Chapter 4 #3
“Did you go to Caltech too?” she asked Victor.
He nodded. “That’s where a lot of us met.”
“Gabriel and I shared an apartment with two other science nerds,” Raphael resumed. “We had fun while still leaving time for our studies. The concept for our company was outlined in a university coffee shop.”
“I was a huge fan of Echo, Inc.,” Claire insisted. “With a haircut and a shave, I probably would have recognized you. I thought you guys were superheroes.”
Raphael’s brows arched and he looked at Victor. “Someone has been talking behind my back.”
“I told her about the company I used to work for.” Victor’s shrug was unapologetic. “It had nothing to do with you.”
“Right.” Raphael drew out the word to illustrate his disbelief.
Deciding that Raphael had been tortured enough, she turned to Victor and smiled. “Your turn.”
“My story is boring after all the shit Raphael has been through.”
“It’s not a contest,” Raphael insisted. “I would have loved my childhood to be boring.”
“I’m sorry,” Victor said earnestly, then focused on Claire. “I grew up in a suburb of Salt Lake City. I’m the youngest of five kids. My parents had been married for forty-eight years when my father passed away. My mother is alive and well and living with one of my sisters.”
“A large family in Salt Lake City, you know I’m going to ask. Was your family Mormon?”
“My mother was raised LDS, but my father was Baptist. We attended a nondenominational church in my youth, but I consider myself agnostic. I still believe in a higher power. I just find it impossible to believe that they care about us as much as my Sunday school teacher liked to think.”
She was surprised by his answer. Many, if not most, scientists didn’t believe in God. It was one more thing that they had in common. She too had retained her faith even as she filled her mind with scientific principles. “Did your captivity have anything to do with your reassessment?”
“What do you think?”
Sarcasm snapped through his question, so Claire moved on. “I think I’m done poking around in the past,” she concluded with a warm smile.
“Not so fast,” Raphael scooted to the edge of his seat, his orange eyes gleaming. “It’s your turn, mate. We’re as curious about you as you are about us.”
It was only fair to answer their questions. “I told you most of it already.”
“So, tell us the rest,” Victor encouraged. “You said you moved around a lot. Did you mean from city to city, or just apartment to apartment?”
They already knew the unpleasant parts of her life. The rest was insignificant. “I’d lived in six different states and one province when I graduated from high school. I felt the most comfortable in the Midwest, so I enrolled in Missouri State.”
“Were you a wild child or intensely studious?” Raphael softened the question with a playful smile.
“I took my studies seriously. That tends to happen when you’re paying your own tuition.”
“And you went straight to Nuevo from college?” Victor wanted to know.
The last thing she wanted to talk about was Nuevo Biotech, so she just nodded.
“Have you ever been in a serious relationship?” Raphael asked, his gaze intense and predatory.
“Depends on how you define serious.”
“Did you ever share an apartment with a man?” Victor joined in.
She shook her head. “My longest relationship lasted two years and we lived in separate cities. I honestly think that’s why it didn’t implode sooner. I was relieved when I moved to Nuevo’s off-world complex. It gave me a good excuse for why I wasn’t in a relationship.”
“You didn’t want to be in a relationship?” Victor sounded disappointed.
“No, I did. I was just terrible at finding men with the right qualities.”
Raphael pushed to his feet and slowly stalked toward her. “And what are the right qualities?”
“He’d have to be smart. Looks are much less important to me than intelligence.”
“We science nerds have to stick together,” Victor echoed her earlier statement.
“Go on,” Raphael urged. “What else are you looking for in a male?”
She licked her lips as her heart began to race. “A good sense of humor.”
“That could be tricky,” Raphael decided. “Scientists aren’t known for being funny.”
“I wanted someone who was ready to settle down, someone looking for a wife, not just a lover.”
He didn’t say a word. His slow, sexy smile communicated articulately. They wanted her as their mate, and they were both brilliant. She hadn’t set out to do so, but she’d perfectly described Raphael and Victor.
His smug look made her damn glad she’d left off her final characteristic.
She’d only had two lovers. Well, three if she counted her high school boyfriend.
And all her lovers had been frustratingly passive.
She wanted them to take control, to overwhelm her with aggressive passion.
She had absolutely no doubt that Raphael and Victor would more than satisfy that yen.
“What are you thinking about?” Raphael’s hungry expression told her that he’d guessed the direction of her thoughts.
She ignored his question and fired off a few of her own. “What about you? Did you have lots of girlfriends? Were any of them serious?”
“Yes and no,” he answered curtly.
Knowing she would get no further information out of Raphael, she looked at Victor expectantly.
“I was engaged when I found out about the Nuevo buyout,” Victor obliged.
“Her name was Kallie and I’d known her since grade school.
I asked for three months to establish myself in my new position, then I’d see if I could work remotely.
She told me that she wasn’t willing to wait.
I could find a new job, or she would walk away. ”
“That wasn’t fair,” Claire objected. “What would you have done at the end of three months if she still wanted you to quit?”
“We’ll never know.” He shrugged indifferently, but pain flickered through his eyes. “I asked for a compromise. She gave me an ultimatum. It wasn’t the right dynamic on which to build a future, so I walked away.”
Despite his nonchalance, it was obvious that the incident still bothered him. How could it not? He’d loved the woman enough to ask her to marry him. “Did you see her after Nuevo was liberated?”
“My mother said she’d heard that Kallie was already on her second marriage, but I never saw or spoke to her again.”
“Wow. Sounds like you dodged a bullet.”
Victor scoffed as he got to his feet. “By spending a decade in hell?”
There was no way she was going to sit here helplessly while they surrounded her. She stood and moved behind her chair. “I didn’t mean it like that. Kallie just wasn’t the right person for you.”
“I agree. Now tell me who is,” Victor challenged.
Instead of giving in to his provocation, she shifted her gaze to Raphael.
“It’s time for our next session,” Raphael told her. “Look into my eyes and tell me why your brother died.”
Guilt swelled through her, instantly flooding her eyes with tears. Damn it. Was she really going to do this all over again? Why couldn’t she think about Joel without feeling overwhelmed by unwanted emotions?
Unsure if she wanted to subject herself to another humiliating ‘session,’ she cleared her throat and said, “The wolves attacked our camp and murdered my brother along with many others. It had nothing to do with me.”
“True.” He easily closed the distance between them and wrapped his fingers around her wrist. “Unfortunately, you don’t believe what you just said.”
“I believe it,” she insisted. “I know it’s true.” It wasn’t a lie. In her mind she understood the sequence of events and her role in them. Her heart, however, had yet to accept what her mind was telling her.
“Then why is guilt and regret pulsing off you in waves?” Victor asked as he came up on her other side.
She gasped and looked at him. “You’re empathic?”
“We both are, so don’t bother lying to us about this,” Raphael warned. “Why did your brother die?”
Her lips began to tremble, and tears escaped the corners of her eyes.
If they could sense the emotions surging within her, then she had no choice but to admit what she was feeling.
Wasn’t that the purpose of these sessions?
Well, one of the purposes. She’d been on Rydaria long enough to understand the social dynamics.
They couldn’t claim her until she accepted their authority and yielded to their sexual domination.
“I’m waiting,” Raphael prompted. “Why did your brother die?”
“Because I convinced him to apply to Nuevo Biotech.”
“What else?” Raphael’s authoritative tone allowed for no hesitation.
“I didn’t quit when I should have. If I had quit, he might have too. My greed cost Joel his life.” A sob tore from her throat. She felt selfish and foolish for not taking the danger seriously.
“Do you deserve another spanking?” Raphael’s voice dropped to a sensual rumble.
She trembled, dreading the pain, but desperately needing the emotional release. “Yes, Sir.” He hadn’t prompted her to use the title, but it felt right.
“Undress and crawl into my bedroom.”
“C-crawl?” She looked at him as hot color burned her cheeks. “You want me to crawl?”
He released her wrist and fisted the back of her hair. “When I give you an order, I expect it to be obeyed. Needless questioning or arguing will result in more intense punishments. Is that clear?”
She swallowed past the lump in her throat. “Yes, Sir.”
“I don’t repeat orders. Now, get busy.”
Claire’s hands trembled so badly that she could barely get her sweater unbuttoned. With her bra still covering her breasts, she pulled off her boots and unzipped her jeans. “Do I need to be completely naked?”
“Yes,” Victor told her. His handsome features were expressionless, but hunger burned in his amber eyes.
She tensed, suddenly unsure if she wanted to demean herself in this way. “I’ve changed my mind.” She reached for her sweater, but Raphael snatched it away.
“When was the last time you had a nightmare?” he asked, challenge arching his brow.