by Elise Jae
She’s straddled over Shock, leaned fully over him as they kiss. Arc is in the bathroom, cleaning himself off, and she is fully open to me.
Humming in approval as I press the tip of myself to her, Chris gives a little wiggle and gently moves back onto me.
She is so tight around my cock, I think I might come in her ass before I’ve made it all the way inside her. With Shock in her pussy, she is so full. Every thrust Shock pushes into her slides against my cock with only Chris as a barrier between us.
When Arc returns, Christina reaches for him, and he groans as she slides her lips over his cock.
I come again, and it’s too fast.
Even though I know she’s not upset, I can’t help but feel I’ve let her down.
Once again, I’m left to the side, spectating.
But as I watch, I can’t feel left out. I feel Arc’s pleasure as if it’s my own as his come fills her mouth.
She smiles up at me, cum on her tongue, the barest drip at the corner of her mouth.
Shock laughs, then his face twists and I feel his pleasure crash over me in a wave as he comes in her ass.
How were any of us supposed to accomplish anything when we felt like this?
Twelve
CHRISTINA
Days bled into nights bled into days.
I’d lost all sense of time. There was nothing that eclipsed the euphoria I felt with them, but we all knew the real world would eventually rear its ugly head.
I’d gotten fully dressed in an effort to help as the guys begrudgingly get ready for their meeting.
An hour ago, after our fourth attempt to get out of bed—we’d migrated to Shock’s, and all three need a rather thorough cleaning before we should return to any of them—I’d decided I wasn’t going to join them on their trip to Drift’s house.
Aside from the fact I knew they’d too easily get distracted if I was there with them, I wasn’t quite ready for the confrontation I would no doubt have with my sister… or the potential that her biology brain would overpower the sisterly concern, and she’d want to turn me into a guinea pig.
“What if,” Arc says, lifting me off the ground to twirl me about, “We all just stay home, instead?”
He kisses me and I want, so badly, to say yes. To give in and drag them back into one of the bedrooms to block out the rest of the world one more time. But they can’t.
I tell him as much.
Shock is on the other side of the couch, holding onto the back of it in a white knuckle grip that leaves me confident he’s hiding an obvious erection behind the cushions. Risk is about ten feet away, staring at the computer in the wall, his jaw tense. Another reason I shouldn’t be there.
“Fine.” Arc finally puts me down. “But we are not staying any longer than we have to.”
“Good, I want you back as soon as I can have you.” But I will be taking however much time I’m granted to get things sorted out with my job. A job I’m going to have to have a serious conversation with and may lose over this.
All three of them look at me and I know they felt the disquiet of those thoughts. “Sorry, Just thinking about all the work I’ve got to scramble through while you’re gone.”
I shoo them out the door. The later they are, the more questions they’ll have to answer, the longer they’ll be.
Alone in the compound… my home, I go to the refrigerator and pull out a pitcher of coffee. The strong stuff Arc likes that’s similar to cold brew.
But one whiff of it turns my stomach and I have to put it back. Water isn’t what I want, but I drink it anyway… only to find myself feeling ill.
Maybe the chemical I was drugged with is still lingering in my system.
I pull the tablet from the wall and pull up the map of the compound. Someday I’ll know where everything is downstairs, for now… I pick the room on the map, and follow the orange dotted line.
The med unit is in the lower part of the compound. A cold maze of rooms and hallways that make no sense, and if I didn’t have the tablet in my hand with it’s map, I would have been lost before I even started.
The machine is already primed for me. I was the last one in it, though I don’t remember that, and I swallow the cold lump in my throat as I step into the stall-like compartment on it’s side. I don’t want to lay down.
I’m too dizzy for that.
Swirling lights, cool puffs of air, and a gentle hum are the only thing that tells me it’s working.
And when those stop, I step out.
The diagnostic screen is a bright array of dancing lights, and I wait as they flutter across the screen, an odd little entertainment as the tool decides what’s wrong with me.
I take the medication it spits out while I wait.
It helps immediately.
But there’s nothing wrong with me... exactly.
The display doesn’t show a diagnosis, it pops up a picture.
It’s basically an ultrasound. And like a good ultrasound, it tells me way more than a simple blood test could.
Triplets, the readout said.
It had something even more surprising in the accompanying data… One for each of them.
I sit on the diagnostic bed, staring at the readout. Trying to remember. Jess had said so many things about sian physiology. But a few things rang out clearly in my head right now.
Gestation was accelerated.
It had been a week since I’d bonded with them. I pulled up the information panel beside the picture and blinked at the readout. It was far more thorough than any eight week checkup would ever be. It even knew which day I’d conceived on.
I’d be lying to myself if I tried to convince myself I hadn’t known this was going to happen, but… three?
Three.
It doesn’t look like there’s three babies in me. There’s no sign at all. But with three of them….
I’m glad I’m not standing.
I take a deep breath and remind myself there is still time yet to figure all of this out. And I have the three of them. They may have had horrific childhoods, but I am utterly certain they will be amazing fathers.
A chill washes through me—no heat down here either—and I turn off the medical unit. I only pay enough attention to the tablet to be sure I’m not going to get lost and go back upstairs, to the fire they built for me before they left, where I can let my thoughts simmer.
I’m still processing it when the doorbell rings, and I close my eyes, letting out a long sigh as I head to deal with, what I’m sure will be Jesica in an irate state over the whole thing. I should have known my absence would be an issue.
“I know, I….”
Except. It’s not Jess.
The man on my doorstep is the definition of unassuming. There is almost nothing remarkable about him until he turns to face me completely. The left half of his face, his hand, and presumably the entirety of that side of his body are scared from a long healed, but horrific burn.
“Hello, Christina.”
ARC
I knew I wouldn’t like being away from Christina, I just didn’t realize how much. In this room, surrounded by people I’ve known forever, and the people they trust most in the world, I shouldn’t feel like I’m surrounded by enemies. And maybe that’s not right. Maybe it’s just that I’m on edge and they’re the closest possible reasons for it.
Our shared anxiety bounces back and forth between us like a spinning top, and it’s taking all of my focus to stay where I am, silent and out of the way. Shock was always better at this anyway.
My focus, fractured as it is, is the reason I don’t see her coming.
“Here,” Jess drops a box into my arms, and I look down at an array of tampons. “I know you guys probably don’t know where to buy these and anything she had with her is probably gone by now.”
It doesn’t take any thought to catalogue the time she’s been with us. “She hasn’t bled yet.”
“She…” Jess sighs too loudly, dropping her head back. “That’s why she’s n
ot here, isn’t it? She’s still thinks I’m mad at her for choosing you. And now that she’s pregnant she—”
I don’t hear the rest of what Jess says.
Everything is swimming.
Shock and Risk catch me around the arms and set me down on the couch. I don’t hear what they say either.
But I can feel everything. So I know they know what almost dropped me to the floor. Know they’re just as surprised as I am.
“What’s wrong?” Drift’s question is the first coherent sentence I hear.
“Chris is pregnant.” Jessica announces it to the whole room.
Laurel—grip tight on Ric’s arm turns to us so fast. “What?”
“Wait, she bonded to one of you?” Andrea is the only one who looks more happy than stunned.
“We were getting to that.”
“Which one?” Cindy asks, bouncing her baby on her knee.
Risk and I both look at Shock. We’d decided he was the one who’d best be able to explain.
“That’s the thing.” He says, finally letting go of my arm. I feel the ill ease settle in him and he angles himself so he’s between us and the rest of them. “She bonded to all of us.”
A beat of silence descends, and then Jess shakes her head. “That’s impossible.”
“We thought so too… but it happened.” The humor in his tone is shallow, a surface feeling meant to distract from the concern growing in all of us.
I see the moment it clicks. See when Trench’s face blanks and then blooms with astonishment.
“Wait…. Are you saying you’re also bonded to each other?”
This time, I’m the one who speaks. “Yes.”
Brows raised, Jess looks at Shock. “No wonder you two were across the room before he’d even started to fall.”
Shock shifts on his feet and Risk sits beside me. It’s the protective stance they’ve always slipped into out of habit. One I hadn’t noticed before—but I’m sure Chris noticed immediately.
Risk pulls a small tablet from his pocket and starts working through screens. My focus is so shot, I can’t even pay attention to what he’s doing.
The thoughts racing through my mind are a jumble. The emotions so mixed up I don’t know if they’re even my own.
A baby.
Of course I’d known it would probably happen. After all, none of the others—save for Trench and Jessica who are actively not trying—had any trouble getting pregnant.
The phrase sounds wrong in my head and I wrinkle my nose at the notion.
But I knew that a child—children—were more foregone conclusion than just possibility. And still…
The reality of it has me petrified.
As the others talk, Jessica stares at the middle distance, a glare creasing her forehead. I’m afraid to ask, but I need to know.
“What is it?”
My question is quiet, but everyone stops. They all look from me to her, and she flinches at the attention. Blinking at me as if she’d completely forgotten where she was.
“I was just thinking… you might have answers to my questions about the bonding.” She scowls. “If I could get some blood—”
“No.” Shock steps in front of me. He’s always putting himself between us and any threat. I don’t even know if he realizes it. “We’ve been experiments long enough. And we’re sure as hell not going to let you poke and prod at our kid.”
Risk has finally gotten to what he was looking for. “Kids.”
“What?” I know I’ve asked the question, but I barely hear it.
“Chris just ran a medical panel on herself. Maybe she felt your panic? Whatever the case…. The data doesn’t lie.”
A small chaos breaks out as too many people ask too many questions.
Cindy starts to pack up her things, adamant that she’s going to go to her.
“No.” Risk says, finally loud enough that everyone else shuts up. “I shouldn’t even have said that much, I was just startled by it. The rest of your questions have to be put to Chris. When she’s feeling up to it, and not before.”
Everyone freezes.
Maybe it’s because they’ve never heard him raise his voice. Maybe it’s because—of the three of us—he’s the one who lets things go on their course, without visibly pushing things in any direction.
“I think, it’s time we go home.” I say it for the others’ benefit. Risk and Shock are already standing, and we’re all about to head for the door.
I don’t see it, but I feel Shock turn to the others. Feel the menace he puts behind the look as we get to the door.
“We’ll call you when we know more.”
If there’s a response to that, none of us hear it. I’m in the car, willing the others to move faster.
But Shock doesn’t speed. I can feel his agitation simmering under the surface of his skin. I know mine is only making it worse.
I look down at my shaking hands and grip my knee to make it stop.
“How many?” I ask as Shock turns onto the main road that connects the outposts..
Risk passes the tablet back to me. “Three. I don't know how, or why, but in a few months, we’re each going to have a baby that’s half Chris, half one of us.”
The idea makes me lightheaded.
“I know.” Risk says, reaching back to pat my hand. “It’s a lot. But we’re going to get through it.”
All of us.
If you’d told me this was where we would be a month ago…
We were broken. She didn’t fix us… she just let us see that it was worth trying.
And now four would become seven.
A wave of panic gripped me at the thought. I had no idea how she was going to cope with all of this, especially with the emotions swelling inside the car.
Is she happy?
I’ve been so caught up in my feelings, and those that are blaring across the link with Risk and Shock that I hadn’t taken the time to sort hers out of the mix, to see if….
“Something’s wrong.”
There’s actual terror filtering through to me now. Proximity doesn’t effect the bond, so why is she so muted?
I don’t have to tell Shock to hurry. He pushes the car to its limits. We have to get home to her. Have to figure out what’s going on….
Have to make sure she’s safe.
Thirteen
SHOCK
I know.
Even before I’ve opened the door.
She’s gone.
The others rush to search the house, but I go straight to the cameras. When they make it back to me, I’m staring at the screen, but I can’t bring myself to believe it’s true.
The Maker.
He’s alive. And he came to our home.
Stepped up to the door of the one place we thought as safe, and took her.
“We have a serious problem.”
I didn’t need to say it. We all know what we did a decade ago. Know that we had to do it, even though it haunted us ever since.
Arc is preternaturally still beside me, I feel nothing but stillness from him. Not even dread penetrates the frozen stillness within him.
Shaking his head, he says, “He’s dead.”
“I know.”
“We killed him.” Arc finally looks at me.
“I know.”
“So how the hell is he looking up at us like he just walked out of a crockery shop?”
“I don’t know.”
Risk, finally releasing his white knuckled grip on the console turns, heading to suit up. Arc and I are right behind him. Because there’s no way in hell we’re going to wait around while Christina is out there, alone with a maniac.
I grab the tablet she was using and do another security sweep, looking for digital intrusions. I don’t like what I see.
“How did he find her?” Risk asks.
“Someone else used a backdoor program to get into our scanner. He knows she’s pregnant.”
“Do you think that’s why?” Arc goes still. “We all know
children are his preferred prey.”
“Don’t.” Risk says and I feel the bile in his throat. “Don’t say one more word about that.”
“We’ll get her back,” I don’t know how, but I know we will.
Even if there’s only one of us left to take care of her when this is over.
“I’m not going to leave it to chance this time.” I pull the straps on my suit down tighter and pull the more lethal of the guns from the rack. “I will put a bullet in his skull and hack him into tiny pieces if that’s what I need to do.”
“You’ll have help.”
CHRISTINA
The room is cold, a cave by any other measure. Carved from the same rock as the outpost, but with none of the finesse, or consideration for life’s comforts.
I half expect him to throw me to the floor, but he doesn’t. He gingerly places me into a cage, and I grip the bars, watching him move around the space as if he doesn’t have a care in the world.
He doesn’t plan on letting me leave alive. If he did, he wouldn’t have let me see where we were going.
The ride here was a sharp, windswept bolt across the open snow between the outer and inner calderas. The entrance to his lair looked like nothing more than a crack in the side of a glacier.
The temperature had dropped to the point I couldn’t feel anything before it had climbed back up to something that I’d classify as barely tolerable. And now, I’m shivering in this cage…. Hands till bound.
I know how to get out of them: a sharp move, to break them by forcing my bound wrists down against my stomach. But now that I’ve seen the medical read out, I know I can’t do that.
So instead, I stick my hands through the bars. “I think it’s time you cut these off and maybe explained your diabolical plan.”
He turns back to me, eyes narrowed. “And why would I do that?”
“Because I don’t think you want me to lose circulation… and don’t all villains want someone to know the hard work that went into their plan? At this point, I’d say you could consider me a captive audience.” Literally.