BloodandPassion (3 page)

Even if this was only for tonight, even if he and Rish ended
up breaking her heart, she couldn’t back away from her deep-rooted attraction
for these two Ivec men. If that made her a fool…well, than at least she was a
fool for love.

Boneless, nearly senseless, she leaned into his kiss,
moaning when his tongue swept past her lips, thrusting into the cavern of her
mouth to tease and taste her. The light, tormenting kisses morphed into
something deep and passion-filled that had her reeling, her breath catching,
her imagination overthrown by her wild reality.

The mother ship of all kisses
, she thought, groaning
at how amazing he tasted. Like virile, lustful male. And he felt like the
heavens. Then Rish was there at her side, planting kisses on her neck, interspersed
with light licks and stinging little nips on her neck. The sensation sent her
galaxy spinning.

Her seat slid back and suddenly there was room for Mikal to
kneel in front of her, room for him to slide his large hands over her
uniform-covered legs to release the tabs and push the thick material off her
overheated body, room for him to spread her legs and position himself between
them.

As if he had read her thoughts in the AllStore earlier, he
leaned in and let out a hot rush of breath over her inner thighs.
Fuck.
Her eyes closed, her back arched. She exhaled in a harsh gasp at the wonderful
sensation. She no longer had control of her body. Mikal owned her. And so did
Rish as he removed her upper jumper and bra, taking time to kiss and lick and
bite at her neck before lowering his head and curling his tongue around one
nipple then the other.

Xyla fisted Rish’s hair and grabbed the back of Mikal’s
head. She had to hold on to something or she would fall apart. Burn up as
though she were a ship hitting atmosphere. Break apart and fall to Earth in a
million flaming pieces, her atoms on fire, her mind sizzling with only the
thought of pleasure.

Maybe it was a combination of the seal-skin and the
Celestial long life, or maybe it was only the skillful ministrations of Rish
and Mikal combined or maybe it didn’t matter what it was that had put her in
this state of nirvana, as long as she never ever had to come back down to
Earth. God, if she could remain in this moment, positioned between these two
lovers, ecstatic to be in her body, melting between them, loving each caress,
each lick and bite and kiss, she would give up the rest of her life.

Her eyes flew open as Mikal pulled off her boots and then
peeled off her panties, exposing the core of her to the cool air of the cabin.
Completely naked now, she shivered, wanting more than anything the rush of his
breath, the touch of his fingers and the press of his lips against her pussy.
And once more, he seemed to know just what was needed to fulfill her. His
breath came to her, light and teasing, hot enough to make her buck up off the
seat, her hips arching toward him. He smiled a smile of pure carnal knowledge
and licked his lips.

Another groan escaped her as he positioned her legs over his
shoulders, cupped her ass and pulled her so that he supported the lower half of
her body. Rish gently bit her left nipple, bringing her attention back to him.
His smile was feigned innocence, his blue eyes deep enough to drown in.

The combination of Rish’s bite and Mikal’s fingers parting
her lower lips was enough to start a mini orgasm. She trembled and twitched in
their arms. The first touch of Mikal’s tongue had her pressing toward him,
whimpering, wanting more.

Rish chuckled against her breast. “I think she likes that.”

Mikal didn’t respond, his mouth full of her most intimate
flesh, his tongue employed for her pleasure. He sucked her clit into his mouth
and flicked it with the tip of his tongue. She bucked and writhed. He spread
her cheeks and held her to him as he changed things up—using a succession of
long, firm licks, starting at the center of her rosette up to circle her clit
to drive her wild.

Rish reached down to her core and coated his fingers with
all the slick juices they had already wrung from her body, using the lubrication
to help him as he reached beneath her and pressed a single finger to the
rosette of her bottom. Flashes of the things to come, of the three of them
moving together in accord, Mikal thrusting into her pussy, Rish pumping into
her ass, had her begging, “Please. Please. Please.”

“Shhh,” Rish said. “It’s okay, Xyla. We’ll take care of you.
We’ve wanted you for years. You have no idea how you’ve haunted us.”

She pulled his face to hers and kissed him, needing the
taste of his tongue, the brush of his breath as both men prepared her body for
theirs. Open. She was completely open to them. Theirs not just in body but in
mind and spirit as well.

She shouldn’t be young or naïve enough to believe that sex
equaled love—she’d had multiple affairs since earning her adult status—but
that’s how this felt to her. This, what was happening between herself and Rish
and Mikal, was nothing like anything she had ever experienced before. This was
real. This was different. This was new, intimate. And true.

“Yes,” Rish said as Mikal pierced her with his tongue, going
deep, licking at the inside of her, making her jerk and tremble and moan.

“Please,” she said again. But she didn’t know what she was
asking for—for them to finish her or for them to never stop.

Both
, she thought.
I want both.

Mikal replaced his tongue with his finger in her pussy as
Rish worked a single digit into her ass. They set a slow rhythm, rocking her
between them, in and out, near and far, keeping her ever on the edge, making
her curse and plead and moan and sigh. Mikal lowered his head once more, adding
his mouth back to the mix. Faster and firmer his tongue moved over flesh until
he had to hold her legs open because they were trembling so badly as her orgasm
approached. They forced her to remain exposed to them as the ship flew them to
her home.

Mikal’s breath rushed over her innermost flesh as Rish
kissed her and this time the men let her have her release. She screamed and
shuddered and damn near had an epileptic seizure before they wrung every last
bit of pleasure from her.

Before she could catch her breath or know her mind, they
were on her moon, at her port, and the flight home hadn’t taken nearly long
enough yet had been the longest, most satisfying flight of her life.

She reached for her uniform but Mikal snatched it away from
her.

“No need for that,” he said. “At least not if you intend to
invite us in.”

He gave her a boyish grin as if his words had been
lighthearted but she could see the truth in his intense gaze and in the tension
of his muscles. He lived or died by her response.

She winced at that thought. How silly of her. Of course both
men wanted satisfaction and they sure as hell had earned it, but getting laid
was hardly life or death, especially not for two men like Mikal and Rish who
must have women all over them.

If she was smart, she’d bring them both to release here
inside their ship and send them away, because once she let them into her home,
she was going to have a hard time letting them go. But they had asked and she
couldn’t refuse them.

“Let’s go,” she said, cupping Mikal’s cheek.

He closed his eyes, exhaling long and low. Rish’s breath
echoed his.

“Let’s,” said Rish.

They checked her outer hallway to confirm that it was empty
before opening their hatch and dropping to the floor.

God, I hope none of my neighbors come out and see me
,
she thought, rushing naked to her door. But they made it without incident.
Inside her one-room apartment, she sealed and locked her front door. Deciding
to leave the lights off so they wouldn’t see her small, sparsely furnished
place, she risked her pride by telling them, “You’re invited to stay the
night.”

“Yes,” they said together without hesitation. “Thank you.”

The men sandwiched her between them, heightening her sexual
awareness once more so that she forgot her embarrassment and fear. There was no
room for anything but passion when she was with them.

Mikal stepped into her, pressing the length of his clothed
body against her nakedness and forcing her and Rish against the wall. She
gasped at the feel of Rish’s naked front against her back.

Damn.
He’d stripped fast.

His hard cock nestled in the small of her back, stirring her
embers to high flame. He kissed the back of her neck down to where it joined
her shoulder while sliding his hands around to cup both breasts.

What seemed like short seconds passed before Mikal stood in
front of her naked as well. Overwhelmed by so much male beauty, Xyla stood in
shock.

This is really going to happen
,she thought.
Her fantasy was becoming reality. Her need for them was about to be fulfilled.

Mikal lowered his head and kissed her while Rish slid his
hands to her hips and then parted her buttocks to work a single finger into the
rosette of her ass once more. Readying her, making her moan in eagerness.

Short minutes passed, and then Mikal lifted her. She wrapped
her legs around his thick hips, her arms around his wide shoulders and held on
to him as Rish now worked two fingers in and out of her, making her wetter than
she’d ever been before.

“I want you,” she said. “Now.”

The men took her at her word, Rish positioning himself at
her rosette, Mikal at her pussy. She tensed in anticipation.

“Relax,” Rish said.

Mikal bit the right side of her neck. Rish, the left. She
jerked in their arms, distracted by the sting of their teeth. Mikal plunged
into her. Rish slowly, carefully, pressed his suit, gently working his way in,
never forcing and only entreating her body to accept his.

Mikal and Xyla stayed still, waiting for Rish to fully seat
himself. When he was inside her balls-deep, they moved together. Three as one.

The two men she loved, whom she’d always loved, filled her
to overflowing, causing her heart to pound, making her theirs as she made them
hers. Their hard breaths and the slap of flesh against flesh were the only
sounds they made for a long while until Rish and Mikal started talking.

“That’s our girl,” Rish crooned.

Mikal encouraged, “Take all of us into you.”

The more she opened to them, the quicker their pace until
theirs was a fast, heart-stopping rhythm. Their bodies slick with sweat, they
thrust in and out of her, holding her to them, coaxing her to take all of them,
to take everything they wanted to give to her.

Her muscles tensed, coiling tight and tighter still. She
followed their lead and bit Mikal’s shoulder. It prevented her from screaming
and she came in time with their rhythm—hard and fast and for what felt like
forever. Her body clenched around them, forcing them to come with her, milking
them dry until the three collapsed together against the wall.

They barely remained on their feet, barely remained inside
their bodies. Or at least that’s how Xyla felt—as if she could slip her skin
and fly off into the stars.

But not alone. Never alone again. She belonged with them
now. She belonged with them always. Xyla was certain of it. Certain of her
place with Rish and Mikal as they fell into her bed and made love late into the
night.

Chapter Three

Morning dawned. Its brilliance blanketed Xyla’s studio
apartment with an intense yellow light that left no room for doubt. She was
alone. Mikal and Rish had left in the middle of the night while she still
slept.

Damn them.

She was a big girl, could handle a one-night stand if her
lovers had kissed her goodbye, shown her some respect. But this—this blow
off—made her feel small and unwanted and used.

Grinding her teeth, she blinked back tears. No way in hell
was she going to weep over a one-night stand. Dumb of her to have thought it
was more than that. Ridiculous of her to believe they could feel for her the
way she felt for them.

“Silly, stupid human girl,” she scolded herself as she
crawled out from under the silk Ming bedspread she’d saved a year to purchase
and swung her legs over the side of the bed. Her head swam. She blinked past
blurry vision, the room spinning around her. Her stomach lurched. She swallowed
past a tight throat.

Seal-skin poisoning hangover
, she thought.

Her hand chip blinked green, signaling she had a
business-related message. Her work probably wanted her to come in on the first
day off she’d had in weeks. Screw that. She tapped a quick beat on the back of
her hand to snooze the message.

Can’t deal with you right now.

She imagined Mikal and Rish together at a sky bar, laughing
at her over coffee, and hunched in on herself as if protecting her heart.
Yeah,
too late for that.

As she shuffled into the bathroom, her mind replayed the
brain-bending sex she’d had with them. They’d played the perfect lovers and
she’d played the perfect fool.

“Perfect,” she said to herself.

Thank starlight she hadn’t run off at the mouth, told them
she loved them, wanted them to stay with her forever, marry her and start a
family, because all of that had been in her mind.

Thank God.
She crossed herself—an ancient Earthen
superstitious gesture—even though she wasn’t religious.

Everyone’s religious in a crisis
,her mom
always said. And the woman should know, since all she ever did was create one
disaster after another.

Thinking of her mom brought up tears that Xyla couldn’t
suppress, but at least she was crying over lost family instead of lost love.

She snorted.

Yeah, even I’m not so deep in denial as to believe that.

She had stopped crying over her mother on the same day she
had started working in the prison’s ding-wing because there, at last, she was
able to see her mom on a regular basis.

Xyla turned to the side and stared in the large, oval
bathroom mirror at the new shiny scar on her hip. Inmate 77560 had stabbed her.
Her
mother
had stabbed her. Again.

Mom was making it damn hard to hide the fact that they were
related. Constantly attacking her with hate-filled words and weapon-filled
hands. It wasn’t Xyla’s fault her mother had been convicted of child neglect,
diagnosed with psychological instability and sentenced to thirty years in the
prison’s mental health ward.

She hadn’t turned her in. She hadn’t even realized her mom
was
neglecting her. As a child, Xyla had known only that she missed her mother and
was lonely.

“Lonely.” She scowled at a pair of matching hickies that
shadowed both sides of her neck. “I sure as hell don’t look lonely.”

But that was because for several mind-blowing hours last
night she’d allowed herself to believe that maybe at last she’d found not just
one but two people to return her love.

“Sucker!” she yelled at herself before storming into the
shower stall and turning it on.

And I accuse Ship of being a drama queen.
She sighed.

Cold streams of water sprayed down on her as she visualized
washing away her hurt and anger, a meditative tool she’d used many times
before. No use damning herself for what boiled down to human nature. No use
wishing for what she didn’t have. Best count her blessings and move on.

She sudsed up, rinsed off and tilted her head so the cold
water rained down directly on her neck to break up the blood beneath the
surface of her skin and lighten the hickies Mikal and Rish had given her.
Damned if she would wear their marks—something it was rumored Ivecs liked their
lovers to do—when they had abandoned her.

Out of the shower and in front of the mirror, she examined
her neck. The marks of passion had lightened to reveal twin pinprick holes in
her skin. The bastards must have bitten her with their super sharp Ivec
canines.
You’d think I’d recall it. Maybe Celestial really does mess with
your memories.

After a long glare at her hickies, she went to her cubbyhole
kitchen area. Instant eggs sounded good.

Mmm…
And tasted better.

As she ate, she focused on the tasks she needed to complete
on her one day off this week. Her apartment needed cleaning, her clothes
washing and she had to do some creative bill-paying.

Her chip flashed again, red this time, signaling that the
timestamp on her message had expired and was now labeled priority. With a tired
sigh, she dropped down on her mint-green overstuffed loveseat and slapped the
back of her hand, activating voicemail.

“Xyla, this is Mikal. Sorry we had to leave in the middle of
the night. You looked so peaceful we didn’t want to wake you. Give us a call
when you get this. We need to talk.” A long pause where she could almost hear
him deciding how he wanted to sign off, then his voice sounded when he ended
his message with, “Love, Mikal and Rish.”

Xyla hit replay and listened again. And once more after
that.

Seriously?
She rolled her eyes.
You looked so
peaceful we didn’t want to wake you? Lame. And why did the call show as
business-related?

Mikal’s voice held a note of urgency and he had signed off
with “love” but her stomach cramped at the thought of returning the call. What
could be so important that they’d had to sneak off in the middle of the night?
And why not wake her?

She supposed if she wanted answers she would have to talk to
them but her stomach hurt again just thinking about it.

Trusting them last night had been a big step for her, but it
had been fueled by an overdose of seal-skin and a bottle of Celestial. This
morning she didn’t feel as brave. Maybe they’d had the right idea, leaving in
the middle of the night. Mikal and Rish should probably be relegated to a
wonderful one-night stand.

“Coward,” she mocked herself as she pushed up off the couch.

She went to her wardrobe and selected a flirty white
miniskirt and a sexy lace tube top the same color blue as Rish’s eyes. Forgoing
any underwear gave her a boost of confidence as she tapped on her personal
phone, or per-phone, and asked for “Mikal Fabom.”

A click and then her chip flashed green with each ring of
his per-phone.

No answer.

Her call rolled to voicemail. A melodic beep signaled her to
leave a message. She hesitated, cleared her throat.

“This is Xyla Devi returning your call. Sorry I missed you.
Give me a call back if you want to talk.” She swallowed. How to sign off? She
wanted to say “love” like Mikal had, but even sans panties, she couldn’t say
it. “Right. So. Later.” She clicked off. Groaned.

Her front door chimed, signaling she had a visitor. Her
per-phone flashed green, signaling she had a business call. She didn’t want to
answer either.
What the hell, it’s not like my day can get any worse. Right?

She tapped her per-phone on. “Hello?” she said as she walked
over to answer the door.

“Xyla, it’s Rish. Don’t answer your door until we get
there.”

She looked through her peephole.
Glum.
Her boss and
the director of personnel waited in the hall. They had found her out. Knew
she’d hidden an injury. Maybe even knew about her mother.

She’d lose her job and with it, possibly—hell, probably—her
adult status. She’d be a ward of the state again. With no rights. No access to
her mom. No life worth living.

“Did you do this?” she asked Rish. “Did you turn me in?”

“No,” he said too quickly. “Just give us a couple more minutes
and we’ll fix this. I swear.”

She sighed long and low. “If you didn’t turn me in than how
do you even know what I’m talking about?”

She tapped off her per-phone, not wanting to hear another
lie. They’d probably get a promotion from this. Maybe even a raise, as if they
needed more credit.

From the time her mom stabbed her until she’d fallen asleep
between Mikal and Rish, she’d made mistake after mistake—failing to stop her
mom’s attack, hiding her injury, stopping at the AllStore where she’d bled all
over the place, going out with Mikal and Rish—worse, fucking the two Ivecs.

She deserved this, deserved to get caught after behaving
like such an idiot.

She hit the release button and her front door slid open. Her
boss, Kith Rayorr, a balding human man with a flat nose and thin lips, lifted
his pointy chin. “Xyla,” he greeted her with a stern voice. “May we come in?”

No use avoiding the inevitable.

She gestured for them to file into her narrow hallway one at
a time and then followed them, past the curtain that separated her bedroom from
the rest of the apartment, into her living area. Lightheaded again, she used
the wall to keep from toppling over.

“How can I help you, sir?” She winced at the bare whisper of
her voice. So much for keeping up a professional appearance. Not that her
breathy tone held much importance when she was wearing a barely there tube top
and a miniskirt that rivaled the one worn by the ring-eyed Blavedian last night
at the sky bar.

“A disturbing matter has been brought to our attention, Guard
Devi.”

She rubbed her temples, trying to ease her growing headache.
“What matter, sir?” she asked, thinking that she might as well not offer them
any information they didn’t already have.

“If you confess to your transgression now, things will go
easier for you.” The personnel director, a thickly furred female Appestan named
Mowee Stert sat on the edge of Xyla’s loveseat, folded her hands in her lap and
crossed her red, fur-covered ankles. “We know you failed to report an injury
yesterday. Likely because it was done to you by your incarcerated mother.”

“That’s two violations. Two unforgivable mistakes.” Her boss
sighed, shook his head. “If you’d only come to me. Reported your injury.”

“You would have reassigned me.” Xyla crossed her arms over
her chest. “I needed to work in the mental ward so I could look after my mom.”

“Well, now because of your show of poor judgment, you won’t
even be allowed to visit your mother on the monthly visiting day.” Mowee
uncrossed and recrossed her ankles, her fingers picking at the nubs in the
material of her slacks. “You’ve proven to be incapable of adhering to the
personnel guidelines.”

Xyla licked her suddenly dry lips, thinking past her fear
for an out. Nothing came to mind. She’d broken two stone-carved rules. No
getting past that.

“What do you have to say for yourself?” her boss asked.

Her door chimed.
Saved by the bell?

You wish!

She pushed off the wall and went to the door. The peephole
showed Rish and Mikal looking every bit as bliss as they’d always been. Even
their poor treatment of her didn’t prevent her pulse from quickening at the
sight of them.

“Guard Devi,” her boss called from the living room, “we need
to resolve this matter.”

Mikal and Rish hit the door chime again.

What the hell. The more the merrier.

She opened the door. Their gazes immediately went to her
neck. They frowned in unison before meeting her eyes. Probably didn’t like that
she’d lightened up their hickies.

“We’re here to help,” Mikal said.

“May we come in?” Rish asked, looking past her to the living
room.

“Might as well,” she grumped.

Rish stepped in front of her and took her right hand. Mikal
stepped behind her and took her left. She shuddered at what Ivecs considered an
intimate act of holding hands in front of others. Maybe it was just for show,
but as sure as their marks on her neck, they were claiming her.

Sandwiched between the tall Ivec men, she returned to the
living room, feeling more confident, more secure in her place as one of three
instead of alone as usual. Even if Mikal and Rish remained only long enough to
see her through the termination of her job and legal rights, she was grateful
for their presence.

Before she could introduce them, Rish pulled a file-me bug
from his slacks pocket and activated the legal document device. A holo recording
of a plump female judge dressed in black-and-red high-court robes wavered into
view in the midst of the five of them.

“Case 100443. In the matter concerning Xyla Devi, third-rank
guard in the mental health ward of the prison planet Earth, regarding her failure
to report a personal relationship with a prisoner and an on-the-job injury, it
is the high court’s decision that her transgressions are to be forgiven and
redacted from her personnel file. Xyla Devi shall be reassigned to a department
within the prison planet that contains no prisoners who are or have been
relatives, friends or persons of note, where a personal or business
relationship may be implied.” The judge gave a low bow, the long, billowing
sleeves of her robe touching the floor. “Case closed.”

The holo wavered out. Xyla sagged between the men. Mowee and
Kith stared.

“Questions? Comments?” Rish asked, and not just with Ivec
arrogance but with the pride of a lawmaker who had won his case.

Xyla bit her lip to prevent herself from smiling as Mowee
and Kith opened and closed their mouths as if they were oxygen-deficient space
walkers.