Severed

  The walls began to glow brightly, making me wince and blink as my eyes struggled to adjust. I caught a brief glimpse of an inky shadow flitting away into the far corner of the ceiling, apparently frightened by the light.

  “There!” I shouted, pointing.

  Lucian jumped up and ran to look in the corner. He made a disgusted noise and tried to catch whatever it was, but it was too quick for him. He turned back to the floating bed, empty handed.

  “What was that?” I asked in a shaking voice.

  “Skizix.” Lucian still sounded disgusted.

  “A what?” I put a hand to my heart which was pounding all over again.

  “Parasites that hang around spaceports looking to hitch a ride on an outgoing ship,” Drace explained.

  He still had one muscular arm around me and I found I was huddling against his side like a scared little girl looking for comfort from her daddy. I made myself sit up a little straighter and took a deep breath.

  “They’re like semi-sentient shadows,” Lucian said, coming back to sit on the other side of the bed. “They feed on dreams.”

  “What? Like they suck them out of your head when you’re asleep like some kind of vampire?” I could hardly have been more horrified than if he’d told me they fed on blood like vampire bats.

  “Not exactly.” He sighed. “It’s more like they feed on the emotions your dreams evoke.”

  “Which is why they like to slip into sleeping chambers and wait for you to go to sleep,” Drace said, looking at me. “I should have checked for them before I left you alone in here. I’m sorry, baby.”

  “It’s all right,” I said automatically, although it really wasn’t. I was completely freaked out. “So…is that thing, that skizix, likely to come back?”

  “It’s possible,” Lucian admitted. He frowned. “They’re very difficult to catch by hand. I’ll have to get the ship fumigated when we get back to Denaris.”

  “Okay, well, I guess that’s it for me.” I sat up straighter and started to get out of bed.

  “Wait—where are you going?” Drace asked.

  “To find some coffee or whatever the hell it is you guys drink to stay awake,” I said. “Because I am definitely not going back to sleep knowing that thing is prowling around.”

  “Wait.” Lucian put a big hand on my shoulder to stop me. “Skizix don’t actually do any harm—they mostly stay in the corners and feed from a distance. It won’t actually touch you.”

  “I know it won’t because I’m not giving it a chance,” I said stubbornly. “Come on—you guys must have some kind of stimulant around here. Where do you keep it?”

  “You don’t need a stimulant,” Drace said unexpectedly. “You just need company.”

  “What? What do you mean?”

  “Skizix only feed from unprotected sleepers,” Drace said. “If you let us stay here with you, we can form a dream-shield around you.”

  “A what?” I shook my head. “What’s that?”

  “A protective mental shield those of the Claw Clan are able to form around themselves and others to keep away nightmares or anxious thoughts, I believe.” Lucian sounded thoughtful. “Males in a Triumvirate often do it for their female mates.” He looked at Drace. “Do you think it’s possible? We of the Fang Clan don’t have that gift.”

  Drace shrugged, his big, bare shoulders rolling. He and Lucian were both bare chested and wearing long, sleeping trousers in some kind of silky blue material.

  “The Claw Clan aren’t able to do a memory-wipe but I was able to help you do that. You should be able to help me form a dream-shield.”

  “I’m willing to try it for Rylee’s sake,” Lucian said, a bit stiffly. I had the feeling he was getting out of his comfort zone the same way Drace had felt uncomfortable when they fiddled with Phillip’s memories. This was bringing them together—mentally? Emotionally? Anyway, in a way they weren’t exactly comfortable with, but they were both willing to do it for my sake.

  I was touched…but still a little uncertain.

  “So in order to do this—to form this dream-shield—you’ll both have to stay in here with me the rest of the night? I mean…we’d all have to, uh, sleep together?” My cheeks got hot as I said the words and I realized I really could have worded it better. Great going, Rylee, you sound like a pervert.

  “Sleeping is all we would be doing,” Lucian said blandly, obviously seeing my discomfort. “I’m sure we all remember the no sex clause in our contract.”

  “And you can trust Lucian and me to honor that,” Drace said. “Whatever we may think of each other, we’re both honorable males. There will be no actual sex between us.”

  “Well…all right,” I said hesitantly. “As long as I get to keep my clothes on. Such as they are.” I shrugged around in the oversized jacket.

  “Oh—I simmed you some other things.” Drace got off the bed. “You were already asleep by the time they were finished. I’ll get them.”

  He came back with several strange-looking outfits which he hung in a kind of foldout closet that appeared in the wall of the bedroom when he tapped it. Then he handed me a long white gown with spaghetti straps. It seemed to be a thinner version of the silky material his and Lucian’s sleeping trousers were made of.

  “Oh… thank you.” I ran the ultra-soft fabric through my hands. It whispered across my fingers like the finest, most delicate silk. “This feels amazing.”

  “It’s sleeping cloth. Most of our night clothes are made from it on Denaris,” Drace explained. “It’s never too hot or too cold—much like the tempra-quilt you’re under.”

  I looked down at the shiny silver duvet which had seemed such a poor substitute for my old security blanket. Maybe it wasn’t so bad after all.

  “I’ll be right back.” I hopped—and I do mean hopped because it was a long way down—carefully off the bed and went into the bathroom—what they called the fresher.

  I had to pee by then. Earlier, Drace had briefly explained the way to use the strange alien toilet, which seemed to be kind of a cross between a bidet and an airplane toilet. I managed it without too much of a problem, even though the suction part of it was stronger than expected, and then decided to change.

  After scanning the walls carefully for any stray dream-stealing skizix, I slipped off Lucian’s gray tailored jacket and slithered into the slinky white night gown.

  I looked down at myself and bit my lip. The fabric felt amazing against my bare skin but it left very little to the imagination. You could clearly see the outlines of my berry-dark nipples under the thin white material, which was stretched tightly over my full breasts. It clung to my hips and ass too, emphasizing how hippy I am, which is something I usually try to camouflage.

  I frowned indecisively. Should I really wear this in front of Drace and Lucian? More to the point, should I sleep between them with it on? It was so thin it was barely there at all. Also, though it fell to my ankles, the top was cut low and the nightdress was sleeveless, ensuring that we were sure to have skin-to-skin contact of some kind since both the guys were shirtless.

  When they’d put me between them before, I’d had the bulky jacket which formed a barrier between my skin and theirs. What would happen when that barrier was removed? Would I have another intense, unlooked for and unwanted orgasm if I rolled over in the middle of the night and wound up brushing their bare skin?

  “Rylee? Are you well?” Lucian’s deep, smooth voice from the other side of the fresher door interrupted my worried internal monologue.

  “I’m okay. I’m just…not sure if I ought to wear this,” I confessed.

  “Don’t you like it?” Drace asked and I could picture him and Lucian standing there together, both of them frowning. “Did I make it too big or too small? I had to guess your size and making female clothing isn’t exactly my area of expertise.”

  “It’s beautiful and it fits like a glove,” I assured him—which was part of the problem. “It’s just, uh, kind of revealing.”

  “Reve
aling?” Lucian deep voice sounded intrigued. “How do you mean?”

  “How do you think?” I snapped. “I’m just…not used to dressing like this, especially around guys I barely know.” Then again I was about to go sleep in a bed between the two of them—maybe I should revise that to “guys I’m getting to know.” Probably better than I should. Oh dear.

  “Don’t be shy, baby,” Drace said, his gravelly voice coaxing. “It can’t hurt to let Lucian and I see you—we’re only going to be together the one solar month before we go our separate ways. Less if Tanta Loro can get us separated sooner.”

  “Well…” I could feel myself weakening. Maybe it wouldn’t hurt. What else was I going to do—change back into the bulky jacket? The night gown was much more comfortable. “All right,” I said at last, opening the door and stepping out with my arms crossed securely over my breasts to hide my nipples. “But you can’t say anything about my hips and thighs—I’m working on them but no matter how much I diet, I can’t seem to do much about them.”

  “Are you suggesting we would complain about your curves?” Lucian sounded surprised as his deep blue eyes took me in. Drace’s pale green eyes were likewise roaming over my body, barely hidden by the thin white dress. For a moment, I thought how strange it was that each man had eyes that matched the other one’s skin coloring.

  “Well, I mean…my hips are pretty big,” I said, thinking of all the times Phillip had called me “fat ass” and “hippo” and “thunder thighs.” God, why had I put up with that for so long? Mostly because he only did it when he was drunk, I supposed. He always apologized for it with tears in his eyes the minute he sobered up but that didn’t matter—the damage had already been done.

  In retrospect I was angry at myself for letting him make me feel so bad about my body. So what if I was hippy and had a big ass and thick thighs? This was me and no amount of diet and exercise was going to do much towards changing it. I knew because I had been trying for most of my life.

  Of course, tell that to my ego, which was feeling pretty fragile as both sets of male eyes took me in, wearing the slinky, clinging nightgown. I waited, biting my lip as they looked me over.

  “Well,” I said at last when they didn’t seem inclined to say anything. “Are we going to get back to sleep or not?”

  “In a moment.” Lucian was looking at me hungrily—eating me up with his eyes, my Aunt Celia would have said. “Give us just a moment more to drink in your beauty.”

  “Stop,” I said, feeling my cheeks get hot. “You don’t have to say that just to make me feel good.”

  “He’s not—your curves are beautiful, baby,” Drace assured me in a thick voice. “You’re beautiful. I knew white would look amazing with that gorgeous skin of yours.”

  I looked at them both and knew they were being sincere. There was no way to fake the desire I saw in both the green eyes and the blue ones. An electric tingle ran through me. The idea that two huge, muscular alien men found me exciting and sexy made me feel simultaneously nervous and hot at the same time.

  Have you ever been lucky enough to have that feeling—you know, the one you get when you know you’re the prettiest girl in the room and all the guys are looking at you and wanting you? Well, me either but right at that moment, I did have that feeling and it was nice—more than nice.

  Every girl should get to have that feeling at least once in her life.

  “Well…thank you,” I said at last in a voice that squeaked just a little. “I’m, uh, glad you guys like it. The gown, I mean. But I’m not just worried about the way it looks.”

  “What other concerns do you have, ma 'frela?” Lucian murmured, his eyes still half-lidded with lust as he looked me over. “And what can we do to assuage them?”

  “I’m not sure you can,” I said. “I’m worried about, um, skin-to-skin contact. I mean—the top of this dress is pretty skimpy and neither one of you guys is wearing a shirt.”

  “Why should that bother you?” Drace frowned. “Do the males of your planet only sleep fully covered?”

  “No and it’s not that,” I said quickly. “It’s the way we all, uh, reacted last time we had direct skin-to-skin contract. You know—when we were all holding hands?” I gave them a meaningful look, raising my eyebrows.

  “Ah…I understand your concern.” Lucian nodded thoughtfully. “But I think the reason that happened was that we were all concentrating on breaking the bond between Drace and myself. Any time a bond is weakened or strengthened it causes a release of energy. That was what contributed to our, um, arousal is, I suppose, the polite way to put it.”

  “Arousal, nothing. I nearly fucking came in my flight leathers,” Drace growled. “I can see why Rylee would be worried about that. We can’t be worrying about getting mentally jerked off every time we brush against each other. And we’re going to have to be doing more than brushing against her to form the dream-shield—we’ll both have to have a hand on her bare skin. Not in a sexual way,” he added quickly, seeing my uncertain look. “Just to hold the shield in place.”

  “I really don’t think it’s going to be a problem,” Lucian said. “Since we’re not attempting to sever the bond this time. But the only way to be sure is to try.”

  “Well…” I couldn’t really see any way around it. It was either give this a try or try to stay wide awake by myself and hope that damn shadow thing—the skizix—didn’t come back. I knew that Lucian had told me they only stayed on the walls to feed but I couldn’t shake the idea that it would come right up to me…maybe even cover my face—ugh! Just thinking of its inky form slithering over my pillow, getting closer and closer made me shiver.

  “Okay,” I said at last. “But if things start getting too, uh, intense, I want to stop right away. All right?”

  “Agreed,” Lucian said and Drace nodded.

  “Fine.” I took a deep breath. “Then let’s go to bed.”

  Chapter Nine

  Rylee

  Settling down under the silver quilt between their large, warm bodies made me feel like a kid again.

  Way back when I was really little, before my parents died in a hit and run and I went to live with my Aunt Celia, I used to sleep between my mom and dad when there were thunderstorms. I can still remember the wonderful sense of security—the feeling that nothing could hurt me—I used to get when I was snuggled up in between them. I got that feeling again now as I made myself comfortable between Drace and Lucian.

  But the feeling of complete comfort faded the minute both of the huge alien males turned to face me.

  I was lying on my back, scanning the ceiling for any freaky skizix and I couldn’t help feeling uncomfortable when they both turned on their sides, each propped up on an elbow to look down at me.

  “Hey,” I said, shifting around some. “Uh, do you guys really have to stare at me to do this?”

  “If you’re worried that we’re staring at your luscious body, don’t be,” Lucian assured me.

  “Speak for yourself,” Drace murmured. “I’m definitely fucking staring—I can’t help it.” His green eyes were still scanning my body, making me feel more nervous than ever, especially since I had my arms down at my sides and my breasts were really visible through the thin white fabric of the gown.

  “Hey,” I said. “My eyes are up here.”

  “I know—they’re beautiful too,” Drace rumbled. He looked briefly at Lucian. “Wouldn’t you agree, bond-mate?”

  “Bond-mate?” Lucian raised an eyebrow. “That’s the first time you’ve called me that.”

  “Well, it’s true.” I thought Drace sounded a little defensive. “I mean, for this situation, anyway. And we both know our bonded status is only temporary.”

  “True.” Lucian nodded. “All right—what do we need to do to form this shield?”

  “We need to touch Rylee’s skin,” Drace said. “Maybe if we both put a hand on each of her arms…”

  “All right.” Lucian put one large hand on my right shoulder and Drace put his hand on my
left shoulder. I looked down, interested in the contrast between their skin tones and my own. Aunt Celia had never liked me dating Phillip—she warned I’d be sorry for dating a “white boy.” I wondered what she would say now if she could see me with a blue boy and a green boy…at the same time.

  Okay, don’t think about that, I told myself sternly. Remember, none of this is supposed to be sexual.

  Only it didn’t feel that way—nonsexual, I mean. Though I didn’t get the intense, orgasmic experience I’d had when we all held hands and tried to break their bond, I did feel a subtle but strong current of desire running through me…through all three of us, I thought. It was just enough to turn my nipples into tight little peaks and make my pussy feel swollen and hot between my thighs.

  I should have felt uncomfortable—and I did, at least on one level. But on another level—a more primal level—I liked it. Then I felt guilty for liking it. Aunt Celia raised me pretty strict and she’d been plenty disapproving when I moved in with Phillip without being married to him. But at least I’d been dating him with the intent to stay together—I didn’t even know Drace and Lucian and there were two of them.

  Stop it, I told myself again. Just stop!

  I squirmed around some, unable to decide how I should feel, unable to stop the current of desire that was tingling through me, making me feel hot and guilty and restless.

  “Lay still, baby,” Drace murmured. “This takes concentration.”

  “I’m trying,” I said. “I just feel…” I trailed off, too embarrassed to tell exactly what I felt.

  The two big aliens seemed to understand, though.

  “We feel it too,” Lucian murmured. “It isn’t as strong—as overwhelming—as it was when we tried to break the bond but…”

  “It’s definitely there,” Drace finished for him. “But it’s okay—actually, it’s a good thing.”

  “A good thing? What do you mean?” I asked, frowning.

  “Well, like Lucian told you, building a dream-shield around your female is about blocking out frightening or anxious or negative images and thoughts. But in order to do that, you have to replace them with something else—something positive. Like this…”