It was nearly too much to take in. She recalled the picture again. The beach, and a sudden shower forced them under the cover of picnic shelter. She didn’t have time to pull her towel around her before Elliot snapped the shot—and she didn’t have time to stand tall and suck her belly in either. But her hair. Wet from the sea, it could have photographed black in the deep shade of the shelter. The thing inside—the thing she thought had died flared slightly back to life. Hope.
“So you fell in love with a picture.” That seemed insane, and hope began to flicker out.
“We did, and though I’m the practical one, my sweet, I didn’t question it. And when we learned you were a redhead—”
“Bonus,” she said dryly. “The love of your life and fulfilling that godsdamned prophecy. Too bad you didn’t get a submissive in all of this, because I’m not going to let you walk all over me. You should have told me about the prophecy. Now I’m stuck on Virile until I can find a way to mitigate the effects of what you force fed me without asking.”
“If we told you, your life would have been forfeit. The prophets exist, Adara. Your dream and the sand—”
“Don’t keep reminding me! What, do you think I’ve forgotten? I’m still freaked—and now you’re saying they’ll kill me?”
It was Kellis’s turn to shrug. “It is written that if you refuse to surrender and commit to us your life is forfeit. That is not happening.”
“Maybe that’s life as I knew it, Kellis. Because that’s forfeit. Where will I go now?” She ignored the little, hopeful voice suggesting she stay right where she was and tell them she loved them even if she wanted to kill them. After all, they owed her big time and she could take advantage of it. Maybe tie Thorn to the bed and torment him…
Gods! Her pussy was thinking instead of her brain. So they’d fallen in love with her like in some kind of fairy tale, and had decided to keep her no matter what. She cautiously decided to believe that because the alternative…her emotions were up and down and her hormones were now dictating to her. Maybe she should stay and trust a little—like she had any choice. Those godsdamned men and her choices.
“I’m not submissive.” She wouldn’t be that easy.
“There are those who, once introduced to submission, find they like it, even if they believe it is without choice. It makes for a more difficult transition, but the desire in the heart is there. And that desire was written in your eyes.” Ever practical Orion stated their case.
Thorn was still giving her that look, but something more tender glazed his eyes. He spoke firmly. “We know what is best for you, Adara. The fantasy you had to run your family business is just that, a fantasy. There is really nothing for you on your world. You had to find something to fulfill you until your brother so fortuitously landed here. You were merely marking time. We believe our prophecy that strongly.
“You need husbands who love you more than life itself, and children to bear and love and raise. You can utilize your education here with Orion and inspire our workers when you walk the yard with Kellis. But your destiny is with us. And, agapi mou, we don’t care about the prophecy—you are riches enough for us.”
“Say it.” She didn’t bother to embellish. He knew what she wanted to hear—needed to hear.
“I love you, Adara, my heart. I loved you the instant I laid eyes on your image. We bound you with the contract immediately, and I waited those days in anguish, fearing you wouldn’t arrive. I will love you forever.”
“And as furious as I am with you and your brothers, I suppose I’m swept away on the face of it,” she replied. “It’s a supernatural romance or something.”
“Adara?” Thorn was actually pale. He looked humble. She couldn’t withhold any longer.
“I love you too, Thorn. I love you all, if the feeling that came from the idea of never seeing you again…like my heart being torn from my chest…is love.” She got up and crossed to him, sinking down to kneel at his feet. His big hand was atop her head instantly, a fine tremble communicating his intense emotions.
Out of the corner of her eye she saw Cenna slip from the room. Tilting her head back, Thorn’s hand sliding down to cup her nape, she said, “There was a witness, Thorn. You can’t say you didn’t say it.”
“But the only ones to witness this will be my brothers, agapi mou.” With a flex of that amazing strength he hauled her up and put her over his lap. Smoothing his rough hand over the curve of her buttocks, he trapped her legs between his.
Adara shrieked. “What are you doing? You just said you loved me!”
“True. We love you. All of you. And you once again disrespected what belongs to us and challenged our regard for you.”
Closing her eyes, she fought trepidation. She’d broken a rule and earned her punishment, but it didn’t seem fair, considering.
Kellis crouched beside her head, bunching her hair in one fist. “Your poor self regard can’t continue, my love. No matter the situation, you need to remember how we perceive you. And spanking your sweet ass is quite effective. We may just need to repeat the process from time to time—like taking medicine.”
Orion laughed as Thorn continued to rub her ass cheeks, dipping his fingers between them to flirt with her pussy. “Our Adara learns quickly, brother. And don’t forget there are other ways to punish her.”
He leaned in to speak quietly in her ear. “Take your correction, my sweet. Thorn won’t last—he can barely sit still with your delectable body compressing his cock. I’m betting two smacks, three at the most, and then we’ll challenge your self-deprecation in other, more pleasurable ways.”
She could do that. And did.
Epilogue
Slouched back in his favorite chair—surveying his realm as Adara still teased—Thorn watched as she trounced his brothers in yet another game of bastra. Her breasts jiggled fetchingly, the nipples darker and more pronounced with her burgeoning pregnancy. The large, round expansion of her belly glistened with the lavender oil Orion had insisted on buying for her and rubbed on the unborn Freestars at every opportunity. His fascination with her breasts was even more marked, and he’d spent considerable ducats on jewelry to decorate them.
The committal ceremony took place with Cenna and two of her children as attendants. Her brother Elliot attended, a pleasant surprise in the end, for he bestowed a dowry on his sister, probably at the insistence of Master Samuel. The other Dom had accompanied Waycross and remained stoic after assuring himself Adara was happy and not marrying under duress. Thorn had found it in himself to feel badly for the big man—he supposed he could find the largesse because they’d won Adara’s heart and Redcliff was obviously hurting at the lack. No one spoke of the nectar and within a few days both men had left the planet, finding themselves feeling unwell, but not before Adara had made up with her brother—after a fashion. And she’d been respectful with Redcliff, maintaining an appropriate distance with an eye to her Doms. They in turn supported the friendship.
Adara chose a long, flowing gown made from vamvaki and carried a sheaf of the flowers of the crop—he would have preferred her naked but she insisted on laying those flowers on the sand sculpture yet visible through the great room windows, although the erosion of the wind was slowly rounding all the angles and merging them as one. Apropos, he thought. The gown afforded her satin skin the protection necessary even if it wasn’t a sandsuit. He mostly remembered the kiss from that day.
Their wife wouldn’t kiss them on the mouth despite the surrender of her heart at first. She refused all advances of the sort and insisted that contact would take place on her wedding day. She was correct to wait—the sensation of her mouth under his, the full lips pressing and then parting to allow him access and steal her breath was sublime. He kissed her now at every available opportunity, as did Thorn and Orion, quick, loving kisses dropped on her upturned mouth or deep lustful kisses that usually led to even more passionate encounters.
She wore their collar and arm bands, each with the Freestar banner engraved with flo
wery script of the ancient words. The polished, hardened vamvaki was light weight and comfortable, and the warm, burnished color set off her hair and eyes while asserting their claim to all and sundry. Not that they planned to expose her to but a chosen few, and then only after she delivered.
Kellis was continually purchasing toys, perusing the vids of dozens of different planetary stores, only they weren’t toys for Adara, but for the children to be born within the next few weeks. They’d had to turn his bedroom into a child’s playroom and use Orion’s for storage of the assorted shipments that arrived every ten days or so. Kellis still used his other toys on Adara—but with far more care and less frequency of late.
Thorn still made love to her every day without fail, although taking her with his brothers had fallen by the wayside as her term crept near. They would never risk her or their unborn children. He remembered her reaction when the healer made the trek to their home and pronounced her healthily pregnant, about five weeks along.
“I can’t be pregnant! I was protected!”
Kellis had soothed her and asked if she was that opposed to having children.
“No. But I was protected. Did you guys circumvent that too?”
An Adara tantrum was in the making, and they weren’t paddling her ass when she was pregnant so Orion hastily intervened. “The nectar probably negated the birth control, my sweet, as it improved your immune system.”
Still disgruntled, she had flounced off to find Cenna, that grimalkin at her heels, deterring contact by any of them as they hustled behind her. The creature grew by leaps and bounds and was a force to be reckoned with—he knew Nonnie would protect Adara to the death. Cenna was over the moons at the news and Adara had melted into the other woman, seeking her maternal care, before she’d gifted them with a smile. “I’m having a girl. I’m tired of being outnumbered.”
Orion and Kellis had laughed and agreed. Thorn kept his own counsel. Girl children weren’t conceived very often, and never as a first born. But Adara insisted. When the healer shared the news of two babies she still wasn’t deterred but the brothers knew there would be two boys sharing the comfort of Adara’s womb. Twin girls had never been born on Virile.
The prophecy hadn’t materialized, at least not in the manner some expected. The Freestars continued to flourish with their crop production, and the export competition from Xanus faded away when genetic manipulation negated its tensile strength. They remained self sufficient and safe in the farm’s borders. But the real riches lay in their home. They had Adara and looked no further, expecting nothing more.
She submitted to them, but as their equal. She submitted because she chose to do so, the road to submission being a two way street. Adara sought to please them, knowing how committed they were to serving her. Thorn often thought, ruefully, that it took the three of them to keep up with her. A change in the very air of the room snapped him from his pleasurable ruminations.
“Thorn?” Adara struggled up from her chair, the ungainly weight of her belly an imbalance to her inherent grace. He quickly eased her to her feet, noting the sudden pallor and sheen of perspiration on her upper lip.
Orion and Kellis shoved up, tablets flying everywhere, the kinky currency they used to bet with—nipple clamps, a crop, a butt plug and such—falling to the floor with assorted thumps. They crowded her back. Nonnie leapt from the fireplace mantel and jumped to crouch on the table, tail lashing as she reacted to the commotion, golden eyes trained on her Mistress.
“She just tossed in her hand and paled like that.” Kellis stroked a gentle hand down her arm while Orion moved to peer at her face. Nonnie growled then moaned a threat.
The sharp tang of amniotic fluid filled the air and they sprang into action. The brewing sandstorm negated travel so Kellis went for Cenna. Orion raced ahead of Thorn to prepare a place as he carried Adara down the hall, the godsdamned grimalkin dogging his footsteps.
“I want Nonnie.” Adara writhed on the bed as he lay her down. The animal responded to its name and jumped up to nuzzle Adara who cuddled it close.
“So the twins come a little early.” Cenna stepped into the room carrying a small bag and an armful of white cloth. Kellis paced behind her.
“She should be in the center with the healers,” Thorn gritted out. “We should have taken her no matter how much she begged to stay. We knew what was best—she bewitched us.”
“She’ll be fine,” Cenna soothed. “Hopefully her trial won’t be too long. Quit worrying. The prophets won’t allow any harm to come to her. Now, will you help?”
Tearing his eyes from Adara’s anguished face, he nodded. “Of course.”
Cenna directed them. “Kellis, cover the divan. Orion, strip to your underwear and sit with your back against it. Take Mistress onto your lap. Thorn, wash up. Kellis too.”
The next hours were intolerable. They shut the feline out of the room where it rent the door with its claws and howled with despair until he relented and allowed it back inside. It crouched over Orion’s left shoulder and muttered and grumbled quietly, affording Adara the opportunity to reach up and touch it whenever she was able to rest from her labor. Orion braced her back and spoke continual encouragement. Kellis fetched and carried countless cool cloths to wipe her face and hands, offering her ice and juice. Thorn rubbed the long muscles of her legs to ease any cramping as her belly rippled and bulged with the efforts of the twins to emerge. And still it went on.
Adara whimpered and moaned quietly at first, trying to follow Cenna’s calm directives and recall the lessons from the healer. As her pains intensified, it took all of them to soothe her and help her focus. Thorn decided to ignore the nasty threats to his manhood. Maligning twin DNA in general, accusing them of putting twins inside of her brought pained grimaces from his brothers who clearly would clearly take Adara’s pain if they could. But it went on and he feared for her. If she was lost to them he couldn’t go on.
Screaming, a different kind of scream, Adara clutched Kellis’s hand and took him from his perch on the lounger to his knees on the floor. Cenna motioned Thorn out of the way and efficiently bent Adara’s knees up, her beautiful pussy swollen and wet with their issue. He decided that if she survived she’d never again have to tolerate childbirth.
Adara bore down, setting her teeth in Orion’s forearm as she did so, holding Kellis on his knees with unimaginable strength. A wet, black head emerged between her folds, followed by a pink skinned, bloody little form as the child slipped free on several more pushes. Thorn, prepped by Cenna, took the baby with reverence as the cord was cut and wrapped it in a fresh swaddling cloth, cleaning the tiny squashed features with the end of the fabric. A loud wail announced life.
Busying herself with Adara, Cenna left him to hold his—he had no idea what Adara had birthed, so relieved she’d managed it and was still alive. And he had no time to look because the second twin came with a little less fanfare than the first. Cenna swiftly wrapped it as it cried loudly and he bent to take the child from her, juggling his two precious burdens with less awkwardness than he would have believed.
“Two girls.” Cenna spoke with great satisfaction and beamed at Adara. “You are blessed, Mistress.”
“I knew it. They didn’t believe it, but I knew it.” Their wife sprawled against Orion, visibly exhausted and as beautiful as he’d ever seen her. Kellis dragged up from the floor and touched her face, awe evident on his features. Orion kept kissing her hair, peering around to look at her face and at the twins, while Nonnie launched into her awkward purr. The twins had three fathers and a guard grimalkin.
Jockeying for position, Thorn tucked the babies into Adara’s arms as Cenna made her comfortable then carried away the detritus of the successful delivery. He eased the cloth back from one little face and helped it latch onto Adara’s breast. Kellis assisted with the other and they all laughed at their beloved’s expression as the babies began to suck.
“We’ll be deprived of those beauties for some time,” Orion mourned. Kellis reached
to slap him and barely avoided a swipe of Nonnie’s claws.
Thorn watched as the babies nursed and their tufts and curls of hair began to dry. He blinked and blinked again. Baby number one fluttered her eyes open—not the usual blue, but dark, nearly black—like his own. He looked back at her hair.
“Thorn?” Adara peered up at him, an anxious look on her beloved face.
“The prosperity prophesized wasn’t material, agapi mou, but from your heart. You’ve given us two girl children, and both are redheads.”
The dark red in every strand emerged as the tiny heads dried. As if feeling the stares, little girl two squinted her eyes open. Also like Thorn’s.
“Figures. We’ll make the next two, Orion.” Kellis couldn’t maintain his pretense of envy and Adara laughed.
“She’s not having any more, you ass. Weren’t you just here, in this room for the past hours?” Thorn remembered to snarl quietly in deference to the babies.
“Women have babies, Thorn,” Adara spoke up. “I can’t say as I liked the experience, but the end product…and the making of them? I might reconsider—in time.”
He relented and stood down. “We’ll see,” he compromised, pretending not to notice when she rolled her eyes. There might be some ass smacking in the future, but in the meantime he wanted to tell her what she had done for them.
“The Freestar legacy will continue, agapi mou. Our daughters will marry and continue the line, expand our family. There is no greater fortune, no greater prophecy. Virile was blessed when you came to us.”
The End
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