The Power of Three by Kate Pearce

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Chapter 7
     
    Soreya curled up on the couch and tried to
watch the still-bewildering Pavlovan news. Esca had reluctantly
gone to see the military physician, leaving her alone for a few
hours for the first time. She’d been in the apartment for almost
three weeks now, had met her new work associates at the university,
gotten to know the staff and her way around the kitchen, and barely
seen Ash. When she did see him he was impeccably polite, his
shields as high as hers and his attempts to get to know her
nonexistent.
    She sighed. Not that she’d made any efforts
in that direction herself. If she was honest, he was something of a
challenge. She didn’t know enough about him yet to feel confident
enough to initiate anything other than the occasional ‘have a nice
day’. He intimidated her on so many levels. She suspected he
thought she was a complete idiot.
    As if on cue, the outside door to the
apartment opened, and Ash came in, his steps slowing as he saw her
sitting there. He wore another of his impeccable suits and his hair
was tied back at the nape of his neck. He should’ve looked too
pretty, but there was a distance about him that made his beauty
inaccessible rather than approachable. She still couldn’t get over
how he and Esca were a couple.
    “ Private Lang.”
    Dammit, she had to stop being such a coward.
She raised her chin, smiled into his beautiful blue eyes and got
that shock of recognition that made her want to either throw
herself at him or run away very fast.
    “ You can call me Soreya.”
    “ Thank you.” His smile was charming.
“That would be nice. Between you and Esca and your military ranks
and last names, I feel I should be saluting all the
time.”
    Another pleasant socially acceptable reply
with nothing behind it. He turned toward his suite. “If you’ll
excuse me, I’ll—”
    She shot to her feet. “I feel like I’m making
you uncomfortable in your own home. Do you want me to leave?”
    He stopped and turned toward her, his
expression mild. “Not at all. I apologize if I’ve made you feel
unwelcome. That’s not been my intention at all.”
    She sighed. “Now I feel like an ungrateful
brat.”
    He held the door to his suite open. “Why
don’t we continue this conversation while I change?”
    Soreya stomped after him. His rooms were laid
out in exactly the same way as hers and Esca’s, although his bed
was bigger. She couldn’t help but stare at it, wondering what he
and Esca got up to together on those crisp cotton sheets.
    “ I have a bigger bed because I’m First
Male. Technically , I’m
supposed to host all three mates in one space.” He unbuttoned his
jacket and laid it over a chair.
    “ First Male?” Dammit, sometimes despite
her shields, he seemed to read her mind as easily as Esca did. But
then her face had probably given her away as well.
    “ It’s how our culture differentiates
between mating threesomes. Esca is designated Second
Male.”
    “ I bet he didn’t like that.”
    His smile was the warmest she’d seen from
him. “No he didn’t. At eighteen he was very vocal about it, too.”
He gestured at his pants. “Are you okay if I carry on
changing?”
    “ Sure, go ahead. I’m military. I’ve
seen it all before.”
    But that wasn’t true. Her mouth dried as he
pulled off his shirt to display his upper body and muscled arms. He
wasn’t as big as Esca, but he was stronger than he looked. She
blinked as he pulled off his pants and underwear and walked into
the bathroom, giving her an outstanding view of his perfect ass and
long silver hair that almost reached his buttocks.
    “ I’ll just be a minute.”
    She sank down into the nearest chair, one
that allowed her an eyeful of Ash stepping into the shower and
slathering himself in soap. Her fingers itched to help out. She
curled them into fists and eventually sat on them. The Pavlovans
were having a terrible effect on her morals. She’d gone from
enduring her solitary existence to fucking a