Page 20 of Claimed By Brothers

“Why is Cynthia so resistant to the Hadana brothers?” Izzo asks me as we get off the barge and make our way up the path leading back to our town.

Above, the suns burn hot in the midday, heat rippling upward from the red stone. I used to look out from the city and admire this land we now call home. I used to wonder what it would be like to live here in this wilderness. Even now, I am astonished by my people’s resilience when it came to rebuilding our lives on the riverside. Little did I know back then how much my life would change and where it would lead.

“It may be her pride as a human woman. Remember what Amber told us about their customs back on Earth,” I tell Izzo. “They don’t bond like us. They fall in love.”

“Right. They fall in love. Isn’t it the same thing, though?”

“We felt our bond intensely with Alana, didn’t we?” I ask. “That instant fire in our hearts. The liquid heat spreading through our veins. And we couldn’t quell it; we couldn’t bring ourselves back until we shared her, until we both filled her every which way. The same thing happened with Amber and no other woman. Just Amber. I doubt it’s the same as what the humans feel.”

“Even so, it’s curious. This concept of falling in love.” Izzo chuckles as we reach the town. “How do you fall when you love someone? Love is supposed to raise you, isn’t it? The three of us build each other up. You, me, Alana. We built each other up. We conceived Valen. We built our house here.”

“We fought the Sky Tribe’s scouts when they came looking for women to steal from us.”

“Those wretched fools…”

I nod slowly. “Perhaps Amber can tell us more about love on Earth. In the meantime, we must admit at least to each other. She is real, isn’t she? We really did bond with her.”

“Do you have any doubts?”

“No. But I worry. She isn’t a Sunnaite. Our biology may differ on a fundamental level, but we just don’t know it yet.”

Izzo jokingly slaps my shoulder. “Dear brother, you are filled with doubts when your own body and soul are telling you she is right for us even if she is of another world. We can’t let Amber sense your doubts, otherwise she will long for home more than she longs for us.”

“Valen clung to her right away,” I say, smiling as I remember my son’s look when he first beheld her last night. “You know how fussy he is with strangers.”

“Yet he adores Amber. Just one more reason for us to conclude that the bond is, in fact, natural and healthy.”

I nod in agreement as we go into town, casually walking down the central alley leading to our house. We find our people going about their business as usual. The kids are out with some of the elders, working the field and the orchard. The younger men handle the household chores in each family, while the girls and the handful of women we have left focus on preparing the meals for the evening.

Alicia and Jewel keep them company, smiling as they learn how to peel certain vegetables and fruits before they dice them and toss them into the pots filled with boiling water. The human women look up as they see us passing by. Jewel is the first to frown when she notices Cynthia isn’t with us. She jumps to her feet and comes right over.

“Hey! Where’s Cynthia? Where’d you leave her?”

“She is fine, I promise,” Izzo tells her. “Just across the river. She’ll be spending another day there to study the plague.”

“Why don’t I believe you?” Jewel shoots back while Alicia watches the exchange with muted concern. “Why should I even trust you?”

“We can have our guards escort you across the river so you can see for yourselves,” I reply. “They will bring you back here, however. Or you could wait until tomorrow when Cynthia returns.” I gaze at her. “I think we’ve already proven ourselves as trustworthy, Jewel. We have no reason to lie to you.”

“What if they sold her off to another couple of their kind?” Alicia wonders aloud, the mere idea filling her gaze with horror.

Izzo scoffs and holds his chin up high before them. “Do not insult us. We do not take women to bed against their will. Perhaps the Sky Tribe has that proclivity, but we of the Fire Tribe respect our women. We don’t sell women. And none of you may see our beds without your full consent.”

“Alicia, Jewel… Please rest assured that Cynthia is safe and well taken care of. Her medical knowledge may help us in combating the plague, but we won’t know unless she is given the time and the space needed to do her job,” I add. “I suppose you’ve already seen Amber today.”

The girls look at each other, then nod at us. “Yeah,” Jewel mutters.

“Did she seem upset? Like she was taken against her will?” I ask.

“No,” Alicia admits with a sigh.

“I guess you have your answers, then. We shall see you both later for dinner,” I reply, then nudge my brother so that we may continue toward home.

I can feel Alicia and Jewel’s glares burning into the backs of our necks, but I do not look back, not even for a second. It is the mark of a true leader to assert themselves, especially in front of those who may challenge their righteousness and authority.

Upon reaching our house, Izzo and I go inside to find Amber half-asleep next to Valen’s bed. She was given a white dress to wear for the day—the soft, semitransparent fabric hugs her muscular and curvaceous figure in all the right places. My cock swells at the mere sight of her laying on her side, eyes closed as a cascade of red hair flows over one bare shoulder. Maybe the color of her hair is what stirred us in the first place. It’s as if she was kissed by fire when she was born.

“Fucking hell, she is beautiful,” Izzo whispers.

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