“Little sister, you’re going to get spanked so hard when Dagon and Dru hear about this,” Khaun warned.
“I certainly hope so!” She shot him a saucy grin. “It worked, didn’t it? Besides, I couldn’t wait around all night for you to come up with a plan.”
* * *
Aura’s scream of joy when she caught sight of Dagon and Dru echoed through the Luna. Saige had never met them, but it was easy to guess who the huge warriors were by the tears in their eyes as they rushed to the transport dock and swept their mate into a crushing embrace between them.
Dagon let go of her long enough to wrap his arms around Keir and Khaun. “We cannot thank you enough for bringing her back to us.” His voice broke. Dropping to one knee, he laid a fist across his chest and bowed his head. “My brother and I are forever in your debt,” he declared.
“No need to grovel at our feet,” Khaun retorted. “We haven’t been appointed Supreme Rulers – yet.”
Aura ignored his sarcastic retort. “My darlings, I hate to let go of you for even a moment, but can one of you help Keir to the medical bay? He’s been injured.”
Saige hated to admit it, but now that she was back on her feet, she did feel dizzy and disoriented as Aura had predicted. She casually draped one arm around Keir’s waist, as much to support herself as him. “Stay with your mates, Aura. Khaun and I can take him. It’s been a while, but I think I can still find my way to the medical bay.”
“There’s nothing wrong with my mind,” Keir declared. “Don’t forget, I’ve spent almost as much time on the Luna as you did, little human. I know where the medical bay is.”
“No need to snap at her, Brother. She’s just trying to be helpful.” Khaun turned to Saige. “He always got cranky when he got a little didou, even when we were kids.”
“Didou, my ass,” Keir snarled. “This one will leave a full-fledged battle scar. It’s one I’ll wear with pride as a mark of my bravery in battle – and by the way, it’s one more than you have, brother.”
“That’s because I’m the smart twin,” Khaun shot back. “I didn’t offer my body to those androids for target practice.”
“I’ve never heard them arguing like this,” Saige said to Aura. “Were they always this combative growing up?”
Aura pulled herself away from a lingering kiss from Dru long enough to respond. “Worse, if you can imagine it. I was constantly stepping in to keep them from beating each other’s heads in.”
“You were a troublesome wench from the day you were born, always butting in where you didn’t belong, instead of trusting males to handle their own business. By the way, that reminds me…” Khaun’s eyes twinkled as he turned to Aura’s mates. “Wait until you hear about how she foolishly put herself in harm’s way down there. She deserves a good spanking for that. If you don’t give it to her, I swear Keir and I will.”
Saige saw Dagon’s eyes flash as he looked down at Aura. “You put yourself in harm’s way?”
Aura frowned at Khaun. “I did what had to be done to save us, just like you and Keir taught me to do.”
“But I thought—” Saige jumped into the conversation, then stopped, appalled at what she’d almost blurted out.
“I know. You thought females in our world were all spineless and subservient. Probably because of the nonsense my brothers have been filling your head with.” Aura shot Khaun a dark look. “We choose to be submissive when we’re with our mates out of love and respect for them, but that doesn’t mean we’re helpless. Tharon is a dangerous place, with a vast array of deadly creatures. I told you that. One of the ways our males protect us is to teach us how to protect ourselves when they’re not around.”
Aura wrapped her arms around Dagon’s neck. “The androids had our escape route blocked, my love. Keir had just been injured, and Khaun was protecting Saige. I saw an opportunity and took it. My brother can hardly blame me for how well I learned the lessons he himself taught me.” She flashed Dagon a naughty grin. “But if you feel a spanking is in order when we retire to our quarters, my lord, I bow to your will.”
Dagon swept Aura into his arms and growled something in her ear Saige couldn’t make out. Aura giggled, reaching back to clasp hands with Dru as her mates bore her away.
“We won’t be seeing them for a long while,” Keir remarked.
“Now that little sister has been safely delivered into the arms of her loving mates, our own mate is in need of a good spanking, brother, for that lie she told. Let’s get you to the medical bay to get patched up so we can do our sworn duty as Tharan males.”
Khaun stepped to Keir’s other side and wrapped an arm around his waist also, taking most of his twin’s weight. As he did, he delivered a firm swat to Saige’s backside.
Chapter Fifteen
Saige
Keir’s wound was cleaned then sealed with a laser wand. He refused to take any medication, scoffing that such a small injury didn’t warrant it.
The medic on duty was one of his fellow Tharans. “Yes, I know. You warriors thrive on pain,” he replied drily.
Khaun jumped to his twin’s defense. “Now, Artan, just because you’ve gotten too old to fight, and you’ve been relegated to support staff by Commanders Jax and Jynn, there’s no need to make nasty comments.”
“Too old?” Artan roared. “I can still put you on the ground in three parsecs!”
“Yes, you can,” Keir assured him, patting the medic on his withered arm. “We all know your reputation. Forgive my brother’s rude remark. He acts like the offspring of a jambora sometimes.”
“Well, get him out of here before I cause him enough pain to need medication,” Artan snapped.
“You shouldn’t have been so hard on the old man,” Saige commented as she accompanied them down the corridor toward the quarters the twins had been assigned on the Luna.
Khaun laughed. “He enjoys it. Artan was one of the finest before he was gravely wounded in battle. His fellow warriors saved his life, but they couldn’t save his arm. Our cybernetic technology wasn’t as well advanced then as it is now. But he’s still a Tharan warrior at heart, wired for combat as we all are. Coming out on top in verbal sparring keeps him sharp and gives him a way to satisfy that need.”
Saige glanced at him in surprise. She had no idea Khaun was capable of so much empathy.
He grinned. “Surprised? Turns out we’re not just unfeeling barbarians who love to bash heads in when we’re not busy fucking whatever comes along.”
Damn! She’d forgotten he could tune into her thoughts. “I never thought…”
“Relax,” Keir said. “My brother is simply letting off a little steam now that we’re out of danger.”
“Oooh! Now we’re showing sensitivity,” Khaun mocked. “If we keep this up, we’ll both be relegated to training the wee warriors.”
Saige laughed. She hadn’t seen this lighter side to them before.
They stopped at a familiar door. “These are your quarters? But this is my old room.”
“We requested it when we were chosen for the rescue mission,” Khaun explained. “Your quarters held your essence, and we wanted to get to know everything we could about you ahead of time. A successful hunter anticipates the actions of his prey.”
“So, that’s what I was? Your prey?” Saige’s voice rose.
“Once again, my brother shows his true heritage.” Keir shot his twin a withering glance. “Sometimes, I swear he sprang from the loins of a jambora. Forgive his poor choice of words. It was important for us to absorb as much of your essence as we could, Saige. You’ve had military training. You know split-second decisions must be made on a mission. Decisions that can mean life or death. The better members of a team get to know each other, the better they can work together. We did not have the opportunity to train with you ahead of time, so we used whatever resources we had. Is it not that way in your world?”
“Unfortunately our military skills do not include learning how to absorb the essence of our comrades...” Her words d
ied off when Keir opened the door to her former quarters. “Oh sweet Goddess! What did you do?”
The stark room had been totally transformed. Gone were the dull beige walls, the government-issued furniture. Soft tapestries covered nearly every wall, swirling abstract shapes in warm shades of honey and cinnabar and cream. Softly glowing amber crystals studded the ceiling, replacing the utilitarian lighting and transforming the space into a welcome retreat. Her beloved childhood books, the only personal possessions she’d brought along on the Luna, had been given a place of honor on a small wooden table in a corner of the room. The twins had flanked them with a pair of bronze braziers heaped with chunks of another glowing substance that gave off a subtle, sensuous fragrance.
Along one wall, an enormous bed floated about three feet off the ground, piled with soft furs and pillows in a wide array of colors that reminded her of the spice markets on Namindia. Rich textures that made her long to run her hands over them all.
“We moved a few of our own things in to remind us of home,” Keir said. “Do you like it?”
She twirled around, taking it all in. “I love it! It’s a feast for the senses, like something out of the Arabian Nights.”
“Good. Because if we have our way, the three of us will be spending a lot of time here.”
Khaun’s eyes narrowed, and he gave her a dark look that sent shivers of anticipation down her spine. “Now – we have some unfinished business to attend to. Take off that ridiculous long dress and bend over the bed. You’ve got a good spanking coming for lying to us.”
Saige took a deep breath. She knew the next few minutes would decide her destiny. She could submit to the mastery of her Tharan rescuers, commit to being their mate. It would require major changes on her part. Saige had been alone for years, and she knew she couldn’t have things her own way anymore if she let two dominant males into her life. Their time in the Rapture Dome had been an illusion. Even with them, she’d been playacting the part of a pleasure slave. In the real world, she’d have to learn how to compromise, show real empathy and understanding, adjust to an alien culture. Harder work than anything she’d ever done in her life.
Or she could thank them for all they’d done and take up her rightful place on the Luna as an officer of the Interstellar Federation. Return to Earth. To an apartment on the 374th floor as stark and uninviting as her quarters on the Luna had been. To a life of loneliness made even more striking by the taste of a relationship richer and more fulfilling than any she’d ever read about in a fairy tale.
Her warrior twins stood with their arms folded, waiting. Fierce and magnificent. She met Khaun’s eyes then Keir’s. Saw the life in them. Saw humor and tenderness, along with the smoldering passion ready to erupt and sweep her away.
Saige was no fool. She kept her gaze locked on theirs as she slid the dress over her shoulders and let it fall to the floor. “Yes, my lords.”
Chapter Sixteen
Saige
She nearly regretted the decision seconds later as she draped herself over the bed naked, bottom upturned. A shocking lick of fire registered milliseconds after the harsh crack of his palm on her tender backside. She buried her face in the pile of soft furs, muffling a cry.
“You. Will not. Lie. To your mates.” Khaun punctuated his lecture with more stern swats until she was kicking and squirming, desperate to get away.
“Oh, no. Tharan mates take their punishment without any show of defiance.” Keir sat down on the bed beside her and pulled her facedown over his lap, trapping her flailing legs between his own. “Rule number one – if you resist, the punishment starts all over.”
Some perverse impulse made her twist her head and glare at him. “You’ve already come up with four others. Shouldn’t that be rule number five?”
“You’re going to argue with me in your position?” He grinned and grabbed her hands, pinning them behind her back. “That’s one of the things I love about you. Your spirit. You know what, Khaun?” he went on, addressing his twin. “Mastering this one is going to be a challenge worthy of the mightiest Tharan warriors.
“I think it’s time to add a lesson in submissiveness to the others,” he went on. “From now on, you will count each whack out loud and then you will say, ‘Thank you, my lord.’ Let me see, according to your calculations, that would be rule number six, right?”
His hand came down on the last word, hard enough to make her gasp. He smacked her again, the breadth of his palm covering both cheeks at once. “I didn’t hear you,” he said mildly.
She gritted her teeth. Being stubborn had been one of her survival skills, and submissiveness did not come lightly. “One. Th-thank you, my lord.”
“See? It wasn’t so hard, was it?”
He delivered another harsh whack, and she muffled a cry. “Two. Thank you, my lord.”
His hand traced soothing circles on her burning bottom. “Much better.”
When he smacked her a third time, the gryon his palm had spread on her burning rear cheeks was driven into her pores. The harsh sting began morphing into another kind of heat. “Oooh! Three. Thank you, my lord.”
By the time he got to five, she’d begun lifting her bottom for each smack. Welcoming the pain as it set her free.
He spanked her steadily, taking her higher with each whack. When he stopped and Khaun sat down beside him, shifting her to his own lap, she moaned in dismay. He’d taken off his clothes, and she felt his cock, hot and insistent, pressing against her mound. She ground against him.
“Yes, my lord,” she cried out. “Spank me. Hard. I’ve been so naughty.”
Instinctively, Khaun knew what she needed. “Yes, you have. You’ve been very naughty. Tell me all the naughty things you’ve done, and I’ll spank you for every one of them.”
“I – I lied to you,” she wailed, as his hand cracked down on her burning bottom. “I told you I didn’t love you and I wanted to fuck strangers. But it’s not true! I was trying to protect you.”
“You didn’t believe in us. You didn’t think we could save you.” He spanked her again.
“I was afraid! Afraid you’d die. I couldn’t bear the thought of losing you, so I tried to push you away.”
“You’d rather abandon us than be abandoned.” Khaun stopped spanking. This time it was his hand tracing hot circles on her burning bottom. Mixing his gyron with that of his twin, sending it coursing through her veins straight to her core. Making her ache for more of his touch.
“Damn you,” she groaned. “You and your Tharan empathy. I’ll never be able to hide anything from you.”
“I hope you never succeed in hiding your feelings from us, Saige, because we love you. When you need the release of a spanking, we’ll give it to you. But, over time, we’ll show you that you can achieve release without the pain sometimes. You’ll learn to trust us with your body as well as with your heart.”
His hand delved lower. He urged her legs apart and slid one finger into her dripping slit. “Your body is responding to me right now. I can smell your juices.” He ran his finger up to her clit. Made slow, sensuous circles there.
Saige closed her eyes. Let herself be carried away. The hot sting in her bottom gave way to an even hotter fire deep in her core. She moaned, grinding herself against his finger. “Yes. Do it harder,” she breathed. “Faster.”
Khaun pulled his hand away and gave her a stern swat. “We are your masters. We alone decide when and how you receive pleasure. Learning submission will not be easy for you,” he added, with a low laugh. “I can see it will take many long lessons. Fortunately, my brother and I have infinite patience. Now, spread your legs and lie still.”
He went back to teasing her clit. Tormenting her with a gentle touch, harder to bear than the roughness she’d experienced in the past. Saige forced herself to lie unmoving, to fully experience every moment of the slow buildup, with his iron-hard cock pulsing against her.
He kept up the feather-light massage, occasionally dipping his finger lower to pick up the slic
k juices of her arousal and spread them over the throbbing bud. Her bottom still burned, but the scorching pain had turned into a wild heat. Saige moaned, whipping her head from side to side. It was the only movement she could still perform. He had her trapped, his legs pinning hers in place, one heavy muscled arm lying across her back while he teased her mercilessly. Whenever she bucked her hips or writhed against him, he’d stop and give her a firm whack.
“I’m not going to tie you down. That would make it easy. Instead, you’ll learn to submit. Surrender your will to ours.”
When he slid a finger into her pussy, she almost cried in relief. The gyron on his hand carried its sweet spicy heat deep inside her, and she squeezed her muscles around him.
Khaun’s cock jerked reflexively beneath her, and she swore it got even harder. “I think she’s ready for her next lesson, brother.” He slid his hand out and lifted her onto the bed.
“Spread your legs wide.” Keir had undressed and stood at the foot of the bed, his erection jutting out thick and heavy. She closed her eyes, ready to feel it plunging inside her, then opened them in surprise when she felt his tongue instead, probing her slit.
He dropped to his knees, wrapping one huge hand around each of her thighs and holding them apart while he explored every inch of her most private parts. Saige gasped as he flicked his tongue over her clit, already swollen and aching. He licked her slowly then stopped to look up at her.
“Talk,” he demanded. “I want to know you’re here, that you aren’t checking out. Tell me everything you’re feeling. Every wicked, dirty thing you’re thinking. If you stop, I’ll stop,” he warned.
“Oh God, no don’t stop,” she blurted. “I love what you’re doing. I want more.” Once she began, the words poured out. “I want to feel your tongue, hot and wet, dancing across my clit. I want you to take it in your mouth and suck it while you shove two fingers deep inside my pussy and fuck me hard.”
“And this? Do you like this?” His head dipped lower, and she shivered as he rimmed the tight pucker of her ass.
Mastering Their Mate_a Sci-Fi Alien Dark Romance Page 10
