Chapter Ten: Break In
Everything was wonderful.
Entirely weird and a little perplexing, but it was wonderful. Somehow she had three...boyfriends didn't seem to be the right word and 'mate' felt old fashioned and strange, even though the dragon three used it all the time. But then, they were sort of old fashioned and strange when she really thought about it.
Alaran was a gentleman, and he would pull her chair out for her when they sat down to eat. All of them had already told her that they would defend her honor at the drop of a hat, and when she had accepted their offer to be their mate, they'd told her that they would never let anything happen to her.
And for warriors like them, it was definitely more than just idle promises.
For her part, Natasha tried to be worthy of it all. She split her time between the three of them, and was more than happy to do so.
Each of them was so different from the others.
Temos was, of course, the hot head. He was brash and reckless and fun.
Az was clever and quick, always with a sarcastic word or an interesting fact to share.
And Alaran she was still working out. He definitely was still the quietest of the three of them, the one who took the longest to warm up to new situations. But he was also the one who was the most likely to sit with her on the deck and just watch the stars go by quietly, and she liked that very much.
They had entered a stretch of space where there were few planets to go to and not much to see, so they spent most of their time on the ship.
Where she might have been bored with this before, now she had plenty to keep her occupied. They worked with her and her dagger, each taking turns imparting different wisdoms designed to keep her alive. And if sometimes the lessons ended up with one of them on the floor and her on top, riding them until they were both satisfied, well.
That was a different kind of exercise.
The point was that for probably the first time in her life, she had no complaints. Sure, there were things she wanted, things she wished for, but everything was wonderful.
That was what she told Kathy when she figured out, with Az's help, how to get her comm signal to reach to Earth and be able to work with the video chat of Kathy's phone.
Az had explained how it all worked, of course, but she'd glazed over for most of it, and the point was that it worked.
"Where are you?" Kathy asked immediately.
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," Nat answered, not knowing what else to say. "We've traveled pretty far."
"Clearly. When you called, the caller ID just showed a string of numbers. And not in a phone number pattern."
"Yeah, things are different out here," she said. "How're you? How's the shop?"
"Are you seriously asking about me? I live in Salem Grove. Everything is the same as it was when you left with the exception of the new barista I hired, who is terrible. Now tell me what's going on with you!"
She hadn't realized how much she wanted to talk to someone who wasn't one of the dragon three. And even though this was a strange situation and she couldn't tell the truth about all of it, it was nice to be able to divulge some of it and get a second opinion.
"They definitely aren't murderers," she said, conveniently ignoring the mental image her brain supplied of that one guy with the hole in his head. "They're really nice, and we've seen so much. And they're very...open minded."
Kathy raised an eyebrow. "What does that mean?"
She considered lying, she really did, but before she knew it, her mouth was opening and the whole truth was coming out. Nat explained about how they all wanted her and how she was very into them too and how they were doing something where she was technically dating all three of them.
"Like...an orgy?" Kathy wanted to know.
"No," Natasha said laughing. "I'm seeing them separately. I basically have three boyfriends, I guess?"
"Girl, leave it to you to go out there and live the dream. As long as they're treating you right. They are, aren't they?"
Natasha thought about how Az had learned to make tea the way she liked it and had brought her a cup just an hour ago for no other reason than because he thought she'd like it.
And she thought about how Temos had come back from their last fuel stop with a lovely bracelet for her, just because he'd seen her looking at it.
And she thought about how Alaran was still so unsure sometimes, but would stop and hold her against him for a moment, just to have her close and smell her hair before he would smile and let her go back to whatever she had been doing.
"Yeah," she said. "They treat me really well."
"So let me guess," Natasha said a couple of weeks later, hands on her hips. "You want me to stay on the ship."
At least they had the grace to look guilty. "We know you hate it," Az said. "And we promise there is a very good reason for leaving you behind this time."
"Well, I would love to hear it, but I'm pretty sure I already know what it's going to be."
"It's too--"
"Dangerous," she finished. "Called it. What is it this time? Swamp monsters? More of those harpy things? One eyed pirates with feathers?"
All three of them looked at her like she was very strange. "There are bandits in these parts," Alaran said. "But no, it is the terrain that is dangerous here. The swamp is poisonous to all who touch it."
"So why are you going in then?"
"All who touch it except us," Temos amended. "We are immune, so we can go in."
"And what's in there that's so important?"
Now Temos looked excited. "There's a story that there is a woman who lives in the swamp who can put an edge on even the dullest weapon."
"And apparently she makes very good tea," Az added. "We will bring you some."
"Would you like us to take your dagger to be sharpened?" Alaran asked.
Natasha shook her head. "No, it's fine. I haven't really used it on anything, so. Have fun I guess."
"We will return before you know it." They each took turns kissing her goodbye and then gathering up their weapons before heading off the ship.
Honestly those three and their weapons. It was almost like a fetish.
As much as she didn't like being left behind, having some time alone was nice. She cleaned up her room and then went through their food supplies, considering what she could make for them for dinner when they got back as a nice surprise.
Nat had just decided to do something with the meat that looked enough like chicken that she figured she could make it work when there was a pounding on the side door of the ship.
She frowned. It didn't feel like it had been long enough for the boys to be back yet, and usually they came right in, but if they had armfuls of weapons, then it made sense that they would be locked out.
The pounding just got louder, and she sighed, hurrying for the door. "Calm down, Temos, I'm coming."
She hit the button to make the door slide open and...it was not Temos.
Standing in front of her was a slender person in all black. Their face was covered, and they were about her height.
"Who are you?" she asked.
The person responded in a language she didn't speak, of course, and then pushed their way onto the ship.
Natasha went to shove them back, when two more people in all black appeared from out of nowhere. The ship was parked in a dark corner of this swamp, so it was hard to see, and she had no way of knowing how many more there were.
So she turned and ran. If she could get to her room, she would be safe behind the door, and she could call the dragons for help.
She got as far as getting the door open and bolting inside before someone was grabbing her.
"No!" Nat screamed, trying to fight them off.
One of the others came in and pushed her nightstand into the doorway, keeping the door from closing.
One of them said something, and Natasha could barely hear it over the pounding of her own heart in fear.
No matter how much she struggled, she couldn't break free from their grip and when one of them came over, brandishing something that looked like a high tech taser, she only had a second to struggle frantically before she felt a jolt and then went limp.