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“I can barely manifest fire right now. I need to practice my basic skills before I attempt a power exchange.”
“Fair enough.” Iris gazed off into the distance for a moment. “I better let you go. We’re supposed to limit these calls to ten minutes. I don’t want you to lose the privilege. I enjoy speaking with you.”
“Me too.” She sighed, wishing she could talk to her sisters too. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”
* * *
Noratu stood back from the line of applicants, silently analyzing their potential. Draven paced in front of them, his expression grim and unreadable. They were in a small training room generally used for sparring or private instruction. The rigidity of the floor could be adjusted according to the activity. At present, the surface was inflexible because they wanted the applicants alert and determined. They had passed the first two levels of the long and arduous admissions process. They had many more to go.
Activating his empathic receptors, Noratu allowed emotions to flood his mind. It was disorienting for a moment, but years of practice had taught him how to control his gift. He could assess the general mood of the group or focus on one particular emotion. The only thing his training had not prepared him for was the overwhelming distraction of being part of a power triad.
Draven was faultlessly disciplined. His mind was meticulously shielded unless he chose to share his thoughts and emotions. Flora, on the other hand, was wild and spontaneous. Her thoughts had become more ordered in the past few weeks, but her emotions still flared without warning and she frequently fixated on sex. Noratu was thrilled by her passionate nature, but sensing her desire, her smoldering arousal made it damn hard to concentrate on anything else.
The past three weeks had been remarkable, yet challenging. Flora was everything he’d hoped for in a mate. She was smart, compassionate, resilient, and daring. She was also volatile and incredibly stubborn. Her Altorian instincts continually clashed with the ideals she had learned on Earth. She wanted to surrender control, needed to be dominated to fully enjoy mating, yet her independent nature made her rebellious and quick to anger.
Draven strictly enforced the rules, so Flora frequently had a reddened bottom before they overwhelmed her with pleasure. Noratu scanned her mind as they mated and she always reveled in their mastery, but afterwards she was often withdrawn.
Wanting their mate to be truly happy, they balanced their sexual demands with affection and humor. They ate most of their meals together, laughing and talking for hours, all three anxious to learn everything they could about the others. At first Flora seemed wary of their attempts at romance, especially when Draven participated. It was ironic, because nearly all of it had been Draven’s idea.
They had fallen into a comfortable routine the last few days. He wasn’t foolish enough to believe she would never rebel again, but her behavior had been far more Altorian than human lately. Her primary training was nearly finished and they were anxious to start functioning as a power triad for the first time.
Noratu had sensed an anomaly in her energy the first time he’d touched her mind. He’d attributed it to her unique upbringing, but as her thoughts and emotions became more disciplined, the nature of the anomaly became obvious. Flora had Torretian blood, nearly as much as Altorian. So Noratu gave the information to an investigator without identifying the subject. The investigator’s report arrived a few hours ago. Their mate was roughly forty percent Torretian, which meant it was illegal for her to be a conduit. Noratu wasn’t sure what to do with what he’d learned. Controllers were notoriously black and white, so he wasn’t even sure he could tell Draven.
Reluctantly, Noratu pushed thoughts of Flora to the back of his mind and concentrated on the task at hand. They were a gateway to the next phase of testing. The president of the Citadel depended on Draven’s instincts and Noratu’s empathic abilities to weed out those who performed well on paper but had character flaws that would create trouble if they were approved.
Draven stalked one way and then the other, scowling and harassing the applicants at random. It was his job to intimidate and provoke emotional reactions. Citadel statutes forbid entering anyone’s mind without their permission. The only exception was the interrogation of violent criminals. However, nothing precluded them from assessing emotions projected beyond a person’s mental shields.
“Aptitude means nothing to me,” Draven growled. The band attached to his forearm projected a holo-image of the applicants’ assessment scores. Less than one percent of all applicants made it this far, but another half would quit or be dismissed before training began. “One in three Altorians is born with some form of magic. We are looking for the very best of the very best.” He stopped in front of a tall, red-haired male. “Your assessment scores are impressive, but you dropped out of college. I think you will quit as soon as this becomes challenging.”
“No, sir,” the youth insisted, his back straightening. “I want this badly.”
“Everyone here wants it. Why should I choose you?” he challenged.
“I have dreamed of this since I was a child,” the redhead told him. “I do not mean that figuratively. I started having dreams about being part of a triad before I even knew what a triad was.”
Draven moved farther down the row as he scrolled through the bios. He and Noratu had studied the information at length before this meeting, but this was more dramatic. He stopped in front of a sandy-haired male who appeared slightly older than the rest. “You pair-bonded with a female and produced two children, but the relationship failed. Why the fuck would we trust you with a conduit? They are precious and extremely rare.”
A deep flush crawled up the applicant’s neck as he pressed his lips together. Anger pulsed off him in staccato beats. “My former partner was not my mate. That is why we separated.”
“Yet you impregnated her twice. Was that wise if you knew you would leave her?”
The applicant just glared at Draven. Defiance was never a good choice with a controller.
Noratu thought Draven would move on, but he had another question. “Where are your offspring now?”
The applicant’s throat worked as he struggled for composure. “They live with their mother, but I support them financially and spend as much time with them as I can.”
Anger was understandable. Draven was antagonizing the male. What bothered Noratu was the longing he sensed as the applicant thought of the mother of his children.He is still in love with his life partner. Dismiss him.
“I cannot work with you.” Draven swept his arm toward the door. “Go back to the mother of your children.” The applicant stormed from the room as Draven continued his leisurely trek. “Anyone who cannot offer themselves completely to their conduit is of no use to me. Triads are integrated body, soul, and spirit. Without a committed relationship the fire will not flow.”
A blond near the far end of the line was fidgeting like a child that desperately needed to piss.We have a wiggler. Focus on the short blond near the end.
Draven walked toward the male in question. “You are hiding something,” he said simply. “Will you lower your shields and allow my partner to scan your mind?”
The blond shook his head. “I will tell you everything but not in front of the others.”
“There is no need for you to say a word,” Draven countered. “Lower your shields. As soon as Noratu determines that you are not a threat to us, we will move on.”
