“Maybe you shouldn’t.” Tranis’ answer surprised her. “It might be helpful to get your professional opinion on the scientific end of what’s confronting me. You’ll have to sign a note of confidentiality, on pain of prosecution if you discuss this outside of us.”

  “Oh, sounds so clandestine. Give me the contract and tell me more.” She beamed, curious about what was going on.

  He did so but waited until they were seated at the table for dinner to talk.

  The dining room was as snug as the kitchen, where Degorsk and Lidon cooked amazing meals when they weren’t too busy to settle for ordering in. Cassidy thought it was wonderful Lidon had been able to return to a homecooked meal. It almost felt like a celebration, which she believed the occasion warranted. Two months of her Nobek’s absence had been a trial, the small polished table for four feeling empty without his presence.

  Tranis’ worry took some of the festiveness from their reunion, however. He told her what little he deemed necessary to gain her opinion. “There’s evidence a lifeform from another dimension has crossed partially over into ours. You’ve heard rumors of phasing technology?”

  “They’re true? Have you done it? I’ll have to run tests on cellular samples.”

  “I haven’t, but Lidon has as part of his latest mission. There are plenty of studies done on those who’ve phased, short and long term. I’ll get you the particulars.” Tranis offered her a bite of ribs.

  Cassidy was practically dancing on her floor cushion and talked between chewing. “This is amazing. So this new lifeform, it’s noticed when you phase? Because you’re looking in another dimension?”

  “It’s unclear what exactly is going on. Sometimes we can see them. Most the time we can’t, except for a few who catch them in their peripheral vision. One of our operatives believes there’s a sort of ‘between’ place separating dimensions, and that’s where most of our encounters are taking place. From there, these Darks, as most have taken to calling them, can affect our side of things.”

  “Is it natural to them, or do they need the use of devices as we do?” Questions were arriving faster than Cassidy could catalog them.

  “Unknown. My biggest question for you is what sort of lifeform can live in the vacuum of space?”

  “It was observed doing so?” She pushed aside the forkful of potatoes Degorsk waved in front of her face. The Kalquorian tradition of the men feeding their female mate was occasionally a pain in the ass.

  “A huge entity, bigger than our spyship, was indeed living in space, as did the miniature versions of itself that left its body. It seems to procreate by releasing smaller, identical pieces of itself. The smaller pieces can do the same, until they’re around the size of my fist.” He clenched his hand to demonstrate.

  “Wow. That’s…that’s astonishing. Did anyone get samples?” She grabbed Degorsk’s wrist to keep the potatoes at bay.

  “You have to eat. Can’t this wait?” he grouched to Tranis.

  Their Dramok ignored him. “No samples, but we do have video footage.”

  Video. She could barely breathe. “I have to see it.”

  Tranis nodded. “I’ll show you after dinner. You’d better eat before Degorsk has a heart attack.”

  “Apparently I’m the only one who recognizes she’s feeding two. Does anyone else care she’s pregnant and already overworking herself? Now you’re bringing her in on this?” Degorsk looked ready to fling his plate at someone.

  “My Imdiko, this is a matter of great urgency,” Lidon soothed.

  “Do the entities constitute a danger to the empire?” Cassidy asked, her excitement quieting. “They do, don’t they? Are they here?”

  Tranis gazed at his half-eaten meal. “Maybe. They could be a threat to the entire galaxy.”

  Degorsk stilled, his irritation shifting to concern. “How sure of that are you?”

  Tranis looked at his clanmates, and ice stabbed Cassidy’s heart at his expression of open fear. “They already wiped out Bi’is.”

  “What do you mean, ‘wiped out’?”

  “Everyone on the planet is dead. Admiral Hobato doesn’t seem to care.”

  Chapter Two

  Cassidy dictated notes on the computer she worked from home on. She lived and breathed her career, when Degorsk wasn’t on her case to relax.

  She worked in her office, which was part of a three-room suite used by her alone. Each member of the clan enjoyed his or her own space to indulge in individual interests. Cassidy had a sitting room, where she viewed the latest science vid journals by experts in a variety of fields. She had a small lab for studies not related to her actual job. The office was the smallest of the three, furnished with a desk, two computers, and shelves displaying awards, mementos, and certificates she’d earned.

  It was to her suite she’d gone after dinner. Tranis had asked her to excuse them for a discussion on the Darks which had no need of her scientific expertise. She wasn’t hurt to be banished; after all, she’d been lucky to have learned what she had about the potentially extradimensional and dangerous aliens. She would have loved to be privy to the entire story, however. The concept of such creatures fascinated her. The vid Tranis showed her boggled the mind.

  What she’d been offered was enough to occupy her rapacious brain. While she snuck in a few observations on her official lab tasks since Degorsk wasn’t around to complain, she researched organisms who could survive extended periods in space.

  Searing cold, a lack of pressure, a star’s ultraviolet rays, absence of oxygen and water…could there be a more hostile environment? Yet bacteria, lichen, tardigrades, and similar organisms had the ability to do so, some for years. It was the multicellular creatures who showed the least ability to do so.

  “It divides itself, as a cell does,” she mused to herself as she rewatched the footage of the huge entity disgorge a number of smaller aliens, which did the same in turn. Not exactly as a cell divided…but it was the closest explanation for what she’d observed in any living being. “A monstrous, intelligent single-celled creature? Is it possible?”

  The sound of her clanmates talking in the hall warned her they’d finished their private conversation. Cassidy ordered her computer to save everything and shut down. She’d had enough of Mother Hen Degorsk pecking at her for the day.

  She reached the door of her suite just as the men arrived. “Have you solved the galaxy’s problems?” she asked brightly, pretending to jab at Degorsk’s eyes as he suspiciously looked over her office for signs she’d been working.

  “I’m settling for worrying them to death,” Tranis chuckled. The shadows under his eyes were pronounced despite his joking.

  “As long as you don’t follow suit.” Cassidy sighed. He fretted enough for the four of them, this stunning man who took on far too much blame when things went wrong.

  She glanced at Lidon, who apparently was as informed of the Darks as Tranis. A deeply spiritual man, he managed all the serenity a fierce Nobek was capable of. He was forever ready to fight for his clan, empire, and honor, but he was capable of accepting what he couldn’t change.

  It was his welcome home Cassidy felt was due, but he wasn’t the clanmate who needed an escape, temporary as it might be. Degorsk, who appeared to be a bundle of nerves despite Cassidy’s pregnancy only being in its early second trimester, also had his equilibrium intact. If he was blustering or telling bad jokes, Degorsk was fine. The rest only worried over their Imdiko when he turned quiet or withdrew.

  Cassidy briefly grasped Lidon’s fingers and squeezed. He’d understand why she concentrated on Tranis. He returned the pressure and released her hand.

  She cupped Tranis’ bearded jaw. “You’ll do whatever’s in your power to safeguard the empire, as you always have. For now, our clan is together, and we should enjoy it. I doubt the end will come tonight.”

  “If it does, we’ll go out on the best ronka ribs ever.” Degorsk patted his stomach, beaming and ready to be silly for his clanmate’s benefit. “They were the tastiest, tenderest ribs you’ve had in your life, right? Right?”

  Tranis laughed, the corners of his purple eyes crinkling as he let them lure him from the darker part of his personality. “They were amazing, my Imdiko. If you get sick of curing the emotionally unstable, you could become a chef.”

  “Sick of curing…ha-ha, and you say my jokes are bad.”

  “They are,” Lidon smirked. He chuckled at Degorsk’s fake outraged expression and dodged a half-hearted swing.

  Tranis was still laughing as they sparred for his enjoyment. Cassidy joined in when Lidon allowed Degorsk to get the upper hand. The Imdiko took the opportunity to heft the bigger man on his shoulder and spin around. It was Degorsk who staggered drunkenly from dizziness afterward. Lidon slipped from his grip and steadied him.

  “It’s good to have you home, even if you’re a jerk,” Degorsk grinned.

  “I’d like to extend a proper welcome, if you three could escort me to the boudoir?” Cassidy shoved at the muscled bodies in her path. They yielded to let her lead them, delight erupting on their equally handsome but dissimilar features.

  They had separate personal suites, but there was only one sleeping room and one bed they shared. Cassidy reached the luxurious chamber. “Lights on, twenty-five percent.”

  It was impossible to tell the room was part of a cliff complex. The portions of the walls not covered by lighting panels, which emitted a soft golden glow, were draped in maroon floor-to-ceiling curtains. Cassidy’s bare feet sank into lush black carpeting as she approached the massive bed for four, covered by linens matching the curtains. The head and footboard were hand-carved wood, the posts elaborate depictions of twining bodies, between which thick railings gleamed as if daily polished. The bed screamed decadence, and Cassidy loved they’d heeded its message often over the years.

  She turned to witness her clanmates follow her in. She burst out in laughter to discover the trio had shed their clothes on the way to the room, no doubt leaving the uniforms of their positions puddled on the hallway floor.

  “You can’t say we make you wait.” Degorsk’s smile was bright, his twin cocks leading him toward her like divining rods.

  “Turn around and let me unbraid your hair.” She sat on the edge of the bed and waved him over. He obliged by turning his back to her, which gave her an uninhibited view of what she believed was the nicest ass in the universe. There was a plaster cast of it hanging on the wall of her sitting room, which a youthful Degorsk had made on a dare. It was lovely to contemplate when Cassidy needed a break from her studies.

  She set his flood of blue-black hair free from its waist-length plait. Her own platinum blond tresses, as long as his, were loose. She loved it when one of them hovered over the other, their curtains of hair hanging, offering the illusion of privacy.

  He turned and grinned at her, any angst over his clanmates erased. Maybe it was because his cocks were level with her face. Cassidy quelled an urge to check on Tranis, to see if lust had eased his constant worries. Watching her pleasure their clanmate would help him set aside concerns for a little while.

  Her gaze locked on Degorsk’s, Cassidy leaned forward and delivered a slow lick to the tip of his smaller secondary. He growled softly, his cat-slit pupils widening. He lifted his upper cock toward his abdomen to give her better access. Obeying the unspoken command, Cassidy filled her mouth with his heat. His flavor, sweet and spicy like cinnamon, exploded on her tongue.

  The others undressed her as she sucked the tapered length, her head bobbing to meet Degorsk’s slight rocking. His palm cupped the top of her head, and a thrill shot between her legs. Continued thrills darted through her as Tranis and Lidon fondled the skin they exposed.

  Degorsk’s grip tightened, and she readied. He pulled her head forward, thrusting at the same instant. She swallowed the twitching shaft. At the same instant, someone pinched her nipple hard, and a hand dove to rub her clit. The bed linens beneath her were abruptly soaked.

  “Has our lovely girl behaved herself in my absence?” Lidon rumbled on her left.

  “She could use a reminder,” Degorsk gasped as his cock slid partly free of her sucking mouth.

  “Reminders are always a good idea.” Excitement colored Tranis’ tone.

  Cassidy couldn’t have agreed more. She offered no resistance as they shifted her, making her crouch on the bed on all fours. She still faced Degorsk and his eager need. This time, he guided his larger primary to her lips, a bead of pre-cum waiting for her to taste.

  Lidon and Tranis rubbed her ass as Degorsk fucked her mouth using shallow strokes. Cassidy trembled at the feeling of calloused hands on her soft flesh, kneading it in preparation of Lidon’s spanking. She imagined her white skin reddening under his discipline, making her ass hot for their enjoyment.

  She was certain she wouldn’t have to imagine long.

  Tranis’ well-known touch drifted to her clit to stroke her so she gasped around Degorsk’s thrusting cock. Eager warmth spread through her pussy. He knew exactly how to handle her, to arouse her so she nearly forgot the coming hurt of Lidon’s punishment. She moaned, her hips moving to welcome his attention.

  The first slap rang in the air, just ahead of the stinging pain that suffused her rear. Her yelp was muffled by Degorsk’s insistent flesh, which continued to feed her its spicy-sweetness. Tranis rubbed her harder, intensifying both pain and pleasure.

  “Ours to reward and punish,” he whispered.

  Yes. Forever. Cassidy’s ass thrust higher in the air.

  Lidon’s swats came faster, heavier, testing her obedience to their demands. Cassidy couldn’t help but voice the delicious torment no more than she could stop passion from shoving her closer to orgasm.

  She’d been captured by them during the Earth-Kalquor war, spoils they’d eagerly claimed. What had shocked her was how she’d responded to their insistent seduction, how easily she’d succumbed to the brutal desire they’d awakened.

  The thrill of surrender to their strength and lust had never dimmed. She often imagined herself as the confused, angry young woman they’d found, pretending they taught her anew the excitement of being forced to acknowledge her desires, of being aroused until she had no choice but to submit to passion’s siren song.

  It was why Degorsk’s fingers tangled in her hair, holding her so she must accept his craving for the warmth of her mouth and throat. It was why Lidon spanked her, reminding her to bow before the delicious strength of the men who hungered for her. It was why Tranis determinedly rubbed her clit and shoved thick fingers in her pussy while she was punished, to show her how she couldn’t deny the pleasure they offered no matter how terrible her repressive home planet had taught her sex was.

  They knew her well, and they gave her exactly what she needed to bring her uncompromising ecstasy.

  “I’m so glad to be home,” Lidon sighed over his smacks. “Her ass is red and hot and perfect. My Dramok, I wonder…?”

  “By all means. She had me that way last night, so feel free to indulge yourself right away.”

  “Merciful Mother of All, I thank you.”

  The spanking ended. Lidon’s thighs wedged between Cassidy’s, and she shuddered, thinking of his thick primary cock.

  “Enjoy it while you can,” Degorsk said, filling her mouth and pausing as his twitching shaft spat sweet-salty warmth on her tongue. “As her pregnancy progresses, such activity will have to stop until the baby arrives.”

  “Then I will appreciate this more.”

  A questing touch to her rear hole reminded Cassidy to relax there. Lidon’s slick, hot heat pressed, forcing taut muscle to yield. He invaded her not roughly, but steadily. Cassidy trembled as the ache of taking him there grew thanks to the widening girth of his larger sex, but she didn’t resist.

  His smaller cock speared her pussy an instant later. He filled her, his grip on her hips keeping her in place when she instinctively jerked against the growing hurt. Just as pervasive as the distress was hungry arousal, fed by the incredible fullness of double penetration, Tranis’ tireless stroking of her clit and the strange but undeniable thrill of what had once been taboo brought her to heady heights.

  “That’s it, little one. You belong to us and will give us whatever we wish.” Tranis’ hot breath against her ear woke shivers. “There’s nowhere to go, nowhere to hide. You love being made helpless. You love being made to fuck us. To suck our cocks, to surrender your pussy and ass.”

  Every filthy utterance brought a shock of excitement through her, adding to the flesh violating her mouth, sex, and ass. She clenched around Lidon’s shafts, and he chuckled.

  Friction found her inner sweet spot, made stronger by the dual impalement. She wailed as a burst of rapture filled her, bringing orgasm close. Degorsk gasped, and his cock gave a jerk.

  “Fuck yeah. Make her come, my Nobek. Make her come screaming for us.”

  “Gladly,” the deep voice answered.

  His groin slapped a brutal tattoo on her sore ass. As when they’d captured her years ago, she was theirs to seduce, to be shown how helpless she was against their enticements. Cassidy was crumbling as she always had, forced to give in to unstoppable bliss. Climax was moments away, the proof of their mastery over her.

  Lidon rutted her, grunting in animal excitement. Degorsk was almost as loud, his gaze hectic as he shoved between her lips, his jaw tensing. Tranis pulled insistently on her clit, delivering excruciating pressure to the sensitive nub. It registered as part pain and all rapture.

  Exaltation seized Cassidy, held her in its clutches for an eternal instant. Then it broke her wide open. Violent shocks tore through her, rending her to pieces as the world turned a blazing white.

  The magnificent heaving thrills hadn’t dissipated when a voice demanded, “Again.” As if he commanded her primal instincts, Cassidy was consumed once more. During the waves of exquisiteness, a sweet-spicy-saltiness flooded her mouth, and she swallowed convulsively. As if fed by the river flowing down her throat, she came.

  She was just emerging when a shout sounded. The fullness in her pussy and ass jerked. Heat billowed in her, then ran to paint her inner thighs. A distant part of her mind registered Lidon was coming. Degorsk had already done so, his flavor heavy on her tongue.