"I wouldn't normally do it while the lawmen are away, but you seemed fairly able to take care of yourself last night." He nodded and disappeared into the larger skimmer that he had been driving. Her four duffels were brought in and she directed them to be dropped to one side of the door.
"Where is my ship?"
"In the repair and storage facility. No harm will come to it, but if you want to sell it, just let me know. There is a lineup of buyers for a ship that well put together. Several folks have admired it."
"Thanks for bringing my stuff."
"All part of the service, miss. We really are just trying to create a foothold colony here. With the weather systems in this area, it is rather difficult."
He blushed as he stood in the doorway.
"Thanks again. I would give you a tip for delivery, but this outfit doesn't have pockets." She smiled.
"Um. Could you not mention to your men that it was me that brought the items? They were a little irritated that you were up on the block last night and I can only imagine the ruckus if you had been sold to another male."
Raeda winced. "That would not have been a good thing. Fortunately, the master of ceremonies stopped the shenanigans when he recognized the mark."
Her courier nodded. "May I ask, why are you marked?"
She thought about it and then nodded. "Sure. Why not? When the men were decanted, they were marked as part of a genetic set. The tattoo patterns were crafted to identify them to their grouping and to others of their kind, because each one was specific to the genetic pattern of the set. The inks contained rare minerals from the donor planets and could not be replicated."
"What about your mark?"
"The girls were created in a separate area and the tattoo artist was heavily bribed or threatened, but he matched our marks to those of our set. I bear compatible genes to the wolf set and therefore, I am theirs. Does that answer the question?"
"Yes. It also explains why they were so…determined to get you off the auction block."
She grinned and started to shut the door. "Of course. I am one of a kind." She winked as he backed away and returned to his skimmer.
There were no locks on the door, but she leaned against it while she looked at her duffels.
Her muscles were rather tense and she had only one remedy if she was on her own. It was time to dance.
She dug through her bags and found her headset and music selection. She remained in the tunic and walked out into the backyard, facing the wildness of the woods. Raeda queued up a good selection and started to dance.
Her mind cleared, energy rolled through her muscles as she twisted, rocked and whirled to the beat. Her sound system didn't contaminate the environment, so she got the feeling of being apart from the wilds of Kenvin while she danced for the trees.
She wasn't quite sure when eyes started watching her from the shadows. A fine sheen of sweat coated her and she stopped in her tracks. The moment that she pulled the ear buds from her ears, they came toward her.
Three huge beasts, each back coming even with her shoulder. She saw the wolves and noticed the intensity of their eyes as they focussed on her. Wearing nothing but Taro's shirt, she had no defence as they scented her.
Fear should have been her response, but with one looking at her with ice blue eyes, the others green and black, she knew she was facing the other forms of her set.
"It is considered rude to leave a woman alone in a strange bed. I almost thought you were not coming back." she stripped off her music system and smiled at them.
In front of her, they rippled and shifted forms, coming toward her with intense looks.
"Um, guys. A hello is usually appropriate." Her words disappeared as Taro knelt in front of her, tore her tunic down the centre and began licking his way down from her neck to breasts and across her abdomen. He skimmed his hands down her waist and hips to the backs of her thighs, parting them.
Raeda wavered and would have fallen if Dorn and Renner hadn't lifted her from her feet and held her with her thighs apart for Taro's investigation.
Something was different about his tongue as he lapped at her and demanded entrance. It curled upward and stroked the upper wall of her channel with each lap. Each stroke was a torture of pleasure and over sensitization. She twisted and when she heard growls from them, she froze. "Really, is that the way it is going to be?"
Dorn laughed and his voice was low and husky in her ear, "Taro's favourite pastime with his favourite female. Why would we want to interrupt that?"
She took a breath to give him a piece of her mind but arched with a cry as the tension building inside her snapped into a hailstorm of light in her mind.
When she stopped twitching, her body was still humming with the result of her orgasm. Taro met her gaze and gave her a kiss that carried her taste and his. She could feel his satisfaction at her pleasure and her eyes widened as he winked.
Dorn lay on his back in the middle of the yard and Renner tugged her to join him. The erection beckoning her was tempting and as she wrapped her hand almost all the way around the hot length, giving a few experimental tugs, she heard that growling groan she was growing to love. Smiling, she ran her thumb around the flared head, smoothing the precum that was dripping evenly over the silky skin.
As she stroked over the length of his shaft, she noticed something that was a little unusual. The base had a thickening under the skin that was not normal for the bipeds she had encountered. Before she could ask, Dorn gripped her by the waist and swung her over him until her knees were on either side of his hips.
Taking her cue from him, she lifted herself and fitted the slick, flared head to her sex. Meeting her gaze, he put his hands on her hips and pulled her down, forging space for himself within her.
Taro's careful arousal had ensured that there was plenty of lubrication to ease the way, but it was still slow going.
She jumped when she felt two fingers and something slick against her anus, but a quick look behind her showed her an intent Taro with his cock lubed and a focused expression as he concentrated on loosening her for him.
When Dorn was fully inside her and Taro made his way through the tense muscle of her backside, she was completely full. As Dorn arched into her, Taro slid back and all she could do was hold on for the ride.
As long minutes of rocking, sliding, panting and a high-pitched begging whine that she couldn't control passed, she leaned down and rested her head against Dorn's neck. The first orgasm caught her by surprise, but they kept going, drawing the spasms inside her into an endless rhythm that matched their relentless beat.
Taro finished first, plunging into her with a howl that echoed through the woods, frightening birds into flight.
Dorn was six thrusts behind him and as he arched into her, she felt a distinct swelling at the base of his cock. It locked them together and when she looked down in surprise, he gave her a cheeky grin.
His voice was hoarse. "All sets are different."
Renner walked over and offered her a glass of water. "You may be stuck there for a while. We haven't used our mating knots before so have never timed how long they will take to fade."
She chuckled at the bizarre feeling of being the female filling in a sandwich and sat up as much as she could with Taro still inside her. He wasn't stuck like Dorn was, he just seemed to like it.
When she spilled some of the water on Dorn, he flinched and it jerked his cock inside her. Taro sighed and pulled out of her, bringing another jerk to the cock wedged in her pussy. It was a relief to be a little less like a pinned bug at an exhibit.
"Why didn't you warn me?" She braced herself up on her elbows now that Taro was no longer weighing her down.
Dorn's cheeks became a darker bronze and Renner laughed. "Because he thought you would be unreceptive to being locked to us by your pussy. Can you feel him yet?"
The embarrassment she felt in her mind had a peculiar twinge. Taro's satisfaction had been easy to read, but this was different. She was embarrassed by
being out in the yard with the others of her set and it blurred into Dorn's insecurity about his body's mating reaction.
Her laughter started deep inside her as a twitch of amusement that men who could snap her like a twig had insecurities about the very things that made them hers.
She remained attached to him for eight minutes before the swelling went down and Renner helped her to her feet, massaging her legs to assist with the stiffness.
Dorn groaned as he stood, his back covered by blades of grass and smudges of dirt.
Raeda was reaching out to brush the grass off his back when Renner growled and set her on the edge of the stone table in the centre of the backyard. His teeth on her skin triggered the arching of her neck and she leaned back on her hands while he stepped between her thighs.
As he slid into her, she reached up and cupped his neck with one hand. "How long are you going to be inside me?"
Renner grinned as he sank home, "My darling mate, I am going for a record."
Laughter ran through her mind and as she realized that it was not only hers, she enjoyed the peculiar freedom that belonging to her set could bring. And when the pleasure came, and it came hard, she was bound to Renner, Dorn and Taro for the rest of her life.
Chapter Five
"Where were you when I woke?" Raeda was rummaging through her bags and extracting some underwear to go with the sundress she had picked out. She was naked and kneeling on the floor, but now that they had bonded minds, there seemed little to hide.
"We were called out on a farm defence. Who brought the clothing?" Dorn was a little suspicious.
Raeda remembered the concern in the man's eyes and shrugged. "Some man from the auction house."
They knew she was hiding the information, but they didn't press her on it.
"This is all you own?" Taro was helping her sort. Well, helping was a bit of a stretch. He was putting all of her sexy underwear in its own pile with a sense of anticipation.
"It is everything I own beyond my ship."
"Why do you carry so many books?" Renner was helping by opening two of the bags and putting the contents on a shelf in the main room.
"I like them. When I was first brought to my parents, they gave me a book to help calm me and when it worked, they gave me books all the time." She smiled as she remembered those first few days with the ex-military family who had agreed to hide her.
The Deiners had been loving, supportive and understanding of her peculiar circumstances. They taught her to hide her tattoo when she needed to with a combination of easily available cosmetics and a light spray of plastic. Sirn and Masha had helped her gain control of her rapidly increasing strength and that was where the dance lessons came in.
When Raeda danced, she was aware of every inch of her body, where it was and what it could do. Every twist and shimmy was deliberate. She controlled herself and her body followed her commands. The sensual aspects developed when her parents had been killed and she had been left to fend for herself. She sold her parents' property and forged into space, seeking the men that would give her a family again. After a short span, she found her funds running out and she had to sell her talent to fuel her ship.
Sensuality sold and so she altered her normal patterns to play to the larger audience. With three to six months at each world, she was able to hop from one to the other, looking for her set and never finding them, until now.
"Did you ever think to look for me?" She raised an eyebrow and they all froze as her gaze went from male to male.
Dorn went to the kitchen and opened a bottle of wine. He poured four glasses and placed them on the table. There was a tension in his mind, but he remained calm.
Shrugging, she put on her underwear and got to her feet, slipping the sundress over her head before she made it to the kitchen. They sat around the table and each took a sip of the wine before Dorn began the story.
"When we were decanted, we were marked and sent into battle as advance scouts. War after war for races who held us in contempt passed and when the fighting ground to a halt, we were offered placement on a dozen worlds. Lawmen are always in demand and with our skill set, we are more capable than most.
"We agreed to look at each world and as we went for the initial orientation, we looked for any traces of you. There were none. We kept up our search on every world we visited, becoming more and more frustrated with every empty trail. We could not find you.
"When we reached Kenvin, they were glad to have us and we received a message. If we waited, you would come to us." Dorn sipped at his wine.
Raeda sensed something in his tone. "Who sent the message? Don't tell me that you didn't look into it after you received it."
Renner cleared his throat. "We investigated, but the trail went cold almost immediately."
Taro nodded. "But, if you could have a look at something?"
She blinked. "Um. Okay."
He brought a tablet to her and keyed in a few codes before a surveillance camera shot was displayed.
"What is this?"
"This is you being sold to the auction house the day you arrived. Do you know those women?" Taro stopped the recording and enhanced the image.
Shocked, she stared into the image. "I know her."
It was bizarre to see herself held easily in the arms of another female, but it was the woman with her who triggered the memory. "That's Doctor Argent Deveraux, our designer."
"Who is the woman carrying you?"
The images flickered through her mind. The girls together on a shuttle, going from world to world. Thirteen girls and the doctor delivering them to their new families. "Prime. She is the prime."
The men looked at each other.
"What do you mean?" Taro asked the question.
With her lips twitching, she sipped at her wine, letting the warmth run through her. "Do you think that with all of those governments together, donating genes to the project, that they didn't demand a proof of concept?"
Dorn tilted his head, "I never thought about it. What do you mean?"
"I mean, that we were not the first clones. The twelve sets were not the first to be created. First, Dr. Deveraux had to prove that her techniques would work. She crafted the male primes and in honour of her daughter, the female. These were the beings offered to the governments as proof that her research was viable. No one knows what kind of samples were in that first mix, but it had to be pretty impressive to get donors from worlds that considered their purity paramount. Like the Horcross."
The Horcross genes were instilled in each of them. A singular planet of shapeshifters who had considered donating genes to the project an amusement. As concerned aunts and uncles, they offered clothing that shifted with the four sets of clones and that was the final contact that they had with the fruits of their donations.
She let her mind drift. "Sylvain! That was it. That is the name of the prime."
Sylvain was older than the others. While they all shared the same decanting day, Sylvain had been there when they arrived, acting as a big sister for them and a companion to the good doctor.
Raeda shook her head. It was funny that she hadn't remembered Sylvain until she saw her on the screen.
"She carried you easily. How strong is she?" Renner was watching the women on the screen.
"I don't know. I remember a game that we played once on the ship before we were all separated. We all piled on her, but she managed to walk fairly normal for a woman wearing twelve little girls."
Taro's mind showed that he was impressed. "They sold you to the auction house, deposited the money into trust for you and then the good doctor made a call."
That was weird. "Who did she call?"
Dorn grimaced. "Us. Listen." He picked up a small handset and played the message.
Your mate is going to be auctioned off at the Tenyara House at midnight.
It was definitely a woman on the message and it irritated the hell out of Raeda. "Where is she now?"
Taro lifted the tablet and scowled. "Gone
. She and her companion left Kenvin right after they left the message."
Raeda sighed and finished her wine. "It figures. She is on a crusade to make sure that we all match up."
Renner asked, "Why?"
"Because if we don't have little blenders of our own, her work comes to an end and she wants her legacy, just as all mothers do." She sighed and stretched, giggling when their gazes all dropped to her breasts. She had to remember that.
"Now, my dear mates, tell me about why the women of Kenvin have to be turned into prisoners before the auction. This is something I have strong feelings about."
They swallowed and began to stutter out the explanations while she sat back and drummed her fingers. They may be her alphas in bed, but this was her world and she was the alpha female. Organizing her new home was her concern and she was going to start with the auctions.
Chapter Six
One month later…
Raeda swallowed and glanced at her men in the back of the room. The cells were not in use and today was the first day of a new experiment in polite introduction. "Ladies, you are now the property of the world of Kenvin."
"Slavery is illegal!" One woman shouted from near the back of the nine assembled.
"This isn't slavery, it is forced immigration. That loophole allows the men here to bid on one wife and one wife only."
"That is slavery!" The woman had tears in her eyes and her black hair was wild and twisted. She hadn't come easily.
"No. It is forced colonization. Have a seat, ladies. This is your one chance to do this with dignity."
She took her seat at the conference table she had had set up. The women slowly filled in the empty chairs while her men remained back against the wall.
"Now, let's go around the table and share names. I am Raeda, and you are…"
The angry and frustrated brunette crossed her arms. "Geera."
"Annha."
"Nadir."
"Felani."
"Vina."
"Marcusa."
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