Page 18 of Rebels Rising (The Intergalactic Union #3)

Dorian

I didn’t know how many times I was going to be forced to watch people have sex, but this was getting ridiculous. I’d come to the infirmary to check in with Henrik and Cadmus, only instead of a professional setting I’d found Henrik outside attempting to separate Baldr and Dave Junior while moans drifted out of the room behind him. And they were definitely not pain induced.

‘I wouldn’t go in there, if I were you,’ he’d said breathlessly as I’d walked up, but naturally I’d ignored him. Looking back, I should have listened, but there was something drawing me to those sounds that I found myself unable to fight. I’d opened that door and stepped on through, and the sight that greeted me was one I would remember for the rest of my life.

It was a combination of hot as fuck and what the fuck . Bromm was still on the table with the respirator sticking straight up out of his mouth, yet despite this his tentacles were in full motion, reaching, stroking and grabbing seemingly at nothing but air. His cock was straining against his jumpsuit, the tentacles surrounding its base also active enough, undulating beneath the fabric.

Artemis was sitting in the chair beside his cot, panting as her hips gyrated to some unseen touch, dirty little moans falling from her parted lips as she chased her orgasm. Cadmus was matching her, his hips pumping back and forth as his cocks strained comically under his own clothes, a flush to his cheeks as he groaned long and loud.

I watched with morbid fascination as spurts of come shot from the tips all the way through the fabric to land on Bromm. Soon after, Bromm also shot his load, his own released mixing with Cadmus’s while Artemis screamed out her orgasm with a full body shudder.

And throughout the entire ordeal all three of them continued to glow a bright, vibrant blue.

I was still frozen just inside the doorway, gawping at them while my dick hardened painfully in response to their pleasure when the door opened again and someone entered behind me. They ran into my back, causing me to stumble and fumble around for something to hide my boner behind. After a moment, I chose to stand behind Artemis, angling my hips so that her body hid the evidence of my reaction.

To make matter worse, it was Reece who entered. He took in the scene, his brows dipping low over his eyes in confusion. Stepping closer to the glowing trio, I watched as he examined their flushed cheeks, then the still erect cocks, and finally the white semen stains covering Bromm. His eyes shot to me to ask a silent question I presumed he was too scared to ask out loud.

Henrik chose that moment to tentatively poke his head around the doorframe, one hand holding Bald’s ankle as he floated above his head while the other attempted to push down Dave Junior as he fought to chomp down on Baldr’s leg. ‘Are they done yet?’

‘What the fuck?’ Reece finally verbalised the question.

‘Um, yeah. They’re done,’ I confirmed, heat flooding my cheeks and effectively moving it away from my groin. My dick finally deflated, though it still remained at half mast no matter how hard I tried to make it go down all the way.

‘Oh, good. I was worried they were going to go on all day,’ he said and pulled Baldr inside the room with him like he was holding a balloon instead of a child. Dave Junior followed, immediately moving to Artemis’s side and curling up at her feet.

‘All day?’ Reece asked, his nose scrunching as he glared at the evidence of their copulation. Was it really sex if their bodies weren’t even touching? Actually, I didn’t want to know.

‘They were just finishing when I walked in, I swear,’ I said, holding my hands up like that would prove my innocence. I didn’t know why I felt so guilty, but the chub in my pants wasn’t helping.

Henrik roared out a laugh. ‘I told you not to go in,’ he teased.

I huffed out a sigh. ‘I don’t even know why I did,’ I admitted.

‘Wait, you walked in on them knowing they were…?’ Reece trailed off, gesturing vaguely towards the glowing, catatonic trio.

‘Did you need something, Dorian?’ Henrik asked, throwing me a lifeline.

‘I was just swinging by to check on everyone…’ I finished lamely.

Reece snorted. ‘And join in the fun?’

I stuck out my bottom lip in a pout. ‘I didn’t know they would be… indisposed.’

Henrik held both arms out as he gesticulated to the room at large, then scrambled to recatch Baldr when he accidentally let him slip through his fingers. The blond boy was laughing and clapping, squealing with joy at the perceived game and it cut through the remaining awkwardness of the situation. I couldn’t help but smile at his innocent little face, and I’d always thought baby laughs were contagious. It was the best part of growing up as one of many siblings.

Large families weren’t uncommon on Gerinium, our impoverished planet lacking the funding for basic healthcare such as contraceptives. I was by no means the oldest or the youngest, so I had spent my life surrounded by babies. My siblings, and my siblings’ children. Babies were kind of my thing, which was why I’d been volunteering in the overturned cafeteria. Technically, I was supposed to be resting to prepare for my next shift, but I’d wanted to check in with my team as we’d gravitated away from one another since leaving Nova Station.

We only saw each other in passing, and only for a moment or two before we were needed elsewhere. I was actually missing these guys, though not enough to watch them have freaky mind sex. That, I could’ve done without, even if the sound of Artemis’s moans still rang in my ears like a siren song.

It was still weird to think of her as a woman, and even more strange to recognise her as an attractive one, but there was an undeniable allure to her that I didn’t know how to process. So, I chose to ignore it. We had far too many problems to keep us busy, I didn’t need to add more to it by following my dick. I could find someone else to get laid, it didn’t have to be her.

‘We’re good,’ Henrik smiled, sensing the direction of my thoughts, though I hoped not all of them.

‘I was just doing the same,’ Reece stated. ‘I don’t really have anything to do, so I figured I’d do some rounds, see if anyone needed an extra hand.’

‘We could always use more volunteers with the kids,’ I offered, but by they way he wrinkled his nose I could tell that was a no-go.

‘I’ve got Cadmus to help me in here, and there aren’t really any injuries or illness that need seeing to so we’ve mostly been twiddling our thumbs.’ Henrik sent him an apologetic smile, but then his eyes lit up with something and he immediately brightened. ‘I know that Artemis wanted to pull you and Addy to discuss your abilities, though. Cadmus wanted her help practicing the new abilities. That’s why they went into the web, to talk to Bromm. You can wait around here until they wake up if you want. Saves her from having to hunt you down.’

‘Oh, yeah. Sure. Okay,’ he said, suddenly unsure of himself as he perched on the edge of the second cot.

I cleared my throat exaggeratedly and moved to leave. ‘Well, I’m not needed for that. I’d better head back to the bunks. I need to get some sleep before I have to wrangle hundreds of kids again in another twelve hours.’

‘You’re a better man than me, Dorian,’ Henrik praised, gesturing to where Bal was clawing at his hair above him with his toes. ‘I’m not a kids person. This guy’s taking it out of me enough as it is. I can’t even begin to imagine being stuck in the cafeteria right now, let alone willingly. It’s bad enough that I need to go through it to get to the kitchen.’

I laughed, throwing my head back as I pictured it. ‘You’re doing a surprisingly good job of babysitting Baldr right now, Henrik. I wouldn’t sell yourself short.’

‘He’s turning my hair into a nest with his toes, and he keeps trying to put himself inside the Kikshrut’s mouth like he wants to be eaten.’

Reece tried to hide his laughter behind his hand, but the shake of his shoulders and the mirth in his eyes was a dead giveaway.

I turned back when I got to the door. ‘Oh, and if I see Adara then I’ll send her this way, yeah?’

Reece nodded, but Henrik was too absorbed in ensuring Baldr didn’t get into a drawer. I hoped it wasn’t filled with anything sharp, but Baldr seemed to have a knack for being troublemaker. That drawer probably contained needles, or worse, scalpels.

Cutting out before something was cut off of me, I waved over my shoulder as I exited the room and headed towards our shared bunk.

A yawn burst out of me, my jaw cracking with the stretch. I just hoped that when I got there my bed was empty. Sharing was becoming an issue where there were so many individuals without a job to do on a ship that wasn’t intended to hold so many passengers. We were all on top of each other, and it was getting old real fast.

Thankfully, the only occupant when I arrived was a snoring Urman. He’d also been helping out with the children, though he’d been assigned a different shift than mine. We’d split the day into four shifts, and he was one shift ahead of me.

I headed straight for the bathroom to quickly freshen up, the most random parts of me somehow sticky, and quickly got ready for bed. I was as quiet as I could be to avoid disturbing Urman, and soon enough my head was on my pillow, my eyes closed, and sleep encompassed me.

???

A loud bang followed by some fierce cursing jolted me awake. I caught myself just before I could fall out of my bed, and since I was on the top bunk that would have been a painful fall.

Blinking the bleariness from my eyes, I impatiently searched the room for the cause of the ruckus. I laid back down with a huff of tired laughter when I realised it was Urman. He was trying to get ready in the dark and had somehow stubbed his toe. Currently, he was hopping around holding it while cursing up a storm under his breath.

When he looked up and saw me watching him, he sighed in defeat and placed his foot delicately back on the ground, testing it before putting his weight on it.

‘Sorry, Dorian. Didn’t mean to wake you.’

‘It’s fine,’ I waved his apology away, my voice croaky from sleep. ‘I’ll just head to the gym. I’ve been slacking the past few days anyway.’

‘Yeah, same. It’s been too chaotic to find a spare minute to do anything other than wipe tiny butts and sleep,’ he groaned out.

With a strained grunt I heaved myself out of bed to get ready. Urman waved goodbye as he headed out, a slight limp tilting his gait from his injured toe. I had no doubt it would face even more abuse by the end of the day. Children had an eery ability to smack, grind, and twist an injury even if they didn’t know it existed.

Before I knew it, I was dragging my feet out the door and trudging through the hallways towards the gym. Working out was the last thing I wanted to be doing, my entire being screaming at me to go back to bed, but I really needed to keep in myself in shape and I wasn’t going to get a better time than now to do it.

As the gym doors slid open, I was surprised to find that it was mostly empty. Only one individual was currently utilising the weights, but other than that it was just the two of us in here. As I moved closer I realised I recognised him, too.

Reece was just putting back one set of weights and grabbing the next size up when he noticed me. He dipped his head in acknowledgement before going back to his sets.

We hadn’t actually had a real conversation, at least one on one, since before he’d been arrested. It was strange to see him here, too. His previously muscular form had diminished significantly, and I wasn’t sure I wanted the details that explained why. I could surmise enough myself without forcing him to relive it to sate my curiosity.

Instead, I watched on as he tested out the weights, stopping after one rep with a shake of his head before he replaced those, too, and upgraded yet again.

He saw me watching and motioned me over, settling himself back on the bench. ‘My strength is changing,’ he explained. ‘Started out with lighter weights a couple days ago and now I can’t find any that work.’

‘The nanites are making you stronger?’

He sighed. ‘Yeah. You’d think that would be a good thing, right?’

‘Well, yeah…’

‘The problem is that I’m gaining strength without gaining any muscle. I wanted to get back to where I was at before, but I don’t know if that’s even possible now.’

I frowned, concerned about how he was taking all of these new changes. It wasn’t just his physiology, but his entire life and I couldn’t begin to imagine how hard it must have been to process.

‘Have you talked to Artemis about it?’ I asked.

‘No, and I don’t intend to,’ he snapped out.

I backed up a step at his tone, hands raised placatingly. ‘Sorry…’

He exhaled a long breath, his shoulder slumping as he set the new weights down at his feet. ‘No, I’m sorry. I just don’t want to add to her plate, you know? She’s got a lot going on, she doesn’t need to take on my problems, too.’

‘When was the last time you talked to her?’ I asked tentatively.

His only response was to shrug.

‘You were pretty close back on The Carina. I know a lot has changed since then, but I don’t think she’ll mind if you go to her. She’s still your friend, right?’

‘I don’t know what we are anymore,’ he admitted glumly.

Slightly uncomfortable with this conversation, I sat beside him and awkwardly patted his arm. ‘If you don’t mind me asking, but why?’

He bit his lip as he contemplated his answer. ‘I don’t know. Things just aren’t the same anymore. She’s a different person. I’m a different person. I don’t know where to even begin bridging that gap.’

‘I think the bigger question is, do you want to?’

He nodded slowly. ‘Yeah, I think so.’

‘Then what’s holding you back?’

His eyes looked haunted as they met mine. ‘What if she’s too different? What if Arthur Mercer was completely made up?’

I scoffed. ‘Stop it. You know that’s not true. She’s still the same person, just with tits and more confidence.’

‘But…’

I cut him off before he could continue. ‘I didn’t know Arty as well as you did, but I knew enough to see that the only thing Artemis really lied about was her anatomy. She doesn’t have to hide now, but I doubt it would feel good for her friend to be keeping his distance because he was suddenly afraid of her.’

‘I’m not keeping my distance,’ he argued. ‘And I’m not afraid of her.’

‘Then prove it. Stop hiding and go see for yourself that she’s exactly who you knew her to be. Just knock first, because you don’t want to walk in on a mind-fuck threesome like I did. That shit was just weird.’

He let out a laugh at that, the absurdity of the whole situation finally settling in with humour rather than disbelief.

‘She’s a lot more… open than when she was undercover,’ he remarked.

‘She’s been through more trauma than any of us could possibly comprehend. Except perhaps you and Adara. And her friend Libby, of course. But I think she’s keeping a lot of it back to save us from that nightmare. She could use a friend who understands.’

He blew out a breath. ‘Yeah, you’re right. I’ve been kind of a bad friend, haven’t I?’

I blanched at his self-deprecating. ‘No, you’ve been processing. There’s nothing wrong with that.’

‘Do you think she even still wants to be friends?’

I smacked him upside the head in an attempt to dislodge his idiocy. ‘Of course she does, dumbass. She wouldn’t go through the trouble of saving your sorry ass if she didn’t.’

‘All right, all right. No need to get violent.’ He shoved me away, but his strength must have seriously grown because it sent me flying ass over head.

‘Oops… Sorry…’

I flopped to the ground and stared up at the ceiling. ‘Damn,’ I coughed out, my breath knocked out of my lungs.

It seemed I was going to need to watch out for more than just genetically altered super kids, but the adults, too.