Predator

Chapter 23

Dorian shot Jesse a look of frustration when he appeared in Alex’s suite with her nestled in his arms. “I asked you to watch her.” He carried her to the bed, settled her in the center, and pulled the blankets over her nude, shaking body. “You were supposed to take care of her.”

“I cannot teleport like you and Ioan, Dorian. I knew she was going to my father and I knew he was with your father in your room.” Jesse whispered loudly while his brother tucked his mother into bed. He sat beside her stroking her hair away from her face. “I knew you would bring her back before I even got there to retrieve her.”

“I’m sorry, Jesse. I shouldn’t be snapping at you but this is very difficult for me. I’m scared to death of losing her.” He watched Alex finally drift off into a fitful sleep from his gentle caress and stared at her in wonderment. “The rest of you have known her a lot longer than me. You’ve had a lifetime of experiences with her and I’ve had none.” He glanced at Jesse with imploring eyes and asked with a choked voice. “Will you tell me about your relationship with her?”

“She lives off of human emotions and lives for love of us.” Jesse watched Dorian place his hand over hers and smile as she settled into a more comfortable rest. “She has always placed our safety and happiness above her own. She…has died so many times for us.”

“We are on the verge of losing her, Jesse.” Dorian sniffled as his tears began to fall. “She has retreated into herself and is stuck in a position of just seeing to our safety. She shut off her emotions. If our fathers don’t find a way to fix this, I might not ever get the chance to know her like you do.” He let out a short laugh and glanced back at his brother. “The worst part is that aside from healing them, she doesn’t want to be near our fathers.”

“I don’t see how our fathers can fix this with her if she won’t allow them to. We’re going to have to think of something, my brother. We cannot fix something that we did not break.”

“Jesse, I personally feel like we should leave this to them to figure out. They are the ones who are ultimately responsible for this change in her and, if they are worthy of her, they will do everything they can to heal her spirit.” He looked at his mother as she stirred in her sleep. “We just need to be here for her.”

~*~

The palace guards, military, and servants had landed on the surface and were returning to their stations under the watchful eyes of Ian. Instructions were given for them to assist in directing the civilian transports to the appropriate landing pads. The residents were reassured that everything was safe and they could return to their homes by the military as soon as they stepped off of the shuttles.

“My Lord.” A Captain of Ariana’s Elite Guard approached Ian with an update on the arrival of the planet’s residents. “The return of the civilians’ transports is progressing slowly. A majority of them had made it out of this system before we recalled them but I anticipate they should all be back within the hour.”

“Good.” He nodded at the man he had personally trained in the arts of combat and defense to safeguard his mate’s children. “You have been very helpful in the evacuation and repopulation of the planet.”

“I appreciate your praise, my Lord, but Lord Tyr made the most effort in seeing to the safety of the people. He deserves the recognition of being their savior.” He kept his head down as he addressed his Master. “I thought you would like to know that Lord Tyr’s child is on one of the last transports that will arrive planet-side and I will arrange for his caregiver to bring him to his father upon landing.”

“Thank you, Captain, for your insight. Please make sure I am kept apprised of the status of that particular transport.”

He bowed his head. “Yes, my Lord.” Dismissed from Ian’s presence, he turned and went back to his duties.

~*~

Riddick, Ares, and Duncan were assisting the military in clearing debris that remained from the recent battles on the palace grounds while the servants set about restoring some semblance of normalcy to its appearance. Walls were being rebuilt. The marble floors were being replaced. The gardens were being replanted. All of this was accomplished under the direction of the Lords of Ariana. Its Lady was still absent from the public’s eyes.

“Has there been any word from the boys about Alexandra?” Ares asked as nonchalantly as possible while he lifted a huge piece of marble and carried it effortlessly to the growing pile of rubble in the courtyard.

“Dorian said she is resting but not comfortably.” Riddick responded somberly as he and Ares blasted the pile of debris with their new cosmic energy. It was reduced to atoms and removed from sight. “Her sleep is disturbed and they are unsure if it is a result of yesterday’s tragedy.”

“They are actually being quite tight lipped about her condition.” Duncan added to the conversation. “I think they are trying to keep us in the dark about something.”

Riddick spun around on Duncan in a fit of anger. “What the hell are you talking about? My son would not keep anything from me when it comes to the welfare of my wife!”

“I beg to differ.” Duncan stood toe to toe with Riddick and did not flinch from the rage the Furyan was exuding. “We are all aware of why she has shied away from us. We let her down when she trusted us to protect her and we are hurting her through the connections we share with her. I have no doubts whatsoever that her children will do whatever is in her best interests and that includes leaving us to our own devices.”

“You’re saying that we have to fix what we broke?”

“And here I thought you were too thick to understand unless it was spelled out for you.” Duncan shrugged off Riddick’s growl and stared him down with an equal amount of intensity. “Your own son said we have to learn how to control our ability to project our emotions because we are damaging what we own of her. I know I broke her heart before all of this happened.”

“You treated her like a whore when she allowed Riddick to bed her.” Tyr had caught the exchange between Riddick and Duncan as he walked up and addressed the Immortal with regret in his voice. “You have always hated me because of the lack of attention she showed you when I occupied her time.”

“I did treat her badly when you returned and she called me for protection from you. I came for her and saw how he marked her body during his claiming of her. I was jealous.” He stared at Riddick when he explained his actions and turned to Tyr. “You…possessed her after she bonded with you. We never had a chance with you around.”

“Duncan, she gave you her heart.” Tyr kept his tone civil despite the Immortal’s barely restrained hostility. “Is there anything more precious of hers than that? We all serve a purpose in her life but you hold the link to humanity that she so dearly treasures. How could you doubt the importance of your position in her life?”

Duncan could not maintain eye contact with the Nietzchean when his soft-spoken words struck a cord within him. His eyes had welled with tears when he returned his gaze to her 3 mates. “I swore I would make things right with her when the battle turned in our favor. The only way I can think of to accomplish that is to accept that she belongs to all of us. It is not easy for me.” He chuckled and shrugged his shoulders. “I am only human.”

Ares laughed and slapped Duncan on his back. “You are an exceptional human. I believe she chose wisely in you and I know why it isn’t easy for you to accept this arrangement we live under. You feel inferior to the rest of us.”

“I guess I do and it isn’t limited to power either.”

Riddick read the tension in Duncan’s body and knew the root of his issues was about to be addressed. “What is it then, Duncan? Why do you have an inferiority complex?”

“It appears my beloved wife likes to be dominated in bed and I am sorely lacking in that area. You are all aggressive lovers while I just make love to her.”

“You don’t think that is important to her too?” Tyr asked quietly. “She needs to be loved and worshipped just as much as she craves our primal mating. You give her exactly what she needs from you. She chose you for your capacity to love her. Your deep commitment to her heart is what drew her to you those many years ago. Don’t even think about changing that now.”

“Duncan, we all learned recently that we have to share her.” Riddick stood next to Tyr and nudged his arm. “This guy here was raised to believe he could have as many women as he wanted but they could only have him. He made a mistake a while back but atoned for it and she let him back in her life under the strict understanding that he could never have anyone but her ever.”

He pointed at the War God and continued. “Ares had her all to himself for a couple of thousands of years; except for Ian; and learned to share her with you.” Riddick finally indicated himself and shook his head with a laugh. “I don’t like to share my toys with anyone. Never did. She made me understand the importance of all of you in her life and I’ve come to accept it. I had a choice none of you did. I could’ve made her give you up but I didn’t because she loves you and I would never intentionally hurt her.”

“I think we’ve reached an understanding, haven’t we?” Tyr asked and received nods from the others. “Good. Now we need to work together to reach our wife and pull her out of this living nightmare she condemned herself to.”

“I’m afraid that is going to have to wait for a bit, gentlemen.” They all turned to see Ian materialize behind them. He stared directly at Tyr with a look of dread in his eyes. “We have an emergency on our hands.”

“What is it?” The Nietzchean asked with a hint of fear in his tone.

“The shuttle that is carrying your son back to Ariana has sustained a malfunction in its navigation controls. If it doesn’t correct its trajectory it will burn up in orbit.”

~*~

Her sons talked quietly amongst themselves while their mother slept trying not to wake her. They were so engrossed in their conversation that they failed to notice her stirring in her sleep. Alexandra could feel the distress of her mates permeate her dreams. Panic invaded her mind from another source and she focused her attention there to determine its origination.

Her eyes snapped open and she sat up in bed so quickly she startled her sons. Before they could take a step towards her, she burst into flames and flew from the room.

~*~

Her mates did not even get a chance to respond to Ian’s news before they heard the cry of the Phoenix overhead. They looked up and saw their wife ascend through the clouds and exit the atmosphere of Ariana. She spotted the crippled transport approaching orbit and flew to intercept it.

Extending the clawed feet of her avatar, Alexandra tried to correct its entry into the atmosphere but the strain of the past 2 days made the burden of the shuttle too much to bear. She was left with one final option when the hull began to burn.

~*~

The men held their collective breaths when the flame encasing the shuttle burned brightly against the pre-dusk sky. Their eyes clenched shut when the explosion followed. They turned their attention to Tyr whose eyes remained fixed on the sky. It was a cosmic joke if this man was capable of losing 2 children within a day of each other.

Duncan touched his forearm to draw his attention but his gaze would not flinch from the sky. “Tyr…”

“No.”

Riddick thought he was in denial and was afraid he might slip back into shock and depression. “Tyr…”

“I said no.” He pointed at the darkening sky towards the bright light that approached quickly. “There she is!”

They turned their gaze towards the heavens and watched as the bird of fire landed before them. It was pure avatar until the flames withdrew into Alex’s body to reveal her and the entire contingent of the shuttle. Tyr rushed forward to sweep his crying child out of his shaking caregiver’s arms. Ian and the others moved to the aid of the passengers.

Alex stepped aside while her mates tended to the terrified people who narrowly escaped death. She watched as the palace guards ran up to see to their needs and usher them towards the palace. Deeming everyone was safe; she turned away from the others and began to walk to her home.

She stopped her trek across the grounds when she heard Tamerlane screaming at the top of his lungs despite the best efforts of his father to calm him. She looked at the ground at her feet and took a deep breath before she turned to walk back to her husbands.

They stood in silence as she slipped between them to avoid physical contact and came to a halt before Tyr. Her eyes never met his but stayed focused on the frightened child in his arms. The infant stilled his movements when the bright lady came into view through his tears and held his tiny arms out to her.

Her brow furrowed with the confusion she felt at this child’s apparent need for her, but it was his panic that drew her to the shuttle and she could not deny him. Tears welled in her eyes as she reached out and took him from his father’s arms to cradle him in her own.

She backed out of the circle her mates had closed in around her and rocked the infant in her arms until he quieted. She stared at the big brown eyes that bore into her black ones and her expression softened when he grabbed her hair in a tiny fist. She scanned him internally to ensure he suffered no ill effects from the rough flight on the defective spacecraft and found nothing serious. She spoke to his father without taking her eyes off of the tiny bundle in her arms. “He…is…hungry, Tyr.”

“Then feed him, Alexandra.”

She looked up at him with a certain amount of fright in her eyes in regards to his meaning even as she asked the question. “I…don’t have…anything…”

“You know perfectly well you can produce it if you wanted to.” He ran his gaze over her exposed breasts and returned it to her eyes. “Feed him, baby.”

She glanced down at the sniffling child. “I’m not…his mother.” She shook her head. “It would…not be…right.”

“Alexandra.” Her gaze snapped to Riddick’s stern but loving voice. “That boy has bonded to you like a son to a mother since you first picked him up. He doesn’t know any mother other than you.”

She blinked several times as she absorbed her last mate’s words before she closed her eyes and focused her power to make some slight internal alterations to her body. As her mates looked on, they saw her breasts become fuller with milk for the waiting child. She opened her eyes and caught Tyr’s gaze. “I…don’t know…what to do.”

He smiled at his wife with pure love in his eyes and did not concern himself with the fact that she did not return it. “I will show you. Is it alright with you if we come over there?” She nodded. “Good. Sit down.”

She sat cross-legged on the grass with Tamerlane cradled in her arms as her mates slowly walked up and sat around her. Tyr crouched beside her and looked into her concerned eyes. “Are you ready, my love?” She swallowed with some difficulty and nodded her head again. “I’m going to sit behind you so you can lean back against me, okay?”

“Okay.”

He sat behind her and settled her between his legs. “Alex, I’m going to have to touch you to assist until you get the gist of it. Is that alright?” She tensed slightly but nodded her head. He reached around with his left hand and raised up her own arms bringing Tamerlane closer to her chest. “Support the back of his head and bring his mouth to your nipple.”

She lifted the child higher and brought his mouth into contact with her breast but he did not latch on. “What am…I doing…wrong?” She practically whimpered those words with tears in her eyes and it tugged at the hearts of the men who loved her.

“Nothing, baby. You aren’t doing anything wrong. He is just a stubborn child. Let me help.” His right hand cupped the underside of her breast and moved it up and down. “Sometimes you need to tease his lips with your nipple until he realizes that it is there for him.” His son opened his mouth and greedily sucked her nipple between his lips. She gasped when she felt the suction of his mouth milk his sustenance from her breast. “There he goes.”

“Tyr, I…don’t…know about…this.” She was beginning to shake from the foreign feeling of a child nursing from her body. Her own child was supposed to do this and he was gone forever. “He…isn’t…mine.”

“He is if you’ll accept him.” He pulled her back to his chest by her midsection and whispered in her ear. “Riddick was correct. Tamerlane knows only you. Will you take him as one of your own?”

She glanced up into the hopeful eyes of her Nietzchean mate with tears flowing from her own. As she turned to look down at Tamerlane, her eyes ran across the approving smiles of her other mates. Her attention was instantly drawn to the small hands that touched her breast and the tug on her sensitized nipple. “Tyr, he…”

“I know, baby. Here.” He helped her resituate him in her arms with his head against her left breast. “You need to feed him evenly from each breast or you will feel very sore.” He watched her rub her nipple against his lips like he instructed her before and saw his son suck it into his mouth. The look on her face was nothing short of awe as she watched Tyr’s son hungrily nurse the milk from her tit. “What is your answer, Alexandra? Will you raise Tamerlane as one of your own?”

“If…you think…it is best.”

“That’s it.” Riddick spoke up with a stern voice. “Ian, will you teleport us all to her bedroom?”

“Of course, Riddick.”

A flash of light temporarily blinded her sons but as soon as it faded they saw their mother in bed with Tamerlane pressed up against her chest and their fathers surrounding the bed. “Except for Jesse, everyone get out now.” Riddick spoke loudly and Alex jumped at his tone. Her sons obeyed the command and quickly left the room to wait outside.

“Richard…”

“Alex, be quiet and listen very closely to what I’m going to say.” She started to open her mouth but he held up his index finger and pointed at her face. “Regardless of how you feel about us right now, we still have our positions of power over you and you have to obey us. Now shut your mouth and listen!”

He cringed inside at the hurt expression on her face but forced himself to keep the Alpha male dominance over his mate. “I know we let you down and hurt you in the worst way possible and I apologize for all of us. We never meant for any of this to happen and we’d undo it all if we could.”

“Do you believe me?” Her gaze drifted everywhere but to his face and he loomed over her and issued another loud order. “Look at me!” Her panicked eyes met his and he softened his tone a bit. “Do you believe me?” She shakily nodded her head.

“Your loss was a tragedy that we would give anything to reverse but we can’t and I am so sorry. You are still capable of carrying another child within your body if that is your wish but this boy needs a mother now and he has chosen you.” She glanced down at Tamerlane still feeding from her and ran a finger over his tiny hand that rested on her breast. “Do YOU accept his choice of you as his mother?”

“He…doesn’t replace…what I…lost?”

Tyr sat beside her and gave her a sad smile. “No, my love. He can never replace what we lost but he needs a mother and a father just the same.”

“Then he is my son.” She watched the small boy drift off into a contented slumber after he had satisfied his hunger. Her nipple was loosely held between his lips as he slept.

“Jesse.” Riddick removed the sleeping child from her arms so quickly that she hadn’t had time to react. He gave her a stern look that stopped her cold from attempting to take her new charge away from him. He carried the boy carefully to his brother and placed him in his arms. “Take him to your rooms.” Her son nodded at her mate and cast a swift smile at his father before he left the room.

Riddick turned back to his mate and watched her cast nervous glances at the surrounding men. He went to her side and sat on the bed. “I can see that son of a bitch taking your body against your will. I can see it in my head.” She went stock-still and clenched her eyes. “I know you couldn’t prevent him from raping you and it is just another thing for us to feel sorry for.”

He ran his hand up her thigh and she began to scramble away from his touch until she ran into Tyr. She began to hyperventilate at the closeness of her mates and the desires that coursed through their bodies. “Alex, we won’t hurt you.” Riddick moved closer and trapped her between Tyr and himself. “We’ve learned a lot about our responsibilities to you and I think if you read us you won’t feel anymore pain.”

Ian, Ares, and Duncan sat at the foot of the bed and each laid a hand on her legs. Riddick took hold of her right hand and Tyr took the left. Her head flew back when their emotions flowed into her. Absolutely overwhelming love that was tinged with guilt and sorrow were the feelings that flooded her from their minds and she tried to move from their grasp to no avail.

“We want to reclaim our mate, Alex.” Riddick growled out with barely restrained desire. “We want to show you how much we love you and we won’t take no for an answer.”