Lovers of the Galaxy: Book Three: Raiders of the Lost Heart (3 page)

Venus shook her head and turned away from them.
Moving to look out at the city, she didn’t want them to see how
much they’d hurt her. “Please go. You gave me your punishments, now
leave.”

Trying to keep her voice flat and her shoulders from
shaking, she gripped the stone railing and let the tears roll down
her face and onto her hands. She waited to hear them leave, but
Venus heard no sounds behind her.

A hard wall of muscle brushed against her back, and
she stiffened. Volund wrapped his arms around her imprisoning her
in his embrace. “We are not leaving you. I need to hold you as does
Jaxxon.” He rested his chin on the top of her head.

***

She was stiff in his arms, but he still held onto
her. Once more he’d gone overboard and said words he did not mean.
Both of them saw the tears and acknowledged the fact she was trying
to hold back the pain they’d cause her, but tonight they would
settle this.

“I owe you an apology. I shouldn’t have said what I
did. You are not like that crazy man, Randle, and it was wrong of
me to hurt you like that. There are no excuses. My temper sometimes
gets the best of me as my brother keeps reminding me.”

“Let me go. I’m going to be sick,” she said before
leaning forward and vomiting over the side of the building.

With his arm around her waist, Jaxxon frowned at him
as he reached out and brushed her hair back away from her face.

“You need to release all this hurt Venus. It’s
causing your body to react.”

With the heaving done, Venus wiped her mouth with the
back of her hand and turned to stare at them. “I thought you were
going to leave me. Everyone I love leaves me. Damn it, I hate these
feelings. I’m never like this.”

Her small body shook and her lip quivered as she
cried pushing through them running to the door, but Volund was
faster.

Scooping her up in his arms he held her. “Little
Warrior, we would never leave you and I’m sorry you thought that.”
It wasn’t like Venus to be so emotional. He carried her through the
door and down the stairs to their small quarters. Laying her down
on the couch, he brushed her hair away from her face.

“Are you sick?” he asked but his attention was on
Jaxxon.

Touching her cheeks and checking her eyes his brother
shook his head. “Her body temperature is fine. She might have over
done it today with the children here and making accommodations for
them. After she eats we’ll get her in bed so she can rest
properly.”

A small tap to his chest had him frowning and looking
down. “Did you just hit me?”

Taking her fist that she now shook he kissed each
knuckle and smiled. “When will you learn? Venus all you do is hurt
yourself every time you smack me.”

She yanked her hand away from him. “Well if you two
would stop acting like I’m not here. I’m fine. I just need to eat a
little, and I’m still mad at both of you.”

Getting up Venus walked over to the small cooker and
opened the door. Using towels she removed the rabbits and
vegetables, filling the room with the smell of roasted meat.

“You were right, Volund on one point.” She placed the
heavy dish on the middle of the table. “I was acting like him and
not thinking of anything but the experiment. If anything would have
happened to any of the children…” She spun around and faced the
sink. She gripped the counter hard.

“That didn’t happened. You made a mistake, we all do.
We just have to learn from them. Now come eat,” Jaxxon said,
grabbing a knife and started to cut into the rabbit.

“Go ahead. I’ll be right back I need to rinse out my
mouth first.” Venus wouldn’t even look at them in the face as she
made her way to the restroom.

“Why were the alarms going off in the lab again?”
Jaxxon asked, drawing his attention back to Volund.

“The older Bone Eater slipped off the gurney. When we
placed her back on the table she was following us with her eyes, as
if she knew we wouldn’t hurt her. Do you think the first thing the
serum does is bring back cognitive aspects?”

Venus sat next to him. “I never thought of that. But
as we learned from giving the antidote to the children Randle
changed, they still wouldn’t be able to communicate until they
change most of the way. The one that came back to the lab was just
starting her major shift.” She took a bite and stared down at her
food.

“After we eat we’ll go down so you can take a look,
but we’re not staying long,” Volund said, pointing a drumstick at
her. “Eat and then sleep.”

Taking a bit of food he noticed the small grin on her
face. “Well crap, and here I was hoping for some make up sex,” she
whispered just enough that both of them heard.

His cock hardened and he groaned. “Eat!’ Volund
ordered and shoved the food in his mouth.

She laughed, stuffing her face. “Volund, I know you
want to connect the three buildings, but how are you going to do
it? You know the safe on the ground floor is on the wall closest to
those buildings, and it’s the one place where the temperature is
stable so we can keep our food staples there.”

“I was thinking about that and you’re right, but the
building across from the bank has a second floor. I thought we
could connect there.”

Cocking her head to the side, she nodded. “That’s a
good idea. One day I’d like to get out of this place. If you can
secure the city I’d love to be able to live in a house again. This
is just so impersonal and the children will need a park to play in
without being afraid.”

“In time we’ll get there. We need more men first
before we go clearing out a major section of buildings. With Acwel
and Badden here, I’ll be able to do a little more, but not
much.”

Sitting back in her chair, Venus sighed. “I wish Miln
would have stayed. I think Charlotte liked him, and the way he
looked at me a few times I know he appreciates women as well as
men.” She busted out laughing when he and Jaxxon snarled.

“You don’t need to be worrying about Miln. As for
Charlotte and her sister, there will be other men coming. I know of
two other transports, each bringing more materials we will need and
more men.”

Crossing his legs in front of him, he studied Venus.
Her silver hair was pulled back into what she called a braid, her
skin had toughened a little since the change, but it was still like
the petals of the flowers around here. So delicate and easily
harmed…

“Yo0-hoo, Earth to Volund…” Venus waved her hand in
front of his face. “What were you thinking? You were sitting there
snarling.”

“Why isn’t her skin becoming toughened like ours?
She’s so delicate I don’t want her to go outside.” He knew he was
being unreasonable, but the idea of her getting hurt had him
shoving the food away from him.

“Her skin is fine and she is changing slowly. Her
interior organs are now fully like ours and her skin is thicker,
but it will never be as ours I’m afraid. Maybe with each bite it
will make her skin more resilient.” Jaxxon ran his hand over her
arm. “It will be fun trying.”

“What is it that smell? Every time we come across
them, it is the same offending odor.” Volund groaned and moved
around the Bone Eater-woman. “In the notes, how long did it say the
transformation would take?”

Venus took out the journal and riffled to the correct
page. “According to Dr. Zeon’s notes, the first signs are… well you
remember.” Venus laughed remembering the first time they’d actually
seen the antidote beginning to work. When one of the females had
tried to move her head, but it was strapped down tightly. She
spewed chunks of black, green, and red mush all over the floor and
succeeded in splattering Volund’s chest plate. His expression had
been priceless.

“You’re still not out of trouble,” Volund grumbled
and swatted her ass.

She stuck her tongue out at him and turned to the
woman. She wiped the creature’s face down with the warm wet rag
Jaxxon handed her.

“You’re right Volund she does follow you with her
eyes. Do you understand us?” Jaxxon asked the woman on the table
and she grunted.

“From what the notes indicate,” said Venus, “We
should start to see physical changes soon, but with her being so
old I think it’s taking a longer time to happen.” She checked the
restraints and glanced down at the Bone Eater’s face.

The creature stared at her but didn’t try to move.
“You’ll be okay soon. I promise. I just hope you survive the pain
of the change.”

Jaxxon wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled
her out of the room. Ka and Ino went into the room and looked
around. “Stay. Watch,” Volund ordered, as he closed the door and
locked it.

“Just in case the little ones decide to roam again,
I’ve already locked up the weapons.” Volund informed her.

Venus moved up the stairs ahead of Jaxxon. There was
much still to be done tonight. She was more tired than usual, and
last night she hadn’t slept well, having the same nightmare three
nights in a row. Both Jaxxon and Volund had tried to get her to
open up about it, but she couldn’t bring herself to discuss it. As
she walked into their living quarters, the thought of the dream
coming true pushed a shiver up her spine. She paused, watching
Volund put his personal arsenal away.

She snaked her arms around Volund’s naked torso and
rested her head against it. Just their scent seemed to calm her
like nothing else.

“You’re tired and need to sleep. Maybe we should hold
off on the make-up sex.” Volund turned and kissed her forehead.

A small beeping from Volund’s side had him frowning.
“Someone is trying to call us. I’ll have to take this. Go with
Jaxxon and rest,” he ordered before covering her mouth with his.
His hands brushed down her sides as he picked her up and hugged her
tight.

Wrapping her legs around him, she moaned as his
tongue caressed and played with hers until he broke away and kissed
her nose. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.” With that he set her
down and disappeared from the room.

Jaxxon picked her up and threw her over his shoulder.
“Venus, you and I need to talk—now.”

“What do you think you’re doing? I could have
walked.” Venus smacked his ass and laughed, but he held her
tightly.

“Stop it!” His hand landed on her butt, hard. Jaxxon
dumped her onto their bed.

“What’s wrong? What did I do now?” She tried to get
up, but he grabbed her arms and held her down.

“You will not risk yourself or anyone else like that
again.” His dark red gaze traveled down her body and landed on her
stomach where he gently put one of his hands over it. “What if you
already carry our child? Right now our baby could be growing inside
of you. Have you forgotten you are now what we are? Would you risk
our infant when we are here to take the risks, to do things for
you?”

She could have sworn the air had been sucked out of
her lungs. Perspiration broke out over her body. “How, is it
possible?”

Jaxxon released her arms, and she placed her hand
over his as he laughed. “I’m sure I can refresh your memory on how
to get pregnant.”

“No, I mean how do you know I might already be
pregnant?” She stared up at him. “And for your information, I
wouldn’t put any child at risk. Well, not mean to at least.”

She sat up and poked him in the chest. “I’ve been
protecting myself for over ten years, so do you really think I
would take such risks?” Furious, she jumped off the bed and headed
into the bathroom, slamming the door in Jaxxon’s face an instant
before he reached it.

She glanced in the mirror. Dark circles resided under
her eyes and her skin was flushed from running. The possibility of
getting pregnant never entered her mind. Hell, she didn’t even know
if Azutuans had a different gestational period or not. Since the
men had arrived a couple of months ago she’d been pushing herself
more than usual. Mood swings, emotional swings, oh shit. She
kneeled and searched through the medical equipment, finding the
scanner her father used to see if his female clients were pregnant.
Since Volund and Jaxxon had taken her as their mate, she’d never
thought to keep track of her cycle.

Standing, she turned the scanner on and ran it over
her lower abdomen. Slowly, an image took shape, and then her legs
threatened to give out. However, she didn’t have to worry. Jaxxon
suddenly appeared next to her and carefully picked her up.

“What’s wrong?” He glanced down at her then at the
machine in her hand.

She laid her head on his shoulders. Everything was
gone from her brain except for three little words that repeatedly
tumbled through it to finally escape her lips.

“There are three, three forms, heart beats. What are
we going to do? We can’t have babies here, it’s not safe. I don’t
have enough food…” She slapped her hand over her mouth.

“I’m babbling like an idiot.” Venus rested her head
on Jaxxon’s chest. “What are we going to do? I don’t want to raise
my children here Jaxxon. Surviving, always worrying.”

He lowered her feet to the ground and kissed her lips
softly. “It will work out and I promise before the babies are born
we will have a place for them.” Gripping the bottom of her sweater
he stripped her of it and cupped her breasts.

“Soon these will fill and they will feed our
children.” Bending his head, Jaxxon captured her nipple into his
mouth and sucked.

“Jaxxon…” She moaned and held onto him when another
set of hands reached around her and undid her pants.

Releasing her, Jaxxon stripped out of his clothes as
Volund appeared in the room and sucked her nipple into his mouth.
He bit down gently. “Volund!”

Jaxxon moved in behind her, brushing her hair away
from her neck, and then bit down on the tendon there. He sucked and
licked, eliciting groans from Venus as fire swept through her
body.