Page 16 of Rebels Rising (The Intergalactic Union #3)

Cadmus

I ground my teeth as the ex-guard stalked from the room like someone was trying to shove a piping hot fire poker up his ass. Artemis was staring after him like she’d eaten something sour when she’d been expecting something sweet, and not for the first time did I wonder what had actually happened between those two.

But not today.

Today, I needed to pull her aside and have a serious conversation. A serious conversation that ended with her teaching me how to be a badass superhero like her. Cyborgs United!

But first, she would need some convincing. I would need to prove that I could be safe and responsible with whatever new abilities I acquired, and that meant enlisting help. I already had Henrik on board in case of emergencies, which was why I needed to get here there.

‘Has he always been such an odd fellow?’ I asked her to break the ice. ‘He seems… tense.’

She snorted a laugh, her head darting to the side to dodge a well-aimed tiny finger heading straight for her eyeball. ‘You could say that. He never really talked much when I knew him before, but he was a lot… softer back then. I guess there’s no reason for him to hide his true colours anymore,’ she shrugged, but I could tell the admission caused her a significant amount of emotional pain when her eyes drifted away from me, a watery glaze to them. I knew she didn’t like to outwardly showcase her emotions, so it must have been pretty severe for her to slip like that.

I smoothed out my frown before it could give me wrinkles, pasting on a smile that I hoped was contagious enough to bring one out in Artemis, too. Baldr pointed at my face and laughed, which I thought was very rude, but when Artemis giggled – actually giggled – at us I knew it was worth it.

Damn, I was turning into a sap over this woman. Who even was I anymore?

‘So I really did want to talk to you about something,’ I said.

‘Oh?’

‘Yup.’

‘Are you going to tell me or what?’

‘Not here,’ I said, taking her free hand in mine and tugging her from the room. I was man enough to admit that she was letting me.

‘Where are you taking me?’ she asked, a lightness in her tone that made my heart swell. I caused that. It might have also had something to do with the boy in her arms and the creature at her heels, or possibly all the children we had to wade through that we’d freed. Either way, her mood was improving after the storm cloud of a Tornu had cast its shadow, and that was all I cared about.

I tugged her through the narrow, winding hallways until we reached the infirmary, and I was pleased to see it was still empty besides Bromm and Henrik. I needed both of them here, too.

Henrik looked up from his holo-tab to eye us curiously, gifting us a smile in greeting. ‘To what do I owe this pleasure, Captain?’

‘I don’t know,’ she admitted. ‘This is Cadmus’s show. Apparently he wants to talk.’

Henrik shot me a look that spoke a thousand words. I wiggled my eyebrows, mockingly confirming his assumptions but didn’t correct him. If I could get Artemis naked and sweaty beneath me then I wasn’t going to complain, but that wasn’t why I’d brought her here.

‘I need you too, Henny.’

He lifted a brow at the nickname but didn’t comment. He was used to me butchering his name by now.

‘Cadmus, what’s this about?’ Artemis prompted when the silent conversation continued between me and Henrik.

‘Right, well… I figured that since we’re changing and I’m going to get some awesome superpowers soon, I thought you might want to teach us how to wield them. With great power comes great responsibility, don’t you know.’

I expected her response to contain more levity, but she simply mulled over my request with a thoughtful expression. Her eyes flicked to Bromm and I knew she was thinking along the same lines as me.

‘Actually, that’s not a bad idea. But why didn’t you grab Reece and Addy for this, too?’

‘I just wanted to bring it up with you first. Figured we could go say hi to Bromm together and bring him into the loop as well. Maybe have another threesome, except this time I’ll get to fill you with my cum too.’

She blinked at me, then slowly covered Baldr’s ears as her face turned a rather delicious shade of pink. I probably should have censored myself in front of the little ears, but I wasn’t used to monitoring my words around children. I wasn’t used to children at all.

Henrik threw his head back and laughed, cutting through the sexual tension with his boisterous mirth. ‘You’re somethin’ else, man. I can’t believe you just said that.’

‘Me either,’ Artemis agreed under her breath. Henrik didn’t seem to catch it, and I wondered if that meant my new nanite friends were kicking in and enhancing my senses. Yes, please.

‘What do you need me for, then?’ Henrik asked, bringing us back on topic.

‘In case something goes wrong. In case I randomly fall into a coma like Bromm. I could go on, but I think you get the point.’

‘Ah. So that’s why you’ve been hanging about so much lately. You’ve been using me.’

I shot him a cheeky grin. ‘Of course.’

‘Well I hate to break it to you, but maybe it’s been the other way around this entire time. You’ve been such a good little helper.’

I fluttered my lashes at him and blew him a kiss. ‘Only for you, Henny.’

‘Well, it seems I’m no longer needed here so I’ll leave you two lovebirds to it. I’m sure Bromm would enjoy having me to himself, Cadmus, but Henrik’s a lucky guy,’ she winked, then handed Bal to me. She placed her hand on top of Bromm’s, closed her eyes and started to glow before I could even respond.

I passed Bal over to Henrik who was smirking at me with a knowing glint in his eyes.

‘You’re so far gone for her man,’ he sniggered.

I sighed, all teasing leaving me as I levelled him with a serious stare. ‘I know.’

His smile dimmed into something softer. ‘What a woman to pick.’

I huffed out a breath through my nose in agreement. ‘I know.’

‘You heading in there too?’ he asked, tipping his head towards the glowing couple.

I took a steadying breath as I made my way over to them, placing my hand on top of theirs. ‘Yup.’

‘See you on the other side,’ he said, and I gave him two-fingered salute before closing my eyes and allowing the web to pull me in.

There was no sign of Artemis or Bromm when I landed on the white line. I turned every which way as I searched for them, but all I succeeded in doing was making myself feel sick as I gazed through the thick black void. I lost my balance, almost falling off the line and windmilling my arms to regain my footing. That was when I noticed my hand was completely solid, not a transparent digit in sight.

Suddenly, my line started to shine brighter as I felt an unseen force pull me down until I was flat on my back. Unable to move an inch while I was dragged along and despite leaving all my organs behind in the process, I did my best to relax into it and allowed the web to do what it needed to do. Bromm had already told me this had happened to him and Artemis, so I took it as a sign that I was progressing exactly as I was meant to.

A blinding white light illuminated the surrounding void and I slammed my eyes closed in a feeble attempt to avoid it, but it was over within a tick. I peeked through a small slit in my eyelids, noting the dancing colours leftover from the brightness as my eyes tried to adjust, but it was my ears that pulled through for me as the most incredible sound drifted towards me.

A sound I had heard only once before, and I had helped create it.

A moan of pure, unadulterated desire.

With a herculean effort, I managed to tear myself from the line enough to sit up and take in the scene before me. Artemis and Bromm were entangled in a passionate kiss. Hands were roaming everywhere, clothes were halfway undone as if they’d given up in favour of continuing to taste one another.

Artemis’s hand dipped below his waistband, the movement of her caressing his cock hidden beneath the fabric. His beard went wild, reaching for her and stroking down her throat, teasing her lips, and attempting to move beneath her jumpsuit to get to her breasts.

‘Holy fuck,’ I breathed, my jumpsuit already way too tight as I stiffened to full mast inside them. The drag of the fabric against my sensitive tips drew a moan from me that had both of them turning to face me.

‘Decided to finally join us?’ asked Artemis, come fuck me eyes luring me closer.

‘I was beginning to think you were going to miss all the fun,’ Bromm teased, one of his lower tentacles escaping its precarious confines to caress Artemis’s inner thigh.

‘I wasn’t expecting this, but I’m certainly not complaining,’ I said, watching the progression of the tentacle as it slid closer to her centre in slow, small circles.

Artemis froze, pulling away from Bromm as she turned to look at me with a confused expression that he mirrored.

‘But you said… I thought you wanted…’ she stammered.

‘What?’ I asked, not understanding why she was putting a stop to things before they could even get started.

‘Arty said you made a comment about the three of us together,’ Bromm said, giving me a pointed look.

‘Yeah…?’

He pulled back further, tucking himself away as he levelled me with disappointed look. He kept his hold on Artemis though, pulling her closer when she attempted to put some distance between all of us.

‘I think there’s been a miscommunication here,’ he said. ‘Just to clarify, Cadmus, you want to be with us, right?’

I squinted my eyes at him. ‘’Us’?’

He chuckled. ‘Don’t worry, I’m not going to touch you. Unless you want me to,’ he winked.

I shot him a lopsided smirk. ‘You just want to get your hands on my ass.’

He let out a deep, sensual laugh that caused my cock to twitch despite my lack of interest in men. He truly was sex incarnate.

‘Your ass is delectable, but I have eyes for only one person and it’s not you.’

I shrugged. ‘Your loss.’

His smile turned more serious, his eyes burning into me with an intensity I didn’t think I was quite ready to meet head on. Artemis was squirming where she stood at his side refusing to look either one of us in the eye.

‘You still haven’t answered the question, Cadmus,’ he said, and I suddenly understood why Artemis had retreated. Guilt swamped me and I stepped forward, reaching out to her and taking her free hand in mine. Her head snapped up, those dark brown depths finally meeting mine.

‘I may have flirted in jest, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t mean it. I wasn’t expecting you to take me up on my offer, but I’m here for it. I would very much love to keep going if that’s what you want.’

My eyes dipped to her half-bared chest as her breath hitched, the tops of her breasts straining against their restraints. Saliva pooled in my mouth at the sight of her nipples pebbling beneath the fabric, their hard outline clearly visible with the glow from the web’s lines.

‘I… am unsure what is happening between us,’ she finally said.

I cocked my head to the side. ‘What do you mean?’

Bromm elbowed me with a scowl. Obviously, I knew what she meant, but I was taking the cowards way out. He may have had it in his head that she was more interested in me than she let on, but I doubted that interest extended to romantic feelings. I was shocked that mine had developed that far, and I didn’t have an established relationship getting in the way.

‘I’m getting mixed signals from you, Cadmus,’ she said, and I frowned as I tried to think back on my behaviour around her. ‘I assumed you wanted a casual fling once or twice, but then you keep doing these things that don’t make any sense.’

‘What’s he doing, love?’ asked Bromm, an eager glint in his eye that made my own start to twitch as I held back my embarrassment.

‘He’s been… serious,’ she said.

Bromm tried to hold back a laugh but failed spectacularly, choking on it instead. ‘Right,’ he coughed. ‘And that’s… a problem?’

‘No,’ she denied, lifting an eyebrow at Bromm as he banged on his chest with his fist before turning back to me. ‘It’s just confusing. I don’t see you interact with anyone else the same way you’ve been interacting with me. One moment you’re you, and the next you’re someone completely new.’

I wanted nothing more than to withdraw into myself and act like this conversation wasn’t happening. I’d never been a feelings kind of guy, and I was more uncomfortable than I could remember being in a long time. On top of that, I felt cornered by both of them. Artemis was asking for upfront honesty and Bromm was egging her on. I knew he meant well, but I had spent my life rebelling against this kind of pressure, only then it had been my father.

But that was the key difference, wasn’t it, I mentally pointed out. These two people were the furthest thing from my father. They weren’t trying to control me, they were simply trying to understand me. The only person who had even come close to that was Henrik, and that was more of a living in the present sort of situation. He cared about who I was right now, not who I had been in the past.

That was also true for Artemis and Bromm.

If there was any time to come clean about my feelings, to take that leap of faith and pray to any deity that would listen that they wouldn’t let me fall, it was now. I was being given an opportunity here, and even though it was the most terrifying decision I’d ever had to make, I wasn’t the type of man to back down so easily.

I wanted Artemis, and this was my shot. I might not get another one.

That didn’t mean I wasn’t going to fall back on old habits, though. Humour had always been my shield, and that was now a part of who I was whether it was appropriate or not.

‘Tell me about it,’ I groaned. ‘You’re turning me into a new man, Artemis. Someone with… feelings ,’ I confessed, keeping my chin held high even when my skin started to itch.

I could put myself in danger every day of the week, but baring my soul to not one but two individuals? Kill me now…

‘What feelings?’ asked Artemis, her voice softer and breathier than before as she gazed at me with wide, curious, expectant eyes.

I closed my eyes and breathed deeply through my nose, letting myself feel my surroundings to ground myself in the moment. The magnetising force keeping me secure on the line. The sensation of Artemis’s soft, warm skin as her hand remained between mine. The sound of my heart beating a wild song inside my chest. The blood rushing through my ears.

When I opened my eyes, I found them both studying me with intent focus. Bromm watched on with a hopeful expression while Artemis seemed ready to jump out of her own skin from the wait. I decided it was time to put us all out of our misery.

‘I have feelings for you, Artemis. I want more than sex, I want you . I want to get to know you. I want to know what makes you tick, the things that you love, the things that you hate. I want to know how far I can push you before you push back. I want it all with you, and that is the scariest thing I have ever told anyone because I’ve never wanted anything like this before.’

She didn’t answer for the longest time, and I held my breath as I waited. I was lightheaded by the time she spoke.

‘I think I want that too.’

My breath left my lungs in a whoosh , my relief almost knocking me off my feet. ‘Really?’

The smile she gave me was shy in a way that seemed out of character for her, but she quickly scrambled my brain by cupping my still-aching cocks. The juxtaposition wasn’t of her forwardness combined with her timidness had heat scorching through my body as she took turns rubbing each of my cocks through my jumpsuit, the thin layer of fabric the only thing separating us from the skin on skin contact I craved so much.

She leaned closer, tilting her head up so our lips were just barely brushing. ‘Really.’

I removed the rest of the space between us, pressing our mouths together in a heated kiss that fed my very soul. She moaned into my mouth and I heard Bromm mutter a fuck yeah as he watched on.

As I bit down gently on Artemis’s plump bottom lip, some part of me was screaming that I couldn’t believe this was happening. The large part, however, was rushing straight to my groin. With two cocks to get hard, there wasn’t much blood left to circulate to my brain and the only thing I could do was chase the pleasure. I rocked my hips against her palm, needing more, needing her .

‘I need to fuck you, baby,’ I groaned into her mouth. ‘I can’t wait much longer.’

‘Then do it,’ she said, pulling back to strip out of her jumpsuit. It left her in nothing but a basic set of white underwear, the design plain yet the sight of her in them absolutely wrecked me. The stark contrast of the black against her smooth, olive-toned skin, the deeper colour of her nipples peeking through the fabric. The way it clung to her core, a large wet spot visibly outlining her lower lips. I wanted to taste it. I wanted to shove my tongue so deep inside and stay there forever.

She turned her head to the side to address Bromm as she traced little circles over the tips of my cocks through my jumpsuit, two wet patches forming to match hers. Her finger lifted away for a brief moment, a thick string of my precum keeping us connected.

‘Strip,’ she ordered, her tone leaving no room for disobedience. He moaned as he hurried to obey, tossing his clothes into the pile that was accumulating on the line behind him.

‘Good boy,’ she praised as her eyes leisurely perused his naked form, and even I let out a little whimper at the dominance she was displaying. I’d never seriously considered the possibility of allowing a woman to dominate me, but it was hotter than I could have imagined.

‘Come here,’ she demanded, crooking a finger towards Bromm. He obeyed, his steps sure and eager as he moved close enough that my arm brushed against his with every breath.

Artemis cupped his jaw with one hand and held his beard spread open with her fingers. Then she leant down and captured his mouth in one of the most sensual kisses I had ever seen, all the while still using her other hand to stroke my cocks. I wanted to be naked, too, but the thought of her stopping even long enough for me to remove them was enough to stop me.

I wondered if she was going to order me about, too. I never thought I’d say this, but I would gladly submit to her in any way she desired.

She could Domme me any day.