Page 36 of Essa

Essa gives me an expectant look, but I can tell she's trying her hardest not to seem overeager. I'd be eager to hear about her story, where she came from, and why she left, but our pasts are difficult sometimes. I have no doubt hers was hard too. Maybe not the same as Adam and mine, but hard nonetheless.

"Red-headed orphan with a penchant for reading people," I say with a shrug. "When I was nineteen, I was arrested for fraud, even though it was never proven, and I never made it to trial.Instead, I was shipped off to some research facility with the promise of a clean slate and enough money to make me happy when I left."

Adam scoffs and rolls his eyes because, of course, he does. He doesn't like that I say 'I' when talking about Original Seth's life. I don't like that he doesn't accept his memories as his own.

"I was naive and easily swayed by money. When the invasion happened, I was twenty-four, still stuck in their research facility as they tried to do some weird magical woo-woo to me like it was actual science. Then, shortly after the invasion ended, they told me I was to be a companion for a different experiment they were doing. I don't know how it all worked. I only know that months after learning about Adam and how they were torturing him, the weird woo-woo they were doing to my mind finally worked. I felt his pain and heard his thoughts. We've been linked since then."

"Wait." Essa's brows rise so high on her head as she jerks in Adam's hold. Not that he seems to care because he just tugs on her hair to pull her back into place, her pupils constricting at the tug and her fangs starting to elongate.

Adam's expression warms at her reaction, which makes me shake my head. Their relationship with one another is messy. I don't even want to pretend like I understand it.

Essa calms herself down enough that she's not about to spin around and prove to Adam how much stronger she is than him and continues with her question. "What do you mean you're linked?"

My eyes go wide, and my lips part. Oh shit. I didn't mean for all that to come out, and now there's no taking it back. Adam, who I think would be the one stressing about it the most, focuses solely on the newest braid he's working on. I start to speak, my words catching on themselves, when Adam finally deems it appropriate to save me.

"He's telepathic, but only with me." Adam shoots me a look, which means he wants me to check out his thoughts right now. I won't be doing that because I know he's got me on my hands and knees in his head right now. "He can read emotions pretty easily, though, and his senses are stronger than yours, mostly hearing, but smell and touch are more sensitive, too."

"And you?" Essa asks, this time grabbing Adam's hand to keep him from pulling her hair as she turns to face him. "What did they do to you?"

"They made me reckless and fearless and easy to anger," Adam says as he grabs one of her horns and uses it to twist her head around so she's facing forward. "Now, be still so I can finish your hair. I think two more braids, and you'll look like the Haventh female on the information page Seth and I looked over."

I snort, just now realizing that he's doing Essa's hair almost exactly like the image of the female headshot we saw at the end of the article we read about Haventh concubine ceremonies. He was doing a good job, so I thought he had some idea of what he was doing, but now that he's mentioned it, I can't help but laugh at the uncanny similarity.

A knock on the door has us all tensing, but when it slides open to reveal our two guards both looking timid, we relax. Well, Essa and I do. Adam does the opposite.

"What?" he snaps, trying and failing to look anything but doting as he braids Essa's hair, even though he wants to be intimidating.

"We're about to enter Haven III's space," one of the men says as he rubs the back of his neck. "Time to get you all to the airlock for docking."

Adam's scowl deepens as his fingers move faster. "Give us five minutes."

"We—" The first man starts to speak, but Adam throws a death glare at him, and a soft slap to his chest from his brother shutshim up and nods. "Five minutes, then we're docking on Haven III."

fourteen

Essa

"Look at me," I grab Adam's chin and tilt his eyes up to meet mine because he's being petulant right now. He thinks I can't read him, and maybe not as easily as Seth can since he's in his mind, but I know a jealous male when I see one, and he's jealous. "There will be many eyes on me when we return to my home. Will you behave?"

Adam's lips pull back in a snarl, and out of the corner of my eye, I can see Seth smiling at our interaction. The others in the navigation pit are staring at us as well, probably more interested in whether Adam and I are going to attempt to murder one another. They don't know that this is foreplay for us, or at least it is for me. I very much would like to strip him and have my way with him when he starts acting like this. Maybe making him orgasm will tame him a bit.

"Define behave," Adam says.

I roll my eyes and squeeze his chin harder. "Do I need to prepare myself to protect you when you inevitably offend someone, or will you try to remain respectful of my culture?"

Adam's eyes narrow, and his jaw ticks. "What if I choose the first option."

I shrug, releasing his chin. "I'm a strong female. I would enjoy showing you how very smart you were in asking to be my concubine."

It's true, too. Adam and Seth have made a very good choice in their protector. Even when I was young, I showed signs of being a powerful Haventh. Now that I'm fully grown and have people I wish to care for, not many will be stronger than me. None in my family's territory, at least. The closest in power will be my sister, Niivi, since we come from the same blood, but I haven't seen her upset since she was thirteen.

"You want him to fuck with things, don't you?" Seth whispers close to my ear as he steps up close to me.

The chain between him and me is shorter than the one between Adam and me. It could be seen as a sign of Seth being more important to me, and I'm sure many will think that when we are out on Haven III. But the three of us know I care for them equally and that if I had Adam as close as Seth, there'd be nothing but bickering and fighting.

"I'm strong enough that he can do as he pleases," I tell Seth, ignoring Adam's snort of attitude at being told he's allowed to do what he wants. "I wasn't lying to either of you when I told you you're mine to protect. Even if it's from the consequences of your own actions."

"Alright, enough with your weird flirting or whatever this is," Ixor says as he types something out on his comm tablet.

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