by Eve Vaughn
She could handle the fact that they were very demanding lovers who kept her up through all hours of the night, making her body sing with pleasure. She could handle them not being human. She could even handle them wanting to be by her side constantly. What she could not handle were the feelings she was developing for each of them.
When she’d agreed to sleep with them, unbeknownst to them, this was supposed to be a “no strings attached” arrangement. When the week was over, she’d get on a plane and go back to the real world, despite what they thought. Now she wasn’t so sure. It still baffled her how she could feel this way about three men at once, but she did.
Each one of them attracted her in their own way. She loved Roar’s intelligence and conversation. He was very insightful, always having something deep and meaningful to say. Although each claimed there was no established leader, it was Roar who usually led, and the other two followed, but she noticed how Roar always deferred to them first.
Trina liked Bayoh’s forceful manner. He was a man of action who took what he wanted, but there was a sensitive side hidden behind his gruff demeanor. He had the soul of a poet. One night, the four of them sat watching the sunset, and Bayoh compared Trina to the beauty of that sunset in such a beautiful way it’d touched her soul.
Then there was Talh. He spoke the least of the three, but when he did he would not be ignored. He was sometimes stubborn in his manner, but not overly so. He was very affectionate, always finding reasons to touch, kiss, or cuddle with her. They all did these things, but Talh more so than the other two. He was a sweetheart.
There were qualities in every one of them that made her heart race, and to be honest, there wasn’t one she liked above the other. That was the problem. These feelings would get in the way of leaving them behind. They were feelings she didn’t want to have for men she hadn’t known that long. It was irrational, but Trina had deeper feelings for them than she cared to examine. How was this possible after she’d sworn off men in her life?
Love hurt and Trina didn’t want to be in love, not this quickly after another broken relationship, and not with these three men who had the power to break her heart in a way that none of her exes had.
She knew she had to go back home, because staying would only open her up to more heartache. Knowing her luck with men, she knew it was a matter of time before something went totally wrong. What if she did give in and go to Laiocean with them? Then what? Once she bore them children, would she be cast aside? How did she know they wouldn’t cheat or abuse her?
She didn’t think they would abuse her physically, but they had the power to hurt her emotionally, and that wasn’t a chance she could take. No, when the week ended, so would their affair.
Trina must have dozed off, because the next thing she remembered was a pair of hands rubbing something cool on her back. These hands didn’t belong to any of her lovers. She would have known their touch anywhere. Trina stiffened, lifting her head to see who had put their hands on her.
She looked up to see a tall blond man. She supposed he would have been cute if he weren’t blue. “Umm, who are you and why are you rubbing my skin like you have the right to do so?” she asked.
The man removed his hands. He looked stricken and Trina felt a little guilty for speaking so sharply to him. “Many pardons, miss, but skin such as yours should be protected from the sun’s rays. I only thought to rub some sunscreen on your back. As you can tell, I’m thoroughly sunburned myself, and I’d hate for the same fate to happen to you.”
Trina tied her bikini top together before sitting up. “I’m sorry for snapping at you, but you can’t just go up to people and start touching them without their permission.”
“I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to offend you. I only wanted to help, really. I will leave you alone.”
The blue man looked a little distressed as he began to get up. She felt so guilty, although she had no reason to be, she grabbed his hand. “Wait, you don’t have to go. What’s your name?”
He sat back down with a big smile on his face, showing off little white teeth. “My name’s Morel Hyyor, of the Hyyor wood nymphs… and you are?”
“Trina Davis. Nice to meet you, Morel.” She smiled back at him. He briefly shook the hand she held. His grip was strong at first. Morel was actually kind of cute.
“And it’s very nice meeting you, Miss Davis. You’re the first woman who’s even talked to me on this island.”
“Well, you were nice enough to rub sunscreen on my back, but I can’t imagine a handsome guy like you not getting any female attention.”
He blushed, looking pleased. “Well, not really. Actually, I’ve been slapped in the face a few times, told to get lost, and called a loser. One woman told me to go fuck myself, whatever that means. If I could do that I wouldn’t need a woman.”
She felt sorry for him. The poor fellow didn’t seem to be having much luck. “Well, give me an example of how you approach women.”
“Well, I do what all wood nymphs do when they’re greeting their women. I grab them between their legs and squeeze. It’s the way our males tell a female we’re interested. Had you not been lying on your stomach, I would have greeted you in the same manner.”
“And I would have knocked you back into next week. I can appreciate that greeting a woman in this way is what your people do, but for people not of your culture, it’s insulting because it’s not what they’re used to.”
“But I know no other way. I knew coming to this island was a big mistake, but it was either this or marry Swinla.”
“What’s wrong with Swinla?”
“She’s been my betrothed since we were children, but I don’t see her as anything more than a little sister. Yes, she is beautiful, but she doesn’t make my heart beat faster. I want the real thing. My people mate for life, and I can’t imagine being stuck with someone I only feel a mild love for, for the rest of my life.”
“How does Swinla feel about you?”
“She loves me, at least she says so, but I need to find someone who isn’t her. My brothers were able to choose their mates. Just because I am my father’s heir why can I not choose my own?”
Trina had the sneaking suspicion that Morel was here more out of rebellion than anything else. “Have you given the relationship a chance?”
“Well… no, but I know it’s not what I want.”
“How do you know if you don’t give it a chance?”
“I never thought about it to be honest, but it’s just not fair,” he pouted with a petulant expression on his blue face.
“Life isn’t fair. Look, from what you’re telling me, it doesn’t seem like you’re doing so well here on Chimera. Why not go back home and find if there can be anything between you and Swinla, and then if things don’t work out, you can come back to Chimera.”
He paused for a moment as though thinking over the possibility. “Well, I guess that doesn’t sound like a bad idea. My mother said the exact same thing, but…”
“Sometimes it’s easier to take coming from an objective third party, right?”
“I suppose. Thank you, Trina. I appreciate the advice. I’ve been miserable since I’ve been here on this island anyway.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
“How is your time on the island? Are you enjoying yourself?”
“Yes, I am actually.”
“I’m surprised to see you alone on the beach. A beautiful woman like yourself should have swarms of men around you.”
“Thank you. Actually I’ve met three men. They’re all very nice.”
“Three men? And they’re okay with sharing you?” he asked with evident disbelief.
“That’s what they say. They’re Manani.”
“Oh, yes. I’ve heard of them. In that case, I had better go.” He had a worried expression on his face.
“Leaving so soon? You don’t have to go.” She reached out for him, catching his wrist.
“I may not know everything about the Manani race, but I know
how possessive males are. I’m sure you’ve been marked by them, and though I won’t back down from a confrontation, I’m not in the mood to fight because I was seen talking to you.”
Marked? What was he talking about? Trina frowned. “Umm, they can’t tell me who I can talk to. They don’t own me.”
“But you’ve been marked, haven’t you?”
“I don’t even know what you mean.”
Morel looked over her shoulder before abruptly standing up. “If I guess right, I see your three angry suitors coming this way. Pardon me if don’t stick around. Thanks for talking to me, Trina.”
Before her very eyes, he disappeared. What an odd man he was, but she supposed he was no worse than anyone else on Chimera. She turned around to see Roar, Bayoh, and Talh approach. Morel was right -- they didn’t look happy.
The three of them hovered over her, with not too pleased expressions on their handsome faces. What were they so mad about? It was Roar who spoke first. “Who was that you were speaking to, Trina?”
She didn’t like his tone one bit, but decided it was best not to get into an argument about it. “Morel. He’s just a nice guy I met on the beach. We were only talking.”
“I didn’t particularly care for the way he was looking at you. Didn’t you tell him you were already mated?” Bayoh asked.
“No. Why should I? We were just talking. What’s the harm in that?”
Bayoh shook his head. “No harm to you of course, but much harm to him if he thinks he can make moves on our woman.”
“I don’t like to be discussed as though I’m a piece of meat. We’ve gone over this already and I’m not your possession, and if you guys are going to act like this every time I talk to someone, I would rather end this thing right now.” She stood up to face them, her hands planted firmly on her hips.
“If you think you can end things just like that, you’re sadly mistaken. You’ve been marked, which means you’re ours, and this is something not up for discussion.” Roar grabbed her arm, pulling her against him.
“Marked? What the hell are you talking about?”
“Don’t you remember the first time we made love? We sprayed you with our love nectar,” Talh explained.
Trina suddenly realized what they were talking about. The green fluid they’d sprayed on her was not semen. She should have suspected something was up when they rubbed it into her skin, but she’d been too damn horny at the time to think straight.
“So what? So you shot some green stuff on me. That means less than nothing to me. I am a woman with my own free will who has the right to pick and choose who she wants to be with.”
Roar brought his face down to hers until their noses were almost touching. “But you see, that green stuff, as you so delicately put it, means everything to us. It means you’re ours, and when you let us, you gave us your permission. We’re bound for life now, and you can protest all you want, but it doesn’t make you any less ours. When this week is over, you will come home with us.”
“The hell I will. That’s it. I’m not going to be treated as though I don’t know my own mind. I don’t want anything else to do with you three, do you hear me? Absolutely nothing.”
“Do you think we’re just going to let you walk away from us after what we’ve shared? Don’t deny that you feel anything for us, because I see it whenever you look at us, touch us -- respond to us. You’re so scared to admit you care for us, because of something a bunch of immature assholes have done to you. You’ve been waiting for an excuse to end this all week, haven’t you?” Roar demanded.
She gasped. How did they know how she felt?
“Ah, I see the surprise on your face, but you still don’t seem to get it. You belong to us and you always will. We know your feelings and your moods. We probably know what’s in your heart better than you do. Don’t think we didn’t know you were treating this as a casual affair. We indulged you because you’ve had a bad time with love. This week we’ve done the things you’ve wanted to do to ease you into this relationship with us. You hold nothing back when we make love to you, but you want to put a wall between us. Well, we will not let you do so anymore.”
When Roar finished with his speech, Trina could only look at them with wonder. “If you know how I feel, then how can you think I would want anything long term? This is not a game, this is my life we’re talking about here. I thought by coming to this island I would be taking charge of my life again, but you guys just want to control me.”
“We don’t want to control you, and wouldn’t dream of it. We just want to take care of you, and treat you in the way you deserve to be treated. You deserve the best of everything and we want to give it to you,” Talh said, approaching her. He cupped the side of her face in his palm. As always, when any of them touched her, her body responded. Damn them for being able to do this to her traitorous body.
“If you knew what was best for me, then you’d know the best thing for me is to leave me alone. I can’t deal with anything long term.”
“Life is about taking risks. If you get hurt once, it doesn’t mean the next person is out to hurt you,” Bayoh reasoned.
What he said made sense, but her scarred heart made it difficult for her to believe them. It was a risk she didn’t know if she had the courage to take.
“You guys talk a good game now. You tell me that you love me and want to take care of me, but then again, that’s something all men say to get into a woman’s pants. If I went back to you with Laiocean, how would I know that you wouldn’t hurt me like the others?”
“You don’t know, Trina, but that’s what loving is all about. Loving is about trust. You will just have to trust that we will cherish and take care of you for the rest of your days. You’re not the only one who’s scared. We were worried about coming to Chimera and not finding our mate. We were worried we’d be stuck with a mate the three of us couldn’t agree on. We were scared a human woman wouldn’t be able to accept us for what we were, but we found you. We took a big risk to come here. Now we’re asking you to take a risk in us. Let us love you.” Roar kissed her gently on the lips.
Her eyes welled with tears. Dare she love them?
The image of Tim and Twan flashed in her mind. Love led to pain. “I can’t. I’m sorry, but I just can’t.”
“I see. It distresses us to hear it though. I guess there’s only one thing left to do,” Roar said with a note of resignation in his voice.
Were they letting her go? Why did the thought bother her so much when she’d just pleaded they do exactly that? “What are you going do?” she asked, swallowing the lump that had formed in her throat.
“We’re just going to have to take the choice out of your hands,” Talh answered.
Before she realized what they were talking about, Roar hauled her up in the air and threw her over his shoulder as though she were a sack of flour, before heading back to her bungalow.
Chapter Nine
Trina wiggled and squirmed, trying to break free of Roar’s vise grip. “You can’t do this to me!” she protested.
“It’s funny you should say that because it’s exactly what I’m doing. Now stop wiggling so much before I drop you.” He brought his palm down on her bottom.
It didn’t hurt, but it surprised her. She cried out in outrage. “You brute, put me down this instant!” She lifted her head to look at Bayoh and Talh who followed closely behind. By the amused looks on their faces, she could tell they would be no help. They actually seemed to enjoy seeing her like this.
She knew when they went to her bungalow what they would do, and her body began to shiver with the very thought of it, but the feminist inside her protested this display of Cro-Magnon male.
By the time they reached her bungalow, she was exhausted from struggling so hard. The moment her feet hit the ground she glared up at them. “That wasn’t necessary, you know. I could have walked.”
“But would you have let us walk with you? Besides, as I’ve already said, the choice is no longer yours. We’re go
ing to do what we want to do, and we want to make love to you. This time, you’re going to take us all at once,” Roar declared as he peeled off his swim trunks. Instead of taking her to the bedroom, they remained in the living room.
This was the moment she’d been anticipating since she’d started this affair with them. She wasn’t sure about the mechanics, but knew they would find a way. Why did her body always seem to take over when she knew her mind should be in control? The thought of taking all three of those big cocks inside her at the same time filled her with fear and lust.
Bayoh and Talh followed suit, and as always, she stood amazed at the beauty of their bodies. Unable to help herself she reached out to the one closest to her, which happened to be Roar. She ran her hands over his sinewy chest. His nipples stiffened as her thumb brushed over them.
Trina leaned forward to run her tongue across one tiny disk. He tasted of musk, salt water, and something else she couldn’t quite put her finger on, but she liked the taste of him. He groaned, grabbing her head against his chest, and she sucked the hard little peak into her mouth. “Do you like that?” she asked.
“You know I do, woman. I love it when you touch me,” he groaned.
“But I bet you especially like it when I touch you here, don’t you?” she said, feeling bold as her hand slid lower and grasped his cock in her fist.
He nodded, speechless.
She stroked his cock back and forth, knowing he enjoyed it, feeling high off of her feminine power. Knowing she could make this big strong man react to her this way aroused her as much as when they touched her. As she jerked his cock in her hand, her tongue continued to tease and lick his nipple. Trina transferred her attention to his other nipple.
Roar pulled away from her, his breathing ragged. “Woman, you are going to be the death of me.”
Trina smiled at him. “I thought you liked it? Perhaps Talh would appreciate my touch.” She turned to the tall redhead whose eyes flashed with untamed desire. She kissed the smooth expanse of his chest, drawing his scent deep within her nostrils, savoring his unique flavor. It was similar to Roar’s but different. Touching their hard, lean bodies was becoming an addiction she couldn’t quite get enough of.