Page 97 of Sawoots Story

“Take that damn thing off!” I complain, sitting on the couch next to Markrin. I’m leaning against the side of the couch while my legs are sprawled over him, and he rubs me, massaging me in places I didn’t know had tension. I haven’t felt him in his mind in hours. Even when I was napping in Garrick’s arms, he kept the ring on, wanting to have full control over his needs.

I’m in a light slip of a dress, and I can still feel Garrick and Tar’ank in me. I should be sore and barely able to walk, but the Bond’s changed me. It’s made me able to handle the rough matings of the alphas. The dress tantalizes my body as we sit in the dark. The mating urges abated after the warehouse, but it’s starting to come back, ever so gently.

I guess I shouldn’t complain. Even without the Bond, if you put me around three gorgeous, powerful, Greek gods of men, I’d be fucking them endlessly. There’s worse things in the universe than being surrounded by three alphas who crave you, desire you, need you more than life itself and would do anything to keep you safe.

“Come on, Markrin. Just for a bit.” I want to feel his aura in my mind. It’s a comforting presence. He’s the most in control of the three.

“But then we wouldn’t be relaxing and having such a nice night,” he says, slowly rubbing my calves. He worships my body with his touch. “I’d be lost to the Rage. I’d be fucking you like my little toy, and soon you’d be dripping my cum, exhausted and ready to sleep.”

I smile up at him. “That doesn’t sound too bad right now.”

He hushes me softly. “Let me enjoy you, for a while, before I give in.” I groan as his hands massage a knot out of my calf muscles.

I sigh, looking out at the majesty of space. “Life is so strange. One minute, I was fighting to survive. Now I’m here…and it’s all just a blur.”

“A good blur, I hope.”

My past is split up with jobs Tasha and I took. Smuggling goods across the border. Trying to warn Tasha not to take a deal with Rogue Aurelians, then saving her ass when she did. Bringing tools to embargoed stations, and supplying the rebels and independent minds who prefer adventure and risk to stability. We were making our fortune together.

Now, my memories have changed. Where before it was punctuated with heists, now it’s split between before and after my triad. Since I found them, my mind’s been drenched in lust as I succumb to be mated over and over again.

It’s bliss. Now it’s bliss I can handle, thanks to Larixa.

I look over at my handsome Aurelian. Markrin’s features, once too fine for my tastes, have grown on me. He’s the only man this good-looking who doesn’t have an ego the size of a planet. His hair flows nearly to his shoulders, luscious curls I can’t resist. I reach over, toying with one, smiling at him.

If I couldn’t feel the utter worship that flows through his aura to me constantly, I might feel self-conscious having a man who looks like a model obsessed with me. And Garrick and Tar’ank…they’re pure power, strong and intimidating, gorgeous enough to wet the panties of every woman on the station just walking past.

All this, and it’s all mine. I can barely believe how lucky I am. It’s surreal though. It’s a big difference to go from fighting for your life, with utter freedom, to being protected and cherished by three over-possessive aliens.

A dark look passes over Markrin’s face. “Don’t long too hard for the days of fighting to survive. They’re coming. Enjoy this calm before the storm.”

I gulp. There’s an allure to fighting for your life that seems a hell of a lot more romantic when you’re out of it. I can remember the cold tension of seeing Toad weapons locked in on theWayward Scythe, of not knowing if I’ll have another moment alive. It’s a dull terror, the opposite of everything good.

I sit up, pulling my legs from him, needing to snuggle in closer. He opens his arms with a smile, and I press against him, cuddling up. His rib pokes me. He’s the leanest of the three, all hard edges. “Ugh, you need to gain some weight,” I complain, though really I wouldn’t change anything about him.

He runs his fingers through my hair. “Shhhh,” he says gently, and I smile as the tension leaves me, just for a moment.

It’s too good to last. I see a shooting star, and instead of feeling wonder, my heart skips a beat as I think for a second it’s a Separatist Orb-Shifting in.

“Markrin…you don’t really believe the Prophecies, right?”

They’ve been at the back of my mind since my chat with Larixa. She has a good head on her shoulders, and I always saw her as analytical bordering on cynical. If she’s worried about some “great evil” that only a figment of the Priests’ imaginations can stop, it makes me uneasy.

He doesn’t speak for a full thirty seconds, and I regret asking. He massages my scalp slowly, and I wish I could just turn off my mind. I’m used to being able to read his thoughts, or at least his general emotions. Now that damn ring makes me feel so far from him, even when we’re together.

“We…” He clears his throat, stopping for a second to collect his thoughts. “We all spent a hundred years in service to the Aurelian Empire. The things I saw…” He trails off, lost in the memories. “In the army, you could tell there were plenty of triads who resented Queen Jasmine and the way she ruled. They called her soft. She changed a lot of policies, and they saw their Empire crumbling as planets chose to go Independent through her new rules, bucking off Aurelian rule.”

He considers his words, rubbing my scalp rhythmically, then his hands glide down to my shoulders. I cuddle up against him, loving the feel of his powerful physique designed to keep me safe and sound. “We have a lot of pride.”

“Don’t I know it,” I tease, trying to lighten the situation a little.

“But pride, when challenged, can become dangerous. The Priests gave them true pride again. They gave the feeling of power. There are many Aurelians who feel they should rule the entire universe. That the scheming Toads should be wiped out, and that humanity is better off under our thumb. That’s the allure of it.”

His hands stop on my shoulders, and I stare out at the endless depths of space, unable to fully relax. I’m always waiting for a hundred Reavers with the mark of Obsidian to appear at any second.

“I never really listened to the Priests. Our triad was never one for authority. We went our way. So I don’t know the prophecies that well. But they say this Obsidian will split the universe in two.”

My head twinges from a stress-headache as I put it together. “It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy. They can choose an Aurelian to call Obsidian, and the rest of them follow, splitting the universe in two in war.”

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