Hara's Legacy Page 6

  “When I was just a child, before Mick was born,” Caleb reflected, garnering all their attention, “I caught the mumps. There were vaccines for that, of course, but some of my friendsthe immigrant workers’ kidswere outside the system and hadn’t had their shots. Even some of us who’d had the shots got sick. My face blew up like a balloon and it hurt real bad.” He turned to Jane, taking her hand and holding tight. “It’s probably the reason we’ve never been able to conceive, Jane, and I’m so sorry.”

  She went to him, cuddling close. “It’s okay, Caleb. There’s nothing for you to be sorry for. Mick will come through for us. You know he will.”

  Caleb allowed her to comfort him for a few short moments, but then guided her gently away, back to her seat. She went, her expression sad.

  “Yes, I’m sure Mick will be able to help useventually.”

  “That’ll have to be good enough,” Justin said, breaking into the conversation. He didn’t like the direction this was taking and he wanted it stopped before it tore them asunder.

  But Caleb sighed, not rising to the anger Justin expected. “No, it won’t be good enough. Not for me and Jane, not for you and especially not for Mick.”

  “Don’t go there, brother.” Justin growled.

  The back door opened and Mick sailed into the kitchen, oblivious to the tension. “I’ve got all our results. Jeez, I don’t know how to say this, so I’ll just come right out.” The silence thickened. “I’m sorry, Caleb, your suspicions were correct. Your sperm count is low, but it is still possible you can father a child, given the proper preparation and timing. I’ll get started on that right away, if you like.”

  Caleb waved his brother to a chair, no emotion showing on his stoic features. “Don’t bother just yet, Mick. How are you and Justin?”

  Jane gasped, but didn’t say a word.

  Mick eyed him steadily. “You know we never caught the mumps like you did. We’re both normal.”

  Caleb sighed. “It’s got to be one of you then.”

  Justin stood from the table, knocking his chair to the floor behind him with a clatter. “And what about Jane? I want no part of this, Caleb. It’s bad enough you sent me to the village into the arms of that cold bitch so she could do God knows what to my son.” His voice broke on that thought and he turned to flee from the room, but a soft hand stayed him. It was Jane of course, feeling everything he felt, sympathizing with him and trying to make it all better. But this was something even she couldn’t fix.

  “I’ve already agreed, Justin. I can’t stand to see you two suffer anymore. I suffer with you, you know.”

  “God, Jane,” Mick stood too, shock clear on his face. “Think about this!”

  She turned to him, not releasing her hold on Justin. “I have. I love you all, don’t you get it?” Her voice rose as her frustration grew. “I can’t bear to see you in pain. Any of you. I know times have changed. If we were back in the old world, I would have been happy to live out my life monogamously with any one of you. But we’re not in the old world. We can never go back to the old ways. Caleb helped me realize that. His visions have helped him accept it too. We’ve both talked this over and we’ve agreed that since I love you all equally, I should be allowed to express that love equally. As should you.”

  “Caleb, talk some sense into her!” Justin ground out, desperate both to have her let go of his arm and to pull her tighter against him. He was confined to do neither as both would hurt someone he loved. To push her away would hurt her. To pull her in would hurt Caleb. It was a no-win situation.

  Caleb sighed and Justin squirmed inwardly. He knew that sigh.

  “I’ve lived with this gift all my life and haven’t always liked what it’s shown me, but I’ve learned to make peace with what came. As have you all.” Caleb looked at each of them in turn. “Mick, there is no other woman in your future. I’m sorry. I haven’t wanted to tell you that. Especially since Jane probably should have been yours from the beginning. But that’s my sin.”

  “Come on, Caleb. Even I know you can’t see the past, only the future. There’s no way you could know that Jane and I should have been married any more than Justin and Jane should have been. The past is past. We have to live in the now and the future. That’s where your gift comes in handy. It’s saved us in the past and it will save us now. If I live my life alone, well then, so be it.”

  “But you won’t live your life alone. You’ll share it with us. With Jane and me and Justin.”

  Mick nodded. “Just like we do now.”

  “No, not exactly. We all have to change and grow and accept that we are all each other will have for some years to come. At least until the children get older.”

  “Children?” Justin asked. “Whose children?”

  Caleb looked around the room. “Yours, mine and Mick’s.”

  “But if there’s no woman for me—” Mick was thinking out loud when his eyes grew angry once more. “Oh no. I am not forcing myself on Jane because you had a warped vision.”

  “Who was the mother of my child?” Justin asked quietly into the angry silence.

  “Children,” Caleb corrected him. “You’ll have more than one. You’ll have several with Jane too. Starting with the one that will be born about nine months from now. I’m sorry, Mick. This first time, it has to be Justin because of Mara.”

  “I think I’m going to be sick.” Mick said, clearly not censoring his words.

  “That’s nice. The idea of giving me a child makes you sick, Mick? Well hell, don’t wait around for your turn. You’re not getting one!”

  Mick looked astounded, then hurt. “Janie, I didn’t mean that the way it sounded. It’s just—”

  “All so different than what we expected our lives to be in the old world.” Caleb finished his brother’s sentence, effectively drawing all attention back to him. “I know. But it’s an adjustment we have to make if we want to survive. If we want to give humanity a chance.”

  “Humanity? Since when did we become the saviors of the entire race?” Mick wanted to know.

  Caleb rounded on him. “Since Justin impregnated an alien woman with the power to say whether we live or die. Everything hinges on her and her child. Justin’s child will have powers we can only dream of, and he will be able to change the world.”

  Everybody looked at Justin with varying degrees of suspicion and respect.

  “Wow. Damn, Jus, sounds like you fathered the second coming.”

  Caleb snorted at Mick’s hushed words. “Think more along the lines of Merlin instead of Jesus and you might be right.” Now that he had their full attention again, he continued, “Regardless, we have to do everything in our power to change Mara’s mind, to give her some inkling of understanding of human emotions. For our own sakes and for the sake of our people. If we do this right, Justin’s baby will change the world and make it safe for humans again. Maybe even within our lifetimes.”

  “But, Caleb, that woman is made of ice. Her DNA has been altered so that no emotion remains. How do we show her what it means to feel?” Justin sighed wearily as he ran one hand through his dark hair.

  Caleb’s gaze zeroed in on Jane. “We have our sweet empath to show us the way. And if she’s pregnant at the same time as Mara, they can compare notes on their conditions. Mara is a scientist. She will want to study Jane to see what a human gestation is like compared to her own. If the test includes a fetus that’s from your DNA, Jus, it will be more appealing to her scientific mind. Sorry, Mick.”

  “Jeez!” The youngest brother winced. “Don’t apologize for not wanting me to cuckold you!”

  “You’re still thinking of the old days, Mick,” Jane turned to him. “And even then, some people had open marriages. Many cultures allowed multiple wives. Just think of this as female revenge. I get to have three husbands.” Her teasing tone tried to lighten the mood, but the subject was too serious for laughs.

  “Is that what we’d be? Second and third husbands?” Justin wanted to know.

  “Ther
e’s no second or third about it,” Caleb said firmly. “We would all be her husband. And she’s our wife. Not just mine alone any longer. I’ve been selfish.”

  “And I’ve been insensitive.” Jane chuckled. “Imagine that, with all my empathy, I couldn’t bring myself to release the old ideas long enough to realize I could ease your pain. I know what you two have been feeling around me for months now. Justin’s better since his trip into town, but Mick, you’re so on edge, it hurts just to be around you.”

  “Then don’t be around me,” Mick said angrily. “I’ll clear off so you won’t be subjected to my anger and my unnatural desires.”

  But Caleb raised his hand calmly. “That’s not the answer. And your desire for Jane isn’t unnatural. You’ve wanted her since she was sixteen and you saw her come down the stairs in her prom gown. You told me that back then, remember? You told me that when she was old enough, you’d marry her come hell or high water. You just didn’t count on me swooping in and claiming her before you got your chance.” Caleb shook his head in guilt and regret. “But we’re going to fix that now. We’re all going to put aside the old ways and make this family work. I know it’s not going to be easy, but it’s the only way for us all to survive. If even one of us leaves, we all die, and humanity doesn’t stand a chance.”

  Mick shook his head angrily. “You don’t cut us much slack with your visions, do you, Caleb? Jeez! Our little family, responsible for the fate of humanity? As if keeping just ourselves alive wasn’t hard enough.”

  “I hear you, brother. But we don’t deal the cards, we just play the hand we’re dealt. And I’ve never had a clearer vision of what has to be done. So much is riding on us, we have to do whatever we can to help that half-alien child.” He looked at Jane with loving eyes. “And that includes giving up my selfish desire to keep Jane only for myself. I know you both love her and I know she loves you. You’ll be good to her and franklythough it shocks the hell out of mejust the thought of you two with her is damn arousing.” Caleb pushed back from the table and smiled to ease the rising tension in the room. “There’s no one else on Earth I would share her with.”

  “And no one else on Earth I would welcome into my heart and into my body,” Jane echoed, looking at Justin and Mick with affection in her teary eyes. “Only you three. I’ve loved you all as long as I can remember. I want a bunch of children with you. And I want to know each of you like I’ve gotten to know Caleb over the years we’ve been married.” She turned and stepped into Justin’s arms, giving him no choice but to embrace her.

  Justin met his brothers’ eyes over Jane’s head as she snuggled into him. He was already aroused and the fire in his eyes told the other two all they needed to know. But Jane turned in his arms to look at Caleb and Mick, focusing on the youngest brother.

  “I know how badly you need me, Mick. I feel your hunger. It has to be Justin first, to give me a child, but if he has no objections, I’d like to share the experience with you too. I could take you in my mouth,” she offered shyly, pleased to feel Justin’s arms tighten around her middle and his cock swell against her butt.

  “Jeez!” Mick sucked in breath as if he’d been sucker punched. He was aroused, she could see, as she held out one trembling hand to him. Her empathic senses were feeding off their arousal and it made her feel quite daring. Mick held out, but when Caleb stood to push his shoulder, sending him toward her, Mick’s resistance crumbled and he took her hand, allowing himself to be pulled into the embrace.

  Sandwiched between the two brothers, Jane smiled as she rose up on her tiptoes to place a kiss on Mick’s shocked mouth. She ran her hands through his blond hair as she’d often longed to do and caressed his stubbly cheek, smiling into his eyes.

  “It’s going to be okay, Mick.”

  She kissed him with more pressure then, willing him to let loose with the passion she could feel him holding back. He gave in with a tidal wave of emotion, flooding her empathic senses with a rage of need and caring that almost overwhelmed her. She caught the motion out of the corner of her eye as Caleb moved the chairs out of the way and placed himself off to the side of the sturdy kitchen table. She saw the wisdom in the scene he was setting. If they broke apart to go to the bedroom, second thoughts might interfere with the joining that simply must take place in order to save them all. Better they let passion overwhelm them right here in the kitchen this first time, with all of them present, so they could break the ice, so to speak.

  Jane reached around Mick as Justin ground against her bottom. He was as lost in sensation as Mick was, though Mick had always been more stubborn. She knew she had to focus on him until all his inhibitions were crumbled to dust. She kissed him for all she was worth, savoring the feel of his tongue, the similar but different taste of him as he let go with her for the first time. It had been so very long for him, he was almost immediately out of control, and she smiled as she caressed his wide, muscled shoulders and washboard belly.

  She unbuttoned his shirt as his breathing increased and then her hands were against his hard chest, tangling in the light dusting of hair she found there. He was more compact than either Justin or Caleb, standing just under six feet, but he was all muscle and had those All-American blond good looks that had always made the girls swoon back in the old days. He was powerfully built, his chest and abdomen bulging with rippling muscle as she stroked him. But he trembled with need of her and she hurried her mission to free the pulsing cock that pushed against her belly through their clothes. She was sidetracked only momentarily when Mick scooped her sweater off over her head, leaving her only in a lacy white bra as he kissed the swells of her breasts over the cups of the thin material.

  She felt Justin’s hands at her back, undoing the hooks and pushing the bra straps down her arms as Mick groaned in appreciation, kissing her nipples and sucking them into his hot mouth while Justin kissed her neck. She opened her eyes to meet Caleb’s green gaze over the blond head of his brother. She reached out empathically and felt her husband’s arousal and satisfaction. She blew him a kiss as he stroked his own arousal, then yelped as Justin reached his hands right into the stretchy waistband of her pants and cupped between her legs. God, his hands were hot! And his fingers were definitely longer than Caleb’s, and a bit rougher as he swept them through the curls covering her mound and delved into her folds.

  Justin’s aroused chuckle made her squirm. She could feel the emotions coming off him—a sense of surrender to the inevitable and arousal at the idea that he would finally have her and father her first child. There was that driving will to procreate she had sensed in Caleb as they’d tried so hard to have a child, and that same satisfaction that meant he knew he would be coming inside her in short order. For that reason, his strokes were slow and unhurried, in sharp contrast with Mick’s frenzy. The poor man hadn’t had a woman in years and he was as desperate as she’d ever seen a man.

  “Mick,” she spoke gently as she moved back slightly. “Let me sit on the table.”

  Mick moved away as Justin let go, but he didn’t go far. Justin positioned himself between her legs as if staking claim to her pussy. Mick stood at her side, seeming unable to let go of her breasts, even as she unbuttoned his jeans and worked the zipper down over an amazing arousal. He was hard and ready, and when she clasped him in her hands, he trembled.

  Looking up at Justin, she sought his understanding. Justin nodded once. Mick was in a bad way and he needed her attention.

  Justin could wait a bit, though not long. He’d waited a lifetime to have a woman he loved this much come to him and he would not be denied now that he’d finally given in to the crazy world they now inhabited. Jane felt all of his emotions, sitting up to kiss him as she began to stroke Mick’s cock with her hand.

  The first taste of Justin was shocking. His mouth was spicy and hot, his kiss demanding in a way that neither Caleb’s nor Mick’s had been. He was a bad boy through and through, his kiss cutting her no slack, his hands digging into her waist and thigh with erotic urgency. She s
miled into his kiss, licking his lips with a final caress as she lay back on the table. She then turned to take care of Mick.

  Chapter Five

  But Justin had other plans. Instead of waiting for her to suck Mick off, then come back to him, he continued to tease her even as she tongued Mick’s cock and finally took him into her mouth.

  Mick groaned in pleasure, and so did Jane as Justin lifted her a few inches up from the table. He pulled down her pants and underwear in one smooth motion and repositioned her at the edge of the table, kneeling down to spread her muscular legs around him. He unbuttoned his own shirt and pants, all the while enjoying his first view of Jane’s creamy pussy. He’d dreamed of her like thiswet, for him. He’d jerked off countless times to this fantasy, but the reality was a hundred times better than any fantasy he’d ever come up with. He could see the little nubbin of her clitoris throbbing as his fingers spread her inner lips wide.

  He had to taste her. He had to know what she felt like against his lips and tongue. And he ached to know just how far inside she could take his long cock before he felt the delicious ridge of her cervix. She was a small woman, but she had long, sleek, muscular legs and he wanted to kiss every inch of them, in due time. He dropped his shirt on the floor, rubbing his bare chest along her inner thighs while she moaned around his brother’s cock. Justin had been in wilder situations in the past, but never with his brothers, and never with a woman he loved down deep in his soul. The combination made him hotter than he’d ever been before. He made short work of his jeans and boots and then was back between her legs, worshiping her with his tongue, swirling it around her clit, relishing each of her sighs as he memorized the feel of her luscious body.

  She tasted divine. Better than anything he could have imagined, and she was so responsive and warm, he could barely keep from coming as he stroked two fingers into her, testing her. He groaned when he realized she could take almost all of him in her petite body. It was as if she’d been made to his own specifications. Her pussy felt perfect and he couldn’t wait to really get inside her.