by Rachel Clark
“Back up a little,” Felicity said as she tried to process everything this guy was apparently saying. “What do you mean you wanted me as part of your family? You don’t even know me.”
“We know that Chris loves you,” Daku said with a shrug. “And that you have no other living family.”
“So you want to adopt me?” Felicity asked because she truly had no idea what they meant. She was flashing back to an article she’d read on cults. Was Chris silly enough, or perhaps desperate enough for a feeling of family, to get involved with a group of people offering something far too good to be true?
All three supposed aliens looked to Chris for an explanation. He managed to summon one of his trademark grins.
“No, Flick,” he said as Ben pressed a kiss to his throat and snuggled closer. “Jernodrians breed differently to humans. A traditional family pod has six to eight adults—a dria-coldar, a yala-coldar, two coden-volas and two, three, or four dal-sheras.” He glanced at Daku as if confirming that he’d gotten that correct. The man was nearly lying in Naith’s arms, apparently taking and giving comfort to his…podmate?
She didn’t even realize she was crying until Chris urged Ben to join Daku and Naith and came over to wrap his arms around her.
“Beautiful, I know none of this makes sense. I’ve had two whole months of talking with these guys and I’m still a little light on the details.” He pulled her closer, his familiar cuddle somehow more intimate than she remembered. “The one thing I can promise you is that I’m not going anywhere without you. We’ll keep you safe, Flick.”
“Chris,” she said quietly, lifting her eyes to silently plea for his understanding, “you can’t honestly believe everything you’re telling me.”
“I’ve seen too much to doubt it’s the truth. If it wasn’t for Daku’s skills we wouldn’t have gotten you out of the gallery without some serious fighting.”
“We walked out the front door,” she whispered, wondering if aliens had increased hearing even as she mentally rolled her eyes at the stupid thought. They weren’t aliens. Delusional, unbalanced, probably dangerous men, but still human men, not aliens. “If those men had been looking for me, why didn’t they notice me walking out the front door with two of the men they were supposedly also looking for?”
“Daku can create illusions. They look sort of like moving 3-D pictures. Those men saw two high-profile businessmen leave the gallery, not you, me, and Ben.”
Intense frustration pounded through her. These “aliens” had an answer for everything. How the hell had Chris fallen for such weak lies? Maybe, if the part about having been an undercover cop was at least true, he’d suffered a severer blow to the head than even he’d realized. It seemed the only explanation for what appeared to be delusional behavior in his willingness to believe them.
“Perhaps,” Daku said a little nervously, “I can give you a demonstration.” He glanced at Chris for what seemed to be approval before asking Felicity, “Would it convince you if I created a bird to fly around the room?”
“How about flying pigs?” Felicity grumbled sarcastically. The more she tried to reach the rational part of Chris’s brain, the more he seemed to move out of her reach. Quite a feat, considering he currently had her wrapped in his warm embrace.
“Or Santa Claus,” Chris said in a tone that was the exact opposite of hers. He pressed a kiss to her surprised lips and moved over to a bookshelf stacked with books that seemed to have been there for many, many years. He grabbed one full of Christmas themes, showed several pictures to Daku and then returned to hold Felicity in his arms.
Daku smiled as the sound of Christmas bells filled the room, but it was the man dressed in a Santa suit who appeared out of nowhere that set her heart racing double time. He looked exactly like the image in the book that Chris now showed her. What the hell was this? The old guy winked at her, tapped the side of his nose the way Santa did in her favorite book as a child and then stepped into the fireplace and disappeared up the chimney.
The bells faded in the distance only to be replaced with a roaring sound that she suspected only she heard.
* * * *
Chris was truly surprised when Felicity fainted in his arms. She’d never been the type to swoon—she’d always been too stubborn to give into something she would see as a weakness—but he seriously hoped that was all it was. Without Reyne they didn’t have access to the type of diagnostic senses he’d used to identify Chris’s injuries two months ago.
“Is she okay?” Daku asked worriedly.
“She just fainted,” Chris said, using his best acting ability to make it sound like she did this all the time. She would likely maim him when she found out, but her wrath was easier to handle than Daku’s self-doubt. He and Reyne had been together for what Chris estimated was approximately thirteen Earth years, so not only was he trying to deal with his grief over losing someone he loved, but as yala-coldar it fell to him to protect his family. Without the same type of amazing skill set Reyne had possessed, Daku’s job wasn’t going to be easy. “I’ll just put her to bed.”
“Stay with her,” Ben said, nodding to Chris in a way that suggested he understood what was going on with Daku and that he and Naith would handle it. “It’s been a long day for all of us.”
Chris gave Ben a look that he hoped conveyed his gratefulness for letting him handle things with Felicity his way. He lifted Felicity into his arms and kissed each of his podmates goodnight.
“We’ll be right here,” Daku said. “Call if you need anything.”
“Will do,” Chris said in the same confident tone that had gotten him through tense standoffs when he’d been working undercover. “Sleep well.”
He tried very hard not to panic when he placed Felicity on the mattress and she still didn’t wake.
* * * *
Naith was very grateful that Chris was part of their lives. In a traditional Jernodrian family he would have been considered one of the members in need of protection, not the one doing the protecting, but he was the reason any of them were still alive, or at least, not captured.
After the attack, Naith had realized that it was likely they’d wanted to take the rest of them alive. The shooting at them had been the distraction so that they could kill Reyne and remove the most powerful of them from the equation. They hadn’t counted on Chris’s reaction.
Naith closed his eyes as memories of that day attacked him from all sides. It was almost impossible to believe that it was only three days ago. Somehow it seemed like they’d all been grieving for Reyne much longer than that.
“Do you think Felicity is okay?” Daku asked softly as he helped Ben strip out of his clothes and climb into the bed they’d shared the last two nights.
“Chris knows what he’s doing,” Naith said soothingly as he climbed onto the other side of the bed. “He’ll call out if he needs our help.”
“Are you sure?” Daku asked in a quiet, knowing tone.
Naith shrugged. They’d known Chris for two months and at least half of that time he’d been recovering from life-threatening injuries, but it had always been very clear that he was a confident, independent man. He also cared deeply for the people around him. There was a very good chance that he wouldn’t share his concerns with them unless he absolutely had to.
But Naith took comfort in that last thought. Chris would involve them if he had to. He’d subvert his own need to be in control if it meant protecting any of them.
“He’s nothing like the dal-sheras on Jernodria,” Ben said with a smile. “Adding humans to our culture will certainly test old traditions and thinking on our planet.”
Daku nodded. “From what I understand, it already has.”
They’d left the planet soon after the first human dal-sheras had started to arrive but even then there had been rumblings of change within the culture they’d grown up in. Naith wasn’t for or against any changes that humans might bring. He just prayed that the social upheaval would be short lived and the necessary changes quick
ly adopted. Obviously there would be differing opinions, but with so few Jernodrian-born dal-sheras, change was a necessity for Jernodrian survival.
“Speaking of different,” Naith said in a tone he hoped wasn’t too eager. They’d just lost Reyne, but the need to feel close to his remaining husbands was overwhelming. “Can I make love to you, Dak?”
Daku nodded, his smile sad, but it seemed to take a few extra moments for him to realize the difference in phrasing. In a traditional Jernodrian household the yala-coldar always topped the coden-volas, but nothing about their lives was normal at the moment. Without Reyne, Daku carried the entire burden of leadership on his own, and the idea of him not being able to relax, even in bed, made Naith ache for the man.
“Is that truly what you want?” Daku asked as he opened his arms and encouraged Naith and Ben to lie down on either side of him.
Ben nodded as he caressed his hand over Daku’s taut stomach muscles. “We want you to know how much we love you.” He reached for Naith’s hand and placed it over one of Daku’s hearts, then moved his own hand to cover the other. “We weren’t a part of Reyne’s family as long as you were, but we need you to know that we love you, that we’ll always love you.”
“I know that,” Daku said in a thick voice. “I don’t need you to try and prove anything to me.”
Naith truly couldn’t interpret Daku’s reaction. He didn’t seem repulsed by the idea. In fact he seemed turned on by it, but it was clear that he was giving them a chance to withdraw their suggestion. “You don’t want us to make love to you?”
Daku hesitated again before he finally breathed out a heavy sigh and tightened his arms around them both. “I want it way more than I should,” he confessed in a low voice, “but I’m supposed to be strong. Without Reyne it’s my responsibility to protect this family.”
“How does letting us love you affect your ability to protect us?” Ben asked softly.
“It’s…just…It’s not the way things are supposed to work.”
“Says who?”
Daku smiled slightly as he leaned over to kiss Ben’s lips. “I truly don’t know,” he said with a sigh, “but it does go against tradition.”
“Why should we be constrained by the attitudes of our ancestors?” Naith asked as he caressed over Daku’s hard abdomen and then slid his hand lower. Daku’s cock was already rock hard and producing the lubrication natural to their species. “Life is very different for each generation. There is no law that says we can’t adapt.”
“True,” Daku said on a long sigh as Ben’s hand joined Naith’s on his cock.
“Let us do this for you,” Naith whispered as he felt his own cock harden even more. “Let us make love to you together.”
Daku nodded slowly, his grin slightly feral as he rolled and arranged himself over the top of Ben. He held his weight on his hands, but placed his knees either side of Ben’s legs so that he was low enough for Ben’s cock to reach his ass. It was probably the only way it was going to work. Daku was so much larger than them both that any other position would have been very awkward.
Ben grinned, lifting up to press a hard kiss to Daku’s mouth as Naith moved to kneel behind them and reached for Ben’s cock. He gathered some of Ben’s natural lubrication and then rubbed it over Daku’s anus, gently pressing his fingers inside as he spread the slippery fluid and made sure their yala-coldar was prepared. He’d watched Reyne do this countless times since he and Ben had joined their family pod. Somehow the memory made him feel closer to the man he missed so much.
His hands shook as he tried to contain the sob that lodged in his throat. He’d only been part of this family for a little over a single Earth year. If he missed Reyne this much, the sense of loss for Daku would be far worse. Naith leaned over and pressed soft kisses to Daku’s spine and cuddled him close for just a moment. It wasn’t fair that they’d lost so much, especially when they’d had no ill intentions toward any humans—even those who’d attacked them—but it did make moments like these more precious.
Daku and Ben continued to kiss each other slowly, their soft sighs mingling as Naith finally guided Ben’s cock to the entrance of Daku’s ass.
Chapter Three
Tears prickled the back of Daku’s eyes as his husbands slowly made love to him. A small part of him still argued that this wasn’t the way things were done, but an even larger part craved—no, desperately needed—to feel close to his husbands.
The gentle push of Ben’s cock into his ass made him sigh, but it was the stinging scrape of his impregnation barb over the bundle of nerves humans called a prostate that had him gasping for air. Holy fuck. He’d never expected to feel that. Even with both coden-volas taking him together they couldn’t make him pregnant, but he suddenly had the urgent need to know what it felt like.
“Naith…please,” he begged as he held still and let his lovers do all the work. Naith stroked his spine as he used his other hand to caress where he and Ben were joined. Carefully, Naith worked his fingers in beside Ben’s cock, stretching and loosening the tight muscles as Ben slowly slid into and out of his ass.
Daku felt the soft head of Naith’s cock press against him, the slight pain a little unexpected as his body slowly adapted to something he’d never expected to experience. He could feel both Ben and Naith shaking as their cocks rubbed together inside him and their impregnation barbs scrapped against him again and again.
“Holy hell,” Naith whispered as he jerked a couple of times, his movement seeming involuntary.
“Naith?” Daku asked worriedly. The amazing sensation of having them both inside him was almost enough to override his instinct to protect, but he couldn’t enjoy anything if he thought his podmate was in pain.
“N–Naith?” Ben asked on a shaky voice, when the man didn’t answer Daku.
“I’m”—he hesitated even as his hands moved over both of them soothingly—“just…oh fuck that feels incredible.”
And suddenly Daku understood. Coden-volas made love to a dal-shera together to create a pregnancy, but since Reyne had chosen dal-sheras but hadn’t actually claimed them before he’d died, Naith and Ben had never done this before. It was ridiculously emotional, but the thought of sharing a first like this with them both overflowed the tears that had been threatening since they’d first climbed into bed.
But instead of turning away, instead of being shocked by his weakness, Ben lifted up and kissed the tears from his cheeks. “We love you, Dak. Never doubt that.”
“I know,” he said on a low voice, the sound barely discernible. “Thank you for sharing this with me.”
Ben’s eyes filled with tears, his love so very clear in his gaze as he watched Daku’s reactions. He shook his head, perhaps a little embarrassed by his own reaction as well. “We’re a family.” He wore a soft smile as his hips jerked a little harder, his moan echoing Naith’s of a moment ago. “And, Dak…” he said nearly breathlessly, “it’s about to get much better.”
Dak stiffened as both men thrust deep into his ass, their impregnation barbs piercing him, the rush of genetic material into his system absolutely incredible. He practically screamed as he came, the sensation so intense, so intimate, so overwhelming that his own orgasm seemed to go on and on and on. His arms collapsed under him, his full weight falling onto Ben even as he tried to stop it from happening.
Ben wore a serene smile as he wrapped an arm around Daku’s head and pulled him closer. “We love you,” he said as he held him fiercely, his arms shaking as Naith leaned over his shoulder to press a kiss to the side of Daku’s neck.
Thankfully Naith seemed to realize they were at risk of crushing Ben because he carefully pulled away and then helped Daku roll off their podmate and collapse onto the mattress beside him. Both men quickly took up the same positions they’d had earlier, their heads resting on Daku’s shoulders, their hands once again over his hearts.
“I love you both,” he whispered as sleep clawed at his conscious mind and he finally gave in to his need to rest.
* * * *
Felicity woke suddenly, the lust-filled scream coming through the wall both confusing and a little unnerving. She was surprised to find herself in a bed and spooned against a slim, muscular man.
“It’s okay, Flick,” a familiar voice said as strong arms tightened around her to keep her trapped. “It’s just Daku, Ben, and Naith making love.”
“Huh?”
She shook her head as she tried to remember how she could possibly have ended up in bed with Chris. She’d told herself for years that he was off limits—no matter how much her libido had disagreed—but to wake in his arms without memory of how she got there was disconcerting to say the least.
“It’s okay, beautiful,” Chris said in his familiar cocky tone. “Things will be clearer in the morning. Just get some sleep for now.”
He sighed when she moved, perhaps realizing that he’d said the exact thing that would make her sit up and figure out where she was and how she’d gotten here. Her friends described her as “contrary” for a good reason. But as the memories slowly filtered back she found herself wishing she wasn’t such a stubborn personality. What harm would it do to take other people’s suggestion now and then? It sure would have let her sleep a little easier if she hadn’t bothered to defy Chris’s suggestion.
“Are they really aliens?”
“Yes, baby,” Chris said as he loosened his hold just a little. Apparently he was no longer concerned she was going to run screaming from the room. Considering that she wasn’t entirely certain where they were it would have been a foolish thing to do anyway. It annoyed her to realize that such a reckless reaction had been her first impulse. She wasn’t usually the one to make hasty, ill-thought-out decisions.
“Are you as close to them as you seem?”
“I’m not sure how it seems,” he said quietly, his thumb stroking over her arm as he continued to hold her close, “but I’ve been sharing their bed for a few weeks now.”
