A tap sounded on the bathroom door. “Crimson?” Teclis called.

  She pulled her legs toward her chest and hugged them, resting her forehead on her knees.

  “Crimson, please answer. Just let me know you’re okay.”

  She wanted to answer, really she did. She wanted to comfort the man she’d been sleeping with and sharing her life with for the last few days, but her heart was breaking, and questions roamed her mind. She couldn’t reassure him if she couldn’t do it for herself. Her tears continued to fall.

  “Crimson, it’s Amelia.”

  Crimson glanced up at the clear sound of the woman she’d met a few days ago. It sounded like she was in the room with her, so Crimson was surprised to see the room empty.

  “I know you can hear me. Teclis said Coil gave you a comm device.”

  Crimson frowned. Comm device? The only thing those men had given her was multiple orgasms. She caught a small, flashing light on the colored band Coil had wrapped around her wrist the first night.

  “Press the flashing light on your wristband and you can reply to me,” Amelia added.

  Crimson raised her wrist and stared at the band. She hadn’t really taken a good look at the thing. Well, she had been occupied! The band looked similar to a friendship band she’d worn as a kid.

  Pressing the flashing light, she replied, feeling a tad stupid in case she was wrong. “Hello?”

  “Hey,” Amelia replied happily. “Are you okay? Teclis asked me to speak to you. He and Coil are rather worried about you. They say you locked yourself in the bathroom and won’t answer them. They didn’t want to zap into the room in case you needed some time, but that didn’t stop them from contacting me of course.”

  Tears began again to roll down Crimson’s face. She couldn’t stop them if she tried. Her heart hurt, and her guilt was overwhelming. She couldn’t reply as her sobs began to get bigger and bigger, leaving her speechless. Suddenly, the bathroom door whooshed open. Teclis was first through the doorway, closely followed by Coil. Both warriors’ faces were filled with worry. Teclis reached for her, scooping her up into his arms.

  “Please talk to us, tell us what’s wrong?” Coil pleaded.

  “Are you hurt?” Teclis asked as one of his hands roamed her body over the sheet.

  Crimson’s heart stuttered in her chest. These two men had done nothing but love, care, and adore her for three days and this was how she treated them? She couldn’t speak as more sobs racked her.

  She rested her head on Tec’s chest as he carried her from the bathroom. He sat on the edge of the bed and continued to hold her tightly. Coil sat close beside them both, his hands constantly stroking or touching her where he could. Crimson couldn’t do anything but allow her tears to fall and her heart to break that little bit more with each touch.

  A beeping sound echoed around the room.

  “Enter,” Coil shouted.

  Crimson heard the main door whoosh open, then nothing until the bedroom door opened and Amelia entered through it and walk toward the trio.

  “Crimson?” Amelia asked, kneeling at Crimson’s feet. “What’s wrong?”

  More sobs wracked Crimson’s body, making it hard for her to reply.

  “I…I’ve been living in a marshmallow world for three days, and now it’s over.”

  Teclis held her a little more closely to his chest, his head resting on hers.

  “I don’t know what to do. I’m married.” Fear that Luke might find her or know she’d spent the last three days with not just one man but two… He’d kill her.

  “Perhaps we should call Hover to help her calm down,” Teclis suggested. “I don’t like seeing her so distressed.”

  “No.” Amelia shook her head. “Warriors, will you give us some time?”

  “We can’t leave her like this,” Teclis replied.

  Crimson placed a hand on his naked chest and gazed up at him. He stared into her eyes, and Crimson could see the denial on the tip of his tongue before she even got the chance to speak.

  “I’m okay,” she reassured him.

  “No, me unum, I…We…” he said, looking briefly toward Coil before returning his gaze to Crimson, “cannot leave you while you are upset. Let us hold you for a moment longer. Please.”

  Another piece of Crimson’s heart broke upon hearing his plea. She turned toward Coil to see the same beseeching look.

  “Please.” It was her turn to beg. She pushed against Teclis’s chest and shifted off his lap. He released his tight hold on her and allowed her to move. “Please,” she repeated. “I need to speak with Amelia.”

  She wiped her face as Teclis and Coil reluctantly stood up. She noticed with a deep blush that they were both still gloriously naked.

  “Warriors, go get dressed before I tell my mate I was in a room with you two naked and he beats your arse,” Amelia said.

  Crimson found it hard to tear her gaze from the lean, muscled bodies of her two men. When she finally looked toward Amelia, she was secretly pleased to see the woman’s eyes were tightly shut. Crimson sighed, disgusted with herself for her jealous feelings. Teclis and Coil weren’t hers, she thought miserably. Luke was supposed to be, even if she didn’t want him. But that didn’t stop her from admiring their backsides as Teclis and Coil walked from the bedroom and into the main cabin area. Only when the bedroom door closed behind them did she turn her attention back to Amelia.

  Amelia sat down beside Crimson and placed a hand on her knee. “So, you feel like talking yet?”

  Crimson sighed. The tears that had abated for a touch began to fall again. “I’m married, and I’ve just spent three wonderful days feeling more love come from two strange alien men than I ever did from my husband.” She hiccupped, her sobs coming deep and fast once again.

  Amelia didn’t say anything. She just wrapped her arms around Crimson’s shoulders and hugged her tightly. Crimson wasn’t sure how long they sat there like that, but slowly her tears dried up and only the occasional hiccup remained.

  “They are easy to fall in love with, aren’t they?” Amelia asked softly.

  Crimson was about to deny that she loved them when her heart skipped a beat and made her think of the time she’d spent with Teclis and Coil. They had treated her with nothing but care and love for the entire time they had spent together. Her heart was breaking now because of how she felt about them. They had grown on her.

  She knew their bodies intimately. She had already learned Coil liked pancakes with bananas and ice cream before bed. Two nights ago he’d used her body as his bowl. That had been one sticky end to the day. Crimson remembered with a small smile how Teclis had hummed while licking the cream from her stomach and saying that she was now his favorite dessert. She had also learned Coil’s back was quite sensitive, and if she ran a finger down his spine to the top of his butt cheeks, he’d groan in the most delicious way, and his cock would be as hard as iron.

  Coil couldn’t hide the way he felt around her, unlike Teclis. Her alpha warrior tried so very hard to hide his emotions, but she was beginning to learn his mood by his small facial twitches and his body language. When he was about to come, his hands would clench just enough to cause bruises. She often caught the heart-churning way Teclis would constantly watch her or Coil, as if he was always ready to step into harm’s way to shield them from danger. It made her wonder if there had someone in his past that he’d been unable to protect.

  All the small details had gathered, and the time they had spent together made Crimson realize she had fallen in love with her warriors.

  “But I’m married, Amelia. I broke my vows. If Luke ever found out…”

  Amelia lifted her head from Crimson’s shoulder where it had been resting and held up a hand and raised her forefinger. “Umm, one, he has no idea where you are.” She raised a second finger. “Two, you are in space, and he has no way to get up here.” She raised another finger. “And three, if by a one in a million chance he ever did make it aboard the ship and the warriors on the Gemorph found out how he treated you—and they would, ’cause I’d tell them—I am sure he wouldn’t get within a foot of you.”

  Crimson smiled a little. She hadn’t had a friend in so long, and having Amelia, a woman she barely knew, stick up for her, gave her a warm feeling. Crimson had only told her about a tiny bit of the life she’d had with Luke, but even that small iota of information had Amelia looking out for her, and most of all, believing.

  “I’m married though,” Crimson argued, trying to get Amelia to understand the guilt she felt sleeping with Teclis and Coil.

  “Well, if you want to be technical about it… You aren’t actually on Earth anymore. You’re on an alien ship, a safe place where Gracians have no idea what a marriage is, so you could basically say that your marriage is null and void.” Amelia fingered the thin, gold band on Crimson’s left hand. “This doesn’t mean anything to these warriors.”

  Crimson pulled her hand away from Amelia’s and fiddled with her wedding ring. “I suppose.” She sighed.

  “Do you remember what happened yet?” Amelia asked, changing the subject. “Why you were pulled out of the sea in just your bra?”

  Crimson closed her eyes and went through the images that had slowly crept back into her memory over the last few days. “I remember getting on the ferry to Ireland, thinking Luke wouldn’t think I’d go there. I found a small, out-of-the-way B-and-B and stayed there for a few nights. I planned on heading further south. But I felt safe where I was, so I stayed a little longer. Then I thought I was getting a bit paranoid, because I kept thinking I saw him or felt him watching me. But I packed my stuff and told the woman there I was heading out the next day. She was lovely and wished me well.”

  Crimson remembered starting that particular day by heading to a library and spending some time doing an internet search of Ireland. A few hours later she walked out of the place feeling a little more confident about where to head to next. But as she stood on the library doorstep, she swore she saw Luke standing in a doorway opposite. Then a small crowd of school girls passed by it, and once they were gone, the doorway was empty. Questions had plagued her for the rest of the day wondering if it was him or her imagination. Either way, she knew it was time to move on.

  “I remember falling asleep that night, but then nothing until I woke up tied to a chair in a small room. The room was swaying, and I thought it was because I was woozy, but then when Luke came into the room and untied me and dragged me up to the deck of a ship. All I could see was the ocean—nothing but blue. He told me it would be hard to escape him this time unless I wanted to be fish food. He beat me so bad for what seemed like days.” Crimson shivered at the memory.

  “Oh, honey,” Amelia cooed and hugged her tighter.

  “He allowed me to roam around the ship. It was huge.” Crimson snorted. “I couldn’t even tell you what the ship looked because my eyes were swollen most of the time. Every day he drummed into me the fact that I had nowhere to go, and nobody was going to help me. That the only way I would ever leave him again was to be fish food and that the ship was now my new home and I would do everything he told me to or he’d drop me into the ocean himself.”

  One last memory flooded Crimson’s mind as she went over everything.

  “I jumped.” She gasped as she remembered diving into the freezing cold water, not giving a shit if she lived or died. She just didn’t want to be Luke’s punching bag anymore. “The weather was getting bad, and the waves were getting choppy, and he’d gone off to do something, leaving me alone. I couldn’t take any more. He’d just raped and beaten me again, and I felt utterly defeated. I realized there was no escape from him other than death, so I threw myself into the water without a care.”

  “And fate brought you here,” Amelia said, a smile on her face.

  “If you call two warriors fate.” Crimson snorted.

  “Hey, fate or not.” Amelia chuckled. “Luke can’t find or get to you here. You’re finally safe.”

  “But still married to him.” Crimson sighed heavily.

  “Semantics.” Amelia waved her hand in the air. “Now, come on. Get dressed. We’ll talk about it on the way to the galley. The chef serves up a mean fried breakfast,” she said, standing up. “And I need all the calories I can get. That youngling of mine is milking me dry.” Amelia chuckled, grasping her boobs. “Although I admit, Trian seems to enjoy these as much as she does. It’s like a new toy for him.”

  Crimson frowned. “Because they are bigger?” she asked.

  “No.” Amelia shook her head. “Because their women don’t produce milk.”

  “Oh?”

  “Get dressed, and I’ll tell you on the way. I’m sure you need a break from these four walls. I certainly did after my seclusion.”

  Crimson stood and wrapped the sheet around herself a little tighter. She was about to deny she fancied a walk when Amelia looked her in the eyes and shook her head.

  “I’m not taking no for an answer. You get to see Faith again.” Amelia beamed.

  Crimson lifted her lips in a smile and raised an eyebrow. “Okay. But only ’cause she’s rather cute.”

  “Isn’t she just?” Amelia shooed her hands toward Crimson. “Go, woman. Get dressed. I’ll wait in the living room. You’ll find some clothes in the wardrobe. All these cabins are now kept fully stocked with female attire just in case of visitors.”

  Crimson watched Amelia walk toward the bedroom door.

  “You better be dressed, warriors,” Amelia said as the door opened and then closed behind her.

  Yeah, you better be! said that jealous voice in the back of Crimson’s mind.

  Not wanting to wallow in the negativity that jumped to her foremost thoughts, Crimson quickly walked to the bathroom and used the facilities before opening the wardrobe to find something to wear. She gasped at the large assortment of female attire, mainly long, flowing, lacy dresses. She plucked a mint green gown off its space-age coat hanger and held it up in front of her. The material was as soft as satin but flowed like silk. Turning around, she gently placed the dress on the bed and sought out some underwear. She eventually found some panties, but as for a bra, or something that looked like it, she couldn’t find anything.

  Shrugging, Crimson pulled on a pair of white, lacy panties and picked the dress up and tugged it over her head. She was surprised to find there wasn’t a zipper or buttons on the gown, but if she pressed the material seams together on the right side of the dress, they sealed seamlessly. She understood now why she couldn’t find any bras, as the top of the dress supported her ample mounds quite well. The gown was lovely. It pulled in at her waist, giving her a stunning figure, and the lace flowed down to her feet.

  Next, she brushed her hair . Gazing at her reflection, she admired herself as she twirled. The woman staring back at her was glowing and happy. It was someone Crimson hadn’t seen in a long time, which made her ask herself another question. How could her life change so much in just a few days?

  Crimson whirled around when the bedroom door whooshed open to see Amelia standing in the doorway.

  “Wow wee, girl. You look stunning.” Honesty shone in the woman’s eyes. “Come on, I’m starving.”

  Crimson was about to step forward when a fully clothed Teclis and Coil stepped into view behind Amelia. As they looked at her their eyes suddenly swirled faster with their emotions. They looked just as handsome in their uniforms as they did naked. If anything, Crimson felt like peeling back their clothes just to reveal what was underneath them again.

  “By the look in your eyes, your warriors are standing behind me, and if I was to turn around, their faces would probably echo yours.” Amelia chuckled.

  Crimson suspected that Amelia was right, and heat rushed to her cheeks at the thought.

  “Let’s go,” Amelia said, stepping forward and tucking an arm through Crimson’s. “I want food, and if we stay here any longer, I would probably end up seeing something I really don’t want to see. If my mate was to find out I already saw another male’s naked butt, let alone two, he would kick their arses and lock me in our cabin.”

  Alarm at Amelia’s words had Crimson freezing. “But I thought you said your mate wouldn’t harm you. He wouldn’t really lock you up, would he?”

  Amelia halted, her face one of worry. “Oh God, no. It was just a figure of speech. Trian wouldn’t harm a hair on my head, but he can be rather possessive at times.” Amelia shrugged, and her lips turned up in a smirk. “When he thinks too many males are around me, or even that I was stared at too long by one, he scurries me away and shows me just what me unum means, if you get my meaning.” Amelia laughed, delight showing on her features, while wiggling her eyebrows. She leaned in closer and whispered, “Iryano is a wicked tag team, we pretend to flirt with each other, which winds Trian up. I’m sure my mate knows what we’re doing, but he plays along. It all leads to really hot sex!” Amelia fanned a hand in front of her face. “Come on.” She giggled. “Let’s go eat, and I’ll tell you more ways to wind your men up.”

  Crimson followed, not that she had a choice; for a small woman like herself, Amelia was strong.

  As they walked along the corridor Crimson’s thoughts were in turmoil. Teclis and Coil followed her and Amelia like two, albeit rather large, lost sheep. Each male they passed was courteous to them as they went by. Some slapped their chests and bowed while others just stared. Several times she swore she heard either Teclis or Coil mutter something in reply to those who had spoken and slapped their chests.

  Gradually though, Crimson stopped paying attention to everything around her as her worries took over. Her men? Great sex! Luke. Married. Jumbled and repetitive thoughts had her wanting to find a dark corner to curl up into until she could sort them out. Her body tensed, and her hands fisted at her sides.

  “Amelia, stop!” Teclis demanded behind the pair of women.