Rising Tides

by Rebecca Royce

  Totally naked, we rubbed at each other, dry humping as our lips made love. He caressed my body, running his hands over my breasts, gently, not squeezing too hard. He stopped over my stomach. “I wish I could have seen you pregnant.”

  “You did. In the ship when I found you.” I kissed his cheek. He smelled like Hunter, he was mine. I rubbed my cheek against him.

  “My memory is foggy, but you weren’t showing yet. I mean, it would have been so sexy to see you round with the girls inside of you, all flush and glowing.”

  I grinned at him before I bit his neck. “I was never flush and glowing. Pregnancy was not pretty on me.”

  “Liar. Everything is pretty on you.”

  Hunter reached between us, petting my pussy before he plunged one finger inside of me. I cried out. Yes, that felt incredible to have him there but I needed more, so much more. He touched me slowly, drawing out the feeling, not rushing, despite the fact that we probably had no time.

  I followed suit. He was hard, and as I stroked him, cupping his cock in my hand, he sighed against my neck. His gaze met mine as we touched each other.

  “I thought I’d never be here again with you, never hold you like this.”

  I shook my head. “You promised me.”

  “I was so afraid I was going to break it and that killed me inside. I love you, Amber. Every single part of you. Forever.”

  I didn’t want to cry, but I let the tears slip from my eyes. “I love you like that, too, Hunter. No more time apart.”

  He shook his head. “None. Ever.”

  Hunter pushed inside of me. I cried out at the invasion. It had been a long time since I’d done this and a lot of things had happened since then. He waited before he moved, doing nothing but stroking his hands down my face.

  I nodded up at him. “I’m okay.”

  He tilted his head in the way only Hunter could. “Sure?”

  “Yes.”

  He moved again, in and out of me, and I lifted my hips to meet his thrusts. This was heaven, this was what I’d waited for, to be connected to him again, to feel like I was his. Much sooner than I wanted it to be, I cried out in release.

  Hunter wasn’t done. He vibrated against me, the way I was used to when we meditated together. It was as though his energy called out for my own. I loved this man. I sent him every bit of love I had for him, from my heart to his.

  He shuddered. That must have been what he needed because he came inside of me, his breath against my cheek, his heartbeat pounding against my own.

  Hunter quickly gathered me up against him, kissing my face. “I’m always going to want that.”

  I grinned. “Even when we’re old and gray?”

  He laughed. “I actually didn’t mean the sex. But yes,” he laughed, a delicious sound in my ear, “I’m going to want sex when we’re old and gray. No, I mean, I’m going to want that connection of our souls. The way you sent me your love. I need it. I think it saved me in the dark place. I hung on, waiting to hear you again and again.”

  I snuggled against him, back to stomach. “I wasn’t sure if it was me or if it was the girls letting me do it because I carried Chen blood with them, but I could do it just now.”

  “It was always you, Amber. But don’t you ever go boarding Evander ships again.”

  Smiling, I kissed his wrist and his hand before settling it on my stomach. He kissed my shoulder, the back of my neck. That was how I fell asleep, so grateful to have him home, to have his warmth against mine.

  I never felt him move, but I did feel him come back with Katie as he sat down on the bed. “She’s changed. I did that. Josie’s still out.” He kissed my forehead.

  I lifted my head. “You can’t know how incredible it is that you brought her to me. Thank you.”

  “Don’t thank me for doing this very little thing. I’ll stay here with you unless Josie cries. Then I’ll take Katie when she’s done. And,” he put a piece of toast right near my mouth, “eat that. It’s just toast. The fridge is stocked with frozen food I’m guessing Paloma cooked for you. Starting tomorrow, you’re eating regularly.”

  As I latched the baby onto my breast I stared at him. “Hunter…”

  “If you say thank you, it’s going to piss me off.”

  Well, then, I’d just think it.

  I was warm, wrapped in a blanket and dozing on the couch when Amari arrived home. Or I should say when he was brought home by multiple Z guards who did little more than nod at me and escort my out-cold husband to his room. Hunter jumped up and followed Cliff, who was with Amari, from the room.

  I trailed after them.

  Hunter stared down at his sleeping brother. “Why weren’t we informed he’d woken?”

  “Like with you, Master Hunter, it was very sudden. He was totally stable and the doctor felt it was better he really wake up here.”

  Hunter nodded. “Any word on Shane?”

  “He had a head injury.” I walked over to Amari and touched his forehead. He didn’t stir, but he wasn’t hot like the last time I’d touched him. That was a huge relief. “The machine had to heal that. Fifty percent of the people given the drug died.” I could hardly speak the words. “I’ve been scared for all of you. But Shane terrifies me.”

  Hunter kissed my cheek. “He’d never leave you. He’s coming back.”

  I stroked my hand down his arm. “Hunter, why don’t you take a break? Sit with Amari.”

  “You keep trying to let me out of doing what I want to be doing, which is just being with you and my girls. Cliff, stay with Master Chen.”

  He nodded. “That would be my pleasure, sir. Amber, don’t worry. Master Shane will come back.”

  I felt it the second Hunter’s attention zeroed in on Cliff. I whirled around, linking my arm through Hunter’s. “I actually prefer them to be less formal with me. It’s fine.”

  “It’s not fine,” Hunter spoke with a clenched jaw, and I dragged him from the room. I just wanted to feel relief that Amari was fine, not have this argument right now. Cliff bowed his head, very low, and I closed the door behind me.

  Hunter put his hand over his chest. “We get to call you Amber. Your family gets to call you Amber. I have a hard enough time with it, but your friends get to call you Amber. The Z do not call you Amber. You are Dr. Chen. That is what they call you.”

  I put my arms around his neck. “We’ve all been through a lot together here. I am a pretty informal person. I don’t mind them calling me Amber.”

  He made a sound that was somewhat close to a growl. “Amber. I… I… I am going to have to get used to the idea. I am going to try. I can do that. Amari is going to lose his shit.”

  Well, at least he was now here to do just that. I let out a breath but not all of my anxiety. Shane was still in the med machine, battling for his life. I wouldn’t be okay until they were all back.

  Josie cried out. At least I had a lot to keep me distracted.

  The house was quiet. Hunter had passed out in the bed with Katie bundled up in a portable bassinet next to him on the bed. His hand was on her stomach as she lay on her back, sleeping. She’d actually gone three hours the last time she slept.

  Hunter had lit a fire in the fireplace, and I stared at the flames. With Josie at my breast, it wasn’t a bad moment. Amari stepped into the room so quietly I almost missed him. If he’d had an exchange with the Z, I hadn’t heard it.

  I sat up as much as I could. “Hi.”

  He padded over to me, dressed only in a loose pair of gray pants and a white t-shirt. His hair was wet. He sat down on the couch, still not having said a word. Briefly, he touched Josie’s back before he sprawled and set his head on my lap.

  With my free hand, I stroked his damp hair and the side of his cheek. “Hi,” he finally said back, before he closed his eyes.

  He sighed, his body relaxing. His breathing evened out. The shower had probably done him in for the night.

  Josie finished, but I didn’t move her, just letting her sleep on my chest. We’d all sta
y like that until morning.

  Amari lifted his head, which woke me. I ran my hand through his hair again. It was totally dry now. Josie made little baby noises as she stirred. In the bedroom, Katie cried and it sounded like Hunter changed her diaper. He’d figured out how to do that.

  My oldest husband rubbed his eyes. “Amber.” His smile was huge. “I came out here to talk. I don’t remember much after that. Wow. That’s a baby. That much time passed?”

  “I know. It’s lunacy. Eight months,” Hunter spoke over crying Katie as he exited the room, handing her to me and taking Josie who yawned but closed her eyes.

  Amari’s gaze on me made me blush as I concentrated on letting Katie latch. When I felt the familiar pull, I raised my own eyes to meet his. “Welcome home, Amari.”

  “I’m sorry we were gone so long.”

  I shook my head. “Don’t apologize for getting taken. I thought you’d all died in space for about ten minutes. That was hell.”

  “Who are these people in our lives now?” He got up and stared at Josie in Hunter’s arms. “Introduce me to my nieces. Where is Shane?”

  Hunter shook his head. “Not up yet. Still waiting.”

  Amari made a low sound in his voice. “I don’t like that.”

  “Give him time.” I forced myself to sound optimistic. “In Hunter’s arms is Ms. Josephine Chen. I call her Josie.”

  Hunter grinned. “I call her Ms. Josie. She demands that kind of respect.”

  “And hungry right now is her big sister, Katherine Chen. Or Katie.”

  Amari stroked Josie’s head, gently. “Do you call her Ms. Katie?”

  “Oh, no, she’s Katherine.” Hunter laughed. “Full name Katherine. Yelling Katherine. She is currently disgruntled with life. Beautiful. Ethereal. Angry. They both have Amber’s violet eyes.” Hunter passed me Josie who latched onto the other breast. Doing this tandem was always awkward but the payoff of them on the same schedule made it worth it.

  “Welcome, beautiful girls. You are so loved.” Amari kissed both of them on their cheeks. Katie stopped eating to lift her head and regard Amari the way she did all new people. As though she accepted him into her mind, she got back to feeding.

  Hunter walked to Amari and bowed his head, placing it on Amari’s shoulder. They stayed like that for a second before Hunter embraced him in a tight hold. The younger brother’s shoulders sagged for a second. “Amari.”

  Amari held him as fiercely.

  Not so long ago, this would have shocked me. Even when we’d first gotten back to Earth before the war, I wouldn’t have understood. It wasn’t until I spent time with the Z that I’d understood. Amari was more to the Z than just another Z. He was their leader and that meant more to them than just business. It was almost spiritual.

  They separated, both of them turning back to me. “You know you’re even more famous now, Amari. You broke out of the med machine and tried to wake up.”

  He put his hands on his hips. “Are you kidding?”

  “Nope.”

  Amari slouched down on the couch. “Just one question. Where the fuck are we?”

  Hunter handed him a tablet. “Our girl made some needed changes. This is where we live now. It’s very nice. The perfect size. They’re building an orphanage and a business area.”

  Amari put his hand on Josie’s back. “Not ready for it yet. I’m on vacation. How did we get home?”

  Hunter pointed at me. “She found us. Convinced the Z to take her to us, somehow.”

  Amari put my feet on his lap. “Why do you look so tired?”

  Hunter laughed before he walked to the kitchen. “I’m making breakfast. Try not to stick him back in the med machine while you almost kill him.”

  “I don’t get a lot of sleep. The girls are round the clock care, and I was alone. But Hunter has been here several days, and he is spoiling me. I feel less alone and that is somehow helpful more than anything else.”

  My oldest husband adored me with his eyes. “Consider yourself twice spoiled. And I am in love with this. You with those babies. You were okay? During the pregnancy?”

  “I was, thanks to a really lucky design by Hunter.”

  Hunter walked out of the kitchen carrying pancakes. “She doesn’t eat.”

  Between the two of them, I was fed like a toddler from a fork. It was ridiculously good. A knock sounded on the door, and Amari rose to answer it.

  “Oh,” Hunter shouted out. “The Z call her Amber, and she prefers it because she likes to be informal.”

  My husband somehow managed to open the door and gawk at me at the same time. “Well, that’s stopping.”

  I sighed. This was going to be an ongoing problem. But we had no time for that as Shane, like his brothers before him, was helped into the house.

  Hunter put his hand on my shoulder. “Don’t jump up. You’ve got the girls. I’ll settle him in.”

  Dane followed Shane through the door. That was different. I took one look at his face and knew he had something to tell me. “What’s wrong?”

  “We’re going to watch Shane. He’s stable. I wouldn’t release him if he weren’t. But there may have been permanent damage. We’ll just have to see.”

  I swallowed. “With what?”

  “His heart.”

  13 A New Endeavor

  Amari and Hunter went still in the way only the Chens could. I knew what that meant. They were pulling in the terror those words presented to them. I actually wasn’t scared. This was medical. I could do medical. This wasn’t a giant corporation bent on destroying us all.

  The heart could be fixed. That was one of the beautiful things of the time we lived in.

  “How bad is the damage?”

  Dane shook his head. “I’m not sure. I can’t find a cause on any of the scans. His heart skipped a few beats. I put him back. It did it again. Then it stopped. Maybe it’s corrected. Maybe it’s anomalous.”

  I nodded. “Maybe it’s a thing now. Is he wearing a permanent heart scanner?”

  “He is. Check it for him a couple times a day? Let me know. And no marathon running or anything. Not that he could do that in this snow. Unless that is also something the Chens do in the snow?”

  “Dane.” I had to ask it. “Your recommendation on sex? Yes? No?”

  He grinned. “Yes. Check it after. Even if something went wrong, you’d handle it. You’ve saved more lives in this war than I did, Dr. Chen.” His deliberate use of my title wasn’t lost on me. “Your husbands haven’t heard the stories, I imagine. But I have. You’re on maternity leave, but you aren’t done. If Shane needed saving, you’d do it. And I don’t think it’ll come to that. I sent his heart scan and the EKG to your tablet. Peruse at your leisure.”

  Dane exited. A second later the Z followed and would have left had I not stopped them. “Guys, it’s cold out there. Go home. We don’t need the permanent guard right now. Tell Brenden, Matt or whoever is mine the same as well as the girls’.”

  “Amber,” Cliff sighed. “That’s our role. We guard the Chens.”

  Amari jolted and then looked at Hunter. “I thought you were kidding.”

  I ignored them. “Send Brenden in. I’ll take this up with him. I have two conscious Z with me. The girls are safe. If the satellites suddenly show incoming disaster, come and get the girls and save my husbands. I won’t object. Go. Now. Please.”

  He sighed, but he left. “I’m not sending in Brenden. I’ll just tell him to go home and that it came from you. He’ll grumble and go.”

  I closed the door.

  Amari had a hand over his left eye. I stared at him for a second. “Headache?”

  He dropped his hand. “I’m going to put aside what just happened there for a hot minute.”

  I patted his arm before I kissed it. He shuddered at my touch. “Good. You want to know about Shane. He’s going to be fine. There might be some small damage to his heart. The drug you were given attacked your vital organs. His might have been hurt. But he’ll be okay. We’ll fix it, w
hatever it is.”

  Amari nodded. “Okay. I… I am going to lie down. I feel like an old man.”

  I touched his arm. “It’s just the drugs.”

  He pointed at me. “We’re not done with the whole being addressed as Amber thing.”

  I leaned up to kiss him, and he stilled before he kissed me back, so gently. “Okay, Amari. We can talk about it later. I love you. You can’t know how it feels to have you back. I wasn’t whole without you.”

  He stroked the side of my cheek. “Amber, I’m going to make you so happy.” Katie took that moment to wail loudly. He looked down at her. “And you, as well, little loud one and your quieter sister. We’re all going to be so happy.”

  I decided to believe him.

  “Every night? They have her up like this every night?” Amari’s voice drifted into the room, reaching me despite the fact that I paced the back of the house with two screaming babies in my arms.

  I shook my head. Amari couldn’t order this away. I kissed Katie’s head. “I don’t think you’re angry, Katie. I think you’re confused. I think you don’t know what has rocked your world, and you are just going to yell about it until you do. I bet you’ll be happy when you can sit up, when you can crawl, when you have some control over yourself. That’s a Chen personality.”

  Hunter laughed in the doorway. “Because you have no need to control your surroundings?”

  All right, he had me there. “Maybe you got it from both sides.”

  “They’re fed. They’re not wet. Hand me one. Hand Amari the other.” I gave Josie to Hunter.

  Holding her close, he walked over to the window. “Let’s go look at the snow through the window.”

  Amari approached slowly, like he might do with a wounded animal. Which one of us did he think was about to attack? Me or the eight-week-old baby?

  “You don’t have to take her.”

  He put out his arms. “I don’t have that much experience with babies.”

  “Neither did I,” Hunter said without turning around. “But just throw yourself into it and don’t drop her. It’ll be fine.”