Parallel Desire Read Online Free PDF Page B

linked with him. Where are you? I feel you getting stronge r. She could sense Marco very close by, his energy radiating in a more powerful rhythm with every one of her heartbeats.
    Almost there, baby. Jared's with me. See you in two.
    It had been days of barely passing each other in their quarters, with Marco on double duty guarding Jared, and with her wrapped up in … too many things. Too many worries about Marco and her people, fears that multiplied gravely because of her intuition, thoughts that she couldn't yet verbalize. Couldn't even materialize , not in her quiet time, when she tried so hard to give every sensation a physical form.
    Whatever was shaping up, the information her spy was feeding her, all of it tied into her uncertainties, those black-shrouded vosii that haunted her meditations. With another shiver, she stared at the meeting room door, ready. Waiting. For whatever might be coming down the pike.
    She told herself that her premonitions had nothing to do with Kelsey's father visiting the next day. Outsiders rarely came onto the base, not without extremely compelling reasons, and Thea wasn't convinced that Kelsey's need to see her family justified such risky measures. But she'd come to love her queen very dearly over the past months, and understood the isolation the human had been experiencing during her pregnancy.
    The sound of booted footsteps moving in unison filled the corridor, a precise, familiar cadence of military order. Several high-ranking officers filed into the room. Commander Bennett swept in behind them, Marco at his side, both of their black uniforms flawless, striking. A shiver of sexual heat shot through her core as she glanced at Marco, but she suppressed it. Instead, she trained all her energy toward her cousin, focusing on giving him a crisp salute.
    "At ease." Jared dropped a sheaf of papers onto the table, waving a hand to indicate his permission for them to take their seats.
    Lieutenant Daniels paused, dipping into a formal half bow as he placed one fist over his heart.
    "Rise, Lieutenant," Jared muttered, a look of annoyance shadowing his features. Thea fought back a smile: Her cousin's impatience with old-guard respect always amused her. He could decry it all he wanted, but he was still their king.
    Marco stood, waiting patiently; only after Jared was fully settled did he slide into an adjoining chair. Jared murmured something under his breath, expressing some need that only Marco could hear. In turn, Marco issued a quiet order to the attending officers within the room, and a flurry of movement ensued. As always, Thea was awed by the balance between king and protector, the symbiotic relationship that went back at least a thousand years in their royal traditions.
    Marco bent sideways, whispering something in Jared's ear. Heads inclined together, they looked shockingly alike. The same broad shoulders, the same gleaming black hair, the identical long noses. And of course they shared the same sultry-dark skin, hardly enough—in either case—to contain so much raw masculine energy within one body.
    She studied the matching sweep of both men's eyebrows, the elegant arch that reached a little too dramatically into their respective hairlines. They looked alike … too much alike, and she couldn't imagine that the speculations weren't flying wild all over camp. Everyone had to have noticed that, somehow, some way, the two men shared a bloodline.
    She was shaken from her thoughts by Jared's deep voice. "I'm told there is news from within the Antousian camp," he began, opening his handheld. Forever multitasking, he was perfectly capable of reading transmissions, following his comm, and listening to a complex conversation all at once. She'd always been too single-minded to manage that kind of juggling act.
    "My source has sent a disturbing transmission, sir." Thea knew her next words would rock the gathered advisers to the core, but she barreled ahead. "I'm told that our enemies are