After their initial bout of lovemaking they had all fallen into an exhausted sleep. Gerunda had woken them the next morning with a cheery whistle and a huge tray laden with food.
“I figured you’d need your sustenance and would not want to leave this room for some time.”
Ornack had laughed, Gemini had blushed the most delightful shade of bright pink, and Zorran had squirmed under the intense regard of Gerunda’s wise old gaze. Seemingly satisfied at what she’d read in his expression, she’d left them to it, only reappearing with more supplies of food and drink, and endless water jugs for them to freshen up with.
The three of them had fucked, talked, and fucked some more, but no matter how much they debated the notion, they always arrived at the same conclusion. It was only a matter of time before the Drakan elite would catch up with him and cart him off for crimes against Drakan.
Gemini’s small hands stole around his midriff, and she pressed her naked breasts into his back.
“Penny for them, Sir?”
The old human expression made him smile, and he turned to look at her.
“I love you,” he said, and she blinked in surprise, and then drew his head down for a kiss.
“I love you, too.”
A rumble came from Ornack’s side of the bed, and Gemini and Zorran grinned at each other at the Drakan’s predictable comment.
“I hope this love fest includes me.”
Gemini rolled her eyes at Zorran and winked.
“Of course not. Why would anyone want to include you?” She shrieked in laughter when Ornack flipped her facedown onto the bed, straddled her ass, and pinned her arms high above her head.
“Our girl needs to be taught another lesson, it seems, Cirrion. Hand me those strips of linen, will you.”
“Oh, I’ll do better than that, Drakan. I’ll tie her and you can get a start on spanking that ass until it’s nice and pink, and then we should take it in turns to fuck her senseless, what do you think?”
He grinned at Ornack when Gemini ceased struggling and moaned low in her throat. Spankings were her all-time favorite punishment and it so happened that both Ornack and Zorran rather got a kick out of reddening her luscious ass.
Alas, the three black dots appearing over the mountains spelled the end of play. Their time was up, as the rumble of heavy engines announced the arrival of his execution squad.
* * * *
Ornack and Zorran had been holed up inside the ceremonial hall for hours now, and Gemini was half expecting to have worn a groove into the ground as she traversed the same steps over and over. Thirsty and hungry, she’d refused all offers of food that Gerunda had tried to coax her to partake in. She couldn’t eat, couldn’t sit still, and couldn’t rest, not when her future was being decided right this minute behind the thick wooden door, guarded by a stoic looking Drakan.
They’d had mere seconds, or so it had seemed at the time, from the moment Zorran had spotted the advancing ships before six imposing-looking Drakans in ceremonial robe, swords drawn, had invaded their bedchamber. Logically, Gemini knew the time frame had to have been longer, as both her men and she had managed to throw some clothes on before their arrival. Zorran and Ornack had stood shoulder to shoulder, swords raised, an immovable barrier of drool-worthy male flesh, guarding her against the advancing Drakan guard. It hadn’t come to blows as Gemini had feared. Instead there had been a heated discussion in Drakan, too fast for Gemini to catch, and when Ornack had lowered his sword and held out his hand for her, she had scrambled to his side. He’d lifted her hair off her shoulder and the tallest and cruelest looking Drakan had inspected her marks and sniffed her. It had taken every ounce of willpower she’d had to not simply kick the guy in the balls, especially when he’d snarled at Zorran’s mark as though that was somehow inferior.
Zorran had hissed at him and Ornack had grabbed both their arms in a silent warning. She’d glanced at a red-faced Zorran, and she could almost see the rage bubbling in him like a fountain of lava ready to destroy everything in its path. She’d shaken Ornack’s arm off and, using the bed as leverage, had thrown herself at Zorran. He’d caught her like she’d known he would, and she’d kissed him with all the emotion she was capable of. The heat at her back had told her that Ornack, too, had taken his place behind her and sandwiched between her men, she’d held onto that brief moment of happiness. They took turns kissing each other, before the tall Drakan had barked at them to stop.
That had been six hours ago, and not knowing what was happening behind that damn door was driving her insane.
“My Lord Ornack will sort this. It will be okay. Please sit down, my dear.”
Gerunda’s softly spoken words stopped Gemini’s frantic pacing, and she swung round to glare at the old woman.
“You say that, but what can he do? They’ve been holed up there for hours and nothing has been achieved, so don’t tell me this will be okay. You can’t possibly know that, Gerunda.”
“No news is good news in this case. If they had found Zorran guilty as charged, then he’d already been carted off to the high prison. They are weighing up the evidence. Justice will be served.”
Gemini grunted her frustration and wrung her hands. She wished she could share in Gerunda’s quiet confidence, but in her almost twenty-two years of existence she’d seen little evidence of any justice. Just pain, and humiliation, and war…and love. Gemini was honest enough with herself to admit that. The last few months had been the happiest of her life, and she couldn’t just stand here and let strangers decide her fate for her.
Ignoring Gerunda’s warning shake of the head, she stiffened her spine and yanked the heavy door open.
Several pairs of eyes settled on her, but it was the knowing smirk on Heldar’s face that set her blood to boiling point.
Seen in full Technicolor glory from the huge display screen mounted on the wall, he looked down on her. Bile rose in her throat, as she was instantly taken back to the night of her abduction, and she swung around to face the tall Drakan who seemed to be in charge of the proceedings. His golden lips curved into a condescending smile, and she snarled at him, causing his eyebrows to rise.
“This, this animal is your evidence against Zorran?” She pointed toward the screen behind her and then sought out her men. Zorran looked ready to burst a blood vessel. Restrained by electronic locks, he couldn’t move, and Ornack shot to his feet and shook his head at her.
“I suggest you teach your woman some manners, Lord Ornack. This is man’s business, and she’s not doing you any favors by—”
“Bullshit. As Ornack’s mated wife I have equal standing, so you can take your chauvinistic bull crap and shove it up your high-and-mighty ceremonial ass. I have as much right as anyone to be in here, much more so than that animal you have on screen. If you’re here to find the truth, you’ll not get it from that murdering scum.”
Ornack made a strangled sound at the back of his throat, but his eyes shone with approval and he sat back down again. Zorran didn’t show any outward sign. It was only his black eyes that bored into hers with a glittering intensity that strengthened her resolve. His lockdown must have included a gag, she realized with a start, and that made her angrier than ever. How the fuck was he supposed to be able to defend himself when he couldn’t even talk.
She glared at the advancing guard and pulled out the dagger she’d hidden in the folds of her dress.
“One more step and you’ll regret it.” She snarled the words and the Drakan cocked his head to study her. Knees bent, arms raised, she was ready to go into battle. “I mean it. Ask that scum on the screen if you don’t believe me. He’s got the scar and the limp to remember me by.”
Heldar didn’t react, just continued to mentally undress her with his black, soulless eyes. Clearly the coms channel wasn’t open, or he would have disputed that fact no doubt.
The Drakan in charge waved his soldier away, and his smile didn’t reach his eyes when he addressed her.
“The Cirrion will clai
m that’s a battle scar. Why should I take your word on this?” he asked.
“Because I’m telling the truth.” She sheathed her weapon and continued. “He got that the night he attacked our settlement on earth, and slaughtered my mother in front of me. I was just a little girl, no match for that brute, but I still managed to slice his thigh open and maim the asshole for life. We were just a bunch of women and children, and that monster would have raped me where I slept had Zorran not stopped him.”
“So, by your own words Zorran was there, in an attack engineered on women and children. Thank you for confirming his modus operandi.”
Ornack shot to his feet again, and two guards held him back as he shouted something at the Drakan leader.
“No, damn it, stop twisting my words. That’s not what I mean. He saved me and I know for a fact that he saved lots of other women and children that night. Zorran does not kill children.”
“Then why was he there that night?” The leader asked with a smirk.
“I don’t know, and I don’t much care. All I do know is that he saved me that night, just like he saved Magnuss, when his mother, a Drakan, I might add, threw her own son to the wolves to save her own damn skin. Where was your fucking Drakan honor then, you tell me that? Zorran risked his own life to free Ornack from a Cirrion prison. He didn’t have to do that. If he was truly the monster you think him to be, he could have just left him to rot, but he didn’t. He alienated himself from his race and his home to save one of you, and countless of your young over the years. I know Zorran, and he didn’t fight you when you turned up, did he?”
The Drakan frowned and consulted his screen in front of him and Gemini growled in frustration, causing him to glance her way again.
“Answer me, dammit! Are those the actions of a heartless baby killer? And before you rattle off how many Drakans he has killed, well, newsflash. You’re at fucking war with Cirrion. He’s hardly gonna hold hands with the whole Drakan race and go flower-picking with you, is he now?”
A murmur of amusement went through the room, and even this Drakan’s lips twitched up the corners at her impassioned speech, but Gemini wasn’t done yet.
“Zorran is a soldier and a damn good one. He was doing his job, what’s expected of him, though I bet none you can actually remember why on earth you’re all fighting each other anyway, can you?”
Silence met her and she rolled her eyes and stomped her feet.
“I rest my case. Bunch of stupid-ass men thinking with their gonads and not much else, you—”
“Have you quite finished, human?” The Drakan interrupted her and fixed her with a haughty stare that reminded her of Augustina. Hands on hips she raised her chin and glared right back at him.
“That depends, Drakan, and it’s Lady Ornack to you.”
The room fell silent once more and she glanced at Ornack. His shoulders shook in silent amusement and Zorran’s eyes shone with pride, approval, and so much love that it hurt to look at him. Even if she lost him now, she would take that look to the grave with her. Her eyes filled with tears, and she resolutely blinked them away.
“Come on now, child, you’ve said your piece.”
Gerunda’s quiet voice behind her and her gentle hands on her arms guided her from the room. The door thudded shut behind them, as the room erupted into pandemonium and Gemini burst into tears.
“I’ve just made it worse, haven’t I?” she asked, and Gerunda shook her head.
“No, I don’t think so. You’ve proven yourself to be a strong Drakan mate. I’d have done exactly the same in your shoes. Justice will prevail, you will see. Go and have a lie down, my dear. You’re exhausted.”
* * * *
She sensed their approach before she heard them. How she had managed to fall asleep she would never know. Gerunda had insisted Gemini lie down and she’d pressed her to drink some wine. That had to have been it. The old woman had given her a sleeping draught to stop her from causing any more trouble for her men.
Gemini tensed at the rustle of clothes. Was that one pair or two sets of clothing that fell to the floor? Had they both come back to her or was it just Ornack? She could smell Zorran, but maybe that was just his leftover scent in the air. Too afraid to open her eyes in case she was wrong, or worse just dreaming, she held her breath and waited. The bed dipped either side of her, and her heart turned into a jackhammer as callused fingertips squeezed her nipples. Ornack’s stubble scraped her against her neck, and a hair-roughened thigh slid between hers. Another set of hands joined his, and a forked tongue licked the seam of her lips. She opened on a sigh, and Zorran slipped into her mouth as his smooth chest pressed against her side.
She didn’t even try to stop her tears from falling, and Zorran and Ornack took turns to kiss them off her face.
“Is it really you, or am I dreaming this?” she asked, and both men laughed.
“I think our girl is itching for a spanking, Drakan.” Zorran’s deep voice rumbled through her, and Ornack laughed against her back.
“Oh yes, she deserves one for the stunt she pulled in there.”
“Look at us, girl.”
Gemini shook her head and jumped at the immediate swat to her ass. That had to have been Zorran. He used much more force than Ornack did when he spanked her. Sure enough, Ornack’s hot hands soothed the burn away.
“I suggest you do as you’re told before our Cirrion friend really punishes you. He’s been itching to do that ever since I got him out of there.”
Gemini allowed her eyes to flutter open and her heart missed a beat as both of her men smiled down on her. As different from each other as they could be in appearance, their gazes held identical expressions of love that made the simple act of breathing even more difficult for Gemini. When they looked at her like that her insides simply turned to mush, and judging by the sinful grin and the raring erections they were both sporting they knew that, too.
“It’s really over?” she asked, and they nodded in unison.
“Zorran here got a reprieve. As long as he doesn’t take up arms against Drakan he is free to stay here with us.”
Zorran made a disgusted sound at the back of his throat.
“Yeah, I’ll turn into a glorified farmer like this pussy Drakan we both have the misfortune to love.”
“Watch it, Cirrion,” Ornack said. “This pussy farmer can take your ass anytime.”
“You’re welcome to try, Drakan.”
Ornack grabbed hold of Zorran’s hair and yanked him toward him in a rough kiss that left a watching Gemini wet and wanting, and so happy she could burst. By the time they broke free and fought for the rights to kiss her, they were all breathless and grinning at each other like loons.
“I love you two so much,” Gemini said, and their amusement dissipated.
“And we you, sweet wife.” Ornack punched Zorran on the arm and glared at him. “Don’t we, Cirrion?”
Zorran ignored him and winked at Gemini.
“Aye, but I’d rather show her than talk her ear off.”
Gemini’s laughter turned into moans of passion when that’s exactly what they did do.
THE END
WWW.DORISOCONNOR.COM
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Glutton for punishment would be a good description for Doris…at least that’s what she hears on an almost daily basis when people find out that she has a brood of nine children, ranging from adult to toddler, and lives happily in a far-too-small house, cluttered with children, pets, dust bunnies, and one very understanding and supportive husband. Domestic goddess she is not.
There is always something better to do, after all, like working on the latest manuscript and trying not to scare the locals even more than usual by talking out loud to the voices in her head. Her characters tend to be pretty insistent to get their stories told, and you will find Doris burning the midnight oil on a regular basis. Only time to get any peace and quiet and besides, sleep is for wimps.
She likes to spin sensual, sassy, and sexy tales involvin
g alpha heroes to die for, and heroines who give as good as they get. From contemporary to paranormal, BDSM to F/F, and Ménage, haunting love stories are guaranteed.
For all titles by Doris O’Connor, please visit
www.bookstrand.com/doris-oconnor
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
Taken by Her Alien Warriors [The Warriors 1] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) Page 10
