Page 3 of Twins for the Barbarians

“She’s all right,” I say, smiling softly. “Ever the firecracker, as you know. They’re determined to hit the Ruby City hangar next.”

“That makes sense. The Kreek brothers already know to reach out to us should they need fighters for that particular mission. The Hadana’s Yellow Gang was dispatched last week precisely for that mission,” Helios replies. “It’s good. We’re making progress. The last thing we want is to get comfortable in this city. It’s not really ours, not yet.”

And this is it: My chance to speak to the matter. I’ve been working up the courage for hours. “Right, so since you’ve mentioned progress…I need to make some progress of my own, as well.”

I’ve got a feeling they both saw this coming. Silence settles across the table filled with platters of food. But it’s not the food that has my attention now, it’s the looks on Helios’ and Kharo’s faces.

“What do you mean?” Helios asks.

He’s taller than the average Sunnaite man—over seven feet tall—and I sometimes have trouble feeling comfortable around him. Honed in combat, his wide shoulders and thick, hard-as-rock muscles echo his strength and bulge under a smooth layer of red skin. His horns are slightly chipped here and there, a testament to the fights he’s survived, yet his crimson eyes carry a certain softness he only displays toward me and Kharo. With everyone else, he’s distant and reserved, his expression often masked by his thick black beard and long, black flowing hair.

In contrast, Kharo is slightly smaller but muscular and wide-framed, much like his close friend and partner. His face is smooth, and his hair cut short, but they both look equally appealing to me.

They’re normally patient, kind, and gentle toward me. I’ve grown used to that. But something has changed. Something I can’t put my finger on, yet it sends shivers down my spine.

“Alicia, what do you mean?” Helios asks again.

Kharo clears his throat. “She’s mentioned it before. I think she’s finally decided to do it.”

“I want to go to Kaos Volcano. I need to study the whole region and investigate the source of the plague,” I say. “There is history there, a deep, dark, and troubled history that I need to uncover. The people have to know where this started, and I think Cynthia’s findings from Selina’s archives barely scratch the surface.”

“Then let Cynthia do it,” Helios scoffs, his eyes never leaving mine.

There’s a shift in the atmosphere. A muted anger. I think whatever has been brewing between us is about to boil over, and I don’t know how to deal with it. I’ve been so focused on keeping my own emotions out of this dynamic that I didn’t even stop to wonder if I had any control over it. I don’t feel like I have control at this point. I only feel my heart beating faster and my body temperature spiking under their furious gazes.

“Cynthia is raising a child. She inoculated the city’s female population and is working to develop a vaccine for the males, too, so they can’t be carriers. Her research into the actual cure is stalled, and unless I get her samples and research materials from ground zero, it might take her longer than we have,” I say. The virus has a tendency to mutate, Helios. We’re in a race against the clock here.”

“You’re not a doctor,” Kharo replies. “How would you know what to look for?”

“Kingo would come with me,” I say. “He has the knowledge to handle all the medical stuff, and I will focus on any archives and any physical evidence we come across. We know very little about what happened at Kaos and Red Rock, too little for how high the stakes have gotten in the past few years. If we’re to sway public opinion in our favor, we have to get to the truth. And if the plague was, in fact, manufactured in a lab, then we owe it to ourselves, to your fallen brothers and sisters, and to the surviving population to share these findings once we have them.”

Helios leans back in his chair, his lips pressed into a thin line. He keeps stealing glances at Kharo, who sets his wineglass aside and turns his attention to me. My pulse starts racing. It’s the kind of fervor I feel when I’m alone in my room when my hand reaches between my legs and my eyes close as I dare to imagine the two of them sharing me, filling and stretching me beyond my wildest dreams. The energy they’ve given me thus far has changed. It feels…feral. Dark. Enticing.

“I think it’s time for us to have a different conversation,” Helios declares.

“I don’t understand,” I mumble.

“We’ve been patient enough,” he says. “It seems we need to change the discourse and make you understand that you’re nowhere near in control of any of this, regardless of what you may think. I can tell from the way you approached this whole topic of Kaos.”

I give Kharo a troubled look. “What do you mean?”

They both move like lightning. I barely register the movements—I only hear myself gasping as they bolt from their seats and snatch me away from the table, pressing me against the wall. I’m breathless, my nipples perking underneath my cotton shirt as their massive bodies cover mine, their breaths tickling my face. I smell the wine on their lips. I feel their huge cocks throbbing against my hips. The sensation causes liquid heat to pool between my legs instantly, and I fear this short skirt will not hide the arousal as it trickles down the insides of my thighs.

“Helios,” I manage, but he covers my mouth with his, capturing me in a burning, ravenous kiss.

His lips are soft, his tongue wrestling with mine, sending thousands of tiny fires to burst all over my skin. I moan as Kharo takes over, kissing me deeper as Helios licks the side of my neck, then nibbles on my earlobe with his sharp fangs.

“You belong to us, whether you’re ready to admit it or not, Alicia,” he growls and thrusts his hips forward, his erection poking me in the stomach. Oh, God, my pussy aches for it. For both of them. “And we belong to you.”

“Helios, please,” I try to object, but he kisses me again.

Kharo pulls my shirt off, revealing my full breasts. Their hands roam up and down my body. I don’t even feel the skirt falling to the floor. I only feel Helios’s capable fingers as they work their way downward, touching and registering every inch of tanned skin before they slide between my slick folds.

“You’re going to finally understand how connected we already are,” Kharo says, his tongue flicking over my lips. I lose myself in this sudden madness, whimpering as he lowers his head and takes one of my nipples in his mouth.

“Oh, yes,” I hiss as his lips close around the tender bud, suckling softly at first.

Helios’s fingers tease my clit, glazed in glistening arousal as my hips respond, swaying back and forth to a rhythm of our own making. Tension gathers in my core, and I need the release. I need it desperately. I need much more than what I’ve been able to give myself in the privacy of my room.

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