by Laurie Roma
After the swelling went down, Tynan turned her onto her back again and sat on his knees. He pulled out of her, using his hands to rub the small trickle of his seed into her skin until the iridescent pearly liquid was completely gone. He had told her that his people were an animalistic race, with heightened senses of smelling, hearing, and sight, and he wanted his people to smell him on her.
Just thinking about that made her blush.
Allie was glad that he had at least found a pair of leather pants for her to wear. They probably belonged to a teen warrior, or a child, considering how much smaller she was than the men. She didn’t care, just as long as she didn’t have to wear one of those horrible dresses. She wore a shirt similar to the one Tynan had put back on. He had found a black leather strap and had fashioned a belt for her. Truthfully, she could have just worn the shirt as a dress, since it was so big on her.
Really, they must have looked ridiculous walking next to each other. Allie barely hit five and a half feet, while Tynan was over seven feet tall. She could stand behind him, and no one would ever know that she was there.
Nerves made her pace slow as they reached the bottom of the stairs. Allie wished he would take her hand or something to help her feel better about her situation. She was a stranger in a strange land and had been operating under the assumption that she was in a dream up until now, but the reality of her situation was slowly sinking in.
If she was really here, then this was really happening.
Tynan felt the strong emotions swirling inside his mate as they came to the main hall. He didn’t like that she was so torn at being in his world, at being with him. True, he had not yet told her everything about his world and what they needed from her, but he feared she would retreat from him if he threw too much at her at once.
When he had bonded with her again while he came inside her, it had sealed his scent into her, claiming her as his mate. Every time they made love, it would only make the scent stronger, more ingrained into her very being. He wanted that. He wanted it so his people would be able to smell him on her as soon as she was within scenting distance. It brought on a feral wave of possessiveness thinking about some other male sniffing at his mate.
He found a sense of peace, searching through her thoughts and memories. He wanted to know her as well as he knew himself. One of the thoughts racing through her head gave him pause. He stopped and turned to her. “You want me to hold your hand?”
“What? No.”
“But you do. Why do you lie when I can hear you thinking it?”
Allie huffed out a breath. “I told you to stop that shit. Stay out of my head.”
“I cannot,” Tynan growled. “We sealed our bond as mates when I drank from you while filling you with my seed. I am in your head as you are in mine.”
“I’m not in your head.”
He cocked his head to the side to study her. “Try to hear what I am thinking.”
Allie stopped herself from rolling her eyes and concentrated on trying to hear what he was thinking. It came to her slowly, but she could hear him thinking how beautiful she was and how much he had enjoyed mating with her. He was thinking about every detail of what had happened up in his bedroom.
She felt her face growing beet red. “Stop thinking about that!”
His slow grin made her toes curl in her weird leather sandals she was wearing. Wait a second, what did he mean by mates?
“What do you mean when you say I’m your mate?”
Tynan’s big body stiffened. “It means that my scent marker is on you, and other males will know not to try and breed with you.”
“So that’s it?”
He sighed. “Can we speak of this after we eat something? I can hear your stomach speaking to us.”
Allie placed a hand on her stomach as embarrassment washed over her.
Tynan bent down and kissed her lightly on the lips. “Do not be shamed. I am the one who should feel shame for not feeding you sooner. Come, little one.”
He held out his hand to her, and she smiled as she took it. Tynan had searched her memories for the significance of the hand-holding in her mind. Allie equated it as a public showing of affection for one another and a symbol of belonging. He would be more than happy to give that to her, no matter how strange the custom was to him.
He led her down the sandstone hallway to a large room decorated with crystals and silk drapings the blood-red color of his house. Allie saw there were several large tables filled with warriors dressed like Tynan. Some wore the leather vests like the one he had worn earlier, but others wore shirts of that soft fabric in bright jeweled tones, only none wore ruby red like Tynan.
A few women were scattered throughout the room, but Allie could tell there really was a shortage of women in this world. The room reminded her of a medieval hall, only instead of knights wearing armor, there were warriors in leather. The cutout windows let in the cool sea breeze, and purple moonlight filtered into the room.
Oh yeah, the purple moons and red sky brought back how very far out of her element she was.
Her gaze tracked up to a dais, where she saw a beautiful raven-haired woman with two men wearing the red tunic of Tynan’s house. They were slightly older, making Allie think that the woman may be Tynan’s mother, even though she didn’t look old enough to have a son his age.
The older men had intricate tattooed scrollwork down one side of their necks, and Allie could see it continued on down to each of their hands. Next to the older men sat a young woman who was the mirror image of the older woman, and three more men, slightly younger than Tynan.
“That is my family,” Tynan whispered to her as they stood in the doorway.
A bad feeling went through her. “Why are they sitting up there?”
“We are the ruling house. My mother, the queen, is the one on the left.”
“Your mother is the queen? That means your father is king, right? And you’re a prince? This is so not happening,” Allie groaned.
Tynan chuckled. “I saw your memories of stories about princes and true love.”
“But those are just stories! They’re fairy tales…not real life.”
He kissed the top of her head. “Get used to it. My sister, Liandra, is on the right with my brothers, Zarek, Solan, and Cian.”
“Wow,” Allie breathed. “You really have a lot of brothers, don’t you?”
Tynan’s body tensed. “Arcadian men are always born in trios.”
“You’re kidding!” Allie laughed. “Your poor mother!”
At the sound of her low, sexy laugh, numerous male heads turned toward the entrance where they were standing. Allie tensed, but Tynan squeezed her hand and pulled him forward with him toward the dais. She tried to slow her steps, but Tynan simply pulled her along with him.
Allie was painfully aware that every eye in the room was trained on them. Never one for liking attention, Allie tried to let her hair fall over her face, hiding her from the room.
Tynan squeezed her hand. “Stand tall, mate. You are wondrous and beautiful. My kind have never seen hair such as yours. They are bound to be curious.” His voice lowered to a growl. “As long as they do not touch you.”
Tynan’s mother raised her head and looked at them with wide eyes as they approached the table. Her beautiful black hair was pulled back away from her face with two combs on either side of her head, and her glowing eyes focused directly on them. “Tynan!”
Tynan smiled. “Mother, may I present my mate, Allison Summers, of Earth. Allie, this is my mother, Kyriani Dracor, Queen of the Palace of the Sands.”
“You have mated? Earth? Dearest, where in all the realms is that?” Queen Kyriani asked.
“It is another world. One unknown to us until now,” Tynan said.
Allie stared at the woman’s beautiful face, consciously trying not to look down at the queen’s nipples poking out of the thin material of her dress. Even so, Allie could feel a blush rising on her cheeks.
“Another world?” one of the ol
der men asked. “Curious.”
Both older men stood and thumped their right hands over their hearts. “Honor to your mating, my son,” one of the men said.
Tynan turned Allie so she was facing the dozens of warriors filling the room. “Citizens of Sand City, I give you Allison, my mate and new Princess of the Palace of Sands!”
Allie was nearly shaken off her feet as every single person in the room roared in celebration at Tynan’s announcement. He held onto her arm so she wouldn’t fall over.
“Honor to your mating!” everyone in the room shouted.
“Oh, I am so happy that you have found your mate, brother,” Liandra exclaimed. “And she is so exotic looking and so very beautiful!”
“Why is she dressed as a warrior?” Zarek asked.
Allie was extremely glad that she wasn’t wearing that see-through dress as the younger man’s gaze traveled over her body. They may have been younger, but they still seemed older than her.
“She is unfamiliar with our ways, and it makes her uncomfortable to show her body,” Tynan said in response as he led Allie to a seat and sat down beside her.
“But that is ridiculous!” Tynan’s younger brother Solan exclaimed.
Tynan eyes narrowed, and he growled. “Her comfort and care is my priority, and I will not force her to wear something she does not want.”
The large man next to Queen Kyriani smiled. “Pay no attention to my youngest son, Solan.” King Falon looked at Tynan with pride. “That is the thinking of a true mate. Well done, Tynan. She is lovely. A ravishing beauty with hair the color of sunlight, and crystal eyes. You and your brothers will be the envy of everyone in the kingdom.”
Allie stiffened at his words. Brothers?
Before she could turn to Tynan, Zarek spoke again.
“It makes me sorry that mates are only shared by a trio and not by the entire family,” Zarek said, making the older man closest to him reach around to smack him on the back of the head.
Allie felt light-headed as she blocked out whatever else the family was saying. It couldn’t be. A deep sense of betrayal stabbed through her heart, making her jerk her hand away from Tynan’s grasp.
“Little one…”
“You intend to share me?” She was barely able to choke out the words.
“Oh dearest…” Queen Kyriani whispered. “You did not tell her?”
“It is not what you think…” Tynan began.
But it was. Allie was reading him just fine suddenly. She could see into his mind, into his memories of each trio of men claiming one woman to form a bond. It was the way of his people, and he had planned that for her without telling her.
Tears filled her eyes as she felt a deep sense of hurt at his lie. And it was a lie by omission. He had mated her, knowing she would have to take two other men into her bed, inside her, and he never even gave her the courtesy of telling her it would happen.
Before she could say anything, the doors to the hall were thrown open with a bang.
“Healer! Fetch the healer!” Cael called out as he carried his brother into the hall with him. Activity erupted as a table was cleared so Cael could lay Ryder down.
“Clear the females from the room,” King Falon’s voice boomed out.
Warriors quickly whisked all the females from the large hall. Allie was shocked when some even covered the women’s eyes so they wouldn’t see the wounded man on the table. Tynan’s sister was dragged screaming from the room by a two guards, while his mother turned her back and wept into her hands.
Tynan rushed to his brothers’ side. “What happened?”
Cael’s eyes glowed bright with worry. “He said he was not injured badly…that it could wait. We were almost home when he fell off his hover-cycle. He blocked the pain from me until he fell unconscious a few moments ago.”
Tynan could feel his brother’s pain ripping through his own system now. It was as if his insides were torn apart. “A healer cannot give him time so he can heal himself from this. He waited too long.”
“It is as our brother died,” King Arik said, his voice a low growl of pain.
Allie pushed her way through the warriors, ignoring their gasps of disbelief. Several of the men tried to grab her, but she evaded their hands.
“This is not for you, little one,” Tynan said softly as he tried to block her.
“Remove our mate from the room!” Cael ordered him.
“Move, I’m a doctor!” she ordered Tynan, Cael, and the kings as she pushed past them, having no problem slapping at the hands that tried to stop her. She looked down at the man on the table and was shocked by the jolt of anguish she felt. With his massively strong body, it looked almost wrong for Ryder to be lying there unconscious. She quickly saw the wound at his side and knew that he was bleeding out.
She couldn’t let him die! She just couldn’t.
Tynan grabbed hold of her arm, but she jerked it away, pushing at him even though he didn’t move an inch. “Don’t touch me,” she hissed so vehemently that he flinched at her tone. She turned to King Falon. “Where is your doctor? Your healers?”
“They cannot fix a wound such as this.”
“I can.” Allie found herself pinned by several pairs of intense glowing eyes.
“How?” King Arik growled at her.
No time to explain, she whirled back to Tynan. “I need my bag from your room. Quick.”
Not arguing with her, he ordered a warrior to go get it, and the warrior ran from the hall.
“I need clean water and…wait, the water purifies, right?” Allie asked.
“Aye.”
“Good. Okay, I’ll need more light so I can see what I’m doing, and bandages for when I’m done. They need to be very clean.” Warriors ran to fetch the items she asked for.
The healer came. He was an old man wearing a long, flowing robe. He held his hand up and closed his eyes. When he opened his eyes, the glowing light was dim. “He is too far gone.”
Allie huffed out a breath. “What is with you people? He’s not dead yet.”
“You cannot fix him, you are female!” the healer exclaimed.
Allie’s eyes narrowed. “Watch me. Now either help me, or get out of my way and let me save him.”
Tynan was amazed by the information streaming through her head. She was mentally fixing his brother in a way he had never imagined before. Females usually fainted at the sight of blood, but his female, his mate, was no stranger to putting her hands right inside someone’s body to fix them.
She was a miracle.
He opened his blood bonds with the rest of his family, showing them the wonders that she was able to do. He could sense their surprise and their relief that came with the depth of her skill.
“Give the basics on your anatomy,” Allie ordered Tynan.
“What?”
She rolled her eyes in disgust. “Open your mind to me and think about what’s in your body and where…like where your heart is, lungs, liver…whatever organs you guys have. I have no clue if your insides are like mine.”
Tynan understood what she was doing and quickly did as she asked, showing her that their insides were very similar to hers. She could see in his mind that his kind had an amazing ability to heal, so all she would have to do was buy Ryder enough time by stopping the bleeding so he would be able to heal normally.
The warrior ran back into the hall, carrying her bag in his hand. He presented it to Tynan instead of handing it to her, which only pissed her off more. She snatched the bag from him, leaning down to place it on the floor so she could find what she was looking for. “Stupid giant idiots have fucking flying motorcycles but no doctors. What the hell kind of place is this…” Allie muttered to herself as she dug into her bag, pulling out her emergency kit.
“We can hear you, little one,” Tynan said, growling softly.
“Don’t talk to me, asshole,” Allie snapped as she used a rubber band to tie back her hair. “I’ll save your brother, then I’m out of here.”
Tynan and Cael’s furious growls sounded as one. “You cannot leave us.”
“Really? Why don’t you go screw yourselves if you are so into sharing? I’m not sticking around here so you can whore me out to whoever you feel like,” she snarled at the brothers then shoved her hands into the bowl of water that had been provided.
“Do not say that!” Tynan snarled. “Do not ever call yourself that again.”
Cael’s eyes widened in surprise then they narrowed in rage as he glared at his brother. “You did not tell her?”
“I was waiting—” Tynan began.
“For what?” Allie asked as she threaded a surgical needle, her concentration absolute although she still managed to blast Tynan and the men surrounding her with her wrath. “What exactly were you waiting for? What were you going to do, say ‘oops, sorry, baby, but before we go to sleep tonight, I need you to spread your legs so my brothers can fuck you?’”
“Your speech is disrespectful and not as a female should speak,” King Arik growled.
Queen Kyriani broke in then, her own voice filled with anger. “She has not been given any respect, so why should she treat any of you with such?”
King Arik and King Falon both winced at the ire in her tone. “Beloved—”
“Do not ‘beloved’ me, mate,” Queen Kyriani said. “Your sons have deceived this female into a mating. She had every right to her anger.”
Allie’s heart clenched at the surprising ally she had found in the queen. She turned look at the queen on the other side of the table. “Do I have your permission to leave after I fix your son?”
King Arik shook his head. “You cannot. You are already blood bonded to Tynan. It would kill him if you left him now.”
Allie wanted to scream. She wanted to threaten not to save Ryder, but she had to, not only because she was a doctor, but because she was compelled to make sure the man on the table lived. Tears blurred her eyes, and she used her arm to wipe them away so she could focus on her task. He was bleeding internally, and if she didn’t do something he would die.