Delivered to the Aliens: Cosmic Connections (9 page)

Zan kissed her breasts. His lips left a glistening trail. Her skin lit up where they touched. He kneaded her breasts, teasing the pink nubs mercilessly. Sophia sagged against him. She was wet and ready. She needed Zan’s cock. And Alton’s cock.

Alton’s mouth explored the curves of her ass, spreading her cheeks apart. One clever hand went to her pussy. His touch tingled as he stroked and parted her folds. Fire and electricity played over her body. She moaned in delight.

He pulled her onto the ground, onto all fours. She felt his cock push against her entrance. She reached under to rub her clit. Zan knocked her hand away, replacing it with his own.

“That’s mine now,” he said. “Mine to touch. Mine to please you with.” She nearly came at his primal, raw words.

Alton pushed into her slowly, inch by inch, stretching her. “She’s so hot and tight,” he told Zan. He stroked in shallow. Sophia pushed back, trying to get as much of his length as she could.

Zan knelt in front of Sophia, working his long, hard cock in his hand.

“Isn’t our mate beautiful?”

“Yes,” Zan said, locking eyes with her. “Fuck her faster.”

Alton picked up the pace but his strokes remained gentle. He pushed deeply into her but did not slam into her walls. His grip on her hips was tender. He sat back on his heels into a kneeling position and pulled Sophia onto his lap. The new angle hit the perfect place and it was too much.

“My mate,” he snarled, lifting her on his cock and thrusting into her. “I.”

Another thrust.

“Love.”

Another thrust, balls slapping against her pussy.

“You.”

A hard slam, her core clenching around his member. Bliss spread throughout her over heated, overly sensitive body. She wanted to return the sentiment, to tell Alton that she had fallen in love with his eager, open nature, but the words didn’t leave her tongue. Instead her pussy throbbed at his words, gripping him tightly.

She neared her release but Alton wasn’t going to let her go, not just yet. He deliberately slowed, his voice a growl. “Alton, please. I need—”

“What do you need, mate?” Descended fangs garbled his speech.

“I need to come.” Desperation made her voice ragged.

He roared, sinking his fangs exactly where he indicated her would mark her. He bit deep. Sophia didn’t feel any pain. A warm euphoria spread through her and her head lolled to one side. Alton nuzzled at the mark, licking clean the wound.

“Come to me, Sophia,” Zan said, lifting her. Alton released her.

Zan settled onto his back and positioned her above his cock. She sank slowly down onto his thick cock, sighing in pleasure. Zan filled her in a different way but it was just as good. She rolled her hips, letting his hard length work in and out of her. He cupped her breasts, squeezing hard, sending a new wave of delight coursing through her. Her mouth sought his, kissing him frantically.

He growled and rolled her onto her back. Her thighs spread wide, he hitched her legs to his shoulders, opening her for the deepest penetration. He planted an arm on either side of her head and thrust hard into her. His pace was wild and rough.

Alton stretched next to her. He stroked her hair and whispered words of encouragement. “Isn’t our mate beautiful?”

Zan grunted in agreement.

“We’re going to share your sweetness every morning. Drink every drop of your honey.”

Her core clenched.

“Our mate likes the dirty talk,” Zan said. She moaned to confirm. Her release was close. She could almost touch it. Zan’s cock swelled and throbbed. He was close, too.

“Claim me,” she cried, on the brink. Every stroke in was a pleasure filled torture.

Zan howled, pinned her to the ground under his weight. He sank his fangs into the other shoulder. Again the warm bliss surged through her as her own climax broke. Her hips bucked, her core gripping his cock tight as he pumped his seed deep into her.

Finally, she stilled. Her breath evened out.

“You’re mine now,
asali
,” Zan growled into her ear. She shivered in response. Yes. The two warriors were her mates now, for better or worse.

***

The comm unit beeped.

“What’s that?” Sophia asked in a sleepy voice. Those devices had terrible timing.

“Better head back. Storm’s rolling in,” Alton said. He immediately sprang up to gather the remains of their picnic.

“It’s just a little rain,” she said. She dressed, baffled at the speed at which her mates moved.

Her mates.

Sophia rubbed the tender spots on her neck. It was official now. They no longer had a marriage-on-paper but a marriage-in-fact.

“It’s not the rain that’s the problem,” Zan said. “It’s the microbursts.” Sophia shook her head. “It’s a windstorm. You don’t want to be caught outside. The wind will knock you flat to the ground.”

“If you’re lucky,” Alton said. “Lightweights like you might go flying. The trouble is after the storm. The wind and the erosion uncover mornclaw eggs, which hatch in the sun.”

“Storms always mean a day of cleaning up mornclaws,” Zan added.

“How long does a storm last?”

“Usually a solid day.”

An entire day of wind and rain, followed by an aggressive bug infestation. She could see why Corra had a problem attracting settlers.

Chapter Thirteen

Sophia

The storm arrived just as they reached the house. Zan took the horses to the stable and Alton rounded up the animals into the barn. Sophia carried the remains of the picnic into the house. A wall of ominous clouds darkened the horizon. A cold, damp wind swept across the plains.

If anything, they understated the power of the storm. Winds howled around the stone house and Sophia realized why it built of stone and not wood. The windows rattled in the frames. The doors creaked and groaned. The lights flickered.

She slept poorly between her mates, listening to the storm. When morning arrived, the sky remained dark and the storm continued.

“Don’t worry. The generator is in the attic. We won’t lose power,” Alton said when she glanced nervously at the ceiling.

“I don’t believe you.”

He shrugged and went back to reading. Sophia tried to focus on her own book but every noise made her jump.

Zan somehow managed to nap. He stretched out in front of the fireplace. The storm brought a dramatic drop in temperature. The house went from sweltering to chilly in less than an hour. The fire filled the living room with a comforting glow and pleasing warmth.

The lights flickered again.

“So the generator’s in the attic, which is where we keep the cooling unit Zan can’t fix?” Sophia asked.

“I’m asleep, not deaf,” Zan said from the floor. His tail thumped against the rug and he stretched out a hand to her. “Come visit me, mate, and whisper your sweet insults in my ear.”

Sophia shook her head, knowing an obvious trap when she saw one.

An alarm sounded.

“Shit.” Alton and Zan were at the monitoring station in a heartbeat.

“Mornclaw. Bit early,” Zan said.

Alton shrugged. “The bugs don’t exactly keep to a schedule. Suit up.”

Her mates gave her strict instructions not to leave the house. The raging storm outside was no place for a Terran.

“What if another alarm goes off?”

“Stay inside. Nothing can breach the house,” Alton said, planting a kiss on her forehead.

Zan handed her the baseball bat. “I know it makes you feel better.” His kiss was hungry and possessive.

Outfitted in their armor and weapons, they dwarfed Sophia and seemed larger than life. They revealed themselves as the fierce warriors they truly were. Sophia understood in that moment that the easy-going ranchers were their disguise, an outfit to wear when they wanted to relax. They were always warriors.

Sophia lingered in the monitoring room. Alton and Zan’s conversation came through the comm. They didn’t speak to her but it reassured her to hear their voices. Listening to them was better than listening to the wind howl.

She flipped through the monitors. Cameras kept a constant watch on the homestead. The barn was locked tight and secure, likewise the supply shed. Nothing happening at the front or the back of the house. When she flipped to the greenhouse, the monitor flickered before filling with static. Sophia frowned at the screen before thumping the monitor on the side. The image flickered again before going black. Great. There was something wrong in the greenhouse and neither Alton nor Zan was home.

She reached for the baseball bat and prepared to go out in the storm. Sophia was a woman of action and a woman of science.

At the door, she hesitated. Alton and Zan told her to stay put. The storm was dangerous. She weighed the consequences of disobeying her husbands (a spanking) versus the consequences of not investigating the greenhouse (potential disaster). Whatever knocked out the monitoring system might be able to knock out the shielding. Alton said the house could not lose power but the lights flickered with the stronger gusts. The situation in the greenhouse could be bad news. Major bad news. She needed to know.

The distance between the back door and the greenhouse was only a few feet but in the driving rain, it stretched on like forever. Sharp needles of freezing rain bit into her skin. She tucked her head down, water pouring down her face, and ran in the direction of the greenhouse.

The wind banged open the door. Sophia ran inside and pushed it closed.

Rain pounded on the glass dome. The cacophony of sound filled the greenhouse. Motion sensors activated the lighting. Row after row of tidy hydroponic greenery snapped into illumination.

Sophia crept down the center aisle. Nothing appeared to be obviously wrong. Perhaps the wind interfered with the video link. Then, at the far end of the dome, Sophia saw it.

Shattered glass. Rain poured in through the hole.

The tempered material wasn’t really glass, she knew. It was the same material Aldrin One used for view ports. Wind and rain could not shatter it. It would take a starship hitting it at full force to crack the glass. Then what the hell broke into the greenhouse?

Sophia crouched down, inspecting the glass. No odor or residue. If there was an explosive used, the rain washed it away.

Something white under the leafy green vegetation caught her eye. She leaned forward and brushed back a leaf. A large sac spun from wispy cottony material pulsed. Something nasty inside wanted out.

Oh hell no.

House. Now.

She jumped up, bat knocking into the pods. She couldn’t hear anything in the storm and imagined subtle sounds like claws digging into dirt. She ran to the door and into a wall of solid muscle.

“What are you doing out here?” Alton asked.

She pointed to the back, unable to form words.

He moved faster than her eyes could perceive, charged plasma weapons hitting the egg sacs. High pitched squeals pierced through the drone of the pounding rain. He dispatched the mornclaw hatchlings quickly and efficiently. No motion was wasted. Every graceful movement had a purpose. Sophia watched her mate with admiration and growing desire. And this was a male who couldn’t dance.

Alton kicked at the singed egg sac, frowning.

“You did not stay in the house where it is safe,” he said. A dark, thunderous expression rolled across his face. Sophia had never seen him angry before. It terrified her to have her easy-going mate full of wrath.

“There was something wrong,” she replied weakly.

“So you went to investigate? You? A single, unarmed Terran female?” He stalked toward her, each step punctuating his anger.

She nodded, dumbly, backing away from him.

“What what would you have done if the egg hatched?” Close enough to reach her now, he grabbed her waist and pulled her him. He stared down at her. Sophia was suddenly aware that he was a predator who had prey in his sights. There was a food chain and her place was at the bottom. Lightning flashed, jaggedly illuminating his face and horns against the night, reminding her that her husbands were aliens and she was very much out of her element.

“I had a bat,” she said, raising the instrument to demonstrate.

A smile cracked his serious expression. Just like that, her amiable Alton replaced the dangerous Corravian warrior. He pulled her into a tight embrace. The bat dropped to the ground.

“Please,
asali
, we do not have rules to be cruel. They are for your safety. It would destroy us to lose you.”

“I know,” she said. Her voice wavered with emotion. Her cheeks flushed with shame. Zan would have taken her over his knee to drive home the point. She would have preferred it. The terrified, broken expression on Alton’s handsome face was worse than a spanking.

He lifted her, cradling her to his chest. She peered at the shattered glass on the ground over his shoulder as they left the greenhouse. Someone broke the unbreakable glass. Someone let the monster in.

Zan

Zan was beside himself. He paced the length of their shared bedroom, unsure how to expend his frantic energy. He wanted to rage at Sophia for her foolish risk. He wanted to lock her away so he’d protect her forever from danger. He wanted to kneel at her feet, wrap his arms around her waist, press his face into her pussy and breathe deep, reassuring himself that she was still with him.

Sophia sat on the edge of the bed, arms folded over her chest. She wasn’t in the mood to entertain any of his wants, so he chose to yell.

“What were you thinking! We told you to stay in the house! Inside the shield.”

“I wanted to help!” Her volume matched his. If he thought to cow her with shouting, he was mistaken. His mate had iron in her spine. A little shouting wouldn’t intimidate her.

He’d be proud if he weren’t so damn furious.

“Help! By doing what?”

“I don’t know. Something. Anything. I’m not useless!” She threw her hands in the air in frustration.

Useless? Zan’s anger softened. This had nothing to do with her being defiant and foolish and everything to do with Esterlin’s bitter, poisonous words.

“You’re not useless,” he said.

Sophia huffed.

“You’re not. You’re our mate.”

“And what have I done in the week I’ve been here? I’ve cleaned. Alton cooks. You won’t let me leave the house. I’m bored, Zan. I need to do something.”

“We’ll find a solution,” he said readily. “Soon you will grow with our child. That will keep you busy.”

She jumped up from the bed, hands clenched tight in a fist. “That’s all I’m good for? Fucking and making babies?” Her finger jabbed him in the center of his chest. Clearly he said the wrong thing, even if it was true. Even if he loved the way her skin flushed pink in anger, her lips extra kissable.

“Calm yourself, woman,” he said.

“No, you don’t understand.” She ran a hand through her short hair.

“Explain it to me then.”

“I need to work.”

Now she made less sense. Sophia did not need to work. She did not need to do anything. Her mates would provide for her.

“This is a farm, right?” she asked. “And the animals here. Are they pets?”

“No. That’s silly.”

“So the animals here serve a purpose.” Zan nodded. Sophia continued, “I’m like that. I need to serve a purpose. I need to work. I’m going crazy staying here doing nothing.”

“What work did you do before you came to Corra?”

“I’m certified to teach science.”

“The school was closed years ago. Not enough students. Now it’s over the comm network.”

Sophia made a noise of disgust in her throat, not impressed by the lack of a local school system.

Zan scratched the base of his horn. “Miri is always complaining that she needs help at the cafe. Perhaps we can talk to her the next time we go into the settlement.”

Sophia rewarded him with a radiant smile. “That sounds great.”

Argument over. This mate thing was easy. Zan wasn’t sure what the older Braces went on about. They made pleasing their mate sound complicated.

Amateurs.