know you and hears a similar name it should satisfy.”

  Sera nodded, a bit overwhelmed. It wasn’t as if people would recognize her even if she was the target of Family gossip when she’d left Ash. She was a thing to them. Amusing to speak of but none had bothered to look that closely. It satisfied her that such behavior actually served her for a change. “I should be going to sleep now. If we’re leaving at first light I’ll need the rest.”