Taydelaan (9 page)

“Goddess, we’ve really fucked this up,” David said quietly.

* * * *

Ancient hurts and old wounds opened, and Kayla found her mind flooded with painful memories of her past. Was it happening again? Had she once again placed her trust in people who didn’t deserve it?

Emotion squeezed her chest. It couldn’t be true, couldn’t be the same. The day she’d discovered her ex-boyfriend was married, she’d tried to leave him, but he’d convinced Kayla his marriage was over, and she’d foolishly believed him. Kayla had swallowed all of his lies, all of his excuses, blindly believing in a man who’d never told her any truth.

The most devastating blow had been when she found out his wife had known all along. The woman had actually encouraged her husband to take Kayla as a lover and used Kayla as an unwitting pawn in their kinky sex game. His wife had gotten off on watching her husband fuck a woman she considered fat and ugly, and they’d used Kayla without the slightest bit of care or remorse.

When she’d discovered the video files on his computer, she’d been violently ill, even more so when the naked wife stepped out of the closet and laughed in her face. The cruelty and the taunts rose up in Kayla’s mind, and she closed her eyes against the remembered pain.

Surely, Jessica and David were nothing like the other couple. But she sat in the car long after they’d left in the van and worried for her naïve heart.

It couldn’t be happening again. Jessica and David weren’t that cruel, but they were hiding something from her, and she needed to know.

But did she have the courage to find out the truth?

* * * *

“
Anything?
” Jessica asked her husband telepathically. It was a stupid question. They were still close enough for her to sense his every thought and emotion, and she would have known if he’d found Kayla. David answered her anyway.

“
No, I’m almost back at Kayla’s apartment block and still no sign of her
.”

They’d taken separate cars, traveling different routes from their home to Kayla’s apartment in the hopes of finding her somewhere in between. So far they hadn’t had any luck.

But then she felt the hopeful spike in her husband’s emotions and almost missed the right-hand turn into Kayla’s street. “
She’s here,
” David said telepathically, no small amount of relief in his voice. “
She’s still sitting in your car out front of her apartment. Where are you?
”

“
About fifty yards behind you. Wait for me.
”

She parked directly behind David, and together they approached the car Kayla sat in. As they got closer, Jessica realized that despite the obvious tears rolling down Kayla’s face, she could no longer feel any of the woman’s emotions. She wasn’t even sensing the small connection they’d felt before.

David realized about the same time and grabbed her hand as they approached Kayla together. Slowly, trying not to frighten their upset lover, Jessica pulled the car door open and crouched beside the vehicle so she could see Kayla’s face.

“Honey,” she said softly, “we can explain.”

“Really?” Kayla asked angrily. “You can explain. Explain what? David’s sudden withdrawal or that you have some sort of telepathic connection between the two of you?” Kayla looked angry enough to put her fist through a wall.

“Both,” Jessica said feeling ashamed for not explaining sooner. She should’ve told Kayla about the telepathic mate link. She knew that. Despite the fact that she’d only been trying to protect the woman she loved, it had been wrong to not tell her.

“Or maybe,” Kayla said, stepping out of the car. Jessica moved back to give her room. “Maybe you’d like to explain to me how fifteen minutes after David’s sudden attack,” she curled her fingers into quote marks as she spat the sarcastic words, “he was fine, and you looked well and truly fucked.”

Shocked by Kayla’s vehemence, Jessica unconsciously took another step back. It wasn’t until David stepped around her that she realized she’d moved at all. Kayla seemed even angrier now.

She planted both hands on her hips, looked them up and down, studying their shocked expressions.

“You know what? Fuck it. I won’t be someone else’s plaything. Not again. You want to play kinky games, go find some other fool to use. I’m done.”

She made to step around them, but David grabbed her arm, holding her tight, refusing to let her leave.

“Let me go,” she ground out through clenched teeth.

“Not until you listen,” David said quietly. Jessica could feel his desperation, but suddenly Kayla’s emotions hit her, full force. Anger, confusion, loss, and deep, deep pain assaulted Jessica’s empathic senses. Raw, unfettered emotion rolled off Kayla in waves, taking Jessica off guard. Her knees wobbled, and David steadied her with his other hand. He was staring at Kayla as if he’d never seen her before.

“What the fuck?” Kayla said as her legs crumpled, and she lost consciousness.

Chapter Nine

“
I felt her emotions almost as clearly as I feel yours
.”

“
Same here, but she’s not our Taydelaan. Why would the mate link kick in?
”

“What’s a Taydelaan?” Kayla mumbled as she finally managed to open her eyes. God, it felt like she’d been hit by a truck. She struggled to sit up, but two sets of hands gently held her down.

“You heard that?” David asked, sounding surprised.

“Of course I heard it. You’re speaking loud enough to wake the neighbors.” She began to smile, and then memories of everything that had happened assailed her, and she frowned instead. Her head thumped with the mother of all headaches, so she ignored the impulse to brush away their hands and leap to her feet. She closed her eyes and groaned quietly instead.

“What happened?”

“You passed out,” Jessica said nervously.

Anger curled in Kayla’s gut once more. They weren’t even answering her direct questions honestly. They knew she was asking about what happened before she passed out. She could feel their hesitation very clearly. “Why did you pull away?” she asked, trying to stop the tears from leaking under her lids. She could sense David’s deep distress and Jessica’s fear even with her eyes closed.

She could even hear the jumbled thoughts going through both their heads.

Whoa?

She could
hear
their thoughts in her head?

Her mind raced at a million miles an hour, and she could feel herself beginning to hyperventilate.

“Breathe, baby,” Jessica said as she smoothed a cool washcloth over Kayla’s forehead. “We can explain everything, especially now.” Kayla could feel Jessica’s relief and bubbling excitement. This all felt very strange. Somehow, without even understanding how she was doing it, Kayla was able to distinguish Jessica’s thoughts and emotions from David’s. Even though she could hear and feel both of them very clearly in her mind.

“You’re our Taydelaan,” David said reverently.

“But,” Kayla said, trying to remember what she’d heard as she first regained consciousness, “you said I wasn’t your Taydelaan.” Fear gripped her anew. “What the hell is a Taydelaan, anyway?” she growled, trying to ignore the fact that her tone said she didn’t really want to know. What if it was something bad?

“Honey,” David said as he gathered her into his arms. “A Taydelaan is our third. Our perfect match. You are the reason we traveled to Earth. You are the one we’ve been searching for.”

“Why didn’t you tell me earlier?”

“We didn’t know,” Jessica said quietly, but Kayla read the truth in her mind.

“That’s why you were leaving? Because you weren’t sure?”

“No,” Jessica was quick to deny, a little too quick because she amended her answer a moment later. “We were sure that you weren’t our Taydelaan. There was no link.”

Kayla just sat there waiting for a better explanation, the words
what the fuck?
playing over and over in her head.

David seemed to realize Jessica’s predicament because he pulled her into his embrace also. It wasn’t until he moved further onto the mattress, pulling both women with him, that Kayla realized he must’ve carried her back into the empty apartment. Sitting against the headboard, he arranged Kayla by his side and then pulled Jessica in behind her. Cuddled between the two of them, Kayla felt once again like she belonged.

“Close your eyes, Kayla. Relax and listen to everything you hear and feel from your mates.”

It sounded ridiculous, but after everything that had happened this day, ridiculous was probably the least of her worries.

“
Relax and breathe, honey
,” she heard David say in her mind. She tried to, but being this close to them always short-circuited her thinking processes. She heard a very relieved sigh in her mind and smiled when she realized it came from the woman behind her. Slowly, without full words, everything became clear in her mind. They shared their fears and hopes, dreams and ideals, histories and wants for the future directly in her mind.

By the time they finished, Jessica and Kayla were both crying, and David’s cock had grown hard. She understood now. She wanted—no, needed—to be a part of their lives. And they needed her, not just because she was the missing piece of their genetic puzzle, but because they truly, wholeheartedly loved her.

Kayla could feel their combined need and eagerly helped to strip her clothes off as the enzyme built in David’s body. She could sense his arousal, his attraction to her, his ever-growing need to claim her as his mate and seal the Taydelaan link between the three of them.

By the time they were all naked, raw need dictated their actions. David hauled her on to her hands and knees, pushing her face down to Jessica’s sweet pussy. Desperate for a taste, Kayla lowered her head and plunged her tongue through Jessica’s folds at the same time that David’s rough fingers pushed into her already throbbing slit.

She licked and suckled Jessica’s sensitive flesh, amazed she could not only feel her own emotions and desire but also Jessica’s desperate need and David’s white hot arousal. Thick fingers speared into her flesh as Jessica’s hands tangled in her hair, pulling her harder against her mound. Jessica’s orgasm started almost immediately, her familiar flavor coating Kayla’s lips and tongue. Kayla plunged deeper, using her fingers as well to caress the quivering flesh.

She lifted her head to smile at Jessica just as David thrust his cock hard and deep into her pussy. She gasped as he took her, controlled her, plundered her mind, body, heart, and soul. He pounded harder, faster, deeper, his rhythm shot, his coordination failing as he pulled her to a kneeling position and opened his mouth over her throat.

Jessica smiled, moved to suck on Kayla’s breast just as David’s fangs broke her flesh. Kayla screamed as climax burst through her, throbbing, burning, pulsing from the inside out. She shivered as heat traveled her veins, the strange stinging sensation heightening as David pounded into her one last time and his cock pumped his cum deep inside her.

He fell against her, barely managing to roll to the side so they didn’t squash Jessica. Still joined, they both panted loudly as they tried to regain their breath. She smiled when David’s concerned question flitted through her mind.

“No, you didn’t hurt me,” she answered aloud. “I’m not sure I’ll ever have the energy to move again, but you didn’t hurt me.” She smiled as Jessica leaned over and kissed her gently.

“I love you,” Jessica said very seriously.

“Same here,” David said from behind her. He was still hard inside her, and he pumped a few more times as if he couldn’t help himself. “How do you feel about children?”

She knew where he was going with this. Their mate link had given her everything she needed to know about the way Sesturian children were conceived. If he made love to Jessica now she would conceive their child—a child made up of the genetic mix of all three parents.

“I love children,” she said and then watched the beautiful smile spread across Jessica’s face. Kayla leaned over to touch her lover’s face with her fingertips. “And I would be honored if you’d have my baby.”
 

Not words she’d ever expected to say—not exactly a situation many human women face—but they felt absolutely right. Kayla moaned softly as David carefully pulled his cock from her body and moved to hover over Jessica.

Feeling more contentment than she’d ever known, Kayla lay down beside the woman who meant more to her than life itself, wrapped loving arms around Jessica’s thinner frame, and watched as their baby was conceived.

Epilogue

“I can’t find it anywhere,” Kayla said in frustration.

“It’s okay, baby,” Jessica said as she came over and rubbed Kayla’s aching back. As heavenly as Jessica’s touch felt, Jessica was the one going into labor, not her. She turned worried eyes to her lover, and Jessica simply smiled.

“Found,” David said triumphantly as he came into the room. He held the MP3 player aloft and then threw it across the room to Jessica. Kayla growled in concern when her nine-months-pregnant-
and
-in-labor lover moved nimbly to catch the thing. “Relax,” David said as he came closer. “We have plenty of time.” Kayla was about to round on him when she realized he wasn’t as calm as he projected.