“We will? Why?” Terra frowned.
“V’rone is right. Listen, Terra, there’s something you don’t know about bonding with a colony,” Rive told her seriously. “And that is, bonding means breeding.”
“I…I don’t understand.” Terra shook her head, frowning.
“He means we’re going to get you pregnant tonight, my Lady,” Tem said gently. “When you allow any one of us to finally knot you fully, so that the head of his shaft is sucked fully into your womb, it will stimulate your body to release an egg to meet the seed he spurts deep inside you.”
“And if you let each of us knot you, you’ll have three different eggs released and fertilized by the time we’re done,” Rive explained. “Your belly won’t swell right away, of course—not like with the Drake Monstrum. But you will be pregnant with our sons once we finish bonding you to us.”
“So that’s something you need to think about, little Terra,” V’rone rumbled. “We want you to be our Queen more than anything else in the whole fucking universe. But you have to be willing to bear the next colony.”
Terra bit her lip, uncertain what to say about this. In the past, she might have protested that she was too old to have any more kids—but that wasn’t strictly true now, was it? Not after her drink from the Kat-sat-Suum had taken fifteen years off her age. And the idea of bonding with her guys—of letting each of them knot her and breed her in turn and fill her with new life—kind of turned her on. No, not “kind of”—she had to be honest—it made her freaking hot. But still, suddenly getting pregnant with triplets was a lot to consider.
“I…I don’t know if I can keep teaching for a living if I have three little boys to look after,” she protested faintly.
“Monstrum make the best fathers,” Rive assured her. “Each of us will share in the burden of childrearing with you equally.”
“And you don’t have to keep teaching if you don’t want to,” Tem offered. “You could stay with us aboard the Monstrum Mother Ship and do scientific research instead. Isn’t that what you really want?”
Terra smiled at the Soul of the colony—she loved how intuitive Tem was and how he could almost read her mind.
“Yes,” she admitted. “That’s exactly what I want. But…do you really think it will be allowed?”
“Of course! Chief Commander Rarev is always looking for more scientists from Earth to come live aboard the Mother Ship,” V’rone told her.
“And of course, as our Queen and the Heart of our colony, you’d be more than welcome,” Tem added.
“But it’s up to you, Terra,” Rive said seriously. “And I think you ought to consider carefully before you make up your mind. You won’t only be tying yourself to the three of us for the rest of all our lives, you’ll be agreeing to open your womb to us and be the mother of the next colony of our kind of Monstrum. That’s not a decision to make lightly.”
Terra wanted to accept at once, but she knew the Brain of the colony was right—she ought to think this out.
“I tell you what,” she said to the three of them. “While I consider it, why don’t we take a shower?”
“I think that’s an excellent idea,” Tem said, smiling. “Our journey through the different worlds was a long one—it would be good to wash it all away and feel clean again.”
“Fucking perfect,” V’rone growled. “Let’s go.”
“So…the shower is big enough for all four of us?” Terra asked uncertainly.
Rive nodded.
“Oh yes—everything on our ship is built for four. Come on—let’s get clean together while you consider your choices.”
It seemed like the perfect idea to Terra—a nice hot shower with her guys while she thought about what she was going to do. But inside, she could feel the hungry lust growing. Was it because of the bonding fruit juice she’d swallowed? Or was it just that she wanted to be as close as possible to her colony?
She didn’t know—but she hoped she could at least wait to bond until they got back to the Monstrum Mother Ship…
FORTY-NINE
The shower really was huge—a vast area tiled in many shades of blue, with a blue, semi-circular glass door that colored the light which fell through it in shades of underwater twilight. Terra loved it at once—especially the way the warm water fell straight down from the ceiling as though it was raining.
The four of them fit into the extra-large shower stall without crowding and soon she was surrounded by hard, naked male bodies.
“Where’s the soap?” she demanded, after everyone had gotten their hair wet. “I want to wash every single one of you.”
“But my Lady, it’s we who should be tending to you,” Tem protested.
“You can but in a minute,” Terra told him. “First I want to do the honors.”