Chapter 47 Morning, Lorian
MORNING, LORIAN
Dawn doesn't exist in space, but our bodies know morning when it arrives.
I wake first, as always, my internal clock attuned to the Spire's artificial day cycle.
Eve lies between us, her human body a study in contrasts against our grey skin.
Rafe's arm drapes possessively across her waist, his face relaxed in sleep in ways it never is while awake.
I should let them rest. The Championships begin in earnest today, and we'll need our strength for what's coming. But the sight of Eve, soft and unguarded, ignites a hunger in me that sleep hasn't satisfied.
My hand traces the curve of her shoulder, following the path of faint marks left by last night's pleasures. In the end, we all had sex three times. But, I’m still not sated.
She stirs slightly but doesn't wake. I continue my exploration, fingertips ghosting along her ribs, her hip, the inside of her thigh.
No Venus Lock to impede me now. Just warm skin and infinite possibility.
When my touch grows more purposeful, running up and down her furry folds, bringing them to life, her breathing changes.
Not awake yet, but responding. Her body knows mine now, recognizes my particular rhythm and my specific way of building pleasure.
Even unconscious, she arches beautifully into my hand.
"Good morning," I murmur against her neck, letting my teeth graze the sensitive spot below her ear.
Her eyes flutter open, brown and hazy with sleep and immediate arousal. "Lorian?"
"Shhh.” I shift her away from Rafe’s grasp and position myself between her legs, which part automatically to accommodate me. "Don't wake Rafe yet. This moment is ours."
I enter her slowly, watching her face transform from drowsy confusion to focused pleasure as I stretch her body. This is a pure connection. Just two bodies finding each other in the quiet morning.
She bites her lip to stay quiet as I move inside her, long steady strokes designed to build rather than overwhelm. Her hands find my chest, nails digging in just enough to mark me.
"God help me, I love this," she says.
"Say it again," I demand, increasing my pace.
"I love this."
She's close now; I can feel it in the way her inner muscles flutter. Her climax triggers mine, and I bury my face in her neck to muffle my groan. We shake together, clinging to each other.
"My turn." Rafe's voice, rough with sleep and want, breaks our private moment. I withdraw carefully, pressing a kiss to Eve's temple before moving aside.
"Good morning to you too, Brother," I say.
He doesn't answer, too focused on Eve. Where I was gentle, he's intense. He flips her onto her stomach, pulling her hips up, and enters her in one smooth thrust that has her crying out in ecstasy into the pillows.
"Did you mean it?" he asks, setting a rhythm that's just shy of punishing. "What you said to Lorian just now?”
"Yes," she gasps, pushing back to meet his thrusts.
"Good." His hand tangles in her hair, pulling her head back. “I want you to love this as much as we do.”
"I do. Oh God, I do. Fuck me harder, Rafe. Harder."
I watch them, my spent body awakening again. They're superb together. Rafe's controlled power and Eve's willing surrender.
When Rafe finally comes himself inside her it’s with a loud groan, that's pure Imperial possessiveness.
Eve collapses forward, thoroughly used.
Then we all lie together in a tangle of limbs, breathing hard and processing what just happened again.
"We should shower," Rafe says eventually, ever practical. "The first event starts in two hours."
"Together?" Eve asks.
"Always together," I confirm, pulling her to her feet.
The suite's bathroom is a marvel of excess, designed precisely for this purpose.
The shower could accommodate a small gathering, with multiple water jets positioned at various heights and angles.
The walls are a smart material that turns opaque for privacy or transparent for exhibition, depending on our mood.
Today we keep them opaque.
I adjust the water temperature while Rafe guides Eve under the spray. She sighs as the heat hits her skin, washing away the evidence of our sexual activities.
"Let us wash you," Rafe says when she reaches for the cleanser.
“Let us worship you, Eve,” I add.
We work in tandem, four hands devoted to her care. I wash her hair with slow massages that make her melt against me. Rafe soaps her body with meticulous attention, not missing an inch of skin. When his fingers slip between her legs, she whimpers.
"Sensitive?" he asks.
"You know I am." But she doesn't pull away, she just opens her legs wider.
"Good." I rinse her hair, then turn her to face me. "Because we're not nearly finished with you."
"We have work—"
"We have time," Rafe corrects, dropping to his knees before her. “I’ll be gentle. I just have to know that you're mine all day.”
What follows is worship in the truest sense. My brother's mouth between her legs, my hands on her breasts, and her cries echoing off the shower walls. We take turns pleasuring her, driving her from one peak to another, and it’s only when she’s begging us that we bring her to climax again.
Afterward, I hold her upright while Rafe rinses us all clean, then we wrap her in soft towels.
"I can't feel my legs," she says as we guide her back to the bedroom.
"You don't need them yet," I assure her. "Breakfast will be here soon. Then, you can recover while we eat."
As if summoned, the door chimes. Rafe wraps a blue silk robe around himself and goes to answer it. Our personal staff enter and begin setting up breakfast on the suite's dining table and laying out clothes for all three of us.
Eve watches from the bed, towel clutched around her, as they work. "They know," she says. "Everyone will know."
"That you're ours? Everyone, but you, already knew that." I select a set of clothes for her from what my attendant has brought. Her formal reception uniform, but in finer fabric than usual. "Stand up and let me dress you.”
As I help her dress, my hands linger longer than necessary, but I can’t help myself. When I’m finished, I look her up and down, but I address my brother. “We should ensure everyone understands exactly who she belongs to. Especially if she’s going to wear more Reima Two fashions in the evenings."
Rafe's eyes darken with understanding. "Scent marking."
"The most primitive and effective declaration of ownership in the galaxy,” I say.
"What are you talking about?"
"Protecting you." I move behind her while Rafe approaches from the front. "Tribune Jin Kol and every other predator needs to understand that you're already claimed."
"I don't understand—"
"Shhh.” Rafe's hands frame her face with surprising gentleness. "You're going to be carrying our scent so deeply embedded in your skin that no one will dare challenge our claim."
I press against her back, my hands finding her wrists and drawing them behind her.
"This is insane," she says, but her body tells a different story.
"This is necessary," I correct, holding her arms in place with one hand while the other traces a line down her back. "Unless you'd prefer to face Jin Kol unprotected? Let him think you're available for his sexual pleasure?"
"No."
"Then let us mark you properly." Rafe draws her trousers down slowly, revealing her practical human underwear that somehow looks erotic against her flushed skin. I tighten my grip on her wrists when she instinctively tries to cover herself.
"Don't hide," I murmur against her ear. "Not from us. Never from us."
"Watch," Rafe commands, freeing his half-erect cock from his trousers.
Eve doesn’t look away as he begins to stroke himself, his silver eyes locked on her exposed flesh.
"This is barbaric," she whispers.
"This is honest," I counter, pressing closer so she can feel my own hardness against her back.
"Every species in the galaxy understands scent marking.
It transcends language, culture, and politics.
When you enter the Grand Championships drenched in our essence, inside and out, even Jin Kol will know you're untouchable for sex.”
Rafe's breathing grows ragged as he nears completion. "You're ours, Eve."
He comes with a growl that's pure possession, marking her deliberately and thoroughly. His come coats her most intimate areas, and he takes his time rubbing himself against her, ensuring his scent penetrates every fold of flesh and allowing the excess to drip into her underwear.
"My turn," I say, already moving to change positions with him. "Look at you," I breathe, freeing myself from my trousers. "Marked by one brother, waiting for the other. Do you have any idea how perfect you are like this?"
"Please," she says.
"Please what?" I begin stroking myself. “Please ensure every trainer, every guest, every would-be predator knows you're protected? Please make you ours in the most primitive way possible?"
"Yes. All of it. I hate that I want this, but yes. Come all over me and in my underwear.”
Rafe soothes from behind her. "This is what it means to be ours."
My climax builds as I watch her surrender to the moment. When I come, I'm even more deliberate than Rafe, coating her thoroughly, rubbing myself through her furry folds to mix our essences together.
I take my time pulling her underwear back up, pressing the soaked fabric against her sensitized flesh. "Perfect," I pronounce, standing to admire our work. "Now you're properly dressed and ready for the Championships, my sweet human.”