by Lili Zander
“In the middle of the night,” Sofia says, “we heard a loud roar, and we saw the flares go up. Vulrux and Ferix were freaking out about Rorix being in danger. Had it not been for us, they’d have set out to help their friend.”
Yeah, that seems about right. I’m pretty sure the only reason Arax and Nyx didn’t go to the ship in the middle of the night was because they had to take care of me.
“Rorix came back in the morning,” Sofia continues. “He said that the women were taken by Draekon, ones he didn’t recognize.”
“Nyx thought they were a different exile batch,” I tell them. “These guys are the fifth group that the Zorahn have exiled to this world because they tested positive for the Draekon mutation.”
“Well, after that, they wouldn’t listen to us anymore.” Ryanna sounds quite put out by it, and I hide my grin. I get the sense that she doesn’t hear the word ‘no’ a lot. “They insisted that they take us to camp right away for our safety. And that’s pretty much it. We set out in the morning, and Thrax met us halfway there. He’d already roped in four Draekon to find you and rescue Raiht’vi and Beirax.”
“That’s why they didn’t look too surprised to see me,” I say aloud. “They already knew I existed.”
We talk for another hour. The sun is starting to set again, and I can barely keep my eyes open. “I don’t know about you two, but I’m wiped from the climb,” I tell them. “I’m going to find Arax and Nyx and crash.”
Sofia gives me a sharp look. “You climbed the cliffs?”
“Didn’t you?”
They both shake their heads. “We were carried,” Ryanna says. “I’d like to think I’m in good shape, but I couldn’t manage that ascent. Not at the speed at which they did it.”
Huh. Weird. I guess my time in the rock-climbing gym near my house finally paid off.
25
Nyx
In the Lowlands, our dwellings are simple. Just a canvas of hide thrown over a simple wooden framework, thickly coated with watlich paste to repel the hairus.
But on the cliffs, we’ve allowed ourselves to get more creative. These homes don’t get swept away in the floods, and we don’t have to rebuild them every season.
My house is on the outskirts of the clearing. One side of it overlooks the steep cliffs, with sweeping views of the jungle. The green-and-black striped reeds of the kunnr trees are everywhere, with their glowing blue fruit that our mate calls vanilla pudding. Dotted here and there are the bright pink schrit trees, contrasting with the deeper purple hues of the watlich.
“This is unbelievable.” Viola stands next to me and surveys the landscape. “I can’t believe how beautiful it is here.” She puts an arm around my waist. “You even have a porch.”
The translator explains the unfamiliar word. “It’s a hot world,” I reply. “When we can, we want to be outside.”
She shivers. “It’s not that warm up here in the mountains,” she replies, pulling her tattered top around her. “I have a sweater in my luggage. Pity I can’t get to it.”
“You have additional garments?” When the water recedes, we can make her new garments using the wool from the sturdy webs spun by the ahuma, but until then, I wasn’t sure what we were going to do about clothing in the rainy season.
“In the hold of the spaceship,” she replies, sounding resigned. “A fat lot of use it is there.” She shrugs. “Ah well, such is life. Where’s Arax?”
“He’s checking the provisions,” I reply. “Food is difficult to find in the rainy season. The argangana herds scatter and hide, and fruit and vegetables rot on the trees. If we don’t have enough food, we’ll go hungry.” I smile at my mate. “We can’t have that.”
“When Beirax and Raiht’vi get here, there will be six new people,” she says with a frown. “That’s a lot of mouths to feed. Will you be able to manage?”
“We’re organizing some more hunting trips,” I tell her. I don’t tell her that this close to the rainy season, the undertaking is fraught with peril. She’ll only worry for us if she knows. “Arax will be along any moment now. Do you want to wash and rest until then?” My lips twist up in an amused smile. “Remember our promise. We intend to show you that we’re not too old to pleasure you.”
She flushes. “I’d love to wash,” she says. “Is there another lake somewhere?”
“A lake? I think we can do better than that.”
26
Viola
There’s a bathroom.
No shower, but there’s a tub big enough for the Zorahn, which means it’s more than big enough for me, and there’s hot water. “How?” I ask, dumbstruck. This seems like a miracle.
Nyx looks puzzled. “Where does the water come from, you mean?” he asks. “We store it during the rainy season, and we use it to bathe. For drinking, there’s a mountain spring not too far from here.”
I guess that if you take a technologically sophisticated people and put them on an alien world for sixty years, this is what you get. I’m not sure that I’d be so industrious if the situation were flipped around. “What’s the tub made of?”
“Fired clay,” Nyx replies. “There’s no metal in this world, so we’ve had to get creative. But we can do a lot with wood and clay.”
“No kidding.” I follow Nyx to another room, and lo and behold; there’s a huge wooden bed with a thick mattress on top of it.
I think I’ve died and gone to heaven.
Nyx’s eyes twinkle with mirth. “Did you think you’d spend the rest of your life sleeping on the mud floor of a cave, sweet one? We travel light on a hunt, but we’re quite fond of our creature comforts.”
Umm, yes. I sit down on the mattress, which is wonderfully soft, and sigh in pleasure. “That is exactly what I thought,” I admit, chagrined. “Obviously, I was wrong.”
Arax steps in just then. “The scientists are here,” he says. “Vulrux is tending to them.” He gives me a strangely tentative look. “Do our homes please you, aida?”
“Are you kidding me?” I fling my arms around his neck and kiss his lips. “This is lovely.”
My conversation with Sofia and Ryanna has made me realize something. I would have slept on the floor of a cave, as long as Arax and Nyx were on either side of me. When I left Earth, I was numb with the pain of losing my father. With Arax and Nyx, I’ve been given a second chance, and I’m not about to squander it.
He kisses me back passionately. “The three of us will not fit in the water tub,” he says, his voice regretful.
I’ve been climbing all day, and I must reek of sweat. “Let me bathe quickly,” I whisper. “And I’ll be right back.”
I take the quickest bath in the history of womankind. The water is perfect, and there’s a few little coarse woven washcloths stacked to the side, and a bowl of liquid with seed pods floating in it—an oily liquid Arax tells me I could use as soap. The solution has a slight herbal scent and makes me wonder what other plants might be useful to make our life easier here.
I never thought I’d use my botany skills on an alien planet.
I scrub, clean, rinse and scramble out of the tub, only to find there are no towels.
“Hey guys,” I call, opening a basket to see if there’s something I can at least wrap my hair in. “Do you have a towel?”
“What?” Arax says from just outside the room.
The basket is empty, so I check a shelf that holds some sweet-smelling sticks of wood—like incense. It smells a little like the smoky musk I’ve come to associate with my mates. “Um, a cloth or something I can use to dry off?”
Arax steps into the door holding a large cloth between his hands. “Like this?” He does a great poker face, but Nyx hovers at his back, a mischievous curl to his mouth.
“Yes… you sneaks.” I wag a finger at them. “You could’ve left that in here with me.”
“And deprive ourselves the pleasure of seeing you like this?” Arax tilts his head to the side, taking me in.
“You’ve seen me naked before.” I t
ug at the towel, but he doesn’t let go.
“Not like this. Lovely, shining with water, standing in my home.”
His possessive growl makes my pussy quiver.
“Yeah, dripping water all over your floor.” I feign irritation to cover up the way his words squeeze my heart. Sixty years he’s been stuck here, away from his home. Never expecting to see a woman again, much less take a mate. “May I have the towel?”
Arax strides forward and envelops me with the cloth. “Let me, aida. I wish to care for you.”
I bite my lip, willing myself not to cry at the way he buffs my skin, his ministrations tender and thorough. Nyx joins in, toweling off my hair with another small cloth. By the time they’re done, I’m close to begging them to bend me over the tub.
I have an idea. “Arax, why don’t you take a bath?”
His face goes blank. “Do I smell?”
“No, no, I just want to see you as you saw me. You know, naked and wet—”
His loincloth hits the floor.
“Like this?” He climbs in the bath. The tub is huge, but he still has to bend his legs to fit. His knees stick up out of the water, and that’s not the only thing sticking up.
“Yes, exactly.” I pick up the wash cloth. “I’d like to clean you.”
His grin turns wicked, and I realize my mistake. Here I have seven feet of gorgeous male, skin glistening in muscled perfection, and I’ve offered to run my hands all over him. If I’m not careful, I’ll end up a puddle on the floor.
Ho boy.
I focus hard on sluicing fresh water over him and rubbing the washcloth over the glorious contours of his chest. I do all right until I lean closer to wash his opposite shoulder, and his hands caress between my legs.
“Hey, now,” I scold.
He ignores my protest. His fingers strum between my folds and convince me to widen my stance. One thick digit finds my entrance, and the washcloth falls into the water.
“Viola,” Arax murmurs.
“Yes?” My hands are white-knuckled on the side of the tub, my mind on Arax’s finger circling inside me.
“You dropped the cleaning cloth.”
“Oh, right. Um—” His finger hooks and presses against the soft wall above my entrance. My legs tremble.
A second pair of hands clasps my hips. “I’ve got you.” Nyx runs his hands up my sides. I’m about to thank him when something hot, hard and roughly the size of a baseball bat glides between my legs. Well, maybe not that large, but it feels huge sliding against my slick thighs.
I lean over the broad lip of the bath. My position allows me to press my bottom into Nyx’s groin and puts Arax’s cock in the vicinity of my mouth. I can’t resist. I close my lips around the broad, flared head.
Arax sucks in a breath, his hips jutting upward. His hands grip the sides of the tub. I hum as I tongue the underside of his cock, exploring the thick, masculine taste of him.
At my back, Nyx props me where he wants me, scooting my feet out wide. My fingers flex into a fist on Arax’s taut abs as Nyx’s cock probes my pussy. I’m folded over the bathtub rim, sucking as much of Arax as I can while Nyx eases deeper and deeper into me.
Arax’s head drops back. Eyes closed and body taut, he slowly pumps in and out of my mouth. I wrap my left hand around the base of his cock, steadying myself with my right hand on Arax’s chest. I watch his face as I swallow his rod, swirling my tongue and finding his sensitive spots.
Lost in him, I take him too deep, gag, and pull off. My teeth graze the rim of his crown. He moans, but in a good way. I do it again and curses spill from his mouth.
Fierce satisfaction shoots through me at the fact that I’ve made Arax completely lose control.
He strikes the side of the tub with his right hand, overcome. His body tightens, the pebbled muscles of his abs standing out in stark relief as he fights from coming too soon. I pop off and swipe my tongue lazily around his head, holding his eyes. The taste of him is addictive. He clenches his jaw, eyes blazing.
“I love the way you taste,” I tell him, and he curses harshly. The translator struggles to interpret, but I don’t need words to know how he’s feeling.
Then Nyx sheathes his full length inside me.
“I love the way you feel,” Nyx purrs, tightening his hold on my hips as he pushes deep, his cock hitting every delicious spot inside me.
“Oh,” I gasp. “Oh God.” I pull my mouth off Arax’s cock, clenching my eyes shut as Nyx pulls out and slams inside me again.
Arax rises out of the bath like a roused river god, water streaming off his bronzed body. He kneels in front of me, takes a fistful of my hair, and snaps his hips forward, filling my mouth with his tasty cock. I flail a moment and catch his lean hips, hanging on as one Draekon pummels my pussy, while the other owns my mouth. They glide in and out, speeding up in perfect sync.
My feet leave the floor as Nyx lifts my legs, his huge hands gripping my thighs while he powers into me.
A gentle hand catches my chin, and I meet Arax’s gaze, fierce and tender and loving all at once.
“Sweet one,” he whispers, and I’m overcome. I climax, careful to keep sucking his cock as my muscles quiver and my body trembles. I never thought I could fit such a big cock in my mouth, and while I can’t swallow his entire length, his girth fills me perfectly. I breathe through my nose and suck as hard as I can, savoring the salty-sweet taste of him.
He pulls out and comes with a shout, tugging my hair. The sharp sensation pushes me into a series of rippling climaxes of my own.
Undeterred by my orgasm, Nyx keeps pumping into my spasming pussy. My head jerks back as he pulls my hair, tugging it like a rope until I arch my back. His thrusts slow to a hard, rhythmic pounding that sends waves of pleasure spiraling through me again.
Arax captures my mouth, tugging on my nipples. I lose my grip on the tub, but the large Draekon catches my shoulders and holds me still as Nyx finishes with a roar.
When the men lift me, I’m helpless and weak as a babe. My pussy is sore, and I have red marks on my stomach from the side of the tub. They towel me off carefully and lay me on the bed, curling up on either side of me.
Nyx palms the back of my neck, pulling me close for a moment. He kisses me softly, holding my eyes. “I love you, aida. You are the fire in my heart.”
“The fire in my soul,” Arax murmurs, running a finger down my cheek until I turn to him. He presses his lips against mine. “One that will never die.” It sounds like a promise.
Both men capture my hands and press my palm to their chests, over their hearts. Their gaze is so intent and penetrating, for a moment I have a hard time meeting their eyes.
Wow. It got really serious in here for a moment. I almost say that out loud, but for a change, I gulp down all the dumb jokes that come to mind.
“Thanks, guys,” I say weakly.
After a moment, I draw my hands back. They release me, but we can’t undo the moment.
I swallow hard and try to process the way I’m feeling. I’d never had a guy tell me… much less two guys at the same time.
But that isn’t why I’m freaking out. Do they mean it when they say they love me? The sex was mind-blowing, as always, but they still haven’t been able to transform.
What if I’m not really their mate? What if they transform to dragons when they see one of the other women? What if it’s Olivia, or May or Paige or Felicity or Bryce that is their real mate?
Jealousy makes my stomach lurch. I reach out and grab their arms, and the touch of their skin reassures me.
“Viola?” Arax’s voice is thick with concern. “What’s wrong?”
I shake my head. “Just… felt a little shaky.”
Arax frowns as if he knows I’m lying.
Nyx strokes my back. “You’ve had a long journey,” he says soothingly. “Everything in your life has changed. I remember the first days after we were exiled. It took some time for us to accept it.”
“It’s not that,” I say. I don’t
want to keep lying to them. “I’m sorry… it’s just a lot to take in.”
“Take as long as you need, aida. There is no hurry.”
I cast about for a new topic of discussion. “I really like your house. Why don’t you live here year round?”
“All the food is in the lowlands,” Arax replies. His lips quirk as if he knows I’m changing the subject, but he allows it. “The climb takes too long for us to do it daily. It’s just easier to live down there in the dry season.”
“If you were Draekons, you could fly up and down.”
“True.” Nyx lies on his back, looking up at the ceiling. “It’ll be easier to carry our stores up too.”
I nod as if I’m thinking about this, but I can’t get my mind off their earlier words. I love you. You are the fire in my heart.
“Can I ask you something?” I whisper. “Are you sure I’m your mate? Because we’ve slept together a lot of times, and you still haven’t transformed.”
“Viola, don’t worry.” Arax’s voice is soothing. “You are of a different species. The mating bond will take time, but it will happen.” He takes my hand and places it on his chest. “I know you are our mate, as does the beast inside me.”
I really hope he’s right.
27
Arax
The next week is a blur as we scramble to accommodate the extra mouths we have to feed. We hunt. We fish. We forage far and wide for leafy greens, scaly vegetables, and delicate food. Our mate likes kunnr, so I make sure we gather as many of the glowing blue fruit as we can carry.
Then there is the problem of the badly wounded scientists. Vulrux decides he needs a medicinal herb to treat them that only grows in the lowlands. I send Zorux and Odix to look for it, which has the added advantage of getting the two traditionalists out of camp.