AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She shrugged. Kern wasn’t trying to shame her but she still felt defensive. She’d had a job, not a career. Everyone she knew had a job rather than a career. Establishing any sort of charity required money and her family had been barely scraping by. “We all knew college wasn’t an option, which limited our choices. And living in Alaska limited them even more.”
“Your options are nearly limitless now.” Cylex spun his seat around and joined the conversation. “Educational downloads take hours, not years, and your ability to control Fire will present all sorts of opportunities.”
“I can’t even imagine what those might be,” she admitted. “Everyone at the Citadel was focused on war. They think of triads as powerful weapons and that is all.”
“Maybe we can change that,” Cylex suggested.
“Maybe,” she mused, though she still felt like a rudderless ship.
“Even on Earth weapons are used for defense and protection,” Kern pointed out. “The most powerful weapon, in my opinion, is the one you never have to use.”
She nodded thoughtfully. Maybe there were other ways of looking at this. Could the power of her triad be used as a deterrent? “I guess we need to figure out what our abilities are before I stress out over how we use them.”
“That might make more sense,” Kern agreed.
“Do you have an idea what you want to do?” she asked Kern.
“It depends how available we make ourselves to the Citadel. We might not have as much free time as you think.”
It was a valid point, but it also sounded like an evasion so she pressed him just a little. “Let’s say the Citadel only needs us half the time. What would you do with the other half?”
“Spend it in bed with my amazing mate.” He grinned and pushed desire into her mind.
Shivering helplessly, she forced the need down. This conversation was too important. “Seriously. What would you do?”
He tensed and shielded his end of their link. “I will likely continue on with some version of what I do now. I will turn down the more dangerous contracts but I work best in the shadows.”
She wasn’t comfortable with his answer, but she understood why being a mercenary appealed to him. He had been abandoned or rejected by nearly everyone in his life. That sort of betrayal tended to make people self-reliant.
“I will worry about you every time you accept a contract.” She added a flirtatious smile and Kern shook his head.
“You are much too good at that.”
Pleased with his reaction, she looked at Cylex. “What about you? The only female I want you protecting is me, but I doubt the Citadel will pay you for that.”
“I agree with Kern,” Cylex began. “I think the Citadel will have plenty of missions to keep us busy. However, if too many of them require bloodshed, I think it could be beneficial to work as a team and offer our services to Kern’s customers.”
Kern perked up, obviously surprised by the suggestion. “You would be willing to do that?”
Cylex raised both hands as he shook his head in disbelief. “We are a triad now. We should take advantage of that as often as possible.”
“It would certainly expand the services we could offer,” he mused, his expression contemplative.
“And we would control what we did and for whom?” Raina asked, excitement bubbling up inside her. Being self-employed had always appealed to her, but it had also seemed completely out of reach.
“Everything would be entirely up to us.” Cylex flashed an encouraging smile.
“I love the idea of going off to work together,” Raina enthused.
“What about children?” Kern chuckled when she glared at him. “I was not suggesting you abandon your aspirations to raise our offspring. We’re reimagining our future, but we’ve never had an in-depth conversation about the subject. Do you want children? And if so, how many?”
She could feel the hope and anticipation radiating from her mates. They both wanted children badly. Deciding to test the effectiveness of her mental shields, she poured energy into her end of the mind link and lowered her gaze. “We probably should have talked about this before we bonded.”
“You don’t want children?” The disappointment in Cylex’s voice was unmistakable.
She nearly gave in. Kern was the one who made her feel like a deadbeat one minute and then a broodmare the next. “Maybe later, a lot later. Right now I want to focus—” She started laughing. “I can’t do it. You two look like I just stomped on your dreams. Of course I want kids, two or three, maybe even four or five if we’re still trying for one sex or the other.”
“Why would we need to try for one sex or the other?” Cylex seemed genuinely confused.
