Free Damaged (Planet Alpha) by Erin M. Leaf Page A

“He was a slave, as was I. You are not alone.”
    Her expression grew stormy. “You were never a slave. You’re a full-blooded Xyran. Was Reiyn a slave? Yeah, sure I’ll buy that. He’s half-human. He has the lash marks on his back to prove it.” She gestured to his shoulders. “But you?” The knife at Kyuk’s neck bit him just the tiniest bit. A drop of blood rolled down his skin. He didn’t flinch, not that Reiyn expected him to.
    Kyuk shook his head. “I was every bit a slave as well. My father died when I was a child. I had no status. I fought—” He broke off, closing his eyes for a moment. “I fought endlessly, for food, for shelter, for a position of power.”
    “You were a ship’s captain,” Cori said cuttingly.
    He grimaced. “I nearly lost my life a hundred times. How is that any different from what you have survived?”
    Reiyn watched her closely. The energy inside them hadn’t subsided at all, and the more emotional she became, the more the power flared. When she dropped the knife and leaned closer to Kyuk, all three of them moaned as pleasure spiked.
    “You are mine, both of you. No other will ever have you again,” she muttered, licking the blood her knife had drawn from Kyuk’s skin.
    “No other has ever had us anyway,” Kyuk murmured into her ear.
    Reiyn didn’t know how she knew to taste the blood, and didn’t much care. He and Kyuk both moved simultaneously, biting her on either side of her neck. She screamed , and Reiyn felt her climax explode through him. Kyuk growled, legs tightening, and then he orgasmed too, bringing Reiyn with him in a white-hot burst of energy. It crackled through them like a laser cutting into his psyche, and he climaxed again. Dimly, he felt Kyuk and Cori’s pleasure frying along his nerves, and then another orgasm swept the three of them away.
    ****
    A short time later, Cori shoved herself away from them, trying to figure out what the hell she’d just done. Pleasure still buzzed through her, thick and sweet. She stared up at the ceiling of her sleeping quarters and realized that she could sense Kyuk and Reiyn on the edges of her mind. It wasn’t as if she could read their thoughts; rather, it felt like she was connected to them in some way. She felt more alert. Awake. She shook her head. No, this is crazy. I will never have what Sky does. It can’t be this easy. Nothing ever is. I’ve only just met them, right?
    “Do not be afraid,” Kyuk said, rolling to put his hand on her forearm.
    She didn’t flinch. She didn’t have to. She’d sensed he was coming. At least she knew he would never hurt her, for all his Xyran fierceness. If he had meant to harm her, he would have already done so. No, it was the emotional stuff that had her panicking. “What have we done?” she said, stupid tears sliding from her eyes. She impatiently brushed them away.
    “We have bonded,” he replied, matter-of-factly, as if what they’d just done wasn’t crazy.
    “This is crazy,” she murmured. You always wanted bondmates, she told herself. And you chose them, fully cognizant of the results. Stop being ridiculous. But she couldn’t help what she felt. Her fear would be her undoing.
    “I do not regret it,” Kyuk said, after a pause. “I have been alone my whole life. Reiyn chose well.”
    Cori shoved herself to her knees. “Reiyn did not choose me,” she said angrily, jabbing a finger at him where he lay slumped against her mattress. “We met purely by chance.”
    Reiyn looked at her, his newly-exposed black eyes implacably Xyran. “I sensed your strength, even during our first meeting.”
    “You sensed enough in our first meeting to know that you wanted me as a bondmate?” she asked, her voice cracking. She didn’t even know why she was arguing so much. She didn’t want to be alone, not if she was sincerely honest with herself. She was tired of fighting to survive alone. No, not completely alone. She had Sky, but she wanted her own family again. She