by Becca Van
He wanted her crying his name as she reached her peak but he needed to be able to access her body, so he rolled them both to their sides and smoothed his hand down her silky, smooth back until his hand caressed over her material covered ass. He gripped first one butt cheek and then the other before slipping his hand beneath the satiny cloth and skimmed a finger between the crack of her ass. When she moaned he did it again, but when her hips rocked toward his, he dipped lower. A groan of hunger escaped his mouth when he felt the cream coating her pussy and he didn’t hesitate to caress up through her folds after dipping his finger into her creamy well.
She whimpered and mewled, her hips arching forward and when the tip of his finger hit the swollen button at the top of her cunt, she moaned loudly. So he did it again. And then again.
She clutched at his shoulders and then one of her hands caressed over his skin and down to his pectoral muscle and his birth-ident mark. The moment her flesh covered his mark his cock jerked and pre-cum leaked from the tip. He’d never been so hard or hungry in his life and he knew only River, his true-mate could take his erotic pain away.
He released her lips, licking and nibbling over her face and down her neck, and then he nipped at the skin in the crook of her shoulder and neck. She groaned and he rubbed the tip of his finger over her distended nub faster. Her breathing was fast and shallow telling him she liked everything he was doing to her. When he lapped the tip of his tongue over one of her nipples, her fingers curled, her nails digging into his skin and her head tilted back.
He nearly shouted with joy when she moved one of her legs and hooked it over his hip, but instead he sucked her nipple into his mouth and flicked his tongue over it. He heard the door open but ignored his brothers’ entry as he continued to pleasure his woman. Although he knew she hadn’t heard them come in he wasn’t about to tell them to leave. River was theirs just as much as she was his and they were no doubt as eager to see and hear her reach her female's pleasure as he was. He circled the bundle of flesh with his finger and then he rubbed it faster and harder, but not hard enough to cause her any pain. He suckled on her nipple and when he felt the leg she had slung over his hip spasm, he knew she was close to her pinnacle.
Toak moaned and then scraped the edge of his teeth over her nipple and groaned when she began to keen as she climaxed. He’d never heard such a joyous sound and vowed to pleasure her as often as she let him so he could hear her make those passionate noises again and again. He moved his finger down and pressed the tip into her soaked entrance, growling in triumph when her channel clamped around his digit. He slid his finger in and out of her hot, tight, wet pussy letting her ride out the waves of her culmination, until only the occasional spasm was left.
She sighed and he looked up to see that her eyes were closed, her face flushed and a dreamy smile on her face, but when she tensed he hoped she didn’t back away from him or his brothers. She was the most important person in their lives and although they couldn’t say such, she was already buried deep in his heart.
* * * *
River couldn’t believe what she’d just let happen. She’d never let a man touch her after only knowing him for a few hours and although she should have felt ashamed and embarrassed she didn’t. She’d been on board with everything Toak had done to her and although she’d just had the most explosive potent climax of her life, she wanted more.
She opened her eyes and blinked the passion-haze from her vision and her breath hitched in her throat when she saw that Stryk, Palk, and Hakk were in the room, too. Again she should have felt embarrassment but from the way they were looking at her she felt pretty and feminine and sexy.
“You are so beautiful, my River,” Toak said in a husky voice and when she looked at him her just satisfied libido sent a tingle from her heart straight down to her cunt.
So far they had all been kind and loving toward her and she wondered if maybe this was meant to be after all. Branwen had told her she was their mate but she’d never really had much attention from men before and it was hard for her to understand what they saw in her. She was nothing special. She had red hair for fuck’s sake and knew from experience most men steered clear of her because of the stigma associated with her hair coloring.
However, she was no longer on Earth and maybe the men here didn’t care about what a female looked like. That thought gave her pause and she wondered if they were only attracted to her because they had no women of their own.
“Why do you like me?” she asked as she grabbed her bra and pulled it back over her breasts before tugging her shirt closed across her chest. Thank God Toak hadn’t removed or ripped her panties off because right now she felt so exposed and not just because of the amount of flesh she was flashing.
“How can you ask that?” Toak frowned.
River rolled away from him and snagged her skirt from the bed. When she saw that it was ruined she looked around for something to wrap around her waist but the only thing she could find was the bed cover and Toak was still lying on it.
“You don’t know me.” River sidled across the room and didn’t stop until her back connected with the wall behind her. She’d managed to back herself into a corner but she wasn’t scared that any of these men would hurt her. Why as that? Why did she trust them already? She’d never trusted anyone in her life and couldn’t understand why these men were so different. Was it because they weren’t human? She had no idea but it would be food for thought later, when she was alone and wasn’t feeling like she was standing on the edge of a precipice and about to topple over.
Stryk took a step toward her but stopped in his tracks when she frowned. “We still have so much to learn about each other, but we know that you are our mate. I can already feel you here.” He placed his hand over his strange birthmark and she wondered if his heart was in the same place as hers.
That was another worry she had. She had no idea if they were the same or similar to a human male but from what she’d felt of Toak’s hard cock when he’d pressed his leather clad hips against hers, she didn’t think there could be too many differences, if any.
The moment her mind drifted back to sex her body began to awaken anew. Her nipples hardened and throbbed, her pussy clenched and her clit pulsed sending another gush of cream onto her already soaked panties. When Stryk’s nostrils flared she had no doubt that he could scent her desire.
Nonetheless she couldn't refute the fact that she wanted all of them but if she did would she ever be able to go back home to Earth? Another thought struck her when she thought about the life she had left behind. All she ever did was work and go home. She didn’t have any real close friends, only acquaintances she occasionally joined for a drink after work on a Friday night, but other than that she didn’t socialize not on any real level. In fact she didn’t really have much of a life. It was more of an existence.
River loved her job but she knew there was more to life than work. The old adage of ‘work to live rather than live to work’ ran through her mind and for the first time in her life she was seeing just how lonely she was. Did she really want to go back to that and endure one endless, lonely day after another, or should she take what was on offer with both hands?
Stryk had moved close enough to touch her while she’d been lost in thought and when she felt his large warm hand clasp hers, she shivered with awareness. Nor did she protest when he led her back to the massive bed and help her to sit. Palk and Hakk walked forward and sat on either side of her while Toak scooted up behind her and she was sitting between his spread legs, the heat of his inner leather-clad thighs bracketing the bare outer of her own. Stryk knelt down at her feet, and she was shocked to find that even with him lower than her, his gaze was almost level with hers.
“Talk to us, River.” The vibration of Toak’s chest rumbling at her back sent a shiver racing up her spine. It was a heady experience to be surrounded by such large, handsome men knowing that they wanted to mate with her.
“I just…”
“What sweetli
ng?” Palk asked as he enveloped her hand in his. She looked down and stared at the contrast of his golden bronze skin against her much paler complexion, and although she lost her train of thought she felt right with their bodies so close. She’d felt right when Toak had been kissing her and pleasuring her with his fingers. Everything about them was real and there was no artifice that she could see.
“What if I agreed and then you found out you don’t even like me? Do you even know if we’re…compatible? What if I say yes and then later on you realize I can’t give you children?”
“River, our chief healer Damk has already proclaimed you compatible to breed with us,” Hakk reminded her in soft deep voice.
“But what if he’s wrong? You could end up hating me.”
“Never,” Stryk said emphatically. “We could never hate you, River. You are our true-mate. Our feelings for you will only get stronger with each day that passes.”
“Do you want children, River?” Palk shifted so that he was facing her rather than sitting side on to her.
“Yes, I do. I always planned to marry and have kids one day.”
“What is marry?” Hakk asked.
“It’s a ceremony two people in love share to join their lives together. Usually a person officiates over the ceremony as the people pledge their lives and love to each other in front of their families and friends.” She paused to take a deep breath and lick her dry lips. “Most marriages end in divorce more often than not.”
“What is di-vorce?” Palk asked.
River didn’t realize she was gripping Hakk’s and Palk’s hands tightly until they both began to smooth their thumbs over the back of her hands.
She cleared her throat as she tried to get her words in order. “Divorce is when the people who married no longer love each other. They find a lawyer—that’s a person who knows the ins and outs of the legal system—and the lawyer files papers with a judge. If the judge agrees that the married people can no longer live together he grants them a divorce and they are no longer married.”
“And this happens often?” Stryk asked with a frown.
“Yes.”
“Why would a male not want to be with his mate anymore?” Toak asked with confusion.
“I think your mating is different to our marriages. The reasons for the separation vary from couple to couple. Infidelity plays a large part of many marriage break-ups, as does verbal and physical abuse, and some of the couples just fall out of love with each other.”
“The males hurt their mate?” Palk asked angrily.
River nodded her head. “Some of them do.”
“That’s disgusting. How could a male who is much stronger than a female hurt her?”
“I have no idea.” River sighed.
“What is infi–infindelity?” Hakk queried.
“Infidelity,” she corrected. “That’s when one or both partners cheat on each other?”
“Cheat?” Toak stroked a hand over her hair causing her to shiver.
“When the man or woman has sex with someone else.”
“I don’t think I like your world very much, River. It is impossible for a mate or her males to be with another after the true-mate is complete.” Stryk placed his hands on her thighs and rubbed his palms up and down her legs. “Have you ever done this marry?”
“No,” River said with a sigh. “I’ve never met anyone I wanted to spend my life with.”
When she met his gaze and saw a flicker of emotion cross his eyes she knew she had hurt him and felt bad. That was the last thing she wanted to do but she had been talking her about her life on Earth, not them.
“What did you do on your home world?” Toak asked. “Who were your protectors?”
“Protectors?”
“Your sire and dam,” Hakk said.
It took her a few moments to realize that they were asking about her parents.
“I don’t have any,” she replied as she lowered her gaze. She was almost mesmerized by Stryk’s hands moving up and down her thighs but she also didn’t want them to see how sad she felt when she mentioned her non-existent parents.
“How is that possible?” Palk asked in an angry voice. “Every living creature has them.”
River shrugged with a nonchalance she wasn’t really feeling but she knew that these guys wouldn’t give up unless she answered. They were curious about her and she was curious about them. If she gave them information about her life, hopefully they would reciprocate.
“Oh, I had a mother and father.” When Stryk frowned at her in confusion she clarified. “Dam and sire. I don’t know what happened to them. I don’t remember them. I grew up as a ward of the state and in foster homes.”
“Explain,” Palk said.
“Maybe my parents died. I don’t know. The government took me into one of their homes and helped raise me, and I was also put into foster care. Foster care is when other adults agree to take in children with no parents and care for them as if they are their own. Or they’re supposed to anyway, but it doesn’t always happen that way.”
“What does that mean?” Hakk asked.
“Some of those people only take in the kids so they can get the money the government pays them to take care of them. The money is never spent on the children. It goes toward buying alcohol or other things the adults want. The kids hardly get looked at, except for when the chores need to be done.” River’s sadness deepened as she remembered the first foster parents she’d been sent to. The Jones’s had all but ignored her except for when they demanded she do the dishes, washing or cleaning the house. She’d been treated like a modern day Cinderella and she’d been so eager to please them, hoping that by doing everything they said that they would end up wanting to adopt her. She should have known that wishes and dreams never came true.
“You experienced this?” Stryk asked angrily.
River knew his anger wasn’t directed at her but because of how she’d been treated and that made her heart warm toward him, them, even more.
She really didn’t have anything back on Earth besides her job and the thought of being mated to them was very tempting, but she needed more to complete her than just being their woman. Sure she could envision them loving her, touching her and keeping her occupied in bed, but a woman couldn’t live on love and food alone. If she did agree to be their mate would she be pushed aside when they didn’t have a need of her body? Would they be too busy doing their own jobs and ignore her otherwise?
Although she wanted to say yes she was hesitant. River was used to being busy and independent. Would they want to keep her barefoot and pregnant? As much as she wanted children, and she still wasn’t sure she believed they were compatible, she needed to know she had some self-worth other than in the bedroom.
“River?” Stryk massaged her thigh bringing her back to the present and the question he’d asked a few moments ago.
“Yes.” She sighed.
“You would have no need to do chores unless you wanted to,” Palk said quickly.
Palk’s statement was the perfect lead in to her concerns and she decided to ask the question. “If I did agree to stay and be with you, what would I do when you’re all busy?”
“You may do whatever you wish, beautiful,” Toak whispered against her ear causing her to shiver as her libido heated.
“But what?” River asked. “I don’t know anything about this place. How can I do anything when I’m so ignorant?”
“You will learn.” Hakk squeezed her hand. “You are smart and when you are comfortable and figure out what you want to do, it will be so.”
River’s heart was so full of emotion she felt like it was about to burst open. It didn’t matter that she was leaving behind a wonderful job as the personal assistant to the brokers back on Earth. What mattered was that she had a chance to finally have men to love and care for her. She wanted that with her whole heart and if she kept them away from her it would never happen.
Maybe her childish dreams could come true after all.
* * * *
Palk had never felt such pain in his life. Nor had he ever felt the burn of tears at the back of his eyes since he'd been a totter. His heart was aching for his mate and so was his body but he was able to ignore the latter. He couldn't understand how anyone could not love a child and treat it like a servant. Even the young warriors in training who helped bring food out into the feasting hall each meal time were treated with respect. The pain he'd heard in his mate's voice nearly did him in and although she'd tried so hard to hide the hurt she hadn't been successful.
The urge to surround her small body with his arms was nearly more than he could stand but he wasn't sure she would let him hold her right now.
River was a conundrum but also a contradiction as far as he was concerned. She was independent, yet there was a softness inside of her that she tried to hide, and he suspected she even hid those feelings from herself.
The thought of her growing from a small totter to a grown female without the guidance of a dam and sire was so despondently abysmal to him, he wasn't sure what to say. His body was tight with anger for the child and he wanted to roar to the gods at how his mate had been neglected.
He and his brothers had been lucky enough to be almost fully grown before losing their parents and still there was a gaping hole in his heart. It had taken a long time for him to be able to remember his dam and sires with a smile on his face instead of the searing grief he'd felt from the moment they'd been taken from him and his brothers, and although he would always miss them, he could now think of them with fond memories.
River had never had that chance. If he could have found a way to hunt down those selfish beings and rip their hearts out, he would do so without a qualm.
He took a deep breath and pushed his fury aside and ran his hand over his mate's head and hair. He would do everything within his power to make sure she knew how much she meant to him and make her happy.
