Salvation for Three

by Liza Curtis Black

  A bot arrived unannounced and startled her as they finished eating. “It brings bathing linens. There is a heated pool beyond that wall,” Tirin told her. “Press the stone and it will open. You might find a bath to your liking as you recover.” He showed her how to open the hidden doorway into the bathing chamber. “If you have any other need, call to us with your mind. Cian must report and I should accompany him.”

  She blanched at being left alone. The warning Cian had given her of other warriors scenting her flared in her mind.

  “Do not worry, my mate. A guard bot stands ready outside your door. No one will enter without your permission.” Tirin kissed her, latching onto her mouth and stroking her hard with his tongue until she sucked and moaned, squirming against him. He smiled and was gone, following the grim-faced Cian out the door.

  Keer felt slightly numb as she stepped into the rock-lined pool in the bathing chamber. The water bubbled, the scent of minerals and salts coming up through the mist. The pain from the crash was gone

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  now. She looked at her arm wonderingly. Even the bruising had faded.

  The pool was deep and wide. She swam and then floated on her back, relaxing for the first time away from the burning scorch of her own need. She realized that was probably Cian’s doing. He had doused her with ice as surely as if she had jumped into a cold spring, something she tried once on earth to put out the burn in her younger years.

  Keer was disgusted by the amount of control both warriors had while she was at the mercy of this damned peak. On the other hand, at least there was relief from the blinding pain of the need. She grudgingly admitted that the warrior had given her that instead of fucking her like a rec port paid whore, when both he and Tirin had the opportunity.

  . The bot whirred into the room, this time bearing soaps and scented oils. Most were too heavy to suit her but she found a mild, fragrant gel soap with a gentle musk-like scent and lathered it into her hair, reveling in the bath. Her own quarters held a steam shower but that was the limit of her luxury. The rock-lined pool felt decadent, something she rarely enjoyed in her own stark life. She wondered at the two warriors’ ability to warm her in bed and silence the raging fire that had burned her in the hours before. A flick of need was beginning in her belly again. On cue she heard the door whish in the bed quarters.

  “Keer Teho, you are well?”

  Instinctively, Keer blocked the mental path that seemed so intimate in her naked state.

  ” Hunter, I am still in the bath.” She ducked her head under the water, rinsing the foam and came up spluttering. Tirin stood in the doorway, watching her. Keer carefully kept her shoulders under the water, then ducked back to wash the hair from her eyes. As the water streamed from her face, she heard a silent splash. The blond hunter was in the pool with her. ” What do you think you’re doing? I don’t 56

  need company, Endlander.”

  Tirin swam to the corner of the pool and removed a bar of soap from the tray the bot had left. She watched the water streak across the rippled muscles of his shoulders. The blond man ignored her and began lathering his chest and arms. “Did you hear me, Tirin? Go find a sex bot to swim with.” Keer splashed water at him, indignant. He looked puzzled.

  “Why? We always bathe together here in the subter. The water recirculator must work twice as hard if we do not. Cian and I often use this pool.”

  He did not approach her or look directly at her, but continued to bathe, rubbing the soap over his skin and against his face. She noted her also bore the scars that she had seen on Cian’s upper chest.

  Warrior’s stripes, she thought. They were scarred like a brand of some kind, or an initiation. Tirin wore the marks like a god. Keer watched him silently as the water moved over his body. She had seen Neld Warriors with fewer battle scars. One lay over his ribs, the length of a large knife. Another striped across his back.

  As she found a ledge to sit on, she heard Cian enter the bathing chamber. He began to remove his leggings, obviously preparing to join them in the bath. Keer had heard of planets where entire families bathed together. Still, this was culture shock. She eyed the drying robes which would require a dash across the floor to the door.

  Cian slid into the pool noiselessly and then under the water, only to rise again like a tawny brown idol from the water. He refused the soap offered to him by Tirin and looked closely at what else was available. “You enjoy that scent?” Cian asked, motioning to Keer with the musky gel in his hand.

  Keer blinked at him. She had been focusing on keeping herself under the water up to her chin and establishing how quickly she could make it to the linens.

  “I just…picked one,” she stuttered, cursing herself for her nerves.

  She could topple a Neld Warrior, but couldn’t focus with these two

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  beautiful giants so close to her. All that muscle and warm skin in the bathing chamber was mind boggling. But neither warrior had an erection when they jumped into the pool. Both of those beautiful cocks she longed to see were safely pointed downward.

  Cian looked to Tirin as he spoke. “That scent is a combination of a Devorian Pear and the Telura vine. Tirin and I find it appealing.”

  Keer shrugged. It was soap. It was pleasant. “Have you always been able to heal?”

  “It is a gift that I have had since birth. I cannot heal all wounds, but your injuries were not as severe as they were painful. While Tirin does not share it, when we complete the triad with you, it makes us stronger in our gifts.”

  Both men had moved toward her casually, drifting in the bath.

  Keer was guarded, but did not feel an immediate threat. The two men settled on either side of her, continuing their bath. Keer relaxed slightly as both of them talked without looking at her, ignoring her nakedness as if it were the most natural thing in their universe.

  “If you are rested, small bondsman, we will take you out to see the subter city. It will be safe to take the mobile so that you may see where you are. The few warriors that house in the city have gone to check on a disturbance outside the Colony.”

  Keer listened without commenting. It occurred to her that the disturbance might be the arrival of Drak Voi, who no doubt wondered what his best bond hunter had gotten up to. She would have been sure of it if she had activated the sensor in her arm to alert him to an emergency. She crossed her arms over her chest and slid her hands down to her wrists, feeling for the chip with her fingers.

  It was there, the small metal piece under her skin. She realized that Tirin and Cian had stopped speaking and now leaned closer to her. Each with one arm behind her, they effectively blocked her into the corner of the pool. Cian’s eyes narrowed as he reached to slide a hand across her crossed arms. The faint burn returned under her skin and pooled between her legs. The peak was returning, nudging at the 58

  edge of her body’s defenses. Tirin moved close enough to lean his hip against hers in the warm water.

  Keer closed her eyes and inhaled. Another flash of her under Tirin’s mouth, her legs splayed while Cian pumped his cock, slick with her saliva between her lips as she moaned, burst through her brain.

  The blast of heat between her legs was immediate and scorching.

  She began to leak her cream into the bath. Keer panted, trying to remember her last thoughts before the sexual haze had fallen into her mind. Drak, she needed to get Drak. “You would leave us without knowing if we speak truth?” Cian grasped her hand under the water, stilling her ability to activate the sensor. Keer’s heart pounded hard against her ribs. There was no way to tell if it was from the proximity of the two beautiful men or the fear that she would be trapped in the godforsaken depths of the Endlands.

  “Do I have a choice? You said you did not hold breeders.” She hissed the words at Cian. He relaxed his grip instantly, but his hand remained, brushing against her skin, creating small electric sparks.

  The pounding in her chest continued.

  Tirin stirred against her. She moved toward
him for protection.

  “My commander will always give you choice, woman. But we would not want to kill your colleague should he breach the underground fortress.”

  She turned to Tirin and hissed, “Touch Drak, and I will have your balls. And you won’t have a need for them. They will be between your teeth.” Tirin did not have the sense to hide his amusement. He watched her, eyes dancing.

  “Cease teasing her, Lieutenant. Keer, we will wait for your partner to arrive above-ground. You will come with us. Activate the chip if you must do so. It will be easier for him to find us and know that you are safe.” “Now is time. Do not taunt her.” He added silently to Tirin.

  “But I like to play with her fire, my friend.” Tirin’s teeth glinted in the dim light of the bathing chamber.

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  Keer’s hand shot out and Tirin caught it in midair. “You wish to strike me, little hunter? I think you do not.” His mouth was on hers before she could move, hot and slick. He enveloped her in the kiss, holding himself away from her, not allowing her to feel his skin yet.

  He began to stroke the inside of her mouth with his tongue, stirring the heat and fanning the peak that Cian had subdued.

  Every rule, every warning and every stern lecture her mother had given her flew from her head. Her body began to burn, and she moaned into his mouth. She let the pleasure take her, sucking his tongue and then catching his lips with her teeth as she wrapped her hands in his hair, trying to pull him closer.

  Cian pulled her from Tirin, and she cried out, squirming against him as he held her to his broad chest and stepped from the bath. Tirin wrapped her in the bathing linens as she kissed the dark-haired warrior. Cian’s mouth was hotter still. He poured his dominance into the kiss, plunging his tongue in and out of her mouth mimicking the strokes his cock would make. They fell onto the bed, Keer between them. She was writhing in the sexual heat now, burning out of control.

  “Take us, small hunter. Let us fill your need.” Cian’s rough voice continued to feed the flame, but still some small link of sanity remained.

  “No, the peak, I’m fertile!” Keer was gasping. The bathing linens were gone and she was surrounded by heat and naked male. The feel of the skin of the big warriors was balm and vice. Keer tried to free herself from Cian’s grip and Tirin’s leg, which pinned her to the bed.

  Cian grabbed her, then both hands held her face still to look into his eyes.

  “You will bear no child from this mating. We do not impregnate females without a complete triad. Never, ever against their will. It is our creed.”

  She didn’t understand. How could they control their own fertility at will?

  “It is true. We can and do control it. We would not mate with you 60

  and give you offspring against your will. Even if you accept us, we do not force women to become breeders.” Tirin’s soothing tone gave her pause against the burning skin.

  She looked from one warrior to the other. So this was how it was to be? Finally, if she could believe them, she could stop the never-ending craving, creeping desire. Tirin dipped his head to kiss her shoulder, his tongue slid against her skin. Cian leaned in against her lips.

  “Let us meet your need, Keer Teho.”

  She looked into his eerie silver eyes, and saw desire and need that matched her own. She held her breath, expecting them to force her.

  Neither man moved. Cian locked gazes with her while Tirin’s hand rested against her, waiting.

  Keer took a deep breath and opened her mind, reaching out to them she sensed them both mentally joining her, two strong minds opening to her and waiting for her decision.. She nodded once and pathed her answer, ” Yes.”

  If it was a descent into hell, she would burn all the way.

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  Chapter 6

  The feel of warm male skin engulfed her. She was rolling on waves of pleasure. The dream had been nothing compared to reality.

  The burning had increased, but four large hands pressed into her skin.

  Cian kissed her, coaching her tongue into his mouth then sliding into hers. Keer raked her teeth against him, deepening the kiss.

  Tirin began a massage, turning her to her side he stroked her skin, hands starting a trail down her side slowly, rounding under her breasts to push at her ribcage. His hands grazed her nipples, working in unison with Cian’s stroking tongue. She groaned into the dark man’s mouth. She could feel his organ against her thighs as he moved his large body over hers. Her sensitive nub began to burn between her swollen lower lips and she pressed against Cian, seeking his cock.

  Tirin began a relentless kneading of her bottom and under her hips to stroke her inner thighs. His fingertips were insistent, pushing her legs apart.

  “Relax, small hunter. Open up for me,” Tirin insisted as he urged her legs apart. There was no smile in the warrior’s voice now. It was a deep growling rumble of need. It pushed Keer over the edge., She bucked against the two men, her ass connecting with Tirin’s cock, she rocked against the heat moaning and squirmed in an attempt to pull him closer. Tirin pulled her arms behind her, pushing her breasts into the other warrior’s chest. Cian’s chest was covered in crisp coarse hair that teased and raked her overly sensitive nipples.

  Keer’s ears roared with the pounding of her blood. She kissed Cian wildly, driving him against her, while Tirin’s command to open herself to him echoed in her brain.

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  Keer began to press back against the hard rod barely teasing her small bud. She could feel Tirin’s cock smoldering against her and could only think of being filled with it.

  Cian began a massage under her ribs to her breasts, across her already flaming nipples. She hissed into his mouth, attempting to bite his lips at the stroke of his fingertips around her nipples. Cian chuckled in his throat and pushed down again, almost lifting her, then he kneaded her breasts, circling and pinching with his fingertips, pulling. Keer moaned and gasped when the piercing pull went straight to her pussy. ” Our hunter likes some pain with her pleasure. ” She could hear him clearly. He was pathing to them both.

  “Cian—” Keer tried to move, wanting to get away from the burning stroke of the fingers and hands to clear her mind. She had gone this far, but her senses were on overload. Cian’s grip on her tightened.

  “No fear, my mate. We have need as well.” Cian’s voice took on an edge, teasing but in control. His fingers pulled at her nipples, and she arched against him, her bottom connecting firmly with Tirin steel length.

  She lifted her head slightly, trying to twist away from the dark hunter’s tormenting fingers, only to have Cian’s mouth do a quick descent over hers. Tirin’s hands pushed just as Cian’s tongue slid past her teeth. Fire ran through her blood and over her skin.

  Somewhere in her mind, she felt obligated to resist the onslaught on her senses. Trying to twist away from Cian’s kiss, she ended up flat on her back, her shoulders pinned under his hands. The kiss continued with him stroking her own tongue and sucking it back into his mouth.

  She wondered dimly why she could not feel Tirin. She reached out blindly with her mind.

  “So sweet, my small bondsman. Let me have your cream.” Tirin pathed to her.

  She pulled her legs together, only to feel Tirin’s mouth nuzzle at her belly, then his tongue slid down her right thigh. His large hands

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  pushed her thighs apart.

  Keer stopped resisting, vaguely aware of being on the edge of finally fulfilling the piercing painful burn. His teeth pulled at the tender skin of her inner thigh, then at her folds. She was moist and hot, juices dripping down her legs. He was close to where she needed him, but not close enough. She wanted him now, his mouth on her swollen nub. She tried to move Cian’s shoulder’s away, attempting to catch her breath. The wave of need became so intense, she clawed at him, panicked.

  Cian pulled back from her and pinned her with a look.

  “Do not think. Feel.”

  He lowered his lips to her neck, b
iting and pushing his tongue against her skin. Keer slid her hands over his shoulders, nails still digging into him.

  Tirin’s mouth continued pulling her lips into his mouth, then nipping the inside of her thighs, almost bruising her, pushing her legs apart. He flattened his tongue and stroked across the line of curls.

  “Such beauty, Cian. She tastes of the gods.”

  She could feel Tirin’s breath against her outer lips and knew she grew wetter then she had ever been. Liquid heat ran between her thighs. She closed her eyes and gasped as Cian bit her shoulder. “We have waited for this. To taste you,” Cian growled into her neck, tongue lathing where he’d bitten her. He murmured over her skin in a language she could not understand as both men caressed her.

  Cian slid down her body, joining Tirin. One of his hands stayed at her shoulder, holding her in place. She felt them pull her legs apart and lift her. She threw one arm over her eyes. Gods, they were looking at her, almost into her. She tried to clamp her legs closed, as the overwhelming need fought with embarrassment.

  One large hand gripped each of her thighs and another lifted her hips.

  ” Like the fruit, delicious inside and out.” Tirin pathed to her.

  Keer let out a groan as fingers slipped between her lips, pulling 64

  her apart. She cried out, and jerked her hips against the large, thick hand. Then she felt hot breath against her thigh.

  “So hot.” Tirin’s voice ran over her thigh and he breathed in her scent. Another long finger slipped inside her and she clenched automatically, tightening around him. Moaning came from deep in her throat and Cian’s grasp moved from her shoulder to her nipple, pulling gently.

  “Let us view our mate, Tirin.”

  The room was dim but she opened her eyes wide, trying to see Cian’s or Tirin’s face in the light. She was flipped over quickly by Cian and cried out, pushing her tormented sex against the bedding under her, bucking her hips. Hands ran over her bottom, kneading her and pushing her legs apart. .

  “Everything in perfection, my female.” Tirin pathed as he sank his teeth gently into her cheek. Keer flinched and tensed when she felt her cheeks spread apart.