The Tigrens' Glory (Soul-Linked Saga) (Volume 9)

by Laura Jo Phillips

  “I don’t doubt that for a moment,” Glory said. “But if Lorence is king, where was he when we arrived?”

  “Unfortunately, the message announcing our arrival was addressed specifically to Bashir since we didn’t know he’d been deposed. Bashir deliberately leaked Pusan-Lo’s whereabouts to Lorence in order to get him out of the palace. Lorence took the bait and left to free Pusan-Lo, a trip that should have kept him away until a day after we arrived.”

  “But we had that jump point delay, and arrived late,” Glory said.

  “Yes,” Kyerion said. “Had they arrived a minute sooner, you wouldn’t have been shot.”

  “All things happen for a reason,” Glory said. “At least, that’s what Faith Falcoran says. I’m beginning to think she’s right.”

  “Perhaps,” Kyerion said doubtfully, unable to accept that there was any good reason for Glory to have been shot in the head by her own father. Surely the Fates could have come up with a better way to accomplish their aims.

  “It’s amazing really,” Glory said.

  “What is?” Cade asked. “That Pusan-Lo killed Bashir?”

  “No, the only thing amazing about that is that it took him so long to do it,” Glory replied.

  “In his defense, he had a good reason for not doing it sooner,” Cade said. “The same law that prevented Bashir from killing you, a member of the royal family, would have cost Pusan-Lo his life had he killed Bashir. He would have paid that price, but there was no one else to watch over you if he died. He had no choice but to let Bashir alive.”

  “But now he has killed Bashir,” Glory said, her body suddenly going cold. “Will he be killed for it?”

  “No, Sendola,” Kyerion said. “Don’t worry. King Lorence has already ruled that since Bashir had just attempted to murder you, Pusan-Lo’s actions were justified.”

  “That’s a relief,” Glory said, relaxing.

  “What were you going to say, about something amazing?” Cade asked.

  “Oh,” Glory said, “what I find amazing is that Lorence apparently cared what happened to me. Or did I misunderstand that part?”

  “No, love, you didn’t misunderstand,” Kirk said. “We’ve not had much of a chance to speak with your siblings, but from what we’ve heard and seen, so far, they care a great deal about you. They just had to hide it. Their childhoods were not as bad as yours, but they were not unscathed, either. When we’re finished with the conversion we’ll remain here for a few days, if you like, so that you can learn the answers to your questions.”

  “Yes, I’d like that,” Glory said. “Thank you.”

  “Will you want to remain on Ramouri, now that Bashir is dead?” Kirk asked, struggling to keep his tone neutral. As much as they wanted, needed, to be with their own people, they would see to Glory’s needs first and foremost, no matter the cost. She deserved that from them, and more.

  “No, absolutely not,” Glory replied, shaking her head decisively. “It’ll be nice to have some answers to some of my questions, but I’ve put my past behind me. Except for Pusan-Lo. But, even if he chooses to remain on Ramouri, I want Jasan to be my home. Our home. Besides, once this conversion is complete, I’ll be Jasani too, right?”

  “Yes, that’s exactly right,” Kyerion said, leaning over to kiss Glory. Before his lips met hers, her eyes widened in surprise.

  “Pain?” he asked.

  Glory shook her head. “No,” she replied a little breathlessly. “I’m just very…aroused all of a sudden.”

  “How aroused?” Kyerion asked as he studied her carefully with his Druid senses.

  “Not desperately,” Glory said after a moment. “Not like those accounts I read. Not yet, anyway.”

  “We’ll begin now, before it does get bad,” Kyerion said.

  “All right,” Glory asked, her stomach fluttering with a mix of excitement and nerves. She watched as Cade and Kirk began removing their clothes. “What should I do?”

  “Just hold still a moment,” Kyerion said before sending a thread of Water into her. He was relieved to find that Glory was, as she’d said, very aroused, but it hadn’t escalated to a dangerous level yet. He climbed off the bed and began throwing his clothes off.

  Glory’s mouth went dry at the sight of her men naked. All of that gleaming, male, mahogany skin bulging with muscles in places she didn’t know there could be muscles, was endlessly fascinating to her. Her arousal increased, her nipples hardening almost to the point of pain, her pussy spasming with need. A soft whimper of pure desire escaped before she could prevent it.

  “Glory?” Kyerion asked worriedly.

  “It’s all right,” Glory said, though she was beginning to pant a little. “It’s intensifying, but I’m not climbing the walls yet.”

  “Climbing the walls?” he asked, pausing as he pondered that statement. They’d seen a lot of amazing things since they’d awakened in the future, but so far he’d seen nothing to indicate humans could climb up vertical surfaces.

  Glory’s laughter interrupted his thoughts. “It’s just a saying, Kyerion,” she said. “Not meant to be taken literally.”

  Kyerion nodded, though he didn’t really understand. He turned to Cade. “We don’t have any of the traditional salve here.”

  “I’ll check the bathroom,” Cade said, turning in that direction. “There’s got to be something we can use.” He returned a minute later with a small bottle of massage oil. The traditional salve warmed and relaxed sensitive tissues, which was why it was used, but they didn’t have it, so this would have to do. Cade paused at the sight of Kirk’s head between Glory’s thighs as she screamed out her orgasm.

  “He’s just taking the edge off to keep her calm,” Kyerion said. “She’s not critical, but her arousal is growing by the second, much faster than normal.”

  “We should hurry then,” Cade said.

  “Yes,” Kyerion agreed. “Did you find anything?”

  “I think this will do,” Cade said, twisting the top of the bottle and handing it to him.

  “Kirk, pick her up,” Kyerion said as he liberally applied the oil to his cock.

  Kirk plucked Glory off the bed and into his arms as though she were weightless. “Put your legs around my waist,” he said. Glory complied, wrapping her arms around his neck and pressing her body tightly against his. Kirk groaned at the feel of her hot, pulsing vulva against his stomach, and bent his head to kiss her deeply. When he raised his mouth from hers he looked into her eyes for a long moment. “It’s getting stronger really fast.”

  “I know,” Kyerion said, his voice strained as he began to apply the oil to Glory’s rear opening, working it in with gentle fingers. He and his brothers had longed for a moment such as this for centuries before they’d been taken by the Xanti. It was almost surreal to know that they were, at long last, on the cusp of linking to each other, and their Arima. He didn’t bother to blink back the sudden tears that pricked his eyes, embracing the emotion just as he embraced the physical joining of the soul-link triad itself, engraving it upon his memory, and in his heart. Even if something went wrong and this failed, he knew that, throughout eternity, this would be among the most meaningful moments of his existence, and he would never forget it.

  Glory shivered and arched her back, pressing her body toward him in a silent plea. “Soon, love, very soon,” he promised. He handed the bottle of oil to Cade, who’d dragged a sturdy chair close beside them. He put the oil on the bedside table, then climbed onto the chair, which put his groin at the same level as Glory’s mouth. She turned toward him and ran her tongue up the length of his shaft, causing Cade to sink his fingers into her hair before throwing his head back with a guttural growl.

  Kyerion met Kirk’s eyes over Glory’s shoulder. “You first,” Kirk said. “That’ll make it easier for her, I think.”

  Kyerion grasped his cock in one hand and began working himself carefully into Glory. She immediately pushed back against him, too hard, too fast, her arousal spiking as he entered her. He placed a hand
on her hip to prevent her from causing herself harm, though his own body was screaming at him to accept her invitation and plunge all the way in. He squeezed his eyes shut to block the mental image out of his mind, drawing on centuries of discipline to go slowly and with care.

  A groan of pleasure ripped from Glory’s throat when, finally, he seated himself fully within her, forcing all of them to freeze for a long moment to regain control. When Kyerion was sure he could breathe again without letting loose and fucking her wildly as his body demanded, he opened his eyes.

  “Now, Kirk,” he rasped.

  “Thank the Creators,” Kirk breathed through gritted teeth as he shifted Glory in his arms so that his cock was aimed at her entrance. Glory arched toward Kirk this time, her body becoming increasingly desperate to be filled by all three of her men.

  “Glory, once Kirk is inside of you, you’ll need to take Cade into your mouth,” Kyerion said into her ear, hoping to distract her from the growing need they all shared. “Then we’ll give you the final injection. It will only take a few seconds, but we’ll all have to hold completely still.”

  “All right,” Glory said breathlessly, then groaned again as Kirk slid all the way into her. “Stop!” she gasped, suddenly overwhelmed by the intensity of it all. It was too much. She was suddenly afraid she’d never survive this much pleasure.

  “It’s all right,” Kyerion said in a soothing voice, his lips against the nape of her neck. “Just relax a moment, let your body adjust.”

  Glory did as Kyerion asked and tried to relax, but it was next to impossible. The heat inside of her was rising fast and she couldn’t seem to force her body to remain still no matter how hard she tried. “Please, please,” she said, the words escaping without her permission as she forgot she wanted to stop, her fear drowned in an ocean of desire and need. “Do something. Hurry.”

  “Cade, now,” Kyerion bit out, sweat pouring down his face from the effort required to remain still within Glory’s enticing heat. He placed one hand lightly at her throat, shuddering uncontrollably when he felt the bulge of Cade’s cock slide into her slender throat. He immediately grasped her left wrist and raised it high. Cade took it and bent over, placing his mouth at her wrist while Kirk did the same with her right wrist. Kyerion brushed Glory’s hair aside and placed his fangs at the side of her neck. All three of them slid their fangs into her flesh at the same time.

  As Kyerion felt the last of his serum enter Glory he sent up a silent prayer to the Creators that this worked as they hoped. If Glory didn’t survive this, they would all join her on the other side. But that wasn’t what he wanted to do. What he wanted, what his brothers wanted, was a long future of loving Glory. Of having children with her, and watching them grow into strong, honorable men and women who would one day become the future of their people.

  When he slid his fangs out and licked the tiny pinpricks, he felt Glory take a long, deep breath despite Cade’s cock filling her throat, and his heart leapt in his chest. It was working. So far.

  Just as he was trying to decide what they should do next, his body began moving on its own. Startled, he attempted to hold himself still, and failed. Then he remembered.

  “Relax, don’t fight it, let it happen,” he gritted out to his brothers even as his eyes closed against his will. He found himself thrusting into Glory in counterpoint to Kirk and Cade. A hard, deep, pounding rhythm that was completely out of their control. Glory went still between them, her body going boneless as she allowed herself to get lost in the pleasure that consumed her body and mind. The rhythm intensified, the thrusts growing harder, deeper, faster, pulling all of them inexorably toward a bone wrenching, simultaneous orgasm, sending their minds soaring as they shook and shuddered with the intensity of it.

  Kyerion felt his seed pour into Glory’s body, and somehow, at the same time, he felt Kirk’s seed, and Cade’s, rushing toward the center of her womb along with his own. When they met and blended as they were meant to do, a small orange light began to flicker. It grew, slowly and steadily, as it sent a call back along the path their seed had followed, penetrating each of them as they penetrated her. The light called to something within them. Something essential to their beings, yet elusive, and without form or substance. Their souls, Kyerion knew, as the tiny part of his consciousness not currently in thrall to the soul-link triad watched with fascination.

  His body stiffened as the call was answered, and a portion of each of their shared soul, the essence of who and what they were, shot from their bodies, once again retracing that same path into Glory. It raced toward the orange light of Glory’s soul, to mingle and blend as their seed had, only within her soul this time, rather than just her body. Linking them.

  Suddenly, they felt each other. Not just with their bodies, nor their minds, but with the soul they shared that was no longer torn into three parts, but reunited into one as it was meant to be, through and with Glory’s soul. It took their breath away even as their bodies continued thrusting and straining, racing toward another release, knowing the next one would be even more intense than the first one had been.

  Kyerion felt a strange warmth settle over his shoulders, sinking into his very flesh, and sighed with the knowledge that Glory was now a part of his physical body just as her soul was now a part of his, and Kirk’s and Cade’s soul. A moment later the orange light flared so brightly that even within his own mind, with his eyes shut tightly, he was blinded. Then he threw his head back and roared as he exploded into an orgasm so intense it encompassed his entire being, body, mind, and soul. He barely heard Kirk and Cade add their roars to his, the intensity of the pleasure so great that he feared, for a fraction of a second, that they would not survive. Then the fear, too, was gone, leaving only pleasure and joy in its wake.

  Chapter Thirty Eight

  Glory’s head falling backward onto his shoulder brought Kyerion back to the present time and place. He wrapped his arms around her and lifted her gently until both he and Kirk slipped from her body. His knees still shook from the enormity of the experience they’d just shared, so he didn’t attempt to do more than take the two steps to the bed so he could lie down with her in his arms. Cade lowered himself from the chair with a helping hand from Kirk, and then they joined Kyerion and Glory on the bed. Glory was unconscious, but Kyerion needed a few more moments before he could muster the energy to send Water into her to make sure she was all right. He didn’t worry about it though. That new part of himself that was now joined with Glory and his brothers told him that all was well.

  Once he’d rested for a few minutes, and his limbs stopped trembling, he opened his eyes and forced himself to think. He found it much easier than usual to gather Water and send it through Glory, checking her carefully. He learned far more than he was used to with such a small effort. His biggest fear was that they might have been too rough with her, so he was relieved to find that she was unharmed. Even if they’d caused a bruise from holding her too tightly, it had already healed, which was a good sign.

  “How is she?” Kirk asked in a low voice from the other side of Glory’s sleeping form.

  “She’s perfect,” Kyerion replied.

  “That much I already know,” Kirk said, smiling. “Aside from that? We didn’t hurt her, did we?”

  “No, we didn’t hurt her,” Kyerion replied, then smiled as Glory opened her eyes and stretched her arms above her head.

  “That was amazing,” she said, lowering her arms. Her eyes widened when she spotted the lau-lotu on her arms. “Beautiful,” she murmured as she studied the tigrencas that now graced both arms, Cade’s on the left, and Kirk’s on the right. She sat up and turned her head so that she could see her shoulders, then grinned happily.

  “I take it you like your binding marks,” Cade asked, moving so that he sat in front of her on the bed.

  “When I arrived on Jasan I was met by the Dracons,” she said. “One of the first things I noticed about Lariah were the dracons on her arms and shoulders. They were breathtaking. The seco
nd time I saw her they were gone. I asked her about them and while she was explaining what they were, I couldn’t help wondering what it would be like to have markings like that on my own body. Something that I could look at whenever I wanted to prove to myself that I wasn’t alone any more. Only I imagined mine as looking like the ones I now have rather than the dracons she wore.”

  “Good thing,” Kyerion said, sitting up and kissing her on the nose. As he started to move back she put a hand out and stopped him, then ran her fingers over his shoulder.

  “This is how I will look?” she asked softly, struck by the beauty of the black and bronze striped tigrenca with her bronze eyes that laid across his shoulders.

  “Yes,” Kyerion said, then looked at Kirk and Cade who both held their arms up so they could all see Glory’s tigrenca staring out at them. It was more lithe and feminine than the tigrenca on her arms, yet powerful in its own right. “You are beautiful in both forms.”

  “Do you know that until I met you three, I’d never been called beautiful before,” she said. “I think I’m growing to like it.

  “Another good thing,” Kyerion said.

  “When will you teach me to shift?” she asked eagerly, then yawned.

  “Not right now,” Kirk chuckled. “It’s the middle of the night.”

  “Oh,” Glory said, a little disappointed, but tired as well.

  “If you’re hungry we can get some food for you now,” Kyerion said.

  “No, I’m not hungry,” Glory said after a moment. “I’m mostly tired. And really really happy.”

  “Would it make you happier to know that in about nine months we will be parents?” Kyerion asked.

  Glory’s eyes widened. “Really?”

  “Yes, really,” Kyerion said. “I would not joke about such a thing.”

  Glory pressed one hand to her flat stomach and smiled. “Yes, it makes me happier,” she said softly. “A lot happier than I would have expected, actually.” She looked at Kirk, then Cade, both of whom were staring at her with the strangest expressions on their faces.