by Lynn Tyler
He gathered her up and caught her against his chest, chuckling deeply. The vibrations tickled her ear a little as she rested her cheek on his bare chest and inhaled his scent again. It was so weird, but his scent comforted her better than anything else ever had. She was hard-pressed not to mash her nose against his throat and stay there. But then he would think he didn’t have to answer her question, and she really wanted that answer. She pulled away and cocked an eyebrow, looking up at him expectantly.
He grinned at her, the cutest little dimple appearing in his right cheek. “Oh, I fully intend on coming in you, lira. In your mouth, in your ass, and, later, after our first child is born, in your pussy.”
Her mouth watered at the thought of having him in her mouth again and this time having his seed shoot down her throat, but she restrained herself and laid her head down on his chest again. “Should we go see D’Arik?”
Chapter 12
D’Arik shook his head at the noise coming from the sleeping quarters. Clearly Jacy and Varin had no problems sexually. He glanced at the vidscreen again and restrained himself from throwing his stylus across the room. Damn, he wanted to be in there with them. Preferably in one of them. But he was starting to worry about his own mental health, and he wanted to put as much space between them and him until he had better control of himself, mainly because Jacy still did not have the ability to differentiate between their emotions and hers.
He’d thought he was handling the stress well, but when he had woken up and Varin had projected one mental scream, demanding that he shield himself better before slamming up his own shields, he knew the stress and worry was beginning to get to him.
“Are you all right, D’Arik?” Jaron’s voice coming from the vidscreen shook him out of his contemplations. He looked at his beloved brother’s face and couldn’t help but smile. The man just vibrated with energy and excitement, and he practically bounced in his chair. It was impossible not to feel better while he was talking to his middle brother.
He hesitated for just a moment in answering, thinking about whether he should tell his brother his worries about his mental state or if he should keep it quiet. What the hell? He had to talk to someone, and his brother would understand or at least empathize with him. The large hand that landed on Jaron’s shoulder didn’t even stop him. His brother-in-law, R’oan, was, aside from Varin, probably the most steady person he knew. R’oan came into view and scooped up Jaron, which was no easy feat, sat in the chair, and deposited his brother in his lap. “Don’t let me interrupt,” R’oan said with a slight smile. “I just felt the need to hold Jaron for a moment.”
D’Arik nodded and smiled back. R’oan had been his best friend for years, and he had been thrilled to call him brother when Jaron chose him to take to mate. He glanced at the still-closed door to the sleeping quarters and decided that Varin and Jacy wouldn’t be out for a while. “I’m starting to lose control of my shields. Even when I’m shielding my hardest, Varin can still feel my emotions leaking through. He can handle it, although it must be annoying feeling my shit all the time. It’s Jacy I worry about.”
R’oan’s left eyebrow hiked up, nearly disappearing into his hair, and he leaned forward toward the screen, an expression of interest on his face. “And who might Jacy be?”
D’Arik felt his eyes widen, and he shook his head. “Gods, that’s how bad it is. We chose Jacy as our mate, and I totally forgot to tell you. See what I mean?”
Jaron had stopped his bouncing, R’oan’s touch soothing and calming him, but D’Arik found he missed his brother’s enthusiasm. He rethought that with his brother’s next words. “No, that’s how far your head is up your ass.”
D’Arik stared at Jaron’s image on the screen, completely shocked by what he’d just heard. “I beg your pardon?”
“Yeah, Jaron,” Varin’s deep voice said from the other side of the room. “Don’t hold back now. Just say what’s on your mind.”
D’Arik looked up to see Varin standing across the room, arms crossed over his chest and an amused smile on his face. Jacy stood next to him, also grinning. Both of their lips were swollen, Varin’s hair was mussed, and Jacy’s cheeks were flushed. If he hadn’t heard the telltale noise of sex coming from the sleeping quarters, he would have guessed by their appearances. Suddenly, he couldn’t wait to show off his new mate to his brother and brother-in-law. “Come here and say hello to my brother and his mate, lira.”
Jacy linked her fingers with Varin’s and towed him over with her. He caught Varin’s quick look of surprise with the easy affection and sighed. Even after all these years, the man still wasn’t used to spontaneous affection.
She leaned over his shoulder to see the screen, and he almost came in his pants. She smelled like a mixture of wildflowers, rain, and citrus. He leaned closer to Varin and caught a whiff of the same scent. The bonding process had already started between the two. Before he could comment, he heard Jacy begin to chat amicably with Jaron and R’oan through the vidscreen cameras. “How far away are you?”
He vaguely heard Jaron answer that they were about a month out by Earth’s equivalent. His heart lightened considerably as he listened to her tinkling voice, and he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her back to sit in his lap even as he leaned his head back against Varin’s solid abdomen. Varin’s hands began kneading his shoulders, and Jacy’s body warmed him through. His eyes suddenly became heavy, and it became a struggle to keep his eyes open. “I think D’Arik is done for the morning, Jaron. Come on, liro, let’s get you into bed.”
Jacy eased off his lap, and he felt Varin’s strong arms pull him to his feet. He stumbled after Varin and soon found himself being tucked between the sheets as if he was nothing more than a toddler. He drifted off to the sound of Varin crooning to him and Jacy’s giggles from the other room, where she was apparently still talking to his brother.
Jacy made no effort to stifle her laughter as Jaron told her stories of D’Arik as a young boy. R’oan, apparently D’Arik’s best friend, joined in, telling her all about the failed plots the two of them used to come up with to smuggle D’Arik out of the palace for a little freedom. It had never worked, but the image of the two boys letting a sorcan, the description of which made her picture a camel crossed with a cow, loose in the palace so they could sneak out during the resulting chaos, left her in fits of hysterical laughter. Jaron was rolling his eyes at his mate. “It never had a chance of working. Sorcans are about the most passive beasts on Helan. The damn thing just stood stupidly in the hall until someone led it outside again. No chaos, and you two got in so much trouble. Not your smartest idea.”
R’oan pulled a face and poked his mate in the side. “Well excuse us, but it was the only animal we had access to, since someone who will remain nameless, Jaron, let the carsas loose in the halls in an attempt to avoid bath time.”
She watched their antics with delight and dropped her hand to cover her lower belly, wondering if they had managed to conceive a child already. Jaron’s eyes followed her hand, and he gazed at her speculatively. “Do you have any questions, Jacy?”
The heat rushed up her neck, and she felt the tips of her ears begin to burn. Jaron and R’oan were the perfect pair to answer her questions. They seemed open, nonjudgmental, and genuinely interested in helping her. The only thing holding her back was her own embarrassment. Maybe if she started off easy. “Do you have any other siblings?”
Jaron’s knowing grin melted into a soft, affectionate smile. “We have one younger brother, Nalan. He is only just turning twenty-one seasons and will be choosing his consort soon. He is the complete opposite of both myself and D’Arik. He is quiet, very studious, almost cripplingly shy, and very serious. He feels things so deeply, and I only hope that whomever he chooses will love him as deeply and completely as he will.”
Jacy smiled back, sucking in a deep breath. Before she could blurt out anything else, namely as to what happened to a child of the consort instead of the king, Varin walked back out and scooped
her up and into his lap. Perhaps she should resent the way the two men always seemed to manhandle her and treat her as if she was a child, but it felt too good to be cuddled up to one of them, damn it. “D’Arik’s asleep. Hopefully he’ll get a good rest this time.” He kissed her neck and linked his fingers with hers. “It seems you have a good effect on him.”
A small thrill of pride shot through her, and she nuzzled her face into his long hair, breathing in his intoxicating scent. She settled in and listened with half an ear to Varin’s conversation with the other men. She was almost asleep herself, Varin’s palm rubbing soft circles over the small of her back, when a stray comment by R’oan caught her attention. “Someone has organized a damn rebellion on Earth. D’Arik said more and more women are fleeing. Where the hell are they going, and how are they getting the resources to fund such a rebellion?”
Her heart jumped. Right before she had been escorted to the shuttle by her father and Varin, she had managed to speak with one of her previous bodyguards, who had agreed to transfer as much money as he could to Kim McManus, an activist she had met in university. She had slipped him her debit card and her pin number and had instructed him to give it all away to the budding rebellion. It seemed that Kim was doing her damndest to fight this situation. Pride filled her for another reason. As much as she was beginning to enjoy the two men’s company, she still chafed at the circumstances that had put her here.
She barely suppressed a yawn and shook her head. “Why am I so tired?”
Varin smiled down at her softly and tucked an errant lock of hair behind her ear. “You need time to adjust to the different gravity level here on the ship. It’s set for a slightly higher level than you’re used to. Your body will adjust soon.”
She nodded and laid her head back down on Varin’s shoulder, grateful for his strength. Finally, Varin signed off with R’oan and Jaron. He picked her up and sat down on some sort of chaise lounge, settling her in his lap. “Do you have any questions, lira?”
She fidgeted around, still unsure how to ask her question. “Jaron doesn’t look much like D’Arik, does he?”
Varin chuckled and pulled away so that he could look her in the face. “No, I suppose he doesn’t. But even on your planet, not all siblings look alike, do they?”
Okay, so she was just going to have to spit it out because Varin simply wasn’t picking up on her hints. “Do they share the same father?”
Varin looked a little startled at the abrupt question but answered her without hesitation. “No. Jaron is the blooded son of the old king and queen’s consort. Does that bother you?”
She couldn’t detect any judgment in his tone, just curiosity. She answered his question with one of her own. “So the consort is allowed to have children, too?”
Varin’s eyes softened and he stroked her hair. “Yes, lira, I can give you children, but make no mistake. All three of us will raise our children. Jaron is as much a Royal as D’Arik and Nalan, just as my blooded child will be.”
Something in her eased, the knots in her stomach dissolving. It was much easier to know that any eventual children she might bear would be loved and accepted by both men.
The vidscreen chimed, and Varin cursed. “Is there no end to this nonsense? If one more person asks me to wake D’Arik, I will strangle them.”
He set her on her feet gently and took the chair that D’Arik had previously vacated. “Yes.”
She had to bite back a smile at the bark of annoyance in Varin’s tone. It seemed the giant only had patience for D’Arik and herself. She hoped that whoever had contacted them had important news. “Consort, the rebellion on Earth has reached new levels. We will have to do something drastic soon if the females don’t stop fleeing the cities for the mountains.”
Oh dear. She had better leave before she gave herself away. She had never been particularly good at subterfuge, and there was some strange urge to confess all. She held up her hand, gaining Varin’s attention, who muted the vidscreen and looked up at her. “Is there some way I could walk around the ship, stretch my legs a little?”
He nodded and turned the vidscreen back on, requesting to whomever was on the other end to send someone to escort her wherever she wanted to go.
Oh joy, another bodyguard. It seemed that life with D’Arik and Varin might not be so different from life at home after all.
Chapter 13
Jacy hurried down the corridor. What could Varin want in the atrium? Jacy had spent three weeks on board the starship, circling Earth while they waited for Jaron and his consort to join them. She never got tired of the view from the atrium, but her men had only ever joined her when she pestered them into taking her. The Earth, looming large in the wall of windows, was always a comfort, and the fact that there was a real garden in full bloom, complete with trees of all different kinds, never failed to amaze her.
She could do without the constant shadow, though. She got that she somehow became queen when she mated D’Arik, but the least her bodyguards could do was talk to her. Her security detail back on Earth had at least shared the latest White House gossip with her. But no matter how much she tried to engage her bodyguards in conversation, they simply bowed and did the chest-thump thing before escorting her wherever she was supposed to go. Varin had told her it was because most of the males on the ship had never seen a female up close before, but come on. D’Arik was allowed to walk around by himself. It wasn’t like there was a chance for strangers to get on board without their knowledge.
The guard walked her to the atrium doors and left her with Varin after chest thumping at Varin and bowing to her. Varin seized her around the waist and bent her backward in a soul-searing kiss.
His lips were plump and soft and slid over hers with sensuous precision. Her stomach bottomed out, as it always did when one of her men kissed her. God, she was such a hussy. Just a few weeks ago she was arranging for every single penny she had to her name to go toward the evacuation of human women so that they wouldn’t be forced into the same situation she now found herself. Now, she was practically panting after every small sign of affection from the men she now lived with.
Varin eased away from her, holding her until she was steady on her feet again. “Hello to you, too,” she whispered against his lips.
He grinned, and she had to smile back. The grin lit up the whole hallway, and she wanted nothing more than to put that expression on his face permanently. “Why are we here?” she asked. He’d joined her in the atrium before, but she’d practically had to drag him with her. The flowers and trees held little interest for him.
The doors slid open, and he urged her in, securing the door behind her. Now no one would be able to wander in unannounced. Not that anyone spent much time here. Even the smaller males on the ship, from the science officer to the medical doctor, seemed to value strength and intelligence over feminine-type things.
A sweet, fresh scent wafted on the air, and she took a second to let it calm her. Her gaze roamed the room. It was so beautiful in here. Her eye caught on D’Arik, who was stretched out on a large blue blanket, fast asleep. A basket, a stack of plates, a bottle of fruit wine, and three wineglasses were next to him.
A picnic. They’d arranged a picnic for her.
Her heart melted, and she sent a questioning look up at Varin.
His smile had softened to one of gentle affection and love. “We’ve been researching some of the more romantic customs of your planet, and D’Arik thought it would be a good idea to arrange for a picnic for you. Except he fell asleep, and I didn’t have the heart to wake him.”
Oh, such sweet, dear men. “Let him sleep. He’s been so stressed.”
Varin heaved a sigh and nodded. “He has been stressed, today in particular. Another report came in from Helan. Apparently the statisticians were being overly optimistic about the population. It’s worse than we have been led to believe.”
A thread of fear whipped through her. Somewhere along the line, she’d become invested in the survival of the Helan spe
cies. She still didn’t agree with the way they were forcing the women of Earth to mate with Helan males against their will, but it would be a shame if such a proud race became extinct.
She tucked her hand in the crook of Varin’s elbow, and they strolled over to their sleeping mate. Even in his sleep, D’Arik wore an expression of intense concentration. “How much more stress can he take?” she whispered as she sat down next to him and stroked his blond hair.
Varin dropped to the blanket and shifted everyone around until he had D’Arik’s head in his lap and Jacy plastered to his side. “It was getting better, actually, until this morning. You have done wonders for him.” Varin kissed her forehead. “You’ve done wonders for me, too.”
Could this be any more romantic?
“Yes.” Jacy jumped at D’Arik’s answer. She was still getting used to the fact that the three of them could talk telepathically. She hadn’t quite learned how to mask her thoughts and emotions yet. “It would be much more romantic if one of your males wasn’t fast asleep.”
D’Arik sat up and kissed Varin gently, lingeringly. “I’m very happy to see you, liro.”
The two men had such a deep, loving relationship. They never said the words, but the tenderness with which they treated each other made up for that. The interaction between the two of them was beautiful to watch, and she always felt privileged to witness it. God, the contrast between the two of them, the dark skin against the fair, black hair mixing with blond, made for a stunning picture.
Their lips finally parted, and D’Arik lounged back against Varin when he turned around to face her. “Now, tell me, lira. Why didn’t you wake me up when you first came in?”
She knelt between D’Arik, leaned forward, and draped herself over his chest, letting Varin support both of them. “We weren’t here very long at all, and besides, you look like you needed the rest. You’ve been so stressed lately.”
