Severed

  “An excellent idea,” Lucian remarked. “We need all the rest we can get before we go see Tanta Loro tomorrow.”

  “If she’ll see us again so soon,” Drace muttered.

  “She will.” But from his tone, Lucian wasn’t as sure as he would have liked to be.

  “We should get some sleep then.”

  “True enough. Lights Dim,” Lucian said. The lighted walls dimmed until the room was as dark as it had been when I first woke up and found myself alone in a strange bed.

  But this time I wasn’t afraid—this time I wasn’t alone.

  It’ll be all right, I told myself as I closed my eyes and tried to get to sleep. Everything is going to be just fine. I’ll get them split up and be back on my way to Earth in no time.

  Only for some reason the thought bothered me. I couldn’t understand why but while I was trying, I finally got sleepy. Tomorrow I would walk on an alien world hundreds of light years from Earth and face who knew what challenges but for tonight, at least, I was warm and safe and completely protected between the two big, male bodies.

  With a contented sigh, I finally drifted off to sleep with my guys on either side of me.

  Chapter Ten

  Lucian

  I woke up with a soft weight pressed against the side of my chest. A warm, feminine scent drifted to my nose and my eyelids fluttered lazily open just a crack. The room was dim and I was lying on a comfortable surface, broad enough to stretch out on.

  There was another scent in the room as well—the scent of another male.

  Another male and a female—our female. The thought drifted lazily through my brain. For once I wasn’t waking up alone. I was in the sleeping platform with my bond-mate and our female—all was as it should be. She was beautiful and perfect and my bond-mate and I were there to protect her, to keep her safe and love her. We were a unit the three of us—together we were whole.

  I thought with pleasure of the way we had shared her between us the night before. Both of us sucking her sweet, ripe nipples…making her moan as she surrendered to our touch. Gods it felt good to share a female! To finally have a partner to help me please her—after so many long years—to have things as they should be.

  There were places a lone male could go to get his needs met, of course but they were few and far between on Denaris. And it always felt wrong to take a female by myself. No matter how much pleasure I gave her, I always knew she deserved more—that there was something lacking. Someone lacking.

  Not lacking anymore, whispered a little voice in my head. You’re finally complete. I sighed in contentment and stretched, careful not to wake the others.

  I wasn’t the only one stirring. Someone else shifted and the scent of the other male—my bond-mate—grew stronger.

  My nose wrinkled. He didn’t just smell like another male—he had the unmistakable dark, commanding scent of an Alpha.

  That was wrong.

  Not my bond-mate…not my female. I don’t have either. I am alone. I’ve always been alone, I’ll always be alone. That is my life.

  The thoughts drifted up to me like acrid smoke, spoiling my perfect mood.

  I frowned and grew more alert, my eyes opening wide as the last of the pleasant dream was cleared from my head like cobwebs. Where was I and why were there two other people sleeping with me?

  After a moment, my eyes adjusted to the dim wall glows and I saw that Rylee was lying asleep across my chest, her long, curly black hair half obscuring her face. Lying on the other side of her with one long arm thrown over the curve of her hip was Drace.

  The night before came back to me in slow sections…hearing Rylee cry out in fear, coming to comfort her and then asking Drace to stay and help me ease her fear.

  Why had I done that? Why had I asked another Alpha to help me soothe her?

  There was no choice, I told myself, uneasily. Everyone knows a female needs two males to look after her, to tend and comfort and cherish her.

  A female from Denaris needs that, whispered an accusing little voice in my head. But Rylee comes from a planet where they join in twos, not threes. Admit it, Lucian—it wasn’t Rylee who needed another male near to feel complete, it was you.

  That, of course, was ridiculous. I had been on my own for years and from an early age I had accepted that I probably wouldn’t be able to form a bond. I had tried of course, but I simply didn’t fit with any of the Betas from the “good families” my parents brought me into contact with.

  When all of the “suitable options” had been exhausted, my parents had, in effect, given up on finding me a psy-bond mate. My fathers were the Chief and Under-Chief of the Fang Clan respectively and my mother was extremely prominent socially. The idea of inviting a male who wasn’t from one of the best blood lines on the planet to join with the only son of their Triumvirate was unthinkable.

  Over the years I had looked myself—I had even found several Betas while attending school who would have been happy to bond with me. But none of them fit the standard my parents held—none were of the right social class and clan to be added to our family tree. None of them were good enough.

  Eventually I gave up too. Better to be cold than hurt…better to be distant than lonely.

  So I grew up knowing I would always be alone—that I would never have a partner to share a female with or any children to raise. I didn’t mind, I told myself—truly I didn’t. I buried myself in my work, went to the schools my parents deemed acceptable, and made friends with the people I would work with later in life as a highly paid professional. I did everything that was expected of me.

  Until I got myself accidentally bonded to another Alpha. And not just any Alpha—an Alpha of the Claw Clan.

  My parents still didn’t know the situation I now found myself in—nor did I intend for them to find out. I was bonded to a male they would doubtless consider a mortal enemy—a male they would hate on sight. I could just see their faces—my Alpha Father scowling, my Beta Father disapproving and my mother—worst of all—conveying her disgust and displeasure with a delicate lift of her perfectly formed brows.

  They had called me several times lately, wanting to set a date for a family meal but each time I put them off. Until I could extricate myself from the accidental bond to Drace, I needed to steer clear of my family.

  Be fair, whispered a thought in my brain. He isn’t as crude as you feared at first and he’s actually quite intelligent—he picked up on the memory-wipe technique incredibly quickly. And he was willing to stay and help comfort Rylee, even after your rude words to him.

  It was true but none of that changed what he was—what I was. I could never get away from my bloodlines or my family clan and legacy. But even if I could have, the fact still remained that both of us were Alphas.

  I could imagine what would happen if Drace and I walked into a party thrown by my mother or one of her crowd. Even if I dressed him in the finest clothing, his scent would give him away. I could almost see the polite smiles and laughter as we were introduced…and the hostile and disgusted looks we would get after we had moved on. Polite society among the Fang Clan was exactly that—polite, but only to your face. The moment you turned your back, your reputation would be ripped to shreds if you committed even the smallest social blunder. And bonding myself to another Alpha was more than a small blunder.

  It wasn’t that I cared what people said, but it would ruin not only my reputation but that of my parents as well. Also, my business relationships would suffer. They would wonder which of us—Drace or I—played the Beta during our more…intimate moments. And if the consensus was that I took on that role, other males of good families would wonder if I was strong enough to litigate and negotiate for them.

  It would be a social disaster.

  None of that is going to happen, I told myself uneasily. We’ll be in orbit around Denaris in another solar hour and Tanta Loro will tell Rylee how to sever our bond. In fact, I should probably go check and make sure the ship is still on course.

  I
extricated myself from the tangle of limbs on the sleeping platform, being careful not to wake anyone.

  Rylee kept sleeping but as I got off the sleeping platform, the beatific smile on her face suddenly twitched to a frown.

  “No,” she muttered in her sleep, one hand sliding over the spot where I’d been lying. “No…wrong.”

  “It’s all right.” On impulse, I bent down to smooth her hair away from her face and kiss her cheek.

  She moaned and snuggled closer to Drace—but only while I touched her. The minute I straightened up, she shifted away from him and frowned again.

  I didn’t have time to analyze her strange sleep behavior. Instead, I headed to the control area to be certain we were on course. With any luck we’d get this taken care of—maybe even today.

  But for a moment before I left the sleeping chamber—just a moment—I looked back at Drace and Rylee still tangled in the tempra-quilt and my empty spot on the sleeping platform. I stood there and remembered the feeling I’d had when I first woke up—the feeling that I was where I belonged with the people I belonged to—people who belonged to me.

  Then I pushed the ridiculous thought out of my mind and left.

  * * * * *

  Drace

  “So…what is this?” Rylee looked down at her plate uncertainly. “It looks like, uh, fluffy mounds of turquoise toothpaste sprinkled with small, purple balls.”

  “I don’t know what ‘toothpaste’ is but those are Tegral eggs with binta jelly,” I told her. “One of my mother’s specialties.”

  I dug into my own portion as we sat around the table in the food prep area. I had done the cooking—often thought of as a Beta or female task—because Lucian had been busy piloting the ship. He was sitting with us at the table, now, though, with a plate in front of him. It wasn’t lost on me that this was the first meal we’d shared. Despite having been bonded for some time, we’d avoided eating together and making conversation during meal times—until now.

  “I’ve never had tegral eggs,” he remarked, taking a bite. A look of surprise came over his face. “Delicious!”

  “Thanks,” I muttered. Lifting my chin, I looked at him. “Your turn to cook next time.”

  He stared at me for a long moment then nodded shortly. “Agreed.”

  “I’ll take a turn too,” Rylee offered. “If you’ll teach me how to use that big copper pot. The food-sim, I mean.”

  She’d watched with interest as I used the food-sim to bring my favorite first meal recipe into existence. It wasn’t hard—you simply placed the thought capture pad against one temple, pictured the food you wanted, and the sim would create it from the nutrient slime it used as raw material.

  Rylee had thought the slime itself was disgusting but when I explained that the food the sim created didn’t have the taste or texture of the green substance, she’d shrugged her shoulders and said, “All right—I’ll try it. I won’t make any promises about finishing it but I’ll try.”

  I liked that about her—our Earth girl—the fact that she was adventurous and willing to experiment. I thought of the way we’d pleasured her the night before. Though it had only been in a controlled dream-fantasy, Rylee had allowed Lucian and me to taste her ripe nipples. The memory of her writhing between us still made me hard.

  I wondered if it was the first time Lucian had ever shared a female with another male—I knew it was for me. And even though it hadn’t been technically real, it had still been damn sexy.

  I’d had females on my own of course—a male has needs and there are places that cater to lone males. But it wasn’t the same as sharing. I had liked the feeling of having another male helping me pleasure the female I cared for—that we both cared for. Liked it a hell of a lot. Probably too much.

  This is temporary—this time with Rylee and Lucian, I reminded myself. Don’t get used to it.

  “I’ll teach you to use the food-sim on the return journey,” Lucian said to Rylee, spearing another bite of eggs. “Maybe you can make us some Earth cuisine.”

  “That sounds nice. I make a mean marinara sauce.” Rylee took a bite of her tegral eggs and chewed slowly. “Which is actually kind of what this tastes like. Like spaghetti with…” She popped one of the binta jelly balls into her mouth. “With malted milk balls,” she finished, making a face and swallowing quickly. “Squishy malted milk balls. Eww.”

  “You don’t like it?” I frowned. “Sorry about that, baby.”

  “It’s not that I don’t like it,” she said quickly, and I could tell she was afraid she’d hurt my feelings. “I like both things separately very much. They just…don’t seem like they would go together.”

  “It’s an acquired taste,” Lucian said, eating some more.

  “Well you certainly seem to have acquired it.” Rylee raised an eyebrow at him. “Look at you go—you’ve almost finished your plate already.”

  Lucian shrugged. “I think it’s because my bond with Drace was accidentally strengthened—I crave what he craves.”

  “I know the feeling, bond-mate,” I murmured. “I crave what you crave as well.”

  We exchanged a glance and then both looked at Rylee. I couldn’t forget the sweet way she’d panted and moaned as we sucked and tasted her tender nipples and I bet that was what Lucian was thinking about too.

  Today our chosen female was wearing another one of the outfits I’d made for her using the clothing-sim—a short red sand-dress such as a Denarin female would wear to the beach—which fell only to her mid thighs. It was cut low in the front and even lower in the back and the tight, silky material outlined her full breasts beautifully.

  Rylee had complained about not having some items of clothing called a “bra” and “panties.” I had managed to make her the panties—tiny, skimpy undergarments to cover her sex—but the bra eluded me though I tried several times. According to Rylee I kept getting the straps and cups reversed but the garment she described was complicated and hard to imagine, let alone create. In the end she had sighed and said that if I didn’t know what a bra was, the women on Denaris probably weren’t wearing it so she would go without too.

  Looking at her now, I was glad she’d decided not to try and cover her breasts with anything but the sand-dress. Through the thin fabric, I could see the points of her tight peaks—they made my mouth water. I wished that Lucian and I could take her back to the sleeping platform and taste those peaks again—for real this time. Taste them and suck them and then spread her thighs to lap her hot little pussy until she begged for both of us inside her…

  Through the link between us, I could feel a lust that matched my own. Lucian was feeling desire too—I would have bet the commission on my next ten projects he was thinking exactly what I was thinking…wanting the little Earth female the same way I did.

  “You two stop looking at me like that,” Rylee said, breaking the silence that had somehow fallen around the table.

  “Like what, ma 'frela?” Lucian murmured, his blue eyes half-lidded with need I felt echoed in my groin.

  “Like I’m what’s on the menu instead of these, uh, eggs.” She poked her chanook—a two-pronged eating utensil with a round bowl at the other end for liquids, into the mound of eggs still on her plate. “Like you’re a couple of big, bad wolves and you want to eat me up.”

  “We’d love to eat you, baby,” I murmured, running my gaze over her luscious, curvy body. “Love to taste how sweet and ripe and juicy you are.”

  “For once I have to agree with Drace,” Lucian shot me a brief, one-sided smile that showed his fangs. “Nothing would bring us greater pleasure than to take turns licking between your thighs.”

  “Lucian! Drace!” Her face was flushed, her light brown skin rosy, but I didn’t think she was really angry with us. Maybe more angry with herself for feeling the same desire we were feeling—because she was, I could tell. Her scent was sweet and ripe—aroused like it had been last night. Gods, she was fucking gorgeous! I wished for a moment that the three of us were really together—t
hat Lucian and I were her mates, teasing her over the first meal table. Teasing in a way that might lead to more…

  Of course that was impossible. Even if my family would accept a Fang Clan male as my mate, (which I doubted) we were both Alphas. I might be willing to take on some of the cooking or other Beta duties if we were truly bonded, but there were some things I was not fucking prepared to do. Some things I—

  A high, shrill beeping sound interrupted my thoughts. Lucian lifted his head and frowned.

  “That’s the proximity alarm—we’ve reached Denaris. We’re home.”

  “Good,” Rylee exclaimed. “I can’t wait to see your planet! So where are we going—where does this mysterious Tanta Loro live?”

  Lucian and I exchanged glances and I said, “The beach. We’re going to the beach.”

  Chapter Eleven

  Rylee

  “Wow, this is some beach.” I looked down at the pure silver-white sand that was seeping into my shoes, which were kind of like wedge heels without tops They were bright red to match my dress. How did they stay on my feet without straps to hold them on? Well, they were made entirely out of some kind of foam that molded itself instantly to my foot. When I put them on, my feet sank in to them almost an entire inch, like I was stepping into really firm bubble-gum and then they just stuck to me.

  I had been concerned at first but Drace had assured me they would come off when I wanted them to. In the mean time, they were surprisingly good for walking through the fine, powdery silver sand on the Denarin beach.

  The silver-white sand wasn’t the only beautiful thing about the alien beach, though. The water was a clear azure blue that sparkled like a gem. There was no sign of seaweed or any kind of trash littering the shore either—apparently the Denarins were sticklers about littering. Here and there little piles of pink and purple seashells lay scattered in the sand like heaps of polished jewels.

  Tall, palm tree-like plants swayed in the soft, salty air, their bluish-purple fronds sharp against the pale blue-green sky. Roosting in their branches were tiny bright pink things. I couldn’t make them out until one flew down to the beach to peck at something—then I saw they looked like tiny pterodactyls, no longer than my finger, with crests of green feathers growing from the tops of their heads.