GalacticBurn

by Mel Teshco

  He sat too. “Little wonder. We’re all three big men.” He raised a sandy colored brow and continued, “Everywhere.”

  “Yes, well. I can attest to that.”

  In one easy movement he rose to his feet and offered her a hand. “Come,” he said. “I have just the thing to ease away physical discomfit.”

  She took his hand and interlaced their fingers as he led her through a veritable Garden of Eden, where fruits and shrubs gave way to fronds and ferns. A fine mist dewed their skin.

  They really were like Adam and Eve, she thought absently. Naked as the day they were born and seemingly alone in this wilderness. She smiled, realizing she’d just recalled a biblical story without any trouble whatsoever.

  “Here we are.”

  Her mouth dropped open. A small waterfall ran from between two spiky-looking boulders and spilled into a bubbling pool, which steamed the air, making it heavy with warmth.

  She followed Maddox into the water. Immediately she felt its wet heat steal over her, relaxing her, inducing a drowsy calm.

  “Lie back,” he said softly.

  She nodded. His arms held her lightly as she floated, closing her eyes on a sigh. “This is wonderful,” she murmured. Her eyes flicked open at the sudden moment as he waded through the water.

  “Close your eyes and keep them closed,” he instructed. “Trust me.”

  After a momentary hesitation, she did so. The water rippled and eddied around her. Steam moistened her face, beading on her brow. One of his hands moved a little to stretch out her arms before he lifted her head and placed it gently on something soft and mossy that moved with the motion of the water.

  She resisted opening her eyes and, instead, enjoyed the gentle undulation of whatever pillowed beneath her head and nape. Water splashed a little as he moved away from her, toward her feet.

  Raising one of her legs a little out of the water, he placed something warm, wet and spongy on the underside of one foot. A small vibration rippled along her sole.

  “That feels nice,” she said.

  She could hear the smile in his voice. “It will be even nicer soon, I promise.”

  In almost torturously slow motion, he pushed the spongy, vibrating thing up her leg in lazy rhythmic circles. More beads of moisture formed on her brow, but she knew it had little to do with the warmth of the air. Heat built within, escalating almost too quickly for her peace of mind.

  She parted her thighs, shamelessly exposing her pussy that throbbed all over again, despite its tenderness.

  She swallowed back a squeak of protest when he deliberately moved the sponge along the outer side of her hip, across her abdomen beneath her bellybutton and down her other leg. Her leg muscles relaxed even as her womb clenched.

  One strong vibration shot straight to the nerve center of her clit and she fleetingly wondered if she was in heaven or in hell.

  He moved back up her leg. “No more teasing,” he said huskily.

  It was all she could do not to look when his free hand parted her labia and he placed the sponge over her clit. She gasped. Her eyes flew open in an uncontrollable climax as the thing suctioned at her pussy, its tiny tentacles vibrating her into instant gratification.

  “Nice?” Maddox asked hoarsely.

  “Oh, wow.” She swallowed. “Yes.”

  He stroked the underside of the shell-shaped sponge and it released her pussy with a spray of bubbles, like a last teasing goodbye. Maddox turned it around to show her.

  “We call these kio kio. They are essentially a plant that suctions away anything microscopic from the bottom of our oceans. They have adapted to fresh water though. They had to, since our women—past women—discovered the real benefit of keeping them in what you humans would call a bathtub in their homes.”

  She slid an arm around his neck as she attempted to stand. “A sex toy and a cleaner. Remarkable.”

  “Yes,” he acknowledged.

  “No vibrators I owned ever cleaned for me as well.” Did I own some?

  He placed the kio kio back into the water. Little vibrating tentacles pushed out from underneath, allowing it to swim gently back to the bottom of the deep pond. Maddox shrugged. “A win-win situation.”

  “I imagine so,” she said huskily.

  He clasped her chin, his thumb gently stroking. “Dar and Ezra will bring you here again. Perhaps all three of us will take you here and pleasure you, watch as the kio kio makes you come again and again.”

  Her nipples tightened. “All of you?”

  “Of course. And maybe when we find other suitable Earth women for our high-ranked men, you may like to share the experience with your own sex, woman to woman.”

  Something sharply forbidden uncoiled within, a denial she couldn’t quite form. Instead she asked weakly, “You, Dar and Ezra—you would like to watch that?”

  He nodded. “It would please us.”

  “Seems in many things, alien and Earth men differ little,” she murmured. She shook her head. “And I can hardly believe I’m even contemplating such a thing.”

  “Pleasure of the flesh is nothing to be ashamed of. Though possessive, Carèche men rejoice in the tools of the body.” He dropped his hand. “Come. You must be hungry.”

  He took her back to his room and helped her dress, before taking her hand and leading her back through the room they called Ak ‘ Bella, and into the corridor.

  “Where do you eat?” she asked.

  He turned to her. “I value my solitude, but I always make sure I share a meal with at least some of my men. It makes for a well-loved king.”

  “They won’t mind me tagging along?”

  He frowned. “Tagging? Hmm, I have learned many of your strange words, but…”

  “Following you, being your shadow.”

  She stepped onto a white shield with him. As it ferried them gently to the floor below, he said, “You are my queen. Your place is with me—and my brothers—unless you wish otherwise.”

  Stepping off, she nodded. “I’m pleased I have a choice.”

  He gave her an odd look. “Everyone has a choice.”

  Do they? She froze. An image abruptly filled her head…

  ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

  A dozen dancers on stage in their tutus, performing the beautiful and moving piece, Swan Lake. Her vision swam, grief all but choking her. She’d trained for half her life to be on stage. In the prime of her dancing career, it was she who should have been the principal dancer.

  Her husband, his fat fingers wrapped around her thigh, leaned closer still and whispered, “I never could understand what the fuss was all about. All this prancing around. I’m only glad you saw sense and retired.”

  Loathing welled up inside for the toad she’d been forced to marry. She shrugged off his grasp and jerked to her feet. “Fuck off,” she hissed.

  A camera flashed. In that moment, she couldn’t have cared less. She thrust a hand toward the stage. “This was my life, my everything! And I gave it all up for…for you.” Bitter self-disgust made her swing away from him and his utter look of shock. His jowls quivered with indignation and rage.

  She swiped away the hot tear trekking down her face. Oh, she’d pay for embarrassing him. She’d pay for it big-time…

  ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

  Lillian flinched, brought back to reality with a rush at the touch of Maddox’s hand along her cheek.

  “Another flashback?” he asked gently.

  She nodded and whispered starkly, “Yes.”

  “Be strong. They won’t get any easier.”

  “I…know.”

  “If you need a moment—”

  “No.” She shook her head and dragged in a steadying breath. “I’ll be fine. Thank you.”

  Maddox studied her and suddenly she felt too much like one of his plants—a rare and fascinating one. She cleared her throat. “The men, they’re watching.”

  He turned, following her stare. At the end of the room silence reigned where a dozen or so high-ranking men from all the provinces sat
cross-legged on the floor. He sighed. “So they are.”

  “They seem shocked.”

  “I guess they’re not used to seeing me so charmed by a woman.”

  She drew back, a mental image of him joining in the fun with some of the other men on board, searing into her brain. “You prefer…men?”

  He kept a straight face for perhaps two full seconds. Then his mouth twitched, his eyes lit up. A laugh burst free. “Oh, you are so in trouble now!”

  Her face reddened. “I’m sorry, I just thought—”

  “You thought wrong.” He took her arm and led her forward. “Due to our circumstances, many men now take male lovers. Not me.” He sighed a little. “The truth is, I fell hard for a woman on my home planet. She was perfect. Beautiful, funny, sexually compatible. She was a princess from another province.”

  “The virus?”

  He shrugged, but there was a world of hurt in the gesture. “Yes.” He swiped a hand through his hair, and admitted, “She was also heavily pregnant with our son.”

  Oh no. “I’m so sorry.”

  “Yes, well, we’ve all loved and lost. There’s no escaping it.”

  The men pushed to their feet when they arrived. Dar and Ezra were noticeably absent.

  A space was made for them. Maddox drew her close as three long-haired men stared hard, unsettling her. She looked up at Maddox and murmured, “I don’t think Dar’s men like me.”

  “Ah.” He brushed a hand over her temple. “Quite unlike their king, they are a mistrustful breed.” He lifted his other hand into the air and snapped his fingers. “Yakmechon.” He looked down, kissed her upturned brow and then translated, “Entertainment.”

  She frowned, and he grinned and murmured, “These men clearly need a distraction.”

  Just then five men with short hair and green eyes ran out and formed a circle—thick, heavy spears in hand. A long-haired man with a small drum-like instrument in his grasp followed them out. He began tapping a throbbing, heavy beat, as primal as a heartbeat, and the men banged the blunt ends of their spears in time to its rhythm.

  Each of the five men then took their turn in the center, back-flipping, somersaulting and executing one-handed spins.

  Lillian forgot her troubles in that moment, forgot her past. She was caught up in the acrobatic skill of the men as only a true performer could be.

  When the dance was over, Maddox leaned forward and murmured, “Carèche people have never seen ballet.”

  “You want me to dance?”

  “It would please me.”

  An instant jolt of pre-performance anticipation fired through her blood, spiking adrenaline. She nodded slowly. “To the drum?”

  “If you wish.”

  Ballet dancers used a barre to warm up their muscles before a performance, but sex had left her body fluid, supple. She moved out onto the floor, taking the place of the male dancers.

  She took her natural position, with one arm curving gracefully above her head, the other an arc in front of her body, her feet in first position, ready to move to the rhythm.

  The drumbeat resumed, filling the air, filling her blood. And almost of its own volition, her body responded. She rose onto the balls of her feet, and as her body formed a graceful arabesque, for a brief moment she wished for ballet shoes so she could complete the move on point as she had been trained to do.

  Holding her extended leg high and straight behind her for long beats, she came to ground in a demi-plié. The beat increased. She moved into a glissade and then executed a petit saut.

  The freestyle dance took her to another place, another world, where everything was perfect and nothing bad could touch her. Ballet was flying. In dance, she was someone else. She was free.

  The drumbeat faded and then stilled, and as one with the music she sank onto the floor. Every one of her emotions had been played out, exposed. In dance, she wore her heart on her sleeve—the dance an emotional journey, and she the storyteller.

  Pulse hammering, adrenaline fading, she looked up. Maddox smiled, looking pleased and proud. The men around him wore a cloak of breathless awe and wonderment.

  Maddox stood, and in a couple of fluid steps he stood before her. She accepted his outstretched hand and he pulled her close and murmured, “Perfect, my darling. They all adore you now.”

  She arched a brow. “Is that why you asked me to dance—to gain their approval?”

  “But of course. Just like me, I knew they’d be unable to resist.” He turned from her then, facing the still-silent and apparently captivated men. “Eckn’a sa, Lillian!” he announced, voice booming into the silence.

  The whole room erupted in cheers, the men once again pushing to their feet, saluting her. Her chest squeezed tightly. Just then she truly felt accepted. But then dance was the one and only time she ever truly felt that way.

  Oh?

  A little contemplative, she moved back to the group. Hushed silence ensued. She sat cross-legged at her place on the floor, Maddox sitting beside her. The men followed and all took hold of the round cups before them and raised them. Maddox raised his and shouted, “Kas’lios.”

  As the men repeated the toast, a long, slender shield glided out from an open doorway, from what must be the kitchen. The shield—a conveyor belt table—was laden with small bowls of food from which they could choose what they wished.

  It moved past Lillian and Maddox first. She chose a dish filled with flower petals and some kind of bright red melon wedges, drizzled with some kind of syrup. Maddox chose a stew that looked and smelled very similar to what she’d eaten with Ezra.

  She closed her eyes at the first mouthful. Sweet and light, the fruit combined with the petals created a flavor that burst in her mouth like summer’s first dew. The syrup was like honey, only lighter, crisper, with a slight butterscotch flavor.

  Maddox filled her cup with lakroda, a perfect accompaniment to her dish. The male acrobats returned, and Lillian realized some time had elapsed when Maddox decided to leave.

  But she was more replete on lakroda than possibly wise. When she stood, she swayed, lightheaded.

  With a chuckle, Maddox swept her up into his arms. Striding away from the knowing grins of the men, he stepped onto the shield platform that whisked them up to the floor high above.

  It has to be the early hours of the morning, she thought groggily. On the mother ship, day and night seemed almost to merge into one.

  Minutes later he was laying her on the rug bed. She stretched, hazily aware of him moving beside her and pulling her close.

  “Sleep, my love,” he whispered. “You have a big day tomorrow.”

  Chapter Five

  She was dreaming, somehow she knew that though everything felt so real…

  ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

  “Dad, I hate him. I want a divorce! I can’t live like this—with him—even a minute longer.”

  Her father rocked back on his heels, horror etched into every weary line of his face. “You ask too much.” He visibly willed calm as he stroked his gray goatee with be-ringed fingers. “It’s impossible. Scandalous. Your mother—”

  “Would understand.”

  He swung away from her, pacing the paneled room where a huge oak desk took up much of the large space. “We spoiled you too much, gave you too much freedom. I see that now. Letting you dance was my biggest mistake, only…when I saw how much you loved it, how gifted you were…”

  He turned back to her with a weary sigh, his expression resolute and a little resigned. “If you can’t suffer through the marriage for me—for your mother—all I ask is to do it for the good of your country.”

  ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

  She woke with a start, jerking into a sitting position, her heart thudding in her ears.

  Maddox was sitting beside her, observing her. “More dreams?”

  She nodded. “Yes. I feel as if I’m on the cusp of something I’m not sure I want to remember. Like all my memories, good and bad, are about to pour into my mind.”

  He leaned forw
ard and pressed a kiss onto her mouth. “You have us brothers here to help you through it.”

  She curled an arm around his neck and drew his head back toward hers for a lingering, open-mouth kiss. She drew back, her gaze holding his. “I’m so glad I do.”

  The thought of coping all alone without any of the three of her alien lovers, and in a world virtually without humans was unfathomable. Each of her men touched her heart, her soul, made her alive for the first time in—forever?

  Somehow she knew it was true.

  Something glittered in his eyes, something deep and emotional. “I’m glad too.”

  He stiffened a little, pulling back. “Dar is on his way.”

  Her heart skipped a beat, joy and sadness simultaneously filling her. She desperately wanted to see Dar again, but the thought of leaving Maddox so soon was almost…painful.

  She chewed her inner cheek, made anxious by her seesawing emotions. “How do you know he’s on his way?”

  Maddox pushed to his feet and dragged a hand over his face as though suddenly deflated. “We share a mental bond created from the meshing of our cells within the shields.”

  “That’s how Dar knew you and Ezra had seen me, he felt our trans-alien hypersensitivity?”

  “Exactly. Though the shields act on our thoughts and instructions, we brothers have to draw on each other’s emotions, unless we consciously block them.”

  That meant every time she’d been with one of her men, the other two had experienced at least some of the sensations? She felt almost faint with the idea. But then dismay was far outweighed by shameless delight.

  They were all four really one unit, irrevocably connected.

  Maddox grinned a little at the expressions that were obviously flitting across her face. He moved back toward her and, clasping her hands, pulled her to her feet. “Right now I feel Dar’s excitement, his anticipation and desire, which grows stronger as he draws near.”

  The implications of this were almost too hard to comprehend. “What happens to you when I’m with Dar?” she all but squeaked.

  His grin broadened. Out of the three men, he seemed the most willing to share her with his brothers. “I find myself a little privacy, shut my eyes and imagine it’s my hard cock sinking into your wet pussy, imagine my hand is really your hand, your mouth.”