by Vivian Arend
Davis whipped around and shot orders at Conn. “Cut communication lines but broadcast back the raunchiest music on file. Something with lots of sexual breathing and groaning. Since we don’t need to maintain radio silence anymore, flood the airwaves until I change the order. Deviants, my ass.”
He hauled Melina against him and hugged her hard, wanting to wipe away the pain in her eyes.
She shook her head. “I had no idea he’d—”
“This is not your fault, and I don’t want you to apologize again for the bastard or the rest of your family. They’re done with you. We’re your family from now on, you understand? I love you, Trev loves you, and that’s more than enough.” Shit, he wasn’t subtle, but it needed to be said.
Conn’s raspy voice cut in. “Hell, we all love you, sweetheart, now can we try to get out of here before the ass-wipe hauls us to intergalactic court for the rest of our lives?” He tossed another couple of the sharysa off his lap and cursed. “Someone please tell me how to get these things to shut up. They are driving me mad with their constant chattering in my skull.”
The short-range vessel from the Eagle completed a swing in front of them, and the slow, forward motion of the Nottingham proved they were now in tow behind her. Davis swore softly.
“Jayne, I need to know when we can get out of here.”
“Two engines are down temporarily. I’ll be able to get them back online, but it’ll take a short space walk and I’m not going anywhere outside until the temperatures stabilize. They used blister bombs—the ship’s skin is still bubbling.”
Fuck, the solar flares. “Stop the launch on the magnetic pulse detonators. We’re going to be trapped if the flares happen before we can get mobile again.”
Jayne coughed on the other end of the line. “I’m sorry, Davis, but I already launched them. Expected time to reaction flare is approximately seven hours.”
Chapter Eight
Trev’s tools hit the deck with a clang and Jayne raised a brow at him.
“Troubles?”
Hell, he hated woman’s intuition. “No, oh no. Everything is shipshape. Fucking SIC bastards.”
Jayne laughed. “Look, if you’re worried about them blowing us up or something, they wouldn’t dare. The admiral wants us in custody, so ironically we’re safer in tow to the Eagle than if we tried to run. The only thing holding Davenport in check is regulations.”
“I’m not freaking worried about blowing up.” He paced the room, putting away the tools they’d used to finish the external engine repairs. Anything. Anything but sitting again, waiting for something to happen. Inactivity freaking killed him.
She sat back on the floor and laughed at him. “I never thought I’d see the day. Look, it’s been a tough haul with Melina taking off, but she made it back safely. We’re on the right side of the auction floor, if you know what I mean.” Jayne shook her head. “I figured by now you’d have gotten used to this. Part and parcel of undercover mission work, honey. So, your hands are tied—do the next thing. It’ll work out in the end.”
Trev swore at her. “I must have the worst face for showing emotions. I’m amazed I didn’t get killed on the planet since I’m such a bad actor.”
Jayne winked as she stood. “It’s just that we know you. You like to be moving. Hell, we drop you for information and in three months you end up leading the rebels? Power hungry or what?” She stepped closer and patted his cheek. “I’m planning on finishing the couple of tweaks needed here. There’s nothing else we can do. Nothing. Nada. Zilch. Zip—”
“Don’t be an ass.”
For a tiny woman, she had a big laugh. “Look, honey, let me give you a little advice. If ‘I’ happened to be on a ship with my lover and we had…oh, let’s say…at least five hours to kill before anything might flare up, I doubt I’d be stomping around the engine room and twiddling my thumbs. Unless that’s one of your preferred lovemaking techniques.”
She pushed him between the shoulders. “Go on. Get out of here. The last time I saw Melina and Davis they were headed for your quarters.” She turned and crawled into the engine compartment, wiggling her fingers once in farewell before disappearing from sight.
———
When the door slid closed behind him, Melina rose from where she’d been sitting at the low desk. The sound of water running in the nearby shower cut off and he knew Davis would join them shortly. Trev didn’t speak, just wrapped his arms around her. She leaned against him, covering his face with kisses as she whispered words of love. Sweet, liquid heat painted his lips, her flavor haunting him and making his blood boil. He bit her neck, yanking the fabric of her uniform from her shoulder to slide his lips along bare skin, licking a long line up the tendon leading to her ear.
“Damn it, Melina, what did you think you were doing?” The small ball of terror in the pit of his belly unfurled from where he’d pushed it to a day ago. She was back. Davis was there. Trev was going to take and be taken, and to hell with the rest of the universe.
They all needed this. And he needed it now.
Melina smiled as she stripped her uniform from her shoulders. Trev dropped to his knees to rip open her pants. Another set of hands joined in to help remove her shirt and breast bands away. Davis twirled her now-naked body to face him, clasping her to his chest and squeezing her so close Trev heard the bones in her spine click into alignment. Davis ate greedily from her lips while Melina threw her legs around his hips. Trev pressed to her back, needing to feel her warmth—the sweet reassurance she was alive and with them.
It wasn’t enough. Trev growled with the urgent desire to touch skin on skin. He stepped away to strip himself bare. He paused to brush an armload of sharysa off the bed and found himself tackled to the surface by his laughing partners.
“Slow down,” Davis ordered as he lowered his heavy weight on Trev. Davis’ spicy flavor melded with the sweet aftertaste of Melina as he kissed Trev thoroughly. Their tongues stroked together, flicking in rapid pulses. Trev ground his hips upward, smashing his cock against Davis’ belly. He groaned with need.
Davis strong-armed him back onto the mattress. “I said slow down. We’re not going anywhere. I see no need to rush and every reason to take our time. For all our sakes.”
Melina leaned over Davis’ shoulder, her bright eyes twinkling with mischief as she stared down at Trev. “I think he needs a lesson in trusting us more.”
Davis stared at her then returned his attention to Trev. He shivered at the expression in Davis’ eyes as his gaze raked over his body. “Agreed. How about a demonstration?”
Locked in position under Davis’ unmovable bulk, Trev watched, mesmerized, as Davis and Melina shared a soul-melting kiss. Tongues tangling lazily, teeth nipping, they put on a show that had his cock filling with blood and pulsing with the need for more stimulation. Melina rubbed her bare breasts against Davis’ hairy chest and purred like one of the sharysa. The pouting tips of her nipples grabbed at the tight curls and Trev’s mouth watered. He reached out to join in and found his wrist cuffed in Davis’ steel-strong fingers.
“No touching.” He gave Trev a steamy stare as he stretched Trev’s arms over his head, pressing them against the pillows. “Don’t move them until I say you can.”
A jolt of adrenaline shot through Trev at Davis’ tone. “Why are you giving me grief? Melina’s the one who ran.”
Davis grabbed his jaw in one big hand, freezing him in position. “Melina had a chance of still getting away. You, on the other hand, decided to voluntarily offer to return to an impossible situation. Even our best friends would have had to order your court martial. You may be the best gunner and explosives man I’ve ever met, but you’ve got shit for brains.”
“I was thinking of you!”
Davis chuckled and stroked a finger down Trev’s neck, scraping a nail over Trev’s nipple. An electric shock networked through him.
“You were attempting to control the situation. That’s not always a bad impulse, but you’ve got to learn some
moments you can’t control. Some people you can’t control. People like me.” Davis leaned over him and grasped Trev’s cock in one strong hand. “Sometimes you can only hang on for the ride.”
Trev sucked in a breath of air and resisted the urge to thrust.
“Can I touch him?” Melina stretched, her beautiful body mere inches away from Trev’s skin. Her warmth caressed him and his cock twitched. Wetness touched his skin as a drop of pre-come slipped free.
Davis chuckled. “Where do you want to be touched, Trev? Or should we do what we want because you know we’ll give you what you need? You ready to give up your control to us?” He pumped his fist as he spoke, teasing the steely length of Trev’s erection with a slow, even stroke.
Riding on the edge, Trev ached physically and mentally. He knew what to do in a moment’s notice to defend and protect the ship. He knew he’d done his job well with the rebels. But having control wrestled from him tore his soul apart. Davis leaving because of some self-righteous, half-assed idea, Melina piloting the shuttle back to the Eagle. Putting his own life on the line would have been more tolerable than watching them and being unable to act. He closed his eyes. He needed to be made whole.
“I’m yours. Whatever. Just…take me. Claim me. Hell, I don’t want to be apart from either of you again.”
Melina’s soft lips touched his, a blessing poured out as he accepted their control. They kissed, a meshing of bodies and souls. When she pulled away, he looked into her dark eyes to witness love swirling in their depths.
Then there was nothing but heat and flesh, one touch after another as they wrapped closer and gave in to their desires. Melina kissed her way down his torso, each soft touch sending shivers of anticipation to his cock. She stopped to lap at his nipples, the tease of her tongue as she circled the tight discs making his fingers clench the mattress.
Davis stroked Trev’s cock in an uneven rhythm, the palm of his hand slick with pre-come as he brushed the head of Trev’s erection. Sensory overload began as another hand fondled his sac. A heavy tingling sensation spread from the back of his spine and he groaned in anticipation.
Davis arranged them on the mattress to his liking, cupping Trev’s ass and fingering Trev’s hole. “I’m going to take you, and Melina’s going cover you with her sweet body. There’s nothing left for you to do but experience and accept.”
The probing finger made him clench his ass cheeks and Melina moaned. “I want to watch. Get him ready, Davis.”
Davis grinned. “We’ll both get him ready. Suck him, sweetheart, drive him crazy with that talented tongue of yours.”
Melina leaned over to kiss Davis, a sweet, lingering sharing, and Trev swallowed the emotion rising to choke him. His body on the edge of sexual release, his mind and soul filled with the love of his friends—it was almost too much.
A mere whisper of heat and wetness graced the head of his shaft. Melina held his cock upright and played with him, lapping and circling, letting saliva drop from her pouting lips to coat him. His cock jerked involuntarily in her hand, straining to press between her lips and she chuckled.
“You looking for something?” she whispered. “You need something from me? Like this?” Melina enveloped his length and swallowed him whole. At the same moment, Davis pressed a finger slick with gel against Trev’s anus and impaled him. Trev swore as the burn in his ass flipped to pleasure and Melina drew back to suck in tiny pulses on the head of his cock.
“Damn it, Davis,” Trev swore, “just do it. No prep, just fuck me.”
Davis chuckled. “I set the speed, lover, not you. Don’t come until I tell you.” Another finger joined the first, searching until Davis nicked the right spot. Trev thrust his hips upward and forced his cock deeper into Melina’s throat.
The bastard would choose today to get bossy when Trev’s balls were already close to exploding. “I’m not going to last.”
Davis nodded. “Melina, climb onboard. He needs you.”
She swung her leg over Trev, lined up his cock and dropped her hips. Tight, welcoming heat enveloped him, surrounding and squeezing as she rocked. She descended on him slowly, driving his shaft farther into her body, inch by inch. When she finally sat on his groin, completely filled, they both breathed a satisfied sigh.
“You feel so good inside me,” she whispered. She leaned over, letting her naked breasts brush his chest as she joined their lips in a scorching-hot kiss.
Davis thrust his fingers in again and Trev groaned into Melina’s mouth.
“I’m going to take you both,” Davis announced. He removed his fingers from Trev’s ass and paced across the room, returning quickly.
“Oh hell, we’re both in for it now.” Trev smiled up at Melina.
She grinned back. “I want it. Don’t you?”
A nod was the only response possible.
Davis was back, the tip of his erection nudging Trev’s ass. Above him, Melina sucked in a gasp and Trev glanced over her shoulder to see Davis lining up a slim phallic-shaped toy with her tight pucker.
“Trev first,” Davis announced, and pressed his hips forward. His heavy shaft forced its way through Trev’s tight anus ring with a burning sensation that exploded into extreme pleasure as Davis hit Trev’s prostate.
“Fuck.” Trev squirmed, attempting to get closer, it felt so good.
“Oh yeah. Now Melina.”
Trev pulled his knees farther to the side as he gazed up into Melina’s big brown eyes. She closed them briefly and her face tightened and he knew Davis had inserted the toy into her ass.
“You okay, baby?”
She stared down, unfocused—pleasure drunk. “I’m fucking fantastic. You ready for this, darling?”
Melina rode him hard. Her hips drove down, each press squeezing the daylights out of his shaft. Behind her, Davis filled Trev’s ass to the maximum, the girth of his cock stretching so good. He nailed Trev’s prostate on every sweep until there was no holding back anymore and Trev screamed out their names.
The lights flickered, and Davis paused.
“Holy shit, no. Don’t stop!” Mindless with pleasure, Trev still remembered to press his fingers against Melina’s clit and rub. She gasped and her passage tightened around him.
The beginning of the end. His cock jerked deep within Melina, shooting his cum into her welcoming body as Davis released into Trev’s ass. The three of them reached their peak simultaneously and bright spirals appeared before his eyes.
The lights of the room flashed once more before completely disappearing.
Starless dark surrounded them. The sound of their joint panting echoed off the walls. The sharysa squealed and a heavy beat of music exploded from the jukebox they sat upon. Backup life support came online, a low-level hum accompanied the startup.
Davis rolled them all in one motion to remain intimately entwined together on the bed. “That was freaking amazing. But shit, hours early with the solar flares. We have to talk to Jayne about making her bombs less efficient.”
Chapter Nine
The entire crew watched with anticipation as Jem and Piata crawled into the engine chamber. The creatures glanced back at Davis as if asking for permission, and Melina chuckled.
“You’ve intimidated them.”
“They know who’s really in charge.” He smiled at her and Trev. She leaned against Trev’s strong frame, holding her breath as Davis motioned approval to the little beasts. It was the moment of truth.
Jem sat upright on the main energy crystal and chattered, his little paws swinging in the air as if he were preaching. Piata twined around him and the two chirped together for a moment before touching noses.
The crystal under them pulsed red once then shone with a blinding bright flash. It faded into a pale blue that filled the engine room. Everyone cheered.
“Well, it actually worked.” Trev squeezed her arms and Melina’s heart skipped a beat.
Davis froze. “What are you talking about?”
Trev grinned. “Reenergizing the engines.
I wasn’t one hundred percent sure the sharysa could power a large crystal. I mean, the theory was sound but—”
Melina hit him in the chest with her elbow. What had the man been thinking? “You ass. You mean we gambled on a theory?”
Tucker laughed. “Welcome aboard the Nottingham, Melina.”
Jem and Piata made their way out of the chamber, leaping onto Davis’ shoulders to rub their cheeks against his before returning to Melina and Trev.
“Looks like you three have been claimed.” Jayne picked up one of the spare sharysa off the floor and scratched it under the chin.
“Oh, that reminds me. Don’t leave the system yet. I need to do something.” Trev kissed Melina’s cheek and left with Piata clinging to his shoulder.
Conn grumbled. “I suppose I’m not allowed to suggest we sweep all the extra vermin into an airlock and jettison the whole lot of them.”
———
Everyone reassembled on the bridge. Melina slipped behind the pilot’s controls with deep satisfaction. She caressed the panel slowly, appreciating the quality of the equipment. This was what she’d longed for all her life.
“Feel good?”
She smiled up at Davis. “Feels fantastic.”
To her left, Conn swore softly as he stared at the information in front of him. “The little buggers.”
“What?” Melina leaned over to check his screen.
He swung his chair around and pointed accusingly at the sharysa. “You know how we kept receiving images like coordinates from them? They were spatial coordinates of Derryn at the exact timing of the solar flares. It wasn’t Jayne’s contraption that set the flares off, they were naturally occurring and the little vermin knew they were coming.”
“Smart little creatures.” Melina rubbed Jem’s nose and he purred at her, nestling on her shoulders and letting out a sigh of contentment.
“Melina.” Sal crossed in front of her. “When we asked you to join the crew you said something about agreeing with all our missions but one.”
Melina nodded. “The slavers.”