In our movie room, I got comfortable on one of our large, bed-like couches while Dario covered me with a red blanket, and Peter climbed up to snuggle with me under it. Thunderdrop sat near Neema and Niklos where he supervised the spiderling’s behavior. “Is she okay?” I asked him.
“Chirp,” he positively replied.
“Wow. From now on, you won’t be the only spider in the family. You’ll have company. What do you think of that?”
“Chirp! Chirp! Chirp!”
After Dario got himself situated beside me, I propped my feet up on his legs. “Comfortable?” he asked and kissed the top of my head.
A twinge in my back had me shifting with Peter in my arms. “No.” Moving my hand to my back, I showed him where it hurt. With strong fingers, he began a careful massage of my aches and pains. Thinking back to when I had gotten Thunderdrop, I took Dario’s vid-screen and called Simon.
“Greetings, sweet cousin. Are you ready for another camping trip so soon?” He had Suzy in his arms but handed her to Isidora.
“Oh, no. I’m still feeling the effects of our most recent one. I’m calling about something else. I need your guidance.”
Intrigued, he asked, “Oh, and about what might that be?” I turned the screen so he could see Niklos with his spiderling. “One of your spiders bonded with your son. Remarkable. Congratulations,” he said with sincerity.
“When you gave Thunderdrop to me, you also supplied us with permits. What do I need to do for Niklos and his new friend? He says she’s female. Will that be a problem?” I worried about being denied permission to remove her from Arachne. She wasn’t exactly old enough to make her own decisions. However, if it came down to getting into trouble or my son having a broken heart, I’d be getting into trouble.
“It’s your spider from your land. It shouldn’t be a problem. I’ll take care of everything.” Simon was a Montgomery, a member of one of the most prominent ruling families of Arachne, but then so was I. If he said he could handle the details, I trusted him.
“Thank you, my strong, handsome, brilliant cousin.”
Grinning at me, he said, “You’re quite welcome.”
“I’ll talk to you later. My back hurts.” Ending the call, and with one less thing to worry about, I pointed out a new area for Dario to rub.
Joining us, Fitz reclined on a nearby sofa and fell asleep with Flake and Neema curled up beside him.
It was an hour or so later when Yukihyo returned. Navigating his way around the nappers, he sat near my feet. “Pullman now has enough wood to sculpt to keep him content for months. He gave his regards before taking his leave.”
Dario said, “It doesn’t hurt to have a friend on the Constantine, but then again they probably think it doesn’t hurt to have someone who they trust welcomed amongst us.”
“They had Quaid and Eric before the two of them abandoned us for their mission. I want nothing more than to get to the bottom of this alien mystery first and then rub their noses in it for being dicks.” I started thinking about all of the clay dicks on my ship, the ones Rovek had returned to me gift wrapped.
Yukihyo lifted the sphere from around my neck, the one in which two slivers of an alien lifeform had been reunited. “Oh, I have a feeling we will. We have a secret weapon.”
I had started to doze off when Neema said, “Coco! Look!”
Yukihyo was starting a new movie for her, but she had gotten distracted by Nico’s arrival. Fully opening my eyes, I discovered that Peter had left me for Dario’s lap. Nico sat beside Niklos and Neema. “What do we have here?” He ran his hand over Niklos’ head, smoothing down his hair and plucking a bit of web from it.
“See her? She’s mine. I have a best friend like Mommy does. Say hi to Daddy,” he coaxed.
She tried to make a sound. It wasn’t exactly a chirp, but it was close. Thunderdrop chirped to the baby spider, and my heart turned to mush. He was teaching her to communicate.
I started crying again and couldn’t stop.
“Hug Mommy, Peter. There you go,” Dario said as he encouraged Peter to place his arms around my neck.
“She not sad, brother. She doing that happy-cry thing again.” Neema sighed with considerable exaggeration.
Nico said, “She is a very fine spider indeed. Right now, she is a newly hatched spider, but she will grow to be big and strong like you.” He stroked a finger down her back.
Niklos nodded. “She’s a good Itsy spider.”
“What are you going to name her?” Nico asked.
Niklos’ shrugged at his daddy’s question. “I don’t know. Will she tell me, Mommy?”
Wiping my eyes, I said, “Thunderdrop helped me pick out his name. After she learns to say yes and no, you can give her choices.”
Nico said, “You have to take good care of her. You’ll need to feed her and play with her.”
“I know. Mommy told me. I fed her spider food. She isn’t good at hunting rats. She told me.”
“She told you?” Nico asked.
Niklos nodded. “She shows me stories in my head. It’s a picture book with no words.”
Looking at me, Nico asked, “Is that so?”
It was my turn to nod verification.
“Brilliant,” Nico said.
“Where have you been?” I asked.
“With the Lady Gina Montgomery and a few Galaxic officials. The fine with which I was penalized for blasting the Empress free in order to protect our family has been mitigated. Gina argued that I acted under extreme duress, and prior to the event I had been adhering to Galaxic protocol.”
“No one can win an argument against Gina.”
Later that evening, after the children were asleep in their beds, I soaked in my deep tub until my fingers shriveled and then joined Yukihyo, Nico, Fitz, and Dario in our spacious bed. However, they had no intentions of letting me sleep. Fitz wrapped his warm, strong fingers around my ankle, brought my foot up to his shoulder, and kissed his way down along my thigh to my center. I moaned while he stroked my delicate center with his tongue. The room was dark but for the filtered moonlight bathing us through the window. He caressed my body with his hands and then pushed his tongue within me, driving me to the brink and pulling away.
“Fitz,” I pleaded.
Lifting his face from between my thighs, he filled me with his huge, hard length. I reached up to bring him down to me, but Yukihyo and Nico each took one of my wrists and brought my hands down to their own throbbing members, kissing my neck as they did and working their way down. They trapped my hands between their rigid shafts and the mattress, moving within my squeezing hands while Fitz moved within me. Gripping each of them, I moved my hands up and down their lengths while Fitz pumped himself in and out of me. As pleasure and some shock built within me at what we were doing, I spiraled pleasure through the three of them while I came. I felt hot spurts against my sides as Yukihyo and Nico found their releases. Fitz moved from above me, and Nico lifted me and moved me to a clean part of the bed, a part where Dario, having watched us, waited for me with a feral hunger and a dick so hard that it looked like it would break. He growled deep in his chest, pushed my thighs apart, and pushed himself within me. I knew he wanted to slam himself into me over and over until he came, but instead he was gentle, slow, and careful. The control it took made the veins in his arms and neck prominent. I didn’t spiral pleasure through him. I wanted him to work for his release. Clutching the sheets, my back arched from the bed as my release sent an electric twinge from my clit through the top of my head. Panting, my eyes squeezed shut with the force of it. Dario kept rocking himself in and out of me, bringing me pleasure twice more before succumbing to his own release with a primal yell.
Moving to my side, he brought my hand up to his chest so that I could feel the pounding of his heart. After our hearts calmed, I went to shower off with my husbands surrounding me as if I were their sun.
Chapter Fourteen
After a late breakfast with the children, we loaded into transports and dr
ove to my favorite shops. They were built above the ground and connected by a series of wooden walkways and swinging bridges amongst Arachne’s magnificent trees.
“Ugh. Mommy, how long is this gonna take?” Neema whined.
Instead of explaining the importance of being seen and drawing attention to ourselves as we had been told to do, I asked, “Why? Do you have plans or something you’d rather do?”
“We just got lots of toys with Uncle Sherman.” She put a hand on her hip.
I said, “This isn’t a toy trip. It’s a baby trip.”
Her eyes grew large in her face. “We buying babies?”
Yukihyo laughed and picked her up, holding her on his hip. “We are here to purchase things for your little sisters.”
She clutched at the neckline of his shirt and tilted her head to the side. “Oh, babies need toys.” Yukihyo made a skeptical sound and was about to say no when she said, “Oh. We gots lots of toys to share, so they need clothes.”
“Very good. You have figured out why we are on this mission.” I reached up to rub circles on her back.
Nico picked up Niklos and his baby spider. “I can walk,” Niklos argued.
Nico said, “Yes, you can and will do so after we are up the stairs. You wouldn’t want to trip and hurt your spider, would you?”
“No, sir.”
When Nico had leaned down, I’d seen a small listening device in his ear. Scanning our surroundings, I spotted Walter and Rozz. Kaoti was still enjoying family time with Violet and Poppy. She had been eager to visit friends and to show off her growing family. “Don’t tell me to stop worrying. I’m not worried,” I said to Rozz.
He smirked at me and gave me a sardonic salute.
Thunderdrop walked at my side. I asked him, “Do you remember our first trip together to these shops? You rode on top of my head.” I smiled down into his sparkling black eyes.
“Chirp!” He showed me an image of himself if he were to sit atop my head today and made me laugh.
“Yes, you have grown too big for that now. I don’t think my neck is strong enough.”
“Chirp clack chirp.” He showed me an image of Cass.
“Yes, you’re almost as big as he is. One day, you’ll be as big as ZeeZee.”
He liked the thought of that. As soon as our family made it up the stairs and onto the wooden platforms surrounding the shops, we began drawing attention. Children begged their parents to let them get closer to Thunderdrop. Neema squirmed until Yukihyo put her down. Once she had her feet on the walkway, she was at Thunderdrop’s side, posing with a hand on his back. She talked to the kids who were being kept at a respectful distance by their parents, who had as deep of a love for the planet’s Silk spiders as their children if not deeper. The love was mutual and a part of the Arachnean soul.
Neema said, “This is Thunderdrop. He’s my friend. He’s smart. He can play games and lots of stuff.”
“Chirp!”
“We all take pictures now?” She smiled and posed.
I rolled my eyes and had to step in to supervise.
“Daddy, please put us down,” Niklos said.
“Yeah, Coco! Put Nik down. Nik’s my brother. He gots a rack knee spider like Mommy.” She motioned to Niklos to join her with his spiderling. Then, she soaked up the adoration. Neema was all smiles. She thrived on attention.
Eyes were filled with awe.
“What’s his name?” a boy asked.
Neema said, “I just told you. His name is Nik.”
“Neema, he means Niklos’ new companion. One at a time, please,” I said while facilitating picture time.
Niklos behaved like a stoic little general. “We haven’t picked one yet,” he said while stroking her back. “She’s a girl.” His spiderling crawled to his neck and burrowed under his shirt. “She’s scared,” he said as he looked up at me.
“Keep her safe in your shirt. She’ll come back out when she’s ready.”
The children stood on their toes and tried to see inside of his shirt. He said, “She’s never been away from home. She’s scared. I have to protect her.” His words were imbued with a fierce protectiveness but were also apologetic.
A little girl with pale blue eyes said, “It’s okay.” She smiled coyly at him, posed for a picture with Neema and Thunderdrop, and then went along with her family.
“Hey, you. Yeah, you. Want a picture?” Neema asked a shy teenage boy.
Grinning bashfully, he walked over and kneeled. Pulling out his vid-screen, which was as nice as the one Sherman had given to Neema, he took a few pictures.
I frowned. “I want a new vid-screen,” I told Fitz.
Peter was in his arms and was doing his best to grab the leaves above our heads. He had drawn almost as much attention as our spiders. Not many Galaxic citizens had seen an Eloneave in person. I heard a father explaining to his daughter that Peter was a little boy like all the others even if he had a slightly different appearance. It was only an outer difference.
Fitz said, “Yours is a few years old.” He smiled, obviously amused by my technological jealousy. Our audience finally started to disperse. “Here. Take Peter, and I’ll go find you the most advanced model to be found.”
“Deal.” I held my hands out to take my baby. “Come to Mommy.” Then, I announced, “Let the shopping commence!”
It wasn’t long before I was sending Dario and Nico back to the transports with bags of silk baby blankets, socks, booties, and nightgowns. Then, Fitz found us, but he was empty-handed. I frowned at him.
Laughing, he said, “I put my bags in the transport before returning to you.”
“Did you get me one?”
“Of course.” He winked at me.
“Okay. I’m done here. I want to go to the indoor market next.”
“Ugh. Mommy.” Neema tilted her head back and made a noise in her throat.
“They have lots of good food there, and you can have whatever you want.” I tried to placate her.
Shrugging, she said, “Oh, okay.”
After a little drive, we were there. We spent an hour eating. I got Thunderdrop some honeyed chicken from his favorite place which he shared with the spiderling. Children and adults were in awe of them, and I watched as Niklos practically swelled with pride over his new friend. He supervised while Peter and Neema gently patted her. Yukihyo walked off to stock up on stuffed olives and other delicacies. When everyone was full, Nico took the kids and spiders up to the enclosed play area so I could shop.
While perusing pink ruffled tutus and tiny T-shirts, Yukihyo said, “You are enjoying yourself. It’s good to see you so relaxed and happy.”
Lifting up on my toes, I kissed his beautiful lips. “This is a fun activity to which you introduced me, husband. I am having a lovely time.”
Taking my hand, he lifted it to his lips and kissed my knuckles.
I could see in his eyes that he was up to something and knew exactly what it was. “So, is he here?”
Yukihyo grinned at me. He knew exactly about whom I asked. He enjoyed few things so much as watching Mr. Dade Sonner’s eyes bulge each time I brought a new husband home to Arachne. He shook his head. “Alas, he is away on business for his parents.” He shrugged.
“You asked?” I smirked up at him.
Pretending to be insulted, he said, “Lady Wife, it is rude not to call upon friends after a long absence.”
Poking a finger into his chest, I asked, “Who did you have prepared to record his reaction this time?”
Throwing his head back, he laughed long and loud. “One of your guards. It’s alright. Perhaps on our next visit, all of us will be able to accompany you. I would love nothing more than to see his reaction to Izaac and Gravy.”
I sighed at his ribbing, but then my thoughts took me to the mission on which they’d gone. Then, I thought of Malta, the miners who’d abducted me, and the restitution I’d been granted. Inquisitors didn’t give a shit about restitution in credits. They wanted it in screams and blood.
The next morning at the breakfast table, Neema yawned so hard that some of the cereal fell out of her mouth. Scowling at the offending piece, she picked it up from where it had stuck to her blue starship and comet pajamas and ate it. “What we doing today?”
I smiled at her. Her hair was going everywhere. “We’re cleaning the house today.”
Neema looked at me in disgust as if I had farted at the table. Nico’s expression mirrored hers. Neema looked around. “Where’re Otto and Rolf?”
“They are at home on Parvac. Listen, I’m the boss here. This is our home, and we’re cleaning it ourselves.”
Neema wiped at a drop of milk on her chin with the back of her hand. “You’re always the boss, but why we gots to clean?”
“You don’t have to do anything other than putting your toys away. Then, you and your brothers can play in the movie room. You don’t even have to get dressed.”
“We wear our sleeping clothes all day?” she asked excitedly.
“Yep.”
That got her off my ass.
“I can hire a cleaning crew,” Dario offered.
“Nope. This is our private sanctuary, and I don’t want strangers in here cleaning it. I can clean my own house.” I started typing out a list on my fancy new vid-screen.
Hearing the stubborn resolve in my voice, Fitz said, “Pick a chore. She won’t budge on this. I’ll do the dusting.”
Yukihyo glared at him, knowing dusting was the easiest chore on my list. “I will do the windows,” he said.
Nico and Dario leaned closer. I wasn’t surprised to end up getting stuck with the bathrooms.
Even with all of the playing, breaks we took for snacks and lunch, and a bubbly explosive mess when Nico tried to do the dishes, the house was immaculate by the end of the day.
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