by Dani Worth
I didn’t remember we were in a public tunnel until I felt more eyes on us. Turning, I caught Erik standing there, and instead of the anger I expected to see, he looked…intrigued. He’d leaned on the dome wall while watching us, and as Maska turned that fierce, aroused gaze his way, Erik’s mouth dropped open. That scent, that pheromone thing Maska talked about, suddenly doubled, and I sucked in a deep breath, tasting him and this incredible desire between them on my tongue. I pushed Maska away and watched Erik’s gaze roam that long, gorgeous body.
Oh, he wasn’t opposed to Maska this way. Not in the least. I could see the man’s hard cock from here, outlined behind his Earth jeans.
Lux was wrong. They didn’t need me to be a sexual catalyst. They didn’t need me for anything. “You two need to talk or whatever it is you need to do together. I’m headed to my big bathtub for a little solo time before I strip down and give anyone with a com a show.”
I walked away from Maska, passed the silent blond human and stopped. I wanted to ask them to come with me so badly, it hurt to hold the words back. Instead, I walked fast all the way back to my living pod and didn’t bother to engage the lock as I dropped clothes all the way into the bathroom. The room was dark with the covered dome, and automatically, I reached out to open the top just enough to let in moonlight. The roar of wind filled the room, but I could still hear the heavy thundering of my own heartbeat in my ears.
Walking away from those two had been so hard, and I couldn’t understand it. Couldn’t understand why I wanted them so much, why I felt connected to them. I could only think it was being back here on Kithra and feeling all the old surges of emotion and that desire for family I’d once had here.
I stared at the strip of night between the open sides of the protective dome and watched leaves sailing past, carried on winds that could last hours or stop suddenly. The bathtub began to fill from the four surrounding spigots, and because I had it set to hot as shit, steam quickly filled the room. I liked the way it caressed my naked skin.
My heart still beat so hard, it threatened to break through my ribs. Tingles in my fingers made me flex my hands and raise them to cup my breasts.
A big, warm hand stroked over my backside and I closed my eyes, held my breath.
They’d followed.
Now that I wasn’t focused on holding back my insane arousal, I could hear two different breathing patterns in the dark behind me. Lips touched one shoulder; hot breath flowed over the back of my neck. I cried out and hands came up to cup my breasts, covering my own. A groan sounded behind me and water splashed in front. Opening my eyes, I saw Maska standing nude in the fast-deepening water and holding out one hand to me. His hair fell in thick ropes that ended under water. He hadn’t blinked the covers over his eyes, and in here, they looked as black as the night sky above the dome. Wind moaned overhead and I shivered.
Erik, at my back, stepped in close, and I felt his erection prodding, then sliding between my thighs. I squeezed my thighs together, moved my body back and forth a bit. He tilted his hips, and the tip of his cock slipped through the outer folds of my sex, slippery…hot.
I should have stopped, told them they needed to work things out between them before adding a third, but after growing up in a society that leaned toward three or more in family groups, I understood this might be easier for them. They could focus on my body and get used to each other again. I let Maska tug me into the water. He didn’t let go once I was in, just kept pulling me close until my body was meshed to his. I groaned at the glide of wet skin and closed my eyes when there was a splash behind me and Erik pressed against my back. When I opened my eyes and glanced up, it was to find the men looking at each other. Maska’s gaze held the same aching love it had that first day as he changed. He had long, sultry lashes that spiked from the water. Erik ran his gaze over Maska’s face and shoulders before he reached out and touched Maska’s shadowed jaw.
“Soft,” he murmured, awe thickening his voice.
Maska’s whiskers were nothing like a human’s. They didn’t prickle, and I suddenly wondered what sort of beard he would grow, wanted to see it. Silly thoughts when they were interested in sex with me only to possibly ease them back into a relationship. I was smart enough to realize that.
And smart enough to take advantage of it, too.
Erik slid one hand around my waist to anchor my body to his, but the other he slid down Maska’s neck and shoulder. “Not soft here,” he murmured. “I don’t understand how you can have this body, which is so very different, yet still feel like my Maska.”
“I am your Maska.” Maska wrapped fingers around Erik’s wrist and pulled Erik’s hand down to flatten the palm over his heart. “I haven’t changed inside. Only my appearance is different.”
Erik shook his head. “No, it’s more than your appearance.”
“I can change back.”
“I know.” Erik’s fingers clenched on my skin, causing pain I don’t think he intended. He still had his other hand on Maska, and he slid it up to cup the back of the Replicant’s neck and pull Maska to him. Erik’s kiss was tentative. He pulled back to stare at Maska’s mouth. “Your mouth is the same.” He kissed him again, this time opening his lips.
I could see his tongue sliding into Maska’s mouth before he pulled back again.
“You taste the same.”
Maska frowned. “But I’m not the same. I remember you telling me you’d never felt desire for a man, so I can change back.”
Erik shook his head. “I don’t want to see you go through that pain again.”
“When I am changing of my own free will, there is no pain.”
I looked down, feeling like an unwanted third wheel, especially now that the reminder of what I’d done to Maska was again the elephant in the room. Maska, always aware with those empathic abilities, reached for my chin. He ducked and kissed me, and I sucked in a breath at the taste of him. He had an earthy, slightly sweet flavor, his tongue seeking mine—strong and sure.
“Oh,” I breathed before standing on my toes to increase the pressure. I pulled his full, lower lip into my mouth, sucked on it. My arms snaked around his neck, my breasts flattening against the muscled wall of his chest. I slanted my head, opened my mouth and felt drunk on the heady flavors of Maska. When I finally pulled back for air, his eyes glittered down at me, and my nipples were so hard, they ached. I stared at his mouth like an addict.
Erik was still against my back, and I rubbed my ass against him. His hands came around to cup my breasts. “He tastes good, doesn’t he?” Erik whispered into my ear before he nipped my lobe.
I nodded and reached for Maska again. This time, he groaned and lifted me under my arms, out of the water and up until I wrapped my legs around his waist. Gasping, I tilted my head back at the feel of all that wet, naked skin against my core.
“That is the hottest thing I’ve ever seen.” Erik’s words were nearly a growl.
Maska raked his gaze over my body even as he wrapped one big hand around my ass to heft me higher—high enough to feel his hard dick probing my center. I cried out when a wave of scented pheromones blended with my own.
“What?” Erik groaned. “What is that scent? It’s like you with me before, but…so much more. Is it you two together?”
Maska gained some control and looked at Erik. “The three of us together. But we’re responding to her need. She’s been alone a long, long time.”
“What does it mean? The three of us and that scent?” Erik stroked my back, slipped his hand between my legs and slid his fingers back and forth over my sex. He hesitated when his hand encountered Maska’s cock, but then he turned his hand and stroked him as his knuckle rubbed my clit. “Feel like I’m about to come out of my skin and just…I don’t know how to explain it.”
I gasped. Wanted to try and answer him, but I’d been taken over by a need so strong, words failed me. It felt like we had to blend ourselves, to mesh or somehow crawl inside each other. I should have been running scared, but all I
could do was focus on the throbbing of my cunt and the slide of Maska’s dick and Erik’s fingers.
Maska’s sudden grin shocked me sober for an instant. Like Erik’s, his smile transformed his harsh good looks. “I had a feeling about her.”
Erik smashed into my back and I leaned to the side as he met Maska’s mouth again. The kiss was still tentative, still exploratory. They needed this, and I needed faster, harder—I wanted to be fucked so hard I’d forget my own name. Forget where I was. Forget the ghosts of my loved ones.
Erik licked Maska’s lower lip, and I couldn’t stop the moan that escaped my throat or the tightening of my legs around Maska. He hissed, pulled back from Erik and stared at me, his breaths coming in hard, hard pants. He looked at Erik, and this time, it was as if Erik had the empathic abilities.
He pulled back and whispered to Maska. “I don’t want you to change back. I want to know you as you are. And I really, really want to watch you fuck her.”
“Have you been with a man?”
Erik shook his head. “Never felt this kind of need for one. But it’s you. And this feeling is burning me alive.” He looked at me. “You too. You’re a part of this. It’s like…” He paused and grunted. “I’m too worked up to find the right words tonight.”
“I get it.” Everything in my body began to tremble. “Can we talk less and get to the good part?”
Maska smiled and shifted me again.
I moaned at the long, hot slide of his dick over my sensitive core. He lifted my ass and slid his cock all the way up inside me.
I threw my head back and keened. The air, cool on my wet skin, and Maska, steely hot inside me—feelings swarmed my body, taking over and shutting out everything but those two sensations. Then others joined. The wind rattling the slice of open dome, the rumbling thunder in the distance and the sound of rain joining the wind. Erik, breathing hard behind me as he opened his mouth over my neck and stroked the short hair on my head.
Maska moved inside me, pulled nearly all the way out and slid back in with long, slow glides that stole the thoughts from my head. Strong hands held my body to his before Erik’s arms came around me and he pulled my back against his chest. Maska’s hands moved to my hips as he began to thrust harder, deeper.
I pulled in air, leaned my head back against Erik and cried out as an orgasm shuddered through me like lightning. Inner muscles tightened, and I caught the flare of Maska’s beautiful eyes just before he threw his head back and yelled, muscles in his throat clenched, fingers digging into my hips.
Erik cursed and grasped my hips, his hands over Maska’s as he rubbed his cock on my ass once, twice…three times. I felt the warm splash of his release.
I slumped against Erik, tugging Maska close and staring into his eyes before I grabbed his hair to pull his face to mine. “Thank you,” I whispered before giving up to the exhaustion that hit me like a slug from a metal support beam.
Chapter Ten
I woke up to see muscled calves with a dark sprinkling of hair. I touched one to see if Maska’s hair here was as soft as the hair on his face. It was. Moaning, I slid my hands up his inner thigh.
“She’s awake.”
“Very awake,” Erik agreed. His breath rasped over my neck and I shivered, then sat up. Maska lay at the other end of the bed with his legs by my face. His head was propped on one hand, his hair dry and spilling over the sheets like black cords of ink.
A strange discomfort settled in my gut, so I pushed away from them both and got up to rummage in my closet for my robe. I kept my back to them as I tugged it on and clipped the loose waist clasp.
“Your hair looks very red with that white,” Maska said.
I reached up and ran my hand over hair that had grown longer than I usually let it. I could almost get my fingers through it. “I cut it for the convenience.” Frowning, I turned and crossed my arms. I had no idea why I’d blurted out that explanation. I owed no one any explanations. And I’d cut it for more than just convenience. The long hair reminded me of my sisters.
My gaze snagged on the stunning difference of the two men on the bed, one light blond, one so very, very dark. Maska’s whiskers had filled in since the night before. He looked long, rumpled, scruffy and sexy as hell. Erik, who was more bulky in muscle, lay on top of the black comforter, his messy hair in stark contrast. He had a closed expression on his handsome face, looking at neither Maska nor me. If he was feeling regret, I didn’t have any sympathy for him. The sex had been fantastic and exactly what I needed. And now, I needed food.
“Don’t suppose either of you cook?” I looked up at the slightly opened dome, cocked my head to listen. Seemed the windstorm had stopped. I started toward the eating area, but halted when I realized they hadn’t moved.
Maska stared at Erik, tension slowly stiffening his form as he must have opened himself to Erik’s change of mood. He sat up. “You need an explanation,” he said, voice low. A tense few seconds passed as he swallowed, picked at something on the bed. “I was in hiding. And we did meet before. While I was in another form.”
Erik tugged the corner of the comforter over his lap, crossed his arms. “Did we.” It wasn’t a question.
Nodding as a small smile pulled up one corner of his full lips, Maska leaned forward. “Do you remember a man trying to buy passage on the cargo ship that brought you here from Earth 2?”
Erik’s mouth dropped open before red crept up his pale neck. “That was you.”
Maska laughed. “I was in one of my better-looking male forms and came on to you pretty strong. You were so offended—”
“Not offended, surprised.”
“You were fuming at me, fierce and beautiful, and I decided I would find a way onto that ship no matter what. When you said you were going to Kithra, that just made me think it was fate. But right in the middle of your angry brushoff, you suddenly—”
Erik sat up. “I broke off when you walked by.” He lifted his eyebrows.
“Not then. The actual woman was shorter, less curvy. But I caught your reaction to her and sought her out later. Figured she wouldn’t miss a little bit of hair.”
“How’d you get it?” I asked, and both men looked at me as if they were just remembering I was in the room. Flattering.
“I snipped a corner, nothing she’d miss, but…”
“Enough DNA to copy her.” I nodded, hugged my arms to my waist. “So you stayed in her form, someone else’s form, all this time for him?”
“For Erik.” Maska stared hard at the other man. “I couldn’t be me and not get caught, do you understand that?”
Erik’s brows drew together. “Of course I understand that part. What I’m having trouble with is, during all that time, you never told me the truth. Why?”
“Fear. That male form was gorgeous and you didn’t so much as look twice. This whole time, I’ve lived in fear that if you ever found out, I’d lose you.”
“Do I look lost?”
Maska picked at a thread on the comforter. “You did for a while.”
Erik reached out, laid his hand over Maska’s. “It’s kind of a lot to process. I didn’t know that I could feel this way about another man. I’m still in love with you, only you look so very, very different now.”
“I can change back.”
I stood silent, thinking they’d forgotten I was even in the room. Probably should have left and given them some privacy, but my feet felt locked in place. I curled my toes in the soft, plush rug—otherwise standing perfectly still so I didn’t distract them. Staring at my hands, I waited to hear Erik’s answer, feeling jittery inside. I didn’t want Maska to change back. I liked his true form. But then, I wasn’t the one in a relationship here.
“Jarana?” Erik’s voice was low. “Do you want Maska to change back?”
I shook my head. “This has nothing to do with me. It’s between you two.”
Maska frowned. “I’d like to know your answer.”
I crossed my arms. “Then no. I think you’re beautifu
l like this.”
“Tattoo and all?”
I nodded. “Tattoo and all. And I believe Erik feels the same way.”
Maska suddenly rolled off the bed and came toward me, his nude body a mouthwatering ripple of long, lean muscle. I held my breath as he slid his hands into the open collar of my robe and pushed it off my shoulders. He leaned down and closed his mouth over the pulse in my throat.
My core just flooded. Flooded with a capital F.
“Feel that, Erik?” Maska murmured, lips soft against my neck.
I stared at Erik as he swung his legs off the bed and came to us…as he fitted his body to the back of Maska’s and leaned around him to take my lips. Maska groaned against my skin, opening his mouth to suck.
My limbs began to tremble and I started to pull away from them, but Maska wrapped his arms around me and anchored me against him.
“It’s too much,” I gasped when he leaned over to take my nipple in his mouth. I heard Erik groan, felt the tightening of his fingers on Maska’s waist. The fierce clasp of Maska’s arms kept me from moving, and my acquiescence amazed me when I was the one who normally took control. I led and men or women followed. The only one who’d ever really taken over had been Lux, and she’d been so drunk on that Toquerian booze, she hadn’t even remembered half of what she’d done later.
Or so she’d said.
Maska sucked my nipple, opening his gorgeous mouth wide, pulling me deep into the hot cavern of his mouth. I moaned and blinked when I found myself back on the bed with my head hanging off the side and Maska leaning over the bed, kissing my neck, stroking his hands down my body.
Erik came over me and slid inside me to the hilt. He braced one hand on the bed. “Sorry, won’t last—it’s just so damned…” He trailed off, groaned, his whole body going tense. I clenched around him so hard he yelled, his voice hoarse. He collapsed to the side and I just lay there, panting.
Until I saw Maska’s dilemma. I reached out and wrapped my fingers around his cock, loving the slide of silky skin under my fingers. Rolling to my side, I reached out my other hand to tangle my fingers in the soft hair around the base of his cock. Sliding fingers over his sac, I put pressure on that sensitive place between his balls and ass, loving the deep groan the move pulled from his throat. The tip of his dick grew shiny and my nostrils flared at the scent he began to release. “Gods, that smells good. It’s like a drug.”