Page 74 of Sawoots Story

I give her a tight-lipped smile. “Anything.”

“We’ll have to holo-vid atleastonce a week. While drinking something that doesn’t taste like it’s half sawdust,” she says, swirling her cup and giving it the same look she did to Chris when he was in the loading bay awaiting his fate. “It’s going to be weird without my best friend. We’ll have to find a way to visit each other, too.”

“We will. For sure. Where do you think you’re going to settle down?”

Tasha shrugs. “Aelon still has two years left in his contract with Tarrion. But now that he retrieved the last of the Orbs from the mothership, he might switch the contract over to someone else to start life with me. We’ve heard good things about Kargoth’s security service. He’s another Independent Aurelian. Aelon speaks highly of him.”

The blast scattered Orbs far and wide, but there was no way Aelon wasn’t going to pick up every last one of them. It’s a testament to his crew that no Reavers went missing after picking them up, even though a single Orb is more than a decade’s salary.

Or maybe it’s a testament to Aelon’s fearsome reputation. Even domesticated, he would hunt them down to the ends of the universe.

That includes the biggest prize of all, the single Orb that powered the mothership’s engines. I didn’t even go look at it. I know it would have made me feel too uncomfortable. It’s a fortune way bigger than the one we initially set out to steal.

“That’s a lot of power. And a lot of wealth. Maybe it’s time for us all to retire,” I say, giving her a wry smile.

“If the universe lets us have peace. If Aelon’s right…” She looks away, worried. “Well, Orbs are already skyrocketing in price just in preparation of what might happen. Aelon says tensions between the traditionalists and Queen Jasmine’s empire have never been higher. I don’t like thinking about it. Bringing children into this world…”

Garrick also predicted the coming storm. Aurelians who want to go back to the Old Ways. Aurelians who hate to be ruled by a human queen, especially one who is fighting to give humans rights.

“If anyone can keep you and any children you might have safe, it’s Aelon.”

She smiles at me. “You’re right. We’re planning to terraform a planet, right in Wild Space, but on the border of the Human Alliance. I want to be as far as possible from the Aurelian Empire if it really does split in half. The equipment costs a fortune, and it’ll be a long labor, but we can turn a hunk of rock into a fertile, beautiful planet that can support life.”

“A long labor. I guess now we can think about centuries, and not decades. It’s a weird feeling. I think you’re going to create a beautiful oasis in the darkness of space.” I sit back down, trying to relax, but I’m tense, just waiting for the next thrum of the Bond.

“I still can’t believe we got through this. I’m going to miss you, Sawoot.”

“Hey, maybe you’ll end up settling on a planet near our station. Garrick’s docked about two weeks’ travel from here towards the Human Alliance. We’ll be able to do all your repairs, and I’ll even give you the friends and family discount,” I say with a wink, trying to keep cheerful.

When you go into a new phase of your life, you leave the old part behind.

I think that’s why Tasha sold theWayward Scythe, even though she doesn’t need the money. That time was a perilous freedom, never knowing what the future held.

The future’s still a mystery, but I’m glad to have three strong men at my side to face it.

2

Sawoot

Tasha cocks her head to the side, like she’d listening to a sound only she can hear. She stands up, pushing her half-finished cup away. “Aelon wants us to come to the mess hall. Ugh, and we barely got fifteen minutes alone. I’m going to spank him this time,” she laughs, and I admire that she has no resentment for him. She took a hard punishment in that same mess hall.

That…that my triad still hasn’t done to me. We’ve been so full of need we can’t pause for a second to do anything except fuck, but when Tar’ank pinches my nipples hard, I see the cruel gleam in his eyes. He wants to spank me, and whip me, and do the Gods know what else to me…

And I crave it. Deep down, I want to be their little toy, and the Bond is forcing those urges up.

I stretch, cracking my back, and get up wearily. Garrick and his triad are already returning to my mind, and they are walking towards the mess hall. It takes a constant effort to keep them out of my mind, and even then, it barely affects the Bond. “I wonder if I can ask them to kind of, block me out?”

Tasha thinks for a moment. “You know, the Bond seems to be less powerful with a bit of distance. I’ll probably have Aelon, Iunia and Vinicus take a week or so away from me, if I need a break. Think you could get your triad to leave you to go for a temporary adventure?”

I’m still in the honeymoon phase where, honestly, I don’t mind being close to them. I don’t like the idea of them going on some adventure without me, because adventures spell danger.

Still, I need some brief respite so I can think properly. It’s tough to form coherent thoughts when you’re in heat, which is the only way I can describe the power of the Bond. It amplifies every dirty urge you have until it almost takes you over.

I groan as I feel Garrick, Markrin and Tar’ank walking to the mess hall. Now I have to deal with three huge, sweaty Aurelians, and they’ll probably be in their workout clothes, just clinging to their muscles. Even without the Bond, it would be impossible to concentrate. I almost want to smack myself. I’m spoiled silly, and I’m complaining. If you talk to men in the bars on space stations, every woman orgasms multiple times every time they spend five minutes in the sack. Before I met Garrick’s triad, I’d never cum from sex, always needing to use my fingers to get myself over the edge.

Now my biggest complaint is being so utterly satisfied and turned on I can’t think.

“I’ll keep that in mind. Thanks for the advice, Tasha. Alright, well let’s go. I wouldn’t want you to get in trouble for being late—I saw what happened last time,” I say with a wink, and Tasha gives me a hard shove.

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