"The emptiness, the grief has been horrendous." Leaning forward, Calem brushed his lips with hers, his words feathering softly against her mouth. It was intriguing and arousing, yet simultaneously soothing, a balm that soothed her restless spirit. They truly were real.
A clacking sound charged the air disturbing the tender moment. As Arjim's nostril's flared, Calem sneered, both clearly tensing.
"Not now," Arjim mumbled.
Calem scowled. "It is an ancient inclination."
"What is?" Sydney furled her brows, uneasiness filling her.
The clacking grew louder.
"The intrinsic Tertani drive." Arjim's breathing accelerated, even as he gnashed his teeth, air snorting through his nostrils like he was an agitated bull.
The noise was coming from behind Sydney, and she hesitated only briefly before glancing over her shoulder--the Prowlers! Those who had surrounded her near the stream, tribal males Sydney knew, because they carried the crude wooden talons, both ends implemented with sharply honed blades. They marched closer, all of them naked and aroused, their weapons lifted and paired, one striking the other in rhythmic clatters, as each of the Prowlers bellowed a throaty mantra in words she could not understand, the tenor almost goading. They formed a wide circle around the three of them, and began to howl sounds that closely resembled the call of wolves, the racket of their weapon clamoring harder.
Angst fully took hold of Sydney as her gaze shifted back and forth between her mates. They snarled in response, warning Sydney that she wasn't going to like what was about to happen. Oh god not again! She quaked with dread…Dominance.
"No, no!" Sydney blurted. "Ayn!"
Her demand was in vain. Their pupils dilated. There was a brief but fury-filled visual exchange between them before the flash of a blade slashed the air in front of her face, only to be blocked with a frightening clang by another. She froze. Arjim spun and leapt, his weapon arcing around her waist, Calem blocking to her left before swinging his blade. It whirred over her head, the clank of Arjim's weapon hitting it somewhere above her. They growled and grunted sparring in close, too close proximity, each protecting her from the other's bludgeoning strikes. The clattering continued all around her, Arjim and Calem spewing curses in their language, Sydney catching, interrupting only a word or two about how one would conquer the other. They roared and their weapons clashed and slashed in every direction around her, coming heart-stoppingly close yet not even a splinter touching her, the precision of their strikes, their agile moves more fascinating to her than frightening, though she was indeed still frightened.
Abruptly they halted, the ends of their talons crossing one over the, blade to blunt tip and blade to blunt tip, creating an elliptical shape, enclosing Sydney within it.
Snagged…They'd made their claim on her.
Recalling the little she'd learned about the Trigon rituals, Sydney understood that the modern rites would require her to form the delta with each of them, but in the ways of old she would be given no choice. The brethren male would just take her. The thought had her female muscles clenching hard, the ache for penetration by both of them charging through her. They wouldn't need to take her because she was more than willing.
Sydney gasped in short breaths as she looked from one mate to the other. Their bodies quaked violently, and her mouth fell open, but she was unable to speak. She heard their pleas, not in so many words but far within the recesses of her mind as they gripped their talons in one hand and initiated the delta with the other, entwining her with them, captivating her subliminal senses, searing her with the power that drove the fierce rivalry between them. It jolted through her system in shockwaves, as her lids fell shut and her body wavered, as she fought to stay conscious and her eyes opened again to see the fear in their eyes, the fear in their twisted expressions, the fear that she would fail to save them from their carnally volatile and vicious condition.
Come to us…our woman…
Sydney's nostrils flared. A gulp slid down her throat and she inhaled more deeply, alerting to the scent of her mates. She had a potent sense of them inside of her, like a fever that stirred in her blood, hot and consuming. Their link to her was strong, battling the now weakening block she'd induced to impede them.
She'ami…Sydney… They called out to her.
A wave of dizziness began to wash over her, the muscles in her legs going weak. She allowed her eyes to begin to shut as the clacking of weapons around them grew louder. Sydney fought the unconscious domain they were attempting to hold her in, fought the vulnerability that she knew the connection would bring. Whether it was because of apprehension or habit, resisting the intrusion had become a reflexive reaction for Sydney years and years ago. Her eyes popped open. Calem and Arjim growled at the severing link, still they kept their fingers in contact, their faces expressing a determination to fight the releasing of her mind. Two more Tertani Prowlers emerged from the woods. Though she hadn't met them, Sydney thought that because they held the modern metal talons that they had to be Larimon and Bjead.
"Ayn!" She hollered. No! They were coming to arrest her, and she was trapped, by the other Prowlers, by Arjim and Calem who were still attempting to force her mind to slip into sleep.
Sydney's eyes shifted left and then right. At the moment she really didn't give a monkey's uncle--whatever that meant, about duties or rituals or whatever else. At the moment what she was trying to do was save her own life. She saw an opening, pushed the talon arcs aside and did what she'd been doing since she'd splatted down on the planet. Sydney fled ... or at least she tried to. She was grabbed, each of her arms imprisoned by very large, very strong hands belonging to two of the Cu'cjani. Without a thought or hesitation, Sydney sank her teeth, grinding on the bones of one the male's hands while jamming her foot into the other's balls. Their yelps echoed louder than a banshee's yowl and she jerked herself free, and tried to run.
Another strong male snatched her about the waist, his arm wrapping, jerking her back, her feet completely leaving the ground before slapping back down. He released her and snatched her arm when she attempted to run again. Sydney spun. It was Rjant, bare-butt naked and hanging onto her. Sydney recoiled forcefully. She lost her balance, her feet slipping out from under her. What happened next would've been comical, if the situation wasn't so serious…and embarrassing. Sydney reached out and snatched the first thing she could get hold of to break her fall.
Rjant's stiff penis.
He lifted a brow as he stared down at her, stared down at her because grabbing the jutting appendage hadn't broken her fall at all. She was down on her knees with her grip firmly around his cock.
"Oh my god!" Sydney yanked her hand back as if the thing had burned her. She scrambled to her feet and turned only to find herself face to face with Alea's other Sh'em, Tren.
Startled Sydney jolted and screeched.
"If fleeing is what you truly must do, Tina Sydney," Tren stepped aside, giving her space to run. He extended his arm as if giving her permission. "Then so be it."
Sydney blinked and then gave him a sideways look, unsure she'd heard him correctly, but her musing was interrupted by the savage roars of Calem and Arjim behind her. The vicious sounds drew her attention back into the circle. Arjim's nose was bloodied and Calem had just taken a hit to gut that was so forceful he expelled a harsh lungful of air and doubled over. Terror shot through Sydney as she watched Arjim raise his talon, ready to drive the blade straight through Calem.
"Stop!" Sydney leapt. All around her she heard the echoes of the chanting Prowlers and their clanking weapons growing louder as she threw her body between Calem and Arjim in what felt like a slow motion gesture. She screamed and tensed, and squeezed her eyes shut, certain of the imminent pain she was going to suffer when Arjim sliced through her instead.
?
Chapter Twenty One
He didn't.
Calem's arm shot around her blocking the strike, and he hissed. Sydney opened her eyes and stared at the blood trickling
from where the blade pierced him. It was only a small puncture, just a surface wound. Arjim had pulled back, bridled his fury when he'd seen that she'd gotten in the way.
In that moment, the enormity of the Tina's power to soothe her Sh'em struck her. They truly would not…could not hurt her. Sydney gazed first at Calem, and then Arjim, both deadly still and breathing erratically, their expressions strained, but at least their attention was fixed on her at the moment, their eyes beseeching. Sydney knew she had to end this, knew that she alone had the power to demand an end to this dominance rage and coax their mental blending ... but how?
Choking back the terror clutching at her, Sydney sucked in a deep breath and fought to calm her nerves. Reaching, she took hold of Arjim's weapon. With the other hand she grabbed onto Calem's, and they both surrender their talons to her. She dropped them to the ground. She then reached for the Arjim's baldric first, unlatched it, slid it from his shoulder, wondering all the while when or if he would hinder her, even as she tossed it to the side. Turning, she removed Calem's as well, apprehensive that one wrong move on her part would trigger the violence between them again. She truly feared for their lives, keenly aware that the aggression was for the sake of having her.
Lifting the hem of the sarong she still wore, now tattered from running through the foliage, she tore off a piece of the material, bunched it, and then dabbed at the blood on Arjim's nose. He watched her steadily, still unmoving as if the slightest twitch might send him over the edge and she felt his struggle with an enormity that was almost enigmatic. It was as if he still had a hold of her mind. She began to hum, and tore more of the material after setting the first piece on the ground, this time a longer strip. She wrapped the cloth around Calem's punctured arm, trying to recall the words to the song she'd made up as a child. She continued to hum, and then sang a few of the remembered words.
"Somewhere out there beneath the shining stars, they try to reach me to hold me close tonight."
Calem's expression softened. At the same time Arjim reached around her and tugged at the knot holding her sarong. It loosened and the garment slipped from her body and settled on the ground leaving her completely exposed. In her shyness, Sydney crossed one wrist over the other and held her arms against her chest, her stomach tying in nervous knots. The chanting and clanking of weapons began again, and coyly Sydney looked around surprised to see that Bligh's mates and both Commanders were also participating.
"Somewhere out there," Sydney continued, her voice shaking with fear.
Arjim whispered the next words to her song in her ear. "To love and protect you, we'll give your heart a home."
He remembered! Sydney sucked in a joyful sob. He'd remembered their childhood song.
"Uyo, my beauty," he answered if reading her mind. "I could never forget your sweet voice forever etched in my head."
He skimmed his palm along the flesh of her belly, and when he did Calem growled low in his throat, a taunt to the male who would be his Sh'em. This time undaunted, Sydney leaned toward Calem, and brushed her lips with his. Her breath wisped against them as she spoke the rest of the words to her song. "And even though the distance keeps us galaxies apart."
"The love we share it glows beneath the same brilliant stars." Calem whispered back as he took her hand and pressed it to his sternum so she could feel the strength in his pounding heart.
Sydney's lips turned up into a beaming smile. Glancing around the circle of Prowlers, she saw that the Trigon men now sat cross-legged on the ground, their weapons in front of them, their hands forming the delta. They hummed in rhythmic sounds. She chuckled softly. "This reminds of a corny musical where everyone breaks out into song."
"You always sang to us as a child, sweet Sydney." Arjim's hands skimmed along her hips as he planted gentle kisses along her neck. "Your favorites were by that dizzy knee."
Sydney chuckled at the mispronunciation, her tense muscles relaxing at his touch. She didn't correct him. She was feeling too dizzy in the knees herself at the moment. "I can't believe you actually remembered, that you both were even listening."
"You are our mate, Sydney." Arjim pulled her toward him pressing her backside tightly against his chest. "We have always listened."
"Even when we thought you to not be there." Calem pressed against the front of her effectively trapping her, holding her between himself and his brethren. "Always, even in our madness we listened for you."
He lifted his hand and Arjim did the same reconnecting to form the delta. He and Arjim linked once more desperately clinging to remnants of sanity and finally, without a hint of conflict they felt her reach out and surrender to them, denying them no more. As Sydney's body went limp, a satisfied smile creased her lips, her chest, her full breasts rising and falling rapidly as she tried to catch her breath she fully opened her mind to them, absorbed their resonant spirits, mingled with their thoughts and desires Sydney gasped out a quick breath and then closed her eyes, contentment flowing in her expression, contentment beginning to flow through them all.
Sing for us our beautiful Sydney…
With complete abandonment of all of her fears, she yielded to the ebb and flow of the Triconjugal link, and Sydney did sing for them. And when the silence starts to sing a sad and lonely song, remember that my heart is beating for the joyful dreams you brought.
Her voice rang out, dragging in their souls, at memories and countless dawnings when only she could give them ease. Arjim inhaled. At the same time Calem exhaled. She captured the waves of arousal curling through the recesses of their bodies, felt the weaving of separate spirits and the binding of their minds. Silently they opened their souls, pushing away dominance, seeking the mental blending of transcendence to becoming Sh'em in the Trigon. Her beloved mates, the Trigon brethren ceded to her, and one to the other.
Sydney felt the muscles flex on their now untroubled bodies, the sheen of sweat that covered them enriching their scents, now tangling and suffusing her senses. It continued to intensify, potent, alluring and arousing.
"My playmates," she said as she drifted from the mental linking back to consciousness. Flaming libidos, that word now took on a completely different meaning! The three of them were on their knees together, legs wrapping, bodies entwined.
Flattening her palms against Calem's chest Sydney wantonly gazed his length, scrutinizing his naked warrior body and then fixating on his erect appendage. He exhaled sharply and his hips jerked when she ran her fingers along the shaft, cupped it between her two hands enjoying the silky heat of it, and the hard upward curve.
Slowly she angled a glance over her shoulder to see Arjim who hovered over her from behind. She looked up at him, pleased to find his expression relaxed, his eyes soft but filled with desire. She studied his irises, the specks of gold that encircled them, saw her own reflection in them, her own soul. The sight became overwhelming, and Sydney gasped. Turning to look into Calem's eyes she again studied her own reflection, almost hypnotically, as if he were drinking her in. Sydney began to quake. The chants of the Prowlers grew louder and her attention drifted toward them.
"They beseech the divinities for the blessing of our tripling, our love," Arjim explained.
"I know the drill." Sydney returned, and Arjim cupped her chin to tip her face toward him. He smiled and then kissed her gently at first, his tongue caressing the crease of her lips in tender laps before slipping his tongue between them. She opened her mouth to kiss him fully, her eyes closing to savor his succulent flavor, the heat of his body against her back, the sound of his erratic breathing, the wisp of his breath on her face.
An ache squeezed low in her abdomen as Calem slipped his thigh between her legs, pressing it against her core. Sydney moaned, her hands grasping his hips, and she rubbed her pussy against him. Settling his hands on her bottom, Calem moved them with the rhythmic rocking of her pelvis. He released a guttural sound as the slickness of her sexual juices flowed over his skin, allowing her clit to take leisurely up and down glides along his flesh. He fel
t it engorging, and groaned, his rising excitement dancing through Arjim's head and reflected in the sound that emerged from Arjim's throat while he continued to kiss their woman. Their cocks became rock hard. They thrust at her eagerly but resisted the fervor to plunder her. It was an arduous task after waiting an eternity to make love to their woman. Instead they relished the touch of her and reveled in her escalating arousal.
"She'mana," Arjim whispered.
"My Sh'e," she whispered in return.
Calem smiled admiringly as he looked into her eyes and then down to her breasts, watching Arjim play with one of them. Bending, Calem drew the nipple of the other breast into his mouth. Sydney pressed harder against his thigh, cocked her hips faster, rubbing her throbbing clit against him. Reaching around him she grabbed his ass and ground into him seeking firmer pressure but released a restless breath instead and then grunted her frustration.
Her needy plea was understood.
Arjim licked his lips and gazed down at Calem who continued to ravage Sydney's nipple with his tongue. He caught the carnal wave that Calem channeled to him, and they exchanged a fervid chuckle. Calem withdrew, kissed the top of Sydney's breasts and then trailed a lavish path of kisses along her neck until he reached her lips. Threading his fingers through her hair to cradle her head he drew her mouth to his, kissing her passionately, his hunger, Arjim's hunger heightening when she permitted his nudging tongue to slip inside.
She sighed out her pleasure, pressing her body tighter to Calem's body as Arjim nipped at her shoulder, skimmed his hand along her back and over her bare bottom. His lips followed, trailing kisses along her spine to the small of her back and her then her bottom. He slid a single finger along her crease, gliding forward, groaning at the wetness seeping from her vagina and stroked over her clit, rubbing it gently. It pulsed as he touched her.
Dominance Fury Page 23