Defending their Mate_a Sci-Fi alien romance

by Kallista Dane

  Ceres ran toward them out of the cloud of dust, trailed by the dragons. “Oh, thank the Goddess, you’re alive! I was so afraid.” She ran to Kyra, threw her arms around her.

  Kyra glanced around. The dust had begun settling. The arena was gone. Only an enormous ragged circle of rubble remained. Bodies lay everywhere, some still twitching.

  Enticed by the smell of fresh blood, the dragons drifted away from Ceres, sniffing and prowling around the piles of debris. They heard a harsh scream, followed by a string of curses in a familiar voice.

  Bophe lay face-up in the dirt, his lower legs pinned by an enormous block of stone, the dragons closing in around him.

  He caught sight of them. “Help me,” he demanded. “All three of you. Lift this block so I can slide out before those monsters decide to devour me.”

  The women stared at him in silence.

  “I said help me,” he snarled. “Ceres, you owe me your life. I took you in when you were alone and helpless, cared for you like a father. And you two,” he went on. “I could have killed either of you any time, but in my mercy I gave you a fighting chance in the ring. The same chance I had.”

  Kyra cocked her head, as if considering, then nodded. “What’s fair is fair. You let the fate of your slaves be decided in the ring. You chained Aliya up so she couldn’t get away, prepared to give her to your dragons.”

  She walked toward him, stopped and kicked the mammoth slab of stone holding him down. “Looks like you’re trapped here. Maybe your monsters will see fit to have mercy on you. They’re certainly strong enough to move this thing. Why don’t you try giving them the order? As for me, as you told me once long ago, I’m free of you. We all are.”

  She turned her back on him and wrapped one arm around Aliya’s waist, the other around Ceres. “It’s time to go home.”

  Aliya heard Bophe snarling commands at the dragons then pleading. Pleas turned to bloodcurdling screams as the dragons began snapping and growling. Screams that were already dying away when a Tharan transport vehicle came out of the clouds of dust and touched down in the center of the ring.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Azar

  “How?”

  Ceres gave them the cool, confident smile of a woman embracing her feminine power. “Easy. We were all prisoners of Bophe. We bonded.”

  “I was just a child, exploring the tunnels under the center ring one day when I heard them howling. Their ferocious cries echoed through the dark passages. But it didn’t strike fear in my heart. Instead, I heard their pain.”

  “I followed the sound,” she went on. “That’s when I saw them for the first time. He’d ordered slaves to clip their wings a few days earlier so they could never fly again, and the wounds were still fresh. He kept them locked away in an enormous stone cavern under the arena, half-starved, so they’d viciously attack whatever they saw when they entered the ring.”

  “I brought them water, snuck them whatever food I could steal. At first they tried to attack me through the bars across the opening to the cavern, but gradually, over time, they learned I wouldn’t hurt them.”

  “Tell them how you learned the song,” Kyra urged.

  “They taught me,” Ceres declared. “I listened to them humming after they’d been fed, the soft grunts they made when I stroked their snouts through the bars. I started mimicking the noises I heard, and they seemed to like it. Eventually, I wove them into a nonsense song, as children do. I’d start singing it when I was on the way to their cavern, and by the time I got there, they’d be lined up with their snouts pressed against the iron bars of their cage, waiting to be petted. I treated them with kindness, but I gave them a great deal of respect, as befits the magnificent creatures they are.” She shrugged. “Isn’t that what every being in the Universe wants?”

  “And we think we’re the valiant warriors!” Jax laughed and clapped Jynn on the shoulder. “Who’d have guessed our sweet little daughter is a dragon tamer?”

  Aartan

  “Silence!” he thundered. “We will hear no more about it. My brother and I have made up our minds. The gods gave us our chosen one and then took her from us long ago. We do not need another. Go back to Earth where you belong. We do not want you as our mate.” He turned his back, afraid Aliya would see the misery in his eyes.

  They’d slipped away, with her, from the celebration on board the transport cruiser to have the conversation in their private quarters, but it wasn’t going as smoothly as he’d planned.

  She gave them both a scornful look. “I thought you were Tharan warriors. Lived by the code of honor. Put the needs of your mate before your own.”

  “We are…and we did. We fought our last battle, and now our days as warriors are over,” Azar declared.

  “Your fighting days, perhaps. But not your duties. Tharan custom requires you to cherish and care for your mate. To take her to the heights of bliss – together, as is the Tharan way. To protect her and your young, laying down your lives if necessary.”

  “We already risked our lives for you,” Azar muttered, without turning around. “Now, you’re free to go.”

  “I’m free to go?” She marched across the room, got between the twins, and faced them down with her fists on her hips. “You’re going to quit? Now? I expected more from honorable Tharan warriors,” she declared.

  Aarta sighed wearily. “Aliya, please. Don’t make this any harder than it already is. We don’t want to be cruel, but frankly we don’t have the same feelings about you that you have for us.”

  He expected tears. More shouting, perhaps, followed by heartbreaking sobs. He and Azar had already decided how they’d handle it. They’d be distant, offering empty words of comfort, but they wouldn’t touch her. They didn’t dare. Both of them knew if they did, they’d never be able to maintain their cool façade.

  Aliya had her pride. Eventually, she’d tire of hearing their platitudes.

  “You’ll find someone else one day. It’s all for the best. We’ll never forget you.”

  She’d go on her way, never knowing she’d taken their hearts with her. He steeled himself for the outburst.

  She laughed.

  Threw back her head and chortled. “You could have said plenty of things I might have bought, but telling me you don’t have the same feelings for me that I do for you? There’s no way I believe that – not with your gyron swirling so thickly around us it pours through my body with every breath I take. Even now, while you try to convince me you don’t want me, I can see your cocks swelling under those tight leather salises you’re wearing.”

  Her eyes twinkled. “By the way, I hope you’ll wear them for our Mating ceremony. I do expect a Mating ceremony,” she added. “I’m tired of having to sneak around to be with you. It’s time you introduced me properly to all your brother warriors and their mates.”

  Her voice softened. “I don’t understand how or why, my darlings. All I know is the gods brought us together. The three of us. I’m destined to be your mate. Your gyron flows for me and me alone. You must cherish and care for me. Take me to the heights of bliss, because you cannot resist me any more than I can resist you. Protect me, lay down your lives for me…” Her voice softened. She reached out, took his hand then Azar’s. Pressed their palms against her belly. “And for our young.”

  The Bond opened, and he heard it. Felt it, thrumming through his body. The faint, rhythmic swish.

  No. Swishes.

  “Your essence already flows through my body. That’s how I was able to send my thoughts to your mind back in the arena, even though we haven’t formally Bonded.”

  Aliya smiled at them. “You have to take me as your mate now. Honorable Tharan warriors do not shirk their duty. Feel how strong those heartbeats are. It will take all three of us to keep up with these two.”

  As one, he and Azar fell to their knees. Gave thanks to the Sacred Ones as they wrapped their arms around her and laid their heads against her belly.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Aliya


  She dropped heavily into one of the leather chairs drawn up to the fireplace, cradling her belly with both hands. “These two are already practicing their warrior kicks!”

  Kyra laughed. “They’ll be mighty warriors, just like their daddies. I’ve never seen Aartan so happy. Or you,” she added. “It’s clear he and Azar dote on you.”

  “I am happy. Happier than I ever dreamed I could be. I finally understand why all of you fell so hard for your Tharan twins. They’re so warm and loving – and they’re incredibly protective.” Aliya sighed. “I think they’d wrap me in cotton batting if they could. But I try to be patient with them. After losing Rielle and their first sons, they’re terrified something is going to happen to me, too.

  “But enough about me,” she declared. “When are you leaving?”

  “In a few cycles. Jax and Jynn agreed with me that if we do find Jazmin in the jungles of Eridanus, it’s important to have someone she recognizes and trusts with her from the beginning. Someone from the Luna. And since you’re out of commission, for now…” Kyra grinned. “I volunteered to be the one to go.”

  “I pray this lead pans out,” Aliya stated. “She’s been gone longer than the rest of us. We were all subjected to horrific treatment, first by Magnus then by whoever he sold us to. I hate to think about what her life has been like if it’s true she was traded to a tribe of savages in exchange for a few pounds of dimian crystals.”

  “Jazz is as tough as any of us,” Kyra replied. “Besides, she’s an astrobiologist. She’s probably in her glory, studying diverse species in a world no Earther has ever seen before.”

  “I hope you’re right. Now, come here and give me a hug. Goddess only knows when we’ll see each other again.”

  Aliya saw her friend to the door and went in search of her mates. She found them in the storage room, rummaging through baskets lined up on the shelves.

  She stopped in the doorway. The sight of them took her breath away. Aliens from another world who became her unlikely heroes. Her brave rescuers. Her magnificent warrior mates.

  She loved it when they dressed in traditional Tharan garb as they’d done today – knee-length dark leather salises and open vests, displaying their broad chests and chiseled abs, tattooed arms corded with muscle. As soon as they returned from Tanis Major, Aartan had undergone surgery to replace the mechanical arm he’d used as a decoy with one indistinguishable from the arms of his twin. It worked so well, when her eyes were closed she couldn’t tell which brother stroked her body with a feather-light touch – or seized her wrists in a masterful grip.

  As for Azar, he stood talk and proud on a pair of cybertronic limbs as warm and sleek as the rest of his body. Both twins still did physical therapy every day, vowing by the time the babies arrived they’d be as fit and strong – if not fitter and stronger – as any first-time fathers in their brotherhood.

  Piles of soft furs lay all around them on the floor.

  “What are you doing?”

  Startled, Azar glanced up, then gave her a sheepish grin. “We wanted to surprise you with a special gift. We’re having two of our old fur cloaks made into blankets for the little ones, but it’s hard to choose which ones to use.”

  “That’s very sweet, but I don’t need any special gifts. The Universe has given me the best gift I could ever have wished for. Although these furs do look very soft.” She sank onto the biggest pile, gave him a smile with a hint of wickedness to it as she slowly pulled off her gown.

  “My body aches for your touch, my lord. Will you take me…” Her head swiveled, found Aartan, so her next words included him as well. “Will you claim me at last? Together?”

  “Are you sure?”

  Aartan’s eyes were dark with hunger. She’d sensed his gyron beginning to flow the moment she started taking off her clothes. Now it swirled around him, enveloping her in its cloud. Beside her, she felt Azar’s arousal pouring off him in waves. She took a deep breath, shivering in anticipation as her body reacted to their potent pheromones.

  Pregnancy seemed to enhance their effect on her. She was constantly craving sex. Though they satisfied her in other ways, the twins had been reluctant to claim her together, fearing they’d hurt her or the babies.

  But now their gyron set off a wild craving to feel their hands roaming over her body, their cocks taking ownership of every inch of it at last.

  “I swear it’s all right. Trust me. I’m a doctor and a Healer – and I’m also a mate who needs you to make love to me. Now.”

  Aartan ripped off his clothes. He sank down onto the mound of furs and pulled her into his arms. His mouth found hers. Usually the more gentle of the two, he captured her lips in a fierce kiss. One with all the fire he’d kept pent up for so long.

  Aliya sighed and opened her mouth. She didn’t want them to be gentle and sweet. Not today. This, this was what she’d longed for. The thrill of being taken. Being swept away by the passion of her lovers.

  He deepened the kiss, stealing her breath. His arms went around her, and he shifted her body over his. His cock swelled against her belly. Hot and hard. She reached down and wrapped her fingers around it then lowered herself slowly onto his shaft.

  Aartan groaned and started fucking her mouth with his tongue.

  Azar got on his knees behind her. He swept aside her flowing mane of hair and trailed hot kisses from the hollow in her throat just below her ear on down her spine. She shuddered as his gyron danced over her skin in tiny bursts of heat.

  One finger slid down, teased her puckered rear entrance. She sucked hard on the tip of Aartan’s tongue as Azar slowly slid it in.

  “That’s right, little mate. Open for me,” he murmured in her ear, his voice low and rough. “In a minute, I’m going to bury the head of my cock where my finger is. And then we’re going to fuck you – until we both shoot our cum into you at once. And you’re going to explode.”

  His raw words ramped up her hunger. She moaned and rocked back against him, desperate to ease the inferno his gyron had ignited in her rear passage.

  Azar pulled his finger out and gripped her hips. Holding her immobile, he pressed the head of his cock against her, easing it in. She gasped. So thick – and hot. So much hotter than his finger. Aartan lifted her off his cock as Azar worked his in deeper.

  She moaned again, overwhelmed by the sensations. Skin against skin, with two powerful bodies setting every nerve ending on fire. Two pairs of hands holding her captive, demanding her submission. Two enormous cocks filling her.

  The twins began working in tandem, one sliding out while the other thrust deeper. Aliya threw back her head and surrendered. Let them shift her, stroke her, fuck her.

  They stoked her need as they stoked their own. Primal. Ravenous.

  She felt the orgasm building, a tsunami threatening to drown her in its fury.

  “Come, sweet Aliya. Come for us now,” Aartan growled. His cock started to pulse, and she felt the first spurt of his hot cum. Her pussy spasmed, then her ass, in rhythmic waves. Azar gripped her hips harder. His body tensed. He gave one last thrust, burying his cock in her balls deep as he bathed her in his gyron-laden cum.

  Aliya screamed then shattered. Exploded in a million shards of light. Lost herself - and became one with her mates at last.

  Ready to be seduced by another pair of Tharan Warriors?

  Here’s a preview of Punishing Their Mate: Tharan Warrior Ménage Book Two. It’s a freestanding MFM novella with no cliffhangers and a HEA.

  Punishing Their Mate picks up the story of Commander Cass Randall from Their Captive Mate and her newfound love affair with the alien warriors Rhynn and Rhom. The brothers take Cass home to Tharon, where they introduce her to new erotic thrills in a world filled with dominant male twins and their happily submissive female mates.

  Turn the page for Chapter One. Then click on the link at the end and get the complete novella FREE when you sign up for my newsletter.

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  Punishing Their Mate

  A Sci-Fi Alien Dark Romance

  Tharan Warrior Ménage Book Two

  By Kallista Dane

  Chapter One

  Cass

  Mmmm. A thick hard cock sliding back and forth over the lips of her pussy. Another, hot and insistent, nudging its way between the cheeks of her ass. A bolt of lust hit her like a lightning strike when she heard the distant rumble of thunder, followed by the steady drumming of rain on the roof. Life on Tharon couldn’t be more perfect.

  Thunderstorms always made her horny. Not being out in them. Hearing thunderstorms when she was snug in her bed. That - and waking up between two dominating warriors. Cass opened her eyes to Rhom’s wicked grin.

  “It’s about time you woke up, little human. I’ve been teasing your slit for hours. Getting it nice and wet for me.”

  She gave him a sleepy smile. “You wore me out last night.”

  Behind her, a deep voice growled in her ear. “He may have worn you out, but I haven’t even started yet.” Rhynn swept her hair aside and nipped her neck, sending a delicious shiver through her. At the same time he rocked his hips against her bottom, spreading the seductive gyron on the tip of his cock even lower along the cleft separating her rear cheeks.