by Sarah Marsh
She heard Zane and Tristan laugh, then Tristan say, “Well I think he’s recovering just fine. But we do need to complete the bond fully so Zane, you better hop up there and take care of our girl. Sarah, if you’re feeling up to it I’d like to work with you tomorrow on learning a bit more about human physiology.”
“Okay, Doc, I’ll take good care of Sarah until tomorrow,” Vaughn said as he licked up her neck, making Tristan laugh as he turned and left them alone with Zane.
“Zane, get your ass naked and on this bed.” Vaughn growled as he thrust into Sarah like he couldn’t get enough of her. “If you don’t hurry this will be over before you can join us.”
Moments later Sarah felt the bed dip and Zane move up behind her, in between Vaughn’s legs. She was so hot and close to coming that when he moved his hands to her ass and thrust his lubed fingers into her she screamed out his name, then she immediately felt him pull out his fingers and before she could make a protest his hard cock was thrusting into her. That was all it took to push her over the edge. Her pussy was milking Vaughn’s cock as he was coming hard underneath her, just as she felt Zane thrust hard a few more times, and then he was coming as well. Exhausted and very satisfied, she collapsed back onto Vaughn’s chest, her ear over his pounding heart, his arms stroking over her back and ass as he whispered how good she felt and how he wanted to stay like this with her forever. She felt Zane gently pull out of her ass and before she could turn her head around to look at him she heard the door open and close.
She was surprised and more than a bit hurt at Zane’s behaviour. “Did Zane just leave?” she asked Vaughn, trying not to sound too upset.
“Don’t worry, baby.” He sounded almost asleep. “I’m sure he just wants to give us some time alone to rest.”
She let him drift off to sleep while he held her tight in his arms. It seemed as though he couldn’t get close enough to her. She didn’t want to pry him about Zane, but when Zane had come inside her she felt the oddest sensation in her chest of something clicking into place. After that it was like she could almost sense what the two men were feeling while they were with her. Tristan had explained that once the bond was completed that they would all have an emotional connection to some extent, but she had not expected it to be so strong. While Vaughn had felt satisfied and completely happy after they’d made love, all she felt coming from Zane was the undeniable need to get away from her, and that had hurt more than she imagined it could. She tried not to take it personal. After all, Zane had only just met her right? Daegan and Tristan had explained what had happened with Calla and the horrible betrayal they had suffered through, but it wasn’t her choice to end up on this ship with these men. She assumed that meant they would give her the benefit of the doubt that she had no ill intentions. Perhaps she had been naive to think that. But she didn’t want to ruin how good she felt being with Vaughn like this, after being ignored for almost her entire relationship with Robbie it felt so good to be needed by this beautiful man. So she lay her head back down on his chest and enjoyed his warmth as she drifted off to sleep.
Sarah ended up sleeping much later than she intended. Vaughn had been quite frisky throughout the night, waking her up over and over again to make love. She was actually a little sore this morning, but it was a wonderful kind of sore, knowing that he couldn’t keep his hands off of her. He had kissed her good morning and tucked her back into bed with a hearty plate of fresh fruit when he left to go to his shift. When she had showered and dressed she made her way to the medical lab to find Tristan as she was supposed to be spending the day with him helping with his research on human physiology. She walked through the door and up behind Tristan as he was working at his computer, then she wrapped her arms around him from behind and kissed the side of his neck.
“Good morning, little one,” Tristan said as he pulled Sarah around to sit in his lap. “I trust you had an enjoyable evening with Vaughn and Zane?” He began to kiss her as he ran his hands over her body like he hadn’t seen her in weeks. She could feel the satisfaction he felt at having her in his arms.
“Well, I had a really good time with Vaughn. He’s so sweet. But I get the impression that Zane doesn’t like me very much,” she answered him in between kisses.
Tristan pulled back abruptly and looked at her. “What do you mean you think he doesn’t like you?” he asked with a serious frown.
“Well you know how you said that once the bond was completed we would feel an emotional connection with each other?” she began cautiously. “Once I felt the bond close it was like I could feel some sort of shadow of what both Vaughn and Zane were feeling after we made love, and while Vaughn was quite happy, all Zane wanted to do was escape.”
As Sarah looked at Tristan, she could tell he was thinking about what she had just told him, then suddenly the excitement on his face was impossible to hide, she could also feel it bubbling up in him like a giddy school child.
“Tell me more about all of this, Sarah. It’s true that while a mate bond encourages a fondness for the other members of your group, this emotional connection that I believe you are describing is something we know of but rarely happens anymore on our planet.” He lifted her off of his lap and walked over to the treatment platform, setting her down as he retrieved his tablet to make some notes. But as he began to feel an echo himself of how upset she was by Zane’s behavior he cursed himself for thinking about his research before his mate’s well-being. “I’m sorry, little one. That can wait for now. I’m certain Zane doesn’t dislike you, you’re irresistible. I think he’s just having some trust issues since Calla. Please try not to let it upset you,” he said as he softly kissed her and stroked her back. “Just give him some time to get to know you and he’ll come to love you as the rest of us do.”
Sarah’s mind froze when Tristan said that. Could the rest of the men truly have feelings for her? She tried to play it cool and not let him see how excited she was at that thought, but perhaps she wouldn’t be the only one risking their heart here? She decided to change the subject before she gave herself away.
“Thanks, Tristan. I think you’re probably right. So what are we doing today?” she said as she sat up straight.
“Well I was just going to do more extensive body scans but we need to discuss the emotion transference you’ve been experiencing as well. If it means what I suspect then our discovery of you could be very important for the future of our people,” he said as he brought his hands up to cradle her face. “You truly are a treasure, little one.”
As Sarah looked into Tristan’s beautiful eyes, she started to tear up. She’d never felt so loved before. She had no response to what he said, so she just decided to show him how she felt about him. As she leaned in to brush his lips softly with hers, she grabbed his hips and pulled him in toward her. She could feel his breath increasing and his hands moving down her neck and shoulders until they were on her ass ,pulling her tighter into his obvious arousal.
For the first time in Tristan’s life he forgot about his work when he had Sarah in his arms. It seemed the emotion transference was beginning to bridge both ways because he could feel how happy she was to be here with him but he could also feel a small amount of fear as she realized how much she had to lose now that she had fallen in love with these men. It broke his heart to feel her fear and he immediately set himself to the task of reassuring her and making her forget anything else besides his hands on her body.
Tristan began to peel the clothes from Sarah’s body, kissing and nuzzling each piece of skin as he uncovered it. Once he had her naked he took a slow step back and slowly removed his own clothing, making sure to draw it out until she was clutching the table in her desperation to reach out and touch his naked body.
He stepped back up in between her thighs, not breaking eye contact, his hard cocks lightly brushing against her soaking wet pussy.
“Watch me love you, Sarah,” he said to her, his voice low and raspy.
She licked her lips and lowered her gaze to where
he slowly pushed into her, inch by inch, until she felt his balls against her ass and his secondary cock latched onto her clit and gently began to massage it.
Nothing had ever felt better than having him slowly fuck her and as she closed her eyes and dropped her head back, his hands caught her and brought his mouth down against hers.
He loved her slowly and thoroughly, bringing her to climax three times before he came and laid them both down on the exam table as he held her close and kissed her.
Sarah was overwhelmed by the emotions she could feel coming from Tristan. Every time she was with one of the men she felt more and more of what they were feeling. As she drifted off for a short nap while Tristan held her she couldn’t help but smile. She’d better save her energy because she had a long day ahead of her. First she was helping Daegan take supply inventory, then after mid-day meal she was training with Rykken and looking after the atrium garden with Callen. It seemed that her worries of finding a place in their crew were completely unfounded as Tristan had informed her that five of her men had all but come to blows when agreeing to a schedule of who got to spend time with her showing her new things.
Chapter Twelve
Tristan had messaged the captain that he needed to speak to him about Sarah. Daegan came after he dropped her off with Rykken.
“What did you want to speak about, Tristan? I assume Sarah has fully recovered and is coping well with the bonding?” Daegan asked when he got to the med bay.
“Yes, as a matter of fact her biology is doing extremely well with the bonding. That is what we need to discuss,” Tristan began as he pulled up her scans for the Captain to see. “I’ve checked the results three times and I still can’t believe it, but it appears that her human DNA is more compatible for procreation with Zornan males than our own females.”
“Amazing.” Daegan stared at her scans with awe. “Have you reported this back to the Science Academy on Zorn?”
“Of course, Captain. I sent them all the data immediately. They believe they will be able to synthesize a serum from Sarah’s pheromones that will allow our males to travel without taking a temporary bond-female. As soon as they have a working formula they are dispatching ships for Earth to do more research. You know what this could mean for our people.”
“Children,” was all the Captain said with a huge smile on his face.
Chapter Thirteen
As the weeks sped by, the men kept her very busy learning all of the ships functions and it seemed that not an hour passed that one of her men would seek her out for a kiss or a hug, which of course quite often led to more…whether it was with one of them or more. Her days were spent learning to be a productive part of the crew and her nights were filled with passion, affection and love. She’d never been happier.
The only dark spot in all of this was that Zane still hadn’t accepted her fully, he would join some of the other men with her once or twice a week but he would never initiate any intimacy one on one with her and although he was always polite, he kept his distance emotionally. She was beginning to feel the other men’s irritation with him. More than once she’d stumbled into a conversation between Zane and one of the other men and she could tell that they had been discussing her and arguing. She tried not to let it hurt her feelings. After all, she had the devotion of the other five men, but without Zane it just felt like there was a part missing.
“He’s making her unhappy, Daegan! I will not stand by and let him treat her like this,” Rykken said to their Captain, trying to keep his composure.
Rykken was furious with Zane. Tristan had never seen their security chief so out of control of his emotions. They’d all been getting more and more upset with Zane over the last couple of weeks as they saw how his dismissal of Sarah was affecting her. But every time they approached the stubborn male about it he would just defend his position and maintain that one of them must keep their objectiveness to protect them all, in case Sarah turned on them like Calla had done.
Daegan took a deep breath. “We all know why Zane has been acting this way. It was difficult for all of us to open up and trust again after Calla, but we can literally feel what Sarah feels for us. I believe that Sarah is our permanent bond mate and if we are to keep her happy and convince her to stay with us at the end of her term then we must find a way to get Zane to see who she is truly, and fall in love with her as we have.”
Vaughn threw up his hands. “How do we get him to get to know her when he runs out of the room either as soon as he comes or even worse, as soon as he sees her!”
“Well, we’ll just have to force the issue then I guess,” Callen said with a sneaky smile. He was always the schemer in the group, usually playing practical jokes on the rest of them. “We’re coming up to our next trade port, why not get Zane to take Sarah to do some shopping while the rest of us are too busy working?”
Daegan was also smiling now. “We did promise to take Sarah to purchase some clothing so she doesn’t have to wear ours anymore. I can tell him I’ll need Rykken with me for extra security while I wrap up our business. He would be the only other I would trust with the safety of our bond mate in port. He couldn’t argue with that.”
Tristan thought Callen’s plan might work. “What do we tell him if he asks one of us to accompany them?”
“I’ll be sure to assign all of you duties that cannot wait until we leave port, and make sure none of you tell Sarah of our plan. It would make her uncomfortable and you know she’s horrible at keeping secrets,” Daegan answered.
Rykken looked noticeably relieved when he stood back up. “Finally, once he’s spent some time alone with her he won’t be able to deny her intentions toward us.”
As the men filed out of the med bay, Daegan tried to keep the smile off of his face as he made his way to the bridge to inform Zane of his new duty tomorrow.
Chapter Fourteen
Sarah was so excited as she woke up and got ready for her day, finally she would be able to get some clothes and wouldn’t be forced to wear the men’s too-large garments, and the most exciting thing of all was that she would finally be seeing one of the trade markets that Callen and Vaughn had been telling her stories of. The foods, the goods for trade, all different species of humanoid and even some not so humanoid to meet—it was exhilarating. Daegan and Rykken were up so early for their meeting at the port she didn’t even wake when they left. She knew that Zane was going to be taking her shopping today, although it made her nervous when Daegan had told her last night, both he and Rykken had put a great deal of effort into taking her mind off of the next day. She was pleasantly sore all over thanks to their efforts. She still took extra care with getting ready. She was determined to make her best impression on the surly male.
Zane was furious at his bond-mates. It was becoming clear to him that he’d been set up today once he’d attempted to get around his Captain’s plans by having one of the other men join them for a day of shopping in port. Tristan, Vaughn and Callen all seemed to have essentially important tasks to be completed and simply did not have time to leave the ship. It was ridiculous. Since when did Callen give up the chance to browse the open food markets for new produce and plants? And when did Vaughn pass up the chance to haggle for spare parts in the merchant stores? True, Tristan was normally either working or at some frightfully boring medical conferences when he actually did venture off of the ship, but Zane would have thought with his beloved Sarah wanting to go shopping that the good doctor would be eager to follow her around like the lovesick pup he had been over the last few weeks. At least he could keep a close eye on Sarah to see if she exhibited any shifty behavior or tried to make contact with someone during their excursion.
Zane didn’t know what his Captain had signed him up for. He had been shopping with Sarah for the last three hours and he was certain they had visited every shop in the port. They only shopped for her clothing for the first hour, then she had insisted on hitting the open market to get plants for Callen, a new pair of boots for the Captain, a model V
alerian flyer for Vaughn to assemble in his spare time, new sparring staffs for Rykken, several anatomy manuals on new species to add to Tristan’s collection and no matter how much he insisted that he didn’t need to purchase anything, she spent another half an hour selecting spices to add to their kitchen for him. He was fighting with himself every time Sarah would innocently touch his arm to get his attention, or look up at him through her lashes when she thought he wasn’t looking. He felt like an adolescent again trying to get under a female’s skirts for the first time, all shy flirting and not really knowing what the hell he was supposed to be doing. It was ridiculous for Goddess’ sake. He’d already been in her pants…repeatedly. He couldn’t seem to sort out what he was feeling.
It was hard to keep his distance from Sarah when he saw how childlike and wide-eyed she was when she took everything in. She charmed all of the shopkeepers and market vendors, none of them having met a human before. The interspecies children were also mesmerized by her, grabbing her hands and pulling her over to pet the tiny gula cubs they were selling. Sarah squealed and tucked the small feline under her chin, murmuring about how she loved kittens…whatever those were.
When she opened her eyes, looked up at him and smiled then asked if they could keep one, he had to scramble to come up with a bullshit story about how Callen had been talking about adding new species to the atrium and the gula would be acceptable. He couldn’t keep his eyes off her as she played and laughed with the children as he paid and arranged with the vendor to take the gula back to the ship.
Sarah thought the day was going well. Zane had been pleasant for the most part. There were even a couple of times throughout the day when she’d caught him looking at her when he thought she wasn’t looking. She was trying her hardest to be flirty without being sexual, just so he could see that she really liked him outside of the bedroom as much as inside. With all of the time she’d spent with her other men they had told her a lot about Zane, how his outside facade hid a man who felt things deeply and loved with his whole heart.