Tycho (Loved By A God Book 3)

by Crystal Dawn

  His walls were a neutral blue, not pale, not dark, and certainly not neon. It was a calming color and went well with the laminate wood flooring that had been selected to go over the concrete floors on the whole second level. His bathroom continued with the same color on the walls, the shower, sink, and toilet were a tan color and the fixtures antique brass. He could see the feminine touch, it made him appreciate the mates. The white that Origin preferred had always reflected the light harshly making it harder to relax, but being male, they would have probably left it there had the mates not insisted on changing it.

  He showered, taking the time to relieve himself since he didn’t know what his situation might be on the mission and he’d not released his seed in a long time. Gods were a horny group, but his situation had made it hard for him to ease himself in any way. Now that he was assured he would be allowed to leave, he felt capable of stroking off quickly, and it would help him sleep. He lathered up, he was a big boy, and he filled his palm with soap. His cock stood at attention, happy to reacquaint itself with its favorite hand. He felt like a youth jacking off for the first time as a tingle rolled over him. The only thing better, but that wasn’t available, would be a willing female.

  One hand went to his balls, oh fuck had he missed this. The other hand grabbed his shaft firmly and began to stroke from the base to the tip and back again. It was sheer delight and he was feeling a buzz along his tailbone in no time. He sped up and increased the pressure, need took over as he slid up and down at a grueling speed, until suddenly he groaned deep and long as ropes of white cum splattered against the shower walls, to be washed away by the spray from the strategically located nozzles.

  Tycho felt like a wet noodle all over as he rinsed off, toweled dry, and crashed onto his bed, asleep possibly even before he landed. He would be rested and fully relaxed so that he could do his best on this mission. The young god smiled as he slept, life was going to be good now.

  Chapter 2

  Mitzy

  Mitzy rubbed her stomach and sent another prayer skyward. She wasn’t sure why she bothered, since no one seemed to hear her. She’d had an exceptionally hard life, but her family had been her one consolation. Her twin sister Ritzy, and her grandma had stood by her through all the hardship life had dealt her, but now her grandma was gone and her sister, who was being honorably discharged from the military, hadn’t made it home yet.

  She was looking for her daughter, Paige, who always seemed to disappear once she got in the door of the facility where Mitzy answered the phone and filed paperwork. The mother was worried about what her overly energetic tween might be getting into, but even though she was only four months along, she was already big as a house and it was just too much effort to try to track her down. It was something she felt her daughter took advantage of. Mitzy was pregnant, again, as the result of an attack that she couldn’t remember and she was glad she couldn’t remember it. Paige was the result of being forced by her step brother and she could remember every painful second of that. Dixon had been the son of the first wife her father had had. They had divorced, but Duley and her father had kept in touch, not hard to do since they all lived in the same small town.

  At least she had no fear that he would come back to bother her since he’d died of an overdose in jail. He’d been a drug fiend trying everything and anything, including inhaling glue and aerosols when nothing else was available. She was amazed and relieved when Paige came out normal and healthy. Mitzy loved that little girl so much, she would go through all the torture again, just to have her. As a mother, she knew she would love this baby the same way.

  Her mother had died while giving birth to her sister and her. She thought she’d really died of a broken heart because her husband was drunk at the pool hall with a floozy, while she lay there straining to bring two under-weight preemies into the world. The woman had died and he’d been summoned to name them and take charge of them. He’d brought his current floozy with him and she’d named them. She was high and drunk, so it could have been worse. The amn taken them home, because his girlfriend thought they were cute, but they’d almost died before grandma been able to get custody. They might be cute, but his trollop hadn’t wanted to take care of them, she considered it too much work.

  Grandma had come in with the sheriff to find them starving and their diapers overflowing. Close to death from lack of care, she’d nursed them back to health with love and kindness. Now she was gone and Mitzy only had her twin, who wasn’t here either. Life just kept kicking her in the ass, but she refused to give up. She had a daughter to take care of and she would make it somehow. Rubbing her tummy and calming the little one inside who reacted to her fear and misery, she took a deep breath and pushed down all the worries and fears that kept niggling at her mind.

  Mitzy had no idea what to do and if nothing changed, worrying wouldn’t find an answer where there wasn’t one. She needed some help or a job that paid decently. This job barely kept them from starvation and if they weren’t living in Grandma’s house, it wouldn’t keep a roof over their head. Once she got off work, they’d run by the shelter and have a meal. She hated to go there, not because the people were anything less than wonderful, but it was her pride that hurt. Right now she had to eat for the baby’s sake and Paige was growing and had to be fed properly. She’d pay them back someday, that’s all she could tell herself to feel better about it.

  Paige popped up behind her and she almost went into labor right on the spot. “Sweetie, don’t scare me like that. You scared the baby too.”

  “Sorry, Mom,” she mumbled.

  Mitzy couldn’t dodge the feeling that Paige was up to something. Having given birth to her at the tender age of fifteen, she sometimes felt more like a big sister than a mother. Maybe that had made her too understanding and not strict enough. Paige was such a wild child and it seemed cruel to try to anchor her to one spot. She had energy that couldn’t be stifled and the girl was undeniably gifted. Had Mitzy had resources available for her, there was no telling what she could achieve.

  Mitzy’s sister had fared better in life, since she had escaped their stepbrother’s less than tender devotion and between Mitzy’s jobs and grandmother’s retirement, they had helped Ritzy get an education. She had gone in as an officer, something that made them all very proud. Ritzy had sent money home, not a lot, but enough to help them get by, but with her discharge nearing, a clerical error had frozen her paychecks until it could be straightened out. Ritzy had told her it would be after she came home. That was a month ago and now she was due anytime she could catch a flight on standby. Many airlines gave free flights to the military when they had empty seats. You had to stand by and wait for one.

  Mitzy held the door open for Paige to go out in front of her. She would never admit it, but she was always relieved when she left this place. The mother always had a bad feeling whenever she came back. If it wasn’t for the free prenatal care and the promise of a free delivery, she would have taken her chances elsewhere. It was a feeling she couldn’t explain that the baby would be early, very early, and she feared for its welfare. They walked along the sidewalk to the shelter which was in the back of a large church. There wasn’t enough room for all the people that needed a place to stay and food to eat, but the crowded place was better than no place at all.

  The two of them grabbed a plate and walked down the serving line getting their plates filled. The local bakery had donated a large amount of cakes and pies that were one to three days old and the cheesecake called to her. The woman that owned the place was a saint. She’d told her that when she’d first come to town, she and her family had eaten at the shelter too. They’d been so poor, but they had overcome and now they could help others. Mitzy admired Juanita for giving back the way she did, because not everyone that was once down and in need of help, helped others when they were back on top of things.

  They sat down with full plates and ate with hunger, a hunger they felt often. If it wasn’t for the meals they got here a few nights a week,
Mitzy thought they might starve to death. Both of them ate everything that was on their plate, wasting nothing. Paige even ate the broccoli that she didn’t like, because she had learned at an early age that she couldn’t afford to leave food on her plate. It made Mitzy sad, because although things had been tight when Grandma had raised her and her sister, they had never been this bad. Her life had reached an all-time low.

  Once they finished, they cleaned up their spot, put the dishes in the bin, the trash in the can, and the silverware in the pan. Paige took off running ahead as she tended to do, while Mitzy worried about her getting too far ahead. She hurried to catch up, but felt a weakness overtake her so she slowed back down and hollered for Paige to come back. Dizziness hit her but it passed and she made it to the door, but held on to it a moment to fight off the next bout of weakness. Things were getting worse and she feared she wouldn’t be able to get up to go to work in the morning.

  This baby was taking too much out of her. At twenty seven, Mitzy had been in perfect health when this pregnancy had come about. There was no reason for her to develop so many problems unless…no, she didn’t want to think about it. Maybe the father had carried an illness and now she and her baby were dying. It was the only thing she could think of that would cause so much havoc to her body, but not show up on the regular test that the doctor was doing. She needed her sister to make it home so that she could be Paige’s guardian because she was convinced she would never live through this birth. Mitzy had never felt this bad in her life.

  Chapter 3

  Paige

  It wasn’t easy being who she was every day. They were poor, painfully so, and while Miss Taggert, her eight grade teacher, she had skipped a couple of grades, told the class that money didn’t make a difference, Paige already knew that wasn’t true. Her mom did the best she could, but since Grandma had died, she was on a downhill slide. Paige knew that she had to step up and getting the gods to help out, was the only way she knew to do it.

  She had been doing some work online. It was how she paid for her extras at school and her poor mom was so distracted with the baby, she hadn’t even noticed. Paige had paid for her own pictures, field trips, class T-shirt, and her lunches. Her school lunch was reduced, but not free and she figured either her mom had filled out the paperwork wrong, or she was just too embarrassed about taking something free.

  Paige got on the computer at in the library during breaks, like after she’d eaten lunch, and she did surveys. Some paid more than others, but it was better than nothing. It wasn’t like the other kids wanted anything to do with her. She’d started it for something to do, but it had turned into a part time job and she wished she could do more, and if they were still here in the summer, she would. Her mom just needed some help and no one seemed willing to give it, except the people at the shelter. Someday Paige planned to be rich and she would be different, because she would help those like her mom and her, just because it was the right thing to do.

  She turned back, frowned as she looked at her mom, she walked back to her, and let her lean on her. This was happening more and more often and Paige was terrified that her mom might die. Her aunt Ritzy was alright, but even though she looked like her mom and was like her in many ways, she wasn’t her mom. Paige wanted both of them, needed her family with her. Now that Grandma had gone, there was already a big hole in her life, she didn’t need, maybe couldn’t even survive, another one.

  The young girl helped her mom to a bench out in front of the dress shop next door to the church. The window was full of pretty stuff they couldn’t afford and the woman in the shop shot them a dirty look through the window. She knew they couldn’t afford to buy anything in her store, so she didn’t want them hanging around. Paige bet she sat up front at the church on Sundays and pretended she cared about the disadvantaged people like they were.

  Paige thought about Jason who she’d just spent time with when she’d gone to her mom’s workplace. He seemed like a good guy, even if he looked skinny and a bit sickly. He would make a great dad and Paige had missed having one. Some of the girl’s talked about stuff they did with their dad or things he’d got for them and Paige wanted that too. She had snuck Jason some cookies and juice from the break room. It upset her to see the employees waste more of that food than her mom, Jason and she could eat if they ate their fill. Well, maybe not Jason, he was a big guy.

  She’d told him that his people were coming, but they didn’t tell her when, just soon. The young girl knew they were far away, but she hoped they knew they needed to be quick. If she got caught feeding Jason, all hell would break loose. If she hadn’t been feeding him, he’d already be dead. Paige had started exploring her mom’s workplace, because of curiosity, you know, like the cat. When she’d found the break room and the table, it was filled with food. A sign said free for all employees. Well, her mom was an employee and she wasn’t getting any, so it was just a little stretch to take what she wanted.

  The young girl was draw to all the closed off areas. So much wasted space, only it wasn’t wasted. She found a lab and there were embryos in glass cylinders full of liquid. There was all kinds of equipment, she couldn’t even imagine the use of. Once she checked that out, she moved on until she found the cells where people were kept. There were two guys to begin with and they both looked awful. One disappeared, so she thought he might have died. That’s what made her decide the other one needed taking care of and started this whole thing. She remembered it like it had just happened, she’d nabbed some donuts and a few cartons of juice and slipped into the room where the cells were.

  First, she had just stood there looking at him for a few minutes and then she stepped closer to the cell. She cleared her throat to get his attention and he turned his head sideways too weak and disinterested to do more. His eyes glowed when he examined her.

  “A child? Have they captured you too, little one?” he asked with a voice that cracked from disuse and was faint from weakness.

  “No, I thought you might want something to eat and drink. What did you do to get locked up?” she asked thinking he must have done something very bad indeed to be locked up and starved like he was. She watched TV sometimes, not cable, they couldn’t afford it, but regular TV with the rabbit ears as her mom called them. She saw bad guys on there all the time, but rarely were they abused like this.

  “Did they send you to torture me with promises of food and drink?” he asked with his raspy voice.

  “They torture you?” she asked and then thought duh.

  Everything about his condition and his cell screamed torture. They didn’t seem to care if he survived or not. She could see he made a decision and he got off the bed and crawled on the floor, too weak to properly stand. He got near her and she handed him a carton of juice first. She’d heard it gave quick energy and it seemed to help him. Paige gave him the donuts and the other juice boxes one at a time and once he’d eaten all of it, he seemed to feel better. Honestly, she’d feared he would vomit from so much rich food when he’d had little in weeks, but he managed to hold it down.

  “Thank you, but I fear this will only prolong my misery,” he observed.

  “My mom says where there’s life there’s always hope.”

  He seemed to think on that for a moment. “Your mom is right. I’m being ungrateful and I do appreciate the risks you took to feed me,” he said and his blue eyes gleamed with humor. Paige saw that there was a handsome man hiding beneath layers of dirt, misery, and a skeletal looking body. She immediately thought he’d make a great husband and father. She’d never thought that about a guy before, so she knew this one was special.

  That started her forays into the heart of the facility. She found out all its secrets and she would bet no one knew the place like she did. Paige brought food to Jason every day that she was there and she brought him juice too. All he had in his cell was water and a hole to use as a toilet so she always worried that she’d interrupt him when he used the facilities and that was something she never wanted to see, but i
t never happened. They developed a friendship and she took care of him as best she could. The young girl brought him what was available and took away any trash so no one would guess what was happening.

  It had been a few weeks later when he finally told her who or rather what he was. He seemed worried that she wouldn’t believe him, but it never occurred to her to doubt him. Once she accepted what he was, she told him about the hotline and how many of his brothers were free. She’d looked away as tears rolled down his face. The joyous news of his brothers doing what all the torture in the world hadn’t. It had made him cry. They’d talked and planned and he’d never asked, but she’d volunteered to make the call. He’d been afraid for her and said it was too dangerous, but she saw that it would work out for all of them. Jason had said he’d take them with him, but Paige knew in the rush to freedom his people might not listen to him.

  She’d made the call, but she’d made demands of her own, she and her mom would go with them, because any life away from here was bound to be better than this one. Paige didn’t tell anyone, not her mother, not even her favorite teacher. People think kids can’t keep secrets, but they can when it’s important enough. The young girl had talked to Tycho and she’d gotten the promise she needed so that she didn’t worry about what life was sending their way. Now if only her mom could make it just a little bit longer.

  Paige examined her mom and saw her nodding off. Her color was a little better and it was time to see if they could make it the two blocks to home. “Come on, Mom. Let me help you up,” she said as she noticed the old witch in the store still glaring at them.

  They looked down on her mom, because she was carrying her second child with no husband past or present, in sight. It was a small town and they judged, regardless of what the Bible said. Paige had heard the not so soft whispers when they walked by some of the people on the street. They said women were bad gossips, but the men were just as bad. Her mom leaned on her more than usual telling Paige it was getting worse. This baby was growing like the aliens on some of the movies she’d seen. She wasn’t a doctor, but she knew it was slowly killing her mom. The young girl loved the baby anyway, it wasn’t its fault it was growing too fast.