Punishing Their Mate: A Dark Alien Romance Novella: Tharan Warrior Menage Book 3 Read online

  Chapter Two

  Rhynn

  Now is a perfect time. Yes, Brother, let’s tell her.

  He was lying on his side on the bed, supported on one elbow, with Cass between them. Leaning over, he brushed aside the curtain of golden hair falling across her face. “Cass, my love?”

  She lifted her head from where she’d pillowed it on her brother’s chest and gave him a dazzling smile. “Yes. That was absolutely the best one I’ve ever had.”

  He smiled back. “You say that every time we make you come. I enjoy hearing it, but that’s not what I was going to ask you.”

  “What is it?”

  “Have you been happy here on Tharon?”

  “Yes. Yes, I have. Happier than I ever thought I could be. But I’d be happy anywhere in the galaxy – a long as both of you are with me.”

  She pushed herself to a sitting position facing him, crossed her gorgeous legs so he was looking straight at the lips of her pussy, glistening with the slick juices of her arousal. No matter how often he claimed her, the sight never failed to stir his desire.

  Quit thinking like a rutting noorendal stag and get to the point! Rhom was practically shouting in his head.

  He shot Rhom a grin, not the least chastised.

  Unable to wait any longer, his twin broke in. “My brother and I have a surprise for you. We would like to share you with some of our closest friends.”

  “Share me?” She looked perplexed at first, then her face changed. He saw a range of emotions flash over her. Shock, distrust, hurt – and finally outrage. “Share me with your friends?” Her voice rose. “You think because I fuck both of you, I’ll fuck anybody? I’m not a whore you can use and then hand over to someone else!”

  “NO! That’s not what I meant.” Rhom frowned at her. “How could you even think that? You are OUR mate. We would rip the limbs off any warrior who dared to even touch you.”

  Rhynn broke in. “What my clumsy brother is trying to tell you is we would like to introduce you to our friends. We’ve been selfish. Kept you locked away here. You haven’t seen anything of Tharon except the inside of this house - and the swamp we found you it.”

  “In our world Cass, when we choose a lifelong mate it is customary to mark the event with a formal ceremony and invite close friends and relatives to share our joy. In our eyes,” he gestured to his brother, “you’re already our mate. You have been ever since the day you accepted both of us into your life and your heart. But now we would like to have the ceremony and declare you our mate before them all. Our ruler, Chancellor Kal, is anxious to meet you. He and his mate Soraya have graciously offered to host the event.”

  “When we met you, Rhom and I had just faced our darkest day. Our hearts had been torn apart. We took out our pain on you, yet you opened yourself to us. We saw your strength and courage. Witnessed your fierce loyalty to those you care about. You awoke our passion – and our tenderness. Over time, you helped us heal our hearts – and now they are yours.”

  He reached for her hand, brought it to his lips and kissed it. “My brother and I love you. We want to be with you for the rest of our days. Cass Randall, will you declare before all of Tharon that you accept us as your mates?”

  As he spoke her face softened. Cold fury melted away. “You don’t want to share me. You want to share your joy. In a mating ceremony with friends and relatives. You’re talking about a… a wedding!” She looked from one to the other, her eyes brimming with tears. “You don’t just want to fuck me. You want to marry me.”

  “Now look what you’ve done!” Rhom grumbled. “You’ve gone and made her cry. And you call me clumsy?”

  “It’s all right.” She swiped a hand across her eyes. “These are tears of happiness.”

  “I will never understand Earthers if I live to be 500,” he groused. “On Tharon crying is what we do when we’re upset. We smile when we’re happy.”

  “We do that too,” she assured

  “Then by all the Sacred Ones, how can you tell which is which?” Now he sounded frustrated.

  “It’s easy. You look into our eyes – and our hearts.”

  “Her heart is happy, Brother,” Rhynn said, out loud this time to be sure Cass heard it too. “If you weren’t so caught up in complaining about me, you’d feel it.”

  He went on, directing his next remarks to her. “We wanted to wait until our plans were in place so we could surprise you. Rhom and I are honored by the Chancellor’s offer to host the ceremony. We’re looking forward to introducing him to you. He and Soraya are like family to us. They took us in and raised us after we lost our parents in the Great Demise.”

  “You never told me that. How old were you?”

  “We were just past childhood. Eleven or twelve by Earth’s reckoning. Though he could be very strict, Kal loved us as though we were his own. He trained us to be warriors – and taught us how to be men.”

  Rhom chimed in. “You’ll love Soraya, Cass. As the ruler’s Mate, she is the highest ranking female on Tharon. But you would never know it by her actions. She treats everyone with the same kindness and respect, from the warriors on the High Council to the youngest children in the land.”

  Cass

  She was speechless. A wedding! Until she met Rhynn and Rhom, Cass had resigned herself to being alone. Dedicated to her career as a commander in the InterStellar Federation, she spent long periods of time on missions far away from Earth. The only eligible males she met were in the military themselves. She’d had a couple of relationships in the ten years since she graduated from the Academy. Neither lasted long enough to become serious. One wanted her to be waiting at home whenever he came back from deployment, making it impossible to continue her career. The other said he was proud of her when she became the youngest female commander in the Federation. But it didn’t take long before his jealousy and insecurity sabotaged their budding romance. As for sex? It was okay, but she never understood why everyone made such a fuss about it.

  Then she landed on Tharon.

  From the moment she first encountered the twins, their potent gyron made them irresistible to her sexually. Once she discovered the savage thrill of being mastered by not one but two powerful warriors, submitting to their darkest desires became addictive. Then she set off alone on the dangerous mission to take back her ship from the pirates and rescue not only her crew but the females they’d kidnapped from other planets to sell as slaves. During the long dark hours, her only regret was that she might never see them again. Facing death made her realize she’d fallen in love with the alien twins.

  Afterwards, mating with them intensified the Bond. Though she was officially on leave from the Federation, the thought of going back to her military career and rising in the ranks didn’t hold the appeal it once had. Neither did returning to Earth. There she had no one. On Tharon, two wildly attractive males made her feel loved and cherished every day. And now they were eager to declare their love in public and bind her to them forever.

  She took Rhynn’s hand in one of hers. Reached out and clasped Rhom’s with the other. “I just realized I never gave you an answer. Yes. Yes, I’ll marry you. Both of you. I will stand before all of Tharon and take you as my Mates.”

  The next few weeks passed in a blur. Cass had no idea so many decisions needed to be made for a Mating ceremony. It was shaping up to be a large event. Every day, Soraya sent word of additional names she’d added to the guest list.

  Her hostess asked her to choose dishes for the feast that would follow the ceremony. Roasted noorendal or orax stuffed with grain and dragonfruit? Soraya heard she’d eaten pala cake on Euxcelon. Would she like trays of pala served at the end of the meal?

  Cass left those decisions to the twins. But one choice was hers alone. What to wear.

  Dressing up was still new to her. Back on Earth, she spent her early years in boarding schools, then at the Academy, where everyone wore the same uniforms. In the Federation, her clothing options were set by the rank she held. Until she met Rhynn
and Rhom, she’d never even put on a gown.

  The clothes she owned now were inappropriate for formal events. A few pairs of black pants and metallic gray pullover shirts, basic crew apparel she’d worn most of the time on the Gemini. At home, she spent most of her time naked, in and out of bed. Occasionally she’d slip on one of Rhynn or Rhom’s old shirts. They were long enough to wear like dresses, with the bonus of carrying the scent of their gyron. She had only one gown, a deep blue one the twins got for her to replace the blood-soaked one she had on the day Magnus slit her throat. It had a slit on one side nearly up to her waist and it was so sheer she might as well have worn nothing at all.

  The twins sent for a seamstress and she was fitted for two new gowns. One to wear to the private dinner the night they arrived. That was to be an intimate affair, an opportunity for her to get to know the Chancellor and his mate. The other gown she’d wear to the ceremony and reception afterwards, where she’d meet other warriors and their mates.

  The seamstress presented her with so many options it made her head spin. Her men were supportive, but unhelpful. Typical males, they told her she’d look good in any gown she chose – and even better in nothing at all. For the first time, Cass found herself wishing she had a girlfriend on Tharon. Someone to give her advice and share her excitement.

  When the gowns arrived, she tried on the first one over and over, checking her reflection in the mirror. She knew how important Kal and Soraya were to Rhynn and Rhom and she wanted to make her men proud of her. She’d chosen a v-neck gown in a silky pale green fabric with wide sleeves that fluttered and flowed around her body when she moved. The one she’d wear to the ceremony, she set aside. It was her own version of the old Earther superstition. She wanted to save the once-in-a-lifetime thrill of seeing herself in her wedding dress until the special day.

  “I’m getting nervous,” she confessed one night at dinner. “I enjoyed having Aliya here, even though she fussed over me as her patient long after I recovered. Now that she’s gone, I’m going to be the only Earther at the gathering.

  When Cass tracked down her ship, she was nearly killed by Magnus, the pirate who hijacked it. Aliya, the ship’s medical officer, saved her life. The twins convinced Aliya to accompany them back to Tharon to oversee Cass’s recovery on the journey. Warrior twins Jax and Jynn took off with Cass’s ship, the Luna, to track down the rest of the kidnapped females. Kyra Banks, the luna’s chief engineer, went with them.

  A few weeks ago, Jax and Jynn sent word that they had a lead on the first group of captives Magnus sold, including the Luna’s second-in-command, Delta Graystone. They’d been purchased by a passing slave trader from the barbarian planet of Borvaan. Its leader, Lord Axun, kept a harem known throughout the galaxy for its vast array of exotic slaves and the twins thought Delta and the others might have been procured to be its newest additions. Chancellor Kal dispatched another team of warriors to rescue the captives and Aliya volunteered to go with them.

  “When they find the females, they’re going to need me,” she told Cass. “Tharan ships carry a medical officer, but after the trauma Delta and the others have been through, they’ll feel more comfortable being treated by a woman than a muscle-packed seven foot alien pumping gyron into the air they’re breathing.”

  Cass was sorry she’d ever brought up missing Aliya when she saw Rhynn’s reaction.

  His eyes lost their sparkle and he shook his head. “Rhom, we have been thoughtless. We were so eager to introduce Cass to our friends, we never considered she might want to have those she cares about present for the ceremony as well.”

  “Would you like to postpone the event, at least until Aliya returns?” Rhom asked. “Jax and Jynn are halfway across the galaxy with Kyra. With her help, they’re confident they can track down the whereabouts of the rest of your crew. I do not know how long it will take, but we can wait until all of them have been rescued if that would please you.”

  Cass appreciated the offer, but she could see how much it took for Rhom to make it. Her warriors had grieved their loss and taken their revenge. Now they were ready to live again and they wanted to proclaim their love for her to everyone in their world. The cyborg twins Jax and Jynn may have said they were confident about the outcome of their mission, but Cass had her doubts.

  She shook her head. “That’s kind of you, my love, but I have to face facts. My navigator Saige was sold as a slave. Some slaves are bought by the owners of Rapture Domes, where they’re forced to satisfy the perverted desires of creatures from every corner of the galaxy. Others are bought by trainers who pit them against each other in the great Arena of Tanis Major. Fortunes are wagered on who will live and who will die. And we may never be able to track all of them down, especially if Jax and Jynn are right and Delta and the others in her group ended up in a harem. I overheard your men talking. They said some alien lords have over a thousand sex slaves. So many they’re given away to visitors from faraway worlds like trinkets or peace offerings.”

  “We all hope the missing females will be found,” she went on. “Not just my crew, but your Tharan women as well. The truth is, some of them may have been traded more than once since Magnus sold them. We could end up waiting the rest of our lives. I did all I could to save them. I need to accept that and move on. I have a new life here on Tharon with two valiant and handsome warriors I love with all my heart. It’s time for me to make your friends my friends. To let go of the past and make your world my world.”

  Chapter Three

  Cass

  She stared out the window of the hovercraft in amazement. Tharon’s capital city Arcolia was beautiful. Lush and green, filled with majestic stone building surrounded by trees and gardens. Shops displaying strange and wonderful objects lined the streets, while colorful market stalls on nearly every corner held a dazzling array of exotic produce and flowers. She wanted to spend hours at one of the outdoor cafes they passed, drinking in the sights of her new world.

  Tharan citizens were out in full force, enjoying the warm day. Instead of couples strolling hand in hand, she saw trios. Gaily dressed women with a twin on each arm, sometimes with pairs of younger males scampering around them, laughing and teasing a little sister.

  Cass turned to her men, delighted. “Until now, I thought there was nothing on Tharon but woods and swamp. We’ve had gray skies and rain for days back home. Here there’s sunshine and flowers and - people!”

  “I’m sorry, my love,” Rhynn replied. “We wanted to wait and surprise you with the celebration, but I can see we’ve kept you to ourselves far too long. We’ll come to Arcolia as often as you like.”

  Chancellor Kal’s residence was on the outskirts of the city. It was more of a compound than a home, with several buildings surrounded by a huge walled garden. The Chancellor himself was waiting for them on the steps of the largest one. Built of stone and wood, the structure reminded her of a lodge she’d seen in the mountains back on Earth. The style was similar to the house where she lived with Rhynn and Rhom, but on a much larger scale. She wondered if her twins built theirs to remind them of the home they shared with the foster parents who became their family.

  Though she knew he was old enough to have been their father, the Chancellor still had the powerful body and confident bearing of a warrior. He was dressed simply, in black pants and a cobalt blue tunic, with a gold medallion on a heavy chain around his neck. Like all Tharans, he was bald. A strikingly handsome man, he had chiseled cheekbones and a firm jaw. His face was unlined except for a few wrinkles at the corners of a pair of shrewd black eyes. She imagined those black eyes filled with displeasure, the mouth set in a frown over some boyish misdeed, and understood why two boisterous young lads would call him strict.

  “My Lord.” In unison, Rhynn and Rhom dropped to one knee, bowed their heads, and laid a fist over their hearts in greeting.

  The mouth curved into a broad smile, the eyes sparkled. “My boys. Welcome home!” He wrapped a hand around the arm of each of them and hauled them to their
feet for a warm hug. Cass hung back. His eyes settled on her, sizing her up.

  “So – this is your human.” He had a deep voice, one that could be either intimate or intimidating.

  “My Lord, may we present our Mate, Commander Cassidy Randall of the InterStellar Federation. Cass, this is Chancellor Kal, Supreme Ruler of the people of Tharon.” Rhynn made the introduction while Rhom took her by the hand and led her up the stairs.

  She’d been coached by her men. Cass bowed her head. “It is an honor to meet you, my Lord.”

  He took her hand from Rhom and kissed it. “The honor is mine, Commander. I’ve heard a great deal about you. The people of Tharon owe you our thanks. Your courageous act brought six of our females home to their loving families.”

  “Please, call me Cass. Thank you for those kind words, but I played only a minor role, my Lord. It’s Rhynn and Rhom who deserve the honor, along with your bold Tharan warriors who fought by their side. They defeated the pirates and freed the prisoners.”

  “And you must call me Kal. After all, we’ll soon be family.” He glanced at Rhynn. “Modest, brave and beautiful – and she’s as smooth a talker as any politician. No wonder you made her your Mate.”

  “Soraya asked me to send her regrets,” he went on. “She’s been detained but she’ll join us at dinner. She’s looking forward to spending some private time with you afterwards, Cass.”

  They were shown to a smaller cottage on the grounds, which they’d have all to themselves. Cass headed for the cleansing chamber before getting dressed. The height of luxury, its walls and ceiling were polished slabs of stone in a mellow cream color. Zymex crystals imbedded here and there filled the chamber with a soft glow. A layer of smooth flat rocks covered the floor. Standing there with the water flowing over them reminded her of wading barefoot across a mountain stream on a warm summer day.