Prime Selection (13 page)

Still at their posts at the cave entrance, Bram and Cas were no longer shooting. But a massive increase in the sound of the laser battle could be heard outside.

“About time Huw and his security team arrived,” Nadia said. She knew the battles Huw and his team had fought to get to them, but declined to share them with the others.

They’d hear about them soon enough when all reports were filed. She’d already overexposed her ability to communicate with Huw. She refused to fan the flames of her men’s curiosity even more.

Cred spoke up. “How soon will they get a medical team to my brother?”

“Protocol is to contain the enemy combatants before risking medical teams in a war zone.” A’tem had chosen to answer and Nadia let him. “We should remain here and let Huw and the others take care of the remaining enemy. Captain Wulf will send a medical team as soon as he can. I sent a coded message to him and requested one regen bed for your brother.”

A’tem removed his jacket and placed it around Nadia’s shoulders. “Take my jacket.

You’re chilled.”

She stifled the totally inappropriate laugh threatening to erupt. Of course she was chilled. She was practically naked from the waist up with the mere scrap of lace covering her breasts. None of the men had mentioned her near nudity and made Herculean efforts to ignore her exposure—after their first heated glances, of course. She appreciated their courtesy.

“Thanks.” Nadia pulled the jacket, warm from A’tem’s body, closer around her body, and shivered convulsively for several seconds. She hadn’t realized how cold she’d been until he mentioned it.

“It is interesting Huw is leading the security team that relieved us,” A’tem said.

Nadia almost groaned and made a note to kick A’tem’s ass later. His curiosity was aroused—a dangerous mental state for a Volusian since they were known to dig until they received answers; it might be a great trait for an engineer, but not when it was used in idle conversation.

“Why interesting, Commander A’tem?” Cred asked, a frown marring his forehead.

“When I first alerted Ard about the surprise attack, Ard said Huw had already switched from his original mission to add to the security of our base of operations to come to us. That Huw knew about our danger before Ard did. Strange, yes?” A’tem shrugged, but didn’t wait for a response or for her to kill him. “For some reason, Ard sounded … displeased with Huw. But then Ard and Huw haven’t gotten along well during this period of merger. My conclusion? Ard is allowing his dislike of Huw to color his opinion of Huw’s current actions.”

A’tem looked pointedly at Nadia. “I think you should be aware of this friction between them, Nadia.” His “do with it what you will” implication was left unsaid.

“Ah, I didn’t know they weren’t mixing well.” How could she? She rarely saw Huw.

When she did see him, he treated her with all the respect and courtesy due to her as a colleague and left the room as soon as he could. He sure didn’t chitchat about his interactions with other crew members. And during meetings of all Gold officers, Huw and Ard never sat together; she had no firsthand observations of the two men’s dealings.

Until today’s action, Huw hadn’t bothered to acknowledge the psychic connection they had and blocked her mental touch time and time again—so she couldn’t have gleaned his feelings that way either.

“Then it’s a good thing Ard will be stationed on the
Leonidas
.” Nadia turned and caught her Prime teammates’ gazes on her. “What? You guys have something to add to this conversation?”

From his position at the cave entrance, Bram cleared his throat. “Commander Ard was particularly insistent you be protected at all costs.”

Nadia winced.
Lord, save me from overprotective Prime males.

Cred nodded. “We think he is jealous of Commander Huw. Commander Huw has been very vocal about Ard staying away from you.”

Oh, hell!
Nadia’s cheeks burned. How had her private life become such a topic of interest? She didn’t understand why Huw acted the way he did, and her crew was already speculating on a love triangle.

“I’ll cut you some slack.” She glared at A’tem. “Well, maybe not A’tem…” the Volusian had the audacity to grin, “…but the rest of you, because you’re new to the Alliance. But it’s not appropriate to talk about private matters on an op.”

“We realize this and do not mean to be impolite or disrespectful, Commander Nadia,” Bram said. “But we have few women on Prime and none in the military, so it is hard not to speculate. Many of us are very interested in how we will … what is the word you use when a man wishes to impress a woman and enter into a relationship? We have no such word since we mate by a genetic demand.”

The man had a valid point, but she still intended to kick A’tem’s ass for opening the whole can of worms. Since the sound of laser fire was still loud outside the cave and the enemy was well occupied by Huw and the other Gold forces, Nadia and her men were stuck here for a while longer. She decided to allow the conversation to continue. She might as well sound Bram and the others out about their views on the Prime male-non-Prime female dynamic. Mel and Wulf would want to know the crew’s feelings on the matter.

Before she could answer Bram’s question, A’tem chuckled and replied, “Bram, I believe the word you want is ‘court’ although ‘dating’ usually precedes courting.”

“This dating means the man approaches the woman, indicates his interest, and then they have sex, yes?” Cas asked.

Nadia choked and started coughing. A’tem handed her his water, she took a drink, and then a deep breath. “Um, it’s not that straightforward.” Every man’s intent gaze was fixed on her. “In that instance, the man might get kneed in his testicles.”

The Prime soldiers muttered under their breath. Their pained expressions and confusion were almost comical. A’tem began to laugh.

“Shut up, A’tem. It’s not funny.” She sighed and looked at the Volusian whose eyes glistened with the tears of his attempt to stop laughing. “I told Mel we needed a fricking class on dating dos-and-don’ts for our Prime crew. Now, I know we do.”

Nadia beat back the increased pain throbbing in her side and shoulder; she now had a headache to go along with it. The stream of Huw’s soothing warmth had slowed to a trickle. Worried that he and his team might have been overwhelmed and needed her and her team’s help, she touched his mind. She shivered at the ice-cold rage she discovered as he fought furiously to protect her and her team. She sighed with relief. He was unharmed and had things under control. He didn’t need her pain or exhaustion to distract him. She quickly withdrew her mental scan and slammed up her shields. The drugs A’tem had given her would eventually handle her pain; Huw needed his own reserves for the fight.

She attempted to smile at the curious, relationship-naive Prime. Well, naive as to dating and courting. She imagined they all had the same sex education Wulf and his brothers had had. Though, she refused to even think about the sex-surrogate thing. She saw red each and every time she imagined Huw going to one of the women Prime society provided to meet their males’ sexual education and needs. She had no reason to be jealous. Huw had been politely scrupulous about not encouraging this … whatever-in-the-hell attraction they had between them, but hearts weren’t rational most days. Hers sure wasn’t.

Taking a deep breath, she plunged into what would be for her a very uncomfortable, but needed discussion. “I can see how speculation about who is courting whom would be a hot topic. So, until you attend the dating lecture, I’ll be insisting Gold provide for its Prime crew members, let me state—it isn’t proper to guess about relationships not publicly acknowledged by the couple in question. That’s called
gossip
, and it is frowned upon.”

Every Prime male there, including Bre, who had roused from unconsciousness, pinned her with a golden stare. She bet every word she uttered would be shared with their fellow Prime as soon as the men returned to their ships.

She continued, “Spreading such speculations could lead to hurt feelings, especially where the relationship doesn’t even exist. When in doubt about whether a female crew member is seeing someone or not, it is appropriate to ask ‘Are you dating someone?’ As for dating protocols, sex is always something the woman can say no to, and the man must respect that or be considered a sexual predator. Understood?”

“Yes,” Bram said. “Does this mean you and Commander Huw are not a couple?”

She had to choke back a laugh. Well, she had told them to ask. If she refused to answer, they’d think about this and talk it to death—and possibly draw conclusions that would be embarrassing to her and Huw—and hurtful. She needed to nip any further assumptions in the bud. Hopefully, these men would pass her answer along with tales of her actions and leadership in battle to the other Prime of Gold.

So, she answered, “No, we are
not
a couple.” It was the truth. Huw didn’t want a relationship with her. She wanted one with him—and it hurt.

“How about you and Commander Ard?” asked Bre, barely awake, but enough so to follow the topic of conversation. His voice was raspy with pain.

The tension in the cave escalated. The heat of it pulsed against her psi senses.
God,
save me.
They were all attracted to her. Well, not A’tem, he was merely amused.

Nadia trembled at the intensity of the Prime soldiers’ collective emotions and pulled A’tem’s jacket more closely over her breasts, which felt even more exposed than before.

She tasted chocolate and wine and felt fur brushing along her senses as the lust in the air grew thicker. “Commander Ard and I are
not
a couple either. We are colleagues. The time we spend together has to do with our job exchange and training.”

But if she were truthful with herself, she had noted a romantic interest in Aeron’s voice and attentions. What a mess!

She liked Aeron. But with the increase in strength of the unusual bond she had with Huw making itself known more and more each day, she could never be with Aeron or any other man. It wouldn’t feel right—emotionally or physically. Because of this connection to Huw, she’d be forced to live as chastely as a nun unless the man gave up seeking a Prime female who might not even exist.

Nadia wasn’t holding her breath on that last part happening.
There’s always the
vibrator in the bedside drawer and the simulation rooms.
So not the same.

At her denial of all dating relationships, the tension in the room left as quickly as it had built.

Bram smiled. “Thank you for clearing this up, Commander. Maybe you should let the two men in question know so they don’t kill each other in training.”

His suggestion was made in a gentle tone, but she sensed amusement underlying it.

She would’ve called him out on his attitude except what he’d said had come as a shock.

A’tem had alluded to mere friction between the two men; how had friction escalated to killing attempts?

“They tried to kill each other?” Nadia forced herself not to seek answers from Huw since the battle still raged outside. He couldn’t afford the distraction; from the amount of laser fire and battle cries, it sounded as if the enemy had dug in fairly well.

A’tem coughed. “Bram exaggerates, Nadia. I was present. Aeron and Huw merely fought hard as warriors do during a training session. Neither was hurt.” He narrowed his dark blue gaze at Bram who still guarded the entrance with Cas. “Bram should not have intimated such.”

Cas snorted. “I beg to differ, Commander A’tem. I was also present. Prime warriors do not use some of the moves the commanders used during mere training. It took Commander Iolyn and Captain Wulf to pull the two men apart when time was called.

Theirs was not typical training behavior.”

When A’tem opened his mouth, Nadia cut him off. “Leave it, A’tem. Cas and Bram are Elite-trained. They should recognize what is and isn’t Prime training behavior.” She swept a stern glance over the men surrounding her. “I couldn’t be the cause of their enmity, since I’m not involved with either man. This topic of conversation is at an end and won’t be mentioned again. Clear?”

A chorus of “yes, sirs” came from her Prime team members. A’tem snorted.

Cas coughed. “Commanders? It has quieted outside. I see Commander Huw directing his team to check the bodies. It is safe to leave the cave now.”

Nadia looked at A’tem. “Please check to make sure, A’tem.” She couldn’t talk to Huw right now to save her life; her voice would betray her chaotic feelings.

A’tem raised a brow in question, but nodded and spoke in low tones into his com unit. “Huw confirms all enemies are dead or subdued. Aeron also reports Wulf, Mel, and Royce’s teams have retaken the military facility and released the Prime soldiers held prisoner. Gold teams are combing the area and the other caves for any lingering mercenaries. Medical teams are landing and one will be here soon.”

“Good.” Nadia stood and almost fell. A’tem steadied her with a hand to her elbow.

“Thanks. I’m okay, just a little stiff from sitting on cold stone.” The males’ gazes were skeptical to a man, but no one called her out on the obvious lie. “Let’s move into the light. This cave is cool and damp. It can’t be good for Bre’s condition.”

Cas and Cred shouldered their weapons, lifted their brother to his feet, and then carried him between them.

A’tem and Bram stuck by Nadia’s side. “I’m fine, guys. Don’t hover.”

“Please let us be assured of that, Nadia.” A’tem kept his hand on her elbow and led her around a dead enemy lying right outside the entrance. “That was the slime-creature’s ass who attempted to kill you as you carried Bre. Bram shot him as Cas and Cred came out to assist and I covered them.”