Laura Jo Phillips (15 page)

Berta nodded.  She knew what he meant, what he wanted her to do.  Her experience of these things was distant and dark, but she remembered enough to know what to do.  And there was a huge difference between then and now.  Now she was not afraid, and now, she
wanted
to do it. 

“Take a deep breath first as you will need to hold your breath,” Merrick said.  “Once he’s seated in your throat, we will inject you with our serum.  Then we’ll need to remain still for a few seconds.  Then your body will change and you’ll be able to keep Jerri in your throat and still breathe.  Ready?”

“Yes, I’m ready,” Berta panted. 

“All right
valedar
, take Jerri now,” he ordered.

Berta turned her head, opened her lips and took Jerri’s thick cock into her mouth without hesitation, pressing forward until he reached the back of her throat.  She paused a moment, took a deep breath, then swallowed hard, feeling him slip deep into her throat without a bit of pain or discomfort.  Then she felt a light sting in each wrist and the side of her neck as three sets of mating fangs penetrated her flesh.

Suddenly, a strange sensation came over her and she took a long, deep breath, just knowing that she could.  It was strange, since Jerri’s cock was still deep in her throat, but she didn’t question it.  The mating fangs slipped from her flesh and, as one, all three men began fucking her in a deep, even rhythm.  Jerri held her head gently as he thrust deeply into her mouth, while Merrick cupped her breasts as he and Tor thrust in counterpoint to each other.  The pleasure was so intense that her mind couldn’t seem to focus on any one thing.  Nor was there anything she could do, no way for her to match their rhythm or return their thrusts, so she just relaxed and allowed herself to simply feel. 

She felt something inside of her begin to shift and grow as though getting ready, but she had no idea for what.  The thrusts grew harder, faster, deeper and she realized that she was going to climax again, that they were all going to climax at the same time.  She tensed a little, then relaxed.  This was good, she told herself.  These men would not hurt her.  There was nothing here to be afraid of. 

She felt her climax rushing toward her and when it hit, she relaxed and let it take her.  She felt Merrick, Tor and Jerri orgasm with her, felt their seed pump into her, hot and thick.  She felt it shooting through each passage toward her womb, could almost see it in her mind.  As their seed met and blended together a small, blue light began to shine within her, sending out a call, a tiny vibration that sped back through each passage toward the cocks penetrating her.  Then she felt something else shoot from each of them, something warm and gentle. 

Berta gasped in wonder as she felt Merrick, Tor and Jerri flowing through her body.  She could identify which was which by the way they felt as easily as she could by looking at them.  As their essence flowed through her passages, a part of each of them separated and moved into her blood, bone and skin, becoming a part of her forever.  She felt them within herself, Merrick on her shoulders, Tor on her right arm, Jerri on her left, and knew with a growing sense of utter joy that she would never be alone again.

The rest of their essence flowed toward the blue light growing within her womb.  As their essences met the light and blended together as their seed had, Berta’s entire body, mind and soul blazed with a healing blue light that touched and soothed every part of her inside and out.  Merrick, Tor and Jerri roared their pleasure, her own voice joining theirs as they exploded in a muscle-wrenching orgasm that went on and on until they all collapsed together in a quivering pile on the bed. 

For long minutes they lay tangled together, gasping and trembling from the intensity of their experience.  Once they had their breath back, Merrick, Tor and Jerri rearranged themselves so that Berta was lying comfortably on her back, the three of them kneeling around her.  She watched them with curiosity as they closed their eyes, sensing a light tingling sensation as they sent their Water Magic into her body.  After a few moments the tingling stopped, they opened their eyes and smiled.

“Everything okay?” she asked.

“Perfectly,” Merrick said.  Berta smiled up at him, then her eyes widened in surprise.  She sat up, ignoring her own nudity for the first time in her entire life as she reached out and grabbed Tor’s right arm and Jerri’s left. 

“Is that me?” she asked, studying the
lau-lotu
on their arms carefully.  She’d seen the lau-lotu, the binding markings before, on Hope, Saige, Lariah and the other Arimas.  They looked almost like tattoos, but they were much deeper than that.  They could also be displayed, or faded at will.

“Yes, that’s you,” Tor replied.  “You will be as stunningly beautiful as a falcoran as you are a woman.”

Berta smiled, released their arms and turned to study the image of herself across Merrick’s shoulders.  It was so odd to see the black furred falcoran with dark blue eyes and markings, and know that it was how she would look when she shifted.  She smiled.  She would shift.  And fly.  She would be able to fly through the air like a bird. 
As
a bird.  She laughed, a carefree, joyous sound that made Merrick, Tor and Jerri smile in return.

“I take it you aren’t too unhappy to be linked with us,” Merrick said.

“Unhappy?” Berta asked in surprise.  “Oh no, never that.”  She looked down at the image of Tor’s falcoran on her right arm, Jerri’s on her left, and smiled as she tried to see Merrick’s on her shoulders.  She could see him, just a bit, if she tilted her head right.

“Thank you, guys,” she said, suddenly feeling a little shy.  She reached for the sheet and pulled it up, though it felt a bit silly to do so after everything they’d just done together.

“Why do you thank us?” Tor asked.

“For saving my life, for making me your Arima,” she said.  She dropped her eyes to the bed.  “For showing me pleasure where I thought only to find pain.”

“That is not something you need to thank us for,” Merrick said.  “Rather, it is something we would thank you for.   All we want, truly, is for you to be happy.”

“I don’t have a lot of experience being happy,” Berta said.  “But I am more than willing to learn.”

“We are glad of that,” Merrick said with a smile, “as making you happy is the most important goal of our lives.  We love you, and we hope that some day you will love us in return.”

“I’m not sure I know how to love, either,” Berta said doubtfully.

“That’s all right,” Merrick said.  “We are willing to wait for as long as it takes.”

“Right now though, we ask that you lay down and close your eyes,” Tor said.  “Your body has been through a lot this day, and we would have you sleep.”

Berta suddenly realized how tired she was and laid down as Tor asked.  “I really should get up and take a shower first,” she objected.

“No, you must rest and allow us to take care of you, as is our right,” Jerri said, leaning down to kiss her gently.  Berta reached up and placed her palm against his cheek as she gazed into his golden eyes.  “Thank you,” she whispered as her own eyes closed of their own volition.

“Sleep, beautiful,” Jerri whispered back while nudging her gently into a restful sleep with his Water Magic.  “We will watch over you, and never allow you to be harmed again.  This we promise.”

Epilogue

Berta sat at her dressing table and brushed her hair in the dressing room that the guys had insisted be included in the new suite added to Arima House for them.  They said that since they didn’t have their own, private home, and she would be sharing a bathroom, bedroom and sitting room with the three of them, she needed at least one small space to call her own.

Over the past few weeks they had been so generous and patient with her, never pressing her for anything.  After the transformation, they had even offered to remain apart from her, insisting that just because they were now linked did not mean she was required to live with them.  She’d been forced into the linking in order to save her life, but they were still willing to give her the time she’d asked for.  They would have remained in the Katres’ house, had she wanted it.

But Berta was, if nothing else, a practical woman.  She accepted things as they were, not as she would have them be.  She and the Falcorans were linked, and that was fact.  There was no point in pretending otherwise, nor did she want to.  Just being apart from them for a few hours was difficult for all of them.  If they lived apart and saw each other for only a few minutes a day, they would all suffer greatly.  She saw no reason for that.

So the addition to Arima House had been built, and the four of them lived and slept together in it.  During the day the Falcorans attended to their new duties taking over the security of the ranch, and she managed Arima House.  And while the Falcorans were always attentive, thoughtful, and loving toward her, they never spoke of love, and they never asked her for more than she was ready to give.

She glanced down at the
lau-lotu
of Jerri on her left forearm, and remembered that first day after her transformation into full Clan Jasani.  Once Merrick, Tor and Jerri had pronounced her fully healed and rested, she’d insisted on going to the Dracons’ and telling the full story of what had happened.  They’d taken her to the detention center at the garrison using their new speed traveling ability.  She’d told her story to the Dracons, Lobos, Bearens and of course her new Rami, the Falcorans.

When she was finished they asked her several questions, which she answered.  Then she told them that she didn’t really think that Sergio should be severely punished, and why.  Merrick, Tor and Jerri were not so forgiving, but the others understood and agreed with her.  Especially after they learned from the little blue creature, a Damosion named Roska, that Sergio’s mother really had been a hostage, but that she had been killed the same day Sergio was sent to Jasan. 

Sergio had been released from custody, but ordered to remain on the ranch until further notice.   Roska was turning out to be a goldmine of information on the Xanti and was being carefully protected.  As for the Xanti, it was being held in a specially constructed cell on the ranch.

There had been some heated discussion between the Council and the Dracon Princes concerning whether to leave the Xanti on the ranch or transfer it to Badia.  The Dracons argued that even though the barrier around the ranch had been penetrated, they knew how it had been done, and with Roska’s help, had set safeguards in place to prevent it from happening again.  Therefore, the ranch was still the safest place on Jasan. 

The most important factor, and the one that had caused the Council to give in, was when High Prince Garen Dracon pointed out that the Xanti obviously had a new blind-sight system and were once again able to prevent detection of their ships by Jasani sensors.  How else had they gotten close enough to Jasan to send Roska and the Xanti to the planet’s surface?  After that, there were no more arguments, though more guest houses had to be built to accommodate the influx of scientists who wanted to examine and study the live Xanti. 

Berta set her brush down and gazed at her reflection in the mirror over her dressing table for a moment, smiling at herself.  She had begun to get used to seeing herself as a young woman, but the obvious happiness she saw on her own face was still a little surprising.  She wasn’t certain of the reason for it.  Maybe it was a combination of things: the chance to relive her youth, the success of Arima House and her role in it, her growing relationship with the Falcorans.  She had to admit, when they weren’t being scary and protective, they were relaxed and easy going men.  She’d never laughed as much in her life as she did now, every single day.  Nor had she ever imagined life could be so much fun.

There was a light knock on the dressing room door and her heart leapt with excitement.  She stood up, catching sight of herself in the mirror as she did, and froze.  Her face had gone from smiling to
glowing
in a moment.  She stared at herself, wondering what it could mean, then she shook her head at herself.  Her life of captivity had prevented her from concluding her education, but she wasn’t dim witted. 

Not usually
, she amended to herself wryly.  She turned from the mirror and opened the door, smiling happily at Merrick. 

He smiled in return, though his violet eyes showed his curiosity.  “The transport will be landing soon,” he said.  “Do you still want to go down to the airfield to meet it?”

“Absolutely,” she replied.  She was excited to meet her niece.  She’d sent a message to Aisling asking for more information about the young woman, but Aisling told her that Honey asked that she not say more.  Honey wanted to exchange stories with her new Aunt when they met.

“Before we go, there’s something I’d like to tell you guys,” Berta said as she stepped further into the bedroom.  Jerri and Tor looked up and she waved them over.  When they stood around her, close enough that she could touch all three of them, she looked up and met their curious eyes with her own. 

“I just want to tell you, all three of you, that I love you,” she said. 

The Falcorans froze for a long moment, none of them daring to breathe as they allowed her words to sink in.  “I’ve never said that before, and I realize I should have said it much sooner.  I was just so busy being happy I didn’t stop to look at the reason why.  I’m sorry for that.”