Omnes Videntes (The Space Merchants Book 4)

by Wendie Nordgren

  “It is just a solution to help speed up the removal of birth control hormones from your system. We’ll have to figure something else out.”

  I groaned in frustration.

  When they finally released me from the infirmary, it was time for dinner. Later in the evening, Yukihyo, Nico, Fitz, Thunderdrop, the children, and I enjoyed movie night alone in our sitting room. Neema’s attention had returned to her building blocks. Mine had returned in full force to her father, and as soon as the children were in their beds, I pounced. A few hours later, Yukihyo and Nico laid to either side of me sweaty and exhausted. When I slid my leg over Yukihyo and tried to reclaim his attention, he placed his large hands to either side of my face, kissed me, and then stared into my eyes. His eyes were solid white and his lids were half closed.

  “Teagan, Quaid may be several parsecs distant, but Fitz is in the next room. That is pointless,” he said as I stroked his manhood.

  Silently, cursing my Parvac post-pregnancy hormones, I slid provocatively across Yukihyo, who chuckled at me but remained flaccid, and grabbed a robe before sneaking out of our room and into the one where Fitz slept. The dim lighting from the main room briefly illuminated his sleeping form as I slipped inside and let my robe fall to the floor. Silently, I went into his bathroom where I took a quick cold shower and wondered if I should wake him. Unfortunately, the unrelenting achy need forced me to seek him out. He was warm and soft with sleep. I rubbed my chilled flesh against him.

  Still caught in his dreams, Fitz said, “Teagan.”

  I rewarded his dream of me with a kiss against his neck. “Fitz, are you asleep?” I whispered in an attempt to lure him to wakefulness.

  I felt him as he began to pulse to life and rubbed against him. Suddenly alert, Fitz was above me driving his tongue into my mouth while positioning himself between my thighs. He began pushing himself into me, and I lifted my hips in welcome.

  “You want me?” Fitz whispered.

  “Yes, I want you hard and fast.” I gasped as Fitz gave me exactly what I wanted.

  His thrusts moved me up the bed forcing him to haul me back down to him by my ankles. Once Fitz had me sore, satisfied, and moaning contentedly, he gave into his own desires and let go of his control.

  I woke up the next morning to find him smiling at me. Fitz kissed my shoulder and looked at me with his sweet brown eyes, but then I remembered how he had gone after my Uncle Kagan like an enraged beast. Lust overwhelmed me. Pushing Fitz over onto his back, I straddled him and had moved up and down his thick, hard length only a few times when Niklos’ wail caused my breasts to fill and ache.

  “No, no, no, no, no,” I whined. “Why did you have to kiss my shoulder and look all cute this morning? Now, I’m going to be miserable until I can have you again.”

  Begrudgingly, I slowly lifted myself off of Fitz. He smiled at me, gripped his length with his hand, and began moving it up and down. Curiously, I wanted to watch but instead tied my robe about myself and went to nurse my son.

  After a quick shower, I dressed and soon discovered that Niklos and Neema were starved for my attention. I spent the morning on the floor surrounded by baby blankets and toys and covered in baby slobber and spit-up. While emotionally I had never been happier, physically my sexual urges were a painful distraction. The hybrids couldn’t seem to get far enough away from me and were exhausting themselves in the gym on Deck Three.

  Meanwhile, Yukihyo, Nico, and Fitz eagerly awaited naptime. Unfortunately, when Niklos went down, Neema refused to go to sleep or to release her hold on my neck and go to either Yukihyo or Pierce. Close to frustrated tears, I left her throwing a fit with Yukihyo and Fitz so I could use the restroom. I heard an argument outside and went to check.

  Zared strode toward me with dangerously glittering solid black eyes. Suddenly frightened, I backed away from him into my bedroom. He followed, closed my door, and took me into his arms simultaneously kissing me and overpowering my senses with pleasure. Orgasm after orgasm tore through me as he flooded my system with endorphins. I hung limp and panting in his arms with my hands fisted in his shirt. Zared held me against his chest and breathed in the scent of my hair. I worried I smelled like a teething toy. Zared laughed softly.

  He had relieved the aggressive onslaught and suffering that my Parvac hormones had brought about, but only made me wonder more what it would be like to make love to him. I imagined us all alone in complete privacy with his long, dove-grey hair brushing across my chest with each of his thrusts into me. Zared moaned as though I tortured him. I moved my hands from where they clenched his shirt and under the fabric at his back. With my palms against his warm, hard, muscular back, I sent the pleasure that he had given to me back to him. Zared clutched me tighter, and when he stumbled, I stopped. I kissed his neck.

  At most, the exchange between us had lasted a couple of minutes, but when we released each other our mutual satisfaction was lasting and deep. Zared’s eyes appeared human as he stared down at me in wonder.

  Neema’s tantrum had gotten worse. I didn’t need to explain my actions to a man who knew my every thought and feeling. Zared excused himself and left my deck. Neema stopped crying once she had her little arms back around my neck where they remained for the rest of the day. She helped me make my daily calls to Papa, Quaid, Grandmother, and Gram. With her hands fisted in my hair, I called Mary. When we saw each other, we both burst out into laughter. Mary had more baby food and slobber on her than I did along with a son on each hip.

  “Teagan, I had to answer your call by pressing my nose to the screen.”

  “I had to pee while holding Neema.”

  “I’ve rolled a toy transport across the floor over twenty times today.”

  I stared at her. “Okay. You win. I’ll talk to you tomorrow,” I said as Neema tightened her grip on my hair.

  A few hours later, my scalp couldn’t take anymore of Neema’s love, and she refused to go to Pierce. Desperate to wash off spit-up and carrots in a long hot shower, I sought out Yukihyo, who I sensed on Deck Three. Most of the men were sparring on the exercise floor. My hybrid brothers moved with lethal fluidity. They fought with speed, precision, and pre-cognizance of each other’s next strikes.

  “Beautiful. Isn’t it?” Yukihyo asked as he came to stand beside us.

  “Yes, the miners on Malta would go nuts betting on them.” Hearing me, Eli became serious and still.

  “Don’t worry, Eli. We will not return to Malta,” Yukihyo assured him. “Come to Daddy, little snowflake.”

  “No! Mommy,” Neema insisted as she dug her heels into my stomach. She was strong and stubborn for a one-year-old.

  “Neema, you can have Mommy back after you play with Daddy,” Yukihyo said.

  “No,” Neema said as she tightened her hold on my hair.

  “Ow, Neema.”

  “Neigh! Neigh!”

  “Snort!”

  Startled by the strange sounds, I looked around. Then, I started laughing. Jezzie, Rozz, and Izaac were on all fours pretending to be horses. Neema kicked her feet excitedly.

  “Mommy! Mommy!”

  She wanted down. I lowered her to the mat, and she crawled to Rozz. He laid on his stomach while she climbed onto his back. He slowly lifted himself up cautious of her hold and balance. Then, Rozz began to crawl around while making pony noises. Neema was delighted.

  I thought, “My back and I thank you,” to him as I snuck out.

  I hurried to my shower and scrubbed. Then, I dressed in soft pants, a T-shirt, and braided my hair. By the time I was done, Niklos was hungry. However, after I had fed him, Niklos didn’t complain when I handed him to his daddy. I dozed off on the couch.

  Reclining back against a strong, lean chest, I sighed contentedly and ran my right palm from his elbow along his forearm. Then, I covered his hand with mine and snuggled against his left shoulder. Clear aqua waves filled most of my view. I moved the pad of my sand sprinkled right foot over his knee and the soft crinkly grey hairs on his leg. The shade of the t
ree sent shadows playing over our flesh. The sound of waves rolling onto the beach along with his breathing had me relaxing my back more heavily against him. I felt him harden between us.

  “Oh, Yukihyo,” I said as I rolled over to face him. The wind caught my hair blowing it back just as it blew his strands of long grey hair forward to brush against the hard nipple of my breast.

  “No one has to know,” Zared said.

  I woke on the couch with Neema crawling into my arms and heard Nico say, “Tell Mommy it’s time for dinner.”

  That night, after Nico and Yukihyo had fallen asleep, I tried futilely to join them, but my thoughts returned to Zared. In my mind, he whispered, “Don’t be troubled. I have studied your culture and adopted it as my own. I am and have been yours since the moment you bound us together.”

  “Don’t be troubled? I’ve accepted you as my brother. We can’t be together. It would be weird,” I thought back.

  “You cannot take me as a legal husband. To do so would cause irreparable harm to your reputation in the Laconian Sector.”

  “I don’t give a shit about my reputation. You know that isn’t it.”

  “You are ashamed of who you are and continue to judge yourself by human standards. Teagan, you are not and never have been human. I will remain with you and love you for all of my life. I make myself content with being near you.”

  “Then, why the dream?”

  “You have been bombarding me with pheromones since that day on your barge. It has taken much of my concentration not to act. However, all it would take is thought redirection of the others, and we could be alone together.”

  I shuddered as Zared caressed my awareness and then walled himself away from me.

  Nudging Nico until he woke, I trailed kisses down his chest and then took him into my mouth making him wild. Nico took me hard and fast silencing my cries of release with his mouth and lips.

  I awoke the next morning in Yukihyo’s arms and sobbed.

  “Teagan, what’s wrong?”

  “It’s so much worse this time. It’s all I can think about. I’m so sorry.”

  Yukihyo started laughing, hard. I sat up and looked at him with hurt feelings. My tears dripped on his chest. Yukihyo flipped me onto my back and took my left breast into his mouth. He released it to say, “There are dirty movies about new Parvac mothers with their insatiable lust. They are pretended fantasies watched by desperate males. If they only knew what weak and watered down parodies those movies truly are, they would weep in despair.” He entered me slowly.

  “You aren’t angry with me or disgusted?” Yukihyo swiveled his hips making me moan as he thrust into me.

  “No, but I can sense that Fitz confuses and sometimes even troubles you.”

  I gasped at the orgasm that zipped through me. “Yukihyo.” In a conspiratorial whisper, I said, “He’s kind of kinky.”

  He chuckled. “Lady wife, even with all of the attention you get at times such as this, you are inexperienced.”

  Incredulously, I said, “What?”

  “With how many men have you been intimate?”

  “Yukihyo! You know.” He raised my left thigh to his hip and plunged into me. “Oh!” He sped up and found his release.

  “Will you do something for me?” he asked.

  “Yes, anything.”

  With eyes streaked with pink and gold, he said, “You promise?”

  “Yes, I promise.”

  “No clothing on the beach and no guilt.”

  I drew in a shocked breath. “Yukihyo!”

  “You already promised. I intend to make love to you on the sand under the moonlight.” He rubbed my center with his thumb causing me to grind against his hand. “This will be the shore, and I will be the waves,” he said as he lowered his mouth to me and lathed me with his tongue.

  Chapter Twelve

  The viewport that spanned the wall behind our bed closed in preparation for landing. Yukihyo travelled back up my body drawing the breast he had neglected into his mouth. “Come, wife. I will wash your hair,” Yukihyo said with a grin knowing very well how satisfied and relaxed he had made me.

  Lorca insisted on dressing me in a strapless white floor-length gown of a gauzy fabric. Then, he put my hair up in a high, elaborate bun. Fitz’s diamond necklace adorned my throat. I wore the diamond bracelet Uncle Kagan had given to me and the spherical diamond pendant with the upturned wings of Parvac that had belonged to my mother.

  Nico wore his uniform. Yukihyo and Fitz wore suits. Neema and Niklos were absolutely adorable. Neema wore a white ruffled dress and a white bonnet with a large bow tied under her chin. Her feet were bare, and I wanted to kiss them. Niklos wore a long white baby gown embroidered in gold with a simple baby bonnet. Fitz smiled proudly at me and offered me his arm.

  “Chirp!” Thunderdrop attached himself to my hip.

  “You are stunning. I can’t wait to show you off to House Jiri.”

  My men waited for us in the transport bay. Eli and Kaoti stood at attention in front of my Imperial guard. They were gorgeous in their black uniforms with their solid black eyes. My household filled me with a great deal of pride and satisfaction.

  “May I please have a few pictures with us all together?”

  Captain Ricimer, who along with his officers had come to see us off, offered to take pictures for me. As I stood inside of my starship, with my handsome, rich, and powerful husbands, my children, Arachnean Silk spider, friends, and my telepathic guards, I held my chin up and smiled. Two years ago, my life had been radically different. I would never be alone, poor, powerless, and afraid ever again. Yukihyo was proud of my new confidence and sent naughty thoughts to me. When I looked at his beautiful eyes, he gave me a wickedly sexy grin that triggered my desire along with my agitation. We were going to a huge celebratory party in honor of Fitz and my marriage. I had no idea when I would be able to get Yukihyo alone.

  “Chitter chitter,” Thunderdrop told Yukihyo which only made his grin wider.

  My guard marched out of the ship.

  “Princess, Praetor Jiri awaits with transports to take everyone to his estate,” Eli informed me.

  Fitz escorted me on his arm from the Empress and out into the fresh clean air of Thalassa’s land port. We were sheltered from the bustling activity around us by both my guards and the ones Praetor Jiri had brought. I watched as a few miles away Vice Admiral Dario Galerius lowered his warship to dock. I was certain that Inquisitor Drex Licinius wasn’t far behind. Reporters and the curious were kept at a distance, and I silently thanked Clan Ponidi.

  Praetor Jiri smiled proudly at Fitz and held his arms out to me. “There she is. My new daughter.”

  Smiling, I went to him and hugged him. When we parted, I curtsied deeply to him. “I am honored to belong to House Jiri.”

  In my mind, Izaac said, “Your father-in-law couldn’t be more pleased. I take that back.”

  “Why?” I asked.

  “He would like you better filled with Fitz’s child.” I stood and returned to Fitz’s arm. “Your behavior was documented and will spread through the newsfeeds cementing House Jiri’s political ties. I’m sure Ambassador Jiri must be pleased,” Izaac whispered into my thoughts.

  “Good,” I thought back to him.

  Fitz helped me into a transport. Once Niklos and Neema were secure, we were on our way along the coastal road. “Thank you for being so kind to the Alarics and Montgomerys while they were here. They loved their visit.”

  Praetor Jiri smiled at me. “You are most welcome. In the short time that they were here, I grew fond of Ethan and Sherman. They are intelligent men with beautiful wives.”

  I laughed. “Gina and Sydney will be thrilled to hear that. Did Isidora behave?”

  Praetor Jiri actually blushed at my mention of her. “Simon has his hands full.”

  “Yes, he does,” Phillip said with a wink and a lewd gesture.

  Yukihyo chuckled. I knew he thanked the stars she had rejected him, even though she had done s
o to protect him from more pain. I was relieved Yukihyo didn’t regret being married to me. Phillip let out a low whistle as he ogled the view through the window. Neema tried to copy him but ended up blowing spit bubbles rather than managing to whistle. Then, Phillip frowned and turned to Fitz.

  “Oh, hey. We’re still going to hang out even though you let Cupcake trap you, right?”

  I smirked at Phillip. “Oh, poor Phillip. Did I steal your fishing buddy?” It was my turn to frown as I turned to Fitz. “You will still fish, right?” My stomach growled.

  “Did you skip breakfast?” Nico asked.

  “Well, I didn’t have time. Lorca was doing my hair.”

  “You’re still eating for two so long as you’re nursing,” Phillip lectured.

  “Princess Probus, I will fill a plate for you as soon as we get you home.”

  “Please, call me Teagan.”

  “Only if you call me father.”

  I grinned at him. Being true to his word, my new father made sure that I was stuffed before he and Fitz introduced me to all of the members of House Jiri who had been planet side. Thunderdrop quickly became bored and went outside to explore. During a lull in our socializing, I couldn’t take it anymore as need clawed at me.

  “Fitz,” I said in a voice so needy that I almost didn’t recognize myself.

  “Yes, my love?”

  “Is there anywhere we can be alone?” Worriedly, I glanced around at all of his relatives.

  “Through here,” he said as he pointed out to one of the porches.

  I blushed knowing his father and at least one of his uncles had seen us leave. We walked around the house and reentered a quiet, dim, and very private screened off patio. Fitz started to remove his clothing.

  “No, please hurry.”

  I kicked out of my shoes and slipped off my undies. Fitz unfastened his pants, lifted my skirt, and took me on a chaise lounge. Fitz’s aggressive pace had me sighing in fulfillment with my release. He increased his speed and force in search of his own satisfaction. With a final hard thrust, Fitz shuddered, and the right corner of the lounger collapsed sending us sliding toward the floor. Fitz braced us with his strong arms. His shocked eyes met my own, and then we burst out laughing. We heard footsteps and quieted. Fitz pulled himself up and helped me to my feet. I found my undies and pulled them on before searching for my shoes.