by Sarah Marsh
“Excellent. Welcome to the Nomac, gentlemen. I hope you will enjoy your term under my command.” The pharaoh smiled, a predatory gleam in his eyes. “Captain, if you would please release my security chiefs and escort them to their chamber to get cleaned up.”
With a breath of relief, Roan rubbed his wrists and looked at Kai, hoping that they hadn’t just made a deal with the devil.
Chapter Three
It had been almost a month since Kai and Roan had found themselves working for Khaman. They’d thought from the beginning that it was only a matter of time before the pharaoh commanded them both to his bed, but surprisingly he’d left them to concentrate on updating the security and training the staff. There were many times when either Roan or Kai had felt the pharaoh’s eyes on their bodies, and when they made eye contact he would boldly keep it until the men looked away, but he did not make any advances toward them. It had become a game of cat and mouse that Kai and Roan were unused to. Most other species approached Sirotians about sex in a very up-front manner, assuming all were open to negotiations. When they’d left their home planet and became pirates their associates found out very quickly and usually very painfully that when it came to their own bodies Kai and Roan were not open to negotiations. If they wanted someone they would let them know and not be subtle about it. They were required to accompany the pharaoh to any public venues or meetings and quite frequently he asked them to keep him company in his suites while he dined, and they would talk or play the Dhuuatian card game sappi. There had been several times where Kham would stroll to his closet after his bath naked, leaving both Kai and Roan to admire all that silky golden skin, but then he would continue on with his day with a knowing grin as they had to adjust their cocks in their leathers.
“I say we just seduce him, Kai. I’m tired of waiting for him to make up his mind,” Roan mumbled as they reviewed the security schedule for next week. “Plus I’m tired of jacking off in the shower, I’d rather have that pretty mouth on me.”
Kai sighed in frustration as his cock went hard at the thought of Kham’s mouth on his skin.
“Thanks a lot, Roan, like I needed you to put that idea in my head right before we have to report to him. But I agree. I’m tired of waiting as well. This attraction we have for him seems rather strong,” he said with a somewhat confused look on his face.
But before they could formulate a plan of attack the ship’s proximity alarm started to go off, and they both raced to the bridge to see what the hell was going on.
“Status report now,” Khaman said as he strolled onto the bridge just moments after Kai and Roan arrived.
“There is a dead ship drifting into our path, sir. Our reports indicate twelve possible life forms in stasis. All of the escape pods have been ejected, so it appears as though the crew abandoned them,” the young officer at the operations desk replied.
“Why would they abandon their cargo?” Roan asked the officer.
The young man typed furiously at the keyboard until the answer became apparent.
“It seems as though they did not calculate their fuel consumption correctly for the alteration to their course,” the officer answered with surprise. “Oh, Pharaoh! Looks like their cargo was picked up on a class one restricted planet, their probably hoping to come back to recover it.”
“Pick up the ship with the grav net, and send a security team to pull out those survivors,” the pharaoh said before he turned to look at Kai and Roan. “Report to me once you’ve returned.”
Chapter Four
All Eve could hear as she began to wake up was a screeching noise that had her trying to bring her hands up to cover her ears. That’s when she noticed that she couldn’t move at all, nor could she see anything.
“What the hell?” she muttered to herself, trying to remember what was going on and where she was. When the only memory she could pull up was getting into the limo with Sally and the guy she had met at the bar, she began to panic.
“This one’s heart rate is elevating, Kai. Hurry up and get that pod open,” Roan yelled as he desperately tried to turn off the self-destruct order that had triggered on as soon as they’d begun to evacuate the stasis pods from their ports. Damn tricky slavers. It was a common enough practice for the deviants to set booby traps on their abandoned ships so nothing could be traced back to them. This particular slaver was smarter than most as he’d programmed a delay in the self-destruct alarm, so they’d thought they’d been home free until about halfway through the evacuation of the sealed pods. Now with the last pod being stubborn and refusing to unlatch from the port, their only other option to save the occupant was to pull her out of stasis in a hurry. All of the previous pods had contained human females, which were highly illegal to sell. Kai was shocked to see so many on the same slave ship. Earth was a restricted planet as it was not part of the United Coalition. Several cycles ago word got out that a Zornan clan had stumbled across and bonded with a human female. Much to their own amazement the Zornan clan had impregnated her. Since then there’d been a frenzy in the slave market for anyone who could procure a human female. To have twelve females all in the same place would suggest that these slavers had somehow made it past the Coalition patrollers and picked up their cargo directly from Earth.
“I can’t shut the self-destruct off, we’re going to need to make a run for it,” Roan said as he contacted the Nomac to make sure all the other shuttles had made it back safely.
Kai finally got the pod pressure to release, and as soon as the cover lifted he grabbed the female, and they both ran for the shuttle.
When the darkness finally evaporated with a whooshing noise and a cover lifted off overhead, all Eve was able to see as her eyes began to focus was a wave of auburn hair before she was tossed over a muscled shoulder, and everything went dark again.
Chapter Five
Eve woke to find herself strapped to a gurney with an IV in her arm. In her groggy state she noticed that the room was full of voices. It became clear she was in some sort of a hospital, and she could see several other beds across from her, but mostly there were a lot of pod things that were all being attended by what looked like Egyptian priests in long white robes while other men in shorter skirts with their chests bare stood guard with interested looks on their faces.
“Where am I?” she croaked out, her mouth dry and parched.
One of the priests looked surprised and offered her some water. He turned to one of the guards and said, “Tell the pharaoh this one is awake. We will keep the others sedated in their pods until we know her reaction.”
“Reaction to what?” she asked. “Oh God! Did that creepy guy kidnap us and take us out of the country? Are we in Egypt or something? Where’s Sally?” Her voice was at a shrill yell by the time she’d asked the final question, eyes frantically trying to find her blonde friend on one of the other beds.
“Relax, female. You have been recovered. You’re safe now,” said a smooth and seductive voice that made a shiver go down her spine and a tingle popped up in all the right places, and surprisingly she began to calm down.
As Eve looked over to the new voice, she first noticed the luscious auburn waves that fell to his thickly muscled shoulders, and there was something very familiar about that beautiful hair…
“You’re the one who rescued me?” she said, looking him over, from the top of his head, to his vibrant green eyes and pouty mouth, past the muscles outlined in the heavy leather suit, all the way down his slim hips and long legs. Eve wasn’t usually one to ogle a man outright, but there was just something about this stranger that made her think of sex. Hot, dirty, out of control, you-can’t-walk-properly-for-hours kind of sex. Yikes.
“Yes, lovely, I am Kai Dallen, and this is my partner, Roan Quinn,” he answered as another large muscled man with the same striking green eyes and dark flowing hair stepped up next to him with a mischievous smile on his lips.
“We are the security chiefs on this ship for the Pharaoh Khamen-Ra. May we know your name, miss?” th
e second man asked as he moved closer and ran his finger along the side of the bed idly.
Eve seemed to be overly distracted watching his finger move along the white sheet. Even though he wasn’t touching her, she almost forgot to answer his question.
“Oh, yes. My name is Evangeline Scott, so where are we exactly? And when can I go home?” she answered, her eyes still caught on his tanned hand inching ever closer to her leg.
She could see the two men exchange a guarded look, but before they answered, the door opened again, and a vision of a golden warrior strolled into the room, complete with long dark hair held from his face with metal beads at the temple. His smoldering gold eyes found hers and took her breath away. Every inch of his bare chest was covered in smooth golden skin. He wore an elaborate white pleated skirt in Egyptian style, the belt covered in stones and golden beads. When he looked back at her and smiled Eve knew she had just gotten herself in way over her head because her pulse started to beat wildly, and her skin grew hot, a blush spreading along her face and chest. How embarrassing. She was blushing just from the man walking into the room and looking at her. What would she do if the other two hotties actually touched her—spontaneously combust? It was as if her thoughts had been read because not a minute later the deliciously leatherbound brunette put his hand on her calf to comfort her.
“Are you all right, little one? You look flushed,” Roan asked, looking like he tried to conceal his smile at her reaction to Kham’s presence.
Kham walked right up to Evangeline and took her now sweating hand into both of his golden ones. He turned it over placing a light kiss to her wrist, and instantly she became astonishingly wet. All she could do was stare at him like an idiot.
“Are you well, little one? I am Khaman-Ra, the pharaoh of this vessel. I cannot imagine how distressing it must be to find yourself in such a situation. So far from home and everything that you know, to have to leave that all behind and forge ahead as a champion for your species. I don’t believe I ever met such a brave female,” Kham said as he raised his gaze to the pretty blue eyes still wide and surprised.
“I’m ok, I think.” Eve tried to absorb what he’d just said, “Did you just say I have to ‘leave it all behind?’ What does that mean?”
“I’m sorry, Evangeline, but Earth is a class one restricted planet. This means under no circumstance will you or any of the others be able to return there,” Kham answered in a much more solemn tone, his hands still holding hers as he let the shock sink in.
“Oh,” was all she was able to say.
It felt like everyone in the room was looking at her waiting for a reaction to what the golden man had just told her. She wouldn’t be going home ever again. Was this really happening? Eve could feel the panic slowly making its way through her body, and she had to get out of here, away from all these strangers!
“Are you alright, lovely?” Kham asked cautiously when he saw her breathing increase and her eyes began to dart around the room behind them.
It was clear to see the female was having a panic attack now that she’d realized that she was far away from home and would never be returning.
Chapter Six
“A bit much, don’t you think, Pharaoh?” Roan muttered at he rolled his eyes. He knew what Kham was up to, but he was also aware of the other man’s pheromones spiking when he took in the curvy red-haired female. He began to get concerned when the commander didn’t release her hand while she tried to absorb what he had said. If Kham wanted this female for himself then where did that leave Kai and Roan? Sure, they had been attracted to Kham since they came on board but there was something about this tiny Earth female that he couldn’t deny made him feel things he’d never felt before. Looking over at Kai he could see his partner’s jaw tightly clenched as he stared at Kham’s hands as well. It seemed as though he was also entranced.
Eve could see Kai moving close to the other side of the bed out of the corner of her eye. Roan still had a grip on her leg and with Khaman-Ra still in possession of her hand, the heat in her body continued to rise, her breathing coming faster and faster until she was in a full-blown panic. She met the vivid green gaze of Roan standing at her feet.
Roan could see she was beginning to panic, and he did the only thing he could think of to calm her. He met her eyes and let his talent flow over her in a calming wave.
Kai and Roan seldom used their pheromone release these days. The genetic talent all Sirotians were born with was much better suited to those of their kind who entered into the Courtesan Guild. Roan had never felt right about using it on a day-to-day basis to manipulate people, but in this case he’d do anything to help keep this woman calm.
“You are safe here, Evangeline. There is no need to be concerned, just relax,” he said as he stroked her leg softly.
“Safe,” she said, her breathing slowing back to normal. She was safe, and warm, and all of a sudden very relaxed, a smile creeping onto her face as she took a lingering look over all three men again. Instead of thinking about home and even Sally who was hopefully still here somewhere with her on this ship, she sighed and brought Khaman-Ra’s hand to her face and rubbed the golden skin against her cheek.
“You are all so pretty. Are all aliens so pretty?” she asked in a breathy voice as her eyes closed in pleasure at the feel of his soft skin on hers.
“Roan, you’ve put too much into that. She’s drunk on it,” Kai said as he stroked her flaming red hair away from her closed eyes as her breathing began to even out.
“I barely put anything into it, Kai. I don’t know why she’s reacting this way. Could it be a mating flare?” Roan asked.
Kham was thoroughly distracted by the female currently rubbing his hands all over her face and neck until he heard what Roan had asked, and he sucked in a breath.
“You feel a mating flare with her, Roan?” he asked.
“We both do. I would have assumed it was just the different physiology and pheromones the Earth females have, but we felt nothing when they vented the other females out of their pods for the medical check,” Kai answered for him, looking at Roan to confirm his partner’s thoughts.
“I see. Do Sirotians commonly mate in triads?” the pharaoh asked cautiously, not looking directly at either man.
“A Sirotian mate bond is known to be a complex thing. Our society does not limit the number of bond mates, nor the sex. It is based on chemical compatibility. Sirotians do not question the why or how of the bond. We accept who is meant to be ours and celebrate it,” Roan answered.
“This complicates matters. I’ve spoken to the Coalition board to update them on the rescue. They knew one female had woken while the others were still in stasis. I was awarded mating rights to claim the female while the others are to remain in stasis until they reach the Coalition station for evaluation. It would have been unsafe for an unmated Earth female to be wandering around unprotected,” Kham explained warily.
Roan and Kai looked at each other, both seemed stunned at what Khaman-Ra had just told them. It was not surprising that the Coalition would make the decision for an unregistered species under their protection, but the fact that the pharaoh actually seemed concerned about how they would react was what was stunning. The Dhuaat were a fairly arrogant race, and if a pharaoh wanted something or someone they usually took them and that was the end of it. Could it be that Khaman felt the same connection to Kai and Roan that they had felt for him?
“Could we have a moment for discussion, Pharaoh?” Kai asked calmly, his mind running wild with the sudden possibilities that arrived with the pharaoh’s declaration.
All Kham could do was nod as Roan and Kai stepped away to talk quietly between themselves. Then suddenly both men were back with mischievous grins on their faces, and that put a truly baffled look on Kham’s face.
“We have a solution, Pharaoh,” Kai said, placing his hand back on Eve’s thigh.
“Do tell, gentlemen. What is your solution?” Kham asked.
“You can take all three of us as
mates,” Roan answered as he stepped up to Kham and pulled his head down into a savage kiss that took Kham’s breath away.
Kham groaned into Roan’s mouth and backed the other man up until he was up against the bed. He ground his hips against Roan’s and found him just as hard and hot as he was. Breaking away from the kiss he looked over to Kai and saw the burning lust in the other man’s bright green eyes.
“You both want this?” he asked, still slowly rubbing his body along Roan’s black leather battle suit.
“Fuck yes,” Kai said as he made his way around the bed to grab Kham’s hair and run his tongue up his neck until he reached his lips and kissed him just as hard and deep as Roan had.
All three men were now breathing hard, the last weeks of dancing around each other finally reaching the breaking point.
“What will our Earther female think of taking three aliens on as mates? What if she refuses?” Kham asked, trying to clear his head of the lust for these two males.
Roan and Kai both laughed softly at Kham’s question as they ran their hands distractively over his body.
“You think any female has a chance of resisting the three of us out to steal her heart?” Kai answered.
Chapter Seven
Eve woke again, on a much softer bed this time, but as she stretched out her legs all the memories of waking up the first time came back to her. Kidnapped. Aliens. Can never go home again. Well shit.
She looked around the room to see if there were any random hot aliens staring at her again. When she didn’t see anyone she pulled the covers back and got out of bed. It was fairly easy to find the bathroom, but when it became clear that figuring out the facilities was going to be beyond her she let out a loud sigh and kicked the bulkhead wall. Almost immediately a knock came at the door.