War For Earth: An Alien War Romance (Galactic Order Book 3)

by Erin Raegan

  “I feel your need,” he purred. “I will ease it, be still.”

  “Faster,” I gasped.

  He did. I clawed at his neck and back, chanting faster and harder. He snarled and took my mouth, darting his tongue inside and fucking me with it. I made a needy, frustrated sound, and he went up and onto his knees. He palmed my ass, imprisoning my body, and pumped up into me. His other hand smoothed down my back and into the crack of my ass, grinding me against his pelvis. My wound caught on his belly, but I ignored it, crying out and begging him.

  “That’s it,” he purred, licking down my neck. “Scream for me, sweets.”

  I screamed and bit his shoulder, digging my nails into his neck. Euphoria moved through me like a smooth wave, building, and building, tumbling me over and sending me crashing. He snarled and growled before he shoved himself all the way inside me and exploded, roaring my name.

  We held each other, panting. My heart beat heavily against his chest as he whispered my name and sucked and nibbled along my shoulder.

  Then the door slid open.

  I tensed and looked back, catching the rage and pain in Olynth’s eyes before he hid it and looked at Fihk coldly. “We have arrived on Dahk One. You are needed.”

  Fihk watched him carefully before looking back down and licking my bottom lip. “I must go,” he said, his voice heavy with regret.

  I nodded and hesitantly kissed him back. Olynth had said not to worry about them, so I wasn’t going to. Not unless I had to. Olynth hadn’t torn me off of Fihk, so I would take that as progress.

  Fihk laid me down and covered me with a sheet before nuzzling my neck. He walked around the room slowly, not an ounce of embarrassment about his nakedness in front of Olynth. He dressed and stepped up to him. “Ours?”

  Olynth clenched his jaw and nodded once stiffly. Fihk clenched Olynth’s shoulder and, with one last look back at me, left.

  “Hey, big guy,” I said hesitantly.

  He turned and rummaged through a compartment before coming back with a soft pair of pants and shirt. He dropped them on the bed and lifted me. I stood still and let him dress me, but he was detached and stiff as he did so. He didn’t look me in the eye.

  “Hey,” I said again and pressed my palm to his cheek.

  He dropped my shirt and turned his face into my palm, closing his eyes. He rumbled a low, contented sound and pulled me up and into his chest, pressing my face to his neck.

  “We’re okay,” I whispered. “We’re okay, right?” My stomach was knotted, and my eyes stung. I hated how this was making me feel.

  How was I supposed to handle the both of them?

  He grunted and inhaled in my neck, breathing me in. “What did I say?”

  I looked at him, knowing my face showed my worry. “But―”

  “Do not fear me,” he growled. “I will not hurt you ever.”

  “I’m not worried about me,” I said and sniffed.

  “I will not hurt him. But that does not mean I will not think of it.” I laughed, and he sighed. “It will take time, ruhasha.”

  I nodded and hugged him.

  “Come, Nahythahn waits for you.”

  He didn’t need to tell me twice. I let him finish dressing me and walked out of the room with him, barefoot. The floor was cold, so I let him carry me to my brother.

  He was on the command deck with Star, Linda, Nick, and the other Dahk. And a human man was there. Olynth placed me on a table, stood beside me, and crossed his arms.

  Nathan grinned at me and pointed out the window. “Look, Bails. It’s huge!”

  I looked out at Dahk One. We had seen it from afar, but now we were pretty much attached to its side. Out of the window, I could see the side of Dahk One, and it went on for so long, I couldn’t see the end of it. It was like a floating city. Off in the distance, I could make out the Vitat mothership. It was the size of my hand from where we were and surrounded by hundreds of little specks.

  The Dahk and Kilbus fighting ships.

  “About the size of Texas,” the man I had never seen before drawled from beside Tohn. “I’m Ford.”

  Ford walked up to me and held out his hand. Olynth glared at him until Ford grinned and backed away.

  “Bailey.” I smiled back at him.

  “He was a friend with Peyton and the others.” Tohn grinned at Ford. “He has come back to Earth for vengeance, but he was too late.”

  We chatted and exchanged stories with Ford as we waited to board Dahk One. We found out he was a marine and had helped the Dahk in the first days of the invasion. He’d left with them to go to Home World when he was injured but, after he’d recovered, decided to come back to help defeat the Vitat.

  When it was time to leave the smaller battleship, Oren left to go back with the Kilbus, not explaining the absence of his lord, but he pressed a kiss to Star’s hand, grinning at her blush. Nick and Nathan both scowled at the alien pirate. It was a little weird. The guy was likely hundreds of years old, if not more, and Star was only sixteen, but Oren didn’t seem predatory, just affectionate. Still, I would kick his ass if he put any moves on her.

  Mufasa was nowhere to be found, most likely already gone.

  Dahk One was indeed huge. We entered the ship through a ramp that was one of hundreds. It looked like a beehive inside, railings circling and spiraling down. Miles of open space in between each side of the inside of the ship.

  A crew of ten Dahk escorted our group. No one spoke as we took in all the sights of Dahk One. It was like a city, with hundreds and hundreds of Dahk. But grief was heavy in the air. They were suffering and clearly confused. Many watched us with trepidation and accusation in their eyes but just as many were welcoming and respectful.

  Olynth carried me the whole way, so I didn’t have to walk so far. And it was far. We must have walked through hallways and giant rooms for twenty minutes. We stopped in an open galley-type room, dubbed the Great Hall, and were given mounds and mounds of food. Way better food then we had had on the infinitely smaller battleship.

  Nathan dug in and inhaled his plate, hounding Tohn for more as the dozens of Dahk around us watched. A dog barked and trotted into the room, then barreled into Ford. He braced and patted the dog, letting him slobber all over his hand. I raised a brow at him.

  “Bobo! Get yer ass back here,” another man shouted as he jogged into the room. He was a short man, in his sixties at least.

  “Cohlt.” Tohn grinned and bowed to the man.

  Colt waved Tohn away and dropped down beside Ford, grabbing a plate and digging into the food. Ford rolled his eyes and went over to the counters of food. The dog followed him.

  “Another friend of Peyton’s?” Linda asked.

  Colt snorted, shooting crumbs across the table. Linda backed away with a horrified expression. I snickered with Nate.

  “If stealin’ from me and gettin’ me caught up on a UFO is friends,” Colt mumbled and stuffed his face with a big purple hunk of meat.

  Tohn nodded and grinned at her. “He was in the human armies and also returned to enact vengeance.”

  “I heard those cowards surrendered,” Colt said around his food.

  “Yes, they did not have the numbers to defend themselves. The Kilbus took out their army’s commander while we were on Earth.”

  “You’re a veteran?” Nick asked curiously.

  Colt puffed up his chest. “Back in ‘Nam.” Then he stood and ran over to the food.

  We all looked between each other.

  Ford chuckled and sat back down. “He’s an acquired taste.”

  “Like this food,” Linda mumbled and poked at a wet, pink rectangle.

  “It’s good.” Ford nodded. “Better on Home World.”

  “What’s it like there?” Nate asked excitedly and bent over the table toward him.

  He grinned. “Beautiful. You’ll like it.”

  “I don’t know if we’re going there,” I said before I could stop myself.

  Olynth placed his hand on my thigh. Nate whin
ed my name.

  Ford cocked his head and looked between Olynth and me. “You’re his Pythe, right?”

  “And Fihk’s,” Nate added snottily.

  I scowled at Nate.

  Ford whistled and Colt chuckled. “I figured. He lost his mind tryin’ to get to you.”

  My belly warmed. He lost his mind?

  “I ain’t never seen him so worked up. He’s normally the calmest of them.” Colt nodded toward the other Dahk. Then he looked at me, his face a little hard. “Tahk needs him back on Home World.”

  Olynth growled.

  I glared at him. “For what?”

  Tohn looked between us. “Our queen is missing, kidnapped.” Tohn looked at Ford strangely when he muttered something under his breath. “The Juldo took her. Tahk and the king are searching for her.”

  “You have a new king?” Linda asked.

  “Uthyf, Aryx’s brother,” Vylbor said. “He was a member of Tahk’s council. He is a good Dahk and will make a good king.”

  “He’s not like his brother?” I asked suspiciously. The last place we needed to go was to an alien planet with another corrupt king.

  “No, he is honorable and the reason behind the Kilbus aiding us,” Fihk said from behind me, surprising me, and bent over to kiss my neck. I looked up at him. “I would like to escort you to your rooms.”

  We left our plates and followed him out of the Great Hall. Colt stayed with the food. We walked for a little longer and down a hallway with dozens of rooms. Linda, Nick, and Star were shown to a suite with two rooms attached. We waved to them and went farther down the hall. Ford branched off with Tohn and Vylbor.

  “Gunnor will be Nahythahn’s guard while on Dahk One,” Fihk said as we stopped at the end of another hall. Gunnor was already standing there and bowed once to Fihk. “He will not leave his side. His room is accessible from ours.” The door slid open, and we walked into a huge room. It was way more extravagant than any I had seen so far. “This is the commander’s room, mine while Tahk is on Home World, now the three of ours.”

  There were two long chaise-looking couches and a table with glowing blue stones inside a glass dome. It looked like a bowl of fire. There was a small kitchenette with a purple marble dining table at the far end of the room, and two doors on either side of it led to bedrooms.

  Fihk showed Nathan one, and he jumped on the fluffy bed, sighing and rolling around. He stood up and started jumping on the bed when Fihk pointed out the bathroom. Nate squealed when he saw his backpack sitting on a long chest, and he rushed over to it.

  “I thought I lost these!” He pulled out his comics and books.

  “Tohn dug them from the wreckage. Your clothing has been placed in here.” Fihk opened a compartment in the wall, touching a bunch of buttons.

  “Thanks,” Nate muttered and fell back on the bed, his nose already in a book.

  “Thank Tohn.” Fihk grinned and left the room. He turned to me and grinned, pushing open the door and waving me ahead of him. “Ours is through here.”

  I peeked in, feeling Olynth at my back. A small gasp shot through the room, and my eyes went to the bed.

  There was a naked alien on it. A female Dahk.

  My mouth dropped open. She had no tits, but her legs were wide open and she had all the other parts. I slapped my hands over my eyes and backed into Olynth. His hands convulsed on my hips.

  “Bahyly, this is Yitira,” Fihk announced, and I peeked at him. He was grinning at me. He was grinning while there was a naked alien on our bed. “Yitira, my Pythe, Bahyly.”

  The female Dahk jumped from the bed, not a bit worried about her naked form, and bowed to me. “Greetings, Bahyly.”

  “Uh, greetings?” I looked back at Fihk with wide eyes.

  “She is to be my second mate.” Fihk grinned as she folded herself in his arms.

  My brain short-circuited.

  One second, I was staring at him in shock.

  The next my fist was in his gut.

  Chapter 24

  Bailey

  I felt bad. Like really, really bad.

  Fihk was clearly confused about my sudden burst of female outrage. He had no idea why I was so upset, but I couldn’t look at him. After I punched him in the stomach and ran away, he tried to chase me, but Olynth blocked him.

  I hid in Nate’s room, but I couldn’t even look at my brother. I couldn’t let him see the fury on my face or the stupid tears in my eyes. So I locked myself in his bathroom.

  After I calmed down, I felt like an idiot, and guilt crept in. Who was I to flip out about this? I was screwing Olynth and Fihk at the same time! I’d brought this on myself. I couldn’t tell him I didn’t want him sleeping with that female. That would make me the biggest hypocrite.

  What the hellcats did I expect? Fihk took the whole sharing me thing so much better than Olynth, and it was no wonder. I had to share him with someone else.

  For a second, my stomach fell to my toes when I wondered if Olynth had someone else too, but I knew he didn’t. He’d told me I was his first since his enslavement. And that made me both relieved he didn’t have a Yitira and sad for him that he was alone. He didn’t deserve to be alone for so long.

  I didn’t know how long I stayed in there. I cried and smacked myself for crying and cried some more. I had no idea what to do, and that made me fume with anger that was directed at Fihk and myself. Why hadn’t he told me about her? Why hadn’t I asked if he had someone else?

  But I was a big girl and had survived worse, so I splashed water on my face and marched out of the room. My head high and my back straight. Nothing was going to get better with me hiding, and I was not a coward.

  But when I came out, Fihk and the female were gone. Nathan was reading on a chaise lounge, and Olynth was leaning against the wall, scowling at Nathan’s door. Olynth straightened when he saw me and folded me in his arms.

  “See, I told you she would get over it,” Nate muttered to his book. “You didn’t even need ice cream.”

  I glared at him. “Where’s Fihk?” I asked Olynth.

  “He ran away. His other girlfriend went with him.” Nate looked at me with pity.

  I looked away. He was ten and had no idea how a woman’s mind worked or that that was information I did not need right now. I obsessed about what they were doing together. Maybe in her bed.

  “He is meeting with Ignyt.” Olynth carried me to the bedroom, shutting the door behind us. “You weep. Why?”

  “Ugh.” I pushed away and smacked the tears from my face. “I had no idea he had someone else.” I yanked my hair away from my face.

  “Nahythahn said this is not done in human culture,” he murmured pensively.

  “No.” I laughed, sounding a little crazed. “Definitely not.” Not usually, I didn’t say. It definitely wasn’t how I did it.

  But neither was being with two different guys.

  “She means nothing to him.” He nudged my chin up with a knuckle. “You are his Pythe.”

  I sighed. “I―I don’t—it hurts.” I ground my teeth so I wouldn’t cry again.

  He sighed and pulled me to his chest. “On Home World, a Dahk grows knowing one day he will build a House and fill it with many mates. A first mate is cherished above all others and joins him in caring for the others.”

  I gaped at him. “Many?”

  “Fihk’s father has seven.”

  I backed away and stuttered. Seven? One was bad, but seven? How the hellcats was I supposed to share him with seven other women? I would lose my mind or kill them, probably both.

  “Dahklings are rare. It is how our race ensures our growth. Many mates allow a male several chances to conceive. It has been done this way since our Dahk stopped finding the Pythen mating bond.” He bent and looked in my eyes. “If he had known it would trouble you, he would not have been so careless about your meeting.”

  “I know, I know.” I growled and shook my head. “I know he didn’t know.”

  He was too sweet to drop something like t
hat on me. Too smart. But still so damn stupid. I wanted to castrate him and stake my claim at the same time.

  “I will not intervene here, ruhasha. You must speak to him on your own.” He sat on the bed and watched me pace.

  I took a minute to calm down then walked over to him and sat on his thigh. “I don’t expect you to.” I kissed his lips. “I’ll talk to him.”

  He growled and nipped my lips. “Bed now.”

  He lifted me and dropped me on the bed. I made a face and jumped off. She had been laying there.

  They had likely done god knew what on that bed while Fihk was up there without me. I ran to the bathroom and bent over the toilet, throwing up all the food I had just put in it.

  Olynth rubbed my back and rocked me in the bathroom as I cried. I fell asleep on his lap, and he didn’t move, just held me there for hours.

  ✽✽✽

  It was late in the “day” when I woke up. And I was on a mission.

  I dressed in clothes Tohn had saved for me and marched through the ship. My boots echoed through the hallway. I had cleaned the soot off them, needing my shit-kickers to have this conversation. Olynth followed me at a distance, silently offering his support.

  When I found Fihk, he was facing away and talking to Tahk and some other Dahk on a screen. The ones on the screen saw me coming and grinned.

  “I need to talk to you,” I growled.

  He spun and gaped at me.

  Tahk chuckled. “She does not look like she will be as forgiving as my yula.”

  “Alone,” I said pointedly and glared at the screen.

  The Dahk with the dreads chuckled and clicked off. The screen went black, and Fihk gaped at me, wary. Olynth growled something, and the room emptied of everyone but us three.

  “I know I don’t have a right to be upset, considering I’m sleeping with you both. Because of that, you should be able to sleep with whoever,” I lied through my teeth. It was so not okay, but I would not be that girl to sleep around and demand fidelity. And that was what it felt like to me in that moment. I wasn’t devoted to Fihk and Fihk alone, so how could I demand that he be? “So I’ll work through it, but I have to know. Is she the only other one?”