“And the ride?” Shayn prompted when Naomi seemed more preoccupied about finding a path than telling him where they were going. Which... that was fair.
“City disposal doesn’t care about internal problems. This is our best shot out. The other paths are... messy.” She grimaced.
So that’s how she knew, her visions had told her. They hadn’t led them wrong yet, so Shayn wasn’t about to question it, though he did have to wonder how sneaking out with the garbage was the least messy escape option.
Shayn almost walked past his denya when she flashed up a hand to stop him. A moment later, two technicians turned the corner and their voices trailed down the hallway. They entered another room, none the wiser that Shayn and Naomi had been only a few meters away.
They proceeded like that until the smell of rot was enough to make Shayn want to vomit. A large waste disposal unit sat in the middle of a loading bay, waiting to be picked up.
“Please don’t tell me we have to get in that thing,” he said with a grimace. There was no telling what they threw away here.
“We’re getting out through the heights of luxury. Now come on.” She approached the unit and opened the lid, nodding for Shayn to get in.
Instead of that, Shayn picked his mate up and helped her over the ledge that was almost as tall as her, following soon behind. He closed the lid behind them and they were enclosed in a foul smelling space with something wet and warm under him and the air around them almost too thick to breathe.
Shayn wanted to say something reassuring to his mate, something that would let her know this would all be alright, but he realized those words would all be for himself. She knew how this ended and was feeling fine. He was the one who needed the reassurance.
Naomi laid an arm around him and buried her head against his neck, huddling close. A large clang sounded outside as a door opened, and a moment later they were moving.
He didn’t know how long they sat in that messy darkness. Long enough that eventually Shayn stopped obsessing about the smell. They rumbled along for several minutes until the vehicle came to a stop.
He rustled his denya. “Are we taking this thing to the end of the line? Or do we get out now?”
“Now,” she confirmed. They pressed up on the lid and both reared back at the near blinding sunlight. But it didn’t take much to get them out of the disposal unit and on the ground. Vehicles sent up alarms around them, but Naomi and Shayn walked on as if nothing strange was happening, and when they found their way back to the quarters he’d rented with his brothers he pulled her close and held on like his life depended on it.
They were safe for now. They only had to get off the planet, escape the Oscavian Empire, get back to Honora Station, and find their way to Earth.
Easy enough.
“Ready to meet my brothers?” he asked.
“I’m covered in trash, smell like I’m dead, and I put your life at risk.” She smiled brightly. “There’s never been a better time!”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
NAOMI HAD STARED DOWN the doctors who wanted to experiment on her with greater ease than she felt meeting Braxtyn and Dekon NaZade. Her heart beat erratically and sweat pooled at her lower back, mixing with the stench of the trash. It wasn’t exactly the first impression she wanted to make on Shayn’s only family, but what else could she do? They were at the rented room and the only way to get access to a shower and her mate was to go through his family.
Simple. Easy.
Now would be a great time for a vision to tell her exactly how this was going to go. But summoning the visions to get them out of the facility had fried her capacity and she knew it would be awhile before she saw anything without her eyes. A faint headache threatened to grow, but she hoped it didn’t. The day had been long enough already.
She entered the room in front of Shayn, as if he was worried that she would bolt. Her clothes were crusty from whatever filth she’d been laying on and she’d lost the ability to smell herself, so it must have been bad. Two Detyens who bore a striking resemblance to Shayn jumped to their feet as they came in the door, and then the one on the right flinched as he got a whiff of them.
“What died?” he asked. His face was a little softer than Shayn’s, his cheekbones not quite as pronounced, and the only thing differentiating him from his twin brother was that one of his clan markings climbed up his neck and curled around his chin, marking his face. It gave him a strange asymmetry that made it hard to look away from him.
“Brax!” the other one hissed, making that one Dekon and Braxtyn the one with the asymmetrical face.
“Are we just supposed to ignore it?” Brax asked.
That stumped Dekon, who said nothing.
Naomi didn’t know what to say. The few flirtations she’d managed before had never gotten to a meeting the family stage, and she wanted the boys to like her. If she was going to be with Shayn from here on out, the twins would be a part of her life and she needed to make the right impression.
But it was so much easier to make decisions when she could see the future.
Shayn came to her rescue. “Sometimes the only way out of a secure facility is through the trash.”
The twins shared a look and said, “Too easy,” before they both burst out laughing.
Shayn rolled his eyes and stepped around her. “I know that you’re both glad we made it. Here, give me a hug!” He held his arms wide and a waft of air made Naomi gag from something that was clinging to him.
Brax and Deke both tried to evade, each trying to sacrifice the other to their brother’s smelly touch. It ended with three siblings in a pile on the floor and Naomi didn’t need to be psychic to know that things would turn out alright. But she had a feeling if she waited for them to stop playing she’d be standing in filth all day, and the light from the bathroom beckoned.
Rather than announce what she was doing, she stepped around the squirming, laughing pile of brothers and closed the bathroom door behind her. She stripped off her clothes quickly and threw them in the farthest corner. They’d need to be burned, there was no saving them. She hoped she could borrow something from Shayn or one of his brothers. It was better to swim in clean clothes than fit in something that would always smell vaguely of spoiled food.
The hot water streamed over her hard enough to pummel knotted muscles. Naomi let out a groan as the heat seeped into her. She could stand there all day and never get enough.
“Should I be jealous?” Shayn asked, leaning against the door, his chest naked and pants unbuckled.
She hadn’t heard him come in over the sound of the water. “Are you really going to join me with your brothers right out there?” She was new to this whole relationship thing, but that seemed a bit... indecent. Clearly his brothers knew that she and Shayn had an intimate relationship, but it was one thing to know and another to know.
Shayn pushed his pants down and kicked them over to join the pile of her clothes, leaving him naked, his cock getting harder by the second. Naomi’s concerns were fading to the background, even as she tried to cling to them. But she hadn’t held her mate close in days and her body needed him.
As he stepped into the shower stall, she reached out and traced her fingers over the hard ridges of muscle on his abdomen, loving the heat. The shower washed away some of the stench from their escape and she reached for soap, letting the liquid foam in her hand before she began to rub her denya down.
“They’re out getting us tickets for a transport back to Honora Station,” Shayn said, his voice growing husky as she kneaded her palms over his tight muscles.
“Huh?” What did his brothers have to do with anything? Naomi rinsed some of the soap away and laid a warm kiss against his shoulder.
“Brax and Deke aren’t out there,” he said.
“Good.” Naomi didn’t know if there was soundproofing on the bathroom door and she didn’t want his brothers to hear what went on between them, and now that she had her hands on her mate she didn’t think she’d be able to stop. S
he grabbed more soap and sank to her knees, rubbing it in to every centimeter of his skin and taking note when he moaned. There were some interesting places that she wanted to explore later, but right now she just needed to keep touching him, to assure herself that he was there with her and he wasn’t going away.
She unhooked the shower head and rinsed him off, watching as the soap swirled around them, washing the evidence of their escape away. The smell might have been gone, but the memory would linger for a long time.
Shayn reached past her and gathered soap in his own hand, rubbing it on her shoulders and working his way down.
“I already did that,” she felt compelled to say for some stupid reason.
Shayn just smiled and ran his hands over her breasts, grinning even more broadly as she moaned. Her legs started to feel like jelly and she leaned against him as he saw to all of her hard to reach places, and by the time he took the shower head to her she was ready to collapse to the floor, even as her sex clenched and begged for attention.
Her mate put the shower head back in its holder and let it rain down its warm spray on them as he pulled her gently forward and sat down on the bench behind them, guiding her to straddle his legs. His hard cock rose up between them and Naomi pressed close, wanting to feel him everywhere.
There was so much to say that the words got clogged in her throat. Things could have so easily gone wrong. One misstep and they would have never seen each other again. She’d be trapped in Sola Corp’s facility for the rest of her days, until one of Morgyn’s experiments wiped out whatever was left of her, and Shayn would be left adrift, wondering what happened to her. Or worse. He could have been left for dead on the forest floor of that planet.
Shayn cupped her cheek and tilted her head up so their eyes met. “We’re together now,” he said, as if he’d read every worry that flashed through her mind. “No one’s going to tear us apart again.”
How could he know that? She could see the future and she couldn’t say that for certain, but Shayn spoke with so much conviction that she couldn’t do anything except believe him. “I love you.” The confession burst out of her, feelings too big to be contained inside of her any longer.
Shayn’s smile bloomed under her, the hot heat of his palms on her back anchoring them together. “I love you, denya. Trust in us and we’ll never be parted.”
She trusted him, even as fears lingered. She could only imagine what Morgyn would do, but with Shayn next to her it was easier to believe that it would turn out alright.
Naomi leaned in and sealed her mouth over his, pouring her love and her hopes and her desperation into the kiss. Every minute between kisses was too long, and she’d been starved of him for days. She didn’t want to imagine being parted again, and she needed to slake this hunger or she would crumble into dust.
Their washing in the shower already had her on edge and when she wrapped her hand around Shayn’s length she found him hard and leaking, his cock pulsing and ready to join with her. She moved enough to guide him to her entrance and gasped as his tip pushed into her.
She was in control here, guiding herself down at just the pace she needed, but as her body stretched to accommodate him, Naomi needed more. She moved her hips, jerking up and down and letting that stretch hit just the edge of pain before relaxing to let him even further inside.
Shayn grunted and thrust up, tearing his lips away and holding her hips to keep her steady. They found a rhythm and a moan tore out of her as Shayn hit her just right, burying himself deep and dragging out with delirious slowness, driving her to the edge of pleasure and beyond.
He nuzzled against her neck and Naomi tilted her head up to give him access, loving the way he nipped at the sensitive flesh. She wanted him to leave a mark, to proclaim to everyone that she was his and he was hers in the most physical way, and as he sucked against her skin she let out keening moans, begging him for more.
The sensation was too much, and her legs trembled; her entire body could feel it as pleasure crested and tore through her. With two final thrusts, Shayn joined her, cock emptying into her as his teeth nipped her neck.
She wrapped her arms tight around him and breathed heavily, her body drunk on pleasure and her mouth unable to wipe away the smile. “I think we need to clean up again,” she said, her words holding the edge of a laugh.
Her mate ran his hand up and down her spine, making her shiver. “This is the way I’m happy to get dirty with you, denya.”
And Naomi couldn’t hold it in anymore. She laughed.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
“SO IS ANYONE GOING to catch up at our next stop?” Deke asked as they sat in the communal area of the small suite they’d booked on the cruise liner taking them back to Honora Station. Naomi, Shayn, and the boys had made it to the space port and onto the ship easily enough, but now every light year that they put between themselves and Oscavia ratcheted up their worries.
“I don’t know,” Naomi repeated for what had to be the hundredth time. Her powers were still fried, with her instincts barely more than a whisper at the moment. “When I use my powers a lot they get depleted. It takes time for them to recharge. I don’t know everything, and usually my powers aren’t so much about what’s going on in my life, but what’s happening in the galaxy.”
Brax laughed at something, and she and Deke looked over to see him playing with Shayn’s tablet, where Aileen had taken up residence after their escape. She and Brax had immediately hit it off and he’d made sure to talk to her every day so she didn’t get bored.
Shayn was in their room napping off a vigorous, if not particularly restful night which left Naomi with babysitting duty. Not that a couple of men only three years younger than her needed a babysitter, but they’d all agreed that no one was to leave the room alone and Shayn wasn’t sure that his brothers would hold to that if Naomi or Shayn weren’t watching them.
“Then tell me who will win the Honora Lottery drawing next week,” Deke demanded. He leaned in toward her, eyes wide and a grin plastered on his face.
“It doesn’t work like that,” Naomi insisted. “I don’t control it. Usually.” She didn’t know if what had happened at the facility was a one off, or if she’d have more control once her powers recharged. She thought something felt different in the recesses of her mind, but she couldn’t tell if it had something to do with her ability, with her newfound freedom, with the denya bond, or something else entirely. Everything had changed so quickly that she needed some time to sit still and readjust. And she wouldn’t be able to safely do that until they were outside of the range of the Oscavian Empire.
Her instincts were whispering that everything would be fine, but she wasn’t ready to trust them just yet. Not that they’d been wrong before, but it felt hasty to take a deep breath while they were still in Oscavian space.
“Then how does it work?” Deke pressed. “There are a bunch of aliens with cool powers on Honora Station, but they never answer any questions,” he explained when she shot him an exasperated look.
Of course they didn’t if he kept pressing like this. But Naomi spied Brax trying to nonchalantly listen in while pretending to engage with the tablet, and she knew that the brothers just wanted to get to know her. After all, she’d appeared in their brother’s life out of nowhere and was now traveling with them as if she belonged. They had no reason except for fate to trust her, and explaining a bit about what she saw might be a way to bridge their two worlds.
“I don’t usually control it,” she repeated, then turned to Brax. “And you might as well get over here if you want to hear this.”
He looked over and gave her an innocent look, as if he’d been minding his own business, but he put the tablet down and took a seat at the table next to his brother. The door to one of the bedrooms slid open and Shayn joined them, taking the final seat at the table as if he’d been summoned.
“I didn’t realize there was a meeting,” he said, sleep still heavy in his voice. He casually slung an arm around Naomi’s shoulders
as if he couldn’t bear to be beside her and not touching her.
She understood the feeling.
“Your denya is going to explain how being a psychic works,” Deke said, practically bouncing in his seat.
“My denya has a name,” Shayn reminded him.
It did nothing to dim Deke’s excitement.
Naomi wasn’t going to press the issue, though she’d say something if more than a few days went by with the twins refusing to use her name. “It’s simple enough,” she began. “Sola Corp found me when I was a kid. I already had a strong intuition, and through various treatments and surgeries they were able to develop my... skill.” It was wrong to call it a gift. She’d paid for it too many times over for it to be a gift.
“You were just a kid?” asked Brax.
Naomi nodded. She went through the rest of the story as quickly as possible, not wanting to get hung up on the details that still left her raw and reeling. “I’ve had the visions for several years, and I can sense when I’m about to get one, usually. But until yesterday I’d never actually summoned one. And they’re almost never about me. Except...” Her mind went back to the last big vision she’d had before meeting Shayn. She’d seen him. And her visions since then had all had something to do with her life.
Was it because of him? Was it permanent? She hoped not. She didn’t want to watch her life unfold in her mind, lived before it happened.
“For example,” she said before anyone could question why she’d gone silent, “I saw a Detyen, I think, and a human woman working together on a big ship in one of my visions. They were trying to do something to the mechanics. I was seeing it as it played out or just after.”
“So you don’t just see the future?” asked Deke.
“Past and present, too,” Naomi confirmed. “Maybe that vision was a warning. Telling me I’d have my own Detyens coming my way soon.” She looked at Shayn and couldn’t help but smile. Sure it had been scary to get them here, but if it was the road she had to take, she’d do it again and again to make sure she was with her mate.
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