by Bethany Aan
She heard one of them rise from his chair, felt the couch sink as leather-clad legs came into view close to hers on the couch. Then the other set. She found herself sandwiched between them. Gulping, her heart racing, she looked up at one, then the other. They were so close, so warm, and she thought she could hear their hearts thundering in their chests. Their bare chests. Their muscular, smooth, exotically-scented bare chests. Oh, she was going to have to have underwear if this kept up, just to keep her thighs dry. She’d have to make some first thing in the morning.
“On our world, it is not uncommon for brothers to share a household, a family,” Hunter told her, lifting her face so that she was looking him in the eye. He leaned closer. “It is not shameful to care for two, or even three or four, men. It shows that you have an open, caring heart, and more love than you know what to do with. If such a situation is not against your beliefs or your desires, I would ask that you consider us both, then, for your heart. I promise that you will never regret it. We will make certain of that.”
She blinked. She had been thinking merely about sex, but she sensed that when he said ‘heart’ and ‘love’, he meant it. It had been so very long since she’d considered giving her heart away again, so long since anyone seemed to want it. True, she had mostly shut herself off from deep relationships, even friendships, for several years now, out of self-defense. She didn’t want to take a chance on getting hurt again.
It had also been her experience that most of the men she’d known were only interested in sex, for as long as it was good, then wanted to move on. She was either a bad judge of character, or perhaps the men in her area were simply not what she needed. The men here certainly showed more appreciation for her in less than a week than the men back home that had known her most of her life. Was it possible that to these warriors, these aliens, love and character were more important? Could he possibly be considering allowing himself to love her? Hell, for that matter, did he already care as much as she did?
“I do,” he murmured, his lips so close to hers that she could feel his words, taste his breath. “We both do. On our world, it is the strongest warrior that can surrender his heart the most completely to a woman who will treasure it. Love is not a shameful thing, nor do we feel less for it. It makes us stronger, not weaker. It makes us fight harder, more fiercely. It is why we fight.”
“Oh,” she said, knowing it was inadequate, but not able to think of anything else. The juice had taken her reason, and for a short time, she forgot all about keeping them at a distance, her reasons for doing so… everything but the wonder of having two big, sexy, brilliant men so interested in her.
Then all thought was obliterated when Hunter’s lips closed on hers. The world shifted, and she felt herself being cradled in Jace’s arms, his hands stroking up and down her arms and shoulders, her head resting on Jace’s shoulder. Hunter kissed her in an exquisitely curious way. His tongue explored, delved, tasted, and lingered. His lips nibbled and nipped, taking her sanity and her breath. After a long moment, he drew back, lingering for just one more taste, then leaned away from her. She could feel Jace’s heartbeat thundering beneath her shoulders, could sense the tension in them both.
“I…” she tried to put together a coherent thought, but couldn’t. Finally, she settled for a simple and heartfelt, “Wow.”
“I think that I will not try to compete with that at the moment,” Jace chuckled ruefully, nuzzling the curls at her temple before placing a sweet kiss there. She shivered, feeling his breath and lips on her ear. He felt her telling reaction, his embrace tightening for just a moment, then gently set her against the cushions of the couch as both men moved back to the other chairs, facing her. Her head was spinning with the past few minutes’ events, the overwhelming sensations of being held and kissed by two such incredible men. She wanted more. Why had they left her? Oh, right. Because she was hurt and unable to perform sexual acrobatics at the moment.
“So… you will welcome our combined courtship, then?” Jace asked after a taut moment of silence.
“We will provide for you, teach you our ways and learn yours, and keep you company as you heal,” Hunter said, his eyes burning into hers. “And once you are healed… we will strive to convince you that no other man, or men, will suit you as well as we can.”
She gulped, but nodded, indicating that she’d think about it. Her head was spinning and she knew she was not thinking clearly, but she wondered if that had not been their goal. There was a reason she was supposed to tell them no, but with her heart pounding and hormones surging through her body, she could not remember it.
She was on a new world, with new rules, and had the two most handsome, fierce warriors that she could imagine desiring her. Would wonders never cease? Her head was whirling with the possibilities. But after only a few moments, it started to ache. Apparently, she had managed to over-do it today, and the excitement of finding herself being courted by these two was suddenly too much for her weakened condition. She yawned hugely, then groaned and clasped her head between her hands when it started to throb.
Instantly switching into physician mode, Jace gave her a shot for the pain, then scooped her up into his arms and carried her into his bedroom once more, tucking her under the sheets and dropping a soft kiss on her forehead. Hunter snugged the covers around her feet, as he knew she liked it, then kissed her sweetly on the lips before closing the door so that the room was dark.
Later, she would worry about the little doubts niggling at the back of her mind, the reasons that she should have told them ‘no’. For now, she would remember those kisses as she found herself surrounded by Jace’s compelling scent. She fell asleep in moments, a smile on her lips.
Deep in the night, Arianna dreamed again, of the coming presence. It was closer now, but coming slowly, as though it could no longer function properly. The minds in it were sleeping, except for the one she touched. It was almost asleep, but smiled gently at her as they touched. No words were exchanged, just that simple touch of energies before Ri was drawn back to Ishira. She started awake, breathing heavily, to find Hunter holding her and stroking his hand down her back, smoothing her tangled hair and murmuring wordless assurances. She closed her eyes, her head still swimming a bit from the pain meds earlier, and slumped against him, letting him hold and soothe her.
“It was just a dream,” Hunter whispered against the top of her head after a time, rocking her gently. “Just a dream. Nothing can hurt you here. You’re safe with me.”
“I know,” she sighed, smiling against his chest. “You won’t let anything hurt me, ever.”
“No,” Hunter agreed, kissing her forehead before urging her to lay back down. “If it is within my power, you will never know another moment of pain, from this point forward.”
“That’s lovely,” she breathed, smiling as she fell back to sleep.
Hunter sat with her for a long, long time, watching her sleep, holding her hand and just being there with her, for her. He fell asleep sitting against the headboard of Jace’s bed, Arianna’s head in his lap.
They were almost done with the morning meal the next day when there were feminine screams in the distance. Arianna jumped, started to get up, but sat back as the sudden movement sent pain shafting through her leg, ribs, and head. Frustrated and worried about her girls, she followed the men with her eyes as they ran to the balcony railing overlooking the courtyard.
“Report!” she heard Hunter bellow. There was another voice, but she couldn’t make out the words. She heard Hunter swear before he hurried through the suite and out the door. Jace followed, stopping long enough to throw Arianna an apologetic look. She blinked, hearing the screams and the sounds of running in the hall. Deciding that she had to know what was going on, or at least see something, she managed to hop her way to the balcony, using the furniture and walls for support.
Leaning over the railing so that she could see past the foliage, she watched the crowd of soldiers stream across the courtyard, Hunter in the lead. Off to th
e right, Arianna saw Bev’s blond head as Trey cradled her in his arms, his team around him, all of them offering comfort of some sort and touching her, obviously concerned. Ri wanted to know what was going on, to go to her friend. She was incredibly frustrated at the damaged body that made that impossible at the moment.
The dormitory seemed to be the strongest source of the screams. The men that had arrived first on the scene parted to let their commander through. She couldn’t help but admire Hunter’s strong, purposeful gait, the way his body rippled with muscle as he moved. Jace was on his heels, having apparently stopped long enough to grab a medical kit. Hunter paused at the door, finding it blocked. With a shout, he kicked the door in. The screams grew in volume, then were suddenly silenced at Hunter’s bellow. Ri felt the accompanying mental blast from him all the way up on her balcony.
For long moments, Arianna just stood there, wondering what he had found, then he exited, looking frustrated. He gave orders to some of the men nearest the door, then looked around almost helplessly. Sensing her presence, he met her gaze over the heads of his men and frowned. Looking behind him for a moment, he shook his head. Arianna tried to turn around when he started making his way back toward the main building, sure that he was coming to chastise her for being out on the balcony again and possibly hurting herself.
But mid-turn, she collapsed against the railing, holding on for dear life as memories swarmed into her head. She cried out at the pain that accompanied them, but got lost in the myriad images as she suddenly started remembering her abduction.
She had been eating at a burger place, her meal finished but her e-reader in her hand. She was at a good part in the story when a bus pulled up and what seemed like an entire sorority-house full of girls piled out. Arianna groaned and plugged in her ear-buds, setting her e-reader to one of her favorite ‘reading’ albums, and turned up the volume. But the girls were making noise enough to wake the dead. Frustrated, Arianna packed her bag and started to leave, but decided she would use the restroom before heading back out on the highway.
So she missed when the creatures entered the place, missed the first shots fired into the group of girls. When the screams began, she figured it was just over-excited young women and ignored it… but only for a moment. Cracking the bathroom door, she realized that something awful was happening to the girls, some of whom seemed barely out of high school. Her mothering instincts kicking into high gear, she acted without thinking when one of the hideous creatures raised his weapon toward one of the girls. Crying out, Arianna ran out and dived in front of the girl, taking the blast full-force in the chest.
When she woke -hours or days or weeks or months later, she would never know- she and the girls were all being held in a strange, small space. They were all stashed in transparent cylinders, naked, and had tubes and lines running into and out of them, probably for life support. She couldn’t move, but she could sense the terror the girls were feeling as they awoke and took in their situation. Either they were on a space-ship, or she was having one hell of a terrible, lucid dream.
She didn’t have long to think about it, though. One of the creatures she vaguely recalled from the burger joint had entered the room and was pressing buttons on the units in which the women were trapped. She saw it tap buttons on her unit, felt the strange gel that had been surrounding her start to drain. She was bombarded with nasty, horrid sensations as the tubes were withdrawn from her various orifices and veins. She fought the urge to vomit as what she suspected was a feeding tube was practically yanked from her nose. Her body was shaking with fear and revulsion at what had been done to her, but she barely had time to think about that, as the ship they were on suddenly shuddered.
Lights began flashing all around the room and the creature that had been pushing buttons whirled and exited the cramped space. Arianna was still trapped in the tube, but now she could move a bit. Her muscles felt weak, as though she hadn’t used them in a long time, and her eyes were gritty and sensitive. Bringing her shaking arms up to wipe her eyes and nose, feeling horribly dirty and violated, she began banging on the clear front of her tube, crying out for help. The other girls were doing the same, she saw, though she suspected that none of them could be heard through the ‘glass’ that held them.
The ship jolted again, and a terrifying whine sounded, even through the protective glass. Scared, unsure of anything, Arianna slid to the floor, curling in on herself as the ship seemed to go out of control, tossing around. She watched as some of the tubes went crashing to the floor, their glass breaking, the girls inside finally free. She began banging on the glass again, hoping one of the freed girls would figure out how to help the others. One young lady seemed to have more sense than the rest, and began slapping at buttons on her friends’ tubes. About half of the women were free by the time the ship was torn in two.
She felt a tremendous wrenching sensation, then suction as the glass of her tube exploded outward. She spilled onto the floor in front of the tube, staring at the gaping hole where the other part of the room had been. The ship had been torn into pieces, but she clung to the edges of her tube as she felt the vessel falling, falling. Realizing that they would die if they stayed here, Ri looked out the back of the ship. The ground wasn’t that far away. She shouted for the other women to follow her.
Able to stand for just a moment at the jagged edge of the room’s flooring, Arianna sucked in a breath, taking in the alien landscape, smelling the foliage of a world very different from Earth, and almost chickened out. Instead, the girl who’d had the presence of mind to free the others, a chubby blonde girl, made her way to Ri’s side.
“If we stay here, we die!” Ri shouted over the whine of engines and the rushing wind.
“We have to jump!” Bev agreed. They looked over their shoulders and saw that all the tubes were now empty. The other girls must have been freeing their friends as Ri and Bev had been assessing the situation. Ri looked down at the blonde girl as Bev said, “We could die from the fall, though.”
“It’s better than definitely dying here in this wreck!” Ri shouted back. She reached down, taking the hand of an unconscious young woman nearby, signaling Bev to do the same. Then, taking Bev’s hand, she took a deep breath and tugged, pulling them all out of the ship.
Once in the air, Arianna had little time to make a plan, as the ground raced to slam into her. With what was left of her brain power, she sent a mighty cry into the cosmos, hoping that God was close enough to hear her and save them all from dying. Then she hit the muddy ground and knew no more.
Arianna shivered and shook, curled on the balcony, tears streaming down her cheeks as she relived the horrible moments of her captivity and the crash. She suspected that there was more that she was not remembering, but if the visions she’d just had were the ones her mind could bear to recall, she fervently hoped she never remembered the rest. Taking a few deep, steadying breaths, she managed to get herself almost under control by the time the front door crashed against the wall and Hunter bellowed her name. His appearance, though, seemed to set her off again.
He found her in the corner of the balcony, hunched up between the railing and the wall, shaking and struggling to control her tears. Dropping to one knee in front of her, he carefully gathered her to his warm body, concerned at how cold she was.
“Damn!” he muttered, feeling the icy clamminess of her hands and arms as they gratefully wrapped around his neck. He stood and carried her into the living room, sank with her onto the couch, and wrapped them both with one of the thick, soft blankets. She shivered and shook against him for a time, trying to get control of herself. Her breathing was too fast, though, too labored. Concerned that she was about to hyperventilate, Hunter quickly threw up her gown and with a few expert tugs, had the bindings released from around her torso. Before she could react to that, he ripped the material from under the gown and threw it to the side, then covered her once more and held her close. At least she could breathe now.
His wonderful body heat started see
ping into her and she managed to stop shivering after awhile. Finally, with a deep, shuddering breath, she seemed to relax. He held her close the entire time, murmuring to her as he stroked her long hair. Arianna was just like the other women. They were all terrified. Hunter hadn’t known why at first, but when the women’s shared memories hit him, he was stunned at what had happened to them. And once he saw that all of the women in the dormitory were affected, heard the screams even from the two bitchy ones, he knew that Arianna would likely suffer whatever was happening to the others.
Unlike the others, she was alone. He had seen her on the balcony and all he could think was that if the memories that had hit the others also overcame her, she could fall. From that height, it might kill her or break her neck. Either way, he had to get to her before she became insensate, as well. He had sprinted up to his quarters, his heart thundering with fear for her.
He didn’t know if she’d screamed, but she definitely suffered the same fate as her companions. He knew that his Arianna was a strong, capable woman, but he also sensed the terror she’d felt. He could almost see the things she saw, and when she was calmer, she opened her mind enough that he could feel her emotions from the ordeal. In minutes, he had a much better understanding of what had led up to her arrival on his planet. The horror of being violated as she had, the life-support tubes and lines… he could only imagine how that had felt, but he wanted to kill the beings that had done that to her and the other girls, a number of whom he was already growing fond of.
