Where There is Hope [Taos Wolven Mates 2] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (3 page)

“Two minutes,” Braxton warned, looking at his watch.

Joran changed to his transport form. “I hope she stays out for a while. I had the stunner on low. I didn’t want to inadvertently hurt her.” He looked down at her as he shifted shape. He hated that he had to change, just to get her back to the ship, but he couldn’t transport in human form. It would kill him. Even with the wolven level of technology, their scientists still couldn’t build a transporter that would allow them to transport as a wolf or human.

He closed his eyes as a breeze carried her sweet scent to his nostrils.
I don’t know what it is about our mate, Braxton, but whatever it is I find I cannot resist her scent
. Hell, his cock already throbbed with the need for him to bury himself balls-deep inside her tight channel, between her full, pink lips or deep in her ass.

His wolf didn’t give a damn which hole he fucked, just so long as he made her his true mate as soon as possible.
My cock aches with the need to ride her hard
. He shook his head.
I should be thinking about how gentle we should be with her, not how badly my beast wants to pound into her tight pussy
.

Bright light surrounded them as Carella transported them back to their ship and he almost sighed with relief. He could shift shape again before she regained consciousness. They would remain on the ship until they fully mated. Carella still had the only bonding chamber around, and they needed the facilities to complete the union between them. Nothing on Earth could replace the ritual bathing chamber that Carella could provide.

“Welcome back, gentlemen.” There was a short pause as she no doubt assessed their mate’s health and the condition of their clothing. “I have taken the opportunity to provide dry clothing for all of you in your suite.”

Joran shifted back to his human form before Hope could wake up and start screaming at his monstrous appearance.

“Let me take her before you drop her,” Braxton said as he pulled her from his arms.

“Unfortunately, gentlemen, you cannot stay here with your female. However, you may return when you are prepared to use the bonding chamber.”

That was a surprise. Joran had been sure she would have wanted them to stay aboard until they bonded. He wanted to tell Carella they were ready to bond with the woman now, but even though his senses and his body told them she was their true mate he knew that, in the end, it was her choice and it was too soon for her.

Whether to bond or not was always up to the female. They couldn’t force her to fully mate with them. No matter how much in love the males were, or how desperate, they could never capture a female and force her to their will.

“We understand, Carella, though we would love another hot meal before we go back.”

“I’m sorry, gentlemen, but I must conserve my energy in case of an altercation. As it is, I can barely collect enough energy from my solar collectors for minimal operations. I must save the extra energy I have in case of attack or for bondings. I have radioed Taos for new energy stores, but they have not arrived as yet.”

Carella didn’t add that when she received the energy stores from the home world that more warriors would arrive with them, looking for mates. She didn’t have to.

“Then you should just transport us to the surface now instead of wasting energy on clothing for us.” Braxton leaned down and sniffed their mate, no doubt taking advantage of his position holding her to wallow in her scent. The lucky bastard.

“You should at least take the clothing set out for the female. She is not dressed appropriately for Serenity Falls.”

Braxton grinned. “Serenity Falls? So the alpha has finally settled on a name?”

“He did, and I approve.”

If Joran didn’t know better, he would have sworn there was an edge of pride to the computer’s voice.

A dress appeared before them on the floor. “I will recycle the clothing you gentlemen left and transport you from here. Wait one, while I make the calculations. You may want to change back into your transport forms.” It didn’t take long to shift for transport. Joran glanced at Braxton and noticed that Hope had begun to stir.

“Oh, shit.”

Hope awoke to a strange tingling sensation. Bright light surrounded her as she looked around. She felt suspended for a long moment before the strong arms holding her to a warm chest shifted and she realized someone held her.

What happened? Had she fainted? She continued to look around, but the bright light was too much. Closing her eyes, she rubbed them. Maybe the light would be gone by the time she tried to see again.

Dropping her hand from her face, she attempted to assess her surroundings. She could see again, however, she saw nothing but a farm house, barn and a chicken coop. With a frown, she looked at the person who held her, saw a monster, and screamed.

Fighting to get away from the beast that held her, Hope clawed and scratched, trying to get the creature to let her go. When the other stepped up and changed into one of the handsome men she’d met on the street, before her eyes, it was too much. Hope closed her eyes and prayed for the comfort of unconsciousness. It never came.

The creature handed her off to the other. “I know this is a bit overwhelming, Hope, but give us a chance. We’re really not all that bad,” he said as he turned and carried her into the large house.

“Put me down.”

He shook his head. “I don’t think so.”

“What”—she paused to lick her lips—“what do you want from me?” Did they plan to kill her? She thought of their monstrous forms and shuddered. “Are you going to eat me?”

The one who had introduced himself as Braxton chuckled. “Not in the way you imagine, I’m sure.”

Frowning again, Hope wondered exactly what he meant by that. He couldn’t mean anything sexual. She was almost old enough to be his mother, for God’s sake.

“How about I give you a short history of our people?” He set her down on a large rocking chair and moved away.

Hope looked around the barren room and shivered. Was she going into shock? “A short history?”

“Yes,” Braxton said with a nod and moved to lean against the mantel of the large fireplace that stood on the far wall. “Our people come from outer space.”

Hope barked a laugh then immediately covered her mouth. Did they really expect her to believe that? “I should have known aliens would fit into this somehow.”

Joran just stared at her for a moment then raised one perfectly arched, inky brow. “Tell us where on Earth we come from, Hope.”

Hope felt her mouth open and close a few times before she scowled. “Just go on with your story.”

“We are a dying race. We came here to Earth to try to repopulate our species through procreation with humans.” Pausing, he rubbed the bridge of his nose with his forefinger. “Several years ago, a few of us set out to find a world that had a species that was genetically compatible to ours. We found Earth.

“Truthfully, we were ecstatic. Humans have been the species of choice for our people to mate with for thousands of years, but we thought all humans were extinct.” Joran paused then looked at his friend as though asking for help, or perhaps offering the other a chance to add to the fantastic tale.
He moved to stand on the other side of the mantel.

“Over the years we have discovered that human males tend to posture and take what they want. There is no pleasing them. Sooner or later, they always pick a fight with a country, planet, or species with whom they cannot win.”

Hope snorted. “Isn’t that the truth?” She waved her arm. “Anyway…would you mind continuing, Braxton? Why can’t you mate with your own kind?”

“Because we are a dying species. The families who produce female offspring are few and scattered throughout the universe. We can’t all breed with the same females, not that there are even close to being enough of them.”

“So you look for humans to breed with to keep from inbreeding?” Good grief, these two could spin a fantastic tale. Maybe they should write it down and sell it.

Joran nodded. “Yes. It’s that simple. If we keep breeding with the only available females, sooner or later we will all be too closely related to procreate with each other. A few of our scientists discovered that inbreeding causes birth defects and mental disabilities.”

“Then that must be a universal constant. Inbreeding does the same thing here. Um…” She looked around the room with a frown. “We’re no longer on Earth?” This was all too fantastic. Hope rubbed her eyes, trying to remember what she’d seen before they brought her in here and set her down.

In her hysteria, her gaze had darted around, barely seeing the green grass and blue skies. She also saw what she could have sworn were chickens in a coop, next to the barn.

“Of course we’re still on Earth.” Braxton pointed toward the door on her right. “Did you not see the barn, the cows…the chickens?”

She looked back at the men and narrowed her eyes. “Okay. What did you give me?”

“I’m not certain I know what you mean.” Braxton frowned down at her, his green eyes seeming to bore into hers. “We gave you nothing.”

Joran reached into one of the strange packs they had carried and pulled out a dress. “We do have this to give you.” He held it up. “Did you mean this?”

“Drugs, damn it. What kind of drugs have you given me?” Geez, for a couple of men who claimed to be from some far-advanced world, they could be dense.

“We have given you no drugs, Hope.” Braxton pushed away from the mantle and moved to go look out the window.

“We admit that we stunned you with a weapon provided by the ship’s computer, but we have administered no drugs.”

“Baloney.” She licked her lips, wishing she had something to drink, but she wouldn’t dare ask them for a thing. They would probably drug her again. “Don’t give me that crap. I know you must have given me something to knock me out.”

“As Braxton said, we stunned you.” Joran moved to squat in front of her.

If the man thought he was going to get around her by squatting there, his muscles bulging while he batted those beautiful blue eyes at her, he was mistaken…At least she
hoped
he was mistaken. Surely she wouldn’t let good looks sway her, would she? If she did, she was no better than her ex-husband. The bastard.

There was no way she was giving in to the man just because he looked good. She clamped her mouth shut to keep herself from saying something stupid then closed her eyes when she inhaled his spicy scent. Did he have to smell as delicious as he looked?

Hope sat up straight, steeled her resolve and alternately looked them square in the eyes. “Then prove it.” Her gaze darted between them. “Show me this magical stun gun of yours.”

“We can’t. It’s still on the ship.”

“Then how did we get here?” Hope glanced around, making a note where the door and every shutter-covered window was at.

“Carella, the ship’s computer deposited us here after we took you from your world.”

“Ha!” She pointed at Braxton. “I caught you. You’re telling so many lies you’re already having a hard time keeping them straight.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about, Hope.”

“You said we were on Earth, then you tell me I was unconscious on your ship and your ship, that has a name”—she paused to frown at that—“
deposited
us here and we are no longer on my world.”

She glared at them. “Either way, one of you has to be lying to me. Either we’re on Earth or we aren’t, but I can’t be on Earth and still not on my world.”

“You are technically on your world, but you are not
in
your world.”

“I don’t understand what you mean by that.” She cocked her head. “What do you mean I’m not
in
my world?”

Braxton knelt in front of her. It looked as though he intended to rest his hand on her knee, but he pulled it back when she glared at him.

Hope pressed her lips together.
Good!
She wanted to give them the impression that if they so much as touched her again, they’d be pulling back a nub.

“I’m not sure what time we pulled you from, but I can tell you, where we are now, is not nearly so advanced as your world. This is Earth. I promise you, this is Earth, but this is not your time.”

Hope didn’t say anything to his fantastic tale. She merely looked at him as one brow rose slowly. As if she would ever believe such a tall tale.

“When our alpha found this place several years ago, we were ecstatic because we found a world with humans who had not advanced as so many others had on other worlds.” Joran moved to kneel in front of her as well. “Almost everyone on our world was happy at the discovery.”

“Almost everyone?” Hope wanted to hear more. Hell, if she ever got away from these two lunatics, maybe she could write this and make a fortune. Hell, as fantastic as this story was, maybe she’d get lucky and a movie studio would pick it up. She could be a one-book wonder and never have to work again in her lifetime. Then maybe her ex-husband would come crawling back for the money. Not that she’d have him, but it was a nice dream.

“There are some people on Taos, certain factions who believe that breeding outside our genome is tantamount to bestiality.”