by Abby Blake
He shook his head. Had they really been treating her differently? They’d been very concerned for her, both emotionally and physically, but had he and his brothers treated her so differently that she’d felt unloved? A shiver racked through him as he realized that he really had treated her differently. Hell, he’d been ready to sit her on his knee and feed her—something he knew she absolutely hated—just because he’d treated her roughly. Nothing they’d done today was any more painful or any less pleasurable than their most intense sessions before she’d fallen pregnant.
“I’m sorry,” he said as he settled on the edge of the bed and touched her face. “I guess we’ve been a little overzealous trying to protect you. I promise to try harder to get our relationship back to what it was before.”
She smiled sweetly, obviously relieved that he understood her needs.
He moved away, back into the bathroom and began to run a cool bath. His sub was precious, loving, independent, and strong, and when she gave him her trust like she’d done today, there was no greater gift. He planned never to take it for granted again.
“When do we move to the new research station?” she asked from the doorway.
“What? Tired of this messed-up planet already?” he teased. Considering that the men outnumbered women by three hundred to one, and Mikayla had been dumped here by a people-trafficking ring, he probably shouldn’t be making jokes. Add that to the fact pregnancy was outlawed but rape was not and that it was the coldest motherfucker of a planet he’d ever been on, it was a pretty safe bet none of them would mourn the need to leave it behind.
Mikayla smiled as if she knew what he was thinking then moved into his embrace as she waited for his answer.
“We have about ten days worth of reporting left to do, and then we can pack up the station—most of it comes with us—and head for the jungles of M789zi.”
“What are the laws like?” she asked, sounding slightly apprehensive. Shit, who could blame her? A man who’d claimed to love her had abandoned her on this planet. Fortunately, Matt had been there to rescue Mikayla from her first client and would-be rapist and had brought her here to their research station. It was only natural that she’d want to know of the laws of the new planet. Although, Brock doubted any planet could be as fucked-up as this one.
“There aren’t any people on the new planet, so there are no actual laws. Basically, it will be you and me and your other seven husbands.”
She hugged him harder, seeming quite pleased by that assurance.
* * * *
After a soothing bath, Mikayla curled into her husband’s warmth, snuggling closer as thoughts of the next planet filled her head. It felt wonderful to lie here exhausted, sated, and loved. She’d missed this more than she realized. Brock had been attentive and caring since her miscarriage but the pampering always felt a little awkward. There was nothing quite like the exhaustion that followed an intense spanking session and amazing orgasms. She felt weak and vulnerable, and it made Brock’s care for her seem so much more special.
She just hoped they’d be able to move past the problem now. She wasn’t fragile, and she was glad Brock finally realized it.
Of course she still had seven other husbands who needed to know the same thing.
Chapter Two
“Hello, sweetheart,” Ryan said as he walked into the lab, “what are you doing in here so late?”
“I just wanted to make sure everything is finished before we start packing up tomorrow.” It was a plausible excuse but not entirely the truth. As weird as it sounded, even to her own ears, she was going to miss this place. Everything good that had ever happened to her had happened on this base, and even though her arrival on this planet had been unexpected and terrifying, it had led to her being happier than she’d ever imagined possible.
Somehow, Mikayla Noone, the girl that no one wanted, ended up being loved by eight incredible, amazing men. And most of that had happened here. It was the coldest, most fucked-up planet she could ever imagine, but still it felt like home.
“What’s that look for?” Ryan asked quietly. Damn. The trouble with having eight husbands was that sooner or later they were going to figure out what was going on in her head.
“Just a little nervous, I guess.” She shrugged, trying to give the impression that it didn’t matter. Ryan didn’t buy it. He pulled her into his embrace, rested his head on top of hers and somehow saw directly into her heart.
“You’re going to miss this place.” She nodded against his chest, half-relieved that he knew and half-worried he wouldn’t understand. “Did you know,” he asked quietly as he pulled her closer, “that the entire station gets moved? About the only thing we’ll leave on this planet is some foundation supports. Everything else pulls apart like a jigsaw puzzle, and when we get to the next planet, it all gets put back together.”
“Seriously?” It wasn’t that she wanted to call him a liar, but, well, Ryan was known for goofing around, and it seemed just a little too incredible. The whole base? At the moment it housed nine adults, office space, living quarters, storage areas, and the lab. It wasn’t a large building, but it certainly didn’t fit her idea of a mobile home.
“Seriously,” he said in a reassuring voice and a tighter cuddle. “Everything will look exactly the same on the next planet. In fact, if you stayed inside the lab or the living quarters the whole time, you wouldn’t even know we were on another planet.”
That gave her a small measure of peace. She was taking her husbands and her home to the next planet, so it was hardly a move at all. But she hugged Ryan tighter just in case.
“Damn,” Ty said as he came into the room. “I was hoping to find you alone, so we could run off on our holiday and leave the extras behind.” Mikayla laughed at his words. Ty would never actually consider a holiday without at least Ryan with them, but he did enjoy teasing his brothers. Fortunately, Ryan was immune to his words.
“Is Peter ready to go?”
“Yep,” Ty said as he glanced around the lab. “We’re all set to leave in the morning. Unfortunately, Matt and Bryce are insisting you stay your last night here with them. I tried to explain that we will be really busy on the next planet and that we needed to spend every moment with you until then, but sadly they disagreed.”
Mikayla was on the verge of laughter when Ty’s words finally struck her as odd. “Wait. I though the planet was uninhabited. What will keep us so busy?”
“Uninhabited by humanoids or sentient species according to the advance survey team, but there’s plenty of life on the planet. Bugs, insects, spiders, creepy-crawlies.” Ty said it like she should go all girlie and react with a squeal, but she just raised an eyebrow. After her experiences, she was far more frightened of humans than tiny little insects.
“Okay,” she said slowly as she tried again to convince herself that a holiday would be all right. Ryan and Ty worked really hard, so they definitely deserved some time off. “So, uhm, where are we going?”
“Well, Peter has appointments on Earth for a few days, so we’ll go see Tracey and make a decision from there.” Mikayla nodded, feeling a little more enthusiastic. Speaking to Tracey once a week wasn’t quite the same as seeing her face-to-face. Despite the woman’s reassurances, Mikayla wasn’t convinced that Tracey was over the whole nearly abducted and sold into prostitution thing, so checking in on her was a pretty good idea.
“Okay,” she said, starting to feel just a little bit excited now. “Tracey lives in California these days. It’s summer there, too, so maybe we can spend some time on the beach.”
Ty and Ryan seemed quite happy with that.
“Come on, darlin’,” Ty said as he held a hand out for her. “Let’s go contact Tracey and see if she can recommend a luxury hotel nearby.”
“Luxury?” she asked, feeling just a little uneasy. Would that word ever mean anything good in her mind again? It had been the one word Jet had used over and over as he promised her the world and then dumped her on a planet where the only way for a
woman to survive was by prostitution. She tried to hide the shudder, but Ty felt it anyway.
God, what was wrong with her? She’d been off the planet before—except of course that was when she uncovered a human trafficking ring, discovered her pregnancy, got left behind on Earth because pregnant women weren’t allowed on this planet, and then had a frightening miscarriage. Of course it had also been when she saved Tracey, met Bryce, and forged a deeper understanding with Matt. So, her last trip to Earth wasn’t all bad, but she was still in no hurry to repeat the experience.
Ty must’ve guessed her thought process because he pulled her closer and whispered, “We’ll be beside you the whole time. I promise, no matter where you go, you will have at least two husbands by your side.”
Tears filmed her eyes as she nodded. It annoyed the hell out of her to feel so insecure—despite her loving husbands’ reassurances—but she couldn’t seem to shake it. She just hoped that when things settled back into routine on the new planet that she could regain that sense of peace she’d discovered here on this icy mining planet.
Even knowing where the irrational feeling came from hadn’t really helped her to overcome it. She’d spent most of her younger years being shuffled from one foster family to another, so continuity was something she now seemed desperate to hold on to.
“Maybe we could stay with Tracey,” Ryan said evenly. Mikayla smiled at that idea. It was one thing to drop in on a friend. It was quite another to bring three husbands with her. And besides, it would be quite pleasant to stay in a hotel. Maybe a smaller, less luxurious hotel than Ty had in mind, but something close to Tracey so that they could visit every day would be nice.
“Let’s call Tracey,” she said, determined to ignore the hard thumping of her heart as anxiety swelled through her once more. She ground her teeth together. God, she was going to get this annoying fear under control if it was the last thing she did. “I’m sure she can recommend something to suit us.”
Ty smiled, still looking concerned, but she grinned back and forced herself to relax. It was going to be all right. She would have Ryan, Ty, and Peter by her side, so she had nothing to fear but fear itself.
Now, if she could just unclench her jaw.
* * * *
The hotel was quite surprising. Small enough to have a friendly feel to it and classy enough that no one raised an eyebrow when Mrs. Davidson checked in with three husbands. Their suite had three rooms, two with double beds and the main with a king-size. Everything seemed clean, well maintained, and comfortable.
“What shall we do first?” Ryan asked as he carried all of their suitcases into the main room. Peter had some sort of business in New York and would join them in a couple of days, so for now she’d share the main room with the twins.
“I’d like to visit Tracey, but I think I need time to recover from traveling,” Mikayla said as she sat in the seat and kicked off her shoes. She’d spent almost all of her time at the station barefoot, so having to put on shoes—even comfortable sandals—was proving to be more difficult than she’d expected. She’d love one of Lachlan’s foot rubs about now, but there was no way she was going to say that out loud. The last time Ryan and Ty had given her a foot rub they’d made her laugh so hard she’d almost fallen off the sofa. She definitely didn’t have the energy for excessive giggling at the moment.
“Okay,” Ty said, taking a seat beside her, “Tracey’s place is only a few blocks from here, so we could probably walk.” She tried to hide the grimace behind a smile, but he noticed it anyway.
“Sore feet?” he asked, sounding very hopeful.
“No,” she said quickly, moving to sit on them before he could get any ideas. Ty grinned but made no move toward her.
“Maybe we should have a nap first,” Ryan said, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively. She laughed at his antics. A nap sounded wonderful, but with these two she was unlikely to do any actual sleeping. “Or maybe,” he said, stalking closer, “we can play around and then have a nap.”
She smiled as he lifted her straight off the sofa and into his arms. Mikayla didn’t need to look back to know that Ty was right behind them. By the time they had her naked, they’d kissed just about every inch of flesh she owned.
Writhing in the middle of the bed as Ryan licked her pussy and Ty suckled her breasts suddenly seemed like the best idea they’d had in months. She tried to lift her hips to force Ryan’s tongue deeper, but he pulled away and laughed at her impatience.
“Sweetheart,” he admonished, “we need to do this properly if you’re going to get the right type of sleep.” She rolled her eyes at his teasing.
“Please, Ryan, I need you inside me.”
“Well, since you asked so nicely.” He surged over her, his cock thrusting hard and deep in a single movement. Ty laughed as his brother held still, pinning her to the bed and refusing to move. She growled at his literal interpretation of her words.
“I think,” Ty said with a huge grin on his face, “maybe you needed to be more specific.”
“Fine,” she said, rolling her eyes and bucking her hips against Ryan’s hold. “Please fuck me.” His eyes darkened as he began to move leisurely. He slid in and out of her pussy, the slow glide and gentle rhythm surprising in its appeal. Ty leaned over and kissed her just as calmly, the soft press of his lips against hers quite satisfying.
Ryan pulled away but Ty quickly took his place, slowly riding her as pressure built rapidly despite their gentle loving. She began to breathe deeper, more rapidly, and Ty started moving faster. She was squirming, trying to get closer when he pulled away and let Ryan take over. Ryan slammed into her, his balls slapping her ass as her arousal spiked, and she started to shake. Over and over he fucked her, his hands grabbing her buttocks and lifting her to him, forcing her to take more. He changed the angle. Ty found her clit with his finger, circling, pressing, grinding against the hard button until she screamed her release.
Ryan pounded into her harder, his breathing labored as he groaned his own release. Again, he pulled away and Ty took over, thrusting deep into her quivering pussy, setting off a second, more intense climax. Mikayla moaned as she felt him hit his peak and release his seed into her body as well.
After a few slower, gentler strokes, Ty finally stilled inside her. They lay together, still joined as he softly kissed her jaw. “I love you,” he whispered.
“So do I,” Ryan said from beside them as he caressed her face and swept the hair from her eyes. “Rest now.”
She nodded sleepily, quite willing to follow orders. “I love you,” she mumbled to them both as Ty moved to her side and encouraged her to lay her head on his shoulder. She barely had the energy to roll over.
* * * *
“She’s asleep already,” Ty said softly. “I think traveling really wears her out. Or should I say,” he said with a concerned frown, “the anxiety travel causes wears her out.”
Ryan nodded in agreement. It was obvious that Mikayla didn’t like change. She’d been jittery for the last month at the research station and, despite his and Ryan’s and Peter’s reassurances, was still uneasy about taking this holiday. He knew her last visit to Earth hadn’t been entirely pleasant, but something told him it was more than that. Mikayla rarely mentioned anything of her life before meeting him and his brothers, so it was quite possible the reason ran a lot deeper.
Lately, Ty had found himself wondering more and more about their wife’s past, but he genuinely hoped Mikayla would simply explain it to them when she felt comfortable enough. It wasn’t as if any of them had asked her a direct question about her childhood, so she wasn’t deliberately hiding something, she just hadn’t offered any information freely. They knew she had no living relatives, but that was about the sum total of their knowledge. Ty couldn’t help but shudder at the idea of having no family. Having grown up with seven brothers and five parents, his life had always been filled with many, many people.
There had been times when he’d wished for a little peace and quiet, but he’d a
lways known that when he needed his family, they would be there for him. A touch of guilt slipped through his mind as he thought of how awful it must have been for Bryce. Even though Bryce had assured them all that it had been his choice at the time, Ty couldn’t miss just how happy Bryce was now with his brothers and Mikayla.
* * * *
Ryan rolled over, feeling agitated. “I’ll go check the messages. I’m hoping that Peter has some good news. I can’t believe that bitch is trying to sue him.” He didn’t bother putting clothes back on, just headed for the communication equipment provided with the room. Most people on Earth still used personal mobile phones, but having spent very little time on their home planet in recent years, neither he nor his brothers had felt the need. It would’ve come in handy about now, though. Waiting for a message via the global networks was a pain in the ass.
As soon as Ryan logged on, Peter’s message flashed up. It wasn’t marked urgent, but that didn’t really mean anything. Peter said he would handle the situation, so it was unlikely he’d be sending an SOS for help. His message was short and succinct. “Not much to report. Nothing has changed. The lawyers are still arguing, and Jessie won’t back down. I’ll let you know if the damn thing goes to court, but at this stage it looks likely.”
Ryan didn’t like the sound of that. He didn’t know much about Peter and his ex-fiancée, but he did know that she’d hurt his brother pretty badly. So badly that Peter had nearly walked away from Mikayla for fear of being hurt again. Fortunately Mikayla with her loving heart and quiet acceptance had overcome his doubts, and now Peter was as happy as the rest of them. At least he would be if he didn’t have a potential lawsuit hanging over him.
Ryan headed back into the bedroom and simply stood beside the bed watching his wife sleep in his brother’s arms. Ty opened his eyes and Ryan shook his head. “No change,” he said quietly. “The bitch is still after his money.”