by Ravenna Tate
Vaughn and River exchanged a smile. “We’ll put you to good use,” said River. “You have computer skills, and those are just as valuable here as they were on your planet.”
Her smile was full of both relief and joy. “Thank you. So … one more question.” He saw her swallow, and she colored again. “When you two told me about the women on your planet, all I kept wondering was whether you’ve ever enjoyed sex at all. I can’t imagine what that would be like. I mean having partners who hate it.”
“It’s all we know,” said Vaughn.
She put down her fork and gave him a direct stare. “Is that why I’m here? I mean in addition to keeping me safe? Have you two claimed me like Jakara claimed Callie?”
It was tempting to say “yes”, but that would have been shitty of him. “No. That wasn’t our intention. But as long as we’re all being honest and open, I’d be lying through my teeth if I told you that we’re not both attracted to you. Very attracted to you. You’re beautiful and alluring.”
She looked embarrassed, but not angry. “And you’re both quite gorgeous yourselves. Thank you. So, how will this work? Am I staying here with you two?”
“It would be safest for you if you did,” said River. “This planet is controlled by the Addonians now, and it’s heavily guarded. Six months ago, ships came and went on all three planets pretty much at will, although once they landed on Sera there were security checks. But all that has changed now. A ship can’t simply land here either from Sera or Voyeur Moon. The air space is patrolled. You’re as safe here as anywhere now.”
River gave him a worried look. “Unless of course you’re uncomfortable here, with us in the same quarters. I mean, if you think anything will happen that you don’t want to. We could house you in other quarters, but you’d be alone, and we’d rather be able to keep an eye on you all the time. The Tyranns can’t get to you if we’re here with you.”
She fingered the chain around her neck again, and Vaughn could see the struggle on her face, but wasn’t sure if it came from what River had just said, or whatever that chain meant to her. “What is that chain?” he asked.
She sighed heavily and then pulled it out of her tunic, revealing a diamond ring on the end of it. “His name is Jacob Mariner, and I want to college with him. We were engaged before the first invasion, and then he went backpacking in Europe with several male friends. I haven’t heard from him since. There’s no way to get in touch with him since any communication across the oceans are now gone on Earth. I don’t even know if he’s still alive.”
Vaughn rose and walked into his bedroom, retrieved his laptop, and then came back into the kitchen. He logged onto a database that he had no business being in, but that he and River had hacked into months ago. They were still in there undetected because they had several user names, and were able to mask their IP address most days. “Give me his full name again, and any other identifying information, like his birth-date.”
She gave him the information he’d asked for. “I also know his last address, but it’s old now. I have no clue where in Europe he was when the invasions occurred.”
“That’s all right. Just give me what you have.” She did, and then he searched while she watched and River ate. Finally, his name came up. Vaughn read the drone reports and then shook his head. As if this poor girl hadn’t had enough of a shock lately.
“What is it? Please tell me. Whatever it is. At least I’ll know.”
Her voice shook and he hated that. “He was picked up in a raid in Germany eighteen months ago, and brought to Voyeur Moon. A great many of the able-bodied men who were in their twenties, thirties, or forties were sent to the mines to work, here on Addo. It’s back-breaking work, and the men are treated like slaves. Most of them don’t last a year.”
“He’s here?” Her voice came out in a whisper.
Vaughn shook his head. “Not anymore. He died six months ago. I’m so sorry, Marianne.”
****
River brushed a hand along her arm and was alarmed to find her skin so cool. “Is there anything we can do?”
She shook her head, and then let go of the chain. “I had a feeling, deep in my gut, that he was dead. But I always wished I could at least find out what had happened to him. Now I know.”
Her voice was too flat and dull. River glanced toward his brother, a question on his face, but Vaughn merely shrugged.
“It’s all right,” she said. “Like I said, I think I already knew.”
“You loved him,” said River.
“Yes. Yes, I did. We hadn’t seen each other in what … two years I guess.”
“That’s a long time,” said Vaughn.
“Yes, it is.”
“Why don’t you finish breakfast?” said River. “You should eat more. To keep up your strength.” It was a stupid thing to say, but he didn’t know what to do right now.
She nodded. “Yes. You’re right.”
He felt so fucking helpless, and he hated that. She finally began to eat again, and then she asked them whether they’d ever been married or engaged.
“No,” said River. “Not us. We’ve been too dedicated to our business and now to this cause.”
“That’s sad. I mean, what do you do for … you know. Female companionship?”
River snorted. “Not much. Oh, don’t get me wrong. We’re not virgins, but sex is a rare treat.”
She looked surprised. “That’s horrible.” And then she rolled her eyes. “I should talk. It’s been two years for me.” Her face colored, and she put a hand over her mouth. “I’m sorry. This is a really personal conversation.”
“It’s all right,” he said, quietly. “You can tell us anything.”
She gave him a look filled with both gratitude and confusion. “Why are you doing this for me? I mean, okay. I know what you said about the cause and wanting to find my aunt and uncle because they helped you, but I’m a stranger.”
“Not anymore,” said Vaughn. “You’re their niece, and now you’re the girl we’ve abducted, for all intents and purposes, in secret. We need to keep you safe.”
“And as long as we’re all here,” said River, his heart pounding, “we might as well make the best of it. So if you need to talk to us, or if you need anything at all from us, we’re here for you, Marianne.”
“I don’t know what to say.”
“You’ve had a lot of shocks in a short time. Why don’t we finish eating, and then we’ll procure you a laptop and you can start learning what we do.”
She almost smiled, and River breathed a sigh of relief. “Yes. I’d like that. Thank you.”
River had no idea what would happen now, but he knew one thing as certain as he knew his own name. It would be extremely difficult to keep away from this girl, especially with her living right under their roof. And he didn’t have to ask. He knew Vaughn felt the same way.
Chapter Five
Marianne was grateful for the total absorption that learning their computer system took during the next week. She sat side-by-side with Vaughn and River in an airy office with open windows and plenty of light, perusing sites they’d hacked into and that were run by both the Regum and Tyranns. They used complicated user names and passwords, and had several that they alternated with no set pattern. They’d even figured out how to mask their IP address about ninety percent of the time.
It was similar in many ways to her work on Earth before the invasions in that she was online and working, but she’d never known there were so many backdoor ways to get into protected, encrypted sites. She felt like a criminal, but at the same time, it was exciting and fun. And she couldn’t have asked for better teachers or co-workers.
The guys kept their distance, but she couldn’t help notice the longing looks when she caught one of them watching her, or the way they both found reasons to sit close to her or touch her arm or hand once in a while as they worked.
They were perfect gentlemen, but that only made her want them more with each passing day. She wished she had someo
ne to talk to about her conflicted feelings, but then she hadn’t had many conversations about such things even when she’d had female friends around. Marianne had always been a private person when it came to talking about sex and relationships.
The guilt she felt over her growing feelings for both Vaughn and River was all mixed up with grief over the way Jacob had died. After they told her, she’d spent the next two days wishing she could have known somehow where he was, but then realized that even if she had, there wouldn’t have been one thing she could have done about it. Her aunt and uncle hadn’t arrived on Sera until a year later, and by then Jacob had been sent to the mines.
The guys had explained to her that the Tyranns no longer controlled the mines, and the Addonians were in the process of revising how they were worked so men no longer died in them. Too little, too late for Jacob. No one had intervened in time to save him.
When Marianne allowed herself to think about what her fate might have been, she understood she could have easily ended up on Voyeur Moon in the Zoo by now, or in the holding cells. The more she worked with River and Vaughn, the more she realized how extensively the Tyranns had been able to empty Earth of women who were little more than sex slaves right now, one planet away. That she’d been able to escape that fate was, in their words, a miracle.
Each day they worked long hours, often eating in the office and not stopping until it was dark outside. It was summertime here, too, and the quarters were warm, but at night they turned on the AC. During the day, however, they kept the windows open in the quarters, and Marianne enjoyed the warm breezes and birdsong. She caught the scent of flowers all day long, and most of the time she forgot she wasn’t on Earth.
They took turns making meals, and when they finished for the day and had eaten their last meal, the guys sat outside on the deck with her and asked about her life back home. She’d run through most of that in two days, so she began asking them about theirs before all the trouble began, only to learn the trouble had been all they’d ever known.
“I’m forty,” said River, “and Vaughn is forty-two. The trouble started fifty years ago. We’ve both grown up with this.”
As she did the math in her head, lightning flashed in the distance, and a cool breeze blew across their faces. “It’s going to storm.”
“It does quite often this time of year,” said Vaughn.
“Do you realize you’re each old enough to be my father?”
She knew they knew how old she was because they had a report on her from the drones. At twenty-six, she’d never felt young or immature, but she also hadn’t been so aware of the age difference between her and each of them until now.
The men laughed, but she sensed more of a nervous undercurrent than a humorous one.
“Well,” said Vaughn, “I might sound like a pig for saying this, but I don’t think of you as a daughter. Not even close.”
“Same here,” said River, his eyes boring into hers. Even in the darkness she could sense the lust in them.
She inhaled their fresh, clean scents. Both men took showers in the evening before the three of them came out here to sit, and she’d gotten into the same habit. She loved looking at their damp hair and being with them like this, but tonight she knew she’d have to deal with these feelings because they weren’t going to go away. “And I definitely don’t think of either of you as a father figure.”
The lightning was closer now, and thunder rumbled alongside it. The air smelled like rain, but she liked it. She’d always loved summer storms. River brushed a finger along her arm, almost tentatively, and the touch sent tiny jolts of electricity straight to her throbbing clit. It had been so damn long. Would it ruin everything to have sex with them? Even just once? Just to hold a man in her arms again and feel him inside her?
She was so lonely and lost. Her hormones had been raging since she’d first looked at these two. She knew it was real, and no amount of time spent working side-by-side with them had dimmed her desire. Surely this wasn’t wrong. Everything had changed. She’d never be able to go back, and she couldn’t have her old life back. This was her life now.
“What do you think of us as, then?” asked River. His deep, quiet voice spoke volumes. This was it. They wanted her as much as she wanted them, and she knew that. She’d seen it in their eyes and felt it in every nuance of movement. All she had to do was let them know it.
She swallowed hard as she gazed into his eyes. They were dark pools of light right now. “As the most handsome, sexy, charming men I’ve ever met.” There was no point in lying, or in being coy. Not anymore. Everything was different. And she had no idea where this was going, but she only knew she was here, right now, and she wanted them both.
Lightning flashed once more, and the thunder was very close now. Fat drops of rain hit the pavement in front of the deck, and she knew the canopy wouldn’t protect them for long. The storm was heading straight for them. She rose, hoping they’d follow, which they did.
Marianne went straight to her bedroom, shedding her clothes as she walked. Her entire body trembled, but it wasn’t from fear. She was on fire for them, and she’d never felt so wanton or uninhibited in her life. But she also knew this wasn’t wrong. It couldn’t be. Not when it felt so perfect and sexy.
As they walked, she heard scuffling noises and soft grunts, and knew they were undressing as well, but she didn’t turn around. If she stopped, she’d lose her nerve. When she reached her bed, she stepped out of her panties and lay down on her side to watch them. There was only one soft light on in the room, but her drapes were open so they also had the lightning to illuminate the space.
She finally dared to look at them, and they were indeed naked. They nearly tripped over each other walking into the room, and she tried not to laugh. Then she moaned as she let her gaze travel over their naked bodies. Oh my … they are fucking magnificent.
Both men were as muscled as she’d imagined they would be, and covered with tats. Their dicks were big and thick, and a wave of nervousness washed over her. It had been a long time, and she wasn’t sure whether it would hurt at first when they fucked her.
But one look into their faces put her at ease. These men weren’t going to hurt her. They were just as apprehensive as she was. Her heart gave a strange lurch that these two big, strong alien men were nervous about making love to an Earth woman.
“We can’t impregnate you,” said Vaughn. “Different DNA and all. And we’re immune to most of your diseases. But we have none of our own, regardless.”
Marianne smiled. “Good to know. Thank you. And I don’t have any, by the way.”
She sat up and held out her arms. River reached her first, and he pulled her into his arms and captured her mouth in a kiss so hot she wasn’t sure the lightning would be hotter if it struck her.
She parted her lips, and moans escaped her throat as he worked his tongue inside, teasing hers, and moving his lips in ways she’d only imagined were possible. What an incredible kisser. Was Vaughn this skilled, too? Oh, how she hoped so.
He tangled his fingers in her hair and gave it a tug, not hard enough to hurt, but in a way that sent tiny jolts of electricity through her body until she couldn’t even think. All she wanted to do was lie back on the bed and beg him to fuck her.
“Give me a turn.”
Vaughn’s voice, filled with lust and humor, broke through her fog. River released the kiss, and then grinned at her in a way that sent fresh wetness to her pussy. “Should we let him join us?”
“Well, I don’t know. Is he as good a kisser as you are?”
Vaughn snorted. “I’m better.”
She giggled, and River mumbled something in a language she couldn’t understand. “Was that a curse word?” They’d spoken in their language occasionally all week, and it sounded like a Russian dialect to her. She was slowly learning a few words but hadn’t heard this particular one yet.
“More than one,” he said. “Remind me later when Vaughn falls asleep and I’ll teach them all to you.�
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“You’ll fall asleep before I will.”
“Doubtful. I’m younger than you.”
Vaughn crawled next to her and glared at River. “Move aside and let me have a turn.”
River did, and then he pulled lazily on his cock as Vaughn cupped her face. He stared at her with so much intensity, she had trouble breathing. The storm was directly overhead now, and lightning lit up the room. When the thunder rumbled, she swore the entire building shook.
“That’s exactly how I feel inside,” said Vaughn. “Ready to take you with the same intensity as this storm.” She moaned and he grinned, and then he pushed her onto her back and climbed on top of her. He held her face with both hands. “You are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen.”
“Thank you.” She had no idea what to say. Even Jacob had never called her beautiful, and these two men looked at her like she was a goddess. Was it merely an act? No. All week long they’d been honest with her. This was real.
“Thank you for this, Marianne. Seriously. Thank you.”
She sighed as she stared into his beautiful eyes. “It’s you two I need to thank. For not simply taking me.” They could easily have done so. She couldn’t have overpowered one of them, let alone both. Their strength became even more obvious when she saw them naked.
“We would never do that,” said Vaughn, brushing a finger along her face. “We’re not like that.”
“I know,” she whispered. Vaughn shoved his tongue into her mouth, and she moaned loudly as she arched her hips toward him. Her legs were apart, and as her pussy rubbed against his dick, she nearly came. He moved his mouth over hers with just as much skill as his brother had shown, and she wanted to scream with joy. She’d hit the fucking jackpot here.
When he released the kiss, he moved lower and licked her nipples, first one then the other. River continued to watch, pulling on his dick, and Marianne couldn’t look away. It was so damn sexy watching him do that. She’d never had fantasies of fucking two men at once, but she loved this. It was so decadent and raw. And with the storm outside raging on, it was also incredibly powerful.
