by Jana Leigh
When they arrived to the room, the other two women were gone; Alex said Sage took them for testing so they could talk. Then she laid out what she wanted to do. Xander exploded at the thought of his mate putting herself in danger but as a bargaining tool, Alex learned, ask for the moon and get the stars.
“Listen, I get that you don’t really know much about women and stuff, but let me clue you in a little,” Alex said softly and then looked up with fire in her eyes. “DO NOT TELL ME WHAT I CAN AND CANNOT DO!”
“Uh, we weren’t really telling you that you couldn’t do something, I think Xander was pointing out that you were thinking irrationally,” Des said diplomatically.
“No, I said and meant, ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR FUCKING MIND?” Xander yelled louder.
“NO, I AM NOT THANK YOU. I DON’T THINK YOU KNOW ME WELL ENOUGH TO ASK THAT!” Alex said, yelling right back at him. Des leaned back and shook his head at the two of them, they were hardheaded and stubborn, and this ought to be fun.
“I know you want to do something dangerous. Going to the surface and meeting your father again is not an option. You could be killed, kidnapped, or worse,” Xander said pacing. He played right into her hands and Des knew it. He watched the woman who was to be their mate, and saw the look on her face. She planned this. She looked too smug to not have. He was going to have to watch her.
“Fine, be a bully, but you have to allow me to contact him—it is the only way I will know. I can’t move on until I know the truth,” Alex said and sniffed.
Xander swore and looked as if he was going to back down, so Des stepped up, crossed his arms over his chest, and looked at their mate. “Well played, Alex, but I see right through this.”
“What are you talking about? I am trying to talk to you,” Alex said and sniffed again.
Des chuckled, Xander stepped closer to him, and looked at him questioningly. “What are you talking about?”
“Our little mate, she is playing us,” Des said with an amused look on his face.
Alex threw up her hands in frustration and looked at Des. Damn it all to hell, she thought she had done it. “Whatever.”
“Now, why don’t you tell me what you want and we can go from there,” Xander said.
“I want to call my father,” Alex said.
Xander and Des paused and then frowned. She laughed at the look on their face. They were so similar she didn’t even think they knew it.
“Why?” Xander said and waited.
Des knew they would let her call her father, there was no way he could track her down here, and Rosul was a master of the communication network—he could make it look like she was anywhere. But Des thought Xander was playing a game now, too; who could play it better was what mattered.
“I have to hear his voice, just to see if we are right,” Alex said, this time her voice held a bit of a tremor that could not have been faked. Both men reached out instinctively to comfort their mate, and Alex let them.
Soon she was sandwiched between the two men and she had no idea how she got there. However, she did not pull back from their comfort. Instead, she soaked it in. Damn they felt good, and right. She had not felt like this with any of the men she had ever been with, James had left her lukewarm. She could feel what true desire felt like—her blood was boiling for them.
They both ran their hands up and down her arms, trying to make her stop shaking when all they did was make her shake more. Their touch was enough to drive her crazy. She looked up at Xander with confusion and he smiled down at her.
“Do you feel it?” he whispered.
“You were made for us,” Des said into her ear and she leaned back a little.
“I feel something,” Alex said breathlessly. “How are you guys doing this?”
“It is the mating pull. Your body knows whom it will belong to. Your mind may take longer, but your body doesn’t lie,” Xander said.
Alex pulled back and looked at him, “Belong to?”
“You belong to us, as we belong to you,” Xander said softly and then leaned forward and brushed his lips across hers.
Alex gasped when she felt the electric shock run through her. Des kissed her neck right under her ear, and she was shocked again, it was as if her body was coming alive for them. She looked up at Xander and then pulled him forward and kissed him.
He seemed a bit surprised that she took the initiative, but she didn’t care, they would have to get used to it. She was a modern day woman with modern needs. However, Xander didn’t let her stay in control for too long. He pushed through her lips and tasted her thoroughly. Their tongues dueled as they fought for control, Xander won. He pulled her closer and deepened the kiss, as Des continued to kiss her neck, her shoulders, and her ears. Damn they were lethal, she thought, as she allowed the kiss to flare her passion. Her arm protested when she moved too quickly, she gasped, and pulled away.
“Sorry, sweetheart, we got carried away,” Des said and kissed the top of her head and then they pushed and pulled her until she was lying back down in the bed. Both of them pulled the blanket up and made sure she was comfortable before they continued their conversation.
“Please, I need to settle this in my head,” Alex said and looked at them imploringly.
Both men knew what it cost her to ask them like this and slowly Xander nodded his head. “Let me set it up,” Xander said and Alex leaned back and sighed.
She would get the answers she needed.
***
“Father?” Alex said into the unusual phone. They were on speaker, so everyone could hear. Alex had agreed to at least that.
Everyone was in the room, Gabby, Sam, and all the men, plus a few she didn’t know yet. However, she was focused on talking to her father.
“Alexandra, where are you? You have had everyone searching for you, the boat is destroyed,” her father said brusquely.
She closed her eyes; there was no hint of worry in his tone. No, not her father, Charles Collins IV would never allow himself to feel worry for his child. She closed her eyes—damn they were right.
“I was calling to let you know I was safe, and I would be gone for a while,” Alex said firmly.
“Where are you? I am sending someone, so stop playing these games and get back here. I spoke to James, he and I have come to an agreement. He will forgive your outburst, and take you back. In the future, he will keep his liaisons a secret from now on,” her father said into the phone and she looked down at it like she was going to be sick.
“You don’t understand what I am saying, Father, I am not marrying James, and I will not be back,” Alex said firmly.
“This is childish, stop this right now,” her father ordered.
“Yes, Father, it is. I will call you when I am ready to come home. Until then, don’t bother looking for me, I am safe, that’s all you need to know,” Alex said sadly and pushed the button on the phone. “He will try to find me.”
“Let him,” a man said from the corner smiling. “His last ping told him you were in South East Asia. That should keep him busy for a while.”
“I need to talk to Sam and Gabby in private,” Alex said with tears gathering in her eyes. The last of her illusion fell away and she was not going to cry in front of strangers.
“Of course, we will see you in the morning,” Xander said and picked up her hand and kissed it. Des did the same and she felt the tears threatening to overflow. She was so screwed.
Chapter Nine
The men were patient, took the advice of Sage, and wooed their women. Xander and Des made a plan. For the first few days, they made sure Alex was comfortable in the hospital. Her shoulder was still wrapped and tape around her waist, so there were certain things she couldn’t do.
Of course, the women helped her bathe, and put on clean clothes. Then Xander and Des took over from there. Entertaining her, talking to her, and explaining the best they could about the Meridian people. They took it a good sign when she was interested in their culture.
The question was what t
he hell was her father doing? Moreover, how had he mated with a Meridian woman when they were all killed. It was impossible. Since the phone call to her father, Alex had helped the techies find out everything they could on Charles Collins IV, there were very strange things that didn’t add up when you looked further into his past. Alex was confused, hurt, and thankfully had turned to them to help her out.
Alex had been given the go ahead to move her arm around, and she was itching to get out of the building.
The women had all been released from the medical floor, but since they didn’t feel comfortable yet with their mates, they remained in the same room, sharing the space. Xander offered to build a new house for them, which they could live in while they were in the courting period, and still be in the Meridian. It was a battle to get the men to buy off on it. They all wanted to take their mates home and have them all claimed, not roaming around the city unmated. It was hard on the men to see them talking to another man who was not their mate. All of the other Warriors were hopeful they too would begin to find mates.
At least, Rosul and Cash, and well as Casius, agreed grudgingly when Xander and Des explained to them that they would find an easier time with their mates if the men were allowed to have a little privacy with the women when they wanted to talk.
So, the men began to build, and Alex and her friends had a great time overseeing their new home, however much time they spent in it. Alex had begun physical therapy for her arm. It hurt and she hated it, but Xander and Des helped her, pushed her, and wiped her tears of frustration. All of it began to affect her feelings toward them.
Casius and the other men took Gabby and Sam on short walks around the medical floor in their wheelchairs, although Gabby tended to be pissed by the time she got back and Sam was freaked out.
Today, Xander and Des brought her lunch and sat with her.
“So you have you have your history written down? Really?” Alex asked.
“I brought them with us, of course, they are on disk, but we can look at them on the screen there,” Xander said and pointed to the computer. “Ask any question that you want.”
“Really?” Alex said.
“Sure, you are going to be Queen,” Des smirked. “You have to learn some of this stuff.”
They put in the first disc and when Alex looked, she was amazed at the detail contained in the records—it was like a movie with subtitles. She hit pause, looked at them, and asked, “Wait, you have been here for three hundred years? How is that possible?”
“We have an elongated life on our home planet because of two things, our DNA, and also our source of power. Our lives are tied to the source, we can be killed, of course, we are not Superman. However, normally a Meridian’s life is around six hundred years. When we meet our mates and bond, our lifespans are tied together. If one of us dies, we all die.”
“Well that sucks,” Alex said, frowning and hit the play button again.
***
When the girls came back, Alex explained the whole bonding life thing.
“Wait, why are we tied to them? Do we have to be? I mean, can’t we just leave, go on our merry way, and ignore the fact that we are supposed to be two aliens’ mate,” Sam said.
“I guess,” Alex said slowly. She had been getting to know the guys and to be honest, actually feeling the pull the men told her about. “Don’t you, I don’t know, feel something for the guys?”
Sam and Gabby looked at each other and groaned, “Damn it, yes,” Gabby said. “But I don’t want to. All Casius does when we leave to go for a walk and stuff is growl at me. I mean a few one-word answers and pointing things out, but other than that nothing. But my girl parts, oh yeah, they notice him alright.”
“Shit, me, too. Cash and Rosul look at me, well, it’s like damn—instant fireworks. When they touch me—it is as if I am on fire.” Sam moaned and buried her head under a pillow.
“The guys are bringing me lunch again tomorrow, and we are gonna watch a movie in the office,” Alex said slowly waiting to see what her friends would say.
“Cool,” Gabby shrugged and they went back to comparing notes about the men.
***
Alex laughed as the men threw popcorn at the screen. They were watching a romance and the guys complained about the men, said they looked and acted like weenies. Alex laughed and they began to argue good-naturedly.
“Hey, it is a happily ever after movie.” Alex laughed.
“The man should have never allowed her to run over him like that. I would never allow it,” Xander said and puffed out his chest.
Alex knew he was the more dominant one in the relationship. She could tell, she could also tell that Xander and Des were closer than just best friends.
“Right, okay, so we established you are the he-man. Des, what about you? Are you a chest thumping male, too?” Alex asked.
“Nah, I leave the chest thumping to Xander. I am a more fun-loving guy,” Des said and winked at Alex.
“Okay, throwing this out on the table. Three hundred years is a long time not to have sex,” Alex said and Xander watched her closely.
“Des and I are mates in every sense of the word, does that bother you?” Xander asked.
Alex rolled her eyes and smiled. “Do I get to watch?”
“Maybe if you are a good girl,” Des teased.
“Okay, so you two are mates, why did you never go up to the surface and find you a wife?” Alex asked, and the sharp pain of jealousy pierced her as she watched for their reaction.
“A few of us tried,” Des said sadly. “It did not end well. The men found women, and they were happy for a while, then when the women got pregnant, they died during childbirth, along with the babe. We stopped trying because we didn’t want to be responsible for killing anyone.”
Alex sucked in a breath. “So, if we were to have sex, we could never have children?”
Xander closed his eyes. “We have no idea. Sage is checking into that. Since you have Meridian blood, he said it could be safe, but he is testing by combining our blood.”
Alex was quiet for a while as she digested this information. “Did you find a woman on the surface?”
Xander straightened and looked at Alex, “No, we never did.”
Alex felt relief—it was weird. She nodded her head and they began to talk again, she felt better that they hadn’t found a woman over the years, but at the same time, a little sad for them.
***
The next day, Alex didn’t share with the men about the dreams that she, Sam, and Gabby had started having. None of the women wanted to talk about their dreams. She knew she didn’t. Alex was embarrassed because the dreams were so graphic:
For as much as Des knew Xander enjoyed the firm strokes, he managed to deprive him of any solid victory. Battle-tense beside him, his knuckles had gone white around the edge of the bed and he glared out at Des as if he wanted to kick his ass. The only sign of weakness Xander gave was the hard snort of air he sucked in as his fingers toyed with the sensitive cockhead weeping for attention. The cockhead would get the attention, because Des wouldn’t be satisfied until he had Xander begging.
Des got his first taste of victory when he lapped up the pre-cum trickling out of Xander’s cock. Instantly Xander cursed and bucked his hips off the bed. That was all the reaction Des needed to slip his lips around the flared ridge of Xander’s sensitive cock and give his tender head a fierce suck.
Not wanting to give him the chance to build up a resistance to a slow, sensual seduction, Des didn’t waste any time before settling in to torment the arrogant Meridian King into pleading for more. Taking him all the way back to his throat, he swallowed, trying to suck as much of his length as he could.
He was still too long for Des to take all of him. Keeping his hand fisted around the lower portion of his cock, he pumped Xander with each gliding stroke of his lips back up Xander’s satiny length. He was hot, the thick vein running down his cock pulsing faster and faster with each teasing swipe of Des’s tongue, followe
d by the hard press of his fingers.
All around him, Des could feel Xander shaking. His breaths came in loud, labored pants that matched the escalating race of his mouth up and down Xander’s shaft. The wild tempo consumed Des’s own passions. Soon all thoughts of games faded from his mind, replaced by the blind need to mount the delicious erection getting ready to explode in his mouth.
It would be hot to suck him off. Maybe the man would be gracious enough to return the favor, because right then his cock dripped with the memory of Xander’s intimate kisses. Only it couldn’t wait and sent a desperate call for his free hand to come and stroke himself into the same oblivion Des was on the verge of sending Xander over. His fingers barely brushed against his cock when a set of fingers bit into his wrist, jerking his hand back up.
“No,” Xander snapped. “You don’t see to your own needs. I see to them. And right now, I’m seeing to this.”
Xander buried his other hand in Des’s hair, gripping his head, making his lips increase speed. Just like that, Xander took control and rekindled the fight in Des’s gut. He let Xander have command of the moment, knowing it would trick him into lowering his defenses.
Sure enough, in less than a minute, his breath was catching and all around him, he was tightening with the final rush to release. Des felt the first brush of come hit his mouth at the same second Xander’s muscles began to spasm…