Come here, my love, and open wide, Jax said. Don’t be afraid. Jynn isn’t going to punish you. This is just to make sure Ceres doesn’t hear you screaming when we drive you wild.
Obediently, I opened my mouth. Jax fastened the trainer behind my head and then caught both my wrists in one huge hand. Fortunately I’d had enough experience with the trainer to keep from biting down reflexively.
He pulled me back against his chest with my arms behind me while Jynn turned his attention to my breasts. Tweaking them then sucking my nipples. Even nipping the puckered tips with his teeth.
I moaned as he lowered his head, running his tongue down the center of my chest. When he got to the mass of curls between my legs, he buried his face in them, breathing deeply.
“The scent of your arousal makes me crave the taste of your juices.”
He lifted my legs off the floor and hooked my knees over his shoulders. Jax shifted his hold on my wrists so they were above my head and slid his free arm under my back, supporting it so I was suspended between them, legs spread wide apart and pussy level with Jynn’s face. He licked slowly from my clit all the way to my bottom hole and back up again. It still embarrassed me when they played with my ass, and I squeezed my eyes shut.
“Keep your eyes open, Kyra,” Jynn ordered. “I want to watch the heat building in them. I want to see them glaze over when you come.”
He licked me again then flicked back and forth across my throbbing bud.
Oh sweet Aphrodite! His tongue was so hot. So wet. So… I sucked hard on the trainer as tiny electrical charges from his gyron danced along the lips of my pussy. He spread my thighs apart a little wider and licked me again, long and slow.
I was completely in his power, my pussy spread apart for him. Sweet hot bursts of gyron from the trainer poured down my throat. Everywhere his lips caressed, the trail of gyron he laid grew into savage bolts of lust shooting deep into my core. I made a tiny mewling sound. He locked his gaze with mine and did it again then rammed his tongue into my slit.
I let out a strangled cry, bucking and writhing. Jynn gripped my rear cheeks, reawakening the sensations from my spanking in the woods. It didn’t hurt but the lingering sting ramped my arousal even higher. He held me in place, licking my clit, teasing it until it swelled and throbbed.
My entire being centered around his hot tongue tormenting my clit. With Jax restraining my wrists and Jynn holding my spanked bottom in place, I was helpless, unable to stop him. The thought sent a hot rush shooting through me at the same moment he fastened his mouth over the swollen bud and sucked.
I shattered. If I hadn’t had the trainer in, I’d have screamed. Jynn made a rough noise deep in his chest and kept on sucking, sending me from one climax straight into another, even more powerful than the first.
I was still shuddering when Jax unbuckled the trainer and eased it out of my mouth. He sank back onto the bed, pulling me with him, and let go of my wrists. Jynn took my right hand, wrapped my fingers around his erection and then buried a fist in my hair, drawing my face toward it.
Still intoxicated by the taste of his gyron from the trainer, I opened my mouth willingly. My lips closed around his cock, and I swirled my tongue over it. Jynn groaned as a drop of pre-cum welled up from the tip. I licked it greedily. The trainer had served its purpose. Gave me just a hint of the spicy-sweetness and left me craving more.
Wordlessly, Jynn took charge. With my hair wrapped around his palm, he held my head in place. His other hand covered mine on his cock, guiding it up and down the shaft while he pumped in and out of my mouth.
The world narrowed, and my senses heightened. Jynn drove the pace faster. and the rough groans he made inflamed my own lust. The rhythmic pulsing in the veins of his cock mirrored the throbbing in my clit. as Jax reached down to tease and torment it. Eager for the taste of his cum, I sucked harder, relishing the spicy tang of his gyron.
Jynn’s fist tightened in my hair, and he quivered. He gave a low growl and forced my head farther down on his shaft. The first jet of cum shot out, and I swallowed, shuddering at the bolt of heat rocketing through me.
The fever built to an inferno when they traded places. I licked and sucked Jax as his brother shoved two fingers deep into my pussy. When I exploded, Jax’s cock muffled my screams.
We collapsed in a tangle of limbs on the bed, Jax once again cradling me against his chest. I fell asleep with him stroking my hair as Jynn ran his palm gently up and down my back.
Chapter Four
Kyra
The days flew by as I prepared for our first Christmas. I wanted everything to be perfect, just like it was in the fantasies I made up as a child.
Ceres and I took a trip to Arcolis, Tharon’s capital city, where we wandered through the outdoor market stalls. I bought an armful of colorful fabrics. “We’ll cut them into strips and use them to tie our decorations onto the tree,” I told her.
My daughter loved the spice market best. I found a dark powder that smelled a little like cinnamon, and her eyes lit up when I said we’d use it to make special cookies for the feast.
“I’ve never been to a feast,” she exclaimed. “Are all your human friends coming?”
“I hope so. Cass will be there with Rhynn and Rhom. Saige and Keir and Khaun, of course. I’ve invited their sister Aura, too, with her mates, Dagon and Dru. We spent so much time together on the Luna that she’s like family to me. And Delta with Zandyr and Zhynn. The only one I’m not sure about is Aliya. I don’t know if she’ll be able to travel so close to her due date.”
“Tell me the part about the presents again,” Ceres urged.
“On Earth, adults exchange gifts on Christmas to show their affection for each other. Books or clothes or jewelry or homemade trinkets. And children get toys from Santa Claus.” I saw her brow wrinkle and explained. “I suppose you’re old enough to hear the truth. Santa isn’t real. He’s a mythical figure, a kindly old man who lives in the northern realm and keeps a list of who’s naughty and who’s nice.”
I had a flashback to the last time I’d been naughty and dragged my thoughts away from the decadent way my mates punished me. “According to the legend, he brings toys to all the good children on Christmas Eve.”
“All of them? How many good children are there on Earth?”
“Umm…quite a few. But, remember, it’s a made-up story. It’s really the parents who give the gifts. They keep them hidden and then put them out after the children are asleep. When the children wake up on Christmas morning, they find presents under the tree and in their stockings.”
“In their stockings? How do the parents get them into the stockings without the children noticing? And how can they fit presents into stockings that already have feet in them?”
I sighed. Trying to explain Christmas to someone who’d never heard of it was more complicated than I thought it would be. “They aren’t wearing the stockings at the time. They’re hung up by the fireplace the night before.”
“Eeewww! I don’t think I want presents stuck in my dirty stockings.”
I laughed. “I think you’re supposed to hang up a clean stocking, not one you’ve been wearing all day.”
She cocked her head, considering. “I suppose that would be all right. There’s something else I don’t understand. What are toys?”
I wrapped my arms around her. “My sweet, sweet Ceres! I should have remembered. You never had a toy, and you’ve been surrounded with adults ever since we brought you here. On Earth and even here on Tharon, I’d imagine, children are given items to amuse them. Objects they can use to act out stories they make up, like model space ships and tiny animals and miniature figures depicting girls and boys. And games. You know the Tharan game of nestor? When I was a child at the Institute, we had lots of games like that. Games we could play alone, and games we played with others.”
“I like nestor,” she said. “But I never played games with other children. My only friends were the Gornian dra
gons.”
I shivered, remembering the ferocious beasts we’d faced on our last trip to Tanis Major. “Lucky for all of us, they considered you a friend, too.”
“I think showing affection with presents sound nice. I want to give presents to everyone!”
“That’s a great idea! We’ll have a present for everyone who comes to our celebration. We can make special treats for the men. Guys love to eat. I’ll ask Soraya for the recipe for pala cake.”
“And cookies,” Ceres reminded me. “Warriors like cookies.”
“Does that include this warrior?” I asked, giving her another hug.
She nodded shyly. Jax and Jynn had proclaimed her a warrior after our battle in the Arena, and they repeated their praise every chance they got. It made me happy to see her beginning to accept herself as worthy of it.
“What can we give to the females?”
“How about jewelry?” I suggested. “We could braid strips of this cloth into necklaces and then find a unique shell or rock to hang on each one.”
“Yes! That sounds so pretty! I love making things. I can’t wait to get started.”
My mind raced all the way home. I’d been racking my brain for the perfect gift for my mates, and talking with Ceres gave me an idea. We’d had a Tharan Mating Ceremony, but steeping myself in Christmas rituals brought to mind another Earth tradition.
I’d make wedding rings.
Rings for all three of us. Twin strands of viridium, a beautiful silver-blue metal from Tharon, braided together with one strand of gold. I fingered the hoops in my ears, one of the few possessions I still had from my former life. I’d stashed them away behind a wall panel in the engine room on the Luna right after the pirates boarded our ship and was surprised to find them still there months later. There was enough gold in the hoops to make a strand for three matching rings.
And for Ceres? My budding woman who’d never really been a child? She’d never been cuddled after her mother died, and she was still getting used to my spontaneous hugs, though she seemed to like them. I had the perfect present in mind for her, too.
Jynn
“She’s going to be so surprised!” Jax declared.
“I hope so,” I muttered, wishing for the third time I’d worn a heavier shirt. Tharontrees had nasty sharp tips on their blue leaves, and these were particularly vicious. They’d been digging into my arms all the way home. “I still don’t understand why the tree has to be in the house.”
“It’s just another one of those bizarre alien customs,” Jax said. “I don’t even try to understand the reason behind Kyra’s Christmas traditions. It’s enough for me that all this seems to make her happy.”
We stood the tree in the center of the gathering room and stepped back.
“Is that the way it’s supposed to look?” Jax asked.
Before I could answer him, the door flew open, and our mate stormed in laden with packages, Ceres in her wake.
“Jax, Jynn, I’m so glad you’re here! We had so much fun! I can’t wait to show you…” Her voice trailed off. “Oh, sweet Goddess!”
‘Do you like it? It’s your Christmas tree. We wanted to surprise you and have it here before you got home.”
“It’s so…big. And blue. And you brought the whole thing in, roots and all.”
I could tell by her tone something was wrong. “Isn’t that what we were supposed to do?”
“Well, not exactly. Back on Earth, we cut the tree down, then bring just the trunk and branches inside.”
Ceres turned on her. “You kill it? But that’s so cruel! How can your people do something so barbaric as to sacrifice a living thing and call it a celebration?”
“We don’t…” my mate began, but Ceres’ eyes filled with tears.
“I don’t want Christmas if it means a tree has to die!”
Kyra turned pale. “I’m sorry, Ceres. I forgot your world honored all life.” She stared at the mound of dirt on the floor, frowning. “I know! We can use one of those huge empty mead barrels in the storeroom. We’ll cut it in half and put the tree in it, roots and dirt and all. It will stay alive and then we’ll plant it out in the yard the day after Christmas.
“Maybe we’ll even start a new tradition!” she went on. “We can have a whole grove of Tharontrees on our property, each one marked with a plaque bearing the date of the Christmas we celebrated.”
Great. Now we’re doing this every cycle! “I’m going upstairs first to change my shirt,” I announced, rubbing a particularly vicious scratch.
Chapter Five
Kyra
Once the half barrel was in place and I’d cleaned all the dirt off the floor, I stepped back to take another look. The tree was scrawnier than the ones I’d seen in pictures, and it was deep blue instead of green, but since I’d never had a Christmas tree before, I thought it looked beautiful.
Ceres and I got to work baking batches of cookies. I didn’t have a recipe, so I decided to improvise. How hard could it be? I’m an engineer. I should be able to calculate proportions and baking time.
When our third batch came out of the oven, Ceres bit into one and made a face. “The ones that spread out and turn into blobs taste great. These look like they’re supposed to, but they… um…” She stopped. My daughter hated to hurt anyone’s feelings.
I brushed a stray lock of hair out of my eyes and sighed. “It’s okay. You can say it. They taste awful. I didn’t think baking cookies would be this hard. Let’s take a break and do something else for a while.”
“We don’t have anything to hang on the tree yet,” she said. “How about going on that picnic to collect rocks and flowers?”
“That’s a great idea! I need to get out of the house. Why don’t you pack up the cookies that taste good, and I’ll make us some sandwiches. There’s roast orax left from dinner the other night.”
“The orax came out great! You definitely need to make that for the feast.”
Ceres didn’t believe in killing living things. Luckily she made an exception for food or we’d all have starved trying to respect her feelings. I’d grown accustomed to her soft prayer before each meal, giving thanks to the Goddess and paying homage to the menu items we were about to consume, whether roasted oraxes or roasted vegetables.
She got to work wrapping up cookies. “How many shall I pack? Are Jax and Jynn coming, too?”
I shook my head. She’d hit a sore point with me. After bringing in the tree, my mates had made themselves scarce. They spent every day in the forest. They said they were hunting game for the feast, but we already had a huge Norendaal stag in the cold storeroom below the house. I was disappointed. I’d hoped they would get into the spirit of things, but although I hated to admit it, the whole holiday tradition was alien to them. Seeing Ceres so excited was a big consolation, so I’d been doubling my efforts to make this first Christmas special for her.
We had a marvelous time wandering around the property. Our house reminded me of a mountain chalet I’d visited once on leave back on Earth. It was the home Jax and Jynn grew up in. Set on a large plot of land with no neighbors nearby, the wood and stone structure fit the surroundings. The soft blue-gray shades in the rock foundation and fireplace blended well with the deep-blue leaves of Tharontrees dotting the landscape in the distance.
Ceres filled a bag with colorful stones and flowers. “Some of these will be perfect for the necklaces we’re making,” she remarked. “What else do you put on a Christmas tree, Kyra?”
I swallowed a pang of disappointment. Although I tried to be a good mother to Ceres, I’d never asked her to call me by that name. After all, she’d had a mother, and I never wanted to usurp the place in her heart for the female who gave birth to her. Still, I always hoped one day she’d accept me as her mother, too.
“On Earth, people put lights on the tree,” I replied.
“That sounds lovely! Maybe we can use zymex crystals. I’ll ask Jax and Jynn to get us some.”
&
nbsp; A glimpse of red on a low branch at the edge of the forest spurred another memory. “Berries! They hang garlands of red berries on the tree, too.”
“You mean like ganiberries? Can we do that?”
I glanced back at the house in the distance. “We can probably gather some along the edge of our property, but we shouldn’t go into the forest without Jax and Jynn. Tharon is a beautiful world, but it’s full of dangers.”
“Okay.”
She skipped away. “Oooh! This tree is loaded with them,” she called out. “But I can’t get to the biggest ones. Can you?”
I laughed. “That’s always the way it is. The best-looking fruit is just out of reach.”
I got caught up in her enthusiasm, and soon we had our arms full of bunches of ruby-red berries. When I glanced around, I realized we’d ventured deeper into the forest than I planned.
“Ceres, I think we have enough. Let’s head back home.”
We hadn’t gone far when I heard voices shouting our names. “We’re coming,” I called.
My mates met us at the edge of the forest.
“What are you doing out in the forest?” Jax sounded furious.
Uh oh. We were in trouble.
“We’re collecting things for the celebration. Flowers and rocks…”
“And ganiberries to hang on the tree,” Ceres broke in.
“I don’t expect you to realize the seriousness of what you’ve done,” Jynn told her. “You’re just a child. But Kyra, you know better.” He gave me a dark look. “Ceres, please go inside the house. We need to speak with Kyra. Privately. We may be a while,” he added.
Surprising Their Mate Page 3
