He cared for her, but it was more than that. It was desire and love and fascination. But while the government flunkies didn’t believe her, he and the guys did. Now they had to make her willing and able to stay by starting on the next stage of assimilation. She needed to demonstrate a desire to stay. He hoped he wasn’t right about the indoctrination vs brainwashing, but he had to have her. He couldn’t explain it, but there was something raw in his very core that just knew she was theirs. It ate him up inside knowing it, but not being able to act on it yet.
Zander stepped into the rain shower with a sigh of relaxation. As he was lathering up, he felt a cold wind. He turned to readjust the curtain and investigate only to find an open door and curtain and a naked Maya.
“May I stand with you, Zander?”
She surprised him, and he took a deep breath before replying. His first thought was to push her back out of the shower. But she had initiated the nudity. Besides, they’d learned her culture was more open with their bodies. Maybe she simply wanted to stand in the shower and since she felt comfortable with them, like they were her family, it was natural to bathe together. Okay, that made sense.
“Yes, stand with me.”
His cock, however, wanted to answer in a more energetic way. It was excited and standing at attention. There was nothing he could do to hide his desire. Evidently, Maya felt the same way his cock did. Her hand inched out, touching his chest. She ran first one then both of her hands along the firm rolling hills of his abs. Streaks of arousal raced through his veins, igniting a fire in his belly.
She wanted to explore, and he’d allow her to satisfy her curiosity. Swirling the soap on his chest, she continued coating his body with the slippery, manly scented bubbles. Transferring suds to her own chest, Zander took over.
“Let me do that, baby.” He took the soap in his hands, working it into a good lather and added more scented bubbles, rubbing the foamy result onto her chest. Her breasts were rosy from his massaging, the nipples turning dark red from his ministrations. Her moan was hesitant, almost as though she wasn’t sure she should. The little minx slid her hand down to his erection as he played with her body. He gently loved her as she touched him again.
Now it was his turn to moan his desire as she continued to move her hand over his cock with more confidence. He touched and kneaded her breasts, as he continued to her crotch. He bypassed her slit in favor of a little tease. She wiggled. Zander loved to edge but that would come when they advanced further in their lovemaking.
Right now, it was all about the sensuality of touch. He leaned in to kiss her lips as she held his ball sac in one hand as though she were weighing them. His stiffened tongue insinuating itself past her lips, seeking her moist heat. Her response was to step closer to him and present her tongue for battle.
His hand touched her hot, hidden place. She stepped back in surprise. Had she not been with Sterling yet? Or Paxton? Not even for playing? No, they would have told him. She didn’t act as though she had ever done anything with a man, so he slowed down putting his arm around her waist in a secure hold.
“Did you like that, Maya?”
“Yes.”
“Let me love you more, honey.”
She nodded and stepped closer again, placing her fingers on his sensitive nipples. Zander liked the tingling it caused him but not as much as he saw his woman did. When she mimicked what he had done to her nipples, his cock turned a darker shade of purple as it thickened even more.
“Can you mate with me?”
“No baby, not in the shower. When you have mated more, then we can, but you need a bed and gentle love when we mate. The shower is not a place for that. I’ll give you pleasure but it’ll be quicker than normal this time. Normally, I like to take my time when I give pleasure. Understand?” She shook her head in confusion. “No, you probably don’t know. Hold on to me and I’ll make you come.”
“Come? Where?”
“I’ll give you satisfaction. It’s what men give women before they mate so it’s easier for the woman. It makes her slick, so mating is easier.”
“I understand. Like in my dream.”
“You got slick in your dream?”
“Yes, I was mating with all of you and that made me hot and wet, and a violence came over me.”
“Did you like that? It’s called peaking or coming.”
“Yes, peaking, I did that.”
“That is the satisfaction I’m talking about. Let me show you how it feels when a man is doing it when you’re awake and it’s real.”
Zander slid his hand back through her muff’s black curls and found her button. He teased her by circling the nub but not touching it. She closed her eyes while he watched her fall into her enjoyment. He took that as his cue to begin grinding his hand against her pelvis, trying to gain more pressure on her delicate nerve endings. Bringing more of her juices into play, mixing them with the remaining soap, he touched her clit causing her to jump. He pulled her tight to his body for support and flicked, teased, worked, and worried her clit until he felt her stiffen but not quite get there. He pulled pack. She huffed her annoyance.
“Maya, look at me, baby. I want to see you come.” She seemed to have difficulty opening her eyes, but she did and turned her head up to his face. “Good girl. Now here we go.” He flicked her clit a few times and then squeezed. She went limp then her muscles tightened to ride the wave of sensation. He backed off her clit and massaged around it and then reached up to her breasts again as he lowered his head for a long kiss.
When she showed signs of her climax ending, her guttural muted sounds diminished. He raised his head. Watching her come did it for him. This woman was never leaving. Not ever. He tweaked her nipple one last time, kissing her hard and fast before straightening. Holding her steady, he sprayed the remaining soap from her body and then rinsed his own body. Her face was flushed even beneath the dark skin. After turning off the water, Zander walked her out of the shower and onto the thick blue carpet where he took a big fluffy towel off the rack and dried her. He put his skin lotion on her, another way of marking her, and combed out her wet black hair, leaving it to dry naturally. The imagery of her reaction if he turned on the hair dryer was too much. Poor baby would die of fright.
He pushed Maya in front of him and they walked to the bed. “Do you need a nap? I’m resting for a little bit.” He indicated the bed. Maya looked adorable in her indecision. “To sleep sweetheart, nothing but sleep.”
A slow smile spread across her face and she brightened like a summer day. “Yes, sleep.”
Zander took a large throw from the end of the bed and spread it out, folding it over in invitation. She crawled in and snuggled into a pillow. He came in behind her, scooting her over to allow him some room to stretch out. The gentle rising of her chest beneath his hand and the warmth from her shower on the tanned skin felt right. Pulling her close, in a modified spooning position, he kissed her temple and they napped.
During breakfast the next morning, Maya showed the men they were a long way from knowing what she wanted. She had become more vocal in the last few days and after yesterday’s initiative, it was obvious she was more comfortable around them.
“I don’t want to eat this.” She pointed to a fried egg. She ate eggs scrambled and even boiled but not fried.
“You don’t have to eat it.” Sterling replied. “But if you don’t want something, you say ‘no thank you’ when it’s offered to you. Shall we try that again?”
“Maya, would you like a fried egg?”
She hesitated and then said, “No thank you. I don’t want it.”
Sterling thought to say something again but remembered he needed to give her time and repetition. “You only need to say, ‘No, thank you.’”
She reached over to take a blueberry from the bowl. “If you want blueberries, ask for them. Say, ‘please pass the blueberries.’”
“Why? I can just take some myself. I don’t need help.”
“Because it’s polite.”
“I hate polite. It’s a waste of time and words.”
“You say ‘thank you.’”
“Yes, that is different. Thank you is giving honor to another’s efforts.”
“Maya…”
“Sterling, I’m hungry. May I eat now?”
Zander and Paxton laughed and even Sterling smiled a little. Maya did not see the joke. The men sat around Maya as they put juice in her glass, coffee in her cup and bacon along with blueberry pancakes on her plate. Feeding Maya was a challenge, but she tried most things unprocessed and did not push many fresh things away.
She pushed the coffee towards Paxton. “I don’t want it.” Sterling’s eyebrows shot up—his cue she needed to do something different. “No, thank you.” Sterling smiled. Maya smiled.
“I should have thought about giving her more protein. She’s probably not used to something like pancakes,” said Zander as he watched her stare at the items in front of her.
“She will have to try everything to know what things she can tolerate and what things she can’t. I don’t know too many women who don’t like pancakes.” Sterling watched the scene before him.
“Maya, this is sweet blueberry bread we call a pancake, and this is honey. This is smoked meat with bacon. This is coffee, which you have declined, and the other orange drink is the juice of an orange. We call it orange juice. If you like none of it, tell us so we can make adjustments.”
Sterling might watch for reactions, and Zander might try a little of everything with her, to coax her into eating, but Paxton wanted to give her power over things early on. He knew he hated not having control over his environment or choices, so he wanted to give it to her as soon as possible. That meant giving her permission to say how she felt, encouraging it, expecting it.
The men undertook teaching Maya how she could get her questions answered herself. There was so much they didn’t think about that kept cropping up. Food, comfort, lifestyle, bathroom habits, sexual expectations, hierarchy, and so much more.
“When you have a question and you don’t have one of us around, just ask Darla, like this—Darla, how hot is it?”
Darla answered. “Ninety-seven degrees Fahrenheit.”
“But I don’t understand her answer.”
“Okay, then ask smarter. Darla, is it hotter today than yesterday?”
“No, it’s cooler.”
“Now you’ll know it was hotter yesterday.”
“But I can just go outside and feel how hot it is.”
Sterling moaned. “Well, do you understand what I’m talking about?”
“Yes.”
“Good enough.”
Zander launched into the events of the previous afternoon being sure to let them know she had initiated the contact. “We napped afterwards but we didn’t consummate, although she requested we mate.”
It worried Zander that it was too soon. She didn’t seem worse for the experience, though. In fact, she was comfortable around them. That could only be a good thing. But right now, their girl was just looking at the food on her plate.
Paxton said with quiet firmness, “Maya, you need to eat something.” She shook her head.
Pax watched Sterling sit back and it tempted him to do the same, but she needed to eat. “You have a choice of what you eat but not whether you eat. Do you understand me, young lady?” Maya looked at him for a full minute before she shrugged. “You’ve a stubborn streak and when we know each other better, you’ll find out that sometimes, being naughty is not the right response.”
It was a big task, assimilating someone to this culture but Maya’s was even more challenging because at least previous immigrants were of this time. Not so, Maya. Sterling worked hard to see things from her perspective and he didn’t always hit the mark, but every day brought more understanding to everyone. And then there were the nightmares.
Maya had experimented with program downloads once Zander had shown her how to find programs. She might look for an hour before finding something, but Sterling said it was good exposure to the variety that existed. She was always trying to find something that took her interest in a world that still overwhelmed her and made her sleepy. Sterling said it was because it overloaded her senses like an infant.
Tonight was no exception. She had already taken a nap as the guys worked. It had been days since she had stumbled into a world she could never have imagined and while there were moments she couldn’t absorb any more stimuli, there were many more that drew her in, enticing her exploration. She stumbled onto a history program that seemed very much like the world she had left. She settled in to watch it.
People her men knew came by that morning after their meal. She didn’t understand what they were saying but Sterling said they were excited about her. She didn’t know them, so it seemed strange they would know her. Sterling also said they would work on her problem. She wanted to ask which one but thought better of it. Sterling’s eyebrow went up more often now. She tried to keep it in place as much as possible.
Maya understood the date when they said she came from and the date now. She understood that a mystical thing brought her to this place. And she understood that she might never return to her own time. She came from a time and place where this was known to exist. The spirit world was continually active. It was her men who were having trouble with the concept. She’d teach them her ways were true, that danger lurked everywhere, and her purpose was to stop it. She knew these men well enough now to know they would deny she was right about Lakan coming. She felt his presence, could almost touch his essence. She needed to stop him. It was the path to fulfilling their destinies.
Chapter 8
Sterling told her to start thinking what it would be like to stay in this place. She had, and the living was easier and yet harder. There were so many rules to living and yet actual existence was easier. She found her men were very protective. It was hard for them to let her out of their sight when she wanted to explore more of the compound and learn about their life here, and what her life would be with her men, as she thought of them. They showed her daily that she was theirs, as it should be. It confused her that they thought that way but did not mate with her. It was what the spirits wanted. But still they hung back and withheld themselves from her.
The medicine man of their little family was Sterling. He was intent on her doing what he insisted during his time in the morning, during her lessons, and would be unyielding when she wanted to deviate. At all other times, he was familiar with her, smiling, touching, and he treated her as his own. She’d felt that connection too, ever since he walked in her dreams. It also frustrated her.
Zander teased and laughed with her. He was gentle with the animals he cared for, with the people who worked with him and with her. He often touched her, hugged her, and kissed her cheek. She always felt warm in his embrace, and at night she’d cuddle with him as she watched her programs. But he did not make her ‘come’ again.
Today, Sterling was busy, so she walked out to the pens when he wasn’t looking.
“Hello, Zander.”
“Well, hello baby badger. What brings you out here so early in the day?”
“I needed a break.” She felt drawn to a small animal much like a deer but thinner. “He is frightened. He is trembling.”
“I sense that too, but I don’t know why.”
“Because the coyote roams at night.”
“But that is outside the fence. He cannot get to him.”
“If the coyote is Lakan, he is a skinwalker and he can get to anyone. You’re the shaman, you should know that.”
“Why do you call me that?”
“You hear the animals. You understand their pain. A good shaman can do that sometimes.”
“And I believe you do as well.”
“Yes,” she agreed as she comforted the animal. “I’ve always heard the animals, felt their pain, understood their needs.”
“Then you’re a shaman, too.”
Maya shook her head. “I am a woman.�
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“Ahh. Well in our time, women can be anything they want. We don’t stop a person from doing something based on their gender. Even if you’re a woman, you can still be a shaman.”
“Do you sense the animals’ thoughts?”
“I can predict their behaviors with great accuracy based on a situation, but I don’t think I can sense their thoughts in the way you’re asking.”
She nodded. “I can.”
“Can you speak to them or do you simply sense their thoughts?”
“Sometimes I believe they can hear mine, but I cannot hear theirs. Not like I hear Sterling or others. It seems like I feel their pain. Intense fear and pain are the easiest. I don’t know that they have more intense feelings than that.”
“No, I suspect those are their most powerful emotions.”
“But, I don’t know if I am in tune to their behaviors or if I am connecting with them.”
After taking a few more moments to comfort the animal, Maya went back to her lessons. She could sense Zander’s thoughts. He wondered if they could keep her with them. He desired her. She smiled. She had made it abundantly clear that she desired all three of them.
Paxton was the stern one. There was a hardness, a fierceness about him that demanded obedience. When he spoke to people other than the family, he was exacting but fair, and she saw respect for him in their eyes. But he expected no mistakes and was often chastising his helpers. Even the robots earned a biting word now and then.
The only ones he never had a harsh word for were the computer voice, Darla, and herself. Darla did not make mistakes. He overlooked Maya’s. He’d explain the error but was exacting and expected her to learn from it.
Maya loved the plants and knew many of their names which Pax said excited him because there were only a few in the world as informed as he. He’d kiss her cheek or lips or the top of her head to show his happiness or his pride in her. He did it often, making her heart swell.
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