An Unusual Desconian Marriage (Siren Publishing Ménage and More) (3 page)

Even though she’d worked closely with them for months now, it still seemed very strange that humans had such inhibited attitudes toward sex, especially considering that their home planet suffered a serious case of overpopulation. Perhaps by treating a natural part of life as a dirty secret, the population’s own ignorance was working against them.

Jaegan sat down on the edge of the bed and patted his thighs. She knew what he was asking, but was a little confused. They often used spanking in their sexual play, but this felt different, somehow more serious than usual. This felt like punishment. “In the shower you said you should,” she whispered. “Not that you would.”

“That’s before I caught the exchange between you and Lud.” He reached over, gripped her wrist in his large hand, and dragged her closer. “Did you really think you could hide the fact that you planned to go into work on your day off?”

She bit her lip, not really wanting to admit out loud that she’d hoped to hide it from him. But anger burned low in her belly, too. She was a grown woman, capable of making her own choices. She didn’t need permission from her husbands to go to work.

And damn it. She didn’t like the way it felt. Either she submitted to her punishment or they went home without playing?

“Jaegan,” she said on a pleading whisper. “Later, please. Not here.”

Jaegan and Luddeke both gave her startled looks. It was probably a fine line only in
her
mind. The other people in the playroom had all seen her submit to her husbands’ wishes and be spanked as part of sexual play, but it somehow felt wrong to let them see Jaegan dominate her in this way when it was her work with the Royal Guard that was the central reason. She worked hard to earn respect in a male-dominated career field. It felt like she was giving that up by allowing herself to be disciplined for working too hard in front of a coworker and her boss, even if they were both her close friends.

And it just felt wrong to let Jaegan spank her before sexual play rather than during.

“Actually,” she said, twisting her wrist to break Jaegan’s hold, “I’m a little tired.” She was aware enough to know that if Jaegan hadn’t wanted to let her go, she wouldn’t have been able to pull away, but he seemed surprised by her change of attitude. “I think I’ll just head home.”

“Kat?” Luddeke asked, reaching for her as she turned to leave the room.

“It’s just a headache,” she lied. “I’ll see you at home.”

“We’ll come with you.”

“No,” she said quickly,
way
too quickly if Jaegan’s narrowed eyes meant anything. “You two stay. Have fun. I’ll see you when you get home.”

She practically fled out the door of the playroom, dragged her clothes on in record time, and was out of the apartment before anyone could stop her.

* * * *

Luddeke watched their woman flee the room. He wasn’t exactly certain what had happened, but it was probably a good thing to let the situation calm down before reacting to it. Unfortunately, his husband was a man of action, not quiet reflection. He accidentally knocked Luddeke over in his effort to stop Katarnia from leaving the room.

“What the fuck?” Jaegan asked under his breath as he absently caught Luddeke before he could hit the ground. It wasn’t really a question directed at anyone, but Luddeke chose to answer it anyway.

“I don’t know,” he said, “but trying to force her to stay is going to make things worse.”

Jaegan gave him a look that suggested things couldn’t get much worse.

Luddeke had to agree. In less than a minute Katarnia had gone from pleading to stay at the party to changing her mind and leaving without them. He’d known his wife was stressed, but he’d simply assumed it was her new job. Her reaction tonight certainly pointed at something deeper.

Luddeke glanced around the room at their friends, a part of him hoping that someone could explain to him what had just happened. Unfortunately, they seemed as confused by Katarnia’s behavior as he and Jaegan were.

Kimberley climbed off the bed, her husbands close behind her.

“I’ve got refreshments in the kitchen. Perhaps now is a good time for a break.”

Eric, Cindy, and Loukie nodded in agreement and followed the other three from the room. Jaegan sat back on the edge of the bed, his thoughts obviously troubled. He was looking at the cobalt-blue patterns painted on his skin. Jaegan and Luddeke had claimed Katarnia as their mubella nearly five Desconian years ago, so the patterns were quite faded. It was Desconian tradition to renew the claiming ceremony and have the symbols repainted every five years or so. Eventually, the symbols stayed on the skin without fading, but many triads enjoyed the public renewal of their marriage and love for each other.

“We’re losing her,” Jaegan said quietly. The thought had crossed Luddeke’s mind, but he was well known for overanalyzing every situation. It was disconcerting to hear the same thought said out loud by his husband.

“No, we’re not,” Luddeke said, trying to sound positive. “She’s just tired. Once she has more help at work things will go back to the way they were.”

“I hope you’re right,” Jaegan said as he reached for Luddeke and pulled him onto his lap. Luddeke wasn’t little by any stretch of the imagination, but thanks to Jaegan’s gigantic size, sitting on his lap was quite a comfortable place to be. Luddeke rested his head against Jaegan’s chest and listened to the familiar beat of his lover’s heart. “Is it too early to follow her home?”

“I don’t know,” Luddeke answered honestly, “but I don’t like the idea of leaving her alone for too long.”

They stood up, intending to get dressed and go home, but Ewin came back into the room. He wore a concerned frown. “Is everything okay with Kat?”

Luddeke squeezed Jaegan’s waist, a silent reminder that Kat wouldn’t appreciate them talking about her—even to her close friends.

“Just tired,” Jaegan answered with a forced smile. One of the things Luddeke loved about Jaegan was his honesty and direct approach to life. It wouldn’t sit well with him to not be completely honest with a concerned friend, but it was obvious Jaegan loved their mubella enough to try.

“Jerrod and Eric have been asking a lot of her with this promotion. With more and more ships arriving from Earth, the problem is getting out of hand. It’s about time Kat got the help she needs,” Ewin said with a decisive nod. “I’ll make some calls in the morning.” It was no wonder he and Jaegan were good friends. They were both the type to try and fix any problem they saw.

“No need,” Luddeke said, trying to sound calm. “Jerrod already approved more staff. She’ll soon have all the help she can stand.”

Ewin smiled, looking far more relaxed now that he knew the problem was being dealt with. “Glad to hear it. Kimberley has made food enough to feed a small army. Are you going to stay for dinner?”

“Actually, I think we’ll just get going,” Jaegan said. “I’ve got an early shift in the morning, so I should probably try and get a decent night’s sleep.”

“You got lumped with security for the Gahbotian delegation? Fuck, who did you piss off?”

“Not sure,” Jaegan said with a half laugh. The Gahbotians weren’t known for their patience. They wanted everything to be perfect all of the time and they complained very loudly if it wasn’t. It was rather ironic that the delegates for the planet Gahbot were so picky and organized when the rest of the planet seemed to thrive on chaos. The last time Luddeke had seen the planet mentioned on the intergalactic news channels it had been a report on a spate of new buildings that had toppled sideways due to faulty engineering practices.

It was obvious to Luddeke, and probably Ewin also, why Jaegan had been picked for such a difficult assignment. Jaegan was just as demanding as the Gahbotian delegates when it came to quality work from himself and his staff. Simply put, he was the best man for the job.

“Okay,” Ewin said with an understanding smile. “Go get some rest. I’ll explain to Kimberley.”

“Thanks,” Jaegan said. Luddeke sensed some sort of unspoken understanding pass between the two highly trained security specialists, but had no clue what it meant. He wanted to ask, but when Jaegan wrapped a protective arm around his shoulders and turned toward the front foyer where they’d left their clothes, it seemed far more important to get home to their mubella.

“Wow, you look like hammered shit.”

“I’m guessing that’s not a compliment,” Katarnia said as Deanna came into her office.

“Depends on your perspective, I suppose.” Deanna leaned casually against the entryway and closed one eye slowly in what humans called a wink. After three months on Descon, the human’s real personality was beginning to surface. Underneath the sensible, controlled façade was a woman who enjoyed life to the fullest. Considering some of the horrifying stories Katarnia had heard about the attitudes on Earth, she could almost understand why Deanna had been kicked off the planet. She was open and honest and forthright. None of those traits would have done her any good on Earth.

Thankfully, for Descon she was also proving invaluable in leading the attitude change in some of the other human women as well. It appeared that the authorities on Earth weren’t being too picky about whom they targeted for expulsion, but so far it seemed that they were all of childbearing age and all had some knowledge of the possible physical relationship between men and women.

Unfortunately, how some of them had learned that information hadn’t been by choice.

Three of the women on the first transport had been heavily pregnant, and several others had been in their second trimester. Thankfully, they’d all found homes and new lives almost immediately. If there was one thing Desconians wanted more than anything else it was children in their lives—even if they weren’t genetically their offspring.

“Isn’t today supposed to be your day off?”

Katarnia groaned. “Not you, too.”

“Me, too?” she asked, looking surprised, and then as if she pieced together Katarnia’s meaning she winked again. “I take it your husbands aren’t particularly happy that you work so hard.”

“Understatement,” Katarnia said with a wry grin.

“I remember being annoyed at times with my overprotective husband. I can’t imagine how much harder it must be with two.”

Katarnia smiled. “They’re not usually so overbearing, but it has been a hectic adjustment period to my new job.”

“Things will settle down,” Deanna said confidently. “In fact, that’s why I dropped by. Cassandra and Elise would like to apply for weekend passes to stay with their prospective partners. I think they’re actually looking forward to trying some of the stuff they’ve seen in the instructional videos.”

“Elise?” Katarnia asked with a frown. “Isn’t she the one who threw up on your shoes the day she learned what a blow job was?”

Deanna laughed happily. “That she did. But the Desconian couple who’ve taken an interest in her are very sweet. I doubt that Ganken would ask her to do anything she isn’t comfortable with, and I’m fairly certain his wife would object rather strenuously if he tried.”

Katarnia laughed with her. Deanna’s assessment of the couple was spot-on. Ganken was a lovely, if somewhat timid man, and his wife was his perfect match—sensible, practical, and when the situation called for it, very much the one in charge. Deanna was right. They would be good for Elise.

“I’ve already got the ‘paperwork’ organized,” Deanna said easily. “They just need your approval and, fingers crossed, we’ll have found new homes for two more lucky ladies.”

Katarnia nodded—she’d already figured out what humans meant when they said “fingers crossed”—and logged onto her computer. She found the correct files and added her digital signature.

“Thanks, Deanna. I can’t tell you how much easier you’ve made my job. I still haven’t figured out how you learned the written language so quickly.”

Deanna shrugged. “I don’t know that I’d be much help outside of the current subject matter, but it was fun learning something new. The last ten years on Earth, important news and information seemed to get harder and harder to access. Almost everything got censored in one way or another.”

“Why didn’t anyone try to stop the censorship?”

Deanna gave her a sad smile. “I think it happened so gradually that few people noticed until it was too late. It actually started out quite innocently. Well-meaning people didn’t want children to access certain things on the Internet, so laws were passed restricting their distribution. Slowly, those laws were expanded to cover security issues like bomb making and terrorist activities. When people with their own agenda took over the government, they used those laws to restrict information even further.” Her eyes glistened with tears and she shrugged once more. “By the time reasonable people realized what was happening, it was too dangerous to speak out.”

“Is that what happened to your husband?” Katarnia asked as her own heart clenched in her chest.

At Deanna’s small nod, Katarnia was out of her chair and gathering the woman into her arms almost immediately.

“I’m sorry,” Deanna said haltingly as Katarnia eased them both onto the sofa. She held the woman close as she cried. After a little while, Deanna took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I guess I didn’t do all my grieving on Earth. I tried to carry on his work—albeit far less vocally—but I suppose it didn’t do much good in the end.”