Finding Alien Love (SciFi Alien Romance) (9 page)

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Ben watched Daphne sleep, curled up in Dov’s bed, still fully naked. He smiled wryly to himself; they had so thoroughly gotten the woman off that she had blacked out, slipping into a deep doze wedged between his and Dov’s bodies, right there in the woods. “We should take her somewhere comfortable,” Dov had suggested, and Ben had agreed. There was a great deal more for them to explain to her once she came to.

“Do you think we should be—worried? Concerned?” Ben glanced away from Daphne to look at his friend. They had gathered up Daphne’s clothes, carrying her through the woods with the preternatural strength that their dual natures afforded them, but they hadn’t bothered to re-dress her, or themselves.

“That depends on how she feels about all this when she wakes up,” Dov said, leaning back in his chair. “If she freaks…” he cringed slightly.

“If she freaks, we’ll have to tell Sasha.”

“We’ll have to tell Sasha anyway,” Dov pointed out. “Have you noticed anything, Ben?” Dov raised an eyebrow and Ben frowned in thought, wondering what his friend was referring to. All at once it occurred to him; he could
feel
Daphne—a little bit, not as clearly as he could feel the mind of his best friend, or one of the other members of the Nita clan, but the sense was there all the same. Ben opened his mind more thoroughly, seeking the small, faint coil of thought. He sensed warmth, satisfaction, tingling pleasure—pleasure that wasn’t just his, but was Daphne’s.

“Oh, shit,” Ben said. “She’s bonded to us already?” Dov chuckled.

“Well you have to admit it was pretty intense out there,” he pointed out. “So…,” Dov took a deep breath and exhaled. “We need to explain to Sasha that we’re sharing a mate. I’m sure we can’t be the first bears in history to do that.”

“Are you willing to share her?” Ben felt a flicker of something like jealousy; it hadn’t bothered him to share Daphne with Dov as a fling—but could he really share her as a mate? Did he have a choice, if Dov was also hearing and sensing her thoughts?

“After what just happened in the woods? If she’s willing, I’m willing. And brother, I’m feeling like this is one willing female.” Ben snorted.

Before he could pursue the subject any further, Daphne stirred on the bed, and Ben felt the shift in her mental signature as she awakened. After a few moments, she opened her eyes, glancing around in confusion. “Where am I?” she asked, frowning in thought. Her gaze fell on Ben and color flooded into Daphne’s cheeks. “Oh god, that wasn’t a dream, was it?”

Maybe a wet dream.
Ben bit back a laugh at the thought that Dov projected. Daphne’s eyes widened again and she turned from looking at Ben to look at Dov, the color draining from her face. “You—that—that was your…oh god. Not only are you bear-men, but telepaths too?” Ben pressed his lips together; Daphne probably wouldn’t appreciate his amusement.

“Only with members of our clan,” Dov told her gently. Ben watched as his clan-brother crossed the room, approaching the bed slowly and then sinking down only a few feet away from Daphne. “What happened, in the forest out there,” Dov said, gesturing idly towards the woods. “We bonded with you. We weren’t expecting it—but it happened.”

“We’d like you to meet the rest of our clan,” Ben told Daphne. “We’d like to present you as our mate.”

“Wait—wait. So I’m…both of you guys’ mate?” Daphne blinked, glancing from Ben to Dov in deepening confusion.
You can hear my thoughts too, right?
Ben raised an eyebrow as he sent the thought to Daphne. She nodded.

If I can hear their thoughts then—oh god! You guys can hear me right now?
Dov snickered, and Ben fought back another laugh.

“Hear you, feel you… yep. You’re bonded to us.”

Daphne groaned, burying her face in her hands.

“It’s not a bad thing,” Ben said, rising and joining the other two on the bed. “I know you can still remember how good the sex was just a little while ago. I can feel it in your mind. You can have that whenever you want it.” He grinned, gently pulling her hands away from her face. “In fact, one of the great things about being with a couple of bears like me and Dov is that whenever you want sex, we’ll want sex. Automatic reaction.”

Ben felt his words take effect in Daphne’s mind; she had awakened with a lingering sense of arousal, her pheromones as well as her mind showing signs that as satisfied as she had been with their tryst, her body still wanted more. Now he felt the pulse of her lust intensifying as pictures flitted across her mind: different ways that she could be with both men at the same time, different positions, different acts. “We could do all those things, and then invent some more,” Dov said, obviously receiving the same images.

“Oh, god,” Daphne said again, throwing herself back against the bed as she blushed a deep red.

“You’ll find we don’t really have much shame,” Ben told her with a grin. “We’re part animals, after all.” Ben leaned in close to her, brushing his lips against her ear. “We can even do that thing you’re thinking about right now,” he murmured lowly. Daphne’s eyes widened as she looked at him, and in spite of her lingering embarrassment, Ben could feel her arousal intensifying at the thought.

“Definitely,” Dov said, glancing at him. “I want front this time, though.” Ben chuckled. He reached out, running his hands all over Daphne’s body slowly, caressing and teasing her. Ben pulled Daphne’s face towards his and kissed her hungrily; he was already feeling the heat flowing through him, a mixture of regular mating need and the feelings he was receiving from both Dov and Daphne’s minds. He pulled back, giving his clan-brother the opportunity to taste their mate’s lips, and glanced around the cabin in search of something to make the idea Daphne had thought of a reality.

Ben climbed out of the bed quickly, even as Dov went into action, moving and shifting around, pulling Daphne down on top of him as he leaned back against the headboard. Ben took in the sight of Daphne straddling his clan brother’s hips, Dov’s hands resting at her soft waist as she rocked back and forth on top of him, rubbing herself against his swiftly hardening cock. Just the sight of them together was enough to complete Ben’s arousal as he located a bottle of massage oil and clutched it firmly in hand.

Daphne’s moan filled the air, and Ben received a backwash of impressions from her and Dov both: the slick, wet feeling of her pussy, the full feeling as Dov’s cock filled her up inch by inch, slowly pushing past the resistance of her body. He climbed back into the bed, moving closer to the two, taking up his position behind Daphne as she began to ride his best friend in achingly slow movements. Ben let his hands trail all over her body, caressing and exploring her curves; if he and Dov were able to convince her to stay with them, Ben thought that he would never tire of exploring her delicious body, but if they didn’t, he should take every opportunity she granted. Slowly he worked his way down to the curve of her ass, kneading the plump flesh there, carefully trailing his fingertips along her cleft. Ben kissed along her shoulders, pulling Daphne’s hair lightly aside to nuzzle the base of her neck as he opened the bottle of massage oil and carefully dripped some onto his fingers.

Daphne let out a half-whimpering moan as Ben began to swirl his fingertips against her tight pucker, pressing lightly. He knew from her thoughts that she’d never done this before—but he also knew that she was eager to try it, at least with the two men she was with. Ben slowly, steadily teased her, coaxing her body to relax, coaxing her to accept the penetration as Daphne continued to move on top of Dov, taking his cock deeper and deeper inside of her. Ben could feel her pleasure mounting, and knew that none of them would last very long—he sent a private request to his best friend to slow down, just enough to let them all get what they needed.

Ben worked Daphne’s tight pucker, sliding first one and then two fingers inside of her, spreading the oil thoroughly and wriggling along the tight, flexing muscles. He felt her ambivalent desire, felt her gradually giving into the strange pleasure his touches were giving her. He stretched her as carefully as he could, knowing that he needed to prepare her, but knowing that it was not something that could be rushed. When he finally thought that she was fully ready, he withdrew his fingers, pouring a little more of the oil into his hand and applying it to his throbbing, aching cock.

Ben pushed Daphne gently forward, positioning himself behind her. He spread her ass cheeks, and pressed the tip of his cock against her, hesitating only a moment before he thrust his hips. He sank into her slowly—achingly slowly—filling her up from behind as Dov continued to thrust up inside of her, and Ben groaned, a bear-like growl rising up in him, as their mutual pleasure washed through his mind. He moved inside of her, starting as slow as his impatient desire would allow and then gaining speed, his hands wandering, colliding with Dov’s all over Daphne’s body. The three of them moved together in a rhythm that none of them could resist, and Ben’s pleasure mounted faster and faster as Daphne’s tight muscles flexed around him, as he caught the sensations she was feeling: the thrill, the excitement, the deliciously full feeling.

Ben was never certain which one of them reached orgasm first—but as Daphne’s muscles fluttered around him in erratic spasms, her moans and Dov’s filling his ears, he could hold back no longer and groaned out his pleasure as he came, buried deep inside of her. After a few moments that felt like an hour, Ben sagged against his mate and clan-brother, utterly spent, pleasure and satisfaction crackling through his body. As Daphne’s breath gradually slowed, he felt the acceptance in her mind. “Yeah, okay,” she said, panting slightly as she squirmed free of her position between the two men. She flashed them both a mischievous grin. “I think I can definitely do this.”

Saved By The Alpha Lion

“Flight One eighteen now boarding first class passengers at gate three B; would first class passengers on flight One eighteen to Puerto Vallarta please begin boarding at gate three B now?”

Charlie was standing next to the terminal’s enormous conveyor belt, staring blankly at one spot and waiting for his vermillion duffle bag to float before his unfocused eyes. He was distantly aware that he hadn’t moved in a full minute—maybe more—but he was too absorbed in the task of trying to monitor every change in his environment to care about how strange he looked. Evan wasn’t around yet to remind him to be “normal,” so he was happy to keep twitching his ears toward the sound of rapidly moving feet even though the tiny human bones in his ear canal weren’t nearly as sensitive as the ones in beast form. He wanted to be alert, but his eyes were fatigued from the flight, and it was starting to make him jumpy.

Captain Roberts, please call gate seven; your co-pilot is holding. Captain Roberts, please head to the nearest courtesy phone to speak with your co-pilot who is holding at gate seven.

The announcements were clashing with his train of thought more solidly than usual, and he knew why; automatically, his right hand moved to the pocket of his jeans, where Natalie’s letter was folded into a compact rectangle already worn from being handled so much. He’d memorized its contents, but he kept pressing it to the tip of his nose to try to drag a few more particles of her scent into his lungs. Even months into her pregnancy, she still retained the same base scent: warm honey and sharp, sweet smoke, a heady aroma that warned of an intensity he knew could be fatal. She was the strongest person he knew, and the brightest; she often taught him something in her missives or phone calls without even meaning to, and never backed down when she knew she was right.

I got into a fight with Ariel while she was helping me pack up the basement because she wouldn’t believe that bears don’t really hibernate. My mother called and complimented me on my all-fruit dressing; she usually hates avocados, I was so surprised. Did you see that news story about all those diners that got sick—can you believe that waiter thought salt in coffee was a harmless prank? Grade school mistake.

This time, however, her letters had been cheery but sparse; they lacked the bubbly detail that usually padded out the thick envelopes she sent weekly, and sometimes even twice a week. Natalie no longer spoke of her chance meetings with old high school friends, or whose wife was having a hard time dealing with loneliness; now it was just pregnancy symptoms and a series of oddly detached retellings of incidents around their neighborhood. Their last phone call—right before the plane took off—had been the worst.

“Nat, I know something isn’t right.” His hand was sweaty so the slim black cell phone kept threatening to squirt from his grip. Evan was buckling into the seat next to him and fixating on the threads at the hem of his shirt, but Charlie knew he could hear every word. “I can hear it in your voice. I see it in your letters. Evan says Ariel isn’t acting right, either.”

“Charlie, everything is fine,” Natalie said soothingly for the fifth time in as many minutes. “A few busted windows, some kids jumping other kids…you know it happens.” The gentle rasp of her voice was carefully avoiding taking on heavy undertones, but Charlie could almost see her anxiously winding her dark brown hair around one finger as she paced around the living room. “We’ll start the move again when you get here. It’ll be fine.”

“Why did you have to stop the move in the first place?” Charlie asked. “I don’t understand that. The boxes were all finished five months ago. You said someone damaged the truck?” He remembered when he was younger having his property stolen or smashed when people found out he was a shifter. It was illegal, but it never stopped them, and the cops were often in on the games, since the shifter population intersected with the inner cities so often.

“The axle is bent,” Natalie answered, interrupting his reverie. “I want you to take a look at it before I get it messed with first. You know I’m useless with that sort of thing.”

Charlie closed his eyes, trying to keep the panic from spilling into his voice. His broad chest was tight with anxiety. “No, I don’t know that, Nat. Are you kidding me? I was with you when you made our old mechanic cry.”

“And I never got to know the new one!” Natalie retorted, her voice shrill. “I’m afraid of pissing this one off, too. Charlie, I don’t get what the big deal is. You’ll be home soon, and you’ll have all your answers then.” Her forced nonchalance snapped something inside him, and suddenly he was shouting.

“The big deal is that something crazy is happening and my wife is acting like it isn’t!”

A red-faced man twisted around in his seat to look at Charlie after he finished, and Evan laid a hand on his broad shoulder. The marine swallowed his anger with extreme difficulty and lowered his voice.

“I’m sorry,” he murmured into the phone. “But I’m scared. Evan is scared, because Ariel won’t talk to him about their garage burning down— he had to hear it from Riley. You’re not telling me what’s stopping us from moving, and I know it’s more than the truck, because we have more than two friends with trucks and SUVs. And I’m hearing about people—grown men and women, not just kids—getting beaten and left in the streets. What’s going on, Natalie? And why won’t you tell me about it?”

The silence stretched on for so long that Evan turned to look at Charlie, his brown face forming a question when he didn’t hear Natalie speak. Charlie was about to ask if she’d hung up on him when she drew a deep, shaky breath and slowly let it out.

“Charlie. I…just trust me, okay? You’re right. You’re absolutely right, but I need to you trust me. Okay?”

It was the raw quality of her voice that finally broke the shell of tension around his heart and allowed him to relax. “Okay,” he answered. “Okay. I trust you.” Even though this is killing me.

“Thank you,” Natalie said, and there were tears in her voice. He realized then that the weight of holding this back from him was killing her, too. Whatever this is had better be worth it.

His bag came crawling by him on the carousel just as he snapped out of his memory, and he almost didn’t catch it in time. Charlie thrust one long arm out and closed his fingers around the bag’s thick strap just before it disappeared behind the curtain to be spun around the carousel again.

“Nice catch, Flax,” Evan said behind him. He’d already located his suitcase and was pulling it behind his body as he strolled up to Charlie, his wiry frame far too relaxed given their situation. “Got everything?”

“Yeah.” Charlie slung the bag across his shoulders and playfully popped his friend on one of his narrow shoulders. “How the hell are you so calm, Reynolds? You’re like a wind-up toy whenever we’re on deployment, and you’re the one who told me about all the attacks. Are you high?”

Evan grinned and fell in step beside his taller friend as they headed for the exit. “Just on life, Flax. Besides, we’re finally home. That means we can get to the bottom of this.”

Charlie looked sharply at Evan, whose dark chocolate face was mostly hidden behind a pair of huge sunglasses, but he could still see the grim determination on his face. “You sounded…very certain about that,” he said slowly, dragging his green eyes up and down his best friend’s stoic expression. “Did you find out something more when you called Ariel in the bathroom?”

Evan gave a single curt nod that set Charlie’s heart racing.

“Well why didn’t you say so!” Charlie yelped, and several people in the crowd ahead of them turned toward his raised voice. He felt blood rush to his cheeks and he cursed himself for losing control of his volume again.

A man caught his gaze in the crowd, short and incredibly tanned, with dark blue eyes and a full mouth pinched together in what seemed to be surprise. His sandy blonde hair was being lovingly ruffled by a lovely copper-skinned woman with black curls who seemed to be trying to style his wavy coif, but he was staring so intently at Charlie that he was ignoring all of her muttered instructions. Charlie felt a curious ripple of power pass between them, and it intensified as they got closer. Eventually the charge was unbearable, and he broke their gaze and lowered his head as they hurried past the couple. What was that about? Charlie thought, but as soon as they were out of the doorway and under the blazing Southern Californian sun, he grabbed Evan by his forearm and pulled him into the shade of the parking garage to their right, the incident driven from his mind.

“Okay.” When they’d stopped, Charlie pushed both of his hands through his short black hair excitedly, willing his pulse to reign itself in. “Tell me. Tell me what you know.” It’s the cops again, he thought. Trying to find a reason to stamp out the shifters, like last time.

“It’s more stuff about the abductions,” Evan said slowly, his voice cautious and deep. He slid the sunglasses from his face, letting his brown eyes pierce Charlie’s as he spoke. “And it does seem like they’re targeting younger people…but it’s not just jumping, and it isn’t random.”

“What do you mean?”

Pain and anger flashed across Evan’s dark brown eyes, and Charlie caught the scent of the feline beast stirring beneath his skin. “The young men being attacked are sometimes being taken, and they turn up weeks later across the country, or are found with their memories gone, and part of a completely different pride. They can only be identified by their fingerprints. And sometimes they’ve been…mutilated.” Evan paused and swallowed hard.

Charlie shook his head slowly, trying to understand his best friend’s implications. “Mutilated?”

“Like…eunuchs,” Evan finished. “Only some of them, though. And the women…sometimes they’re raped, and if not…they’re mutilated too.”

Charlie shuddered, and the icy terror he’d banished from his blood only hours before came rushing back to fill his veins and freeze his muscles in place. “So someone is trying to wipe us out with a cull,” Charlie said vehemently. “It’s the lawmen again. They hate us, Evan. They don’t under—“

“I don’t think it’s the cops,” Evan cut in, and he dropped his eyes. “The targets don’t make sense.”

“Evan, they’re stopping us from reproducing,” Charlie spat. “They’re killing us. They tried this a decade ago, and I always knew they’d try again. Their targets make perfect sense. They’re targeting lions, and making sure they can’t ever breed when they’re finished. Setting us up and killing us indiscriminately didn’t work so well last time.” Rage was pounding in his ears, and the heat of the afternoon was finally starting to weigh down his body. “Who else could it be? Why would you think it could be anyone else?”

Evan looked deeply unsettled by his thoughts; he even put his shades back on before he spoke again. “Whoever this is seems to be targeting young lionesses to impregnate them. Some of the girls are four months pregnant. And the ones they’re mutilating are…Charlie, they’re already pregnant.”

“Already pregnant?” Charlie echoed numbly. “They’re…already…?”

Evan nodded. Charlie stared at him, listening to the blood rushing around his ears as he processed what Evan was telling him. Someone was beating and raping lions, and taking their young right from the womb. This was strategic. This was a genocide.

“It isn’t cops,” Charlie whispered. He turned on his heel and stalked away through the parking garage, leaving Evan to trot behind him toward their shuttle.

“I told you it wasn’t cops,” Evan said, annoyed, but Charlie wasn’t listening; he was too busy assembling the growing puzzle in his mind and trying to formulate a plan.