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  Too soon they stopped suckling, easing away from the bites with slow licks and lingering kisses. They drew back and stared at her with shining bronzy gold eyes. She’d never felt so exposed and cherished in her life.

  Chapter Five

  Mikel could barely restrain himself. He had no idea how Felix was able to be so calm, even though he knew the pleasant expression on his bondmate’s face was a façade hiding the same roil of excitement and lust he was suppressing. Their commanding officer had no idea how heightened their feelings were at this moment. The necessity of being separated from their newly-found bondmate was agonizing but gave equal pleasure at the prospect of returning to her very soon for a joyful reunion. They’d reluctantly left her side two hours before to report in, and thinking of how beautiful she was as she’d reclined naked on the bed and watched them dress in uniform was firing his imagination and his staff.

  “So, according to my reports, all the security checks you’ve coordinated have shown compliance rates of nearly eighty-five percent.” Ivar’s voice droned, and Mikel allowed himself a brief fantasy of Alisa flinging herself at him when he opened the door to the apartment. Or being clad only in a transparent piece of cloth that she’d slowly lower and reveal her juicy quonum. Or perhaps she’d be naked on all fours, tilting her bare buttocks up for them to entice them into—

  “What about the camera feeds on the northernmost perimeter of the equipment bay?” Their commander’s sharp question snapped him out of his reverie as quickly as Felix’s quick crack along his thigh. Shifting in the chair and hoping his erection wasn’t too obvious, he fumbled for what to say.

  “Commandant, pardon my bondmate. He’s lost in thought. I confess I’m not at full capacity myself.” Felix smiled, a rueful quirk on his lips.

  “What ails you?”

  Mikel drew in a deep breath and decided not to open his mouth, sure something incriminating or embarrassing would hop out. He might be deep in the throes of fresh bonding and sexual satisfaction, but knew there was no need to broadcast such things in the office.

  “We are bonded with our mate.” Felix sighed, his smile widening even as his eyes took on a dreamy cast. “She is finally ours, and she possesses our hearts as well.”

  “What are you talking about? I have you set for Alpha and a pure woman of equally elevated lineage.”

  “Alisa is pure. Her skin is unblemished, and her eyes are clear,” Mikel said, unwilling to have anyone, even his commander, impugn her.

  “And her temperament is as sweet as a child’s candy,” Felix added, slightly untruthfully in Mikel’s opinion.

  Ivar rolled his chair back from the clear surface of his desk and narrowed his eyes as he considered them. “You can’t be bonded to a human.”

  “We are, and it’s a state I highly recommend,” Felix said, and Mikel nodded quick agreement. Perhaps that’s what Offen needed. He had no bondmate for whatever reason, and the company of a kind and gentle woman would surely improve his outlook. “All the tales are true, and we feel her moods and strength even as our own.”

  It was true, Mikel was coming to recognize the lighter tone of Alisa’s emotions joining Felix’s in his mind. That psychic bond, and the fabled physical power that accompanied it, was growing with every moment they spent in her company. Mikel had been so energized after parting from Alisa and her tender kisses that he’d had to scale a few walls on their way over to the administration building to relieve some of the excess energy. He couldn’t wait to get back to her.

  Ivar shook his head once and flexed his hands against the surface of the desk. “I set no store in such ridiculous legends. This is merely a temporary condition. I’ve seen it before. Fine young warriors flush with triumph after bedding a human for the first time. Equal parts hormone and ego, both of which fade in time.”

  “No, sir. This is a bond. We stake our lives on it,” Felix shot back, daring to refute their commander.

  “You young men and your dramas. Just do what you need to relieve your amorous inclinations and spare me the details.” Commandant Offen shook his head, and Mikel wondered anew at his commander’s lack of interest in love. “Soon enough you’ll be rotated back to Alpha and this episode will become merely a remembered souvenir of your time on Earth.”

  “We have already initiated our petition for her emigration to Alpha. We filed before coming to your office, sir,” Mikel said. They’d also applied to the residence commander for her inclusion in their dwelling census, but he had a feeling Ivar would be equally outraged by that, so best not to mention it.

  “You what? Without consulting me? I would never have given my permission for such a foolish endeavor! Do you have any idea what you’ve done?” Now the commandant had risen from his seat, anger clouding his features.

  Mikel glanced at his bondmate to find Felix still calm, at least on the outside.

  “Sir, our personal lives are not yours to command.”

  Mikel sucked in a breath, amazed by Felix’s cool defiance.

  “Your personal lives reflect on me and are certainly a matter that should be conducted with more strategy and seriousness that some fling with some promiscuous, conniving human.” Ivar stood to his full height and sucked in a breath through his nose. Unable to stop himself, Mikel also stood, his blood heating at the terrible insult to Alisa.

  “Alisa is no schemer, sir. She was reluctant to even see us initially—”

  His eyebrows rose. “Surely you’re not talking about that female you had with you at the forest? The plump one?”

  “Certainly we are. Who else could it be but Alisa Sorrel?” Mikel stared into his commander’s flashing eyes, not seeing the man as anyone other than someone who was casting a slur upon his bondmate. Alisa was curvy and soft, hardly plump. The cool rage of incipient combat tightened his limbs and sharpened his senses. A few more words and he would be defending her honor, no matter the antagonist’s rank or inevitable discipline to follow. His hands tightened into fists, and he reveled in the sensation of the muscles of his back and arms flexing and gathering to deliver precise and powerful blows. The other man seemed to sense his growing temper, and he set his lips together in a disapproving line.

  “Mikel of the Tauride, I will keep in mind that you are not quite yourself, as testified by your bondmate. I will excuse your temerity in this one instance. If you ever give me a hint of such defiance again, you will be demoted to groundskeeper on the Shardis moon encampment.”

  Mikel had been so focused on Ivar and his provoking words he hadn’t noticed Felix had also risen from his chair and was standing at his shoulder. Certainty radiated from his bondmate, and Mikel told himself to calm down and not cause trouble for either of his bondmates by inciting an incident that would result in incarceration. He wanted no reinforced bars separating him from his family.

  “Sir, I would beg your leave. We could do with a walk in the fresh air.”

  Commandant Offen glared like he wanted to tear another strip of hide from Mikel, but he finally relented and nodded agreement.

  “Dismissed. I hope my initial assessment of you as men with potential was not in error. Take some time to consider what your hasty actions have endangered.”

  Dizzy with the unreleased desire to destroy his commander, Mikel allowed Felix to guide him from the office and out into the hallway. When they’d walked a fair distance away from Ivar’s door, Felix pushed him up against the wall and leaned in, staring at him with concern.

  “Did you really almost strike our superior officer? Mikel, we need to retain our rank in order to protect Alisa when we return to Alpha. How will we fare in a challenge if we are deprived of our comrades’ support?”

  With a rush of shame, Mikel realized his bondmate was entirely correct. Without the support of their cohort at the claiming ceremony, it would be easy for ranking officers of a rival house to overwhelm him and Felix in a challenge or steal Alisa away in the night. How would any man be able to resist the urge to have her once they spied her?

 
“I wish for Alisa to be bonded to respected officers and enjoy the privileges that entails. I know she would love us even if we were shiftless layabouts, but we have to give her every opportunity. Give our child, if we are so blessed, every advantage a good reputation can provide.”

  Mikel nodded agreement, shaken to his core by the idea of a baby. They needed to provide for her and would do that best by staying the course in their career. That welcome obligation burned in him like a miniature sun. He would act with utter subservience to their commanding officer in all their future encounters.

  “You are right, Felix. I will behave better in the future.”

  “See that you do,” his bondmate said with a quick smile, peace restored. “Now, let us go. I wish to stop in a few shops before we return to her.”

  ****

  “What am I supposed to do with this?” Alisa knew her tone was bordering on annoyed, but hoped the smile she couldn’t keep from her lips would soften it. She was sitting in the middle of the bed, surrounded by opened bags and boxes that had contained all sorts of gifts from Felix and Mikel. A fur cape, several soft dresses, stockings, an extravagant bouquet of bright yellow chrysanthemums, a set of brushes, combs, and manicure tools, and now several flimsy items of lingerie in vivid colors she never would have chosen for herself. In fact, the undergarments were so complicated by tiny straps and clasps she wasn’t feigning her confusion in that regard. The men had arrived a few minutes before, laden with the purchases and full of excited anticipation.

  They both lounged around her as she opened the wealth of gifts, their delight in giving pretty things to her apparent in their grins and quick descriptions of how they’d selected each item.

  “You wear it, of course,” Felix replied in apparent surprise as he snagged a tiny pair of panties and stretched them on his fingers, the scarlet lace stretching against his golden skin. “We described you to the salesclerk and she assured us these would fit, but of course we can return them.”

  “We also wished to buy you some boots, but you will have to try those on,” Mikel added as he reached out for the underwear’s matching tank. “Will this be too loose, I wonder? Alisa, you are so small, we worried they wouldn’t have anything to fit you properly.”

  Were these men for real? They thought she was small? Alisa considered them anew. Compared to the tall and muscular Alphans, she was of course petite, but her full hips and thighs, combined with a generous rear and breasts, had always tipped her into the overly-endowed category.

  “Try these on for us,” Felix said, his voice lowering into a throaty purr as he extended the red lace her way. A sudden flare of warm arousal rushed through her veins and gathered in her pussy. They’d been gone for hours, and she’d stayed in their apartment at their invitation, knowing she was waiting for them to return and fuck her again, no matter how she tried to tell herself she was merely tired and wanted to rest. Mikel handed his contribution over to her with a knowing quirk of his full lips. Flushing, she scrambled from the bed, well aware they were watching her. Seduction wasn’t her strong suit, but even she knew that she should retire to the bathroom to slip on the lingerie and emerge with the provocative clothes already in place rather than strip and shimmy into them in plain sight.

  Once she was concealed in the bathroom, she took a quick look at herself in the bathroom mirror. Her hair was mussed, her cheeks flaming red, and her eyes were bright. Not for the first time, she wondered what Mikel and Felix had seen in her, still saw in her even after her flaws and awkwardness had been revealed. Taking in a deep breath, she turned away from her reflection. It didn’t matter what she thought. They wanted her, and she wanted them, a desire that went deeper than any eye color or curve of jaw.

  With a quick shuffle, she had her dress off and hung on a hook by the door, to be joined by her bra. When she pulled off her panties she flushed anew when she found they were wet, her body already anxious for their attention. The lace on the tank was soft but still managed to snag and pull at her distended nipples as she pulled it down her torso. The matching underwear barely covered her curls and definitely allowed more of her ass to show than any of her other panties ever had. Everything was see-through, and she pulled at the stretchy material, wondering if they’d like what she was so frankly displaying. Of course they’d like it. They’d bought these things for that express purpose. Another flush of arousal and trepidation bloomed on her skin as she opened the door.

  Both men were seated on the bed, feet on the floor and elbows braced on their knees as they watched her emerge. Their eyes narrowed simultaneously, and she was again reminded of the stories about bondmates thinking and reacting as one. Was she bonding with them? Would that explain her willingness to join them in bed? Her growing need to be near them and interact with them outside it?

  “Alisa, you are perfect,” Felix breathed out as he held out a hand to beckon her closer. She stepped his way, halting a meter from them. Mikel sighed and ran his gaze up and down her body.

  “We are going back to that store tomorrow and buying more of these. And the other ones with the leather laces. Felix wasn’t sure if you’d like them, but I know I will. They also had little mechanical devices intended to vibrate and stimulate.” Mikel slid to his knees at her feet and cupped one hand around her ass as he kissed her hip, then caught up the edge of the panty in his teeth. Her pussy clenched. “Would you like us to purchase some of those as well?”

  She swallowed past a suddenly thick throat. They’d had no trouble bringing her to amazing orgasms before, but who was she to deprive them of the opportunity to experiment with some new tools? “Sure.”

  Felix nodded his head and leaned back on the bed all while keeping his molten gold eyes on her and his bondmate. Mikel bit at the stretchy fabric, then suddenly released it from his mouth, and it contracted with a snap back to her flesh. She jumped and reached out to press her hand on his head for balance. His hair was warm, thick, and surprisingly soft to the touch, and she dug her fingertips in.

  “Stroke his horns,” Felix said in a low voice, “especially around the base.”

  “That feels good?” Alisa searched around Mikel’s scalp with both hands and was soon circling her fingers around the fold of skin that ringed each horn. He shivered and growled into her belly. Clenching his fingers into the curves of her ass, he knelt lower and pressed his hot mouth to her pussy, his lips and tongue pushing at the material that separated him from his target. Her legs wobbled, and she closed her eyes, relishing the feel of skin, hair, and horn, accepting the thrusts of a warm tongue to her quivering clit.

  “Come to bed,” Felix commanded, and she groggily regarded him. He’d shed his clothes, and she stared at his thick cock, swollen and reddened with desire for her. With a few stumbles, she made her way to him, and he reached out to cup her breasts, his fingers pulling the material tight over her, making her engorged nipples prod through the lace. He guided her over his body until she was straddling his head. He stared up at her and traced his fingers along the edge of the elastic.

  With a slight frown, he pulled at the underwear, stretching the material to the side to reveal her pussy. He sucked in a deep breath through his nose and opened his mouth as she watched him. His fangs were revealed, sharp and white, and she trembled, wondering if he was going to bite her labia, pierce her clit in some Alphan sex-marking tradition. Instead, Felix leaned his head up and pressed his mouth to the sensitive skin where her inner thigh met her groin. His fangs scraped against the vein that pulsed there, and she sighed out a groan. Warm hands met her shoulders, and she leaned back into Mikel’s bulging arms as he kissed her neck from behind.

  “Are you going to bite me again?”

  “May we?” Felix punctuated his request with a long, decadent lick of her soaked pussy. She jolted, and would have lost her perch atop him without the support of his bondmate.

  “It’s not required, but I find myself yearning for it,” Mikel said against her throat, and she reached back to thread her fingers into his h
air, again finding a horn to stroke. “It’s difficult to suppress when my tesak have descended, just as it is hard to stay away from you when my staff is so rigid.”

  He bumped his hips against her, and his thick cock slid along her back. Yes, she wanted that, she wanted Felix, she wanted their fangs in her body as much as she wanted their tongues, fingers, and cocks. With their every touch she was falling further and faster into complete affinity with them. It was both frightening and wonderful.

  “Then do it.” She’d barely wheezed out permission before they both latched on, their warm and wet mouths framing the twin tearing of teeth into her pulse points. They drew in her blood, their fingers clutching at her flesh and holding her immobile to their need. Her muscles shuddered as if she’d been running for miles. As Felix kissed the mark he’d made, he rubbed his fingertips along her pussy, sliding them along, barely penetrating her and then withdrawing to run them along the sides of her quivering clit. She tensed, close to climax, and strained back, gripping Mikel’s horn hard enough to twist his head and make him grunt into her neck.

  “Not yet,” he huffed against her damp skin. Mikel wrapped his hands around her waist and lifted her away from Felix, who had also pulled away from the tiny bite marks on her thigh. He kept easing his fingers against her as his bondmate positioned her over Felix’s hips. Felix tore the panties to the side. His cockhead slid along her slippery flesh, and she gave herself over to it, to them. Closing her eyes and relaxing, she reveled in the sensation of all those big hands on her thighs, between her legs, the press and sudden give of her body as the warm, thick cock penetrated her. A loud sigh escaped her, and she rocked her hips, angling herself so her clit was bumping against Felix. Fingertips stroked her cheek, and she looked up to see Mikel kneeling at her side, his erect cock mere centimeters from her mouth. He had a question in his eyes, one she was happy to answer.