Sharing a Mate Read online

  Not that Sorin minded.

  I like it when we all touch together, he thought, frowning. But it’s never been sexual before. It’s just…a comfort thing.

  Which was honestly true. From the very beginning of their friendship when Sorin felt down or discouraged about something, Bron always seemed to sense it. How often had he put a consoling arm around Sorin’s shoulders or just given him one of his long, hard bear hugs that seemed to squeeze the sadness right out somehow? And when Kayla had joined their twosome and made it a threesome, the comfort and touching had become even more intense.

  Intense and pleasurable, Sorin admitted to himself. They had even shared a bed before, on several occasions when they had gone on expeditions to alien worlds together. There was always more to find—more to discover and since their interests and fields of study matched so perfectly, they would often be at their field work all day long and then fall into bed exhausted at night.

  And if the bed they happened to fall into was the same one because the inn they were staying at was full or the locals were hostile and they had to share the bed on their shuttle, well, none of them minded and nothing ever came of it.

  Sorin had woken up more than once with his head pillowed on Kayla soft breast while Bron rested on the other, or to feel her soft body cupped around his own, while Bron curled around her on the other side—the three of them like three spoons in a drawer. It had never bothered him a bit…but now he started to wonder about himself. Did he feel more for his friends—both of them—than a male ought to?

  Surely not, he told himself uneasily. It’s Kayla I want—Kayla we both want. We don’t all want to be together—that would be wrong. Unnatural.

  Which was true, he was sure. It was just that when they helped her with her needing together—when they shared her—things got…hazy. Lines got blurred. The pleasure of touching her when Bron was also touching her seemed to bring down barriers inside himself that Sorin had believed were unassailable.

  It was strange and troubling and yet the experience they’d just had together, the three of them, had been the most erotic sexual act of his life. And they hadn’t even had sex! They’d only helped Kayla with her needing.

  Sorin shook his head. He would have to think about this later. Right now, they needed information on how to proceed on Carnal Four and the entire Mother Ship was counting on their success. He forced his mind back to the matter at hand and looked at the holo-link again. What else could he do?

  Can’t believe we fucking did it again, Bron was thinking, as he piloted the ship closer to the center of the Carnal solar system. We shared Kayla between us—like we were fucking Twin Kindred. And neither of us seemed to feel any anger or went into Rage at all. Why the fuck did we do that? What in the Seven Hells is wrong with us?

  This unnatural behavior on the part of himself and his best friend concerned him far more than the fact that he and Sorin had touched shafts. Touching was natural to Bron—the act of seeking physical comfort or giving physical love to someone you cared for just seemed right. And Sorin was the friend of his heart—he had no problem sharing pleasure with the other male.

  You also apparently have no problem sharing a female with him, whispered a disapproving voice in his head. What would his father and his older brothers think of him if they knew he had allowed himself to become a cuckold—a male whose female is cheating on him sexually with another? Cheating was extremely rare in Kindred culture but not in the cultures they mixed with and Bron knew that was how his act of sharing Kayla with another male would be perceived by his male relatives. He would look weak to them—submissive for allowing Sorin to touch and pleasure the female he wanted.

  His mother might have understood—she had always told him to follow his heart—but his father would disown him if he found that his youngest son was doing such a thing. Not that he cared that much what his family thought, Bron told himself uneasily. He rarely got home to Rageron more than once a year, mostly during festival time.

  Once he had brought Sorin with him but the constant loud celebration hadn’t been to his friend’s tastes much. It was better when they struck out together—or even better, with Kayla—to explore someplace new and different and find samples of alien microbes and viruses to bring back to their lab.

  Just like we’re together now, Bron told himself. It’s just another fucking trip—think of it like that. And after we get the antidote to that damn Xi-46, Kayla will take it and either choose one of us or things will go back to normal.

  He honestly didn’t know which outcome he was hoping for. Having tasted Kayla’s sweet nipples and fingered her hot, wet pussy, he wanted to bond her to him more badly than ever. But at the same time, he didn’t want to lose Sorin, which he surely would if Kayla chose one of them over the other.

  If only we could keep sharing her, Bron found himself thinking and then pushed the thought quickly away. Beast Kindred didn’t share—ever. And he wasn’t going to start now, he told himself. It wasn’t natural or right.

  With that idea firmly in place, he got back to piloting.

  I can’t believe I acted that way, Kayla was thinking as she sat between them. She was wearing another one of her prim and proper business blouses although she knew before they went down to the planet’s surface, Sorin would synthesize culture-appropriate clothing for all of them on the portable clothing pattern replicator. Still, having on a long-sleeved blouse which was buttoned up to her neck and another slimming skirt which went down to her knees made her feel better somehow. Less…slutty.

  No, don’t go there, Kayla told herself firmly. It’s not like I was being slutty with a couple of strangers I met on the street. My two best friends were helping me get over a chemical reaction to an illegal aphrodisiac drug which it was not my fault I was exposed to.

  It sounded so much nicer that way—so much less guilt-inducing. But it couldn’t completely clear away the lingering shame she felt or the worry that came with it. The three of them were getting deeper and deeper into this new aspect of their relationship and so far Bron and Sorin had been willing to work together to help her—to share her. But Kayla knew that wouldn’t last. The minute she got the antidote and was cured of her sexual needing, they would expect her to pick one of them for good.

  And that’s going to break my heart, she thought sadly. It will break up our threesome—end our perfect friendship.

  And more than anything, she didn’t want that. She wished the three of them could keep living and laughing and loving and working together forever. Looking from one to the other of her guys, Kayla gave a soft sigh. Oh, why couldn’t they have been Twin Kindred?

  She knew some girls whose families were shocked and scandalized when they brought home two husbands instead of one. But her Auntie Feenie was surprisingly open-minded and her sister would have laughed and congratulated her. Everything would have been perfect if Sorin and Bron were the type of Kindred who shared…instead of the kind who fought to death over a female if they both wanted her.

  Oh please, Kayla half thought/half prayed, although she had no idea who she was praying to. Please—there has to be a way to keep us together. I don’t want to lose either one of them—I love them both so much!

  “We’re here.” Bron’s deep, rumbling voice pulled her out of her silent reflection.

  Kayla looked on the viewscreen and saw a wild-looking, rainbow colored world spinning in space beneath them. It looked like a huge, glittering disco ball with every color imaginable swirling over its surface.

  “Whoa,” she breathed, leaning forward. “What the hell?”

  “The coloration is due to harmless pigments in their atmosphere,” Sorin reported. “Apparently they have a mild aphrodisiac effect.”

  “What?” Kayla demanded. “Damn it, I’m already under the influence of one aphrodisiac—I don’t need anything else on top of the Xi-46!”

  “The effects are supposed to be extremely mild,” Sorin assured her. “They don’t really make anyone aroused. They just…h
elp lower inhibitions.”

  “Good to know I won’t be walking around with a fucking hard-on the whole time we’re down there,” Bron growled.

  “That’s debatable, knowing you,” Sorin said dryly, which made Bron and Kayla laugh. “Anyway,” he went on, “The chemicals in the atmosphere are one reason Carnal Four has a huge tourism industry.” He looked at Kayla. “It’s what you humans might call ‘a party planet.’”

  “That actually sounds really interesting,” Kayla remarked. “I wish we were here on one of our regular weekend trips instead of on a life and death mission with the entire Mother Ship depending on us.”

  “I don’t know that it’s life and death, exactly,” Bron rumbled thoughtfully. “I mean, what happens if we don’t find an antidote? Everybody on the Mother Ship just keeps fucking and sucking their brains out—what’s so bad about that?”

  “Bron!” Kayla and Sorin said together.

  He shrugged. “What? Tell me I’m fucking wrong.”

  “It’s more serious than just everybody having a lot of sex and you know it,” Kayla said, frowning. “Think about all the unmated girls like me who are going through confusing, extremely stressful experiences because they ended up with a guy they basically didn’t even know—or maybe only barely knew or just worked with. I’m lucky I had the two of you to help me—what would I have done if I had been out in the common area near the Unmated Males section when the Xi-46 hit?”

  “You mean if you’d had to turn to another male besides Bron and me to help with your needing?” Sorin sounded extremely disturbed at the thought and a low growl rose in Bron’s thick throat.

  “If any other male laid a finger on you, small one, Sorin and I would rip him limb from limb,” he promised thickly.

  “I would have torn his throat out with my fangs.” Sorin’s voice was quiet but intense and his pale blue eyes flashed with emotion. “While Bron broke both his legs. That’s a promise.”

  “Damn, it just got dark in here!” Kayla shivered at their bloodthirsty words. “That’s pretty rough, guys.”

  “Can’t help it,” Bron muttered. “Just the thought of you with another male, baby…it makes me fucking crazy.”

  “I feel the same,” Sorin admitted. “You shouldn’t be with anyone else but Bron or me.”

  “Well, I don’t want to be with anyone else except the two of you,” Kayla exclaimed. “We’re getting way off topic here, though. I was just trying to point out that the crisis on the Mother Ship—‘The Great Needing’—is serious business. We cannot fail. And not just because I need the antidote too.”

  Sorin sighed heavily. “I suppose when you get it and you’re cured of your needings, then you’ll have to make your choice.”

  “Of course she will,” Bron growled irritably. “What else can she do?”

  “Oh no, you don’t!” Kayla raised one finger warningly. “Don’t be starting that up again. You two worked together perfectly to…” She cleared her throat, her cheeks getting hot. “To help me just now. And I want you to keep working together until we see this through. No more talk about me choosing—not one word, okay?”

  Sorin nodded reluctantly. “All right.”

  “Agreed,” Bron said, frowning. “Look, if we’re finished talking, I’m going to call for clearance to land.”

  “And I need to get some native costumes ready for us to wear,” Sorin said, folding away his holo-link and getting up. “Apparently their solstice festival is going on in the region where the Lust Blossoms grow—their version of your human Christmas,” he added, speaking to Kayla.

  She sighed. “I wonder if the three of us will get home for Christmas? It’s coming up soon, you know. So is the anniversary of our first meeting—at the Science Department Christmas party, remember?”

  “Of course we remember the moment you walked into our lives, sweetheart,” Sorin murmured. “You were so beautiful—I think both our hearts stopped.” He looked at Bron, who nodded.

  “Fucking thud—the minute I saw you, baby.”

  Kayla wasn’t sure what to say so she decided to be honest.

  “I was attracted to you guys right away too,” she admitted in a low voice. “But I could tell you were a matched set. I didn’t want to break up the team.”

  “You’re not, Kayla. Not yet, anyway. And I wish…not ever.” Sorin reached for her hand, then pulled back and looked at Bron. “Bron, I’d like to kiss our lady’s hand. Would you take her other so I don’t shock her?”

  “Of course.” In sync as always, they both reached for her at once. Bron took her left hand and Sorin her right.

  “Leelah,” he murmured and pressed her fingers to his lips, as he was fond of doing. Bron gave her a sweet, soft kiss on her palm—his whiskers tickled her and Kayla felt her heart swell for both of them.

  “You two are going to make me cry,” she accused them, hearing the hitch in her voice.

  “No crying before an expedition!” Bron exclaimed jovially. “It’s time to land and get ready to meet the natives.”

  “I wonder if they’ll all be high or horny?” Kayla said, smiling.

  “Let’s hope for both,” Sorin said dryly. “It will be much easier to get what we’re looking for if we don’t encounter too much resistance.”

  “Here’s hoping for drug-impaired, emotionally-open people,” Kayla laughed.

  “From your lips to the Goddess’s ears,” Bron growled. “Landing now—Sorin, you’d better get our new clothes ready.”

  “On it.” The two of them dropped her hands at the exact same moment and Kayla watched as the multicolored planet grew larger in the viewscreen.

  Carnal Four, here we come!

  Nine

  “How come you guys get to be decently covered and I have to dress like this?” Kayla complained, looking from one to the other of her guys and then back down at herself.

  She was wearing a strange looking contraption made of thin, gold metal wires that spiraled over her bare breasts, hiding approximately nothing. It was like someone had put her boobs in a cage so everyone could look at them. The wire was cold which made her nipples stick out and with only a thin loop of wire around each one, they were clearly visible.

  At least I’m not leaking that damn nectar stuff anymore, Kayla thought. But it was still damn embarrassing.

  Below the gold metal boob-cage was a long skirt made of gold lame-type material which rode low on her hips and was split both in front and back—all the way up. Which meant that the tiny golden panties Sorin had synthesized for her were clearly visible with every step. Her shoes were loopy golden Roman-type sandals that laced all the way to the knees. They were comfortable enough but certainly wouldn’t provide much protection for her toes if they went someplace crowded.

  In contrast Bron and Sorin were wearing black trousers not unlike the flight leathers they always wore except for the fact that they had on some kind of short, black loincloth-looking things hanging over their crotches. They were shirtless but each of them had feathers in his hair—scarlet for Bron and pale blue for Sorin. Also, Sorin had a short, stubby black pencil in one hand and he was attempting to outline Bron’s golden eyes with it.

  “You think we’re decent, huh?” the big Beast Kindred growled, glaring at her. “Well, have a look at this.”

  He twitched the black loincloth to one side and Kayla saw that the trousers he had on were crotchless. His thick shaft and heavy balls were completely on display the moment the cloth was moved.

  “And I’m wearing the same thing,” Sorin assured her as Bron smoothed the loincloth back into place. “Will you hold still, Bron? How am I supposed to get the khol on your eyes without smearing if you keep moving?”

  Kayla bit back a laugh.

  “I take it back—none of us is decent. I look like She-rah, queen of the sex kittens and you guys look like two of the Village People.”

  “The who?” Bron growled. He was obviously having a hard time holding still while Sorin worked on him.

  “A gr
oup of musicians from the 1970s, I believe,” the Blood Kindred said, as he made another attempt to line Bron’s right eye. “They all dressed flamboyantly and, uh…sang about the joys of having sexual relations with other males.”

  “What?” Bron demanded irritably. “Ouch! You poked me in the fucking eye, Sorin!”

  “Here, let me help.” Kayla came over and took the liner pencil from the Blood Kindred. “Now sit down,” she told Bron, pushing him down to the side of the bed. “I can’t reach you otherwise. And Sorin, touch me while I do this so I don’t get shocked.”

  Grumbling, Bron submitted to her ministrations as Sorin obligingly sat on the floor behind her and looped one hand casually around her calf.

  “At least I have a good view from here,” the Beast Kindred remarked, eyeing the metal contraption around her breasts and her clearly displayed nipples. “Damn, Kayla—you’re going to turn this stupid cloth I’m wearing into a fucking tent.”

  “Bron!” Kayla protested as she carefully lined both his golden eyes.

  “Sorry, baby. It’s just, you look so damn gorgeous in that get-up. Makes me fucking hard.” Bron shifted on the bed, adjusting his thick shaft beneath the black loincloth.

  Kayla had to admit that her guys looked pretty amazing in their outfits too. Their broad, muscular chests were mouth-watering to look at and the black liner around their eyes made them look wild and fierce.

  She made Sorin sit down while Bron kept one big hand on her hip and touched up his liner as well.

  “Do I have to put some on too?” she asked as she finished.

  “No—only males wear the khol,” Sorin answered, blinking rapidly, as though he was trying to get used to the makeup around his eyes. “It’s supposed to give them sharper vision to find a female to mate with.” He frowned. “I don’t say bond with because there is no bonding in the Carnal culture. They are a poly-amorous society with fluidly shifting groups of sexual partners called ‘pods’. Individuals drift in and out of these pods as the mood suits them.”