Beno came back with snacks from a vending machine and closed the door behind him quickly, neglecting to lock it in his haste. Theyn looked up to speak, but his partner’s agitation stilled his words before they began. The blond held up his hand, and the heavy curtains pulled shut of their own accord, blocking the window completely. Apparently Theyn was telekinetic.

Sera crouched on the floor between the beds, suddenly afraid that bullets might start flying. The two men exchanged words in their tongue, and then they joined her on the floor, one on each side of her. The space was tight, and they pressed against her, either to cover her with their bodies for protection or because they were just as frightened as she was. She could hear a large vehicle pulling into the parking lot, then the shouts of dozens of men as boots hit the pavement.

“Shit,” she breathed. “It’s the army, isn’t it?”

Beno put his arm around her neck and his hand over her mouth. He smelled like amber and musk, and his palm was surprisingly soft, without any of the scales that covered the rest of his skin. He hissed into her ear, “Don’t make a sound.”

She shook her head. She didn’t want to be found any more than they did.

Mexican soldiers started pounding on doors up and down the length of the motel. Someone started banging on the door to their room, shouting, “Open the door!”

Theyn wrapped his arms around both of them and tucked his head low, almost burying it in Sera’s chest. Beno mimicked the position, and she only had a moment to feel awkward before the tingling started.

It was like electricity, and it rose from the center of Theyn’s chest and wrapped around all three of them. She could see a shimmer in the air like heat distortion, and the shivering electrons blanketed them all, close to the skin. She began to see the carpeting through her own leg, and she would have made a sound if Beno’s hand hadn’t still been over her mouth.

Camouflage, she thought. They have camouflage.

The door opened, and a soldier was silhouetted against the daylight. Three of his comrades poured in, checking the bathroom and the flimsy little closet area. Finally, one of them said, “They’re not here. Check the next one.”

They moved out, but Beno and Theyn stayed in their crouched position, the force field still enveloping them, until the soldiers gave up searching the motel as a whole. They only relaxed when the men climbed back into their big truck and drove away.

Theyn and Beno straightened, and they made nervous eye contact. Sera gently but firmly pulled free of Beno’s hand, and he let her go.

“That was close,” she said. “I don’t know what you two have planned, but the less time we spend in Mexico City, the better off we’ll be.”

The two of them had another conversation, then Theyn nodded. “We will need a car and supplies,” he said.

“You’re not going to be a valuable shield, I think,” Beno said. “They’re going to shoot through you. We don’t need you to stay involved in this.”

“I am involved,” she objected. “I’m the reason the two of you are even awake. I’ve got to make it right.”

Beno looked up at her, and there was something like anguish on his face. “It can’t be made right. Our home is gone and we have nowhere to go.”

She set her jaw. “Then I will help you.”

“No.”

Theyn rose. “My partner is right. It will be too dangerous to bring you along. We never should have done so in the first place. We’ll leave you here when we move on.”

“The hell you will!” She crossed her arms. “You don’t know how to get along in this world, telepathy or no, and I’m the best native guide you’re going to find. You need me.”  They looked at each other, and she quickly said, “And no more of this talking in front of me when I can’t understand you. No fair.”

They looked at her, turning in such unison that she almost laughed out loud. Beno nodded. “You’re right.”

He reached into the pocket of his hoodie and pulled out something small that she couldn’t see. He walked to her side and placed a device like the ones that he and Theyn wore into her left ear, fitting it to her so gently that she could barely feel it. He fiddled with the device for a few moments, and then she could hear a brief, soft whine. He stepped back and spoke.

“Can you understand me?”

“Yes.”

“Good. Then it’s working.” He adjusted something else, and she felt a tingle course through the side of her face and into her head, which started to ache but just as abruptly stopped. “Say ‘yes’ again.”

She frowned. “Yes.”

Her mouth moved in a way she didn’t expect, the feeling strange. Her hand flew to her lips.

Theyn chuckled. “You’re speaking in our language now,” he told her. “The translator will help you respond in whatever dialect you’re hearing.”

“And if I’m hearing more than one dialect?”

“Then the dominant dialect will be selected.” He smiled apologetically. “It’s not the top of the line unit, but it was always good enough for our uses.”

She touched the translator, and it buzzed slightly against her fingertips. Beno slapped her hand away, but not with any force to speak of. It was more like how a father would scold a child.

“Don’t touch it,” he said. “It’s already calibrated.”

She nodded. “All right, then. I guess we’re heading out?”

They looked at one another, and Beno said, “This is a foolish risk. She may betray us.”

“She was defying them to offer me help. She could have called to the soldiers when they were here, but she didn’t. She didn’t even move.”

“Excuse me,” she interrupted. “I’m right here.”

Beno looked annoyed. “We shouldn’t have given her the device so soon.”

“Yes, you should have,” Sera objected. “Listen, I want to help you. I do. I know someone who can get us a car and some money. Will you let me call her?”

They exchanged another look, then Theyn made the decision for them. “Yes.”

Beno’s annoyance ratcheted up another notch.  She turned to Theyn. “Is he always this nice, or is he putting it on especially for me?”

“Sorry if I’m not friendly enough,” the dark-haired man said, his glowing green eyes squinting. “From my point of view, I’ve just had the worst three weeks of my life, and it’s not getting any better. My planet was destroyed by the enemy, we got caught in an asteroid storm and crashed on this tiny planet in this tiny solar system, and then my partner got jolted awake and put into a science facility as a lab rat. Now we have an army chasing us, no way to get home, no home to go to, and a pushy female native telling us what to do. What in all of that gives me a reason to be friendly?”

By the time he was finished with his rant, Theyn had a hand on his chest and was pushing him back, a faint glow emanating from his palm. Sera put her hands on her hips.

“Okay. I get it. Things are really fucking rotten right now. But listen – this pushy female will be able to keep you alive a lot longer than you two yahoos will be able to do on your own. Got it?”

Beno sat heavily in one of the chairs by the table, and Theyn closed the. He turned to her, a wry smile on his lips.

“Got it,” he said.  He pulled her cell phone out of his jeans pocket and offered it to her.

She took it with a nod. “You are way more reasonable than your friend, here.”

His smile brightened. “Tell me about it.”

Sera punched the first autodial and waited for Joely to pick up. Her assistant and best friend grabbed the call on the first ring. “Oh my God! Sera! Are you all right?”

“I’m fine. Joely, listen. I don’t have time to answer questions. I need a car and some money and some supplies right away. Is there any way you can get out here to me?”

“Where is ‘out here’?” she asked. Sera could imagine the little line between her eyebrows and the way she bit her top lip when she was confounded. She’d known Joely for so many years, it was almost like they were sisters. Maybe closer.

She grabbed the motel stationery and read off the address to her. There was silence on the line as her friend wrote it down and started typing on her laptop.

“Okay, you’re about seventy miles away as the crow flies. What kind of car do you need? SUV? Panel van?”

“Just a regular sedan will do,” she said.

“And how much money?”

“As much as you can bring us. We also need food and supplies for a long road trip.”

“Supplies? Like what?”

Sera thought. “Extra clothes, food, a first aid kit. Maybe a shotgun.”

“A shot gun? What the hell, Sera?” She could hear a tinge of fear creeping into Joely’s voice. “And what size clothes? And how many?”

“Enough for me and for two grown men, about Asa’s size, more or less.”

“More more, or more less?”

“One more more, one more less.” 

Beno snorted. He had leaned his head on his hand, and he looked incredibly world-weary. She felt a stab of sympathy. She could only imagine how freaked out she would be in his place.

“Okay. Good. Asa and I will be there in an hour and a half.”

She frowned. “You’re bringing Asa, too?”

Joely’s tone was sharp. “We’re both worried sick about you since you got nabbed out of the hospital, and I can only drive one car at a time, genius.”

“Sorry.” She took a deep breath. “Listen, I’m fine. Tell Asa I’m all right.”

“Believe me, I will. There’s nothing quite like a cowboy who thinks he needs to ride to the rescue.”

Sera smiled. “Sounds like your type.”
“Shut up.” She heard more laptop keystrokes, and then Joely said, “I’m assuming that you don’t want me to call the authorities.”

“You assume correctly.”

“What have you gotten yourself into?”

Sera glanced at Theyn, who was watching her guilelessly. He looked like butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth, and she wasn’t sure how much she believed that. Then again, she’d never known a dangerous botanist.

“That’s a conversation for another time, and not on a cell phone,” she told her.

Joely sighed. “Yeah. Right. See you soon.”

She ended the call and offered to return the phone to Theyn. He waved it away. “It’s yours. We trust you.”

Beno lifted his head and raised an eyebrow. She smiled. “You two are like night and day, you know that?”

“We complement each other,” the blond man said. “That’s why we were paired.”

She put the phone on the mattress beside her. “They’ll be here in a little over an hour. Looks like we have time to get to know each other better.” The words came out in a seductive tone that she hadn’t intended, and she wished that she could reel it back in.

Beno and Theyn exchanged a look that spoke volumes, only some of which she could read. The dark Ylian turned back to her.
“What are you implying, Dr. Cooper?”

His voice was full of lust and invitation. Her mouth went dry, but other body parts farther south moistened rapidly. She could feel a flush rising in her cheeks.

“I… I’m not… I don’t know.”

They looked at one another again, communicating silently. Finally Beno nodded once, giving a sharp bob of his head. Theyn smiled and turned back to her.

“You should know,” he said slowly, his voice resonant and making her shiver. “We share everything.”

Her body was awash in heat. She could hardly catch her breath, and her mind was spinning. She felt on the edge of losing control, and she gripped the motel bedspread with her fists.  She couldn’t believe the things she was thinking, or the things she was feeling. She was completely out of her depth.

She should have said she didn’t mean it. Instead, she whispered, “Okay.”

They rose in unison, their glowing eyes fixed on her face. Her heart thudded in her ears, and she could feel her body weeping for them. One, both, she didn’t care… she just needed them to touch her. She stood, too, although she was trembling.

Beno and Theyn came to stand in front of her, shoulder to shoulder. They each put a hand on her arms, gently gripping her biceps and then running their hands down to her entwine their fingers with hers. Their touch was electric, and she found herself short of breath, her eyes wide, pupils blown with desire.

Jesus Christ, what is wrong with me?
Beno answered. “The stun can sometimes activate mating instincts in Ylian females,” he said softly. “Apparently, this is the same among humans.”

She echoed his word in a tiny whisper. “Mating?”

Theyn brought her fingers to his mouth and kissed them gently, his lips soft against her fingertips. His touch made her shiver in the most delicious way, and she stared as his tongue, pink and inhumanly long and thin, extended to taste her skin. His blue eyes locked with hers, and moisture returned to her mouth in a rush.

Beno took her other hand and pressed it to his chest, right over the place where his heart would have been if he’d been human. She sensed a buzzing energy rising from him, and it tingled all the way up her arm and down her spine. She could feel his need coiling inside him as if it were her own, a hollow ache in the pit of her stomach that could only be filled by her. He was opening himself to her telepathically, letting her into his mind, or maybe pushing his mind onto hers. She didn’t know, and she didn’t care. His free hand came to her chin and turned her face toward him, gently breaking her eye contact with Theyn and forging it anew himself.

She leaned closer, falling into those glowing green depths, and he met her halfway, his lips pressing to hers in a breathtaking kiss that seemed to reach beyond flesh and into her very soul. Her body quivered at the touch, and she sighed into his mouth. He inhaled her breath, something that she found insanely erotic. Her fingers curled against his chest, and then Theyn put her other hand on his own glowing chest and she gasped.

Energy from Beno coursed through her and into his partner, then arced back again. She was connected to both of them at once, could feel them both inside her mind and soul. The longer they stayed that way, the less they were three people. They melded into one being, one will, one pool of desperate need.

Be ours, Beno’s voice whispered in her head. Even if just for this moment. Be one with us.

She took a ragged breath, her body tingling. She thought, Yes.

They released her hands, but the connection stayed strong. Slowly, working together, they freed her from her clothes, revealing her soft curves and silky skin. Their hands touched her, their lips kissed her, and she was transported. She couldn’t tell whose hands were whose, and she didn’t care. A mouth claimed hers in a burning kiss while another pressed its scorching heat against her neck. One hand cupped her head, another caressed her breasts. Her nipples were hard and erect, straining to be touched, and one of the men complied, giving them a gentle tweak that made her gasp. Someone chuckled, and she moaned when another hand found its way to the wetness between her legs, stroking her gently, teasing her.

She was lifted from her feet and put gently onto the bed, lying on her back with both men hovering above her. She wanted to open her eyes, but the pleasure was too great. She could only moan as one of them slid down her body, his mouth finding her aching nub and lavishing it with kisses and swipes of his tongue. Another mouth found her breast, teeth lightly holding her nipple while a tongue flicked the hard, sensitive nub.

A long tongue probed gently at her wet folds, then pressed inside, penetrating her as deeply as a cock but rolling and swiping against her throbbing walls. She shuddered in delight and cried out, the unexpected feeling sending pleasure crashing through her in waves. He stayed with her as she shuddered, taking her through climax after climax until she was gasping.

She finally was able to open her eyes and looked into Theyn’s flushed, smiling face as Beno crawled back up onto the bed. He gently turned her onto her side, nestling against her back while Theyn pressed against her face to face. She could feel their need, both of them hot and hard and pressed against her, burning her flesh with the outward signs of their desire. Theyn kissed her deeply while Beno put his hand between her legs, parting her thighs and lifting her leg over his hip, leaning her back against his chest as his cock pressed against her swollen lips. Theyn’s tip bumped against her, too, and then instead of two cocks there was only one, thick and throbbing, their members fusing and pressing into her slowly and with great care.

She cried out as they filled her, stretching her with delicious tenderness. They clung to her, buried but still, Theyn’s arms around her neck while he kissed her, Beno’s arms around her waist. When the finally moved, they thrust deeply into her, slowly at first, drawing moans from her throat with every movement. She reached behind herself to cup Beno’s muscular buttock, pulling him into her even as her other hand clutched Theyn closer to her breast.

She had never felt anything like this, being loved by two men who were somehow one. She felt their hearts humming, Theyn’s pressed to her own, Beno’s beating against her back. The energy of their three-way connection coursed through them all, amplifying their pleasure and need. She felt as if she would die from the pleasure of her approaching climax, but she also felt she might die if she never tumbled over that edge. Both men were breathing quicker, their bodies hot and their need hotter. Their thrusts intensified, faster, harder, and she groaned in ecstasy. Her body clenched and spasmed around their beautiful intrusion.

Beno pressed a hot kiss between her shoulder blades as Theyn pulled his mouth away from hers to gasp, and then she felt them coming inside of her, bathing her with their semen. Her body exploded in response, and she screamed her joy, too transported by the scorching delight to have any control at all. She thrashed, impaled on their massive conjoined member, coming harder than she had ever come before, wailing in pleasure. They spurted inside of her again, and again, and she nearly lost her mind in the maelstrom of sensation.

They finally fell still, the waves of their orgasms slowly passing. She melted into them, and they held her close, pressing against her front and back, still buried deep inside her body. She loved the feeling, and she never wanted it to end. Her last thought as she shuddered into blissful oblivion was that two was definitely better than one.