Thalia watched as Rager tended to Bella, scooped her up into his arms, tucked his coat about her.
“Rager!” Thalia shouted, her voice laced with desperation.
Rager met my gaze. I saw the harshness in it, all the while he was gentle with our mate. “She needs a ReGen pod.”
His words were like ice in my veins. The ReGen wands could handle most injuries. But the full-body pods were for serious injury, could bring someone back from the brink of death. We only had a handful of the pods on Viken, and one of them was at IQC. Trembling with rage, not cold, I looked at the men who had climbed down from the top of the other rover. They were armed and deadly, which fit my current mood perfectly as I looked at my sister for the final time. “Get that traitor out of my sight. I never want to see her again.”
Liam’s guards dragged both Thalia and her man to one rover as Rager stalked to the other, climbing inside with Bella in his arms.
Chapter Fourteen
Bella
The first thing I heard was my own breath echoing around me like I was wearing scuba gear, or had my head in a box.
Curious, I opened my eyes.
Not a box, a tube. I would have panicked, but the top was clear and I wasn’t claustrophobic. Besides, the blue light all around me made everything tingle…in a good way. A warm, I’m-not-in-pain-anymore way.
I faded in and out, dozing like a sleepy kitten, so comfortable. I tried not to think about what waited for me on the outside. Rager. Evon and his family. Liam and his stoic pain.
All I’d wanted was to be loved, to have a family, someone who cared for me. But nothing had worked out and I’d hurt the men I loved more than I’d helped them.
Love. Yes. Dying in that cold, all I’d been able to think about was being with my men, surrounded by them, held by them, pleasured as they held me between them and took everything I had to give.
Faces appeared and disappeared and I blinked at them, confused. I felt like I was sleepy drunk, unable and unwilling to focus. Evon. His father. I heard some harshly whispered words and fought to pay attention, but the light was too warm and I was too tired to resist as it dragged me back under. Liam and Rager were here. All three of my mates’ drifting by in a steady stream of worried, haggard faces.
Soon, I tried to say. Soon, I wouldn’t be so sleepy. But no words came. Maybe I was dead. But they were here. I felt safe, and warm and surrounded by my mates. If this was heaven, it wasn’t so bad…
* * *
Liam, Three Days Later
I paced our suite, the walls closing in on me as we waited for our mate to return from her time with Evon’s father and others.
We’d all been banned from the meeting room, her mates excluded on the grounds of Coalition Fleet security. Which made every cell in my body rage. We weren’t a danger to her; it was our job to protect her. There were no secrets between mates, but Evon’s father seemed to think so.
Several battleship commanders had arrived yesterday, along with two council members from Prillon Prime, a shady bastard who identified himself as a member of the Interstellar Fleet’s Intelligence Core, or I.C. He was a Prillon doctor named Mersan, and everything about him made my skin crawl.
Spies. Commanders. Politicians. And our mate had been stuck in a meeting with them for the last few hours.
“Sit down, Liam. You’re making me want to break things.” Rager sat in one of our chairs, his feet splayed wide in front of him, fingers interwoven over his chest, his head tilted all the way back so that his face pointed up to the ceiling. His eyes were closed, but I wasn’t fooled. None of us were calm right now.
First Bella nearly died, and now this.
“What the fuck are they doing in there?” I demanded. “They’ve been at her for hours.”
Evon leaned against the wall behind him, pretending to study his patrol schedules. “Finding out what we already know.”
“And that is?” I asked.
“That Bella is extraordinary. And brilliant,” Evon said.
“And dangerous.” Rager added the last and I realized he was correct. Just a few hours and Bella had broken into the Interstellar Fleet’s entire command structure, something that not even the Hive had been able to do. And the Interstellar Fleet? That wasn’t just ICQ or even Viken. No, it was the military that included all the Coalition planets like Atlan, Prillon Prime and more. Hundreds more.
When the door opened unexpectedly, I turned to find our mate crossing the threshold. But she didn’t look like our Bella, not anymore.
Rager stood.
Her long black hair was pulled back into a tight braid and she no longer wore civilian clothing, but the uniform of a senior officer in the Coalition Fleet. Not a Viken uniform. No, our mate wore the camouflage marble of black, brown and gray that we’d all worn when we served on the battleship. It hugged every curve, and she had a weapon strapped to her hip.
Even Rager lost his cool as the door slid closed behind her.
“What the fuck, Bella?”
She smiled and twirled like a princess at a party showing off her new dress. “Is this cool or what? I’m a captain in the Coalition Fleet and a member of the Intelligence Core.” Hands on hips, she grinned at all of us. “Now I can officially order all three of you around. On one condition, of course.”
Evon rose, stalking her like prey.
Rager closed his eyes with a sigh and took three long, deep breaths. “Gods help us, why is she wearing an ion blaster?”
Me? I walked to her, took her face in my hands and kissed her because I could do nothing else. I didn’t care if she was a captain or a cook, as long as she was ours.
“Bella, what are you talking about? What has happened?” Evon was beside me, but I wasn’t letting go. I did move my attention from her lips to her neck, so she could answer him. I thought that was rather generous.
“What with my hacking skills and this new NPU they gave me, they want me to work with the Intelligence Core programmers to tighten our security so the Hive can’t—” I hit a particularly sensitive spot behind her ear and she moaned before finishing her thought, “—hack into Coalition systems.”
“What’s the one condition, mate?” For a big man, Rager moved like a shadow, and he was now on my right. “And why are you wearing a weapon?”
We had her trapped between us, her back to the door. But she wasn’t protesting. No, she was clinging to me, her new weapon digging into my thigh.
“The weapon is a requirement. I am not to be taken alive.”
We all let that one sink in and I realized just how important she had become to the planet, to the Fleet. Her abilities, in the wrong hands, could destroy worlds. If the Hive could break into the Coalition’s control systems, they would kill billions. The war would be over and we’d lose. With Bella on our side, we stood a chance.
“We will guard you at all times,” I insisted.
She lifted her brow. “Well, they left an entire squad of men here to guard me twenty-four/seven, so I don’t think that’s going to be an issue. They’re bringing in more equipment too, and a few more programmers to work with me. They said Viken was deep enough in Coalition space that it would be a good I.C. Command center. And with the comms here at ICQ…”
“What?” Evon stepped behind her and opened the door with a wave of his hand. Sure enough, two unfamiliar warriors wearing Coalition armor stood at attention outside in the hallway. They nodded in salute, their shrewd, very serious gazes searching for Bella, confirming that she was unharmed.
With a nod, Evon closed the door and turned to her. “So, we’ll have a bunch of uptight I.C. warriors stationed here to guard you. That’s probably for the best, but what is this condition that must be met?” He wasn’t arguing. Of the three of us, he was the highest-ranking officer and already worked in security. Evon knew exactly what was at stake.
Bella smiled and tilted her head back to expose her neck for my pleasure. “The condition, boys, is that I be officially claimed as soon as possible. They w
ant to know that I’m committed to you, that I’m not going anywhere.”
* * *
Evon
Her words were like a shot of electric current to my cock. Seeing her so happy, so full of fire, pleased me more than I’d thought possible. With Dravon back from his adventures on Hobart 6 and Thalia safely placed in a prison facility, the only thing that worried me now was her.
Bella.
My everything. This family was my entire existence, and I’d do anything to protect it. That the Coalition commanders and the leaders on Prillon Prime recognized my mate’s abilities made me proud. But I took comfort in knowing she’d be guarded night and day, even when one of her mates wasn’t with her.
I couldn’t lose her again. I couldn’t watch her body fight to survive in another ReGen pod. Thalia had broken my heart with her betrayal, but losing Bella would end me.
Liam was holding her, kissing her, and I had a violent urge to shove him away and take her myself.
But the harsh discipline that drove me needed to control that feeling, to redirect it. It was like fire in my bloodstream as my cock swelled to the point of pain.
“Do you know how to shoot that thing?” Rager asked. His hand reached for the weapon on her hip, but quickly moved to cup her round ass instead.
“Nope.” She laughed and reached for him, burying her hands in his hair. “Will you teach me?”
“Of course.” One touch, one smile, and Rager was tamed. I had to admit, I felt the same contentment I saw in his eyes, the same tenderness. The same lust.
Our mate owned us all—and Liam was having all the fun.
“Let her go.” My voice held icy command and both Liam and Rager released her instantly, stepping away so we were all at equal distance. She knew who was in charge now, and her gaze found mine, a mixture of dread and desire in her eyes.
I never wanted to see the first emotion again. “You doubt my love for you?”
She studied me, shook her head.
After Thalia’s mind fuck, I worried that she’d ruined us all. But having Bella almost freeze to death somehow gave us all clarity. It crystalized everything that was truly important.
I’d given her reason to doubt me once. I’d spend the rest of my life making up for that mistake.
Closing the distance, I knelt before her and lifted my face to gaze up into her eyes. I would not demand the answer I wanted from her. This had to be her choice. Because once she was ours, we were never going to let her go. “I love you, Bella. Do you choose us? Will you stay forever and accept our claim?”
“Yes.”
* * *
Rager
That one word was like the crack of a whip and we all moved at once. I removed the ion blaster from her hip as Liam pulled her uniform top off, exposing her soft skin and luscious breasts.
Evon was still on his knees, and he looked at me with pure mischief in his eyes as he pulled her pants down and buried his mouth at the juncture of her thighs.
“Bastard,” I mumbled, even as Bella swayed on her feet. My mouth watered to take his place.
I caught her, holding her in place for Evon’s attention as Liam removed her boots.
I expected Evon to stop, to pull back and take command, but it seemed my friend had discovered just how sweet our mate’s pussy tasted on the tongue. Without Evon’s iron control, this was going to be fast, a rising storm of passion and lust and need.
We hadn’t touched Bella since we’d brought her to medical three days ago. She’d recovered in the ReGen pod, but she’d been tired and heartsick. Broken. So we’d cared for her, massaged her and fed her, made sure she always had a warm mate at her back and someone to hold her when she cried. Proven to her that we were the mates for her, that whatever she’d thought, the lies, were all wrong.
But now, it seemed our mate was fully healed—mind and body—and my cock jumped to attention as the sweet scent of her skin taunted me. Her lips were close. Her breasts round and full and pebbled into hard peaks. I took one in my hand and rolled her nipple as Evon lifted her leg, placing one of her knees over his shoulder so he could fuck her with his tongue.
Bella collapsed fully into my arms and I looked to Liam.
“Get what you need, Liam. This is happening now.” I wasn’t usually the one to issue commands, but I was too eager. My infamous patience didn’t exist now.
Liam walked to the drawer where he kept the lube he’d need to make sure Bella was ready for him and I kissed her, hard and deep and with all the pent-up emotions of the last few days. I loved this woman. There was no other explanation for the painful joy that filled me when I held her in my arms.
Knowing I’d hear a protest from Evon, I ignored him and lifted Bella into my arms and carried her toward the bed. If he wanted her, he’d have to follow. Liam had stripped out of his clothes and stood waiting, cock hard. Evon did follow, without argument, and I heard his uniform hit the floor as well.
Bella wrapped her arms around me, her small hands playing with the hair at the nape of my neck as I waited for Evon to take his place.
We’d discussed this before, in the long hours spent deciding to send for a bride, to claim her together in the new kings’ way. I knew her mouth was mine, as Liam knew her ass would take his cock and Evon would fuck her pussy. We’d fill her with our seed and watch her writhe and scream her pleasure as we all claimed her at once.
As I expected, Evon lay down with his back along the bottom edge of the mattress. His cock jutted up in welcome and his knees hung over the edge, his bare feet flat on the floor.
When he was ready, I settled our mate on his chest and she responded instantly, reaching up to claim his mouth in a kiss as she rubbed her wet, swollen folds over his cock. My cock ached to go there, but I knew her mouth would be just as perfect.
She didn’t wait for permission, just lifted herself and lowered down over him, taking all of Evon in one quick slide. He groaned in relief and pleasure and I wanted that too. I moved to position myself by her head, her mouth in perfect alignment to take my needy cock.
* * *
Bella
Evon’s cock was huge, but I knew what was coming. More. I’d have Liam in my ass and Rager’s hard length in my mouth. And I wanted them all now.
Right fucking now.
Maybe it was almost dying in the snow, or maybe it was my excitement at being able to do something amazing and challenging to help the Coalition Fleet, maybe I was just tired of being alone, tired of wondering if I was making the right choice.
Well, choice made. These men were mine, and I wasn’t giving them up.
They’d been tender and sweet, caring and loving for the past few days. Days without them touching me in a sexual way. At first, I’d needed it. But the better I felt, the needier I became. I believed their words. I knew the truth. I was able to separate it from the lies and deceit that Thalia had woven. Liam was free. Innocent. Rager had never wanted Thalia. She’d set him up just as she had me. And Evon? He hadn’t been upset with me at discovering the truth, but with his sister. There was no longer anything between us. No secrets. And once I got Liam’s and Rager’s cocks in me, we’d be one.
These three were mine. All mine.
If another Thalia ever came along, she’d better hope I wasn’t wearing my blaster.
I bounced on Evon’s cock, grinned when he groaned under me, his eyes fluttering closed with pleasure. I felt like a wild woman, a complete rogue. I didn’t recognize myself or the wildness coursing through me for my mates. Only for them.
My pussy was so wet, so eager for Evon. I was close to coming from his cock alone. I was used to the seed power now; his pre-cum seared through me, made me eager for my other two mates.
They thought they were claiming me, but they were wrong. Dead wrong.
I was claiming them. All three of them.
Pushing on Evon’s chest, I sat up and ground down on his cock until my ass rested on his thighs. Then I shifted, rolling my hips to grind my clit against him.
<
br /> So good. God, so damn good.
“Liam. I need you,” I breathed. Yes, I felt empty without him playing with my ass, filling it. He’d made it so good for me the last time, I wanted more. I craved him there.
I didn’t have long to wait. In seconds, his hard hand was on the back of my neck, pushing me down so my ass would be up in the air, right where he needed it.
A warm rush of liquid filled me there, then his finger, working the oil into me, making sure I was ready. It was so much tighter with Evon in my pussy. I’d have both holes filled. It was going to be so tight.
Evon pulled me down to his mouth and thrust his tongue deep as Liam aligned his cock with my body.
“Bella. Gods, Bella,” Liam growled. “I love you.”
“I love you, too.” I reached behind me to grip his wrist where it rested on my hip. I squeezed and let go, so he’d know I meant it. His words made me hotter and my pussy clenched down on Evon’s length like a fist. But that tightness was keeping my other mate out, so I opened up, relaxed as best I could, as he pushed forward, sliding into me, filling me more than I’d ever been before.
A whimper escaped me as I adjusted to their sizes, the stretch and burn more than I’d anticipated, but so powerful, so right.
I lifted my head and rested my forehead on Evon’s so I could look into his ice-blue eyes, like twin flames. “I love you, Evon.”
“I love you, mate.”
They moved together, an orgasm building inside me as their pre-cum coated my inner walls. I clung to my control.
But I didn’t want it like this. Not without Rager.
“Rager.” All I did was turn my head and he was there, his huge cock swollen and ready, a drop of pre-cum glistening on the tip.
Now was the moment, but I needed to tell him how I felt. I’d been thinking about this for days as my mates pampered and fed me, held me and let me cry. They’d been my rocks, so patient and loving, they’d been more than I’d dared hope for. I loved them, all three of them, and they deserved to know that they’d won me over, heart and soul.
Her Viken Mates (Interstellar Brides Book 11) Page 15