Hearts of Ishira (Hearts of Ishira Saga) (53 page)

“They are not cows, like on your world. They are sentient beings that allow us to ride them in return for shelter, food, and companionship. But they draw the line at being milked.”

“Well, obviously someone did it at one point,” she said reasonably. “Otherwise you wouldn’t know what their milk tastes like.”

“It was a special situation,” Hunter admitted, frowning at her. “The first winter caught us completely unprepared. When we began running out of food, the riders allowed us to milk them, but it was very painful for them, so once the emergency was over, they didn’t let us do it again.”

Arianna deflated a bit at that, then perked back up.

“They’re sentient?” she asked. Hunter groaned.

“No. You will not ask a rider if you can milk her.”

“Look, you want us ladies to be healthy, right?”

“Aye, of course,” Hunter said, but grudgingly. She was about to make a point, and that usually meant he was about to lose an argument. Damned clever woman. He should have chosen someone more biddable.

“I heard that!” Ri laughed. Hunter growled. “You want us healthy, and part of our over-all health includes a certain amount of calcium, which, from these scans,” she held up the small hand-held tablet Jace had given her, “We aren’t getting through regular dietary means. That means we need to find a source for it. If the riders are sentient and I can figure out how to milk them without it hurting them, it’s a win-win situation, right?”

“Except for the rider calves, which will go without their supper,” Hunter grouched.

“I’ve seen those riders,” Ri told him. “Their udders are huge. There’s no way their calves are able to eat that much.”

Hunter groaned and shook his head, but realized that she wasn’t going to let up on this until she’d seen for herself just how irascible the animals could be. Scowling at her, he nodded decisively.

“Fine. Let’s go. You may talk to them. You will see that they are completely unreasonable about the whole thing, and you will drop this topic.”

“If that’s what happens, then yes. I will drop it.” He opened the door for her and she passed under his arm. Grinning up at him, she reached up on tip-toes and kissed the bottom of his chin. “Thank you, Hunter.”

“Do not thank me. Jace certainly won’t, when I carry your broken body into the med center for him to put back together. Again.”

Ri laughed and followed him to the stables.

“This is Ashimi,” Hunter said, patting the furry back of the first rider they came to. “She has been with us since the beginning, and is the one that offered her milk to us when we were starving.”

“Thank you, Ashimi,” Ri said softly, stroking the nose that was shoved into her hand. She closed her eyes, sending gentle pulses of energy into the rider, letting it sense her, connect to her. Her eyes popped back open, wide with sympathy. “Oh, Hunter, she’s in so much pain!”

“How do you know that?” he demanded, looking alarmed. “I sense nothing of the sort.”

“It’s her udders,” Ri said, looking around for a receptacle of some sort. “They hurt like a sonofabitch.”

“She told you that?” he asked, surprised. “I have known her for more than ten years, and she has never let me know.”

“She’s a girl, Hunter, and you’re a guy. She’s shy about that kind of thing.”

“But… we could have helped,” Hunter said helplessly, stroking the furry back and sending waves of apology to the beast. Ashimi made a noise that was a strange cross between a low and a whinny, her big blue eyes pleading with Arianna.

“It’s okay,” Ri said. “Just find me a bucket or something. We need to express the excess now, and start milking them on a regular basis. This first time, though, will hurt the riders.”

“If we use our Reader abilities to drain off some of the pain,” Hunter suggested. Ri smiled up at him.

“Yes. We’ll try that, and see if it helps.” She sat Indian-style on the ground of the stable, placed the bucket Hunter brought her under Ashimi’s udder, and, leaning her head against the side of the gentle beast, let the rider tell her what to do. The first few tentative pulls on Ashimi’s teats drew distressed moans from the creature, but in no time at all, some of the pressure had been relieved and she stood docilely, enjoying the massaging motion she taught Ri to use. At the same time, Hunter rested both hands on the sweet animal, concentrating on sending her energy and taking her discomfort at the same time.

When the bucket was full and Ashimi was all but asleep, content and free of pain for the first time in many years, Arianna and Hunter grinned at the animal, petting her and praising her for her cooperation. Ashimi huffed into their palms and let them know that she would happily give them more milk later, if they promised to keep her from getting so full it hurt from now on.

Moving to the next rider, Ri and Hunter started the process all over again.

Jace found them in the stables several hours later, both of them tired and aching from taking turns milking the animals, but there were more than twelve buckets of milk now waiting for him to test for viability. Ri had wanted to taste it immediately, but Hunter had pointed out that if the animals had been hurting, there could be infection, so she’d held off. Jace quickly tested each batch of milk, then shrugged, grinning.

“Nothing at all in there that shouldn’t be,” he declared, and proved the safety of the stuff by taking a deep drink of it. His eyes lit with wonder. “I have died. I have died and am in the presence of the Ish’ra! I had forgotten how wonderful milk is.”

“It’s that good?” Ri asked, hurrying to his side to taste some for herself. He cupped a hand and dipped it into the closest bucket, then held it for her while she drank. Ri made a face at the thickness of the stuff, but laughed. “It’s milk!”

“Aye,” Jace breathed, taking another dip for himself. “Arianna Hunter, you are a goddess!”

Hunter felt the change as she went from happy and triumphant to closed and brittle. Damn Jace!

“Ri,” Hunter said quietly, “It is your designation right now. You have mated with me, but not with Jace, so your name is Arianna Hunter. Once you and Jace mate, you will add his name after mine.”

“And if another man comes along down the road?” she asked saucily, forcing herself to gather the shreds of her good mood back into herself. Hunter growled, not liking that idea one bit. But she had the right to know.

“If by some miracle another man can measure up to either Jace or myself and you find yourself mating with him,” Hunter bit out, “Then his name will be added after Jace’s.”

“Oh,” she said, then nodded and shrugged. “So, did we get everyone? Any other riders we need to milk before we close up shop?”

“No,” he said, shaking his head. “We got them all. Jace, is this milk safe for consumption?”

“Safe and this bucket is mine. If you dare tell anyone I have it, I will cut you.”

Arianna giggled at his fierce declaration, while Hunter laughed.

“We will take that bucket home with us, but the rest should go to the common kitchen, for everyone to have a bit.”

Jace took the bucket while Hunter called for assistance with the rest of it. As they left the stables, Ri stopped by Ashimi’s head, touching the white blaze on the beast’s forehead. Ashimi turned adoring blue eyes toward her and licked Arianna’s arm and hand. Ri giggled.

“When should we return, sweet one?” she asked the rider. Ashimi gave Ri the impression of morning, then butted her hand for some petting. Ri complied, then gently disengaged and followed her mates to their quarters.

Trey showed up at their door not an hour later, a scanner in his hand, his eyes brilliant with excitement.

“We made butter!” he cried, holding up a crockery jar full of creamy pale-yellow stuff. Almost afraid to do so, Ri dipped a finger in and scooped out just a little bit. She sucked the butter off her finger, blinking in surprise.

“Oh, my god!” she breathed. “You did it!”

Trey swooped her up and twirled with her delightedly. Bev grinned behind them, offering the pot to Hunter and Jace. They both tasted it, smiling at the flavor.

“I looked up how to do it,” Trey said, showing Ri one of her own books on the scanning tablet. “And it was easier than I could have imagined. You, Commander Arianna, are brilliant!”

“All I did was come up with the milk,” Ri demurred. “You figured out the rest.”

“Aye!” Trey laughed, then he grew serious. “Next, we need to find a natural sweetener, like this sugar that you speak of. I want to do that at quickly as possible, because my sweet Bev is wasting away to nothing. But she assures me that once we have butter and sugar, your favorite cookbooks will do much to help flesh you ladies out.”

“My favorite?” Ri asked, looking at Bev. The blonde grinned, pointing to the little pot. Understanding, she chuckled and, as though they’d planned it, both women said, “To start, take a stick of butter…”

Paula Deen would be proud.

The next few days flew by, with Trey completely caught up in experimenting with recipes, now that he had an abundance of milk to work with. Hunter had consulted with the crypto zoologists, who had come up with several species of egg-laying animals that might be captured to provide eggs. With meat plentiful in the woods, the men had not thought about raising egg-producing animals, but now that they needed them for the women, the compound rallied and created enclosures for the various creatures.

Arianna watched it all unfold from the courtyard or her balcony. The men were all so delighted to have something different to do, new duties to attend to, that the girls were left pretty much to their own devices. For the most part, they worked on spinning, knitting, and crocheting. Ri had managed to ply a good deal of her teal yarn into a thicker yarn and was knitting it into a lovely pattern, with braids and cables. She wanted to have it finished by the time cold weather descended. She gazed at the design, tracing the three-strand braid she was knitting into the wrist and the arm bands. She couldn’t wait for Hunter and Jace to see it, couldn’t wait to tell them why the braid was significant to her.

Ri was head over heels in love with her men. They were both wonderful, so affectionate and playful, smart and sexy. She was growing to love each of them more and more each day, in some of the same ways as well as for their differences. She found that while certain touches from Hunter excited her, different kinds of touches from Jace did, as well. They were both handsome, exciting men who seemed to adore her, and the attention they lavished on her was heady, indeed.

And the best part of it was that she didn’t have to choose one over the other. Unlike back on Earth, she could have them both, if she wanted. And boy, did she want. Hunter took her breath away with his strong, slow, dominant style of loving and the energy that flowed through them both, heightening every sensation to a level greater than either had ever known. He took his time and delighted in exploring her body. He loved looking at her, just looking, as much as she enjoyed simply watching him. He was so beautiful to her.

But she was growing antsy, waiting for Jace to make a move. She had tried to imagine it, but just couldn’t. Would he be quick or slow? Thorough and detail-oriented, or would he just concentrate on devastating the naughty bits? Would he be playful or masterful? She could hardly wait to find out. So why wasn’t he trying harder to seduce her? She was growing very frustrated, waiting.

But then what would happen? And whose bed would she share, once she’d slept with them both? How would they divide the days and nights, and would the men start fighting if one of them wanted her but the other claimed her for a night? Her head began to ache, thinking about it and she grew quiet one afternoon a week later, as she was sitting with her girls.

Kim asked her what was wrong.

Putting down the sock she was knitting for Hunter, Arianna sighed heavily, looking around for her men. Neither was in sight, which was rare, but she sensed that Hunter was nearby and aware of her, even if he wasn’t at her side or focused on her at the moment.

“I think I’m just nervous,” she finally admitted. “I mean… things are great, and I’ve fallen in love with both Hunter and Jace, but… Jace hasn’t tried to make love to me yet, and I’m not sure how things will work once I’ve… you know… had them both.”

“Try having both at the same time,” Bev piped up. Arianna arched her brows at the younger girl. The other girls sucked in shocked breaths and giggled.

“Both? At once?” Ri gasped, having not thought of that. Okay, she’d thought of it. Once or twice. Well, she’d seen videos, of course… who hadn’t? And, okay, so her erotic novels tended toward multiple partners at once. Maybe she had thought of it. A lot. Maybe even had a teensy bit of a fetish. But still… she’d never thought about really
doing
it. But she didn’t have the nerve to ask. Bev, though, giggled and waggled her eyebrows.

“Yup! Lie back and just let them have at it. Sometimes they take me one at a time, one right after the other, and it’s amazing. But once, they… well, I had two at the same time. Hurt like hell the first time, but after that… oh. My. God. It’s amazing! You’re so… full, and they’re so close, and they’re both so… eager… it’s…”

Suddenly Bev’s face went up in flames as she shivered delightfully. She stood up, her crocheting forgotten and lying on the paving stones at her feet. “I need to find Trey. Or Rom or Erik, or all three…”