by Marie Harte
The feel of her nipple in Zehn’s mouth was beyond anything. And suddenly he had to know more of her, sensing Lore felt the same. The open sharing was natural, as if they’d become one, no barrier between them.
He let his hands wander, touching her everywhere while Lore did the same. Mandy’s excitement built, especially when Lore drew between her legs and kissed her there. She cried out as she climaxed, and her sweet scent compelled Zehn to do the same. But Lore continued to feast, and his enthusiasm fanned their passion higher.
Still, Zehn wasn’t prepared for the fire of her touch when he felt her hot hands on his flank.
“Come closer,” she ordered, her voice rough. “Let me lick you.”
His second seed would be too much for her to swallow, but he couldn’t resist her, so he straddled her neck and positioned his cock near her mouth. Lore must have done something to please her, because Mandy cried out and arched up. A glance behind showed Lore on his knees, the female spread before him as he lifted her hips to receive him.
“I can’t wait,” he said, his eyes like glowing green gems.
“Neither can I,” Mandy said and dragged Zehn closer, her mouth closing over his tip.
He gasped and did his best to hold still, aware he was larger than what Mandy would be used to. Connected to his bond-mate, he felt Lore slide into her body, the tight fit an excruciating pleasure that drugged him with desire.
Mandy opened her lips wider, taking more of him inside her mouth. He got halfway before she pushed him back, guiding his thrusts with a hold on his ass. He was lost to her, letting her dominate so as not to hurt her, the instinct riding him hard to care for his mate while at the same time claiming her.
Lore pumped faster, seating himself all the way inside her, and the sensation made Zehn see black for a moment. Lore roared as he came. And Zehn was helpless to hold back when her clever tongue swiped his sweet spots. He surged into her mouth on a moan, his second seed coming and coming.
Lore yanked him back, but Zehn continued to spend. He angled his cock over her chest, letting his scent embed into her body, covering her full breasts.
Their beautiful mate shared in their orgasm, the waves of pleasure, as well as the phelthar, too much for her.
Zehn watched as Mandy passed out with a smile on her face. He rose slowly, turned to face Lore, and was shocked to feel unsteady on his feet. Filled with joy, he started to tease his bond-mate when he saw Lore’s dark expression. “What’s wrong?”
“Zehn, I did not mean to. But the phelthar hastened the need.” Lore looked more upset than Zehn had ever seen him. “My body was not my own.”
And Zehn knew. “You gave her your second seed?”
Lore’s pain amplified, so that Zehn felt the male’s guilt as his own, a dark and twisted hurt that stirred old insecurities. More proof that Lore wasn’t deserving of love, too different, too uncontrollable, that he’d put his mate in harm’s way. No matter that it wasn’t a physical harm, but an emotional pain she’d feel soon enough, the trust of a new mate shattered before it could take root.
Zehn clenched his temples. “Stop.”
“I’m sorry.” Lore’s grief tore at him. “She will never forgive me.”
“It was an accident.” He hugged his bond-mate. “You didn’t meant to get her with child. Besides, there’s no guarantee it will take.”
Lore’s eyes glowed, still green, pulling at Zehn’s own energy. “It already has.” Lore pulled back and took Zehn’s hand. He placed it over their mate’s belly.
Zehn couldn’t believe what he sensed. Such power coiled inside Mandy, and not just hers either. But Lore’s and… Is that child mine too? How is such a thing possible?
You gave her your second seed when I did.
Not in her womb.
Lore shrugged, his gaze on Mandy’s taut belly. I don’t know. I feel the truth of it. Our son lies inside our mate. Our mate who plans to leave us far behind. Lore nodded to the satchel they’d found earlier. And after watching her hurry about her hut, shoving things in another sack. Preparing to leave. Perhaps she has the right of it with me.
No. You are mine. And she is ours. Zehn hugged Lore to him once more. “We have to make this right.”
After a moment, Lore hugged him back, the fierce need for acceptance and affection amplified.
“As I said, you are mine,” Zehn reminded him as they withdrew from each other. “As is she. The Maker sent her to us, Lore. How else could she carry our child so quickly?”
Lore pondered what he said and nodded.
Zehn let out a relieved sigh. “We need time to show her what we can be.”
“What we already are to each other.” Lore’s eyes turned normal again, one green, one gold.
They watched each other, not saying what the other knew.
“We leave.”
Lore nodded. “Together.”
“Now. Let’s go.”
***
It didn’t take them long to send word to the village for a replacement. Zehn and Lore left under the cover of darkness, sensing that the human males would try to follow. They needed to know exactly what Mandy had to do with the Earthers. But not here, not now, when they’d all been blessed with the ultimate gift.
A child.
Lore didn’t understand how it had happened. He’d been so careful, had given her his second seed once already—safely on her skin. But her fire had been raging inside him, the need for her to become his and Zehn’s like a compulsion. One he obviously hadn’t been able to deny.
He carried her tightly to him, running next to Zehn deeper into the jungle, in a race to cross the border before the humans or Welcome’s security caught them.
Technically, they were breaking the treaty. He wasn’t too civilized to deny pride in his actions. A real barbarian took what belonged to him, and Mandy was his and Zehn’s in every way that mattered. They just needed to make her see that truth.
However, until they could deal with said truth, they decided to keep their new mate at ease. The sleeper hold that worked so well on their kind also worked on Mandy, and she remained blissfully unaware of their present danger as they put distance between them and the west.
They ran for hours, crossing the border into the barbarian hold. They didn’t tire, putting their training and strength to the test. But they exercised caution, scouting for the enemy as they passed through unclaimed areas. The Vyctore claimed territory farther inward, and in some sections of jungle, they crossed Nasuhl land.
Though it had been two months since Talzec, his alpha, had defeated the Nasuhl’s leader, the Nasuhl had yet to reappear except in small raiding parties. Lore sensed it wouldn’t be long before the Vyctore had to fight another clan war. Their enemy had no honor, and though their leader had died, their beta was just like him, a brutal rapist and murderer who killed for sport.
Alarmed at the thought of his new mate in possible danger, he and Zehn didn’t settle until midday. They found a Vyctore outpost in neutral territory and fortified their holding. After setting hidden trap lines, they rested, prepared to face an annoyed mate.
When Mandy roused not long after, Lore was ready. Let me take the blame, he told Zehn. You can be the good mate. Get her dependent on you, then we can work her around to trusting me later.
No. It’s both of us or none of us. Zehn was adamant. His refusal to pull away warmed Lore’s heart. Despite years of closeness, in the back of Lore’s mind, he feared that one day Zehn would realize he’d made a mistake and leave Lore behind. Zehn was strong, courageous, and trustworthy. The third most powerful warrior in the village. Their people looked up to him, and their leaders expected him to help maintain order in the clan. Lore belonged as an accessory to Zehn. No matter how Zehn denied the fact, Lore knew it to be true.
His green eye and mental telepathy had separated him from the others at birth. Though he’d worked hard to be taken as a vital member of the clan, he felt disconnected from the others. As if, were it not for Zehn, they would oust
him from his home.
Maker, not this again. Zehn sighed. I hate when you get like this.
Lore started. “What?” Had he been projecting?
“Yes, you were.”
Mandy blinked her eyes open. “H-hello? Where am I?” She slowly sat up on the pallet of maffet leaves and turned to them. “Oh, hi.” Her sweet blush had him wishing he’d never need tell her the truth of her new situation. He wanted her happiness in all things, and he had a feeling she wouldn’t take news of her forthcoming pregnancy well.
“Hello, Mandy.” Zehn smiled, at his most lethal when charming. Lore had fallen in love with that smile, first with a brother warrior and later with a man he was proud to call his own. “How do you feel?”
She faced them, curling her knees under her. She wore the thin tunic they’d dressed her in, with the xechelln slippers they’d planned to give her as a courting gift. Zehn had also carried her satchel, minus the nasty processed bars the offworlders considered food. They would provide for her now, real food to make her body strong.
“I feel…” She glanced at the light streaming through the open windows in the camouflaged outpost. Built of bark and leaves, it seamlessly blended into the vast greenery around them. The asymmetrical openings functioning as windows allowed light and a fresh breeze to pass through the small space. The hidden doorway was shielded from outside exposure by a dead tree trunk a few steps outside the opening.
“Where are we?” She looked around. Then she glanced down at herself, looked around, and frowned. “Why am I wearing a sleep shirt? Why is my go-bag here?”
Zehn looked at Lore. Do you want me to explain this?
Lore nodded.
“Mandy of Earth,” Zehn began. “We have much to tell. I can only hope you forgive our arrogance in making the choice for you. But with the humans after you, and the danger of our enemy clan so close, we could do nothing but take you somewhere safe. Back to our village, where you can decide for yourself what you wish your future to be.” Granted, the Nasuhl wouldn’t be an issue inside the resort, but Zehn hadn’t spoken false. They were close, and they were a danger.
Lore couldn’t have said it better.
“I— What?” She stood in a rush and darted to the window, looking outside at a sea of green. Mandy whipped her head around and stared, in shock or anger, Lore couldn’t tell. “We’re not at the resort?”
“No.” Lore waited.
“Did anyone see us leave?”
He shook his head.
She didn’t speak for a moment, a frown her only expression. “We’re going to your village?”
Zehn answered with caution. “Yes.”
“And you brought my bag?” As she said it, she sought her things and looked through what he’d packed. “No food?”
“We will provide for you.” Zehn grimaced. “Those things you packed are not food.”
“Really? The resort gives us nutrition bars all the time. They’re small and decent replacement meals.”
Not for the mate carrying our young, Zehn thought but didn’t say, though he had no problem sharing that with Lore.
“You are not angry?” Lore had to know.
“Well, I would have preferred you asked me first, but since I’d been planning to leave, it’s okay. Especially if no one saw us. But I’m still a little confused. How long was I out of it? After we…um…” She blushed. “After we were together, I must have passed out. It wasn’t just that it felt so good, although it did, believe me. But the energy we shared was off the charts.” She paused. “You felt that too?”
They nodded.
Zehn leaned forward. “Lore and I share, connected as mates. We feel things together. But when we were with you, without intending to, we bonded.” He swallowed, and Lore was surprised to find his bond-mate as nervous as he felt. “We joined, Mandy.”
Zhen glanced at him. Five Hells, how do I tell her we’re mated?
Carefully.
Mandy blinked. “Um, yes, we joined. A good way of putting it.” She coughed, obviously nervous. “But it was dark when we joined. Now it’s not.”
“Much time has passed. We ran for most of the night and half a day,” Zehn told her. “We were concerned with the humans interested in you. And our enemy is close by. We must get you to the village to be safe.”
“Franklin didn’t care? That’s a shocker. I thought for sure he’d…” At Zehn’s look, Mandy tapered off. “You didn’t tell him, did you?”
Zehn wisely remained mute. Lore did the same.
“You guys just took me from the resort? No one said anything?”
“No one saw anything,” Lore explained. “As Zehn said, we left under the cover of night.”
Far from being irritated or even overjoyed, Mandy appeared stymied. Lore thought that better than angry.
“You were leaving,” Zehn accused. “Why did you come to us if you wished to leave?”
“I was going to say good-bye.”
Lore frowned, hearing the lie for what it was.
“Look, I wasn’t trying to use you or anything.” Mandy bit her lower lip, and Lore wondered if she realized she did that when discomfited. “I mean, I was just going to watch. Zehn said I could.” She tried to convince Lore of what, exactly? “Then I just…I couldn’t help myself.”
Lore blew out a breath. “Neither could I.”
“You affect us in a powerful way, nueshka.”
She cocked her head. “What does that mean?”
Lore was pleased she didn’t seem more upset. “It means ‘my pretty.’”
“’I’ll get you, my pretty,’” she said in an odd voice and grinned. “Something I saw on an old Earth vid. What the witch said to Dorothy.”
What is she talking about? he asked Zehn.
Who cares? She’s not angry…yet. Let’s not push her too far. “Mandy, the male who hurt you yesterday. Do you know him?”
She shook her head, but Lore could sense some untruth. He shared a knowing glance with Zehn.
“He will be a danger.” Zehn nodded. “I feel it.”
She sighed. “Probably. You guys should really take me somewhere—away from the resort and you—and let me go. Then forget you ever knew me.”
“No.” Zehn was adamant.
Lore agreed. “Never.”
For all that she seemed to want them to leave her, she seemed relieved that they’d said no. “Well, then, I guess we should get to your village.”
“After we’ve rested.” Zehn seemed more tired than usual.
“Oh, sure. So you guys carried me the whole way?”
“Lore did. I brought the supplies.”
She gaped. “Really? I’m not that light.”
“You’re a little thing,” Lore said, not surprised when his body took notice of just how little, and not so little, she was. “But curved in all the right places.”
She smiled. “Flattery will get you everywhere.” When he took a step closer, she stumbled back. “Kidding. It’s an expression.”
He’d thought she wanted a repeat of their time in the grotto. “Oh.”
She must have sensed his disappointment, because her smile took the sting out of her rejection. “You must be tired too. Relax and maybe we can get to know each other better. Talking,” she emphasized.
Talking is a step closer to our mate, Lore sent Zehn, who nodded and said, “Yes, we should talk.”
They sat staring at one another.
Mandy took a deep breath and let it out. “So, um, what do you want to talk about?”
Chapter Six
MANDY SURELY HAD a screw loose. What do you want to talk about? Geez, this wasn’t high school. And she wasn’t sitting around with a couple of girlfriends. She couldn’t believe the way things had twisted. Spirited away from the Franciscos and the resort with no one the wiser. Perfect. All alone with two of the sexiest men she’d ever met. Great. At their mercy in eastern Ussed where barbarians ruled and offworlders could be killed on a whim? Not so good.
She shoul
d have been more alarmed, being with two virtual strangers. But she’d been attracted to them from the start, and their gentleness, so at odds with their capability to cause harm, fascinated her. As did the notion she couldn’t be anywhere safer from Mike and his goons.
Yet…something about the way they watched her, the proprietary way they had of getting rid of her food, stealing her away from the resort, and making her decisions for her. That didn’t sit well. Had they not saved her the headache of escaping from Mike Francisco, she’d have let them have it. But at this point, she couldn’t return to the resort where she’d surely be missed.
She’d have to deal with Zehn and Lore, lull them into complacency, then take off when she had a better idea of her exact location. Because, hello, it was a jungle out there.
She rubbed her belly, hungry all of a sudden.
Zehn and Lore narrowed their gazes at her movement.
“What?”
The pair exchanged a glance, then Lore left.
“Where’s he going?”
“To get us something to eat.” Zehn settled his large frame onto the ground, his back against the wall of the hut, his legs splayed out, taking up a good portion of the interior of the place. “Tell me, Mandy of Earth, why are you unmated? How many years have you known?”
O-kay, so they weren’t going to talk about the weather, then. “If I answer your questions, will you answer mine?”
He nodded. “I have nothing to hide.”
At least the barbarians displayed their fierceness openly, unlike those at home who’d put on a good face while using her. Which made her wonder where she would go once she escaped Ussed. She couldn’t see hiding out by herself on the planet, not with random barbarian clans roaming the jungle. She couldn’t return to Earth, not with an invisible collar tethered to her neck. The justice system—yeah, right—would hand her back to her owners, no matter that her servitude hadn’t been legal or moral.
It seemed Ussed’s eastern lands would have to suffice for a while more.
Zehn waited with expectancy.
“To answer your questions, I’m twenty-four years old. I don’t have a mate because I haven’t found anyone I’d want to tie myself to.”