Chapter 17

17

"Will you stop fussing!" Jenna protested as Torren tried to fluff her pillow again.

"The healers said you needed to rest for at least another day." Torren finished what he was doing and then sat down next to her on a couch bigger than most of the rooms she'd lived in during her time on Earth.

"That's what they told you . Jodi said I was the best judge of when I was ready to be up and around. This is me, telling you, I am more than ready."

Two days at the med-clinic and another day sitting around her new home was enough to drive her to distraction. She'd never spent this much time sitting around, doing nothing. Even on the voyage here she'd kept busy studying languages, taking classes with the other women, and exercising to help her muscles prepare for Liberty's higher gravity.

"Why would they give us different instructions?" Zanyr stood by the window, his body highlighted by the rays of the setting sun.

"I thought that would be obvious. We were only in the second day of the sharhal when I got sick. Sure, the transfusion you did eased my symptoms, but there wasn't much they could do for the two of you. They were concerned your needs might make you rush me."

Torren growled. "They lied to us to make sure we didn't bed you too soon? Do they think so little of our control? I'm going to tie that bakaffa healer to a post and show him what it looks like when I lose control!"

"No, you won't, because I was always the one who had the final say, and I say I'm done waiting."

Both males straightened, their scales tightening in response. "You're sure?" Zanyr asked.

"Yes! Very. Totally. Utterly. Completely certain." She threw off the blanket she'd been nestled under since lunch. Zanyr had only come in from the fields a little while ago, which was why she'd waited this long. Now that they were both here, she was done waiting.

"You heard our ana-thi . She doesn't want to wait any more." Torren swept her into his arms so quickly she barely felt her feet leave the ground.

"Thank the ancestors." Zanyr had one foot up and was pulling off one of his socks while also attempting to undo his pants one-handed. It seemed they were done waiting, too.

Torren muscled past him and carried her up the stairs. They hadn't flown with her since the incident, but they had insisted on carrying her everywhere. Flying was something else she wanted to do again. Soon.

She really was recovered. In fact, she'd never felt this good in her life. It had taken the nanotech a full day to repair the damage done to her heart, but after that, her recovery had been amazingly swift.

At first, the healers thought she'd been poisoned. The truth only came out when her bloodwork revealed minute traces of a type of medi-bot no one had seen before. It was very similar to the ones the corporations used on their cyborgs, but it had been modified in several ways.

For one thing, it was so close a match to the standard technology that normal medi-bots wouldn't have recognized it as a threat. Even if she had taken the medi-bot treatment already, it wouldn't have saved her.

For another, it appeared the tech had a single purpose. Once activated, the miniature swarm attacked her cardiac muscles, starving them of blood flow and oxygen until the cells died. If Torren and Zanyr hadn't found her, she'd have died from what would have looked like a sudden heart attack. While uncommon for someone her age, it wasn't unheard of. Sanjin could have killed her, and no one would have realized it. Everyone assumed that was his plan. If things had gone the way he intended, he would have returned to the body and continued as usual.

The investigation was still ongoing, but they now knew at least two of the cloned abominations were in the colony. Sanjin was one, and Kabar, the one he referred to as his anrik , was the other. Kabar worked on the orbital platform, but records indicated he hadn't been down to the planet for several months. He met with Sanjin on his last trip to the planet. They had undergone the bonding ceremony, and then they'd never seen each other again.

Kabar's cabin had been destroyed with an acid bomb, denying investigators the chance to go through his things. He'd wiped his files, too, scrubbing them so well that not even Phaedra and her cyber-team had been able to recover anything. The body, or what was left of it, was sprawled on the floor in a tangle of limbs.

The digitized consciousnesses in control of the two clones had escaped, leaving Haven's citizens with more questions than answers. What little they did know did not bode well for the colony. They had been infiltrated by the enemy. Haven was under attack in the same way Sanjin had tried to kill her—from the inside.

Torren's kiss pulled her out of her thoughts and back to the present. "Come back to me, blossom."

"I'm here." She cupped his face in her hands and kissed him back. It was the same thing she'd been trying to say while she'd lain on the floor, fighting for her next breath. She'd heard them calling her, asking her to come back, to stay with them. She'd tried so hard to answer, but she hadn't been able to say it then.

"Good." Zanyr joined them. "I'd hate for you to miss this next bit."

She laughed and reached out to swat his shoulder. "I don't think this would work without me here."

Torren set her down by the bed and drew her into his arms while Zanyr moved in behind her. Once again she found herself sandwiched between her two males, only this time she knew exactly what would happen next.

They stripped her quickly, which turned out to be one of the advantages to the Vardarian style of clothing. "Easy access," they'd told her when she'd opened the box of new clothes they'd bought for her.

They didn't stop until all three of them were naked, their clothes piled up on the floor at their feet. She was caught between them, lost to a storm of sensation as they caressed and tasted every part of her they could reach.

One of them brushed a hand over the harani she now wore. They had waited for her to be ready before completing their claiming, but they hadn't been idle. First, they had presented her with a dagger. It was Torren's favorite, and the one he'd used to break the glass so they could reach her.

This morning, they'd exchanged armbands. A set of three, identical except in size. Three strands of gold were braided together, each of them with a stylized emblem of a falling star. The bands marked them as a mated trio, and the falling star was a way of reclaiming their past and forging it into something new.

"I like the way this looks on our female," Torren said.

"And the female likes it very much as well. But she likes the way the two of you wear yours even better. Now everyone will know you are claimed. Especially Tani."

Zanyr claimed her mouth with a kiss that left her breathless. "We should never have told you about that. I thought we agreed to never mention it again, Vex."

"You also promised to always tell me the truth," she reminded him.

"And we always will," Torren said, his mouth near her ear. "Now, truthfully, blossom. What do you need from us?"

She shivered as his voice slid across her skin and into her soul.

"I need you to claim me. To make me yours in every way. I want to give myself to you both."

"Oh, yes, mahaya . We will do that. And what will you give us?" Torren asked.

"Everything," she whispered. "Including my submission."

Both males growled, the sound rolling through her like thunder. They led her to the bed, helping her up onto the mattress and positioning her so she was kneeling on the bed. Torren moved behind her, his hands on her hips and the heavy length of his cock pressed against the swell of her ass.

He kissed his way up her spine as Zanyr slid into place beneath her, coaxing her legs apart until she was straddling his hips.

Zanyr reached up and back, and she heard a drawer open and then close again.

"What's that?" she asked as she spotted him holding a small vial.

" Uli oil. It will make everything more intense."

He poured a little onto one palm and then handed the vial to Torren. Zanyr rubbed it between his hands and then cupped her breasts, letting the oil slide over her skin.

She moaned at the exquisite sensation and then moaned again when Torren poured more of it over her back and buttocks. He stroked his fingers through the oil, drawing patterns of pleasure all over her body. When he reached between her legs she rocked backward, eager for his touch.

He teased her clit for a moment and then retreated, letting his fingers glide along the seam of her ass cheeks. "All you have to do is let us love you, blossom. Trust us with your pleasure."

"I will," the answer came easily, without doubt or reservation.

Both males groaned.

Zanyr took over pleasuring her clitoris while Torren slowly worked the oil into new places. It was unfamiliar but not unpleasant, and soon Jenna found herself rocking between their touch. In and out, back and forth. She found the rhythm of their dance and followed where they led her.

Zanyr claimed her first, replacing his fingers with the thick crown of his cock. She lowered herself over him, feeling him part her body as he slid into her depths with a shuddering growl.

She kissed him, drinking in the sound and reveling in the power she had over him at this moment.

When Torren pressed a finger inside her, she felt nothing but pleasure. When he added another, she followed his instructions and simply allowed herself to flow between them, finding new levels of ecstasy at every turn.

By the time Torren slid into her dark entrance, she was drunk with pleasure. All she could do was cling to Zanyr, her fingers gripping the sheets and her mouth mated to Zanyr's as the three of them moved together.

She was on the brink of release when they bit her, coordinating the movement through a link she'd be able to share with them soon.

Torren bit her on the shoulder while Zanyr sank his fangs into a spot on the side of her neck. The initial flash of pain transformed into such perfect pleasure that she came with a cry.

Tears fell from her eyes as she felt them reach their peaks in the next few seconds, their fangs still sunk into her flesh and their blood mingling with hers.

She already carried their nanotech, and she wore her harani with pride, but now she had something else of theirs. The bites would scar into mating marks. And she'd wear them for the rest of her life. Forever marked. Forever claimed. Forever theirs.

"I love you," she told them as they slowly eased themselves free of her body before collapsing on either side of her.

"And we love you," they said the words together.

Torren kissed away her tears. "No matter what threats may come our way, we will always be with you. You are our gift, and we will protect you, always."

Zanyr touched the symbol on her armband, his smile tender and his eyes alight with love. "Until the last star falls."

***