Chapter Sixteen

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Dani came awake slowly the next morning, muscles she didn’t know she had aching from overuse. She thought Malik had been kidding about using the R.I.D. to help her keep up, but now wasn’t so sure. She’d lost count of the orgasms they’d given her.

Two in the shower, several more while in bed, and another after a brief nap, then a brief reprieve had been called due to hunger. With her keeping Malik company while he cooked, Jaylin had gone to the bridge to check their course and whatever else needed to be checked on while in auto-navigation mode. Neither let her far from sight, however, and were sweetly affectionate with touches and tender kisses, considering the puffy sensitivity of her lips from so much activity.

After they ate, she’d ended up dessert for her men, who had spread her out and taken her right there on the galley table. Jaylin had to carry her to his big bed when she didn’t have the energy to walk following two more stunning climaxes, which made a grand total of seven...or was it eight? She shifted in the bed, groaning softly.

“Sore?”

Tipping her head, she found Jaylin staring down at her, twin lines creasing the space between his sandy brows.

“A little, I feel drained more than anything.”

“You’ll build up your endurance in time.”

“Any more and I’ll be dead.”

Stirring next to her, Malik joined the conversation. “I told you that was impossible, at least with me around. I forbid it.”

She tilted her head down to see him grinning up at her from where he lay at an angle to her, his head pillowed on her thighs. Her face flushed noticing his face was only inches away from her sex.

Jaylin’s thumb swept over her cheek. “How can you blush after what we did to you yesterday?”

His observation made the condition worse as heat spread to her ears and down her neck.

“I think it’s adorable.” Malik moved forward and pressed his mouth to the top of her mound. The brief caress didn’t seem enough for him, and he moved lower, flicking his tongue out to dip into her slit and tease her clit with a quick back and forth. Behind her, Jaylin shifted higher on the pillows and pulled her back against his chest. With her upper half open to his hands, he began playing with her breasts and teasing her nipples.

Instantly aroused, she geared up for more, despite being sore. It didn’t take long with his fingers circling her pebbled nipples before she arched into his hands and moved restlessly against them both.

Bold as brass, she told them, “You two are like addictive drugs I can’t seem to get enough of.”

“I feel the same way, baby, but we won’t be taking you again this morning.” Jaylin’s declaration was as deflating as a needle pricking a full balloon.

“Why not?” she asked, more than a little disappointed.

“Because it’s too soon.” Malik nuzzled his stubbled chin into the vee of her thighs. “We used you well. Not being used to two men, we pushed you farther than we should have.” His fingers extended and stroked lightly over her mound once more, before giving it a little pat. “You are pure temptation, your body something I’m becoming addicted to, too. You need time to recover, though. There’s a whirlpool tub in my room. You’ll have a soak and be pampered today. Tomorrow will be soon enough for more.”

“I’m fine.”

“So you say, but those are my orders, Dani.”

“And mine,” Jaylin agreed. “Even if we say no penetration today, it doesn’t mean you can’t come for us in other ways.”

“This is true,” Malik stated as he propped his forearms on her thighs. “Fingers and tongues can be very therapeutic, I’ve found.”

His thumbs spread her apart and he dipped his head, touching his tongue to her clit. As if challenged to top him, Jaylin took both nipples between his fingers and rolled them. Soon they had her writhing on the bed, so much that when Malik spread her legs for better access, her hips arched, almost knocking him from his face-first perch. They chuckled at her response but weren’t ready to stop.

Since she was unable to lie still, Jaylin assisted her by stretching out his long legs and moving her in between them. Next, he wrapped his ankles on the insides of her calves, holding her pinned and wide open for his brother to give her pleasure.

With Jaylin pulling and pinching her nipples harder, she arched her back, whimpering, while ready to come from his touch alone.

“She needs more.” He angled her face up for a kiss at the same time he shifted both their legs wider. This gave Malik unobstructed pussy access, which he didn’t hesitate to explore, as he licked, sucked, swirled, and tongue fucked her.

The stimulation beyond what she could bear, Dani shattered, her body bucking hard then quivering limply with orgasm number eight—or, was it nine?—in less than twenty-four hours.

Jaylin ended his ongoing kiss, his mouth moving up her cheek and coming to rest at her temple. Breathing hard, she exclaimed, “I need a white flag.

Malik’s head popped up, a dark brow quirked in question, his lips glistening with the evidence of her climax.

“On Earth, it’s a signal of surrender.”

“You did that for us yesterday, several times, without a flag.” He chuckled when her eyes rolled up to the ceiling.

Jaylin did, too, her breasts shimmying from the rumbling vibration in his chest, which still supported her upper half. He sat up, shifting her into her brother’s arms. “Malik will put you in the tub while I check on our progress. We’ll have breakfast together after your bath.”

“At the galley table?” Images of being taken thoroughly at the exact spot the night before made her squeak, “No thanks, I’m good.”

He leaned over her. “I know what you’re thinking, baby. You’ll join us, eat to keep up your strength, but nothing else. We’ll honor your white flag until tomorrow.” Lowering his mouth for another kiss, this time whisper soft, he then stood and began to dress.

Reassured, she lounged against Malik and watched. “How long before we arrive?”

“Three more days.”

“Are we taking the long way to Earth?”

“No, and considering what today is, we have no reason to delay.”

She blinked up at him, not understanding until Malik murmured in her ear, “Happy birthday, Dani.”

Twisting, she took in his slow grin. “I’d forgotten.” As what this long-awaited day meant to her sank in, she murmured in wonder. “I’m free of him, at last.”

The bed shifted, the cause, Jaylin’s knee on the mattress as he leaned over her once again. “You were free of him the instant we claimed you as our third.”

“Let’s not go back,” she urged. “Forget this business; leave it unfinished.”

“Can’t do it.” Malik pressed a kiss against her shoulder, then shifted her up the bed, stretching out alongside her with his head propped on his fist. “We made a promise to someone special from your past which we intend to keep.”

She frowned, unable to imagine who it could be. “Who?”

“Your grandmother.”

Dani sat up so fast Jaylin had to dodge to keep from being head-butted, and Malik was knocked to his back. He didn’t complain, instead, he moved into Jaylin’s vacated spot on the pile of pillows stacked against the headboard. Her eyes darted between them seeking answers. “It isn’t possible, she’s dead.”

“That’s what your father wanted you to believe, sweetheart.”

“He’s not my father!” Her chest ached as she went from angry denial to sadness in the course of a second. “If Daniel Alltryp isn’t my father, then Elise Alltryp can’t be my grandmother.”

Sitting on the edge of the bed, Jaylin reached for her hand, squeezing it tight. “It’s not true what he told you.”

“How do you know this for sure?”

Malik reached up, tilting her face down to his. “Because your gorgeous green eyes are like hers, Dani. There is no denying the resemblance.”

“But my mother told him I wasn’t his child, and she didn’t know who my father was. Why would she lie about something like that and play such a cruel trick on me?”

“We may never know, baby.” Jaylin smoothed his thumb across her knuckles. “However, I’d stake the Renegade’s title on the woman we met being your grandmother. It’s not only the striking likeness of her eyes, but her character. She’s kind, giving like you, and was truly shocked your father kept you from her all these years. She wants to meet you and, though I know she would have helped us regardless, made bringing you to meet her part of the deal for posting our bond and returning our ship.”

“None of this makes sense,” she whispered. “If my father hadn’t thought I belonged to another, my life may have been very different.” She looked down at her hand clasped in Jaylin’s big one, and Malik’s arm around her waist. They were strangers to her grandmother, yet took one look and became convinced of who she was. “If I look like her, why couldn’t my father see it?”

“Your grandmother thinks he was blinded by anger, crushed by the betrayal of two people close to him, ones he thought he could trust. He took it out on you, who grew into a living reminder of her.”

“There is something else, Dani,” Malik began.

“Perhaps that should wait,” Jaylin cut in.

“She deserves to know,” his twin replied.

“I’m not so sure.”

She leaned forward, her hand cupping his determined jaw. “Please, Jaylin. I know you want to protect me, but don’t keep me in the dark any further. I’ve had twenty-five years of it.”

“You’re right. I’m trying to keep you from being hurt more than you’ve already been. This will be difficult to hear, and we don’t know it’s a fact.”

Her hand gripped his harder, drawing from his strength as she prepared for yet another blow. “What is it?”

“Your grandmother thinks your father may be behind your mother’s death.”

“And, perhaps his ex-partner, the man she betrayed him with,” Malik added.

“Oh my God!” she breathed in horror.

“As I said, there is no proof,” Jaylin reminded her.

“His own mother thinks it’s true.” She closed her eyes while trying to grasp what she was hearing. “But why not get rid of me, too? Why keep the bastard daughter?”

Jaylin’s fingers flexed around hers, tugging her close, until her head rested on his shoulder.

Malik moved, too, sitting up and curling his long body around her back as if he could shield her from this hurt. Close to her ear, he tried to explain the unexplainable. “Your grandmother thinks, on a subconscious level, he suspected the truth.”

“I seriously doubt that’s the case because it would mean he had a small shred of humanity within him,” she said raggedly, thrown for a loop by these revelations.

“She could be telling herself this to explain away her own child being so evil. But the fact is, for some reason he kept you. Once the decision was made, he had no choice except to keep up the pretense and maintain his reputation. I don’t suppose disowning a motherless child is good for business.”

“So, once again, it comes down to his greed,” she whispered. “I hate having his blood running through my veins.”

Jaylin’s fingers combed her hair, and his lips moved against the top of her head when he spoke. “Your grandmother said much the same. Think, Dani, if you have his blood, you also have Elise Alltryp’s. We didn’t meet with her long, although from what we saw, I think you’ll be proud to call her family.”

She sat up. “And she’s why we’re going back to Earth? To visit?”

“We gave our word,” Malik answered. “And she made us promise to do it first thing. She had us quaking in our boots she was so demanding.”

“I’m sure you could outrun her with your long legs.”

“Probably, but her cane gives her reach.”

An image of a cane-wielding old woman making Jaylin and Malik Sin-Naysir quiver with fear made her giggle. “I can’t wait to meet her.” Bubbling with excitement at the prospect, she shoved Jaylin playfully and demanded to know, “Captain, can’t this bucket of bolts go any faster?”

He stiffened, a sudden scowl tilting his lips downward. “Are you insulting the Renegade? A ship that has served you well three times? I’ll have you know she’s in tip-top shape, and we’ve upgraded all her systems.”

Surprised by his vehement reaction, she wasn’t sure what to say. “I, um... I’m sorry, it was a joke. I didn’t mean it.”

“Here’s another lesson to learn about your captain, Dani,” Malik murmured in her ear. “Don’t dare mess with his bridge or insult the other woman in his life, the Renegade.”

Crawling to where he now sat at the side of the bed, jerking on his boots, she came up on her knees and enveloped him for a change. Thinking he couldn’t possibly be this upset about a joke, she pressed her face into the side of his neck and moved one hand down his chest, teasing a finger along the open collar of his shirt. “Can you forgive me, Captain Jaylin? Never would I insult this fine, well preserved—”

“Is that another crack?”

“No, no, I, uh, meant well maintained. I can tell you’ve put your blood and sweat into making her a first-class space cruiser.”

Malik choked back a laugh, while Jaylin tipped his head and stared at the ceiling, as though counting to ten or praying for patience.

While in the position to do so, she tried buttering him up, well, more like seducing him by tracing her tongue around the outside of his ear. She whispered, “I’d do anything to prove how sorry I am.”

She found herself flat on the bed before she knew how she got there and a steely eyed blond alien more handsome than sin staring down at her.

“You’d do anything, huh?”

Realizing her mistake, she tried to think what they hadn’t done to her. She had three orifices, and all had been thoroughly used, so she felt safe nodding and saying, “Yes, sir, Captain.”

“Malik, I think a spanking for insulting our ship is in order. Teach her the Renegade provides her shelter, protection, and, in the future, will allow her men to keep clothes on her back and food on her table.”

And Malik, who she could see grinning from the corner of her eye, was no help because he agreed to this plan and gave a hearty, “Aye, aye, sir!”

“Hey, I was only teasing,” she exclaimed.

He stared down at her. After a moment, his lip twitched, the laugh lines next to his eyes standing out.

“You are, too,” she guessed. “Aren’t you?”

Malik laughter burst free then Jaylin’s mouth curved into a wicked grin. “Of course, I’m teasing, but let this be a lesson to you.”

“Another one?” she huffed.

He bent and kissed the pout from her lips. “Yes, never try to outdo a master at his own game. You’ll lose.”

“I’m not teasing.” Malik gave Jaylin a shove and moved him out of the way.

Dani found herself rolled to the center of the bed, with yet another big man on top of her, this one with glimmering gold eyes. Unlike her, he’d known this was a game from the start and his smile had never wavered.

“You’re not?” she asked breathlessly, bewitched by his good looks and the smile that came readily now.

“Hell no.” Shifting them again in the big bed, Dani found their places reversed, with her on top, looking down at him. This gave him free access to her bottom, which he claimed with both hands. “I’ve been eager to turn this glorious round ass rosy red again.”

“Malik!”

“I’ll be gentle.” Her dark twin winked, which had Jaylin chuckling this time.

“You two are in cahoots against me!”

The bed shifted and lips not belonging to Malik—he was still busy grinning up at her—found her ear.

“Never, baby. As a triad, we’re in cahoots with you.” He threaded his hand in her hair, tugged with enough pressure to tip her face up to his, and kissed her until she couldn’t think, let alone protest further. The next instant, he bounded off the bed.

“Carry on, you two,” Jaylin called while he strode to the door. “I’m for the bridge. Someone has to fly this bucket of bolts.”

Malik buried his face in her neck, his body vibrating with his laughter as he rolled them again. When they came to a stop, with him draped over top of her, his legs in between hers, she gazed up at him and whispered, “I’m in it deep with you two, aren’t I?”

“Yes, trilana, but we’re going to make you love every minute of it.”

He kissed her breathless after that, paddled her bottom playfully—playful his word, the two dozen swats still stung, though deliciously so—and carried her to the whirlpool tub in his bathroom, climbing in with her for a relaxing soak before breakfast.