Origin (25 page)

I grinned. “You think they’re pretty?”

“The captain looks too much like his brother for me not to think so. Though mine is better.”

I shot him a frown.

He chuckled. “The blond is prettier. So where are they?”

“I don’t know where they are and I’m honestly not sure they’re mine.”

“Oh they are. I could tell the second I saw you on the vidscreen with them.”

“Then where are they now?”

“I heard they were meeting with Jarana earlier. She had news for them. I thought they’d already be back with you. At least to say goodbye. I know they put in a call to their ship and were worried when they didn’t get an answer.”

“Goodbye? Wait, nobody answered their summons?” I turned to my parents. “You’ll have to excuse me. I need to find my friends. Do you have codes for your vidscreens yet you could give me? I forgot the one in my pod but I’ll contact you with the code when I get home so I can find out where you’re staying.”

“We’re actually off the same tube. Three doors down.” My mother bit her lip, a habit I must have picked up from her as a child. She didn’t look like she was anywhere near ready to let me out of her sight, so I stepped close and hugged her. She went stiff for a second, then her arms wrapped so tightly around me, I squeaked.

“Sorry,” she whispered. “I thought I’d never hold my child again.”

“I’ll call you with my code. We can check in as much as you’d like.”

“Probably shouldn’t have given her that permission,” my father said. He stroked his hand down my hair.

I went to get my new vidscreen first and found Anders and Clay in the tube outside my door. “Why didn’t you go in?”

“It’s not coded to us,” Clay answered. He was leaning against the clear tube, his eyes looking sharper than usual with all the blue leaves behind his head.

“I’ll fix that right away.” I put my palm on the panel and the door slid open. Anders and Clay followed me in and I turned, shut and locked the door. “What’s going on? Why didn’t you come here with my parents? What did Jarana say? Do you know why Lia didn’t answer your summons?”

“Whoa,” Anders put his hand over my mouth. “You gotta let us catch up. What happened to that girl who was afraid to ask questions?”

I pulled his hand down. “She had to grow up, remember?” I noticed my hand shaking and I shoved it behind my back. “You’re leaving me, aren’t you?”

Clay’s eyes narrowed. “That was always the plan, sweetheart. We brought you home. You’re with your people now.”

“You’re my people too. You and Anders.”

“You have your parents. We never expected such a wonderful thing to happen for you, Siri—or Sirina.”

“I’m still Siri. I may know my full name and my origin but I’m still me. Still the woman who spent time in your bed. Still the woman who wants to stay in your bed.”

“What about Kei?”

I blinked. “What about him? He’s my friend. Was my childhood best friend.”

“He wants you.”

“I don’t want him.” I growled and threw my arms up. “Are you really telling me you two plan to leave me here? Do you think I’m just going to let that happen?”

Clay grinned, his eyelids lowering a bit. “What did I tell you, Sullivan? She still has fight.”

“You called that one right, Captain.” Anders tugged off his shirt, dropped it on the floor and reached for the fasteners on my bulky shirt. “First thing we’re going to do is get her some clothes that fit. You don’t need these baggy things anymore, do you, sweetheart?”

I smacked his hands away. “I need answers. Don’t try to confuse me with your gorgeous body. That’s not fair.”

Anders tugged the captain closer and began unfastening his shirt. “Maybe Claybourne’s body is more a distraction.”

I growled again.

Both men started laughing. They also continued to undress each other. When they stood naked in front of me, I realized the dome cover was down too far. I could see into other pods. I turned and searched for the dome cover panel and raised the shields until only the sky and foliage above us showed through. Then I turned to them, letting my gaze run over them both. “Is this a goodbye fuck?” I whispered, tears clogging my eyes as the sob in my throat made the question hard to get out.

“No.” Clay shook his head and walked to me. He stroked his hand down my cheek. “Jarana got us a pardon. The woman can pull miracles out of her ass it seems.”

“The files you and your brother de-coded helped. And, Siri, your warrant was dissolved when the authorities decided it was self-defense. Lashin had lifted his weapon.” Anders came up behind Claybourne and slid his arms around him. He bent to rest his chin on Clay’s shoulder. “So we have a few decisions to make. We have a ship and a crew we are kind of attached to. We are, however, more attached to you. So you see the quandary, right?”

Hope unfurled in me so fast, I began to breathe hard. I nodded.

“I think the captain and I need to stick around a little while, make some plans.”

Clay nodded as he pulled open my shirt. “We need to all be naked to make the plans. Saturna is being dismantled and soon, Crichton will talk and we’ll know the story behind the explosions. Jarana told us that every planet that has been hit with that new substance was one that had massive supplies of kithronite.” His hands moved to my pants and before I could blink, they were falling down around my ankles. He stepped closer, bringing Anders along with him and slid his hand between my legs. “She’s already wet, Sullivan.”

“Of course she is. You’re stunning small body is naked.”

Clay closed his eyes. “Anders.”

“Yeah yeah, you’re not small.” His hand slid down to circle the captain’s very hard cock. “No,” he breathed, kissing Clay’s neck. “You’re not small at all.”

I put my arms around both of them and rested my forehead against Clay’s. “You’re really not leaving?”

“Sweetheart, we love you. If we go anywhere you’ll be going with us, and right now, we wouldn’t dream of pulling you away from your parents. Besides, did you see your father? He’s bigger than Anders.” He shuddered. “I have a feeling we’d end up worse off than your first owner. Wait, did you lock the door?”

“Somehow, I don’t think my father would have a problem with either of you. You rescued me, remember?”

“We did. So the pirates are now heroes.”

Anders was still kissing Clay’s neck and he stopped to wink at me. “I was never a pirate. That was your gig, babe.”

Clay looked at him over his shoulder. “You enjoyed our travels as much as I did. You loved taking down Saturna ships. Admit it.”

“Never.”

Clay turned and dropped to his knees to take Anders into his mouth. He didn’t tease, didn’t lick, didn’t do anything but deep throat him in one hard suck, then pull off to look up at him. “Admit it.”

A blond eyebrow went up. “This really your idea of torture, Captain?”

I dropped to my knees next to Clay, knowing I wouldn’t be able to stand back up unless I actually sat and pulled off my boots and the pants bagged around my ankles. I leaned over and took Anders down exactly the way Clay had.

Anders groaned. “So not fair. Okay, I admit it. I liked the flying. Now can we go to bed and have lots and lots of sex?”

Clay stood and I tried to, laughing when my pants tangled and I fell over. I rolled onto my back, loving the way their eyes flared as they stared down at me. “Have I ever told you two that sex with you is like flying?” I drawled, mimicking Anders’s slow way of speaking.

Anders grinned, knelt and swiped me off the floor and into his arms. “‘We taught you to fight and to fly. What more could there be?’”

I smiled at the changed Peter Pan quote and waited until both men were lying on the bed with me before answering.

“What more could there be? Now we teach each other to love.”

About the Author

Dani Worth is a writer who loves to explore the boundaries of new worlds, love, desire or anything else that strikes her fancy. Good stories make life fun and she has such a blast writing her own. She’s currently writing sexy stories set in post-apocalyptic, science fiction and contemporary settings. She loves threads of paranormal and urban fantasy. Some of her stories will have pairs and some will have triads—Love is Love.

Dani has lived all over the United States, but currently resides in the Midwest with her family. She’s represented by Miriam Kriss of the Irene Goodman Agency.

Dani is the pen name for Rinda Elliott’s erotic romances. Rinda also publishes urban fantasy and more! Look for the Beri O’Dell series coming from Samhain.

You can keep up with Dani at
daniworth.wordpress.com
or on Twitter at
www.twitter.com/DaniWorthWrites
.

Look for these titles by Dani Worth

Now Available:

Crux Survivors

After the Crux

Sole Survivors

The Kithran Regenesis

Catalyst

Kithra

Replicant

In a harsh new world, only she can bring him to life…

Sole Survivors

© 2014 Dani Worth

Crux Survivors, Book 2

Chase Hawthorne is on the run from a ghost. The shooting that took his little sister and scarred Chase’s face and body has left far deeper scars on his brother Tripp’s soul. Driven to pull up stakes and head for the most haunted place in Louisiana, Chase hopes to prove to Tripp there is no ghost of his twin beckoning from the afterlife.

When he comes upon a young woman fighting off raiders, Chase doesn’t hesitate to help the first female he’s seen in years. And he tries to ignore his instant attraction, hoping Tripp will feel it, too—and emerge from his frightening depression.

Keera has been alone too long, and Chase makes her feel things she never thought she’d feel again. Tripp may be the needier brother, but it’s Chase she wants. Scars and all.

But letting people too close comes with risks. And as they are drawn into the search for a young man’s family, both must accept the possibility that there’s more to life—and love—than simple survival.

Warning:
A hero who puts his own needs aside for family. And a woman who’s out to prove there’s no law against a man listening to his body once in a while.

Enjoy the following excerpt for
Sole Survivors:

“Why won’t you come out where I can see you?” Splattered with blood, the brunette curled her lip at the bodies, and stepped away from them. She squinted, obviously trying to see him through the leaves. “Who else is in the woods with you?”

“There was a woman with those men, but she took off. She also threw the knife so I don’t think she was willingly with them.”

She moved upstream and knelt in the clean water to wash the blood off her arms. She grimaced at the splotches on her shirt, then seemed to realize the side of her blouse was open to the waist…and that it was see-through. She crossed her arms, hunched her shoulders and grabbed the ripped sides of her blouse in one fist. “Let me see your face.”

“Trust me, you won’t be happy you asked,” he muttered to himself before stepping into the sunlight.

She winced.

He didn’t blame her. Raiders had thought it would be great fun to race up and down the streets in pickup trucks while firing into rows of “empty” houses. He’d been sharing one of those houses with his younger brother, sister and two other people. A bullet had shattered his right cheek. Two more had hit his upper chest. None had healed well in the year since it had happened. He’d been too busy grieving over the three who’d died, including his sister, Maggie. She’d been standing in front of the window when the first bullet struck.

The woman stood. “Why did you help me if you were with them?”

“I wasn’t. I’m passing through with my younger brother. We stopped to hunt and I followed the sound of a gun. Were you shot?”

She shook her head, frowning when wet black hair stuck to her lips. She reached up fast to pull her hair off her face, then re-crossed her arms. “They weren’t trying to kill me, just scare me into going with them.” Her lips turned down as she looked at the bodies. “I hate this. Hate that people act like this, make me kill.” She looked up. “There are so few of us left. I can’t understand the way they think.”

“Me neither.”

“You said you were passing through? To where?”

“I heard there was a settlement near here. I’m taking my brother by The Myrtles Plantation on the way.”

Dark eyes went wide. “Why would you want to go there? Most of the roof caved in years ago—the place is a moldy deathtrap.”

“I have—had—reasons.” Damn. It had been a gamble and the trip here had been a bitch. Most of the roads were overgrown with trees splitting them into barely passable chunks of old asphalt. He’d hoped the place would finally lay to rest Tripp’s ridiculous obsession with the afterlife. The Myrtles had been reputed to be the most haunted place in America once. The boy, well, he was really a man now at twenty-three, couldn’t get past his twin’s death and the longer they traveled without finding other people, the more often he stayed in these scary, depressed silences. The more he talked about ghosts and what happened after a person died.