The words made no sense, but Aki persevered. “Who else is there?”
Ash sat forward, his hands clasped together between his knees, his almost white hair streaming over his shoulder. “Currently, there’s a group of ex-military telepaths from Earth.”
“My planet?” Aki still found the idea that his world was not the only one ridiculous, but he’d learned to hide it. “Are they as old as Einarr and I am?”
“No one is as old as you two. They only arrived recently on Pavlovan.” Ash hesitated. “They were in danger from their own government on Earth, so we offered them a home. Most of them intend to stay here and join the Pavlovan military.”
Aki nodded. “Good. They sound like excellent companions. I like to fight.”
“So do they. Their commander will enjoy matching his strength to yours.”
Aki instinctively flexed his biceps and caught the flash of interest from Elli. He smiled at her. “Do you like to fight, Elli?”
A sudden image rushed into his head of her naked in his arms as they fought their way through an intense fucking. His cock hardened and he sat upright, his gaze locked on hers as he realized the salacious image had come from her.
She immediately averted her gaze and stared out of the window. Beside her Ash patted her knee.
“
You have embarrassed my cousin
.” Ash’s voice echoed inside Aki’s head.
“I’ve never seen her react so violently to a male’s presence before
.”
“
Do all Pavlovan females act like this around men
?” Aki asked.
“
Not unless they are extremely attracted to them
.” Ash winked at him. “
My cousin isn’t mated yet, so please feel free to pursue her if you have a genuine interest in mating with her. However, if you just want to fuck around, leave her alone.
”
There was a threat behind Ash’s politely spoken request that Aki intended to respect. He nodded. “
By Odin’s blood, I swear I will never disrespect your kinswoman, Ash.
”
“
Good. I’d hate to have to set Esca on you
.” Ash looked out of the window as the vehicle slowed down. “We’re here.”
Aki got out and stared upward at the towering buildings that surrounded him. He tried not to let his jaw drop, but it was hard to understand the landscape he now found himself in. There were people everywhere, metal vehicles both large and small screaming through the sky and on the ground. And the noise… He wanted to cover his ears and cower in a corner like a small child caught in a raid.
“Aki?”
A gentle touch on his arm had him spinning around to face Elli.
“Are you ready to go inside?”
He nodded and allowed her to take his hand and lead him into the relative quietness of the stone building and into a small glass box that shot upward at such a speed that he thought he might puke up his innards. When the doors opened, he stumbled out only to find himself faced with a view over the whole town, which stretched for miles and miles in every direction. At least it wasn’t as bad as the blackness of space.
Inside the room, a large man rose to greet them. His expression was pleasant, but Aki knew a fellow warrior when he saw one. To his surprise the man dropped down on one knee in front of Ash and kissed his hand.
“First Male.”
“Second. I’m glad you’re back, Esca. I want to introduce you to Einarr and Aki, Viking mind talkers from Earth.”
Esca stood, his face on level with Aki’s and stared at him. “You must be Aki.” He held out his hand. “I am very pleased to meet you.”
Aki extended his hand as he’d learned to do. “How did you know which man I am?”
“Because I can feel the bond between your brother and his mate.” Esca grinned. “And they obviously can’t keep their hands off each other.”
Aki looked back to see Einarr’s female clinging to his side like a vine. Both of them were smiling and looked dazed with happiness.
“He is a fool.”
“Why is that?” Esca asked.
“Because he needs to be more aware of what is going on around him. Anyone could come up and kill him and he would never even notice.”
“Not in this apartment. Ash is a very important man and this building is guarded night and day.” He looked over at Ash, who was listening to them intently. “And I would not let anyone hurt my First Male. I would die for him.”
Aki nodded, impressed by the sincerity in Esca’s voice. Perhaps there were a few worthy men on this planet after all.
Ash patted Esca’s arm. “Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that,” he murmured. “Would you like something to eat, Aki, or would you prefer to be shown to your quarters first?”
“I think my brother needs to find somewhere to fuck his female, and I would like to wash.”
Einarr gave him a dirty look, but Aki merely smiled at him. His brother was usually very discreet when he took a woman, but not with the Pavlovan.
“
Is it acceptable to fuck in front of others
?” He directed the thought at Elli who had come to stand beside him.
She blushed again. “
Within one’s Triad, yes, but in public? Usually only at the festivals at the Temple of the Oracle.”
“I would like to meet this Oracle.” Aki murmured. “She is a powerful seer, is she not?”
Ash nodded. “Once you have settled in, I intend to take you and Einarr to visit her. She rarely comes to the city anymore. It doesn’t suit her.”
“I can understand why.” Aki risked another quick glance at the sheer drop beneath the glass window. “There are too many mind talkers here. It makes my head ache.”
Ash patted his arm. “You’ll get used to it. We have teachers here who can help you protect your thoughts and distance you from others.”
“More teachers?” Aki groaned.
“It would be worth your time to learn these things.”
“If you say so,” Aki said dubiously.
“Shall we go downstairs then?” Esca asked. “You get on with your work, Ash, I’ll get them settled, and we’ll all come back for a celebratory dinner.”
Aki liked Esca. Even his thoughts were straight as an arrow. He also
said
what he thought, which was just how Aki was. With a man like that, you knew where you were. He couldn’t imagine what kind of female would appeal to both Ash and Esca. Would she be a tall, well-muscled warrior like one of his goddesses? He imagined the three of them fucking…
“Aki?”
Esca held open yet another door for him. Einarr and his female had gone straight to bed, and Elli had stayed back to talk to Ash about something. The door opened out into a large room with several seats around it, and one of the huge moving screens that he still struggled to comprehend. He inhaled the smell of roasting fowl and ale and immediately felt more relaxed. Outside the big glass windows, there were a group of men throwing some kind of ball at each other. The game involved many skirmishes away from the ball, which resulted in bodies flying everywhere.
“Watch out guys!”
Aki instinctively ducked as the ball flew toward the glass, but it bounced off and disappeared over the edge of the building.
“You dickhead, Rolf!” Two of the men were looking down over the parapet. “I hope you haven’t killed anyone on the street. Even Ash would have a problem explaining that away.”
For the first time in a long while, Aki found himself grinning. Ash was right; these were the kind of men who might understand him.
Esca banged on the glass and several faces turned toward him. Aki remained close to the door as the men filed in, each of them giving him an assessing glance as they greeted Esca.
“You’re one of the Vikings Ash told us about.” The tall redheaded male who’d lost the ball stepped forward. “Which one are you?”
“I am Aki.”
“Good to meet you. I’m Rolf. Where’s your brother?”
“Fucking.” Aki shrugged. “He has a mated female.”
“Lucky bastard.” The huge blond muttered. He held out his hand. “I’m Kaiden. I’m in command of this motley crew.”
Aki had to take a step back to take in all of Kaiden’s huge frame. His muscles rivaled Aki’s and his eyes were the color of steel.
The other man continued talking. “This here is Roberts, and that’s Bevan, and the short-but-deadly one is Declan.”
The other men nodded at him, their gazes assessing, their minds closed to him. Aki didn’t mind that. He already had a headache from too much mind sharing from Einarr and Ash.
“You are from Earth?” Aki asked.
“Yes. We’re all ex-military.” Kaiden glanced at the other men. “We’re pretty damn bored stuck in here, but like you, we have a lot to learn about Pavlovan culture before they let us loose on society.”
“Do you not wish to return to Earth?”
Kaiden’s smile was rueful. “They’d kill us. We are too formidable for them to control. We frightened them.”
Aki nodded. “Sometimes that happened to my family. We had powerful magic, which made the weak fearful or eager to try and steal it for themselves.”
Kaiden gestured toward the interior of the room. “Have some beer and Pavlovan chicken. It’s not bad. Ash says once we are settled we can import stuff from Earth if we really want home cooking.”
“I would like to return to my Earth.” Aki confessed as he took the bottle Kaiden offered him. “But Einarr says it is gone.”
“That must seem wrong to you.”
Aki looked behind him where the man called Rolf had taken a seat. Despite his menacing appearance, Rolf’s eyes were a soft golden brown and sympathy flowed from him like a warm spring.
“Sometimes I cannot believe it is true.” Aki drank the entire bottle of ale in one gulp. “I keep hoping I will wake up from this nightmare and find myself back at home in my kinsman’s hall with the other warriors of my house.”
Kaiden slid another bottle over to him. “If you cannot go back, you must find a way to go forward, yes?”
“If I must,” Aki grumbled.
“Most of us intend to go into the Pavlovan military or teach at the university or academy.”
“Teach your fighting skills to those younger than you?” Aki nodded. “That is good.”
“Yes and our telepathic skills.” Kaiden hesitated. “We were given… extra powers. We aren’t normal soldiers.”
“You look normal except that your thoughts are closed off from me like they were within a shield wall.”
Rolf spoke up again. “We can teach you how to do that. We can also teach you how to fight.”
For the first time in a long while, Aki chuckled. “You think you can teach
me
how to fight?”
Rolf’s answering smile was sweet. “I’ll have you begging for your life in less than five minutes.”
Aki tipped back his head and roared with laughter. “I think not, little man.” He reached for Rolf only to have Kaiden step in front of him.
“Not in here. We have a training room below.”
Aki finished his second ale and wiped his mouth. “Then lead on.”
“Elli, are you sure you want to teach him?” Ash asked.
She gazed up at her powerful cousin, noting the concern in his blue gaze. Her parents were dead and Ash’s family were her closest living relatives.
“Why, what’s wrong with the idea? I am a trained counselor. I could help him adapt.”
“You are also attracted to him.”
She felt herself blushing. “So what if I am? I can be professional.”
“I know you can, but I’m not sure about him.” Ash hesitated. “He doesn’t understand our culture and he might…offend you. I don’t want you to be hurt again.”
“Oh, Ash, you are so sweet, but I’m over all that.” Elli patted his arm. “Aki’s biggest problem is his inability to shield his thoughts. Once he’s mastered that he’ll feel so much better, and so will everyone around him.”
“But he seems to feel something for you.”
She shrugged. “As you said, he doesn’t know
what
he’s feeling at the moment. He might react to every single Pavlovan female in the same way.”
“As long as you are sure.” Ash kissed her cheek. “I’m happy to arrange for you to tutor him—if he agrees.”
“Thank you, Ash.” She kissed him back. “Now go and do all that important stuff running the planet and I’ll go and see how Aki is settling in.”
She stayed where she was until Ash closed his office door and then contemplated the awesome view over the city skyline. In an exceptional family like Ash’s she’d always felt like an underachiever until she’d discovered her talent for nurturing telepathic growth and counseling those learning to deal with their ever-evolving abilities.
Joining the space corps and traveling throughout Pavlovan space had helped her create a separate identity and only enhanced her teaching skills. She’d dealt with several rescued Etruscan telepaths who had barely been allowed to survive in a culture that hated their talents. Aki was a challenge she would gladly embrace because she knew she could really help him.
Sure, she was attracted to him. Who wouldn’t be?
She set off down the stairs to the lower level, leaving Ash in his apartment. Her confident smile faded as she descended. Gods, she’d never felt like this about any male before in her life. Her intense feelings for Carlin seemed like pale imitations of the visceral reaction she was having to Aki. Maybe Carlin had been right to run away from her and ask the Oracle to release them from their partnership. Maybe she was too needy for any male.
That had hurt her badly—to be publicly abandoned by her First Male and left with no mate. Such a thing didn't happen often and since Carlin’s abandonment her name was always recognized and pitied. She’d learned to raise her shields, behave impeccably and
never ever
show any interest in acquiring another mate. But from the first moment she’d seen Aki’s scathing magnificence, she hadn’t been able to look away…
She took a deep breath and opened the door into the lower apartment. The vidscreen was still blaring, but the room appeared deserted. She paused for a second and heard a muted roar from the training center below. With a resigned smile, she went down yet another level. It hadn’t taken Aki and the other Earth telepaths long to get down to basics.
The smell of sweaty male and testosterone hit her like a wave as she came into the gym. No one noticed her. They were all fixated on the battle going on between Aki and Rolf. Elli eased forward until she had a good view and almost swallowed her tongue as Aki’s half-naked body came into view. He had a bluish-black tattoo that covered his right shoulder and most of his arm, and his stomach rippled with muscle as he charged at poor Rolf with an almighty roar.