By the time I stepped out of the shower stall, my hair was nearly dry. I gave myself a once-over in the slab of nemestra covering one wall. A sleek, silvery stone, it turned the wall into a huge mirror.
Deep-brown eyes stared back at me. Slender face with high cheekbones. Cheeks flushed from the warm shower, lips brighter pink than usual, probably because I’d been biting them anxiously all day. It would have to do. I didn’t own any makeup. I’d never worn it, never had time for such frivolity in the past. And I felt no need for it now. My mates made me feel beautiful every day.
An unruly tangle of golden-brown curls hung down to my shoulders. I used to keep my hair cropped short to control them, but my mates loved playing with it, so I’d been letting it grow.
At five foot five, I was considered petite by Earth standards and tiny compared to the Tharans. Growing up, I’d spent years training as a gymnast and still had the well-muscled body with powerful arms and thighs. Since coming to Tharon, I’d put on a few pounds, mostly in my tits and ass, which pleased my mates.
I slid the floor-length emerald-green gown over my naked body and whirled around. The sleeveless V-neck dress hugged my breasts and clung to the curves of my waist and hips then flared out into a full skirt. It was my favorite dress, mostly because my mates bought it for me. I’d never worn dresses before I met them. They weren’t standard attire for the chief engineer on a starship.
I’m so lucky. I’ve had a lifetime of adventure just in the last year. Explored the galaxy, been captured by space pirates then rescued by the sexiest aliens I could ever imagine. Now I live on another world, where I’m surrounded by a loving, caring family and dear friends. It’s time to quit feeling bad because Jax and Jynn didn’t get into the whole Christmas thing the way I hoped they would.
I got out the gifts I’d hidden away in the wardrobe behind my clothes. I’d bought matching silver-blue shirts, almost the color of viridium, for my mates so I’d have a gift for them at our family celebration tonight. The rings I’d save for later, when we were alone.
They’d turned out more beautiful than I’d hoped. Three rings. Two massive, one small, all made of twin strands of silvery-blue viridium entwined with a single strand of gold. I didn’t have any experience at making jewelry, but before I ever started I’d seen the finished product clearly in my mind. Fortunately, both metals were easy to work with. To a skilled artisan, the rings might have looked amateurish, but I was proud of them.
I wanted Ceres to feel like she was part of our family too. But I couldn’t give her a ring. So I’d made her a heart. I had just enough gold left from my earrings to twist together with two strands of viridium into a tiny heart. She’d fallen in love with one of the fabrics we bought in Arcolis, a sleek silver-gray metallic that reflected whatever colors were around it. I managed to snip off enough without her noticing to make a delicate braided choker so she could wear the heart around her neck.
I was even more excited about her other gift. I’d made her a teddy bear. Cut it out and sewed it myself, since there were no teddy bears to be found on Tharon. It was a little lumpy, and I had to use two round black pebbles for the eyes, but I made it from a golden-brown fabric as soft as the fur of a baby orax.
I gave it an experimental hug. As a child, I’d have loved to have a teddy bear like this to cuddle with. I hoped the girl who grew up without ever having a toy would like it, too.
It was a magical night.
By the time I went back downstairs, darkness had fallen, but the house was filled with soft, warm light. Ceres had put every lantern we owned in the gathering room, and the zymex crystals glowed on the tree.
We ate by candlelight, laughing and talking and sharing memories of our time together, then sat down in front of the tree. Ceres and I sang a carol I’d taught her while we spent all that time together in the kitchen. Jax and Jynn had heard it often enough to chime in at the end, adding their deep voices for the chorus.
I passed out the gifts for my mates, so happy that I honestly didn’t mind when they had nothing to give me in return. They insisted on putting the shirts on right then and there.
Next, it was Ceres’s turn. She’d made leather pouches for the twins.
“There’s a loop so you can hang them from your belt,” she said.
“I love it!” Jax exclaimed. “You’ve put so much attention into the details. You even drew our Tharan warrior symbol on it.”
“This will be perfect for carrying coins,” Jynn said. “And I love the way you tied feathers and pieces of antler on the drawstring.”
“Those are from the ninabirds and the stag we’re having for dinner tomorrow. I wanted to honor them for giving their lives for our feast.”
“What a beautiful tribute!” The twins drew her in for a hug.
“Your turn, Ceres.” I handed her a bundle of colorful fabric.
“Oh, I love it!”
“That’s not the gift. It’s just the wrapping.”
“But I can use this. It will make a pretty shawl.” She fingered the cloth, smiling.
“Open it,” I urged.
She took her time, savoring the moment. I realized she’d probably never unwrapped a present before. When she saw the teddy bear, she let out a little sigh but never said a word.
Her head was bent so I couldn’t see her face. “It’s a teddy bear,” I said, to fill the silence. “A toy from Earth. Children play with them. Some treat them like a best friend. Give them names, take them everywhere, even sleep with them.”
“You made this. For me.”
“Yes. It’s a little lopsided since I sewed it by hand. I hope you like it.”
She raised her head and I saw her eyes were brimming with tears. “It’s perfect.” She set it aside to rummage under the tree through the pile of packages we’d wrapped for the guests arriving tomorrow. “Here. This one is for you.”
I took the small package. She’d wrapped it with special care, tying beads to strips of fabric and topping it with a fresh flower. “It’s almost too pretty to open!”
She clutched the teddy bear nervously as I unwrapped the gift. Inside were two necklaces. Strips of blue and golden-brown fabric braided together with matching silver discs hanging from them.
“These must be for your papas,” I said, confused.
She shook her head.
“But there are two.”
“One for you – and one for me,” she said. “I got the idea when we were in Arcolis. One of the shops had mother-and-daughter matching necklaces. Remember when I said I wanted to wander around by myself for a while? I went back to that shop and bought the medallions. But I made the necklaces myself. I wanted blue and brown, to match both our hair colors.”
I took a better look at one of the silver discs. It was engraved with two stylized female figures, one larger than the other.
“See? The mother is holding the daughter’s hand, taking care of her. Just like you take care of me, Mama.”
I burst into tears.
“You don’t like them?” Ceres looked like she was about to cry, too.
“I love it! I’m crying because I’m so happy – and so proud to have you as my daughter.”
Chapter Seven
Kyra
We put on our necklaces, and I pulled myself together enough to recite the only holiday story I knew.
’Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house;
Not a creature was stirring,
Not even a mouse.
I couldn’t remember all the parts, but since my audience had never heard it, they had no idea I was making up some things as I went along. Ceres listened with rapt attention, the teddy bear clutched tightly in her arms.
When I finished, Jax rose, followed by Jynn. “Time for bed, little one.” They gave Ceres a hug.
She bent down to hug me, and I almost lost it again when she whispered, “Thank you for my teddy bear, Mama. I love him.”
She headed u
pstairs, and I started to follow, but my mates stopped me.
“Not so fast. We haven’t given you your present yet.”
“My present?”
“Did you think we wouldn’t have a gift for you?”
“Yes. I mean no. I just…”
“Come on.”
Jax took me by the hand and led me outside.
“Where are we going?”
“You’ll see,” Jynn replied.
They led me to the far edge of our property, Jynn carrying a lantern to light the way. The purple-blue moons glowed in the night sky, and the air was soft and warm. I’d never ventured to this part of our homestead. It was heavily wooded, bordered by a tangle of brambles, left wild on purpose as a haven for birds and small creatures.
Tonight I saw they’d cut a path through the brush, winding into the wooded area. We rounded a curve and there it was. A tiny building, like a miniature mountain chalet, set in a clearing. Surrounded by a stout fence tall enough to keep any dangerous animals out.
“I never knew this was here!”
“It used to be a storage shed,” Jax said. “But hasn’t been used for years. We’ve been fixing it up.”
Jynn led me through the gate and opened the door. Jax motioned for me to step inside.
I glanced around then stopped dead, amazed. On one side of the room, a huge bed covered with a soft-cream suede comforter hovered about three feet in the air, with the head centered on the far wall. The opposite side of the room was a lounge area, with a pair of chestnut-brown leather chairs and a long table behind them made from a thick slab of gleaming wood. In front of the leather chairs sat a pair of benches covered in orax hide. Zymex crystals set here and there in the walls and ceiling filled the room with a soft glow.
The room was a perfect recreation of my old quarters on the Luna after they moved into it. The place where I got to know my mates. The place we first made love.
“This will be our little love nest,” Jynn said. “You can make noise here, and Ceres will never hear a thing. We can spank you whenever we want, and you can scream when we lick your pussy until you come.”
“Is this where you’ve been all those days when you said you were hunting?”
Jax laughed. “You must have thought we were terrible hunters when we came home day after day with nothing to show for it. Ceres helped us keep the secret. Some days she’d sneak animals out of the storage room and leave them hidden outside so we could bring them in and pretend we’d just gotten them.”
I teared up. All this time, I thought they didn’t care about Christmas. And they’d been working so hard to make us a special hideaway.
I wandered around, exclaiming over everything. They’d dimmed the zymex crystals attached to the walls and ceiling somehow. The opaque clusters glowed softly, giving everything in the room a warm peach-pink tint. The long table had a runner made from a woven cloth in rich shades of apricot and sapphire and bronze. I couldn’t help thinking what a beautiful gown it would make. Pillows in warm spice colors were piled at the head of the bed, with a few larger ones tossed casually on the floor. Everything was exactly like it had been in the room I remembered so well.
They even had a shelf on the wall opposite the bed with a familiar stone sculpture about a foot tall, flanked by a pair of gleaming bronze braziers. Tiny flames flickered around chunks of amber-colored incense in the shallow bowls. The exotic fragrance triggered vivid memories of the first time I’d seen it.
Firelight from the braziers danced over the statue, throwing some areas into shadow as it illuminated others. The sculpture was a frank, erotic depiction of three figures engaged in a sexual act I’d never even imagined before that night. One muscular male reclined on a bench like the one they tied me to the first time they spanked me. A bench like the one sitting in the center of this room.
A female straddled his lap with her knees on the bench and her hands braced on his chest, lowering herself onto his stiff cock. He cradled the twin cheeks of her bottom in his hands, spreading them apart for another huge male standing behind her. That one circled her waist with one arm. He held his erect penis in his other hand, guiding it into her bottom hole. But it was the female’s expression that I remembered best. Eyes closed, head thrown back, a rapturous smile on her face as two enormous cocks claimed her at once.
“The Sacred Ones Bonding with Their Mate.”
Jynn’s voice, behind me. I’d been so caught up in the sensuous play of light on the three figures, the fierce hunger suddenly clawing at my core that, for a moment, I’d gone back in time.
“I remember when you first saw this,” Jax said. “I explained that on Tharon, the first time we Bond with the mate the gods have chosen for us is both a joyous and a solemn event, honoring the love all three share.” He came closer and reached around me to stroke the female in the sculpture as though she were alive. “Each twin prepares her to receive the manhood of the other. This one…” He ran a finger over one of the hands gripping the female’s plump bottom cheeks. “He is spreading her so his brother’s cock can claim her tight rear passage. And the one standing behind her? He holds her in place, firmly but lovingly, while his twin thrusts deep into her sweet pussy.”
As he touched them, the firelight playing over the surface made it look as though all three figures moved sinuously, with one cock sliding in deeper as the other pulled back.
I couldn’t tear my eyes away. The nipples of the female stood out in tiny, tight peaks, and I knew what would happen next. The twin on the bottom would fasten his mouth over one, pumping his hips up while his brother held her in place. She’d be forced to lean forward when he sucked hard on it, making her back arch and pushing her bottom up to take more of his brother’s cock.
The sculpture had the same effect it did the first time I saw it. It set off a desperate craving in me. I wanted, needed, to be the female penetrated by two stiff cocks at once, have them filling me, thrusting in and out, as two pairs of hands held me down and spread me apart. They’d take control and then, together, they’d drive me higher and higher, until I hurtled over the edge into the abyss.
Jynn’s voice brought me back to the present.
“We have been waiting for this night a long time, my love. Tonight, I hunger to taste your juices. My brother is eager to take a kiss while I run my tongue deep in your pussy.”
His raw words sent a stab of lust through my core. It grew into a raging inferno when Jax loomed over me. His eyes devoured me as he slowly, deliberately brought his mouth to mine.
Jax was eager to “take” a kiss.” That’s what Jynn had said. Not “give” it.
And he did. From the moment our lips touched, he took. Demanded my submission with dark intensity.
I closed my eyes. Surrendered my will. He carried me to the bed, shoved my dress up to my waist, and urged my legs apart. He bent his head to kiss me again, and his lips stifled my moan when I felt Jynn’s tongue running up the inside of my thigh. He pulled away, and I gave a wild scream when Jynn rammed that tongue deep into my pussy.
“Yes. Scream for us,” Jax demanded. “You don’t have to be quiet anymore. Tell us how much you like it. Beg us to do wicked things to you.”
I shivered. They knew just where to fondle and caress me. How to make me gasp and quiver with need. More important, they knew when to assert their mastery.
“Oh, please, my lord,” I said. “Make me your slut.”
“Roll over.” Jax ordered. “Strip off that gown, then get on your knees and stick your ass high in the air. I’m going to spread you apart while my brother runs his tongue around your tight little hole to get you ready for my cock.”
Trembling with arousal, I did as I was told. Jax grabbed my bottom cheeks, and I felt Jynn’s hot tongue circling my tight sphincter.
Jynn stopped licking me and started stroking and rubbing a slick substance all around my bottom hole with his finger. I moaned as he breached the puckered entrance, twisting and turning, wo
rking his way into my rear channel. The heat from his gyron mixed with the heat of the oil, pouring through me and awakening my most wicked desires.
“Relax, Kyee-rha. This isn’t the same oil we used before. It won’t sting.” Jax must have felt my muscles tense. “You’ll find we have many mating potions on Tharon.” He went on with a hint of amusement in his voice. “Jynn likes this one. He says it tastes especially good.”
He’d barely finished speaking when I felt Jynn’s tongue again. Licking, then probing.
Sweet Aphrodite! I’d never felt anything so savagely arousing. By the time he stopped, I was panting and wiggling my hips like a brazen slut.
Jynn lay down on the bed next to me and shifted me over him. Lost in a lust-filled haze, I let him position me so I straddled him with my knees on either side of his hips and my pussy over his huge stiff cock.
He drew my head down, and his lips met mine. “Are you ready, my love?”
“Yes. Oh, yes.”
“Then be my Mate.” He dug his fingers into my hips and eased me down onto his manhood.
I gasped. He was so thick and so hot. Stretching me, filling me. I whimpered, afraid I’d never be able to take all of him in.
Jynn kissed me again. Seduced me with his lips and tongue, allowing me time to open for him. Holding me in place, he pumped his hips up and down, each time sliding in deeper.
I made wordless cries as he filled my pussy. Before long, I was bearing down to meet his thrusts. He sank in then stopped, holding me still.
“Are you ready to accept me as your Mate?” Jax’s voice behind me.
I repeated the solemn vow I made at our Mating Ceremony. “Yes, I accept you as my Mate. I swear by your Sacred Ones I will love and honor and obey you both, for as long as I live.”
I felt his lips on the back of my neck, his hand trailing down my spine. Caught a whiff of the delicately scented oil he spread around my rear opening. He worked his way past the tight entrance, began stroking in and out, massaging gyron from his fingertip into my rear passage.
Surprising Their Mate Page 5
