by Sarah Marsh
“Yes, that’s me…” Tannen answered, rolling his eyes at the other man.
He was interrupted by Kal’s loud sigh. “Don’t fret, love. I accept that you and Conn are terrified that my beauty will inspire others to lure me away. But luckily for you both, you’re so talented between the sheets that I could never live without you.”
Kal punctuated his statement with a wink at Ali that had her laughing along with him and Tannen groaning in embarrassment.
“So … you all three are together?” she asked, when her curiosity finally got the better of her.
“We are bond mates, yes,” Tannen answered as he stood and placed her back on the bed. “Does that bother you?”
“No, of course not,” she answered honestly.
Did that bother her? Certainly not in any way she was sure he meant by the question. The thought of all three of these handsome aliens naked and doing dirty things did have her heart rate increasing. But damn, why did all of the hottest men turn out to be gay? There went all the fantasies she’d been having for the last half hour sitting in Tannen’s lap. When she woke up with Conn’s strong body wrapped around her, it was difficult to not let her hands wander while his delicious scent teased her nose. While Tannen smelled like warm sandalwood, the strong Captain had more of a fresh outdoors scent that she couldn’t seem to get enough of, and she wondered absently what Kal’s scent would remind her of.
Chapter Seven
“Time for another nap I think, love. I can see your concentration is drifting,” Kal said as he came forward and plucked her off of the medical bed and held her in his arms.
“Oh. Sorry, I don’t know why I’m so tired,” she answered with a yawn and another adorable blush.
“Your body is learning to adjust to this new need for contact we discussed, Alison,” Tannen said as he followed them to the door. “Kal is going to take you to our quarters so you can both stretch out on a normal size bed and get a proper rest. Just remember what we talked about. You should be fine as long as you’re with one of us, but if anything feels odd, come and find me.”
“Okay.” She nodded towards the doctor. “Thank you, Tannen.”
Alison was content to lie cradled in Kal’s arms as he carried her down the hall to the alien's bedroom. When he opened the door, she was surprised at how large it was, like a small apartment.
“Wow, this place is huge. I have to admit I assumed that rooms on a spaceship would be tiny and only have like a bed and a chair or something,” she said as he walked into the bedroom, which had an enormous low bed in the middle of the room that was calling to her.
“This ship is designed for a crew of bonded mates, so there is no need for more than a couple of living quarters. We were lucky enough to get assigned to a new ship when we first earned our trade commission. We’ve had the Noma for almost a decade now,” he answered as he pulled back the bedding and laid her down.
The mattress and pillows seemed to be some kind of memory gel, and Alison almost groaned from the pleasure when she sank into it. When she looked back up at Kal, he was pulling his shirt over his head to reveal the most beautiful, muscular chest she’d ever seen, and she had to swallow another groan of appreciation.
Good grief. He looked like molten metal, his silver skin reflecting the small amount of light leaking in from the living room. She couldn’t take her eyes from him, and she blushed furiously when he stripped off his pants next, leaving him only in his underwear as he climbed into the bed beside her.
“I love it when you blush, little Ali,” he said with a low chuckle. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything lovelier than the color slowly moving along your skin, it’s quite captivating.”
“Sorry,” she squeaked out. “I didn’t mean to stare … but your skin. It’s just so beautiful. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Kal didn’t say anything for a moment. Then finally, he just turned her around and pulled her close as he wrapped his arms around her.
“I’m glad you like it, Ali,” he answered softly. “On Dolak, where we come from, the sun moves farther away from our planet every year. Every species on our surface has evolved over time to retain and collect heat as effectively as possible. Our people have varied skin tones, but the darker pigments are viewed as most genetically desirable. My particular metallic hue is considered a birth defect by my people, so thank you for saying that.”
Alison couldn’t believe it. Her heart broke for Kal thinking that others would judge him by his skin color. With the technology his race clearly had, it’s not like they were walking around the planet naked, relying on their skin tone to survive, but clearly there were ignorant bigots all across the universe.
“I think you’re one of the most attractive men I’ve ever seen, Kal. I can’t imagine anyone thinking otherwise,” she said, pulling his arms tighter around her, glad that she wasn’t facing him because she didn’t think she could’ve said something so direct if she had to watch his reaction.
“Oh, there’s plenty of males and females alike that enjoy a taste of the forbidden for a night or two. Especially when I come with males like Conn and Tannen, but when it comes to a permanent mating contract to complete our bond group, their bias becomes clear,” he continued, sounding rather jaded and maybe a little bit sad. “Before we bonded, I warned them that it would be difficult finding a permanent female to contract with us if my genetics were in the mix, but they’ve always been stubborn, those two.”
She was almost asleep when that information was finally absorbed by her sluggish brain. Had he just said they were looking for a woman to complete their bond group? Holy crap, so they were bisexual? And just like that, her inappropriate thoughts were running rampant once again, and Alison had to silently chastise herself for thinking like a horny teenager when Kal obviously needed a friend and some emotional support.
“They clearly love you a great deal,” she answered as she slowly turned around in his arms so she was facing him. “I’m certain that the right woman would love you for who you are, and not what you have in your genetic makeup, Kal.”
He smiled sweetly at her, moving his hand up to cup her cheek.
“You’re a very wise female, Alison. I hope that you are correct,” he said before another frown crossed his features. “Conn’s mother has been in negotiations with a female on Dolak for several years to contract with us, but I don’t believe that Shara is the correct female for us. Perhaps you can help me talk some reason into Conn and Tannen about her.”
Alison didn’t know why she suddenly felt sick when Kal mentioned that they were practically engaged to be married to another woman. She’d just met them after all, but it bothered her all the same, and she quickly looked away from his eyes before he saw it there.
“Sure, I’ll do what I can,” she answered, before she turned back around in his arms, away from him. “Good night, Kal.”
“Sleep well, Ali.”
Chapter Eight
Kal had just managed to pull himself from the warm bed with the tempting little female in it when Tannen quietly walked into the bedroom.
“Is she still sleeping?” Tannen whispered when he saw Kal getting dressed. “Her vitals were steady all night. The contact seems to be working.”
“Well, her vitals may have been steady, but mine were all over the place. It’s been some time since we’ve had the softness of a female in our bed,” Kal answered, looking back at Ali, “and she is quite tempting.”
“I agree with you on that, Kal. There is something so sweet and delicate about her,” Tannen said, looking to the woman still asleep in their bed. “She isn’t like our females.”
“Why don’t you come over here and help me with my vitals, Doctor?” Kal gave the other man a seductive smile as his hand moved lower to stroke over his still-hard cock which had been torturing him all night.
“Behave, we don’t want to wake Ali,” Tannen said, laughing quietly as he removed his shirt and pants.
“Are you expecting us to re
main celibate for the entire trip home, love?” Kal’s low voice teased as he moved in and stole a quick kiss from the other male. “You know how cranky I get when you tell me no.”
“I think we can, at least, restrain ourselves while Ali is sleeping in our bed,” Tannen laughed and kissed him back. “That would be the polite thing to do while she is in our care, would it not?”
“Maybe the polite thing to do would be to ask if she wants to join in?” Kal answered with a wink, pulling away with a sigh when it became clear that Tannen’s attention was suddenly pulled back to Ali at Kal’s suggestion.
Oh yes, the good doctor was definitely thinking about it now!
That was exactly what he’d planned by planting the idea in their adorable mate’s head. Their bond mate was a brilliant doctor, but he could be quite dense sometimes. After spending one single night with sweet Ali in his arms, Kal just knew that there was no point in wasting any more time with Shara and her cold emotions. Kal wanted more from a binding contract. He wanted a family, and he wanted love. There had been many things holding the three of them back from bonding with Shara over the years, but the most important one was that they didn’t love her. And if they were going to be honest with themselves, they knew that she simply wanted access to their funds and the social status that came with being the bond mate of high ranking officers in the Trade Corps.
Alison was everything that their females weren’t. She was sweet and supportive, and Tannen had already confirmed that she was compatible for mating with their own DNA. He was certain that it wouldn’t take long for both the dense lovable doctor and their fearless leader to figure out that she might just be the perfect female for them.
****
Ali came awake when all the blankets slowly inched across her body, causing her to look over her shoulder. She almost laughed when she saw how Tannen had rolled over and wrapped himself up like a burrito in the covers as he still slept. Her belly started to grumble, so she decided she’d get up and find some breakfast since the boys had already done their shift change without waking her.
She remembered Kal pointing out the bridge yesterday on their way from the medical bay and by some miracle managed to make her way back there, relieved to find Conn sitting in front of a large computer.
“Good morning,” she said, suddenly feeling a little self-conscious of how she looked. She’d just pilfered a long shirt and some socks out of the closet in their room when she woke up, taking the first thing that she found so she didn’t make too much noise and wake Tannen as he slept.
“Good morning, little one,” Conn said with a warm smile as he looked up. “How was your rest?”
“Great, I feel pretty good actually,” Ali answered just as her stomach let out another loud growl making her blush. “Well, I’m ready for breakfast, I guess.”
“Good, that makes two of us. Come with me, lovely,” he said as he jumped up from the chair and scooped her up off her feet.
“I can walk, Conn,” she said, as she wiggled for him to put her down.
“You have no shoes, Ali. Those socks can’t be enough to keep your tiny feet warm while walking around the ship.” Conn walked down the hall for a few moments and then they entered a door not far from where she recognized the entrance to the med bay.
Alison wasn’t going to argue with him. The floors were rather chilly, after all. But more than that, she was simply enjoying the feel of being in his arms. Between yesterday and last night, this was more contact with another person than she’d had in years, and Ali was eating it up like she was a kid in a candy store. Sure, somewhere in the back of her mind she knew it was taking advantage of the situation, just a little.
But dammit, she was the victim here, right? Some horrible aliens had stolen her from her home and infected her with only God knows what, so shouldn’t she enjoy a little stolen comfort from her handsome rescuers? Alison could only assume that once they’d made it back home to Dolak that they would drop her off at whatever the equivalent to a “pound” was, or wherever they usually dropped off the lost-and-found aliens, and be on their way either back into space or off to find their fourth bond mate.
She frowned to herself at the bad feeling that rose in her tummy at the thought of these males leaving her behind. Was she really that clingy? Gosh, she needed to dial that back if one night of sleeping in their arms was affecting her so much already. It was only occurring to her now that in all the years she’d been single, the simple things most people took for granted were the ones she’d missed the most. Like having someone there at the end of a bad day to just give you a comforting hug, or having someone to hold you as you slept.
“What is that?” she asked as Conn placed a plate full of black and grey on the table before her. “Is this your first time cooking or something?”
He just laughed at her and gave her a wink as he brought his own fork up to his lips and took a bite of what she could only imagine was a completely charred piece of meat.
“You aren’t the first non-Dolakian to find our food rather odd, Ali. On our planet, everything that grows on the surface tends to be black or grey, including our food,” he answered, still eating in between words. “Just try it. I’m certain it will surprise you.”
And it did surprise her, as she took her first tentative mouthful only to be shocked at the flavor of something fruity hitting her palate. Alison realized then that she’d better learn to reserve her judgment on a lot of things, that and be ready to get surprised because she had a feeling there was going to be a lot of that happening in her life from now on.
Chapter Nine
Conn could see Alison’s frame begin to tense as they’d reached the end of their meal, and she’d just finished helping him clean up the kitchen. He frowned to realize that she’d only been up for a few hours and already the previous contact from sleeping with Kal was wearing off. He hoped that her body would adjust over time and the effects would take longer to come back, or her new life was going to be full of limitations that would become tedious to anyone.
“How are you feeling, Ali?” Conn asked as he came up to place a palm on her cheek. “Your skin is chilled. Do you need to rest?”
She sighed and looked as though she didn’t want to admit the weakness to him.
“Yes, I am getting tired and feeling a bit weak. But I just woke up. I don’t want to sleep right now.”
Conn debated whether he should take her back to their room to Tannen or not, but he figured that he’d try to take care of her first and see if she needed further assessment.
“I know just what we can do to rest then. Do you like vids?” he asked, sweeping her off of her feet once again and making his way to the observatory.
It was a lounge, of sorts. The extended windows gave the best view of the stars in the entire ship, and they had comfortable couches and large viewing screens set up on the walls. Conn set her down on the low couch and then went to select the program on the viewer. He chose a program which focused on their home planet and its evolution to what it was today, hoping it would be less of a shock for her when they arrived on Dolak in the next couple of days. Clearly she came from a planet filled with color if her bright green eyes and soft brown hair were any indications, and Dolak was an adjustment for many species that arrived there for the first time.
“I thought you might like to see some history of our planet,” he said as he sat next to her, only to grow more concerned when he felt her shivering next to him. “Ali, your symptoms appear to be getting worse. Should we wake Tannen?”
“No, I don’t want to wake him. I just need some rest, I think. Will you hold me while we watch?” she asked, pulling the blanket off the cushion next to her and placing it over her legs.
“Of course.” Conn sat next to her and pulled her in to rest against his chest.
He almost felt guilty for how much he was enjoying being close to Alison. This trade run had been a very long one for them. They hadn’t been home in ages and hadn’t been interested in partaking in a
ny of the brothels found on their route. The three of them were lovers, of course, but he missed the softer touch of having a woman in their bed, and Ali was sweet, and soft, and oh so tempting. When Kal had come on shift this morning, he’d been wearing a ridiculous grin, so of course Conn had asked him why he was so happy. When he’d replied in his usual cocky tone, “I spent the night with a beautiful woman in my arms, why shouldn’t I be happy?” Conn could only agree. He’d spent hours the day before holding Alison as she’d recovered, and he had enjoyed it probably more than was proper.
“Wow!” she whispered, when the vid started with pictures of his home planet. “You weren’t exaggerating. It really is all in shades of grey and black. That’s amazing.”
He answered every question she had, but as time went on, he grew increasingly uncomfortable. Ali didn’t seem to notice that her hands had gone from simply moving over his chest to burrowing under his shirt to find bare skin. Which, of course, was all a part of her contact dependency as a result of the virus she’d been infected with, but her soft little hands were beginning to feel extremely good and other parts of Conn’s body were beginning to react.
Her shivering had finally stopped, but her need for contact clearly had not, so who was he to deny her anything? Conn pulled her hands away for a moment and saw the small flash of involuntary panic in her eyes.
“Oh, I’m sorry, Conn,” she said, trying to cover her face with her hands as a blush went across her cheeks. “I didn’t even realize I was doing that. Oh my God, how embarrassing.”
“There’s no need to apologize for taking what you need from me, Alison,” he said, as he pulled his uniform shirt off and threw it to the side. “You clearly need more skin to skin contact, and as you can see, I am enjoying it quite a bit myself.”
There was no hiding his erection now that the blanket wasn’t covering his lap, and her eyes went wide as he sat back and adjusted it slowly with his hand under her gaze.
