by Eva Brandt
I disengaged the connection between me and Scylla and opened the cockpit. The moment I emerged from my chimera, I caught sight of the others. It was not an encouraging view.
August was on his knees, breathing hard, his sweaty hair curling around his temples. Wild tachyon waves crackled at his fingertips, and he was obviously having trouble controlling the energy emissions. Knox was with him, and seemed to be talking him through the episode.
Meanwhile, Selene and Brendan were a little closer to me. The ground around them had cracked, as if a great force had attacked it from within. Selene met my eyes, swayed, and slumped against Brendan, obviously exhausted.
I ached for both of them, but I rushed to Selene’s side, simply because she was closer. “What’s going on?” I asked Brendan. “Is she going to be okay?”
Brendan grimaced. “She overused a skill she wasn’t accustomed to while trying to bring Scylla back under control. August is the same. We need to get them back to the dorms and make sure they’re safe.”
My heart fell as I listened to his explanation. “Fuck, I’m so sorry. This is all my fault.”
Now that I was with them, it was so easy to see that Stella had only been a memory, a projection of my own guilt and fears. How could I have let my feelings get the better of me to such an extent?
“No, it’s not, Pollux.” Brendan stared past my shoulder, at Scylla. “If you were going to have a breakdown about your sister, it would have happened a long time ago, not now. This is something different, and I’m going to find out what.”
Without another word, he picked Selene up in his arms. Together, we walked up to Knox and August, who were now standing as well. Granted, Knox had to support August on his shoulder, but at least August was cognizant and didn’t seem in any pain.
“Well, this was eventful,” he croaked out. “That’s one way of making sure I can still use my tachyon manipulation when I need it.”
I hadn’t even been aware that he had doubts about his skill. Maybe he’d felt it had been affected after the tournament. In hindsight, it made sense, since having a bad experience with extreme heat wasn’t all that encouraging for a potential mastery of tachyon usage.
How had I missed something so obvious? It had been right in front of me, but I’d thought August’s behavior had been caused by losing Charybdis.
What a clusterfuck.
And now, I’d just had a strange vision about my dead sister. Brendan was right. This whole thing had been planned. Chimera tamers were supposed to keep a cool head at all times, and what had just happened practically disqualified me as a pilot—as long as anyone found out about it, at least. But who would have the knowledge and the ability to do something like that to me? Was it related to the problem with our chimera’s abilities and diet? The thought chilled me to the bone.
But dwelling on that fear now wouldn’t help me, and neither would blaming myself for my lapse. Relying on my chimeras to keep our secret, I followed the others back into the academy. Somehow, we’d figure out what had happened. If we had to take drastic steps to make sure this incident didn’t repeat itself, we’d do that too.
“I’m sorry, Stella,” I silently told my dead sister, “but for their sake, I’ll have to become what I hate the most. I hope you’ll forgive me one day.”
There was no reply, but I didn’t expect one. My sister was gone and whoever had tried to make it seem otherwise would pay the price for their deception.
* * *
Selene
After my lesson with my mother, I’d arrived at the academy feeling tired and confused. I wasn’t sure what direction I was headed in when it came to my powers and it left me unbalanced. I hoped speaking to Sphinx would give me some clarity.
My plan didn’t work out well at all. I stopped to speak to August, and during our conversation, everything went awry all over again. Scylla was out of control, attacking Cerberus and Typhon. A strange mist surrounded her, so thick I wouldn’t have been able to see her at all if she hadn’t been flailing around so much. But standing around there watching did absolutely nothing, so August and I rushed in to help.
August insisted on absorbing the excess tachyon particles himself, while instructing me to anchor Scylla after he was done. I had my doubts about this plan, more so since it heavily relied on me having enough skill with Gaia’s Gift to succeed.
Somehow, I managed. As August reached into the air and pulled, Scylla stopped moving around so much and I found the right moment to strike. I didn’t aim for Scylla, though. Instead, I reached for Pollux. He was the one in trouble and the chimera’s behavior was only a consequence of his problem.
That knowledge didn’t prepare me for the strange confrontation I had with Pollux’s sister in that indistinct space. I didn’t know much about her. In truth, I hadn’t been aware he’d even had a sister, and if I hadn’t caught glimpses of Pollux’s thoughts while I’d been trying to find him, I might have believed she was actually a lover. Either way, they’d obviously been close and she didn’t like me much.
I didn’t think I could have fought her off had she actually tried to attack me. But it didn’t come to that at all. Pollux ended the confrontation by choosing me over her. I’d have been happier about it had the whole episode not made it clearer than ever that we were in a lot of trouble.
When I came to, I was once again on the training field. At one point, Brendan had made his way to my side. “You did very well, princess,” he whispered in my ear. “You saved us. Good job.”
“August?” I croaked out. I felt like I’d been run over by a chimera, but that didn’t worry me right now. “Pollux?”
“They’re fine. You’ll see them in a bit.”
I believed him, but I wasn’t truly reassured until Pollux joined us and we met up with August and Knox. August could stand on his own. I wasn’t so lucky and Brendan had to carry me to the dorm.
As we made our way through the academy, I drifted into a restless state of near-sleep. I was distantly aware of the hum of light conversation around me, but at the same time, I couldn’t quite understand what the others were saying. I only woke up when we reached the dorm and Brendan set me down on my bed.
For a few moments, I decided to just lie there. Brendan was petting my hair, and I had no desire to move. I didn’t stir even when I heard Brendan reach for that tablet of his and start tapping on the display.
“Can you think of anyone who could project an image of your sister in your mind?”
“My parents, maybe?” Pollux suggested. “But I don’t know why they’d want to do that, now of all times.”
“It might have been someone from the academy,” August said tiredly, “if the goal was to destroy your career. Tartarus only knows we have enough people interested in destroying us.”
Brendan let out a deep sigh. “My father claimed the attack at the tournament got out of hand, but I’m not sure I’m that convinced.”
“Chimeras have been the ultimate authority for centuries,” Knox offered. “It’s not out of the question that people would start having trouble with this. Since The Apsid Wars are over, they might not think destroying us is dangerous.”
At that, I finally decided to stop eavesdropping and cracked my eyes open. “We have to consider the possibility that it was someone from Terra. Based on the experience I’ve had as of late, they don’t like Chimera nobility much. Their opinion of Tartarus Base isn’t very different from what you all think of Terrans.”
Taking that into account, I could think of one powerful Terran who could have affected Scylla and Pollux. But I didn’t want to deem my mother capable of such a thing. She didn’t like the members of my unit, but she was too smart to make such rash decisions.
“Anyway, we’re not going to figure this out in one day.” Brendan set the tablet aside and curled around me on the bed. “We need to get some rest. It’s been a long day.”
That was the understatement of the century. The last time I’d been so exhausted must’ve been after that blas
ted tournament when I’d almost killed myself in the mirror trial, then healed August and gone hunting after Charybdis’s lost form.
The Chimera Flight Training session had been our last class for the day, so we had some free time until dinner. Normally, I’d spend that doing homework or extra workouts, but right now, both those things were a physical impossibility. We could, in theory, go along with Brendan’s idea.
Even so, I didn’t think I could sleep. Seeing Scylla like that had frightened me too much. “I’m not in a very relaxed mood,” I admitted. “Want to help?”
I didn’t mean for the words to come out flirtatious, but they did. Brendan shot me a surprised look. My face flamed and I opened my mouth to take back my foolish offer. Before I could do so, Pollux joined us on the bed and swept his hand over my thigh. Even through the material of my uniform, his touch felt electrifying. “Absolutely. We’d be happy to help. I think we all need some relaxation, and sometimes, rest just doesn’t cut it.”
“I couldn’t agree more,” Brendan replied.
It came as no surprise that, once again, they decided to move me to Knox’s bed. It was the biggest one and we needed the room. I hoped that, at some point in the future, we’d be able to make different arrangements, because even like this, we barely fit and I kept feeling like I’d kick someone in the face or claw their eyes out.
I loved having four lovers, but seriously, sometimes the dynamic was so complicated.
For them, it was much easier. Once the decision was made—and that had probably been two seconds after I’d opened my big mouth to blurt out the suggestion—the plan was in place. They were already sliding off my uniform, moving in complete synch, already threatening to overheat my body.
Gaia’s Gift drifted to the back of my mind, overshadowed by the presence of four men with so much raw tachyon energy at their disposal. I didn’t mind it. I surrendered to them, even more eager to have them inside me than I usually was.
Everything was going wrong. Our relationship, our futures, our dreams—we were falling apart and we couldn’t track down the real reason. But we still had this, and I still had faith that they’d never be able to lie to me when our bodies were one.
Knox kissed me, and my doubts and fears vanished like they’d never been there at all. Brendan tossed off my boots and finished pulling off my uniform, but didn’t stop there. His fingers squeezed my ankle, the hold as unbreakable as a shackle. “Sometimes,” he confessed, “I just want to tie you down to us and never let you go. That way, I’ll always know that no one can steal you.”
I wanted to point out I wasn’t the one at risk here. August had been attacked at the tournament, and now Pollux had become a target. Brendan was important because of his position, and Knox’s long-term association with Brendan made him a person of interest too. If King Philip was to be believed, I wasn’t that important in the big picture.
But I was important to them, and at that moment, nothing else mattered. Pollux lowered his mouth to my left breast and started sucking on my nipple. As he flicked his tongue over the pebbled nub, I moaned into Knox’s kiss, wordlessly asking for more.
On my other side, August caressed my abdomen, his fingers making a beeline for the apex of my thighs. The promise in his touch made me spread my legs in invitation. Brendan groaned. He was right in front of me, so I’d given him a full view of my genitals. “I don’t think I’ll ever get used to how beautiful you are like this, princess.”
“I did tell you, Brendan,” August murmured, sliding his digits over my slick folds. “Like sunlight.”
After that, everyone set all thoughts of conversation aside. They all became too busy lavishing my body with attention, which was just the way I liked it.
At first, they took their time. They might have said we’d had a long day and we needed rest, but they were definitely not in a rush to reach the unavoidable conclusion of our intimacy. Knox made love to my mouth with almost uncharacteristic gentleness, while Pollux continued kissing and caressing my breasts. August slid a single finger into my pussy, whereas Brendan decided it was a great idea to explore my more unusual erogenous zones. He sucked on my toes, licked my feet and swirled his tongue around my ankle joint.
Their touches today contrasted sharply with most of what we’d shared in the past. They’d always been obscenely passionate with me, to the point of brutality. I’d loved it, because that fire and violence echoed the dark need that burned inside me. But now, they were almost worshipful, as if I was a deity, a part of Tartarus or maybe Gaia herself.
It confused me, but I let it happen. No matter what we did together, everything would always still feel right. My body was theirs to use and claim as they pleased. If this was what they wanted today, I was more than up for it.
As it turned out, it didn’t take them long to lose their patience. It was August who decided on a change. A surge of heat erupted through me, coming from that sole digit he was using to tease me. At the same time, he rubbed my clit with his thumb, and his skin was so hot it was a miracle I wasn’t in pain when he touched me.
Then again, the pleasure was so intense I could’ve almost called it pain. Tachyon particles came together inside me in a frantic, mad rush. My body flared to life, lighting up from within like a star.
I couldn’t hope to contain my power, not right now, and it showed. The ecstasy I experienced echoed straight into my other lovers. Their reaction didn’t disappoint. Growling, Knox bit my lips so hard I tasted blood in my mouth. He gripped my neck in a hold so tight I almost feared I’d suffocate. At the same time, Pollux decided to straddle me. He brought my breasts together and thrust his penis in the valley between the two globes.
My bust size had actually decreased a little since my arrival at the academy, but not by much. The strenuous exercise had changed my body in more than one way, but for the most part, my breasts remained almost as big as they’d been on Terra. My lovers had always shown a great deal of enthusiasm over this particular part of my physique, and Pollux was no different today.
I enjoyed it almost as much as he did. I loved feeling his cock between my breasts, the glide of his shaft against my skin, the feel of his precum as he spread it all over my body. His pubic hair would occasionally rub against my sensitive nipples, adding an extra layer of sensation.
At a different time, I’d have tried to tease him with my mouth too, but that part of me had been taken over by Knox. I honestly deemed it miraculous they even managed to move around each other so easily, even if there was only one of me and four of them. It was a good thing I was tall, because otherwise, it would have been much tougher.
August thrust another finger into my greedy pussy, and I could’ve sworn those wicked digits were touching my very core. I sobbed into Knox’s kiss, but the sound came out muffled and choked.
Knox finally pulled away, deciding I deserved a bit of a break. I had just enough time to draw a couple of breaths before Pollux moved up and thrust his cock into my mouth.
If I’d had trouble breathing before, when Knox had been holding my neck, it became almost impossible now. The heat August had summoned seemed to suck out the remaining air in my lungs. Spots started dancing in front of my eyes.
I didn’t struggle. All I could think about was that, if I died like this, I wouldn’t mind it. I would be happy to drift away into nothing, as long as it was their fire that turned me to ash.
At the last moment, just as I thought I was about to lose consciousness, August and Pollux pulled away. Their sudden absence left me feeling dazed, limp and lost. I lay there, blinking at them, not sure what had just happened.
I wanted to ask, but my tongue felt like lead in my mouth. Left without another option, I extended my hand, trying to reach out to them.
Knox took my shaking palm and brought his lips to my knuckles. It was strikingly old-fashioned, something deemed out of date even on Terra. I’d have giggled, but Knox’s version of the gesture came with ulterior motives. Before I knew what was going on, he started sucking
on my fingers, and my amusement promptly fled. We’d done far crazier stuff, but this strange mimicry of fellatio was still very distracting.
He did it on purpose too, the asshole. When the haze of pleasure started to descend on me again, gentle and tender, he flipped me around and suddenly thrust his cock into me.
I screamed. He wasn’t too brutal in his entry, but my body was oversensitive, as if I’d just been badly sunburned. Every nerve seemed exposed, unprotected. When he touched me, it felt ten times more intense than before.
He pressed me into the mattress and fucked deep into me, using me as his own personal toy. He didn’t bother touching me in any other way, but I was grateful for it. If he had, I might have well and truly lost my mind.
When he grabbed my hair and pulled, I could’ve sworn he tore some of the strands right out of my scalp. And when his fingers clutched my hip, the sharp tips of his claws dug into my flesh.
It hurt, but I didn’t reject the pain. On the contrary, I accepted it and embraced it. I reveled in it. His strength overwhelmed me, turned me into a creature of pure passion, but I wouldn’t have had it any other way.
“Selene,” he croaked out, and that was it. The sound of my name on his lips forced me over the edge. My pussy tightened around him, drawing him in deeper. With an almost animalistic growl, Knox buried his cock one last time inside me and came.
If I’d been inclined to think they were done with me, I couldn’t have been more wrong. Knox pulled out, and Brendan took his place. His thrusts were slower, but still just as harsh, his viciousness quieter, but just as intense as Knox’s. He held me down and pushed my face against the pillows, so I couldn’t move a muscle as he took his pleasure. He didn’t need to try too hard to immobilize me. Still riding the waves of my orgasm, I was utterly helpless.
My world blurred, turning into a sea of pleasure and lust. Eventually, Brendan came too, and August replaced him. His heat threatened to melt me from within, and I came again, sobbing. August ended up pulling me into his lap, and Pollux silenced my tears when he buried his cock deep into my ass.