by Pam Godwin
And prevent me from sleeping in.
The lamp in the corner remained on to light my nightly trips to the bathroom. Beneath the dim glow, Darwin lifted his head from the floor, watching me as I sat up, careful not to wake the guys. I needed to burn off some of this restlessness in the tunnels, and they needed their rest before we headed back to the crowd outside.
Their sprawled positions formed a triangle of hard muscle and naked skin around me. They lay on their sides, facing me, where I slept in the center. But I mostly slept on them, arms and legs entangled, using some part of them as a pillow.
Slowly, quietly, I climbed over Michio’s legs, slipped off the bed, and glanced back at their relaxed faces. All eyes were closed.
I pulled on a pair of shorts and gathered my hair in a ponytail.
“Such a shame,” Michio’s husky voice whispered from the bed behind me.
I turned to face him. “What?”
“It’s a sin to cover those perfect curves.” His sleepy gaze wandered over me. Along my bare legs. The huge hillock of my belly. My bared, swollen breasts. My parted lips. For a long, unhurried moment, he just stared. “Turn around.”
The chill in the air tightened my nipples as I gave him my back. Or maybe it was the heat of his eyes roaming my body.
“Damn, Evie. I love the round O-shape of your ass, and the way it sits high when I look at you from the side. Must be all the jogging, because the firmness of your cheeks and your tiny, little waist…you don’t even look pregnant from behind. It’s all—”
“Right here?” I pivoted back, palming my stomach. I’d carried each of my pregnancies this way, front and center, all in the belly.
His pupils dilated. “Come here.”
A blanket covered his lower half, but his nude torso was enough to visually feast on. All those deep cuts and sharp ridges made my fingers tingle. He’d gained his weight back over the past six months, and his olive skin positively glowed with health. He claimed my blood had brought him back to life, which he took in sips several times a week. I often wondered what would happen to his cravings when he no longer had me to quench them.
I strode toward the bed, stopping in front of him, a quick glance confirming Jesse and Roark hadn't woken.
Michio propped up on an elbow and cupped a hand around my stomach. “You’ve never looked more beautiful.”
His compliment sifted through me like a caress, stirring up my overloaded energy.
“I’ve never felt so hyperactive.” I stared down into his brown eyes. “I can really feel her this morning, the way I sense you, but it’s crazy rambunctious.”
“I hope I’ll be able to sense her like that someday,” he said thoughtfully. Leaning closer, he trailed the tip of his nose around my belly button. “She’s going to keep us busy.”
“And test your patience.”
“And make us proud.”
A feeling of fullness expanded my ribs. There was so much energy and emotion and life inside me, I didn’t think I could contain it all. “I love you.”
He kissed my naval. “Love you.” Another kiss, and his eyes lifted, the warmth there emulating his words. “Do you want me to jog with you?”
“I have Darwin. Go back to sleep.”
He watched me as I pulled on a t-shirt and headed to the door, but a deeply accented voice stopped me.
“Ye forgot something.”
I grinned and returned to the bed, where Roark grabbed the back of my neck and pulled me toward him. He kissed the spot beneath my ear, the juncture of my shoulder and neck, a light peck on my lips, and released me to kiss my belly button.
Then he dropped on his back and closed his eyes. “Carry on.”
With a shake of my head, I slid around the bed to Jesse. He lay face up, his head near the edge of the mattress, eyes closed. I angled over his lips, staring at him upside down, inches away.
His mouth twitched into a smile a second before he cracked his eyelids. “Morning, darlin’.”
Oh, I would never grow tired of that deep, groggy rasp. “Morning.”
I kissed him upside down, the scruff on his chin tickling my nose. His lips were full and warm, his tongue a delicious invasion as he rubbed it lazily against mine. It was an unassuming kiss, his lips gliding along mine for no reason other than to show me affection. It made me feel loved, cherished, wanted.
When I leaned back, he trailed his knuckles across my cheek and jaw. “We’ll take you to the surface after lunch. We have some things to do this morning.”
I straightened and ruffled his sexy hair. “What kind of things?”
“Man things.” Roark rolled away, fluffing a pillow beneath his head. “Now be off with ye. I’m sleeping.”
Darwin and I left them to it, our feet echoing through the tunnels as we worked off our energy. After several sweaty miles, I ate tomatoes, spinach, and grits with Eddie and Shea in the kitchen. Leaving Darwin to finish his chow of meat, I showered, jotted down a list of supplies on a notepad, then wandered the corridors in search of Hunter.
I caught him at the elevator that led to the surface. “Here’s the rest of my list.”
He accepted the paper, his eyes moving over my scrawl, his hand repeatedly pushing his long hair from his face.
“If you ever want a haircut, I know a couple guys.”
Jesse and Roark still cut each other’s hair, and now Michio’s as well.
The corner of Hunter’s mouth tipped up. “Roark offered last week. Said I don’t need to keep my ears warm in this heat.” He looked up from the paper. “There’s a girl…”
Oh, boy. Three words that began and ended with heartache.
I cocked my head. “She likes your hair?”
“Wrapped around her thighs.” He waggled his eyebrows. “She’s at our Vegas refuge. I’m on my way there now.” He looked back at the list. “What’s a onesie?”
“It’s a jumpsuit thing. Whatever. I just need warm-weather baby clothes, and if you have time to be selective, avoid pink.”
Shea was having a boy, and it would be easier if everything was shared.
“Got it.” He squinted at the paper. “More diapers?”
“Different sizes. I wrote it all down.”
“Yeah, okay.” He tucked the list in his back pocket. “There’s a baby store outside Vegas. I’ll take a few guys, a few trucks. We’ll just clean out the place. I’ll be back in a couple weeks.”
“You’re the best.” I gave him a hug. “Good luck with the girl.”
He hit the button for the elevator and winked at me. “Don’t need luck.”
“Then you might want to pick up some things at the baby store for your…don’t-need-luck future?”
He turned white, his eyes widening, as he stumbled backward into the elevator.
“Repopulation is a hard job, Hunter.” I jogged away, grinning. “But we’ve all gotta do it.”
My next stop was Dr. Belhap’s makeshift office on the east side of the dam. He and three other physicians checked me over, monitored the baby on the ultrasound, and drew my blood. The latter was at my behest. I’d made them draw one pint every day and store it in a just-in-case refrigerator. To study, to cure nymphs, to satisfy certain cravings, whatever might be needed after I was gone.
My guardians had fought me on this. An average person could only donate one pint every fifty-six days, but I had a beyond-average ability to replenish my blood overnight.
After the exam, I had a couple hours to spare until lunch, so I ran the halls, thinking about girl names. I wanted something deep and symbolic, but every idea I came up with sounded clichéd. If the guys already had their own picks, they’d been tight-lipped about it.
A ten minute jog carried me to the generator room. As I passed through it, I sensed Michio’s aura growing stronger. The lab was on the other side of the dam. Why was he over here? I followed the hypnotic pulses, my skin humming and warming when I approached the door of a room the men used for marital arts training. I pushed it open.
Michio looked up, unsurprised to see me. He could sense me across the country. Of course he’d tracked my approach. “Everything okay?”
“Always, Doc.” I slipped in, shut the door, and perched on a threadbare couch near the adjacent wall. “Don’t let me interrupt your man things.”
Jesse shoved an arm between Roark’s legs and craned his neck, seemingly working harder to get a glimpse of me than trying to dismount Roark.
Michio scolded Jesse for incorrect positioning, which made Roark laugh and tighten his arms around Jesse’s waist.
“Fuck, you’re a heavy bastard.” Jesse grunted, turned his head, and bit the inside of Roark’s thigh.
“Bloody fecking hell!” Roark jerked away and fell on his back.
Jesse flipped over and scrambled after him, grabbing his legs, then his hips, and assumed a mount position, laughing at Roark’s mistake.
Michio grinned as he watched them. When he met my eyes and his smile softened, it hit me that the three of them had reached the kind of connection that could bolster them through my death. They trusted and depended on one another, fought and fucked together. And they made each other laugh.
They would likely fall in and out of despair in the dark days ahead, but as long as one of them was always standing, he would be able to support the weight of the other two. With that conviction, I would die with a calm spirit, an inner peace, carrying with me a lifetime of smiles.
Of course, there was a piece of me that was absolutely terrified to die. To no longer be part of their relationship. To not be around to watch my daughter grow up. But I tried to keep that fear locked away so it wouldn’t consume the time I had left.
Michio walked them through various techniques, readjusting Jesse’s leg and swatting Roark’s ass when he plowed down on Jesse with brute force instead of practiced technique. I’d taught Roark Jiu-Jitsu when we were holed up in his bunker in England, but he was rusty. And unusually aggressive.
I suspected some of it was due to our gentling sex life. The frequency hadn’t ebbed, but I’d sensed them holding back with shallower thrusts and softer grips, tempering their need to dominate me roughly and vigorously. And with my belly in the way, our positions had become limited and monotonous.
They’d stripped down to their briefs, their skin glistening with sweat and stretching tight over packs of muscle. Their powerful bodies rolled together in a panting, shoving, pulling clench of strength and skill. The sight made my internal muscles convulse. Another minute of this, and my shorts would be soaked.
Jesse climbed between Roark’s legs, barring an arm across his throat, grunting, hips grinding, seeking Roark’s submission. They might as well have been fucking, because they moved just like that during sex. If only they would pull their cocks out and mash their mouths together.
Fuck if those images didn’t make my pussy spasm. Slick fluid seeped through my folds, preparing my body for them to slide in and soothe the ache. I wanted to lick Roark’s sculpted pecs, dig my nails into Jesse’s perfect biceps, and bury my teeth in Michio’s thick neck, while they fucked me with the same savage aggression they were using on one another now.
Carved abs dipped into waistbands. Cotton cupped and strained half-hard bulges. Maybe they were aroused because I was watching. Though Roark could get hard from the brush of a stiff wind, and given the number of times his hand grazed Jesse’s cock, perhaps their arousal had nothing to do with me.
Michio’s crouched position hid his groin from view, but he seemed to look at them differently. More closely? Not just with the analytical eye of an expert martial artist. His gaze roamed their grappling physiques with curiosity, affection, and something akin to desire as he lingered on the swells between their legs. He’d bonded with them on a platonic level over the past six months, and the intimacy the four of us shared in our bed crossed the boundaries of most heterosexual men. But he’d never shown sexual desire for them. Until now.
I was beginning to think this sparring session was less about learning new skills and more about pent-up testosterone and assuaging their need to rut and fight and blow off steam.
The thought was excruciatingly pleasurable. I could’ve sat there all day, watching them strain, wrestle, and grind against each other. I didn’t move for the next hour, my attention clinging to the flex of Roark’s ass as he dragged his groin over Jesse’s chest, and the way Jesse stared at Michio right before he mounted Roark’s hips, and how Michio swept in and dominated both of them in a blur of technique and speed.
Individually, they were viciously strong. Together, they were gloriously deadly. In the training room. On the battlefield. And in our bed.
I ached to be in the wrestling pile with them, lying beneath them with my legs spread, feeling Jesse’s muscles trembling as he sucked Michio’s shaft, the jerk of Roark’s fat cock between his thighs as he watched. The way that cock would feel, fucking me with deep, heavy-hitting thrusts. I needed their tongues, their fingers, and their swollen hardness. The ache to connect with every inch of them was as sharp as Michio’s fangs.
As if they could smell my arousal, all three heads turned in my direction.
Michio rolled away first, rising fluidly to his feet and striding toward me. “How wet are you?”
I whimpered, and a quiver raced up my legs, sending another gush of heat through my pussy. “See for yourself.”
Jesse and Roark followed, Jesse veering off toward the door, while Roark dropped on the couch beside me.
Roark’s hot hand gripped the hem of my shorts. “Lift your hips.” Three words, thickly accented and given with a stern glare.
I raised my ass, belly heaving heavenward, as Roark stripped the fabric down my legs and off my feet. Michio knelt beside my thighs, his eyes locked on mine as he pulled my shirt over my head, leaving me nude and trembling.
Jesse slid the deadbolt, locking the door, and the click echoed through me with a tightening clench.
“Open your legs.” Roark breathed beneath my ear.
It was just a whisper, but it roared through my body like fire. I obeyed instantly.
The pad of Michio’s finger slid through my folds, collecting my wetness. “We were going to do this in our room but had prepared for the possibility of you coming here.”
“Do what?” I gave him a confused look and glanced at Jesse and Roark.
Jesse grabbed a duffel bag from the floor by the door and joined us, kneeling between my legs, with Roark on the couch beside me and Michio on my other side.
Something passed between the three of them in an exchange of glances. It was subtle, but they seemed to be leaning closer together, eyes focused and direct, shoulders pushing back, and lips pressed together, as if they were mirroring each other’s decisive resolve.
I was the odd man out. “What the hell is going on?”
Michio captured my clit in a merciless pinch, and everything inside me liquefied.
He released me, his hand resting on my leg. “When Aiman held you captive, he could’ve found Jesse and Roark and changed them into spiders. Do you know why he didn’t?”
I knew why Aiman hadn’t killed them, but I hadn’t considered the possibility of turning them into spiders. Jesse and Roark regarded me with steady eyes. They must’ve already discussed this. I shook my head.
Michio brushed his fingertips across my inner thigh. “Because he didn’t know if they had been consuming your blood like I had. I didn’t know either. They could’ve nicked you with their teeth during a kiss. Could’ve accidentally ingested a splattered particle of your blood during any one of your injuries. His attempt to turn them into spiders might have instead t
urned them into walking vaccines. It was too risky, and he was arrogant enough to believe they weren’t a threat to his plan.”
Jesus. I didn’t know if they’d consumed my blood either. It was possible, but it would’ve been such an imperceptible amount. “Why are you telling me this?”
Roark kissed my shoulder. “Jesse and I have been ingesting your blood, love. The vials ye fill every day? He and I and the fifty other men who reside in this dam have been taking sips every week for the past couple months.”
A flood of emotions surged through me, increasing the energetic pressure beneath my rib cage. If any of the men were bitten, if Jesse or Roark were bitten, they would be immune to the programming.
I smiled, shakily, my throat aching. “Thank you. That is… God, that makes me feel so much better about your safety.”
About whatever happened after my death. I couldn’t say it aloud, not while I was nude with my legs spread. But I would die knowing my daughter’s fathers wouldn’t be turned into mindless spiders.
Jesse gripped my knee, sliding his hand upward until his fingers met Michio’s at the crease of my thigh and hip. “Doc is going to bite us.”
My eyes widened as images of Michio’s fangs sinking into their necks flashed through my head. Would they come the way I always did? Instantly and violently? It was exhilarating, overwhelming, the way my body responded to the idea.
I looked at Roark. “You’re okay with this?”
He shrugged, and the corner of his mouth lifted. “Doc’s superior agility annoys the bloody hell out of me.”
I shifted my attention to Jesse. “You’ll lose your fertility.”
He touched my belly. “I’ll have my hands full with this one.” His eyes hardened. “We need Doc’s strength and speed, Evie. Every day we put this off is a risk we take with our lives.” He lowered his gaze to my stomach. “With her life.”
Made sense. If the dam fell under attack by spiders, it would be easier to protect our daughter with equivalent power.
I met Michio’s eyes. “You said you were going to do something in our room. You were referring to this? You’re going to bite them now?”
