Authors: Angela Castle
“
We don’t have a brig.” Loc frowned at Zeb.
“
I’ll fucking build one if I have to.”
Raz lifted his hands in surrender. “I won’t argue, as
the end goal will result in Celeste being ours, and round with our young. Do
you think we’ll get twin daughters, too?”
Zeb rolled his eyes. “Focus on what’s important
first.”
“
Yes, like how do we go about healing her and making her
see herself as we do, utterly beautiful?” Kue slipped into the long bench seat,
waiting.
“
Exactly, and I have an idea on how we can do that.”
“
So, mighty commander,” Raz sat down next to Kue.
“What’s your big plan to win our Celestial beauty?”
This time Zeb let his smile slip. “She’s not Demos, so
we’re going to take that into account. We don’t have to act according to Demos
courting rules, so we can use completely different tactics.” Zeb nodded to Loc.
“Best take a seat, brother, and listen.”
Chapter Six
Celeste sat up at the sound of knocking at her door.
She’d been drifting on the brink of consciousness, the comfortable warm bed
making it too easy for her to fall into dreamless sleep, unlike the rock hard
cave and cage floor she’d been forced to sleep on in the past few weeks. She
wasn’t exactly sure how long it had been since she’d been taken from Earth. The
knocking sounded again, so she pulled the red sheet from the bed as she stood
up, tucking it around her body, and moved to the door. At least they showed
they cared enough to knock rather than barge in. It was their ship, and they
could do whatever they wanted, if they wanted. She reached for the door
release, and it slid open to reveal one of the brothers. It took her a moment
to realize it was Kue. His hair was swept back as if he always used his hand
for a comb, and there was kindness in his eyes. He held a bundle of clothes in
his hands, but as his eyes swept down her sheet covered body, the look changed,
and he audibly swallowed.
“
I uh, these, um, for you.” He shoved the clothes at
her. “Your brief is in ten minutes in the meal room.” He took a step back, his
eyes returning to meet hers. She bit down on her bottom lip, to stop herself
from gasping at the raw carnal heat in his eyes, as if he wanted to pounce and
devour her.
Does he really see me as
beautiful and desire me?
What had he said again? She shook her head trying to
remember why he’d come.
Oh, yes.
“Um,
a brief?” Confusion ran through her.
“
You’re a part of our crew now, and are expected to
help around this old ship. Zeb wants to brief you on your duties.”
She blinked in surprise. Did she expect to laze about
and do nothing? Of course not. His request was very sensible, but what kind of
work she was expected to do, knowing nothing about this species’ technology?
“
Thank you, Kue, I’ll be there.”
He nodded and reached for the door panel. It slid
shut, and she stared down at the grey and black fabric in her hands, lifting it
up to let it hang down. It appeared to be some kind of overalls, and in her
size.
Well then, she’d best not keep them waiting. She
hurried into the small bathroom to clean up, a small excited thrill running
through her. It would be good to feel helpful for once, rather than helpless.
Zeb was waiting for her, hands behind his back,
military stance. He nodded as she entered. Nerves made her belly flutter as she
came to stand before him.
His golden gaze swept down her length and the cosy fit
of her one piece work clothes.
“
Good to see the clothes Kue modulated fit you. How did
you rest?”
Fit me
. She fought not to roll her eyes. The suit pushed up
her breasts a fair bit, giving her a deep cleavage. The rest clung, exploiting
all her lumps and bumps, yet Zeb’s smile was one of pure approval.
Eh, men. Focus, this is my chance to be
helpful for a change.
“
Um, very good, thank you. Kue said you wanted to brief
me?”
He lifted his eyes from her cleavage to meet hers, his
expression now one of serious intent. “Yes, I did, but first let me apologies,
for myself and for my brothers’ poor behaviour towards you earlier. Believe me,
it will not happen again.”
She blinked in puzzlement and couldn’t help but
question. “It won’t? Uh, I mean you’ve been nothing but kind to me, and as for
your brothers and the kisses.” Heat rushed into her cheeks at the word. “It
was, uh okay, no harm done.”
“
Nevertheless, none of them should have touched you
without your direct consent. Do not misunderstand my words, Celeste. They want
to touch you, kiss you and do more, but unless you want us to, we will refrain.
You are now under my command and like my brothers will obey orders.” It wasn’t
the first time she’d heard the “we” part. Granted, before, with her being only
female on the ship, her suspicion grew, and she figured there was more to the
“we” business than she first thought.
“
Uh, what do you mean, we?”
“
Demos quads do everything together. We are bonded; we
do and share everything, including lovers.”
“
Share, as in you share four other women?”
“
No, it’s always been one quad unit to one female.” His
face was perfectly stoic as if he was quite used to delivering this kind of
news to alien women.
Right, four big hulking men to make love to one single
female.
Me? Oh, no, no, no.
Gee,
their women must be built tough to handle it. A chill ran down her spine, mixed
emotions of both fear and excitement swirling inside her head. The thought took
root in her mind, four sets of hands touching her, four sensual mouths kissing
her, four hard bodies with four long, hard…
Oh God, don’t go
there, don’t go there!
Still her mind wandered. What would it be like to have
these yummy, if somewhat crazy, alien men, touching her? Heck, how did that
even work?
She swallowed and stamped down the thought, trying to
control the flutter in her lower belly.
“
Uh, okay.”
“
I’m glad we have that matter cleared up. Now it is
time to eat, before your first shift with Kue. He shall take you on a tour of
our ship and explain what we do. Then you will be assisting him with the repair
of the ship’s circuitry system.”
“
But I don’t know anything about your technology. How
can
I
—”
“
He will teach you what you need to know.” Zeb’s tone
held finality. Here was the commander used to being obeyed and not questioned.
“Once Kue is finished with you for the day, you are to eat and rest, before
your next shift with Raz. You will take a work rotation with each of us until
the ship is repaired and ready to leave. But I have one stipulation you are to
obey.”
“
Of course.” She waited, even more excited to get to
learn and work with the brothers.
“
If at any time you feel tired, or the work is too
much, you are to tell the one you are working with. No hiding the truth, no
pretending. If you have questions, ask. We work as a team on this ship and hold
no secrets from each other, and we expect the same from you.”
No secrets.
The command startled her. She blinked and answered
with an automated reply. “Yes, sir.” Immediate guilt swamped her. There were so
many deep, dark secrets she held within. She dropped her eyes, suddenly scared
his piercing golden gaze would see straight though her.
“
Good, and, Celeste…”
She glanced up at the surprising and sudden gentleness
in his tone, her eyes meeting his golden ones.
“
Believe it or not, there is one thing we never do. We
never lie. You are beautiful to us, and we do want you, but only when
you
are ready.”
She blinked at his words as his tone turned back into
the commanding officer. He’d already turned away, marching across the room to
the food making machine, leaving her mouth gaping in surprise.
“
Come here, Celeste. I will show you how to operate the
food modulation unit.”
****
“
I don’t like this. It goes against everything we’ve
been taught.” Raz stepped over the Jorval wreckage and into the ship, once
again, watching his older brother’s back as he stepped over jagged metal. Zeb
didn’t respond, his gaze fixed on his little beeping monitor. From birth it had
been drummed into them by their fathers, then their tutors, and even training
through the Demos military, that females were to be cherished, protected,
looked after, and pleased no matter the cost. Their future lay in pleasing
Demos females so they could breed the future generation of Demos.
Zeb having Celeste join the crew and working like a
common Demos male, it felt—wrong. They should be pampering her, spoiling her,
and slowly seducing her so they could finally touch and kiss every inch of her
creamy skin, before sinking his rod deep into her soft body. He wanted to watch
her rise to her peak and scream out his name. Would it be very different from a
Demos female? How many males did it take to bring her to her peak? Rumour back
on Galafrax was that it was less than the required team effort of four
brothers.
Zeb snapped his fingers in front of Raz’s face. Raz
scowled at his brother as the image of a peaking Celeste vanished from his mind.
“Focus on the job, not your rod, Raz.
Humans are not Demos, and they are from a singular society. My plan will
work. You know we’ve had to adapt
to
many different
situations, with different missions. Letting her help us is no different. We
shall watch her carefully so she does not tire.”
“
What made you such an expert on humans, let alone
human females?”
“
Unlike some, I actually read the new reports from our
planet, instead of spending all my time in the meal room gaining weight.”
Raz snorted at Zeb’s implication that all he did was
eat. “I’m a finer specimen of Demos male, brother. I’ve been training more than
you.”
“
Fucking the sex droid isn’t training.” They picked
their way back through the wreckage to the engine room, attaching lifting
beacons to certain parts of the bulkhead as they went.
“
You’re just grumpy because you haven’t been using it
at all.”
Zeb, in his usual manner, ignored him, focusing on
their job. Retrieving a full Jorval ship wreckage was an opportunity they
weren’t going to pass up. Raz knew Zeb had his eye on the prize hidden within
the ship. If they could remove the space folder and the coordinates to the
human planet, it would fetch a high price back on Galafrax, and also put the
Jorval at a great disadvantage.
“
The goal of having Celeste working with us is that she
grows comfortable and accepts us. It will help her find her place and value in
herself.”
Raz sighed, knowing his brother’s point was more than
valid. He’d blown it, becoming frustrated at how poorly Celeste saw herself compared
to how they saw her. But the memory of her soft lips and body pressed into his
didn’t help the cause of trying to keep his body under control. He seriously
doubted it ever would be until they could pleasure her properly. Sadly, it was
one of the rules, no touching until she granted them permission. But it didn’t
mean they couldn’t use words, glances, and other ways to convince and seduce
her.
“
She is beautiful.”
In
more ways than one.
Zeb nodded and placed another lift node on a structure
beam. “I know, and we will help her see it, even it if it takes us the rest of
our lifetime. I admit when I was wrong. Unlike
Nazzara.
I know things will be very different with Celeste. It
will be … better.”
Better was an understatement. It was going to be
fucking fantastic, he was certain. Raz slapped his brother on the shoulder,
liking the fact that already Celeste was bringing back their brotherhood bond,
uniting them in a singular goal. To make Celeste theirs, forever.
Chapter Seven
Celeste had no idea how she was going to survive
without combusting. Relentless was the only word she could find to describe the
brothers over the last few days. Praise flowed freely at her efforts to absorb
and retain all they taught. Kindness and patience if she made a mistake. She
crawled through pipes and assisted in realigning glowing alien ship circuits.
She helped Raz scrub the huge cylinders on the outside of the ship, even if he
did ask every few seconds if she was tired, or was doing too much. When any of
the brothers worked, they stripped off their tops, and she had no choice but to
watch. It was hard not to drool over hard, candy red, muscular male physiques,
bending and flexing, stretching and sweating. Couple those with caring natures
and sexy smiles, and she was fighting a losing battle. Volcanoes had nothing on
her hot flushes and the fluttering in her lower belly. She didn’t even want to
think about the dampness between her thighs. It didn’t take a genius in biology
to realize her arousal around these men grew with each sweaty, hardworking
encounter.
This was coupled with Zeb’s words playing over and
over in the back of her mind. Four fine muscled sexy red men, one woman.
They could all be
mine.
No, don’t be
stupid.
She fought the idea, even if it refused to leave her.
Despite her internal combustion, she was feeling more
at ease around them, now that they’d stopped their direct sexual advances. She
got the feeling it was difficult for them to treat her as equal instead of a
frail female. Raz especially tried to make her take breaks, asking her to fetch
water or a snack instead of the hard scrubbing the outer ship blasters needed.
He also had an outrageous ego on him, boasting how he was the best looking quad
on all of Galafrax, and that he worked out more and was in prime physical
condition, despite his age.
She helpfully reminded him he would be the same age as
his quad brothers. He retorted she was worse than Kue, who always pointed out
the obvious.
Kue was so sweet. His worried frown quickly became
proud smiles as she worked with him in the ships command centre, learning the
tools he used. It wasn’t too much of an effort at all to crawl in the smaller
spaces under his supervision and run the instruments over the glowing blue,
red, and green wires.
She’d giggled at Kue’s confused expression when she
whooped at her success, making the panel above her light up. She’s crawled out
and lifted her hand for a high-five. Once he’d understood, and gently
responded, he’d passed the knowledge on.
Until every little success was high-fived.
Loc was chatty, down in the engine room, with
spaceship grease smudged on his and other parts of his delicious body, making
him rugged and all the more appealing to her. He talked about life on his home
planet, the large Qui buildings, which seemed by his description to be in the
shape of pyramids. He told her about quads with families, who lived in units,
and a wife was called a
sheraz
. She
finally understood what the word meant. Remembering when they’d talked about
having her as their
sheraz
.
Wife, they want me
as their wife?
“
Hey, are you all right?”
She blinked to find Loc standing over her. She shook
off her reverie and smiled. “I’m wonderful, thanks.”
“
You didn’t look okay just a moment ago.”
“
Oh, I was just thinking.”
He arched an expectant eyebrow, clearly expecting her
to share her thoughts.
No secrets.
Zeb’s words blared in her mine like a horn. She stared
at him for a long moment. Did she trust him, them,
enough
to share her inner thoughts? She’d never really trusted anyone before.
Perhaps it’s time I started. Even after a
rocky start, they have shown nothing but steady, honest kindness.
“
I was just thinking about past few days, and what you
said just before.”
Loc’s grin was lopsided and roguish. “I said a lot of
things in the past few hours, beauty. Which part is on your mind most?”
“
How does it all work?” Heat moved up into her face.
“With one wife, do you, uh, take turns?”
He didn’t laugh or mock her, just a nod of regard as
he pulled his ever present rag from his back pocket. He cleaned his hands
before moving forward and wiping away something from her face. “There, still a
beauty, even with engine dirt.” She felt her blush deepening at his flattery.
“Hey, don’t feel uneasy. We’re here to help, and you shouldn’t feel any shame
in asking us anything. It’s a sensible question.” He took a step back and
leaned against the bulkhead, his head tilted in thought. “For the first time,
with a female who has allowed us to pleasure her, our custom is to pleasure her
starting with the eldest to youngest.” He swept his hand from left to right.
“Then it’s anyone’s game after that, but Demos females are rather different
from human ones.”
Her curiosity caught, she straightened, her blush
fading. “How different?” The thought ran through her mind that they must be
very beautiful red skinned Amazon women. How would she ever measure up?
“
Their skin is thicker and less sensitive, so it takes
the effort of every quad brother to pleasure her and bring her to her peak.”
Ah, so that is the
difference.
She couldn’t and didn’t want
to imagine how that worked. She thought for a moment. “I remember Zeb said you
have human women living on your planet. How does that work, uh, with them?”
Loc shrugged. “From all the reports and rumours, very
well. Human females are highly desired as they are easy to pleasure. But I
can’t speak from experience.” His lips turned up into a mischievous grin. “That
is of course unless you want to give it a go, you and us.”
She remembered Raz’s words from a few days ago.
Human females are rare and more treasured on
our planet than even our own females.
The heat crept back into her cheeks, and she was sure
her face could match their skin colour.
“
I love the way your skin shades. I, of course, won’t
touch or do anything without your permission, so have no fear.”
She shook her
head, feeling enough at ease with Loc to give a little back. “That didn’t stop
you a few days ago.”
“
True, but knowing my oldest brother as I do, he really
will build a brig and shove me in it for a whole month.”
Laughter bubbled up and broke free. “I think you’re
right. He does come across very stern sometimes. But I am grateful also, for
everything he and all you have done.”
“
Then will you believe me when I say, none of us like
seeing you sad, pretty. As much as we want to pleasure you, it matters more
that you find some peace and happiness while with us.”
She nodded, her heart a mix of warring emotions, and
of wanting to open up more about herself to these, well, truly wonderful men.
Already, by letting her learn and be useful, they had made her feel so much
better and trust them so much more. She met Loc’s golden eyes.
“
Words hold little meaning to me. Anyone can say they
love and make promises they don’t intend to keep.” Cynical, yes, she didn’t
believe in real love. It was a fairytale fantasy, made up by romance authors
and movie directors.
“
So how do we measure up so far?”
“
I’d have to say … better than anyone I’ve ever known …
so far.” She knew her words revealed a lot. For one, she still didn’t fully
trust them, but at the same time their actions were speaking to her louder than
words. From the thoughtful distance in Loc’s eyes, she was certain he
understood. They were very astute Demos men.
He moved away from the wall. “Well, apprentice
engineer, what do you say we go raid the food modulator?”
She laughed, glad he’d not pressed the subject. “How
does one raid the food modulator?”
“
Trust me, with Raz’s appetite, I’m always surprised we
have any particles left to modulate anything.”
She took his offered hand as he climbed the ladder out
of the pit first. She liked how he easily lifted her, no grunts or even looking
winded. The more she got to know the brothers the more her heart softened
towards them.
****
Zeb heard her laughter before he reached the meal
room. The door slid open, and he paused to take in the sight. Celeste’s
beautiful, rich brown hair was free from its bindings, and it flowed down her
back. She sat next to Kue, with Raz and Loc seated on the other side.
“
What he says is complete lies. I never set fire to the
Kalan’s tail. It was a simple accident—after all it got in the way of my
disruptor.” Raz’s unrepentant smirk clearly set her off. Her whole body shook,
and she grabbed onto Kue’s arm for support as she howled with laughter.
Zeb smiled as his brother laughed with her. Now this
was as it should be. Such a change in only a few days, clearly she felt at ease
among them, and pride swelled in his chest to see how much more self-confidence
she had. It made her all the more beautiful. Loc spotted Zeb standing by the door,
nodding in greeting. Celeste’s laughter died to little giggles as she caught
the direction of Loc’s gaze and turned in her seat.
Zeb prided himself on his firm self-control, but
seeing the radiance of her smile, he felt his control slipping. He clenched his
hands and drew in a deep breath to stop himself from marching across the meal
room, pulling her into his arms and kissing her senseless. More than anything
he wanted her under him, moaning and writhing in pleasure as he sank his rod
between her soft thighs.
She must have caught his carnal gaze as her smile fell
and she quickly glanced away. Raz raised a “what the fuck” eyebrow at him as he
moved into the room heading for the meal modulator, feeling less than five feet
tall for his wayward thoughts.
Zeb had led them on countless missions, and this
current mission of helping Celeste find her self-confidence was working
perfectly. How by the Ice Plains was he to get her to accept them as more than
just friends? He doubted blurting out their intent would help. It would just
scare her again and make her retreat. Zeb barked out his meal choice to the
machine and waited.
Kue picked up the conversation. “Not all those days
were fun and games, but we all survived.”
“
Why scrap salvaging? You’re clearly very smart. Were
there not other, better jobs you could do?”
“
At the time we had many offers, but we wanted
something away from being at the command of others. This old freight was an
opportunity for a sort of freedom,” Kue answered.
“
That makes sense. I sure know what it feel like to be
ordered around like a useless—I mean, I kind of know what you mean, being at
someone else’s mercy.”
Zeb’s grip on his food tray tightened upon hearing
Celeste’s words. He glanced at his brothers, wanting to know whose mercy she’d
been subjected to. He wanted to tear apart the ones who had made her feel ugly
and worthless. None of the brothers pushed her for more than what she offered.
Raz grinned at her, mischief in his eyes as he glanced
at Zeb. “If not for our choice, lovely, then I wouldn’t have had the pleasure
of seeing Zeb finally knocked down to size.”
Zeb grunted, rolling his eyes.
“
Those two,” Loc put in pointing between Raz and Zeb,
“have been trying to better each other in combat since we entered Galafraxian
military training, while we were young.”
Curiosity filled her gaze as she glanced up at him,
making his gut clench. Keeping his composure he shoved at Raz to make him slide
along the bench.
“
Combat?”
“
We all have different skills. We are evaluated in our
strengths in training, and we work on those strengths until we become the best.
It was unfortunate that both Zeb and Raz excelled in hand to hand combat.”
“
That can’t be all you excelled in? What about you, Loc
and Kue? What did you excel in?”
“
Um, well weapons technology, and spatial engineering,”
Loc offered first.
“
Not a ship in the galaxy I can’t fly, and I majored in
biology,” Kue said.
“
Hand to
hand combat and interspecies relations.” Raz shrugged.
“
Combat tactics and leadership,” Zeb rounded off.
Her brow dipped in a little cute frown. “Are you some
kind of crack SWAT team or something?”
“
SWAT?” They all asked at once
“
Special Weapons and Tactics. They do things like
confronting heavily armed criminals, perform hostage rescues, breaking into
armoured or barricaded buildings and arresting the worst of worst human
criminals.”