Kat bit her lip as Lock raised her leg. The she felt the broad head of the light twin’s shaft pressing gently but firmly directly against her rosebud. For a moment that night with Devon came rushing back and she panicked. But her old boyfriend had never been this slow and patient. Instead of holding still, allowing her to get used to the feeling of his cock touching her ass, he’d simply plowed ahead, causing excruciating pain.

  Lock and Deep would never do that to me, Kat reminded herself, taking a deep breath to calm her nerves. And besides, I have the bonding fruit in my system. I can do this.

  “Do it,” she said out loud and was proud when her voice didn’t tremble. “Go ahead, Lock. Put…put it in me. I can take it.”

  “You’re certain?” Deep cupped her cheek and she nodded. “Very well.” He looked at Lock. “It’s all right, Brother. You can enter her. Just do it very slowly.”

  “Of course,” Lock said reassuringly. And then Kat felt the blunt probe of his cock begin to press inwards, stretching her gently but firmly as he entered her.

  Kat felt the head of his cock slide in, followed by two or three inches of thick shaft. There was no pain but she couldn’t help jumping a little and squeezing Deep’s muscular arms tight as Lock’s shaft invaded her.

  Easy, little Kat, he murmured, holding her eyes with his. Just try to relax and be open for Lock.

  I am, she whispered back. It’s just…a little more difficult than I expected.

  Do you wish me to stop? Lock sent through their link, his mental voice anxious. Because I will if you want me to, my lady. I will withdraw at once. He began to suit actions to words but Kat reached back and grabbed his arm.

  No, don’t. Don’t pull it out. I…I want you in me, Lock. I just need a little time.

  Take as much time as you need, my lady, he responded, stroking her back soothingly. I swear not to move again until you ask me to.

  Thank you, Kat whispered back.

  Kat, look at me, Deep murmured and she lifted her chin to see the dark twin staring down at her intently.

  Yes? she sent back.

  Tell me about it. Tell me how it feels. Tell me how you feel.

  Kat bit her lip. I…I feel opened. Opened but not violated so that’s good. And it doesn’t hurt. It just…brings back bad memories.

  We need to try and make some good ones, then, Deep said firmly. I’m going to touch you now, Kat. One large hand slid between her thighs and cupped her pussy again. Going to spread open your sweet cunt and stroke you while Lock stays inside you. He’s only about halfway in, right?

  Kat nodded. Yes, I think so.

  Good. As I touch you, I want you to concentrate on Lock’s shaft. Feel it inside you. Imagine what it will be like to have him all the way in, filling your back entrance completely. Give yourself to the sensation of being opened, of being penetrated with love and tenderness instead of cruelty and pain.

  I’ll try, Kat promised, looking up at him. I do know you and Lock would never hurt me. That helps.

  I’m glad, little Kat. Deep lowered his head to kiss her and at the same time, Kat felt him part her wet folds and being to stroke gently against the side of her swollen clit with one careful fingertip. Glad you can trust us enough to try this.

  I…I want to do more than just try, Kat told him, her breathing beginning to speed up as he built the slow fire of pleasure between her legs. I want both of you in me, making love to me at the same time.

  In good time, Deep promised, and kissed her again. For now, just concentrate on the sensations between your legs. How does it feel to have Lock’s shaft penetrating your bud? Do you begin to feel the stirrings of pleasure from allowing him to fill you there?

  Kat closed her eyes for a moment. Making a deliberate effort, she blocked out her past with her old boyfriend and concentrated on what was happening now with Lock and Deep. The light twin’s shaft was thick, stretching her to the limit, but it didn’t feel bad. In fact, it felt good to be so open for her lover’s cock. Good to spread herself and let him fill her this way, especially since she knew that Deep wouldn’t be far behind in filling her pussy.

  I like it, she admitted at last. When there’s no pain it’s a very erotic sensation.

  And do you think you could let Lock fill you completely now?

  Kat nodded. Yes, I think so. Lock?

  I am ready and waiting to do your bidding, my lady, the light twin sent back. Shall I sink my shaft to the hilt in you now?

  Kat took a deep breath, fear and desire warring inside her. Yes, she sent back. Yes, please do. I want you in me, Lock. All the way in me.

  As my lady wishes. She felt something soft and warm press against her neck and realized that Lock had kissed her there. Then, gripping her hips for leverage, he slid the rest of his long, thick cock smoothly into her ass.

  Kat let out an involuntary moan but it wasn’t a sound of pain. On the contrary, she couldn’t believe how good it felt to be completely filled in such a forbidden area. She felt Lock’s hips brush against her buttocks and knew he was all the way inside her, filling her to the hilt just as she had wanted him to do.

  Are you all right? Deep murmured, looking at her. His broad fingertip continued its slow, erotic caress of her swollen clit, gently building the pleasure inside her.

  Yes. Kat nodded. Yes, it feels…it feels good. Wonderful. The only thing that could make it better is having you in me too.

  So you’re ready for me to penetrate you as well? Deep’s caressing finger slid lower, invading her pussy and pressing deep inside the slippery well of her cunt. I can tell you are, he sent, answering his own question. Gods, little Kat, you’re so wet.

  Because I need you in me. Both of you, Kat told him, looking into his eyes. Please Deep, fill me up.

  With pleasure, sweetheart. Reaching between them, he fitted the broad head of his cock to the wet entrance of her pussy. Kat couldn’t hold back a moan as she felt his thick shaft thrusting slowly into her. God, but it felt incredible. Hot and erotic in a way she’d never experienced before.

  In the past, while making love to her men, they had always been fused together, the better to penetrate her pussy as one. This time she could feel both shafts distinctly, and the sensation was amazing. Her eyelids fluttered briefly shut with pleasure and when she opened them, she saw Deep looking down at her.

  “Gods, you’re beautiful, Kat,” he whispered hoarsely. “And so brave to take both of us at once this way. So sweet and courageous to spread your legs and let Lock and I fill your pussy and your ass at the same time.”

  As he spoke, Kat felt the broad head of his cock press against the end of her channel and she knew both men were inside her, filling her completely. “God,” she moaned softly as her pleasure built higher and higher. “So good. So…so right.”

  “It’s always right when it’s the three of us together, my lady,” Lock murmured, kissing her neck again. “Though I have to admit, this is amazing. I can feel Deep’s shaft rubbing against mine.”

  “And I feel yours as well, Brother,” Deep growled. “So tell me, how shall we fuck our lady? Shall we move against each other or as one?”

  “As one,” Lock answered at once. “The lady Kat needs to feel both of us sliding in and out of her pussy and rosebud in tandem.”

  “That sounds…sounds good to me.” Kat couldn’t help how breathless her voice had become. She’d never felt this filled before—not even when both her lovers were filling her pussy at once. The double penetration was a whole new sensation—one so incredibly intense she felt like the moment they started to move within her she would go off like a rocket.

  That’s exactly what we want, Deep sent her, having obviously caught her thought. The more intense your orgasm, the further we can travel.

  Then let’s go, Kat sent, leaning up to give the dark twin a passionate kiss. I can’t wait any longer—I need to come!

  As my lady wishes, Lock murmured. He and Deep locked eyes and the dark twin murmured Now.

  A low gasp was
drawn from Kat as both thick shafts pulled slowly out of her ass and pussy and then pressed back in again, even deeper than before. She threw back her head, resting it on Lock’s broad shoulder as they did it again, fucking her together in a way that went beyond any pleasure she’d ever known or imagined.

  And it wasn’t just their cocks inside her—large, warm hands and hot mouths were all over her. Lock was licking and kissing the side of her neck while he pinched her nipples and Deep had worked his hand between them again and was stroking her swollen clit much more firmly than before.

  Suddenly the sensations of having two cocks inside her, fucking her, loving her as her men pleasured her every way they knew how was too much for Kat. With a loud, gasping cry, she felt her orgasm take flight.

  Blast off! she thought deliriously.

  And suddenly there were stars everywhere…

  Chapter Nine

  “Here you go.” Lauren walked to the front of the ship and held out Xairn’s shirt.

  “Leave it on the back of my seat, please.” His red-on-black eyes never left the viewscreen. In the time it had taken her to change and stow away the blue and crimson slippers he had piloted them from the dark alley to what appeared to be…another dark alley.

  “Where are we?” Lauren asked as he made preparations to land.

  “The parking accommodations of the Alteration House of Slk.” He pulled the ship neatly into a large stone stall and set them down gently. “There. And not a moment too soon.”

  “Why? What do you mean?”

  Xairn cast her a sidelong look. “It is not safe to be out in the public part of the splicing district after dark. This area communicates directly with the House of Slk.”

  “I thought you said the man who was helping you was named Vrr?”

  “It was but he is retired. Slk is his son who is equally skilled…if considerably more expensive.” Xairn frowned. Then with a sigh, he locked the controls and rose. “Come. He’ll be waiting for us.”

  He brushed against Lauren as he reached for his shirt and she felt something warm and wet on the back of her arm. Looking down, she saw a smear of dark red on her skin. “Xairn?” She looked up at him questioningly.

  “What?” He was already shrugging into the shirt but she stopped him with one hand on his arm. Looking closer, she saw the source of the red liquid. Blood—it was welling up from a cut on his side, somewhere under the waistband of his black flight pants.

  “What’s that?” she demanded, pointing to his side. “Why didn’t you tell me you were wounded?”

  The big warrior looked down as though noticing his wound for the first time. “A scratch. I got into several altercations on my way back to you. That’s the main reason I was late.”

  “It’s a lot more than a scratch. Let me see it.” When he started to refuse, Lauren made her voice strict. “I said let me see it.”

  “I would prefer that you didn’t,” he said stiffly. But she was already unbuckling his belt and pushing the black pants lower down his muscular abdomen and hips to see the extent of his injuries. Sure enough, there was a long, nasty gash running up from the front of his right hip to the curve of his back. Thankfully, it didn’t look deep but it was still oozing blood and Lauren was afraid it might become infected.

  “Wait right here,” she said. “I think I saw some kind of first aid kit thingy in the bathroom. I’ll be right back.”

  She grabbed the mini-suitcase she’d seen earlier—it was filled with what looked like bandages and bottles with alien script written on them—and brought it back to Xairn. He was still standing in the middle of the ship as still as a statue with a frown on his face.

  “Okay now,” Lauren said. “You’re going to have to help me with this because I don’t read Kindred.” She looked up at him. “Uh, do you?”

  “I am fluent in over two hundred languages and dialects. And yes, the Kindred common tongue is one of them,” he answered.

  Lauren let out a low whistle. “Wow! That’s amazing. Is that a Scourge thing?”

  He shook his head. “I have an aptitude for languages. To my knowledge, it is not common among my people. Perhaps…I may have inherited the ability from my mother.”

  “You’ve never talked about her before,” Lauren said softly. “Were you…very young when she died?”

  “I do not know if she is living or dead,” Xairn said stonily. “Only that my father took me from her soon after I was born.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry. I just assumed…”

  “It doesn’t matter.” He shook his head and then pointed to a green plasti-glass bottle with a strange looking stopper on it. “That is the disinfectant. You should use it first.”

  “Of course.” Lauren felt like she’d really put her foot in her mouth, asking about his mother. It was clear he didn’t want to talk about her or her fate—whatever it had been. She fiddled for a moment with the stopper on the bottle—and it came off in her hand. “Oh!” She looked at it in surprise. The stopper was attached to a long wand with a bulbous end. It was dripping with clear, viscous fluid. She looked up at Xairn. “So I guess I just…spread it on with this?”

  He nodded. “Yes.”

  Lauren shrugged. “Okay.” Carefully, she touched the bulbous end of the wand to the start of the long gash and began to paint the wound with the viscous liquid.

  Xairn drew in a hissing breath and all the muscles in his big body clenched at once.

  “Oh, I’m so sorry!” Lauren looked up at him. “Does it sting?”

  “It’s not pleasant but I will survive. Please continue—Slk is waiting for us.”

  “All right.” Lauren went back to painting the wound but as she went, she blew a soothing stream of cool air to try and ease the sting.

  Xairn looked down at her frowning. “What are you doing?”

  “Just trying to make it feel better.” Lauren looked up at him sheepishly. “Uh, my mom used to do it for me. She’d always blow on my cuts before she put the band aid on.” She shrugged. “It made it hurt less. Do you want me to stop?”

  A strange look came over his face and his voice was a little less remote when he answered. “No, that’s all right. You can continue if you want.”

  “Good.” Lauren smiled at him and went back to the business at hand. When she had the entire cut painted with disinfectant, she put the stopper back in the green bottle and rummaged around in the little suitcase for what looked like a roll of gauze. But as she was about to unroll it, Xairn held out a hand.

  “Give it to me.”

  Lauren frowned. “You can’t put it on yourself. This cut goes halfway up your back.”

  “I won’t try to but I need to activate the qui.”

  “The what?” Lauren frowned at the roll of gauze in her hand.

  “The qui. It means the Goddess of Mercy bandage.”

  “Does it have some kind of microchip in it or something?”

  “Hardly. Like most Kindred inventions, it’s actually a living organism. But it must be activated in order to work.” He held out his hand again and raised an eyebrow at her.

  Giving in to his unspoken request, Lauren handed him the roll.

  Xairn raised it to his mouth and whispered something in a foreign language. Then he pressed the roll to his forehead, both cheeks, and lips before handing it back to Lauren. “There. It should work now.”

  “What did you say to it?” Lauren asked, beginning to unroll the gauzy substance. No, not substance—animal, I guess. How weird.

  “The exact wording is ‘Drink of my blood and be nourished. My body is thine to heal as thou will. A gift for a gift. A life for a life.”

  “My body is thine,” Lauren murmured. “Hmm. I think I like that.” She had the right length of bandage that she wanted now but she wasn’t sure if it was permissible to cut it to fit. Maybe she should just wrap it around and around Xairn’s waist until it— The thought died in her mind to be replaced by wonder. As she watched, the qui shortened itself to the exact length she wanted. It bro
adened a little as well, becoming a little wider than the palm of her hand. “Well.” She stared at it a minute then shrugged and began to press it gently to Xairn’s side.

  She wasn’t sure how it would stay on—was there some kind of glue or tape she could use? But the qui adhered to his muscular side at once and stuck nicely without any help.

  Lauren was impressed. “That’s good. That’s really good,” she murmured, stroking her hand over his side to make sure the living bandage was smooth and evenly applied. “I wish the Kindred would share this with Earth.”

  “Actually it’s old technology. They have much more sophisticated healing methods now.” Xairn’s deep voice sounded strained. Lauren noticed that his big hands were curled into fists at his sides and he was positively trembling as she touched him. She frowned. Am I hurting him? “Are you okay?” she asked aloud.

  “Fine.” He gazed down at her, his eyes blazing. The look on his face was so intense she drew back a little.

  “Xairn?” she asked, trying to keep the unease out of her voice and not quite managing.

  He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. When he opened them, the fire in their red-on-black depths seemed to have died down a little. “Forgive me but Slk is waiting. Thank you for tending to my wound but now we really must go.”

  “All right.” Lauren got to her feet and rubbed her aching knees. “That floor is hard. Let me just put the first aid kit back and we can go.”

  * * * * *

  Xairn refastened his flight pants as he watched her go, her curves still visible—at least to him—even through the voluminous silvery-blue garment he’d bought for her. It was much too large but he had wanted it that way. He didn’t want to be tempted by her, by the sight of her lovely body. But she might as well not be wearing anything at all as far as he was concerned. He kept remembering how she looked completely nude.

  Don’t think about it, he told himself fiercely. But he couldn’t help it.

  Just before they had left the Fathership and taken off for the Scourge home world, Lauren had dropped the cloak he had given her and offered herself to him. When he closed his eyes he could still see the curve of her hips, her full breasts tipped with tight, berry-brown nipples. And most enticing of all, the tender lips of her sex, half hidden by the neatly trimmed mound of black curls. Gods, she was beautiful. So beautiful it made him ache.