“Echo?"
"Yeah, it's the strangest thing, but they all had it. Except for Rodnil." She frowned thoughtfully.
“You heard their hearts?” Jay asked in surprise. Vari nodded a little absently. “I had no idea your hearing was so good.”
“Hearing?”
“Yes. It must be quite good if you can hear someone’s heartbeat. We can do that, but only in our dracon alter-forms.”
“It’s not that I have good hearing. It’s zentsu.”
“What do you think the echo was?” Declan asked.
“I’m not sure,” she said, setting her fork down and reaching for her iced tea again. “Rodnil said he was going to die because he was alone, that Doftle required connection. When he said it, I wondered what sort of connection would cause him to die so quickly. I’m not certain, but I believe it was about five minutes from the time his companions died, and his death.”
“We can check the mission vids to be certain,” Declan said.
“Oh, that’s good. I keep forgetting about that. I remained in zentsu after killing the two Doftle in Control until I was sure the third one was contained. Since I couldn’t see him, I sought his heartbeat. It was only for a few moments, but I remember clearly that there was no echo. I also noticed that their hearts beat very slowly, and their blood sounded…sluggish. Or maybe heavy would be a better word. I’m very interested to see what Dr. Davis finds when he examines them.”
They were all staring at her with strange expressions on their faces. “I apologize if I sound morbid.”
“It’s not morbid to us,” Jay said. “We’re just fascinated by what you can do with zentsu. We were watching through Declan’s cam when you threw the Kunian steel dairi through the armored door, and we saw the results of that throw which were, quite frankly, almost impossible to believe. Now you tell us you can hear heartbeats and blood rushing through veins. It’s amazing.”
“I’m beginning to think we should try learning En Dairii and zentsu ourselves,” Declan said. “Do you have any other questions?”
“What about Borat Jurgen? How’s he doing?”
“As you said yourself, he was a mess,” Declan said. “Aside from the extensive wounds that we both saw, he had several broken bones, and some internal injuries. Dr. Jula set the bones and put him in a healing tank. He’ll be in there for several weeks, but he should be fine.”
“That’s good news,” she said. “I don’t know how far he can be trusted, but I do know that his ability to create a disrupter for the Doftles’ comms is not an ordinary talent.”
“You said something about that on the Leaper,” Declan said. “Why is it so surprising?”
“The council has several Doftle hand terminals and a few of their voxes. The devices themselves are very similar to our own, but they still can’t find a way to disrupt their signals. I don’t know anything about technology other than how to operate things, so I don’t know why it’s a problem. I just know that our scientists have been trying for a few months to do something that man did in just a few hours.”
“Good thing he’s going to recover,” Jay said.
Vari nodded her agreement and pushed her plate back, unable to eat another bite. “When do we rendezvous with the Ugaztun?”
“In three days,” Declan said. “The raw footage of the entire mission has already been forwarded, so I doubt they’ll have many questions for us.”
“That’s good, because I have something else I need to concentrate on.”
“Which is?”
“There’re a few puzzles concerning the Doftles that I need to work through.” She looked at Declan, then Jay, then Kai, each of them suddenly looking a little tense. She smiled. “I thought I’d start on that tomorrow though.”
“Is that right?” Kai asked, his tone completely neutral.
“Yep,” she said. “I was hoping to find something else to keep me busy for the rest of the day. I don’t feel like sitting around watching entertainment vids, and I’m not in the mood to read, either, unless it pertains to a subject I find particularly interesting.”
“Xeno-psychology, for example?” Jay asked.
“That, or something else interesting, like the existentialist’s opinion of the Lordirn space worm, and its effect on the epistemology of symbiotic life forms.”
Declan froze with a forkful of food halfway between his mouth and plate. Kai was just taking a sip of his drink, and Jay was reaching for something. His napkin, she thought. They continued to stare at her without moving for so long she began to wonder if they were all right.
Declan set his fork down and cleared his throat, Jay lowered his hand to the table without picking anything up, and Kai snorted so hard that most of the contents of his glass ended up on his shirt.
Vari shot out of her chair and hurried around the table to help him blot up as much of the liquid as possible. After a minute or so she stepped back and sighed. “I’m afraid it’s no use, Kai. You’re just going to have to take the shirt off.”
“Yes, I think you’re right,” he said, standing up. “If you’ll excuse me, I won’t be long.”
“You don’t need to leave,” she said. “You can take it off here.” He started to object, then went still when he saw the heat in her eyes. “In fact, I think you’ll need to take those pants off too.”
“Why would I need to do that?” he asked, his voice deeper and rougher than usual.
“Because they’re wet,” she said reasonably.
“No, they’re not,” he argued, barely managing to hold his smile in check as he waited to see what she’d say next.
“Well, they must be,” she insisted. “Why else would they be shrinking?”
Kai grinned, then pulled his shirt off over his head with a yank and dropped it on his chair. “Now,” he said, looking at her with fire in his eyes, “let’s see if we can get your pants wet.”
Vari’s eyes widened in surprise, then thought fled as Kai reached out and picked her up as though she weighed nothing at all. “Put your legs around my waist,” he growled before slanting his mouth over hers. His tongue swept into her mouth and claimed it.
“We need to move this to the master suite,” Declan said. Kai raised his head, breaking the kiss and nodded.
“Hang on babe,” he said, then began moving fast. Seconds later they were in the master suite with the door locked behind them.
Kai carried her to the bed and set her down, then stripped her so quickly she barely saw him move. She started to say something but forgot it the moment her eyes fell on Declan and Jay, who were removing their clothing as fast as Kai had removed hers.
“You guys are so beautiful,” she said.
They looked at her in surprise. “We’re not beautiful, Miraku, you are,” Declan said.
She opened her mouth to argue but forgot what she was going to say when she saw Jay reach down and begin stroking his cock, his grip much harder than she would have used. Unable to tear her eyes from the sight of him pleasuring himself, she crawled off the bed, then went to her knees in front of him.
Her hands rose to his thighs, his skin so warm it felt almost hot. She leaned forward and licked the heavy balls that hung between his legs. She felt him shiver and smiled up at him. He angled his cock downward, offering it to her. She licked the head, humming as his flavor exploded in her mouth. Then she opened wide and took him as deeply as she could. She pulled back, a little disappointed to find she couldn’t take more than a couple of inches. She wrapped one hand around the base of his cock and held it while she swirled her tongue around the sensitive head.
“Take him deeper, babe,” Kai said, kneeling down beside her, his eyes fixed on her mouth. She sucked as much of Jay’s cock into her mouth as she could but it hit the back of her throat long before she managed half of it.
She released Jay’s cock and looked at Kai. “I can’t take him deeper.”
“Sure you can,” Kai said. “When he hits the back of your throat, swallow.” Vari’s eyes widened, rem
embering when Declan had told her they’d fuck her throat. It sounded exciting at the time, but looking at the size of Jay’s cock, she wasn’t so sure about it.
“I think she needs a little…incentive,” Declan said, kneeling down on her other side.
“That’s an excellent idea,” Jay said hoarsely. “I’m starting to feel a little neglected here.”
Vari immediately opened her mouth and closed it around the head of Jay’s cock before sucking it as deeply as she could once again. She felt it hit the back of her throat, but panicked at the idea of swallowing it. How would she breathe? Would she choke on it?
She withdrew, then took him to her throat again, setting up a rhythm. The scent of something minty reached her just before she felt fingers on her clit, stroking it, then pinching it. She moaned around Jay’s cock, her body tightening as the pleasure built. Then something cold touched her and she immediately felt a burning sensation engulf her entire clit. Shocked, she released Jay and started to reach down, but Kai and Declan caught her wrists and refused to let her lower them.
“It burns,” she gasped.
“But only enough to make you want to come, right?” Kai asked.
Vari dropped her eyes. “I’m a freak.”
“If you are, so are we,” Kai said, pinching one nipple firmly before giving it a little twist that made her hips buck. “Your needs match ours, Vari. If that makes us freaks, so be it. It’s hard to care when we have such a nice, long list of ways to punish and pleasure you, so you might as well get used to it.”
“I’ll bet there are more ways to punish than to pleasure,” she said.
“Nope, there are the same number of each since punishing you and pleasuring you are the same thing. But you don’t have time to think about that right now because you have a more immediate problem to concern yourself with.”
“I do?”
“Yes, you do,” he said, smiling down at her. “Because that pretty little clit of yours is going to burn until you’ve done everything we want, starting with swallowing that cock.” As Kai spoke, Declan added more of the harmless, but burning oil to her most sensitive organ and began massaging it in. Vari gasped and reached for Jay’s cock. She took it into her mouth, then stopped again when it reached her throat.
“Oh babe, that’s not good,” Kai said, shaking his head, though he didn’t look disappointed at all. “Declan?”
She felt Declan’s hand slip down to stroke her thighs. “She’s so wet its running down her legs,” he announced just before she felt his fingers brush her anus, leaving a coating of the burning oil behind. She sucked air in sharply through her nose since Jay was holding her head in place, refusing to allow her to withdraw. The fingers returned, then pressed through the tight little bud, coating the narrow passage with oil.
Then Kai reached down and began milking her burning clit with strong, firm strokes, overwhelming her senses with a mixture of pleasure/pain. “Swallow that cock, babe. Come on, you can do it.”
Nearly frantic for something she couldn’t even name, she pressed forward, felt the head of Jay’s cock against her throat, and swallowed hard. Jay groaned as Vari’s throat convulsed around him. It took all the control he could muster to keep from shoving himself deeper, and to remember to pull back after a few moments so she could breathe.
“Good girl,” Kai said, rewarding her with a sharp tug on her clit that caused her to gasp and buck her hips even harder than before. Declan added more oil to his fingers and pressed them even deeper into her ass. Vari’s senses were so overloaded that she was beyond thought. She just wanted. She took Jay deep, then swallowed again before pushing forward, forcing him deeper into her throat. She held him there until the need to breathe forced her to release him. She sucked in a breath, and swallowed him again.
“I’m not going to last much longer,” Jay ground out between clenched teeth.
“Take a deep breath Miraku,” Declan said, “because he’s going to come straight down your throat.” Vari’s pussy wept and clenched as she breathed in deeply, filling her lungs.
Jay thrust forward, burying the full length of his cock in her throat, his hands tightening in her hair so that she had no choice but to take it. She felt his cock pulsing and jerking in her mouth and throat, and wanted to come so badly that she raked her nails down his thighs without being aware of it. By the time he finished and pulled back she was desperate for air, but she didn’t care.
“I knew you could do it,” Kai said, rolling her clit between his fingers. “Do you need to come now?”
She nodded frantically, unable to speak since she was still trying to catch her breath. “First you need to swallow my cock, and I think Declan wants your ass.”
“Oh, I certainly do,” Declan said, thrusting his fingers even deeper into her, spreading the burning oil as he went.
Vari felt a fresh rush of cream trickle down her thighs and whimpered with the need to come. She didn’t try to argue though. Kai was right when he said that her needs matched theirs. She could hardly wait to see what they’d do next.
Chapter 13
Vari woke up surrounded by warm, hard, male flesh and smiled contentedly. She raised herself up on her elbows and took a few moments to study Declan’s face as he slept, then turned toward Jay to do the same. Her body felt a little tender in some places, but she didn’t mind. In fact, she liked it.
She looked toward the bathroom and saw that the door was open, which meant Kai had probably gone to get coffee. She sat up, careful not to disturb her men. Her men. This time her smile widened to a grin at the thought.
She looked around the room and spotted her dairi lying on the dresser. She raised one arm and gestured with her fingers. Her lead dairi, the one she wore on her right arm, rose up and hung motionless in mid-air. Another gesture sent it flying into the bathroom. A moment later, her bathrobe floated through the bathroom doorway and started across the room toward her.
“Don’t tell us you wield magic too,” Declan said, his eyes on her bathrobe which stopped where it was, hanging in mid-air.
“No, of course not,” she replied, smiling over her shoulder at him and Jay.
“How’s it floating there?” Jay asked.
“I’ll show you,” she said, flicking her fingers. The bathrobe continued its journey just as Kai entered the room with a loaded tray. He stared at it for a long moment before setting the tray down on the table. When the bathrobe floated over the bed Vari reached for it, then removed the dairi hidden beneath it.
“Zerua gainetik,” Declan said.
“What does that mean?”
They all looked at her in surprise.
“Well, I never said I knew every language.”
“No, you didn’t,” Declan agreed. “I’ll answer your question if you’ll tell us what rajne means.”
“And that other word you use with it sometimes,” Jay added quickly. “Nekon I think it was.”
“It's a deal,” she agreed. “You first.”
Declan grinned. “It’s an obscure Carlasian phrase meaning sky above. It’s used the same as some people would say good heaven or heaven above.”
“I like it,” Vari said. “Rajne means damn, and nekon means hell. Rajne du nekon means damn it to hell. They’re Flaridian words.”
“Now that we know each other’s deepest secrets, will you tell us what else you can do with those dairi?” Jay asked, sitting up on her other side.
Vari’s cheeks heated. “I’ll show you if you promise not to tell anyone.”
“We’d never tell anyone anything you prefer to keep private, Miraku,” Declan said seriously. “But why the secrecy?”
“As far as I know, nobody else uses their dairi to fetch bathrobes,” she said, setting the dairi down so she could put her bathrobe on. “I know Lanok wouldn’t mind, nor would his daughter, Trinity. But some of the people who practice the Art can be a bit…stodgy.”
“I don’t know what stodgy means, but if it’s anything like pompous, pretentious, and stiff neck
ed, we get it,” Kai said.
“Yep that’s what it means,” she said, grinning as she accepted the mug of coffee he handed her.
“So you taught yourself to do other things with them?” Declan asked, not nearly as surprised as he might have been a couple of days earlier.
“I was alone a lot when I was a child and sometimes I had nightmares. Bad ones.” Her eyes widened a little and she turned to look at Declan. “That reminds me of something I wanted to tell you. When I was seven I started having a nightmare that had me waking up screaming. I still have it, though not as often as when I was a kid. All I could ever remember about it was a black doorway and flashing blue lights.” She paused and shivered so hard she nearly spilled her coffee.
“The lights never penetrated the darkness beyond the doorway so I could never see what was on the other side. I just knew that if I stepped through it that something really bad would happen, but no matter how hard I tried, I could never stop myself from drifting toward it.”
“I’m sorry you had such a horrible nightmare, Vari,” Declan said. “But I am beyond grateful that you stopped me from taking that last step toward the door.”
“So am I,” Vari said. “In fact, I think the nightmares were worth having now that I know the reason for them.”
They all sat quietly, pondering the slender threads of Fate. “So, tell us more about these dairi of yours,” Declan said, breaking the silence.
“When I couldn’t sleep, I’d lay on my bed and play with them. I couldn’t throw them around my room the way I did outside, so I started trying to get them to do new things.”
“Will you show us?” Kai asked after handing coffee to Declan and Jay, then climbing onto the foot of the bed facing her with his own cup.
“If you’ll hold this,” she said, offering him her cup. He took it and she summoned another dairi from the dresser. Holding one in each hand she thought a moment, then smiled before tossing them into the air beside the bed. Using small, precise movements of her hands and fingers she set the dairi to dancing.
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