His hands closed on either side of her head, tensing against her skull as if he wasn’t certain whether he most wanted to push her way or hold her to him. She ignored him, continuing to tug at him until the pounding waves of her release began to mellow.
He fell back against the bed as if Eden had sucked the life force out of him when she finally released him and lifted her head. Gasping for breath, Eden slumped against the bed as Adri and Pizan slipped from beneath her, gripping the bed as Trar uttered a deep groan and came to a shuttering halt, leaning heavily against her while he fought to catch his breath.
Sated, limp as a wet rag in the aftermath and conscious of little besides her heart beat thundering in her ears, Eden drooped against the mattress as Trar, dragging in a last shuttering breath, finally withdrew. She hadn’t realized it was even possible to come so hard, she thought dimly--not before she’d experienced the brood. She was actually a little surprised she hadn’t had heart failure.
Her nipples, clit, and passage were still pounding dully from the blood that they drawn to engorge her most sensitive areas with their absolutely lovely and talented mouths.
As intrigued as she’d been by the prospect of an orgy of indulgence, she hadn’t actually expected the experience she’d had--not after what Baen and Cal had done to her the night before. Nothing should have even come close to comparing.
But this was definitely close.
Someone grasped her hips, lifting until her knees were beneath her. Groaning, Eden angled her head back to see that Adri had taken Trar’s place even as he stroked his member along her cleft and nudged the rounded head inside of her. It felt amazing.
She only just climaxed and his thrusting invasion still felt delightful.
Without a great deal of surprise, she discovered when she faced forward again that Pizan had knelt in front of her to offer his engorged member.
Instantly intrigued, she took his shaft into her mouth as she had Vladiv’s, stroking and suckling him with enthusiasm if without a great deal of need. Her blood was still high, however, and her body began to rise to the occasion, warming again after a few moments, the tension curling inside of her and rising.
She was nearing the peak when she felt Adri’s cock jerk in her passage. Almost at the same instant, Pizan’s body seized. More desperate to reach her own release before she lost the wherewithal to do so than because she felt driven, she worked more feverishly over Pizan, raced to catch up with them … and failed.
A peculiar mixture of emotions swamped her as she felt them culminate, pleasure that she’d given them pleasure, both irritation and disappointment that she’d missed her chance at coming again, and relief that she’d done her good deed for the day.
Telling herself that she was getting greedy, she sank limply to the bed when they withdrew, drifting lazily, trying to ignore the twinges and sparks that still thrummed through her, demanding attention. She’d just decided her body was going to cool and stop bothering her when Trar came to bathe the semen from her. She watched him through slumberous, covetous eyes as he carefully bathed the stickiness from her, tempted to demand a repeat performance.
That hardly seemed fair to the others, though, she decided, watching a little wistfully as they filed out of the room to find their own sleeping couches.
The ‘unfairness’ stuck in her mind and after a moment, she rolled onto her side and studied her warriors speculatively.
She wanted Baen. She was fairly certain that she could’ve been completely and totally satisfied only with Baen. What she felt for him, though, went well beyond mere desire and she couldn’t afford to nurture those feelings. Moreover, Baen, from what she could tell, expected her to receive all of his brood. None of them would understand if she chose one and ignored the rest.
After a moment, she got up and approached Miccan. He looked surprised when she caught his hand, but he didn’t resist when she led him to her bed. His eyes, she saw when she lay down again, were gleaming with desire and uneasiness and hopefulness.
Warming to him at once, she smiled up at him as he climbed on the bed carefully and lay down on his side beside her.
Chapter Twenty Two
Wisdom, Eden thought wryly, was something that was supposed to come with age. Although she made it a point not to spend a great deal of time dwelling on her own age, she certainly had enough years and experience under her belt that she should have attained the wisdom to know better than to take on a half a dozen men in one night, she thought ruefully as she roused enough to begin to feel pain in every joint and muscle in her body.
There was no getting around the fact that the pazaan was inspiration enough to behave without restraint. At every moment that she was within the menooku she was surrounded by gorgeous males catering to her every need, caressing her whenever the opportunity arose and watching her hungrily whenever they thought she wouldn’t notice, making her hyperaware of her femininity and their masculinity. There was also no getting around the fact that Baen’s brood in particular sent her sex drive through the roof.
Her empathy for their discomfort and her sense of fair play had driven her to act against her better judgment.
And of course Ivy had planted the intriguing notion in her mind of indulging herself in an orgy of debauchery.
And she still didn’t know why she’d hatched the idiotic notion to ‘take care’ of her brood.
Actually, she did, but she didn’t particularly want to examine why it mattered so much to her to make them happy, why she was trying so hard to please them when she knew very well it wasn’t expected of her.
Groaning, she struggled to turn over onto her back and lay panting for several moments when she heard the brood enter her suite to attend her morning ritual. When she finally opened her eyes, she saw that Cal, Trar and Vladiv were standing beside the bed, wearing almost identical expressions of concern.
Smiling up at them wanly, Eden pushed herself up on her elbows with an effort, letting out a hiss of pain as did so and her muscles and joints protested the movement.
Someone settled on the bed beside her and she turned to see it was Baen, looking as disturbed as the others. Lifting his hands, he fitted her translator onto her head.
“You are hurt?”
She felt hot color seep into her cheeks. “Just … sore,” she admitted a little lamely.
“We will make it better,” Cal said promptly, leaning down to scoop her up before she could protest and carrying her into the bathing room.
He was disapproving when she insisted that she could attend her personal needs without any assistance, but she ignored the look as she hobbled a little stiffly into the little nook where the toilet sat.
The three men were standing just outside when she emerged again. She noticed, though, that Trar and Vladiv refused to meet her gaze and looked a question at Cal.
Cal, she saw, was glaring at both of them accusingly, but his expression softened to a look of concern and empathy as he met her gaze again. “The heat of the water will soothe,” he murmured, lifting her carefully into his arms and carrying her down into the bath.
Instead of settling her on the bathing bench as they generally did, Cal sat down in the water with her in his lap, pulling her back against his chest. Trar and Vladiv joined them. Settling on their knees on either side of her, they began to stroke their hands over her in a soothing massage, beginning with her feet and working their way upwards.
Cal’s movements were as tender. He stroked her arms for several moments and then focused on working the tension from her shoulders and neck.
She was half asleep by the time Trar and Vladiv had worked their way up to her thighs. Their ministrations then, however, were far more stimulating than relaxing. Before they’d spent more than a handful of minutes stroking her from groin to knee, tension had begun to coil low in her belly, and her sex, the insatiable hussy, was demanding to be fed--again.
She was relieved when they finally ceased stroking her, helped her from the bath and dried her.
She was still stiff and sore when she emerged, but far less so than before, and in any case her body was buzzing cozily for more, which was enough of a diversion that she managed to dress without too many grunts and groans and settled to break her fast.
Typically, she had no appetite in the morning and only nibbled at the food to appease them because she’d discovered early on that they seemed very unsettled about her size. She supposed it was to be expected. Obviously, their concept of beauty and health was their own queens, and she doubted any of the Xtanian women were under seven feet tall or even close to thin. She only had Sademeen to go by, of course, and she, poor thing, had already borne many broods--reason enough to be more than a little overweight even for her height--but she thought that Sademeen was typical, not unusual. And if that was the case, it certainly explained the impression she got that the Xtanian men thought the Earth women in general were unnervingly puny and weak.
She thought her pazaan was probably fearful that she was going to keel over dead and that was why they looked so upset when she displayed so little interest in eating.
It was far worse today, though, she discovered because she felt vaguely nauseated even looking at the food. Girding herself, she struggled to eat enough to satisfy them and left with a strong sense of relief to be free of observation--or relatively free of it--for a few hours.
Deborah Pugh, Stacy Sessions, and Brenda Coleman, sector chiefs for med techs, engineers and agriculture respectively arrived midmorning for a meeting. Glad for the diversion, although she expected trouble since they’d come to speak with her in person, Eden told her assistant to show them in.
Deb went straight to the point. “The natives are getting restless,” she said tartly.
Eden’s brows rose almost to her hairline. “What makes you say that?” she asked sharply.
Stacy sent Deb an irritated glance. “Our natives,” she said pointedly. “They feel like they’ve waited long enough. They want to know if it’s safe to choose their own men.”
Some of Eden’s tension ebbed, but only some. Acutely aware of Baen, she struggled for several moments to figure out a way to speak with them without him present and finally accepted that trying to do so would only make him suspicious.
“I’m not sure it is safe,” she said hesitantly.
Brenda’s expression was disbelieving. “You’re alive. The others that were allowed to pick a harem are, too. I haven’t seen anything to indicate any of you have had trouble.
“In fact, just the opposite. With Marion Lynden and the others strolling around and preening themselves over their ‘punishment’ for what was clearly dangerous behavior, and you, and Liz, and Ivy floating around with sappy happy looks on your faces, everybody, including me, is beginning to resent being excluded from having a choice in whether or not they want to mate up with the Xtanians.”
Eden’s expression hardened. “A little professional courtesy would be appreciated,” she said tightly.
Brenda reddened. “I apologize for what might have seemed like criticism,” she said stiffly.
“I was referring to respect for the office I hold,” Eden said pointedly. “You have the right to criticize. You do not have the right to speak to me as if I was one of your inferiors.”
Brenda’s blush deepened, but the anger in her eyes was replaced with discomfort and guilt. “Yes, ma’am.”
Eden surveyed the other two women coldly for a moment and finally unbent slightly. “Regardless of what you may perceive to be the case, we’re walking on egg shells here, and all is not as it seems.”
She stopped, considered for several moments and finally decided that it would be far better to explain the customs of the Xtanians in excruciating detail than to allow the others to make their decision blindly. Very likely, they would dismiss it, but they could not later complain that they weren’t warned.
When she’d finished describing the mating process, she saw that all three women were staring at her with varying degrees of horror, revulsion, and disbelief.
“I find that hard to credit,” Brenda said finally.
Eden grew angry at the not so subtle implication that she was lying. “Nevertheless, I will expect you to explain this to the women in your sectors so that they know what to expect. If they’re still interested, we still have to consider security for the colony at large. Names will be drawn by lot, but only one at the time per sector per week. Until we have had time to be absolutely certain that there will be no danger, or at least a very minimal danger, integration will only be allowed slowly and cautiously.
“The Xtanians are showing signs that they are both willing and able to adapt to our customs--at least to a degree. Splitting up the broods is not an option. The bond between them isn’t at all like anything any of us has ever encountered, but it’s obvious they’re inseparable and trying to do so could create problems we don’t want to have to deal with. As long as the women fully understand as much as we do know of their customs, though, and are careful not to push too quickly, there should be no trouble.
“But it will be your responsibility as sector chiefs to see to it that you don’t send any loose cannons.”
“You mean like Marion Lynden and her cronies?” Stacy said tartly.
Eden gave her a look. “Exactly like Marion and cronies,” she said coldly. “Unfortunately, they left us with no choice but to send them since they’d already done so much damage sending them was the only way to try to mend the breech.”
Stacy looked away uncomfortably, but Eden doubted she felt any real guilt that the majority of the group in question belonged to her sector.
Dismissing the remark after a moment, Eden considered the situation carefully, trying to decide if she’d covered all angles and finally came up with another potential for disaster. “There aren’t enough broods to go around,” she said finally. “Men certainly, but now that we know they will not be separated from their brood brothers--not enough broods. This isn’t something we need to be particularly worried about at the moment since there are some who are very much against mixing anyway. But it still has to be considered for the long term. We don’t want the women inadvertently favoring men from several different broods, as Ivy, and Liz and I did. And we don’t want them fighting over the men. They will single out the one man that interests them most, one at the time, and then make certain that all the men of the brood they’ve chosen have identified themselves before the next chooses.
“They will be sent out under military escort to make certain order is kept.”
Stacy and Brenda obviously had mixed feelings as they left, but both women seemed more at ease, no doubt because they finally had something solid to appease the women in their sectors.
Deb lingered behind, studying Eden speculatively. “It’s been rough?” she said with a touch of sympathy.
Eden reddened. “An adjustment, certainly. I don’t know that it would exactly qualify to call it ‘rough’ when they treat me like a queen, wait on me hand and foot and always put my needs before their own.”
A slow grin curled Deb’s lips. “That bad, huh?”
Eden couldn’t help but smile back, but she sighed wanly. “In all honesty, it’s wearing and more often than not irritating. I’m used to doing things for myself--we all are. Being pampered like a helpless infant might sound appealing from the outside, but its nerve wrackingly awkward--like trying to feed yourself with your left hand.
“And I ….” She broke off. “They’re so sweet, all of them, so eager to please and so hurt when you don’t want their help that I spend most of my time worrying about pleasing them.”
Deb shrugged. “I expect it wouldn’t be as wearing if you didn’t have to contend with quite so many. Is there no way to get out of that?”
Eden frowned. “I’m not sure. Eventually, assuming it just doesn’t get to be too much for all of us, and mixing doesn’t lead to violence and all sorts of unpleasant repercussions, maybe I’ll figure out a way.”
“You wouldn’t
be against it?”
Eden stared at her as if she’d lost her mind. “I care about them, too much to take a chance that they’d do something to themselves because they were rejected, or be banished, or anything awful like that. But one brood is certainly enough.”
“Mmm,” Deb responded noncommittally. “Almost too much, I’d guess. Why don’t you stop by the clinic and let me run a check on you?”
“I look that bad?” Eden asked jokingly.
Deb chuckled, but shook her head. “You look tired and a little pale.”
A blush climbed Eden’s cheeks. “Maybe I’m overdoing it--a little.”
Deb burst out laughing. “Almost certainly. I’d still like to give you a checkup.”
Eden gave in to the inevitable. “Let me check my schedule,” she muttered, somewhat irritably. “Next week? Say midmorning?”
Deb nodded. “I’ll make sure I have an opening for you. Promise?”
“Unless something comes up that I can use as an excuse,” Eden murmured teasingly.
“I could always bring a portable and come to you,” Deb retorted chidingly, “And I will if you don’t show up.” She hesitated at the door. “We know their food isn’t harmful to us, but you’re primarily on an alien diet. It might not be meeting your needs.”
Nodding, Eden waved her off. She wasn’t particularly disturbed about it. She felt fine, as she’d admitted, tired because she’d overindulged, but otherwise fine. She was far more worried, in any case, about the exodus of the colonists toward the Xtanians. Problems were bound to arise no matter what they did to circumvent them.
Eden’s edict was received pretty much as she’d come to expect from the colonists. Everyone grumbled. Even the angriest among them, though, were at least able to look forward to a specific point in time where they would be allowed to chose a ‘husband brood’, or a harem for themselves, which ever way they preferred to look at it.
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