Raz groaned. “Telling us that is torture. You know that, don’t you?”
She smiled. “I do. Now, tell me where you have been.”
Chapter Five
Wattur looked to his set and shifted uncomfortably. “We have travelled the stars before landing our assignment here.”
She was staring at him with those huge dark brown eyes so similar to his. Watt felt the heavy throb of his cock but remembered what the priest had told him. No intimate contact without courtship.
Nisa had lived almost all of her life outside the lab with these priests and they had cared for her and sheltered her from the harsh realities of being a clone in civilized society.
While all of the planets had agreed to give the clones a parcel of land when they found their mate, few, if any, had actually thought that it was a possibility.
Just seeing Nisa had him warring with the urge to snatch her up and fly off with her, as well as the urge to coddle and protect her.
His set would stop the escape, but the trust that he would destroy would be hard to replace. A quick look at Raz and Prio showed him that his first and third were suffering the same conflict.
Nisa sighed and the movement drew his gaze to the breasts that bore their mark. “No, I mean what were your duties, where did you operate as a team?”
Watt sat back and ran his hand over his short-cropped hair. “We were in hostage retrieval. When no one else could get to a site, they called us and we flew in to the rescue.”
Prio nodded and absently rubbed his shoulder. The scar that he stroked was one of many marks that the eagle set wore with pride.
“You don’t want to talk about it.” She slumped and her red hair slithered across her eyes.
Watt smiled. “It isn’t that we don’t want to talk about it, it is simply that it wasn’t that interesting. Those deeds are in the past and we have suddenly taken an interest in the future.”
With his set staring at their mate with hunger in their eyes, he cleared his throat and rapped his knuckles on the table. It was time to keep on top of their self-control. They could have her naked and begging another time.
Rules were rules.
* * * *
Nisa fought a shiver as three pairs of hungry eyes memorized every inch of skin exposed to them.
“Speaking of the future, where do you intend that we live after we officially join?” Her voice was far huskier than she intended.
The thought of having all three of them in her arms sent a surge of heat between her thighs. A flickering of images ran through her mind and with each positioning more salacious than the last, she bit her lip and sighed.
She blurted her question out before she could stop herself. “How long do we have to wait?”
She surprised them, that much was certain as Raz hiked a brow, Prio grinned and Watt chuckled.
Watt took her left hand in his and slowly stroked her palm with his thumb. “Father Wercos got us to agree to a five-step courtship.”
Her words came out in a whisper. “Five steps?”
Prio smiled and took her other hand, treating her to the same slow stroke as Watt.
Raz’s eyes glowed as he informed her. “Step one was the introduction, step two was the dancing.”
She shivered and clenched her thighs tightly together. She could feel the slickness as she shifted from side to side. “What was step three?”
“Conversation in a casual setting.” Raz looked around them and raised his hands to highlight the remains of the wedding around them. “Looks pretty casual to me.”
She giggled as Prio’s thumb hit a spot that sent a surge of sensation to her breasts. She fought another squirm. “What is step four?”
Prio’s voice was low. “The proposal, as is standard in engagements on this world.”
Her voice rose to a squeak. “And step five?”
“The formal registering of our union with the governments and a wedding night is the final step.” Watt’s slow massage moved up her arm and she flinched as he found a spot on the interior of her wrist that was connected to a zone inside her.
A soft moan came from her lips and all three men focussed on her with intensity. Watt’s eyes grew heavy lidded, Prio licked his lips and Raz leaned forward to watch her.
She was the prey and they the predators as a silent communication went through them. Prio found the matching spot on her other wrist and he and Watt worked her pressure point until she was panting and a light sheen of sweat formed on her brow.
“This is what you consider to be casual conversation?” She clenched her teeth as she squirmed in their grips, their eyes glittered in the light of the candles and she focussed on them until it was all she could see.
They didn’t answer her, merely kept watching her. When the spiralling heat snapped inside her, they supported her while she shivered and moaned. Her body slowly relaxed and Watt and Prio ceased to rub on her wrists but kept her hands prisoner in theirs.
She had a blush covering all visible skin. “I didn’t realize that that was possible.”
Raz blinked slowly as if his mind was returning from a million miles away. “We did not either. It is something that we will remember for our joining ceremony.”
A voice caused them all to jump. “When were you thinking of having that ceremony? I would like to get some sleep in the interim.”
Brother Timo was standing with his arms crossed over his chest, the rest of the priests on clean-up duty were standing behind him watching her and her suitors with amusement.
Raz shook his head to clear it and stood, giving a small signal to Watt and Prio who released her hands to turn her so that they could surround her.
They knelt at her feet and each extended their left hand to her. As one they spoke, “Nisa Zask, will you marry us?”
She looked into eyes the shades of gold and brown, dragging in a deep breath. “I will.”
Brother Timo came over and took Nisa into his arms. “Congratulations, now go to sleep. When you wake, Father Wercos will have discussed all pertinent matters with them.”
Blinking in surprise, she walked toward the abbey, the priests stopping her to hug her as she moved in a dazed state back to her home.
She cast the occasional glance over her shoulder, but her men were deep in conversation with Brother Timo, dwarfing him.
Her bed was as neat as it had been twenty-four hours earlier, and to her shock, she was still wearing the wreath of flowers. Nisa stripped off her gowns, hung them neatly on the wall and slipped into bed with the wreath on the pillow beside her.
If she woke up and the last day had been nothing but a dream, she would still be satisfied. It had been one helluva dream.
Chapter Six
Nisa rubbed her eyes and yawned as she sat up, jerking in surprise as she took in Brother Timo, Father Wercos and Brother Geelar waiting for her.
“Good afternoon, Nisa. Brother Geelar will take your measurements for your wedding gown. Brother Timo is your official chaperone and as soon as you are dressed, you and I will have a pre-wedding counselling session.” Father Wercos was smiling.
She held her sheets to her jaw line as they exited, blinking owlishly. When she was sure that they were out, she ran into the bathroom and attended to nature while her mind spun.
When she had her daily robes back in place and her hair braided tightly down her back, she emerged from her rooms to be tucked under Brother Timo’s arm and escorted to Father Wercos’s office.
A light lunch was waiting for her and Father Wercos poured tea for her just as he would any bride in for counselling. “Have a seat, Nisa.”
She took the seat next to him in the cozy seating area and numbly took the cup of tea that he handed to her.
He immediately got right to the heart of the matter. “Nisa, you know that I have counselled brides in the past and have made sure that they were ready to commit to the male they had chosen.”
“Yes.”
“Your situation is drastically different fro
m those women. For one, you have not had other suitors in your life and for another, you are not wedding one, but three.” He shook his head.
“It is the way I was designed, Father.” She sipped at her tea.
Father Wercos reached out and placed his hand on her shoulder. “And you give me proof that there is indeed a creator out there. I know that we are supposed to take it on faith, but faith needs to be bolstered now and then. You have done that for us, Daughter.”
She placed her hand on his and smiled at his beloved and weathered face. “And you have given me back my belief in those naturally born. I thought that my parents were the only ones who could care for me and I am relieved to know I was mistaken.”
Father Wercos squeezed her hand and then wiped at a few tears that had tracked down his cheeks. “Now, are you aware of the requirements of the marriage bed?”
She almost spit out the sandwich she had just taken a bite of. “I am, are you?”
He gave her a dark look. “Very funny. Your situation is different from normal brides in that you are the single female in a group of males. You have to take care to make sure that your needs are seen to, though from what Brother Timo said, that does not seem to be an issue.”
She blushed. “He told you about that?”
“Of course and if he hadn’t, one of the other Brothers would have. Speaking of which, we have a gift for you.” He smiled, got to his feet and returned with a scroll signed by all of the brothers and the Prefect of Alorcan.
“What?” She read the document above the signatures and blinked. “You are giving me the abbey?”
“We are. As you are aware, when we landed here, we were given title to the abbey but cut off from the father house.”
“And I know it is my fault.”
He sighed, “It is not your fault that the creator made you the woman that you are. Your soul speaks more clearly than the method of your birth. We chose to care for you, just as you chose to help us survive in the riots. The father house chose to cut us off because we changed our ideals, but the Harmonic priesthood is more than affiliation to one house, we are loyal to the balance in all things and you, my Daughter, have more than enough personality to balance those three lawmen.”
Her heart swelled. “Thank you. So, when you have all passed, the abbey passes to me?”
He grinned and rubbed the back of his neck. “We still need you around here to keep us moving in the correct direction, so we have invited your men to move in here, in the north wing. The Brothers are making a set of chambers ready for you and you will have the entire wing and tower to yourselves. They can dispatch from here just as well as from the city.”
She blinked. “You were really busy while I was napping.”
“I want to give you away and keep you at the same time. It is conflicting, but I believe that your men understand.”
She snorted. “They would do anything you asked simply to get in my…robes.” Nisa quickly diverted her term at the last minute, earning a grin from the Father.
“I am depending on it. Now, tell me what you know about mating with your set.”
She blushed but she straightened, she used a sandwich to cover her discomfort. “To have any chance of pregnancy, I have to have sex with the first and second of my set within a short span of time. The third is a backup in case one of the set did not survive their initial assignments.”
She swallowed the lump in her throat at the thought of one of her men not surviving.
“We share pleasure and we share my bed and they have their jobs and I will have mine.” Nisa tried to end on a cheerful note, but she was distracted.
The window shook slightly and Nisa got to her feet. She opened the window and listened to the wind.
“We are going to have to reschedule this meeting. There is a storm coming and it is a bad one. Send a message to the city and get everyone to their shelters. Six hours from now, we are going to be in a scourge.”
This was the fifth scourge that she had seen. It was stronger than any that had gone before and while they were safe in the abbey, the city was right in the wind path.
“Can you redirect it?”
She looked over her shoulder at Father Wercos. “I can protect the abbey, but the city is beyond my reach. It has expanded too far into the valley. I can’t protect that much space without help and there is no other wind controller that I know of on this world.”
He breathed in and exhaled slowly. “What if you went into the city and protected it from the streets? Would that work?”
She smiled and shook her head. “I can control it here, because I catch the wind as it tumbles over the mountains. They are exposed. There is no way to hide from the weather, no stone at my back to protect them. I can’t brace against the wind, because there is nothing to support me.”
Father Wercos nodded. “I will alert the mayor immediately.”
“I will take my place on the tower and extend my reach as far as I can. If those on the north side of the city can make their way here, I can protect them.”
He nodded and she swept past a surprised Brother Timo, lounging in the hall. “Where are you going, Nisa?”
“There is a scourge coming, tell the Brothers to prepare. I am going to the tower and keeping track of progress.”
She ran up the steps, taking them two at a time and she burst out onto the vantage point that she used to keep the abbey protected.
The wind was already tugging at her skirts as she walked toward the edge. Her vision allowed her to see clearly at the furthest reaches of the valley.
Her eagles launched from the city, their wings labouring to achieve flight. She cheated and boosted their ascension with a gust of wind that carried them up to a good flight height.
She watched as they broke into three different directions and worked at evacuating the outer farms. Nisa was surprised that the mayor had listened to her warning, but then, the last two scourges had killed over four hundred settlers and city dwellers.
Each time one of her men needed help getting back into the sky, she obliged, not needing a physical connection to help someone within her line of sight.
When the dark clouds slowly began to swirl through the valley, she stood firm and let the energy of the storm keep her on her feet.
As the storm touched the area where Raz was flying, he tumbled wildly. Nisa reached under him and surrounded him in a calm bubble of air that still allowed his wings purchase.
She gathered in Prio and Watt the same way, shepherding them toward the city and she was completely shocked when they turned to approach the abbey.
They didn’t move to land in the entryway but swung toward her on the tower. They landed in the small space and shifted into their other forms the moment they touched down.
“What are you doing, Nisa? Get to shelter.” Prio was scowling at her, the wind tugged futilely at his short hair.
Watt nodded. “It isn’t safe up here.”
She held up her hands. “This is my job, my thing that I can do for the abbey and surrounding area. I will keep us from the scourge and we will weather this out.”
Raz looked at her. “This has happened before?”
“Every two or three years. The last one was particularly vicious. There were many lives lost.” She turned to watch the approaching storm, noting the trees it uprooted and the livestock that could be seen running for cover.
To her shock, there was a column of people riding skimmers and other transports up to the abbey. “What are they doing?”
Raz smiled and put his arm around her waist. “Father Wercos announced that anyone who wanted to guarantee their survival was welcome at the abbey.”
She sighed. “No pressure.”
“We are with you all the way, Nisa. Tell us what you need and we are here for you.”
She took a deep breath and focussed on the storm. “Just hold on to me. This is going to get messy.”
Three pairs of hands gripped her tight and she let them support her body while she u
sed her mind to rip the scourge apart.
Chapter Seven
Brother Timo was sitting in her room reading a book when she woke.
“What happened, Timo? I was on the tower and then I am here.”
“Ah, Lady Nisa, you tore the storm to pieces and then you collapsed. Come on, take a shower and get dressed. You are going to be late for your wedding.”
“I am…What?” She blinked rapidly.
“You have been asleep for two days. Brother Geelar measured you in your sleep and some seamstresses from the city chipped in to get your gown ready. There is a crowd of well-wishers who are waiting to see you wed to your men. Get out of bed and get to your wedding, Nisa.” His grin was intense.
She sat up, wrapped herself in her sheet and kick-waddled her way to her bathroom.
Nisa took a quick shower, towelling her hair dry, brushing it and towelling it again. She didn’t have any makeup, which was probably a good thing. She didn’t know if it was nerves or lack of food, but her hands were shaking.
Staring at herself in the mirror, she noted her pale complexion, pale lips and huge eyes. Her hair was a wavy, red halo that cascaded over her shoulders and down her back. It was as pretty as she was going to get it, so she had better get the wedding over with, there might be a snack afterward and she could really use something.
A knock brought her out of her staring contest with herself. “Come along, Nisa. I have sandwiches.”
That was a taunt she couldn’t ignore. She tucked her towel in around herself and left the safety of the bathroom. Brother Timo was next to a woman with a stern eye and a gracious smile.
“Lady Nisa? I am Ronique Marvin. I am here with your gown and I hear that there are three grooms waiting for you. You had best get going before they come and get you.” The woman had a garment bag over one arm and she shoved Brother Timo out the door before rounding on Nisa.
Nisa had never been to a fitting before and she was stuffed, pinned and sewn into the gown in a matter of minutes. The silk was pleated extensively but plunged between her breasts to display her mark. It snugged in at the waist and then flared out into soft folds that caressed the floor.
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