Free Gladiator by Kate Lynd

come back to our children. They need you, the world needs you, I need you.”
    Suddenly Alex’s body glowed a dazzling white. She relaxed visibly, and leaned back against him, pushing with her palms against the ground. Alex pushed and with Lucilla’s help gave birth to the daughter. Lucilla laid her on Alex’s belly. Tristan reached into his pocket and took out his penknife with which he cut the cord. Alex held her daughter tight and pushed again. The son came out screaming and flailing his arms. He had a thatch of blond hair and blue eyes—his sister also had blonde hair, but her eyes were amber. Tristan cut the boy’s cord and took him in his arms as Alex pushed out her placentas.
    Alex looked up at Tristan with tears of exhaustion in her eyes. “They’re beautiful. They look so much like you.”
    “What will we name them?”
    “Hope. For your wife. And Daniel. For your brother.”
    “Are you sure?”
    She gazed into his eyes and said, “Yes. You deserve everything I can possibly give you. You saved my life. These children saved my life.”
    Lucilla pulled Alex’s panties back on and brought her dress back down to her ankles. “All right boys,” Tristan said, “let’s get them cleaned up and find a shelter. It’s not just us anymore. We have newborns to consider.”
    The men turned around and stood in awe. “Come on boys,” she said, “it’s just me.”
    The men gently cleaned the babies and handed them back to Alex and Lucilla, who swaddled them as best they could. Tristan created papooses for them; he carried Daniel while Alex carried Hope. He prayed they didn’t run into trouble on their way to finding shelter.
     

Chapter Eight
     
    Life for the last three months had proven to be the most insanely normal ones in the last ten years. The group had found a pocket of rebels who believed the Healer Prophecy. They had provided a house—and so all Tristan had to do was patrol the wall separating Louisville from Tennessee. He lamented the way the boundaries were what they were. But if they were taken by force they would either be executed or forced back into slavery. Now that he’d tasted freedom with his wife and children, he could not return to the life which he’d known before.
    “Mmmm, good morning,” he said, gazing down at Alex. She looked beautiful but pale. She had looked wan since the birth of their children—she was still suffering from what Damien had done to her. And because of puerperal bleeding, penetrative sex had been out of the question. So when she reached down between his legs and wrapped her hand around his cock and smiled it was a pleasant surprise.
    “I need you, Tristan.”
    He touched her face; he could feel the heat emanating from her skin. He wanted desperately to make love to her. Being unable to touch her was agonizing. Especially when he knew she needed him as much as he wanted her.
    She began to stroke his cock, making it harder than granite. She rolled him to his back and mounted him, taking him inside her. She took his hands and placed them at her breasts and said, “Fuck me, Tristan. Prove to me that I’m yours. Over and over again. Save me from this darkness threatening to take me from you.”
    He pulled her down and crammed her breast into his waiting mouth, and sucked hard as she began to rock back and forth, up and down. He dug his fingertips into her plump ass and could feel her body trembling violently against his.
    Their skin slid like silk against each other’s, and he worked her body as she pumped him hard. She was going to come fast this first time, and when she cried out, bucking hard against him; it was as if she were chasing the light. She needed more though; he could see it in her eyes. They rolled over so she was beneath him, and he slowed his movement inside of her and stilled for a moment.
    He captured her mouth in a deep, long kiss and reached between her legs. He pressed his finger to her clit as he pumped slowly in and out of her. She gripped