The Vulpirans' Honor: The Soul-Linked Saga

by Laura Jo Phillips

  “We are not sure what all out means,” Vikter said after a moment. “But if you mean that we tried to make the setting special for you, then yes, we did.”

  “Yes, that’s what I meant,” Honey said as she set her purse down on the dresser. “Would you like a glass of wine?” Lance asked.

  “Yes, please,” Honey said. She crossed the room to the table and sat down, kicking her shoes off while Lance poured her drink. She accepted it with a smile and took a long sip of it.

  “Okay,” she said, “how do we begin this?”

  “When you are ready, we will give you the first injection with our mating fangs,” Vikter said. “After that, we have about an hour before you go to sleep.”

  “I’m ready now,” Honey said before taking another healthy sip of her wine. She rarely drank so the alcohol went to her head quickly. When Vikter stood beside her chair and held out his hand, she set her glass on the table and took it.

  Vikter stepped behind her, Lance took her left hand and Hunt her right. They both raised her wrists to their mouths and kissed them while Vikter tilted her head slightly to the side and kissed her neck. “Ready?” he asked in a low voice.

  Honey felt her heart begin to race, but she nodded her head. A second later she felt three sets of needle sharp fangs slide into her skin, then all three men froze. Honey glanced up and caught their reflection in the mirror over the dresser, struck by the expression on her own face. She looked...aroused. Sensual. She’d never seen herself this way before and couldn’t seem to take her eyes off of herself until Vikter, Lance, and Hunt all lifted their heads slightly and the fangs were withdrawn. She felt three warm tongues lick the tiny holes their fangs had made, then they all stood up straight and studied her face carefully.

  “I’m fine,” she assured them. “So it’s begun.”

  “Yes, zetia, it is begun,” Vikter said. “Would you like to get more comfortable?”

  Honey glanced up at herself in the mirror and smiled. She was wearing loose white pants and a white cotton shirt, her work clothes. “Yes, I would,” she said. She started to walk toward the closet but Vikter stopped her.

  “Let us,” he said. Before she was finished nodding her head Lance was unbuttoning her blouse, and Hunt was unfastening her pants, while Vikter began removing the pins from her hair. Within moments she was standing there naked, with only her hair covering her back. Since Vikter, Lance, and Hunt were all dressed, she immediately felt uncomfortable and shy. She crossed her arms in front of her, covering her breasts, and looked around for something to put on. Hunt hurried over to the closet and came back with a bit of pale blue fabric in his hands.

  “Put your arms up,” he said.

  Honey frowned, but did as he asked. He slipped the fabric over her head and she felt it slide down over her skin. She looked in the mirror again and gasped softly. The nightgown was simple, but cut in such a way that it accentuated her curves and showed off her tiny waist. The color matched her eyes exactly, a light, cool blue, and it felt softer than silk.

  “Thank you,” she breathed. “I’ve never worn anything so beautiful.”

  “You are most welcome, zetia,” Vikter said. “The gown is nothing next to your beauty, but we thought you would like it.”

  “I love it,” Honey said, blinking rapidly to hold back her tears. She’d never been given such a gift before.

  “Come, sit down and eat a little,” Lance said, distracting her from her tears.

  Honey smiled gratefully and went back to her chair while the Vulpirans took seats around the table as well. Lance picked up a plate and filled it with food that he knew she liked, then set it in front of her before fixing a plate for himself.

  “After this, I fall asleep, right?” Honey asked, picking up a square of cheese and popping it into her mouth.

  “Yes,” Vikter replied. “Right now your body’s ability to regenerate is being increased. When that is complete, you will fall asleep and your DNA will be rewritten.” He didn’t really want to talk about what came after that. He’d read the reports, they all had, and they dreaded it. But it was a part of the process and could not be avoided.

  “Didn’t you say that I would no longer age?” she asked.

  “That’s correct,” Lance said. “You will not become ill, either, and if you are injured, you will heal quickly.”

  “I wish that I could share that with Nica,” she said. “My only regret will be staying young while I watch my baby sister grow old.”

  “Perhaps she won’t,” Hunt said. “Grow old, I mean.”

  “Why wouldn’t she?” Honey asked.

  “Nica has psychic gifts,” Lance explained. “Not all women who have psychic gifts are berezi, but it is genetic. Since you and Arima Berta are berezi, we believe there’s a good chance that Nica is as well.”

  “I don’t want her to be forced into anything,” Honey said. “Berezi or not, her choices are hers to make.”

  “No Clan Jasani would ever force a female to do anything, ahora,” Hunt said gently. “Do not worry. Nica is our sister now too, and under our full protection.”

  “Thank you,” Honey said, relaxing. She ate a strawberry, then something that looked like a slice of apple but tasted like maple sugar. “Shari had a psychic gift,” she said. “Do you think she was a berezi?”

  “There is no way to know that,” Vikter said.

  “Do you know if her family has responded to the news of her death?”

  Vikter hesitated, which caught her immediate attention. “What?”

  “Are you sure you wish to know this? Now?”

  “Yes, I’m sure,” she said.

  “King Lorick of Terien received the message, and returned it with a request that Shari’s body be examined carefully for signs of tampering,” Vikter said. “His word.”

  “Tampering?” Honey asked with a grimace. “What did he suspect?”

  “He didn’t say,” Lance replied. “Doc performed a careful examination as requested, and he found some disturbing results.”

  “Which were?” Honey asked.

  “Someone had performed surgery on her brain,” Vikter said reluctantly. “Doc is certain that her insanity was a direct result of what was done to her.”

  “That’s horrible,” Honey gasped. “Who would...no wait...Baron Rubai.”

  “Yes,” Hunt replied. “King Lorick sent a long message to Prince Dracon yesterday explaining what happened. He’d become suspicious concerning his daughter’s insanity, which had mysteriously developed during his ten month absence from Terien on a political tour. He launched a very secret investigation, but got nowhere. Then, about six months ago, a physician claimed, on his deathbed, that he’d performed a procedure on a young woman that he’d suspected was the Princess at Baron Rubai’s orders. A new investigation was launched, and Baron Rubai got wind of it. He later admitted that he didn’t quite dare to kill the Princess, but he couldn’t let her be examined for signs of surgery either. So he orchestrated her escape. He knew that the only person she cared about was Michael, so he told her where Michael was, and that he was married and had a child. Then he put her on board a ship to Earth, fully believing that she’d never be heard from again. He expected her erratic and violent behavior to result in her death before she even reached Earth.”

  “Baron Rubai,” Honey said, disgusted. “How many more lives will that man ruin?”

  “None,” Hunt said. “He is no more.”

  “He’s dead?” Honey asked in surprise.

  “After delivering his confession he was executed by Royal Order,” Vikter said. “King Lorick has requested that his daughter’s remains be returned to Terien, and he issued a formal apology for her actions. He even offered restitution to the families of those his daughter harmed.”

  “I feel relieved that Rubai is dead,” Honey said. “I also feel guilty for feeling relieved, which is strange. But I can’t help it. Nica is safe now, and I cannot be sorry for that.”

  “Rubai is not a being to feel sorro
w over,” Hunt said. “It is unfortunate that a man such as that was given such power over others, and allowed to use it for so long. King Lorick should have taken the time to know his own man better than he did.”

  Honey nodded. King Lorick could not be blamed for Rubai’s actions, but he had to hold some of the responsibility since Rubai had never bothered to pretend to be other than he was.

  “Does Michael know about all of this?” she asked.

  “Yes, he does,” Vikter said. “According to Elder Vulpiran, our uncle, he appears to be sad, but otherwise fine.”

  I am sorry for him,” Honey said. “But I’ve come to know Michael well over the past five years, and I know that he will get over this and move on. He is brilliant, and he cares for me, and for Nica. But he doesn’t really love. I don’t know if he buried that part of himself after he was separated from Shari, or if he’s always been that way.”

  “How do you know this?” Lance asked.

  “Let me ask you a question,” Honey said. “If you found me locked in a room somewhere, crazy as a can of mixed nuts, would you walk away? Would you bury yourself in your work so that you could escape to the furthest planet from me that you could get?”

  “Never,” Vikter growled. “We would never leave you in such a place, insane or not. We would care for you ourselves every moment of every day for the remainder of our lives.”

  “I would do the same,” Honey said. “Michael didn’t. He walked away, telling himself that she was in good hands and there was nothing he could do to help her.”

  “Yes, we noticed that about Michael ourselves,” Lance said after a moment. “We weren’t sure if that was him, or if his behavior was normal for human men.”

  “I can’t speak for any other men, but that is Michael,” Honey said. “I truly hope that he meets a woman one day that he can love deeply. Everyone deserves that much, I think.”

  “If the Fates mean for such a thing to happen, then it will,” Hunt said, surprising his brothers. “Honey, I must make a confession to you,” he said.

  Honey looked into his pale yellow eyes, and saw regret, worry and a little fear in them. That a man such as Hunt would feel fear made her heart leap in her chest. “All right,” she said, not sure she wanted to hear whatever it was he was about to confess.

  “When we first saw you, and knew that you were our Arima, but that you were married, I wanted to leave,” Hunt said, struggling not to drop his gaze to the table in his shame. “I wanted us to run as far as we could get and stay there until you left Jasan and returned to where you came from.”

  Hunt saw the pain in her big blue eyes, and he swallowed hard against the tears he felt threatening. “I’m sorry,” he said when he was sure he could speak again. “I do not mean to cause you pain. I tell you this only so that you understand what I mean when I promise you that I shall never doubt again. I shall never, for any reason, consider walking away from you. Vikter believed in you, in the Fates, in the idea that if you were meant to be with us, then you would be. He never doubted. I did, and I am more sorry for it than I can say.”

  “It’s all right,” Honey said. “You saw me as married with a child because that is what I wanted everyone to see. Your doubts are more than justified.”

  “I love you, ahora,” he said.

  “And I love you, all of you,” Honey said before yawning widely. “Excuse me,” she said, covering her mouth with her hand. “I don’t know where that came from.”

  Vikter’s heart skipped a beat. “It is the next stage,” he said in a low voice.

  Honey’s eyes widened in surprise as she yawned again. “Here we go,” she said, her voice suddenly trembling. “What should I do?”

  As soon as the words were out of her mouth her eyes closed and she fell sideways out of her chair. Vikter was just fast enough to catch her before she hit the floor. He clutched her small, soft, body tightly against his chest as he fought to calm himself. When his heart returned to a normal pace, he blew out a long breath and looked at Lance, then Hunt.

  “Here we go,” he said, repeating Honey’s words. Then he carried her over to the bed and laid her down, arranging her long braid so that she wasn’t lying on it. Lance reached down and pulled the sheet up over her bare legs, tucking it in around her waist.

  “I’ll vox Merrick,” Hunt offered. “Let him know we’ve begun.”

  “Ask him to come now,” Vikter said. “It only took her half an hour to get through the first stage. If she awakens early from the next stage, I want Merrick here to put her into a deep sleep.”

  After Hunt made the call he turned to see Lance and Vikter both standing beside the bed, staring at Honey as she slept. “Merrick will be here in about fifteen minutes,” he said as he joined them.

  They remained that way, silently watching her, until Merrick knocked on the door, startling them. Hunt went to answer it and a moment later Merrick joined them. “She went through the first stage fast?”

  “Yes, about half an hour after the injection,” Vikter replied.

  “That is fast,” Merrick said. He looked at Honey, then met Vikter’s gaze with his own. “I am going to tell you something that I would rather not admit to. My brothers and I agree that it is important to share this, regardless of the shame we feel over it.”

  “What is it?” Vikter asked, suddenly worried.

  “When we performed the soul-link triad with our Arima, we made an error which very nearly killed her,” Merrick admitted.

  “What sort of error?” Lance asked.

  “In this stage, where Honey is, there comes a point when her DNA is fully rewritten, and her body can no longer survive until her DNA and her body match. When that happens, there is no obvious sign. Her heart will slow, as will her breathing, and then they will stop.”

  “Yes, we are aware of this,” Vikter said.

  “As were we,” Merrick said. “Nevertheless, we missed it. She had ceased to breathe before we knew it. We were barely able to perform the second injection in time. You have only a few seconds between the end of the second stage and death.”

  “We will be vigilant, Merrick,” Vikter said. “We thank you and your brothers for this warning. I know it wasn’t easy for you, which makes us that much more grateful.”

  Merrick bowed slightly. “I will wait in the next room with my brothers. Let us know when you need us.”

  After Merrick left Hunt shook his head and sighed. “I cannot imagine the courage it must have taken for him to admit such a thing,” he said.

  “Nor can I,” Vikter agreed. “Let’s not ignore his warning though.”

  Lance climbed onto the bed beside Honey and placed his palm against her chest so that he could feel each breath she took. At the same time, he set his eyes on the small vein pulsing in her throat and kept them there. He would not look away until the vein ceased to move, indicating that her heart no longer beat.

  “I’ll go prepare some towels,” Hunt said. Vikter nodded, reaching down to place a light finger on Honey’s wrist. Between them, they would be certain not to repeat the Falcorans’ error. By the time Hunt returned with a stack of warm, damp towels, both Vikter and Lance noticed Honey’s heart rate was beginning to slow. It was happening much faster than expected, which made them doubly thankful for Merrick’s warning.

  “Get the Falcorans in here,” Vikter said to Hunt. He dropped the towels where he stood and raced out of the room, yelling for Merrick the moment he had the door open.

  By the time the Falcorans were satisfied that Honey was in a deep sleep, her body had already begun to convulse. They left, the sympathy in their eyes frightening Vikter more than all of the reports he’d read about this stage of the transformation. They had suffered through this themselves only a few short months earlier, and knew what was coming. It was far worse than any nightmare any of them had ever had.

  Later, Vikter realized that the only reason they’d survived the ordeal was that they’d kept busy throughout it. They held Honey’s body as carefully as they co
uld during the violent convulsions that threatened to toss her onto the floor or break her bones. They bathed her constantly with cool towels, and changed the bedding several times so that she was clean and as comfortable as possible. When at last her body became still they were relieved, and at the same time, almost afraid to believe it was over.

  Hunt called the Falcorans in so that they could lift the magic keeping her in a deep sleep. Vikter, Lance, and Hunt thanked the Falcorans profusely this time, understanding exactly how important their help had been. They knew now that none of them would have survived the ordeal had Honey been conscious. Right after the Falcorans left, Honey’s eyes opened and she sat straight up in the bed.

  She looked down at herself, realizing that she was naked except for the sheet covering her. She started to ask what had happened to her nightgown when a wave of hot arousal crashed through her. “Oh,” she exclaimed breathlessly.

  Vikter, Lance and Hunt scented her arousal, their bodies responding so quickly that it was painful. Honey’s face flushed and she swallowed hard.

  “This is the mating fever?” she asked.

  “It is,” Vikter replied.

  Honey’s body shuddered so hard that the entire bed shook. “Whatever needs to happen next, lets do it, please.”

  “We must perform the soul-link triad,” Lance said.

  Honey groaned and began to shiver. “Hurry,” she gasped.

  Vikter was horrified to see tears running down her face. He stepped back and removed his clothes as fast as he could, then sat down on the bed beside Honey. He urged her to lie down as Hunt climbed onto the bed, spread her legs wide and lowered his mouth to her drenched pussy. One lick and Honey arched her back off the bed, nearly sobbing with the intensity of her arousal. She needed desperately to climax. Vikter lowered his lips to hers and plunged his tongue into her mouth as his hands went to her breasts. She broke the kiss, her eyes pleading for relief.

  “Suck on her clit,” Vikter growled to Hunt. “She needs to come right now,”

  Hunt immediately sucked Honey’s throbbing nub in between his teeth and sucked hard. Her body arched off the bed, her eyes squeezed shut and her mouth open in a silent scream as the strongest orgasm she’d ever had ripped through her.