C1 1

Violet Nichols, Interstellar Brides Processing Center, Miami

This had to be a dream. But it felt real. So damn real.

I was blindfolded. Naked. The subtle sound of a man’s groans of pleasure reached me, flooding my core with wet heat. But I didn’t need to be able to see to know that strong hands gripped my hips and I sat on a man’s face as he ate my pussy. My thighs clenched against his ears, his wicked skill so intense that my leg muscles quivered, tightened and relaxed as his tongue slid over me, then pulled, drawing my sensitive clit into his mouth with just the right amount of suction before releasing it over and over again. I moaned when he flicked a very sensitive spot at the top. His hands were big, his fingers long enough to hold my slippery folds open for his tender assault. Again and again he made me tremble, shifting from demanding suction to the gentlest of brushes. For someone so big, he was very careful.

I couldn’t tell him this, couldn’t do more than beg for more with a sexy moan and desperate whimper, for while he was beneath me, a second man thrust his cock into my mouth. The thick girth of it was smooth and hard as steel against my tongue as I laved him, felt the pulsing line of the vein that ran up the length.

When he pulled back so that I could circle the rim of the crown with my tongue, I was able to take a deep breath before he stretched my lips wide once again, thrusting deep so he entered my throat. His growl of appreciation and the way his big hand tightened in my hair was all the indication I needed to know I was pleasing him. One of my hands rested against his abdomen, the steel hard abs clearly defined beneath my fingertips as I explored him, touched him like I owned him, like he was mine. When he paused, pulling back, fighting for control, I didn’t allow his retreat, pushing forward, swallowing him down like he was mine to take, mine to pleasure. I slid my hand down, cupped his balls gently and pulled him closer, his growl of warning unheeded. He was all mine, and I wasn’t giving him the chance to escape me, and I knew he didn’t really want to go anywhere but deeper.

But even that wasn’t all. They weren’t all. This dream? There was more.

No, he was more. The third man touching me. I was surrounded, yet I felt completely safe. No, more than safe. Needy. Desperate. Like I was about to break into a million pieces— wanted to break—and knew they would catch me. Three men, and they were all mine. One beneath me eating my pussy, one in my mouth fucking my throat and a third—I had his cock in my hand, stroking it from root to tip, feeling the pre-cum seep from it and smear beneath my thumb.

I’d never felt a cock so long, so thick; my fingers didn’t even wrap around all of it. He wasn’t just kneeling beside me, cock thrust toward me so he could get a hand job. No, he had his hands on me, too. My breast was cupped in his big palm and he was pinching and tugging the nipple. While the others were thorough in their attentions, this one was more demanding, pinching a touch harder than I expected, tugging longer so there was a bite of pain. This only made me feel even more. Better. I was on the brink of pleasure, of my orgasm. God, so close.

Then he moved his other hand low, cupping my bottom, circling my sensitive opening with his thumb. The shock of that caress jolted me forward with a groan and I came down on the first man’s mouth harder, wanting more. Needing something inside me. My pussy was empty and aching. Hurting. I wanted them all. I wanted them to fill me up, give me their seed, give me their bliss.

The thought was strange, but I didn’t argue. Somehow, I knew that their cum was like magic, that the touch of it on my flesh, the taste of it in my mouth, would push me over the edge into an orgasm so intense I’d forget to breathe. And I wanted it, wanted them to give me everything and make me feel like I was theirs, just as they were mine.

And that made my pussy wetter because I was just...about...there. Somehow, the man beneath me knew and he licked, flicked and moved lower, slid his tongue into my pussy, fucking me with it, teasing me with something that wasn’t quite enough.

I couldn’t talk, but I had other ways to communicate. Wrapping my hand tightly around the third man’s cock, I trapped the second man’s hard length in my mouth with a gentle nudge of my teeth, not enough to hurt, but just enough to let him know I was tired of being teased. Played with. I needed to come, needed it so badly I felt like my heart was going to explode out of my chest.

“Our mate is making demands.” The words were strained with the same desire I felt, but there was laughter in his voice as well. If I had teeth around my cock, I wasn’t sure I’d be laughing.

“Perhaps she should be taught who is in control.” The hand on my ass slid lower and the tip of the third man’s thumb slid inside. “And who is not.” Those words were whispered against my ear, the heat of his breath so intense I whimpered as he played with my ass, teasing me, slowly sliding his thumb in and out of my body, making sure I knew he could do more.

I would have begged if I could, but I could do nothing. I was completely at their mercy and that fact made me wild, mindless.

Holy hell, I wanted him to do more. I wanted him to fuck me there, fill me with his cock as the other took my pussy and I conquered the third with my mouth. It would be so good. I knew it would be good. I remembered…

Wait. What? That was impossible. This was just a dream. I’d never been with three men. Never even imagined it. But this was my dream and I could do whatever I wanted. Or whoever. Or three whoevers.

And in a dream, I could love having three men. I could be sweaty and demanding. Lost to the pleasure, my nipples hard nubs that were so sensitive I could come from those just being played with alone. But my clit being sucked…

Yeah, that was the hottest fucking thing ever. I’d had a guy eat me out before, but I’d never ridden a man’s face. Never had someone just...know what I needed. Know that a cock deep in my mouth made me hot, made me feel submissive and wildly dirty. But I wasn’t ashamed. There was no guilt, no judgment, no frowning old woman scolding me for being so deliciously wicked. How could I not want to be exactly where I was when all I felt was adored? Worshiped? Gifted with pleasure?

“Come for us. Come for me and I’ll give you what you really want, love. I’ll fuck this tight ass.” The thumb pressed deeper, just enough to make me arch my back and push down, wanting more, wanting exactly what he promised me. Him. Big. Hard. Deep.

The fist in my hair pulled me back, forced me to release the cock I’d held captive in my mouth. The man beneath me sucked my clit hard, fast, flicking it faster than before. I was surrounded. Dominated. At their mercy and their pleasure and it made me hot. I loved it and the orgasm rushed over me like an explosion. I screamed my release...finally, my ears tingling, my muscles tensing then going lax. My pussy walls clenching on...nothing.

“Is that what you needed, mate?” one gravelly deep voice asked. It was the second man, the man whose pre-cum I could taste on my tongue, the tingling heat of that small taste didn’t make sense to me, but I rolled the flavor on my tongue with anticipation. While this was my dream, it wasn’t complete. I didn’t know their names, but I knew they were big, brawny and their muscles had muscles. I knew, somehow, impossibly, that they were mine. And that was enough for me.

“No,” I said. I couldn’t help the taunting smile that curved my lips. “It’s not enough. I need my mates. I need you inside me.” Oh, I was playing with fire, tempting them, pushing them to lose control. Normally, this would have made me nervous, but this was dream me, and she was unashamed of her needs, her desire. She needed and they would provide. The certainty was a like a drug all its own, filling my body with confidence, with an assurance I’d never felt in the bedroom. Ever.

“Needy thing. We haven’t even fucked you yet,” the second man said. A hand stroked down the length of my spine. “You need more? Need us to take you? Make you ours forever?”

My inner walls clenched at the possibility. Oh yes, I wanted that. So much. “Yes.” Yes! I was shouting inside my head, but dream me didn’t seem to hear, or be in a big hurry. The greedy bitch knew she was going to get exactly what she/I wanted.

“I hope you’re well rested. Your men have need of you and your pussy. Your mouth. Those lush breasts. The perfect pucker of your ass.” The hand cupping my ass shifted so the thumb moved inside me and I gasped. “Every inch of you is ours, or will be before the night is through.”

Oh my.

I’d heard of women who could have an orgasm in a dream. I was definitely one of them now. And since it was a dream, I decided I could be multi-orgasmic. Why stop at one? I was too hot, too greedy to stop now.

“I want it. Everything you can give me.” I hadn’t been fucked in the ass before, never really done much ass play at all, but I wasn’t going to tell these three no. If anyone could get me to submit in such a way, then it would be them.

“That’s right.” It was the first man and each word was punctuated by a kiss on my clit, as if he were just saying hello. His voice was even deeper, his cadence slower, as if he had all the time in the world...or at least all night, and he was exactly where he wanted to be. “That orgasm was to get you ready for us. Make sure this pussy is nice and soft. Swollen. Wet.”

The last word was half seduction and half promise and my entire body shuddered in response. I’d just had an orgasm, but my body was wound so tightly I was more than willing to beg again. “Give me those cocks,” I growled. “I want them. Now.”

“Miss Nichols.”

No! No. Go away. The annoying female voice interrupted my dream. I tried to lift my hand to swat the person away, but I couldn’t. It was pinned down. How dare she interrupt me and my three men?

“Miss Nichols,” she repeated.

My eyes popped open to reveal the clinical, sterile exam room in the bride center. Gray. White tile. My wrists were secured to the strange chair by large cuffs I doubted even an alien warrior could break open. Shit.

I didn’t want to be here. I wanted to be there. With my three men. Feeling sexy and wild and totally free for the first time in my life. I squeezed my eyes closed, blocking out reality.

But like everything else so far, it appeared I would have to deal with disappointment. It had been nothing more than a dream. A worthless, meaningless dream taunting me with everything I didn’t dare want and knew I wouldn’t get.

Trion. That’s where I was going. I had to talk some sense into my sister who was there even now. And since I knew those Trion men were hardcore into dominance, and not into sharing, I wrapped my head around the idea that more likely than not, I’d be transported to that wild planet, tied up and spanked by my new mate in a matter of hours. But three men? That was so not happening on Trion. No matter how fucking amazing it had been. A dream, nothing more.

God. My skin was drenched in sweat, my pussy still swollen and pulsing from the first orgasm they’d given me. But just like in the dream, I was still worked up. Needy. If I just closed my eyes, I could still feel the lingering touch of my lover’s caress on my back. My hard little clit was sensitive and engorged. My nipples ached from being played with. My jaw muscles were tired from a deep throat fuck.

Yet it was all illusion. A complete mind-fuck. Those men weren’t here with me. Warden Egara was. Not that she wasn’t attractive, but she was not my type. Not. With a capital N.

Resigned to the inevitable, I sighed and opened my eyes to find her staring at me with the patience of a damn saint. She had that look that nurses get when they’re waiting for you to deal with whatever bad news they just handed down. See this gigantic needle? Yeah? It needs to go into your spine. It’s going to feel like I’m crushing your spinal chord in a fist. Sorry, sweetie.

Warden Egara raised a brow. “Are you with me, Miss Nichols?”

“I bet every woman you wake from their testing hates you as much as I do right about now,” I told her, despising her so much.

She leaned over me, all crisp uniform, dark brown hair sleek and tidy in a bun, her expression almost stern, but her gray eyes were oddly sad, as if she had the weight of the world on her shoulders. But supervising the matching of brides from Earth to the rest of the universe, maybe she did. Although, my statement had the corner of her mouth tipping up. “Probably.”

“And it wasn’t three hot, well-hung men I told to give me their cocks, but you. Right? Please tell me I didn’t really say that out loud.”

Now, she did smile. “Don’t worry, I’ve heard worse.”

Hah! Not from me, she hadn’t. I was so embarrassed I wanted to dissolve into a puddle and slide out of the chair. I shifted in my seat, as best I could considering it was hard, unforgiving, and my wrists were restrained. “So my testing was completely normal? That was completely normal?”

She nodded, then stepped back.

“If that was normal, why pull me out? That’s just mean. A girl needs dreams like that for as long as they last.”

The warden nodded in what I assumed was understanding—but she’d still pulled me out of the testing dream at the good part—and sat down at the generic table and chair. “Because soon it won’t be a dream. It can be your reality,” she told me. “You’ve been matched, Miss Nichols, with a ninety-seven percent compatibility, which is remarkable.”

I nodded. “That’s why I’m here. I accept the match. Send me. I’m ready.” Time to get off this planet and reunite with my twin. How dare Mindy leave me here like this? I wanted to cry and scream at her at the same time. Instead, I blinked until I regained control of my emotions and focused on the warden. I stared at her, but I didn’t really see her. My thoughts shifted to Mindy, to the message she’d left me on my cell.

Josh dumped me, the jerk. I SWEAR there are no good men left on Earth. Don’t hate me, but I volunteered to be an Interstellar Bride. I’ve been matched to Trion! Sending this to you so you don’t worry. Gotta run...or transport. Whatever. ‘ Beam me up, Scottie!’ I’m getting married to an alien. Ha! I love you, Sissy. I’ll get a message to you when I can. I’m so excited. I’m outta here.

I’d heard of breakup texts before, but this was worse. So much worse. My baby sister—my identical twin sister, younger than me by three minutes—left me a stupid text to tell me she was leaving the fucking planet to be matched to an alien. And she’d gotten Trion. She hadn’t reached out to me before she left her house. No, she’d told me right before she left the fucking planet. A done deal. I knew nothing about Trion except the males there were big, dominant and definitely kinky.

That worked for me. Because after almost two months of agonizing over the decision, I was going, too. Where Mindy went, I went. We were identical and there was no one closer to me in the world, or universe, than she was. But she wasn’t on Earth any longer. And I was so damn furious at her for ditching me. Still.

If she’d just told me what she wanted to do, I so would have been there. We could have gone together, been tested and sent to the new planet together. Double wedding. Our hot, alien hunks could have shaken hands and dealt with the fact that where one of us went, we both went. Package deal. Two for one. Always together.

Except we weren’t. She’d left me behind.

Being dumped by a boyfriend didn’t hold a candle to being abandoned by my reckless, impulsive, and irresponsible sister. It was my job to look out for her, make sure she stayed out of trouble. I was only a few minutes older, but most days it felt like a few years.

Today it felt like twenty.

Mindy had crushed me with this one, and even now, I tried not to cry at the stinging rejection. It was worse than any boyfriend breakup. Worse than when our parents ditched us at our cousin’s house and never came back. Worse than the rejection letter I’d gotten from my dream college. Worse even than the fact that Mindy had refused to apply to college and decided to be a dental hygienist instead.

I hated teeth. Hated the dentist. I’d wanted to be an architect, but between my less than perfect grade point average and my very average college entrance exam scores, the big universities hadn’t exactly lined up to throw scholarship money my direction. When Mindy had refused to even apply, I’d given in to the inevitable and gone to trade school. Now I did technical drafting for a group of fifty-year-old men with potbellies, whose angry wives and teenage children treated me like I was their personal servant and deliveryman when they showed up at the office.

Mindy leaving me felt like dying. Part of me was dying, in so much pain I could barely think. The other half of me was so freaking angry I wanted to beat the crap out of her the moment I saw her on Trion. Scream at her. Slap her across the face and demand an explanation. Did she hate me so much?

Whoever my new alien husband was, he was going to have to deal with the fact that finding my sister was my number one priority. Once I was sure she was okay and I murdered her, then we could get naked. Then I’d let myself live in dreamland for a hot minute and have a couple of—hopefully—mind-blowing orgasms with a sexy alien hunk who was all mine.

I wasn’t violent. I’d never been violent. Never punched anyone, never been in a fist fight. That was Mindy’s territory. I was the quiet one. The responsible one. Always in control. Always thinking two or three or ten steps ahead. She got us into trouble and I got us out.

But I was terrified I wouldn’t be able to get her out of this one. Terrified I’d lost her forever. Just damn terrified.

I didn’t want to be alone. Truly alone. I’d never been alone. And my sister had always needed me. Always. Now? Now, I was just drifting and useless. I felt lost.

And, of course, she’d left the message while I was in my weekly company meeting, so I couldn’t stop her. I was here being tested eight weeks and two days after Mindy. And I was terrified. I’d finally made the decision, gotten in my car and drove. It was one of the only truly irresponsible things I’d ever done in my life. I hadn’t terminated my lease, sold my stuff, or even cancelled my cell phone plan.

The world could figure it out after I was gone. Out of here. Reunited with my sister.

Besides, if I thought about it too much—or any more than I already had—it would feel too permanent, too scary, and I was afraid I’d lose my nerve.

I would be on Trion soon, now that I’d accepted the match, and could track her down and give her the kick in the ass she deserved. Or painful death by my hands—then I’d hug her to make sure we really were together again. It wasn’t as if our parents ever hugged us, took any responsibility for us. We’d had to take care of each other since forever.

“Great.” The warden sounded pleased as she swiped her finger over her small tablet. As she did so, she continued, “I don’t always have brides so eager to go. Usually convicted felons do not volunteer so readily.”

“Yeah, well, I’m no convict, but I definitely am eager. My sister was matched.”

She glanced up at me briefly. “That’s nice.” Her tone said that factoid was completely irrelevant. As if. “I have a few standard details to go over with you before I can begin preparations for transport.”

“Go for it,” I prompted, eager to get this show on the road.

“State your name for the record.”

“Violet Nichols.”

“Are you legally married?”

Yeah, right. “No.”

“Do you have any biological or legal offspring?”

“You mean some women leave a kid behind?” I asked, not answering the simple question.

“This eliminates that possibility,” she replied, although there was probably a story there.

“No. I don’t have any kids.”

“You agree to this match of your own free will?”

I nodded. “Yes, I do. Where do I sign?”

“Verbal agreement is all that is required, Violet, since everything is recorded and saved. Thank you.”

I wasn’t too keen to know my steamy dream had been recorded, but the warden had said I wasn’t the only woman to come out of the testing all hot and bothered. I was just another face to them. Another test, another transport. And soon, I’d be on Trion. Earth and this testing center would be far, far away.

“Great.” I wiggled my bare feet up and down on the hard chair, energized. Maybe it was the hot dream orgasm that had me motivated to go. I’d get my sister back and meet my new, smoking hot alien mate.

“Wonderful. That is the last of the required questions.” She stepped back and a seam appeared in the wall, lit by faint blue light. A section of the wall slid away and the chair moved sideways into some kind of cocoon chamber. Holy shit. I was going to Trion. Like now. Right now.

I closed my eyes until something pinched me just behind my ear. I yelped at the sting, but Warden Egara’s voice calmed me. “That’s just your Neural Processing Unit, Violet, so you can understand their language. You’re doing just fine.”

I pushed out a breath, let my shoulders relax. This was really happening. I was headed to see Mindy. “Just get me that one-way ticket to Trion and I’ll be all set.”

She frowned. “Trion?”

I tried to lift my hands, rub my wrists, even though they didn’t hurt. I wanted to fidget, tuck my hair back behind my ear, shift in the hard, pseudo-dentist chair. And that ear pinch wasn’t anything like Novocain. This place, so far, was much better than the dentist. Only sexy man dreams. “Yes, Trion. That’s where I will be sent.”

The warden blinked at me, then cocked her head to the side. “Why do you believe you were matched to Trion?”

“My sister is there, so that’s where I’ll be sent, too.” I was absolutely certain of it. We were twins. Identical. Where one went, the other followed. Always.

“How nice for your sister,” the warden said neutrally, as if she’d offered this bland statement to other siblings before. “But you were not matched to Trion.”

My jaw went slack and I stared at the woman wide-eyed. “Of course, I was. I’m going to Trion.”

Slowly, she shook her head. “No, Miss Nichols. You’ve been matched to Viken. A ninety-seven percent match, which is quite remarkable considering you have to be matched to three warriors. That is the best match I have ever seen to Viken. You should be very happy there.”

Holy shit. Three? Did she just say three warriors?

No. This was all wrong. Sure, the dream had been hot. Super hot. Amazing. But it wasn’t what I needed. I needed to go to Trion. It was my turn to frown.

“Viken? Where the hell is Viken? I’ve never heard of that planet.” I yanked at the restraints, suddenly very eager to get the hell out of this chair before Warden Egara pushed some magic button and sent me to the wrong freaking planet. There was no way I was going to Viken. Mindy was on Trion. Trion.

“Viken is a small planet known for its—”

I glared at her. “I don’t care about Viken.” Yanking harder, I winced when the restraints cut into my skin. I swung my legs over the side and pulled, twisted, trying to get up. “No. I don’t want to go to Viken.”

“Why not? Your subconscious testing dictated that it was your best match.”

I put my hands up in the stop gesture even though my wrists were pinned down. “No way. I refuse.”

“You’ve already been matched,” she replied. “You accepted the match, verbally and for the record. My hands are tied.”

Yeah, so were mine. I tugged on the restraints once again.

“Per protocol, I must send you to the place with the highest probability of a successful match, and that is Viken.”

I shook my head. This was wrong. So wrong. But they needed brides, right? The Brides Program had advertisements all over the place. TV. Online. The sides of buses. They were desperate, right? So she’d send me where I wanted to go. She had to. “I’m sorry, Warden. But no. If I’m not going to Trion, I’m going home.”

“This is unheard of, Miss Nichols.” Her eyes weren’t sad anymore, but the look I saw there was worse. Pity. “You are giving up a chance at true happiness, Violet. I cannot send you to Trion. The matching protocols are very specific. Now that you’ve been matched, my hands are tied. I can’t send you to another planet knowing you’ll be unhappy.”

Turning, I narrowed my eyes at the woman. “Warden Egara, I’m not going to Viken.” I closed my mouth, gritted my teeth and spit out, “It’s Trion, with my sister, or nothing.”

“But—”

“Get me out of here, please. I’m going home.”

The warden just stared at me for a full minute, obviously thinking about what she was going to do. Didn’t women ever reject their matches? I would assume women said ‘No’ all the time. I mean, cold feet seemed reasonable at a time like this. Right?

Or was I the idiot here? Turning down a chance at true happiness? But no. There was no happiness without my sister. She was my other half. I didn’t need a man—or three—for that. I needed to know she was safe. Happy. I knew I’d never be happy until I knew she was all right. I swore taking care of her was in my DNA.

“If you don’t let me get up off this chair, I’m going to start screaming.”

She walked toward me and held my gaze. “You’re making a mistake, Violet.”

“No, I’m not. I can’t go to Viken.”

Her sigh was so deep I swore it rattled my bones, and definitely rattled my nerves. “Very well.”

The chair slid back into the main room, the weird doors sliding shut, the blue light disappearing. Then, the restraints retracted almost magically and I got up so fast I nearly ran her over, rubbing that sore spot behind my ear that now had a weird, painful lump. It wasn’t a mistake. I’d just have to find another way to get to Trion.

There had to be another way.