Their Rebel Mate [Helan Universe 2] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (15 page)

He was content to let Kerek tell them their decision. “We appreciate the offer, Your Majesty, but we have new considerations now.”

“We understand. But the offer remains on the table. Chief Kerek, if you would draft an announcement about our offer for humans to come to Helan, I would greatly appreciate it.”

Thantos got up and stretched as Kerek and D’Arik went through the specifics of the announcement. Kim sidled up to him, standing so close he could feel the heat radiating from her. “Why do I feel so achy and shivery inside?” she whispered.

All of a sudden, waves of desire began pounding through him. One look at Kerek’s suddenly stiff posture told him that he felt it, too. Thantos’s dick hardened, and he took a deep breath, deciding to see how deep his bond with Kim really was. “
If Helans don’t orgasm with their mates on a frequent basis, we will become insatiable until we finally get some time with our mates.
”

A shiver ran down her body, and she pressed up against him so that his dick was rubbing against the soft surface of her lower belly. “That’s so cool.”

R’oan chuckled behind them. “I think Thantos, Kerek, and Kim need to go have those samples taken before they strip down and hump in our quarters.”

Thantos cursed his fair skin as heat crawled up his cheeks. His face would be flaming right about now, that was for sure.

Jaron looked at them and smirked. “It might be kind of hot though,” he said.

Thantos had to laugh at Jaron, especially when Kerek growled at the room at large. “No one sees my mates naked except me.”

Rolling his hips as he walked toward his mate, Thantos pressed up against him, smiling when Kim crowded up against Kerek’s other side. Normally he would have pushed his thoughts into his mate’s head, but Kerek loved it when he let his mouth brush against his ear. “You’re so hot when you get all growly, my
talan
.”

“Mmm,” Kim whispered. “Normally I don’t like it when men get all possessive and stuff, but I have to admit, you are pretty damn luscious when you get all hot and bothered over us.”

Laughter echoed through the room as all five of the royals, both the ones in the room and the ones on the screen, watched the scene unfold. Even Sathon managed a quiet chuckle. “The three of you should get over to the sick bay and give those samples.”

Thantos nodded and pried himself away from his mate. “You’re right.” He waited until Kerek made the first move and followed him out the door.

Kim fell into step beside him and snagged his hand. “Is letting Kerek go first a submissive thing?” The curiosity running through their bond told him she wasn’t being snarky.

He grinned and tightened his hold on her hand. He didn’t kid himself about her sudden need to touch and be touched by him and Kerek. It was the fact that they hadn’t been together sexually in a while that was driving her need to touch them. But still, he figured his answer would make her smile. “No, it’s not a submissive thing. It’s a Kerek-has-a-great-ass thing, and this way I get to ogle it.”

Her crack of laughter made him smile.

Maybe things would work out after all.

Kim watched Kerek’s ass flexing as he walked, and she had to agree with Thantos. Kerek’s ass was spectacular.

Lust was boiling in her blood, and she was practically overheating with desire. If she didn’t have one, or both, of her lovers in her soon, she was going to pass out.
Was it possible to die from lust
?

Kerek chuckled and looked at her over his shoulder. “No, I don’t think it’s possible to die from sexual desire,
lira
, but it will take some time for us to burn off our lust.”

A shudder ran through her. “How long?”

Holy crap, was that really her voice? She sounded like a phone sex operator. She couldn’t find it in herself to be embarrassed, though, not when her men were staring at her with such heat.

Thantos leaned down and nuzzled her temple. “How long? All night.”

She moaned and had to grab on to Thantos’s hand for some kind of contact. The feel of his skin against hers was nearly too much for her. “Can we skip the tests and go straight back to your quarters?”

This time it was Kerek who crowded up against her. “No. Dr. Tabar is waiting for us. Besides, we need to know what’s going on with the three of us sooner rather than later if we’re going to go back to Helan.”

Right. They were probably going to go back to their home planet.

That thought was as effective at cooling her lust as a bucketful of ice water.

She followed the two men to the sick bay and hopped up on one of the examining tables when Dr. Tabar directed her to.

The doctor approached Thantos first, giving her some time to really think about what was going on. God, she was so confused.

She’d only been here for a couple of days, and yet these two men had somehow filled a space in her heart she hadn’t even known was empty. It made sense, though. She’d always felt like something was missing whenever she was with a man. Now she knew that she needed two men to really be happy.

Of course, things between her, Kerek, and Thantos were a little more complicated than her dating a simple human man.

She could feel Thantos and even Kerek in her mind, huge and soft, like giant cats rubbing against her and each other, purring up a storm. Well, maybe not cats. Tigers were probably a more accurate description of the two of them.

But the very fact that she could feel them in her mind, the fact that her body, for all intents and purposes, was not hers to control anymore, was scary as hell. And how was she supposed to make an unbiased opinion of the Helan intentions if she was involved with two Helans herself?

There was only one solution, and it broke her heart.

Shifting movements caught her attention, and she turned to find both Thantos and Kerek staring at her with concern. She had to shield these feelings from them, at least until she got back to the surface. If they knew how much it would kill her to leave them, they would probably never let her go.

And she needed to go. At least until she knew for sure that her feelings were her own and that they weren’t being influenced by the emotions of her lovers.

By the time the doctor got to her, Kim had worked herself into a right state. She hardly felt the sting when the doctor took the blood samples he needed.

The whole thing only lasted a few minutes, and Kerek was all up in her face again. “Let’s go back to our quarters,
lira
.”

She shook her head. “No. I’m sorry, but I have to go back to Earth. Immediately.”

Thantos was at her side in seconds, his face a mask of concern that matched his emotional state exactly. “Kim, we should talk before you go.”

God, no. She couldn’t talk to them. Not when she couldn’t think past what her body wanted to do with them. Not when the idea that what she was feeling for the two Helans, the love she was starting to feel, could possibly be the product of nothing more than hormones. “I need to think, and I can’t do that when you guys are so close. I have to go home and figure things out for myself.”

Kerek looked at her with dismay but wrapped his arms around Thantos, soothing their mate even as she was determined to leave. “Why? What changed?”

“Nothing changed. That’s just it. I feel like my feelings aren’t my own. How do I know what I’m feeling for the two of you is the real thing and not something I’m picking up from you two?”

Kerek’s eyes softened, and he reached out to stroke her cheek. “We can take the time to figure all of that out,
lira
. I understand that it’s overwhelming. When Thantos and I first mated, it took me a good month before I was able to sort out which emotions were mine and which were his. But it gets easier, I swear.”

Thantos was nodding his agreement even as he ruffled his fingers through her hair. “Kim, it’s only been a few days. Give us some time to settle into our bond. Things will be clearer then. Besides, you promised us a month, not a few days.”

The pounding that had started in her head a few minutes ago intensified. She rubbed at her temples, hoping to soothe her discomfort, but it didn’t help. “God, my head hurts.”

Dr. Tabar was there in an instant, frowning and flashing a small light in her eyes. “How long have you had your headache?”

“A few minutes. It started…” She trailed off and looked at the two males standing next to her. Thantos was resting his head on Kerek’s shoulder, panting and gripping Kerek’s shirt tightly in fisted hands. “What’s the matter with Thantos?” she asked instead, panic starting to well up in her as she watched her lover shift restlessly in obvious pain.

Kerek’s hand had slipped up under the thick red hair and, from the looks of it, was massaging Thantos’s skull slowly. “He’s in pain because you’ve cut yourself off from him. I bet that’s why your head hurts, too.”

The doctor was pushing on her shoulders gently, guiding her to lie down on the examination table. He waved some sort of instrument over her, and she had a bizarre feeling that she was somehow stuck in a
Star Trek
episode. Tabar frowned and concentrated his waving around her head. “I don’t see any neurological problems. Let me check the blood samples the three of you gave. I’ll cross reference them with the ones we have on file for Chief Kerek and Ambassador Thantos and see if there have been any changes.”

The pain was getting worse, the pounding becoming a steady, sharp pain like someone was hacking at her brain with a pick axe. Soft kisses were pressed against her closed eyelids. “Try and relax,” Kerek whispered in her ear. He slid his hands under her head until he cupped the back of her skull in his palms, using his long fingers to knead her head.

She melted into a giant puddle of goo. “Where’s Thantos?” she mumbled.

“He’s lying down on the table next to us.”

Turning her head, she got an eyeful of Thantos. He was flat on his back, one arm flung over his eyes. He was breathing deeply, but he didn’t look peaceful at all. Quite the opposite. He looked pale and drawn. “Why are you helping me instead of your mate?”

That earned her a frown. “You’re my mate, too,” Kerek said softly, still massaging her aching head. “Whether you like it or not.”

The doctor was bustling around in his lab, clearly visible through the glass wall. He kept walking back and forth between machines. She was no longer in any pain. Nope, it went way past pain. She felt sick and actually had to breathe slowly through her nose to avoid losing her last meal.

Kerek stroked her sweaty bangs off her forehead. “It would probably be easier if you stopped trying to block us. At least for the time being.”

Crap. She hadn’t even realized how hard she was trying to keep her thoughts her own. She blew out a breath and concentrated on bringing down the walls she had erected around her mind. The pain nearly became unbearable, and she clung to Kerek’s hand. “Why isn’t it working?”

There was some grunting over to her right, and she forced her head over to see Thantos writhing on the exam table, the doctor hovering over him anxiously.

Kerek brushed his lips over her knuckles and leaned down so that they were nose to nose. “Remember building the brick room in your mind earlier?” When she nodded, he kissed her knuckles again. “Picture that room, and then picture knocking down the walls.”

Fuck that. She’d picture a frigging wrecking ball crashing through the whole damn house if it stopped the pain.

And with that, the pain eased as quickly as it started.

“Good girl,” Kerek whispered in her ear. “You did good,
lira
.”

It was on the tip of her tongue to tell him off for referring to her as a girl, but Kerek had already been pushed aside by the doctor, and he was waving that tiny machine thingy around her head again. “Is Thantos okay?” she asked instead.

The man himself sat up and swung his legs over the side of the table, completely ignoring Tabar’s pleas to remain lying down. He hopped off the table easily and walked the two steps between the two examination tables, crowding up against Kerek’s side so that he could look down at her. “I’m fine now. Thank you for dropping your shields,
lira
.”

Her hand itched to cup Thantos’s cheek, but she forced it to remain at her side. If she was really serious about leaving the ship, she should not be touching either of her men. It wouldn’t be fair to any of them.

Kerek helped her up, steadying her when she swayed a little. “Did you see anything different about the blood samples, doctor?” he asked gruffly.

It seemed that Helan technology really was much more advanced than their medical equipment on Earth, because the doctor nodded. “The three of you have definitely bonded, but you already knew that. The blood samples merely confirm the link.”

Kim was horrified. “My blood changed because I had sex with them?” she shrieked. “What else is going to change?”

Tabar frowned. “Your pheromones are to blame, actually. You would have bonded with them regardless of whether you had slept with them or not.”

She cocked her head, trying to understand the details behind the bonding process. “So it’s like some kind of freaky fate thing?”

“No. It seems like Helan males are particularly sensitive to human hormones and will bond with any female they spend a significant amount of time with.”

Well, that took a little bit of wind out of her sails. So their bond had absolutely nothing to do with her as a person. That stung just a little. Okay, it stung a lot. But she was still confused. “I’ve only known Kerek and Thantos a few days. Is that really enough time for us to bond?”

Dr. Tabar looked at her thoughtfully. “I’ve been told that Consort Varin bonded with Queen Jacy rather quickly as well. But normally, a bond as strong as yours is not established for a number of years after the mates have been together.

“In your case, however, I believe that Ambassador Thantos’s lack of the particular enzyme Dr. Sathon was referring to earlier has caused him to bond much more quickly and completely than normal.”