Brida Pact

by Leora Gonzales

  “Now that I recall clearly, you are not as soft in your stomach as you were a few weeks ago. I did not notice it until I caressed you though.” With Wheaton running his hands over her stomach, Poppy had to admit that she didn’t feel as squishy as she had before.

  “My baby, you are really having my baby,” he whispered. “I still cannot believe it.”

  Poppy was having a surreal moment of her own. She had just gotten used to the idea they’d need to get everything baby ready in forty weeks and now her timeline had been cut in half. She was going to be a mom sooner rather than later and it was freaking her out. Flicking her gaze from one man to another, all she could hear from them was “whaa whaa whaa whaa” and wondered if this was what someone felt right before they passed out. As she lost consciousness, her last thought was please don’t let me hit the ground.

  Trying to open her eyes, she heard loud voices above her. Blinking, her eyes hurting at the bright lighting, she saw that she was lying in the regen bed with the men arguing whether or not to scan her again to see what was wrong. Not one of them had realized she had come to again and were starting to yell at each other.

  “Guys? Guys. Guys!” she yelled to get their attention.

  “Poppy, you worried us. How are you feeling?” Rodin asked, sweeping a handheld scanner up and down her body.

  “I’m fine. I think I just got overwhelmed there for a minute,” Poppy said weakly. Sitting up, she put her hand on her head to clear the cobwebs a bit. “Can I have a glass of water?”

  Rodin rushed water to her so fast, she was amazed he didn’t go skidding across the floor.

  Wheaton was hovering over her as if she would pass out again any moment, and Poppy was feeling claustrophobic.

  “Back up, guys, I need some room to breathe,” she said, pushing Wheaton back a step or two. The hurt on his face made her heart twinge, but she really needed to not have three uber-tall warriors hovering over her right now.

  Wheaton felt as if his heart had stopped when he saw Poppy droop in the chair. Realizing she was no longer conscious, he panicked. The first thought that ran through his head was to get her to the regen bed. Noticing both doctors seemed frozen, he lifted her out of the chair and laid her gently down in the unit. Tamin was hitting buttons on the machine when Poppy moved her head and fluttered her eyes as if trying to wake up. When she didn’t immediately wake, he had demanded the doctors do their job. It was not until Poppy started giving orders that Wheaton felt relief. His little flower acted like a senior warrior sometimes in her temperament.

  “Rodin. Tamin. We have a ship to baby-proof and plans to make regarding houses on the home planet,” Poppy murmured once her head cleared. Plan mode was always her go-to for dealing with stress and this would not be an exception.

  “As you would say, we have a lot of shit to do and not much time to do it in. Correct, Poppy?” Rodin asked with a relieved smile.

  “Exactly, my friend. Exactly,” she replied with a matching grin.

  The men took that as their cue to help her up and start going over the plans they’d made earlier with Wheaton regarding how to get quarters prepared for when the baby arrived. Knowing that they were on an even tighter timeline seemed to give them a new energy for how things needed to be done. They all agreed that Poppy should be able to tell people about the pregnancy sooner rather than later considering the accelerated growth. The scan had come back showing a very healthy, if not speedy, baby.

  Wheaton grilled the doctors about what she should be eating, doing, and reiterated she needed to have an escort at all times. Although he wasn’t too fond of how close Behyr had grown to Poppy, Poppy figured Wheaton understood his fellow warrior was still the most logical choice considering Behyr already knew about the baby and he had become friends with Poppy.

  After Tamin and Rodin had explained, repeatedly, that everything was fine and Poppy was safe with them, he agreed to head to his morning meeting.

  “I wish I did not have to leave you yet,” he whispered, hugging her for the umpteenth time as he prepared to leave.

  “Me too, babe. Don’t forget to come back for lunch and to bring Hannah with you. I want to introduce her to some eligible warriors and get her sights locked on someone other than you.”

  “That sounds like a good idea. She has been spending too much time with Demascus during breaks. I have a feeling he has been feeding her lies and false hope. Her meeting other warriors will benefit all of us,” he agreed.

  After a couple more kisses, where she could see Tamin and Rodin making fun of Wheaton by making smoochie faces, she finally kicked his butt out. Turning to the men who had become her close friends, she shook her finger at them. “Knock it off, will ya? He is going to kill you both if you keep teasing him.”

  Both men laughed at her statement but agreed with her. They each took turns giving her hugs and she was surprised when Tamin whispered, “I was not kidding when I said that another warrior would take his place if he was stupid enough to let you go.”

  “Really, Tam, who are you referring to?” she asked with a teasing smile.

  She wasn’t prepared for the completely serious expression that came over his face when he replied, “I know at least three.” Then he turned and walked back to the supply room.

  Rodin nodded in agreement. Well, that was interesting.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Poppy might have warned Hannah off Wheaton but she wasn’t going to be so dumb as to look like crap when the time came for lunch. Excusing herself to the bathroom to freshen up before they arrived, she stared at her reflection. Comparing herself to Hannah would do her no good. Where she was dark and curly, Hannah was platinum and sleek. It was apples and oranges. Thank goodness Wheaton preferred her apples. Smiling at herself, she smoothed her hair, or as much as she could. Hearing voices in the hallway outside the door, she listened closely, wishing she had just a bit more time. The male voices were muffled just enough for Poppy to be unable to make out who’d arrived. Slicking on some lip gloss and straightening her top, she opened the door to see that Behyr had arrived.

  “Hey, Behyr!” she said, giving him a big smile in greeting that was followed by a quick hug. Of course he stiffened up again when she hugged him, which caused her to add in a whisper, “Remember I’m a hugger and this torture will not stop.”

  At his low chuckle, she stepped back and gave him a serious face, which caused him to still, most likely thinking that something was wrong.

  “About last night—” she began, only to be interrupted.

  “No worries, Poppy. I was out of line showing you my teeth. I can understand Wheaton’s distress and it will not happen again.”

  His face was so serious she was afraid he was actually going to go back to being Mr. Cold on her.

  “Oh no, Behyr! He wasn’t mad at you, not really… We were both frustrated with not seeing each other for days on end, and you were convenient for him to get mad at.” Noticing his disbelief, she went on, “I’m serious. You have become a great friend.” Turning to the other men in the room, she glanced at all of them in turn. “In fact, you have all become amazing friends, and I don’t know how I would have survived this past week without any of you. Wheaton is going to need to accept that humans need friends and that’s exactly what you are to me.”

  Nodding her head at the men who watched her while shaking their heads, she continued, “Really, you guys have kept me sane. I have had fun this past week instead of staying in my room crying…and that’s all thanks to you guys.”

  The men were silent for a couple moments before Behyr stepped forward and spoke.

  “Poppy, Wheaton may not be comfortable with that. We value your friendship as well but Wheaton is a formidable warrior and I would not want to be on his bad side.” Both Tamin and Rodin nodded their heads in agreement.

  “Don’t be such a pussy,” she said jokingly while patting Behyr’s arm.

  Noticing his perplexed expression, she waited for it…

  “A cat?�
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  When the question popped out of his mouth, she giggled.

  “Not that type of pussy. There are many meanings of that word in our language. I was using it to replace ‘being scared’,” she said between giggles.

  “That is not nice, Poppy. I am scared of nothing,” Behyr said in the most affronted voice she’d ever heard him use.

  “Well then quit acting like it, Behyr. In fact, all of you need to knock it off. Don’t freeze up when he’s around. It took me a while to get you comfortable and joking, and I don’t want to go back and have to start over.” She followed up her edict with a shoulder nudge to Tamin.

  Walking from the room with the others following, she glanced back and asked to anyone who would want to answer, “Who’s bringing the food?”

  “I believe Wheaton and Hannah will be bringing lunch,” Rodin replied.

  Behyr was apparently out of the loop, because he stared at Poppy as if she’d sprouted two heads. “Isn’t Hannah…” he started.

  “We’ve decided to make nice and have lunch together today.” Making a funny face at the men, she went on, “My goal is to distract her with other beefcake options, and she’ll move on and leave Wheaton alone. Any ideas of who might be waiting for a bride?” she asked with an eyebrow wiggle.

  “Is she anything like you?” Behyr asked with obvious interest.

  Poppy couldn’t help but sputter out a laugh at the thought of being compared to Hannah.

  “Oh no, my dear friend. We are nothing alike. In fact, I can safely say she is the exact opposite of what you see standing before you today.” Sweeping her hand up and down her body like a Price Is Right model, she laughed again.

  “Well then no, I would not like to distract her,” Behyr said with a straight face while the Bobbsey Twins nodded in unison.

  Poppy was flattered by their compliments. “Aw shucks, you men sure know how to make a gal feel good about herself.”

  The door to the med center swished open and she turned to see Hannah and Wheaton enter with platters in hand. Walking up to Wheaton and taking the tray in exchange for a quick kiss, she turned to greet Hannah. Poppy was surprised Hannah actually gave her a genuine smile. Looking back at the men, she cleared her throat and gestured toward the large plate that Hannah was carrying with a help her, you morons expression on her face.

  “Hannah, I would like to introduce you to Behyr. He’s been my escort this past week while Wheaton was busy.”

  Behyr nodded and stiffly bowed when introduced.

  “And these two great guys are the doctors here in the medical unit. This is Tamin and this one over here is Rodin.” She waved them over to Hannah to shake hands. “Men, this is Hannah.”

  Tamin and Rodin greeted her with cool smiles. Apparently all the talking about Hannah this and that had sunk in, and she had a feeling the “bros before hoes” motto was sticking with them…Poppy being a “bro” in this scenario.

  “Let’s eat and you two can tell us about your morning,” she suggested when nobody seemed to move.

  At a round table in the common area of the medical unit, they dished out sandwiches and pasta salad. Of course, silence had descended on their group. With Wheaton sitting next to her, she gave him a nudge with her foot to hopefully get someone speaking. He obviously didn’t get her “talk about something” nudge because he took a huge bite of his food. The men seemed happy stuffing their faces but Poppy could tell that Hannah was uncomfortable with the silence. Picking at her food and casting glances around the room, the blonde appeared nervous.

  “So, Hannah…do you like attending the Council meetings?” Poppy asked in an effort to open up dialogue.

  Hannah smiled at Poppy in what could only be interpreted as relief to be able to talk about work instead of something personal.

  “Yes I do. With the recent situation, I believe I have become quite helpful calming down the Council.”

  Wheaton agreed with a nod as he chewed.

  “What recent situation?” Poppy asked, while looking at Wheaton for clarification. Hannah was the one to answer though since she wasn’t the one currently with a mouthful of sandwich.

  “Well, when the ship started moving toward the home planet, the US government panicked.”

  “Why the panic? I’m sure they didn’t expect the ships to stay in one place too long.”

  “They’re aware that ships will be traveling back and forth, but they had some visitors on the ships who were not cleared to be taken out of reach.”

  At Poppy’s confused face, Hannah went on, “Valerie for instance is being viewed as a hostage since she wasn’t given an option to return before the ship started moving. When she did not return home her family filed a police report and have essentially used the word ‘kidnapped’. Her parents are very conservative regarding their views of the Phaeton situation and don’t seem to even support her work here.” Hannah ended with a frown.

  “Oh no, I haven’t had a chance to see Val all week. Every time I tried to message her she wasn’t available. Is she doing okay?”

  Concern for her friend was now running through her head. When she hadn’t been able to get in touch, she’d just assumed that maybe Thorne was keeping her company or something. She hadn’t considered that Val was stuck on the ship—and possibly in trouble for it.

  “Wheaton? She isn’t in trouble, right? I mean, she came up here to help us out with the bride stuff, and I would hate to have brought this trouble on her.”

  Wheaton patted her hand to calm her down and said in a soothing voice, “Do not worry, Poppy, Hannah has actually made great strides in talking to your government and explaining the situation as to why Valerie was needed on the ship. It took a few days, but with Val sending messages to her parents assuring them that she was safe, she was able to convince them that we were not harming her and she would be returned safely as soon as possible.”

  “Whew.” Poppy released a sigh of relief. Turning to Hannah, she smiled gratefully, “Thanks, Hannah, I’m sure your previous political experience helped the situation a lot and now I can see why you were needed at those meetings all week.”

  Wheaton cast Poppy a glance that she interpreted as relief on his part as well.

  “This is what I do. Being a City Council member, I had to deal with some crazies…not only crazy but we had a lot of lawsuits for no reason other than miscommunication.” She shrugged as if it wasn’t a big deal.

  When Hannah had explained her part in helping the warriors avoid conflict, Behyr had sat up and started studying her with a more appraising gaze than the weary one he’d had on his face earlier.

  “Behyr?” Waiting for him to drag his eyes from Hannah, she smiled when he finally paid attention to her. “How’s your warrior training going? Any there any more sparring sessions that we’re going to need to prepare for in the medical unit?”

  “You train the warriors here?” Hannah asked, casting her own appraising glance at the big man sitting across from her.

  As the conversation continued, mostly with Behyr and Hannah talking, the rest of the group finished their lunches. Seeing that Hannah was starting to glance at Behyr with familiar big doe eyes while he talked about what it took to train the men, Poppy smiled inwardly. Mission Distract with Beefcake complete.

  Since nothing was left on the platters, they were able to quickly clean up. Noticing that Tamin and Rodin had gone into “doctor mode” to prepare for their afternoon patients, she decided now was a great time to sneak in a little Wheaton time. Nodding her head for him to follow her, she led him down the small hallway to pull him into an empty supply closet where she wrapped him in a full-body hug. He returned the embrace and upped the contact with a full ass grab as he breathed in her scent.

  “I have missed you, my little flower,” he whispered huskily.

  “I missed you too, babe,” she said quietly back. “Why are we whispering?”

  Smiling down at her, he said, “Because I don’t want this moment to be rushed and I am hoping they forget we a
re here.”

  “I am sure at some point they’ll need to come in for a supply or two,” she joked.

  Gripping her butt just enough to lift her onto her toes, he ground his hips into hers. “We can throw what they need in the hall.”

  This man made her engine go from zero to sixty in six seconds. Her skin had already begun to tingle and she wiggled even closer to him. At his rumble, she rubbed her hands on his chest as she leaned up for a deep kiss. Moving her hands to his neck, she ran her fingers through his hair and then back down.

  Pulling down on his shoulders made him stoop slightly. Now she was able to give a slight jump, using him as leverage. When he caught her weight with his palms on her ass, she wrapped her legs around his waist. The rumble got louder when her crotch met the hard plane of his abdomen. Now face-to-face with her quarry, she nuzzled his mouth with hers. As he met her kiss and deepened it, she realized she’d never been this physically confident with any man before. She wasn’t a small lady but Wheaton was able to handle her as if she were a doll. He always seemed to be surrounding her and sheltering her, which made her feel smaller than she actually was. That in itself was a huge turn-on.

  Getting lost in his kisses while he kneaded her, she rubbed against him. Dear god, she was humping Wheaton in a closet. And not only was she humping him, she was extremely close to getting off. His chest rumbles had the effect of a vibrator against her clit. Dragging her mouth away to catch her breath, she shivered when Wheaton bit her earlobe. Poppy’s eyes rolled back in her head as she took one step closer to coming.

  “Wheaton?” she mumbled.

  “Hmmm?” Still nibbling, he ground her pelvis into him harder.