“Better, mate?” A deep voice soothed my frazzled nerves, and I sighed in relief. I knelt on the floor now, in this new dream. My cheek rested on a muscular thigh. I smiled and rubbed my face against him like a cat. God, this was so much better. I was still hot, my body craving his touch, but there was no group of chanting creeps watching two aliens have sex with me. No, claim me. We were alone.
Home.
How I knew that, I had no idea. I accepted the truth of the knowledge as his hand stroked over my hair as if he were petting me. The gesture was soothing, putting my mind at ease. He wasn’t ignoring me. The opposite. I felt as if all his attention were solely on me.
When I was ready, when I had calmed from the last bit of insanity, the body I was in knew that they were mine.
They. The aliens. I was still in that weird testing thing. I could feel the strange buzzing in my mind, almost like background white noise trying to break through and enter the dream. Like an annoying alarm clock intruding on my sleep, wrecking the peaceful vibe I had from this big alien caressing me.
This was nice, I had to admit. This was the best I had felt in months. Jail didn’t agree with me. Not that it agreed with anyone, but I was not meant to be cooped up in a cage. I needed wind on my face and sun on my back.
But this wasn’t me. This was her. Some other female. The big alien petting me belonged to her, not me.
I didn’t care enough to fight it this time. I let her take me over, allowed her thoughts to become mine.
My work fulfilled me, but it was a heavy load to carry. My thoughts were like tabs on a browser, twenty open at once. I carried stress with me like a bag. I needed time to settle my mind, to transition into an evening at home.
With them.
Them?
I looked around but could see nothing. I felt him, felt the soft cushion beneath my cheek shift so I would be more comfortable.
Not a cushion, a man. An alien.
My alien.
No, her alien. She—I—had two of them again.
How could it be? This was a dream. Somehow. I was warm even though I was… holy shit, I was still naked.
I should be appalled. I was mad at myself for being like this. I never sat on the floor, subservient to anyone. To make it worse, I was doing it naked.
“Better?” the alien asked. His voice was low and deep, like fudge poured over an ice cream sundae, and I wanted to melt.
I nodded against the first one’s leg. This wasn’t me. No way. It was a dream. The testing. It had to be a dream, some weird way to assess me for a mate. I wouldn’t do this. But I was. I was this woman. Content. It made no sense.
“Yes.”
Why was I better? I paused and thought, felt. I’d returned from whatever job I had, my head filled with the tasks I’d accomplished or that were incomplete. I was familiar with this. My job never ended. Constant pressure, constant deadlines. But I was her and I understood. We were the same.
No! I was Mikki. Not this woman.
But I was.
I’d been met with kisses and caresses and had been stripped bare.
I’d let him.
No, it wasn’t him that had done that. A different him.
A second him had taken off every bit of my clothing and led me to sit at the other male’s feet.
“Our mate needs a quiet moment to let go of her day,” he’d said. He’d pulled me down to nestle on his lap on the floor next to my other mate. So close to both of them, I’d settled my cheek on the second mate’s thigh in contented relief. After that, they’d surrounded me. Holding me. Calming me. Petting me.
“Yes, I can see how she is now ready for us.” The second male voice. The one whose hands had brushed over me as he’d bared me, as he’d positioned himself to be my body pillow. I shivered with anticipation, knowing they were both so close to me. Anticipation?
What had the guy said? Our mate? I had two mates?