Brida Pact (23 page)

“Shhhh…remember to be quiet. We don’t want the guys barging
in here,” she teased.

“Uh-huh.”

Poppy took a moment to soak in the beauty in front of her.
Wheaton’s hair was in disarray from her earlier run-through and he was still
fully dressed in his leather shirt and pants. The only naked part was his
erection that she’d pulled free from the opening in his pants. Meeting his
gaze, she leaned forward and very deliberately gave him another teasing lick.

“Don’t tease, little flower. Suck me.”

Reaching the top of her head to pull out her hair band, he
let her hair down to thread his fingers into the curls. Catching her hair in
his grip, he used that as an anchor to move her closer to his cock. She could
feel the heat coming off his body. With him gripping her hair, she became even more
aroused. If a previous boyfriend had tried to push her head down, it would have
instantly killed the mood. When Wheaton did it, all she felt was the
overwhelming urge to do whatever he asked. Never before had she thought herself
submissive but he apparently brought that out in her. Taking his guidance, she
allowed him to move her mouth where needed and at that moment, he needed her
sucking.

Opening her mouth as wide as possible to not scrape him with
her teeth, she breathed through her nose as she moved up and down in a quick
but deep rhythm. Unable to go too far for fear of gagging, she braced one hand
on the root of his cock as he shuttled in and out of her mouth. Twisting her
hand every so often, she moved it to follow her lips as she pulled almost completely
off the head and then back down. Once she got close to the base, she gave him a
squeeze and her efforts were rewarded with a loud groan as his grip tightened
in her hair.

Feeling him get even harder in her mouth, she could hear the
blood rushing between her ears and dropped her free hand between her thighs.
Thank god for yoga pants. They were thin enough for her to feel the pressure of
her fingers as she pressed against her clit and started humping her hand.

Using his grip on her hair, Wheaton tilted her head back to
meet his eyes. She saw him realize she was rubbing herself. The knowledge that
she was pleasuring herself while he was in her mouth threw him over the edge.
He gave one loud, continuous rumble and the muscles in his thighs tensed up. The
cock in her mouth pulsed to a quick beat. She didn’t have long to prepare
herself before she tasted his release on the back of her tongue and then was
swallowing fast to contain it all. She had never been a swallower before but
pulling away from Wheaton seemed like a sacrilege. As his hands loosened in her
hair, she pulled slightly away to lick the remains of his come from his
still-hard cock.

The beautiful cock in front of her was starting to relax.
She savored the taste of his release in her mouth as she stared up at his body.
His large plum-shaped cock head, shining with her saliva, slowly deflated
before her eyes, his member still long and wide as he took big, gulping
breaths. Poppy wiped her swollen lips and sat back on her heels for a moment.
Her own orgasm at the tips of her fingers was forgotten as she took in the
satisfied male in front of her. Wheaton took that time to tuck himself, still
half-hard, back into his leather breeches and reached down to help her off her
knees. Tugging her up and into his embrace, he hugged her hard.

“Let me return the favor, little flower. I am thirsty and I
believe you may have something to sate me,” he murmured.

“Why yes I do,” she said with a wink as she shimmied her
pants down her hips. Just then, there was a knock at the door.

“Excuse me, Poppy? Wheaton?” It was Hannah’s voice that came
through the door.

“Yes?” Wheaton asked, his voice still rough from his earlier
groans and moans.

“We need to get back to the Council. We’re running late but
you seemed…busy.” Even through the door, Poppy could tell Hannah was blushing.
To be honest, that blush probably matched the color on Poppy’s face.

For a moment there, she’d completely forgotten there were
others in the med center. At least the supply closet was at the end of the hall
so hopefully they hadn’t heard too much. Poppy wasn’t a prude but she wasn’t
one for public sex or even semipublic sex.

Wheaton gazed down at Poppy with disappointment in his eyes.
“I have to go. I forgot that we needed to get back so quickly.”

Poppy laid her palm against his cheek. She couldn’t stop
herself from smiling when he closed his eyes and relaxed into her hand. She
reached up and gave him a deep kiss.

“I understand, babe. Just remember I have something for you
to drink tonight.” Winking at him when he groaned and adjusted himself in his
breeches, she fixed her own clothes. Finding her discarded hair tie on the
floor, she swooped it back up into a messy bun.

Leaving the closet was fairly embarrassing. Hannah was
bright red as she waited for Wheaton. Tamin and Rodin wouldn’t meet her gaze
and Behyr just nodded at her with a small close-lipped smile.

After the door closed behind them, she turned to her three
friends and held up a finger.

“Not one word,” she said in the sternest voice she could muster.

This caused all three males to start laughing, first softly
and then louder when she joined in herself a moment later.

The rest of the afternoon was fairly boring for Poppy. Tamin
and Rodin had expected the other brides to visit the med center but nobody had
shown up yet. Poppy decided to keep to the supply closet for a while to make
sure they would have things handy for when the brides did happen to show up.
She also made sure to tuck the exercise mat back where she’d moved it from.
That would hopefully come in handy again.

Behyr had been called away to the training rooms after lunch
but showed up at the end of the day looking disappointed.

“What’s up?” she said, not really wanting to hear the
answer.

“Wheaton has been held up in the Council and will not be
able to walk you back to your quarters or meet for dinner.” Behyr was studying
her and obviously trying to gauge her mood.

“Well…that sucks.” Poppy couldn’t stop the disappointment
that swept through her, but she was sure it was out of his control. She
realized this meant they would also be unable to finish what they’d started in
the closet at lunch.

Behyr was still staring at her as if she might burst into
tears at any given moment. Knowing she needed to reassure him before he
panicked, she shrugged.

“I guess this means I’m free for dinner. Want to join me?”
Her question was delivered with a sad smile.

“That would be nice, although I received a message from
Thorne that Valerie was wanting to see you also. Would you like to invite them
to your quarters for a meal? Thorne suggested it when I spoke to him earlier.”

“Sounds like a plan. Company should help keep me occupied.” As
she gathered her belongings, she yelled to Tamin, who had been fiddling with an
instrument in the exam room, “Tamin, I’m heading out.”

“K.O.,” was yelled back.

“It’s ‘okay,’ you big goofball,” Poppy replied with a
giggle.

Deep laughter was followed by, “See you tomorrow morning,
Poppy.”

She was excited to see Val again. From what she had been
told earlier, Valerie had been occupied with Council work all this time. If the
glances Thorne had kept tossing Val’s way were any indicator then Poppy would
bet he’d been Val’s shadow while she was on the ship.

As they entered the apartment, Poppy decided a shower was in
order. Her time in the closet this afternoon with Wheaton had been enough to
make at least a change of clothes necessary. “I’ll be quick, feel free to watch
one of the movies I have uploaded.”

“I can wait until you are finished to start the vid. I was
thinking of watching something that we have already seen.”

Hanging out these past couple weeks, Poppy had introduced
him to some of the films she loved. Behyr had quickly gotten addicted to any
movie with Simon Pegg. His current favorite was
Hot Fuzz
and they’d
watched it four times so far. Seeing where this was going, she quickly shot
down another night of that movie and had him choose something else.

“But it is so entertaining, Poppy,” Behyr said with what
sounded close to a whine.

“No.”

“But—”

“No. No more
Hot Fuzz
.” Poppy put her foot down.

Hearing him grumble as she left the room, she almost laughed
out loud. Poppy tried to finish quickly so she was ready when Val arrived. Just
as she had entered the living area with still-wet hair, she heard the tone at
the door.

Waving her hand to open it, she smiled big when she saw a
very flustered-looking Val and Thorne. Well well well. It appeared as though
her pal Val had been participating in a make-out session recently, judging by
the whisker burn on her neck and cheeks.

“Hello, my long-lost buddy.”

Catching the knowing smirk on Poppy’s face, Valerie grinned
and stepped into the room to hug her.

“Hey, lady, there’s so much we have to talk about,” she
said.

Poppy still hadn’t told Val of her pregnancy so she agreed
with a quick nod. “Maybe we can talk real quick in private though?”

“Of course.” Valerie nodded at Behyr on the couch.
“Gentlemen, could you excuse us for a few seconds? We need to chat.” Not
waiting for a response, she left Thorne at the door and dragged Poppy by the
arm into the bedroom. As the door shut with a
whoosh
, she turned and
said, “Spill it.”

Poppy was unable to speak for a moment. Her nervousness at
telling Val about the baby wasn’t due to trust. Poppy knew she could trust Val
with anything, especially after what had happened with the bridal matches. It
just hit her that the more people she told about the baby, the more real it
seemed to get.

“Well…I’m pregnant.” The words seemed to tumble out of her
mouth.

Val reached behind her to feel for the bed before sitting
down with a flop.

“Pregnant?” she asked, shock evident on her face.

“According to Tamin and Rodin and that nifty regen bed, yes.
Apparently Wheaton was virile enough to hit a homerun our first time at bat,”
Poppy confirmed with a grin.

“Wow. That’s just…wow.” Apparently Val was a little stunned
because she didn’t say anything for a few moments. Just sat still, as if
shell-shocked.

“You doing okay, Val?” The expression on her face had Poppy
worried. Valerie was always on her game. Now she seemed out of sorts and the
color had drained from her face.

“Um yeah, I guess I expected the brides to take longer to
get pregnant. Not sure why, maybe it’s because they were cloning so much I
figured that their juice wouldn’t be as potent,” she rambled as though she was
nervous.

“No…that’s not all. I can tell. There’s something more
that’s bothering you,” Poppy said, calling her out. “It’s your turn to spill
it. Now.”

Valerie flopped back farther onto the bed with a groan and
scrubbed her hands over her face.

“Mmmpfffftherbnnn,” she mumbled.

“What?”

Taking her hands from her face, she let them drop to her
sides on the bed while staring up at the ceiling.

“I said…I slept with Thorne,” she repeated with a groan.

“
What?
” Poppy yelled.

“Keep your voice down!” she hissed, leaning up on her
elbows. “I don’t want the whole ship to know!”

“You slept with Thorne?” Poppy whispered to a
miserable-looking Valerie.

“Yes.” Sniffling as if she might cry at any time, Val
continued on, “And it was amazing.”

“Then what’s the problem, Val?” Poppy asked, unsure where
this was going.

“Well, according to the bun in your oven, I might have one
of my own baking.” And there it was. A tear slid down Val’s face.

“Well…fuck.” Unsure what the ramifications were of Val being
with Thorne, she didn’t know what else to say.

“Yeah, ‘fuck’ is right.” Standing up to pace, Val went on,
“What if I’m pregnant? I’m pretty sure Thorne put his name into the pool to be
selected for a bride. What if he wants to be matched with Miss Perfect and doesn’t
want whatever it is we have going on?” Stopping to stare at the door with a sad
face, she went on, “We bicker all the time and this wasn’t something I
planned…it just happened.”

Always one to see the bright side of a situation and make a
plan, Poppy thought for a couple seconds.

“Okay, let’s break this down… First, you slept with Thorne
when he might have a bride being matched. You just need to talk to him ASAP and
see where he stands on the bridal match now you’ve hooked up. I’m not saying
he’s all hearts and roses over you, but from my experience with these big guys,
when they see something they want they go after it. In this case, it was you.
And I’ll tell you something right now, Thorne was looking at you pretty hard
the first time you visited me.”

Seeing Val nod at her with a hesitant smile, she continued,
“Second, you may not even be pregnant. Wheaton and I may have just been
extremely lucky on our first shot. Just because I’m knocked up doesn’t mean all
of them are this fertile.” Poppy noticed Val blushed and her gaze skittered
away.

“Why do I have a feeling there is more to the story?” she
asked.

“Well, it wasn’t just one time…” Valerie admitted in a soft
voice. “We’ve been going at it like bunnies this whole week.” Her face was now
completely red.

Poppy let that sink in. “Okay. Still, it could be bad
timing. Don’t start picking out baby names until you visit the medical unit for
an exam. That regen bed they have can pick up a pregnancy almost immediately.
As my mom used to say, there is no point in borrowing trouble.”

She gave Val a half hug and moved over to the door. “Now
let’s eat, this baby is starving.” Seeing Val glance down at her stomach, she
laughed. “I know, I know. I’m barely pregnant, but since I am, I’ve decided I’m
going to blame every donut or hamburger on this baby and say fuck it.”

Their dinner ended up being relaxing considering all the
shenanigans going on around them. Poppy noticed Thorne seemed to touch Val or
smile at her throughout the night. The slight touches on the shoulder or a
quick brush of hair behind her ear managed to make Poppy slightly jealous.
These were the small things she hadn’t been able to share with Wheaton since
Hannah had arrived.

“So, I had lunch with Wheaton and Hannah today.” Noticing
Val’s mouth drop open, Poppy admitted, “She actually isn’t that bad. We had a
moment when I thought I could have happily pulled out every strand of her silky
hair while cackling like a mental patient, but I think that’s been taken care
of.” Val was now staring at her as if she had lost her mind. “Really. I think I
may have diverted her attention to another warrior anyway.”

Poppy noticed Behyr’s gaze snap up when she added that last
part. Trying to hide her smile, she turned to wink at Val.

“What warrior?” Behyr’s question came out gruff and
demanding.

“Well, it seemed as if she enjoyed lunch today with the guys
so I’m hoping there may be romance in the air.” Not wanting to give too much
away, she hinted to Val and noticed her catch on to a possible match in the
making.

Val figured out what Poppy was doing and offered her own
observations. “She is very attractive,” she said, while nodding at the men.
“I’m sure she’ll get snatched up quickly, considering we’re unsure when more
brides will be called. Right now, it’s like a supercharged season of
The
Bachelorette
.”

Behyr quickly picked up his plate, taking it to the kitchen
bar. “I have business to attend to.” With a slight bow to the girls and then
Thorne he strode to the door. “I will see you tomorrow morning for our walk to
the med center, Poppy. Please contact me if you need anything later tonight
since I am unsure when Wheaton will be available,” he said as an afterthought
as he left.

The minute the door closed, the women grinned at each other,
bursting into giggles. Thorne sat, confused as to what had just happened.

“What is so funny?”

“Men. Men are funny. It seems it doesn’t matter if they’re
human or alien.” Poppy was still trying to control her giggles.

“Yes, they are. Did you see how quickly he lit out of here?
It was like his pants were on fire.” Valerie was still laughing and then
laughed harder when she noticed Thorne was still completely lost.

“Thorne, your face right now is funny. Let me explain to you
what just happened.” Taking her bottle of water and shaking it at him, Poppy
said, “I noticed Behyr and Hannah had some chemistry at lunch today. There was
quite a bit of heat between the two of them. I have a feeling that mentioning
the good doctors as possible competition was just the nudge he needed to make
his move.”

“Or he may have just had business to attend to.” Thorne
shook his head at the women.

“Okay, let me put it this way… If you found out that another
warrior was interested in Val, what would you do?” Poppy continued.

The expressions that ran across his face went from
understanding to anger quickly.

“That is not going to happen.” Biting out those words, he
put his arm around Val’s shoulder and squeezed.

An angry look came over Val’s face at that statement. “Are
you saying that another warrior would not be attracted to me?” she asked
tightly.

Judging by Thorne’s face, he must have realized how that had
sounded. He quickly sputtered out, “That is not what I am saying. I simply
meant that you are mine.”

By this point, Val and Thorne had created their own little
bubble and Poppy felt as if she were watching a soap opera. Wishing for
popcorn, she kept silent and waited for Val to respond to Thorne’s declaration.
This was better than Netflix.

“I’m yours?” Val asked with a teary but happy smile.

“Of course you are. I believe I have shown you that this
week.” He leaned closer to give her a soft kiss on the lips. “Multiple times.”

“Oh.” Val turned to Poppy and smiled widely, her eyes
sparkling with happiness. “We have to leave now.”

Poppy couldn’t help but give herself a little pat on the
back for helping that situation along.

“Yeah, I can see you totally need to leave,” she said with
an eyebrow wiggle that made Val and Thorne laugh. Poppy walked them to the
door.

With hugs to both of them, she took the moment to whisper into
Val’s ear, “You really should drop by the med center and see me soon.” Leaning
back to make sure that Val understood what she was saying, she was happy when
Val nodded back.

“I’ll try to come tomorrow. I’m going to talk to Thorne a
bit more and make sure we’re both on the same page. I’ll suggest he comes with
me just in case the tests are positive.”

Knowing that Thorne would want to be there if Val found out
she was pregnant made Poppy feel a moment of sadness. She had found out about
her baby without Wheaton there. It was a moment she would have loved to share
with him. Hell, there seemed to be a lot of things they were missing out on
considering he hadn’t been able to even join her tonight. The bonding time they
had once shared was no more and Poppy missed that. She missed their shared
dinners. During those times they had talked about her previous life on Earth or
things that were trivial, like movies or music. They had talked about subjects
that were unimportant but that at the same time were instances that made up who
they were as people. It was during those relaxed times that Poppy had felt able
to connect with Wheaton the most.