Homelands Pt. 06 Ch. 03

"Wow," Eric panted.

Gabriela smiled back at her son before drifting off to sleep.

#

All of a sudden, Patty realized that she was touching herself. She hadn't even noticed. The tableau unfolding before her eyes was just too steamy.

Her two brothers had fought over her mother. Then the victor, who to no one's surprise had turned out to be Eric, claimed his prize. For a time. Soon enough, Mike had joined him, and they both tended to her needs at the same time. And, as if that wasn't enough, after they finished, her brother impregnated their mother.

At least, that's what it looked like had just happened.

"Did they just...?" Mike asked.

He sat on the lounge chair beside her now. Some of his draconic features had faded away. But the green skin, scales, and silvery spines remained. She took her hand out of her lap and wrapped it around her brother's.

"I think so, yes," she replied.

"That's-"

"Pretty fucking hot?"

"Yeah," he said.

Patty finally tore her eyes off her sleeping mother and smiling brother, turning to her dragon. "Whaddaya say?"

Fractions of a second ticked by. It felt like an eternity. She was afraid that he'd hate the idea. That he'd think her overeager. What if he too thought she was pushing too fast? What if she ruined the best thing she'd ever had by being impatient?

If she could reverse time, she'd take it back. Stupid, stupid Patty! What had she been thinking? They hadn't even talked to his mother yet. How could he possibly be ready to give her a child, when his parents had no idea they even planned to do so?

She was on her back before she knew it.

At first, she didn't know what that meant. Her paranoid, insecure mind feared that maybe he'd knocked her over and was about to storm off. But it didn't take a moment to realize the truth. Because in that moment, her dragon entered her. Slowly, but not meekly.

Patty wrapped her arms around her brother's neck as his handsome, exotic face appeared in view. Not long ago, she'd have been terrified by him. Wouldn't have given herself a chance to get to know him. Would have missed out on the most beautiful experience of her life, simply because he didn't look like other people.

Now, though, she almost couldn't wrap her head around the fact that a younger Patty, one who hadn't seen how wretched the beautiful people of the Eternal Garden could be, would have recoiled from this beautiful dragon.

"I love you, Patty," he whispered, before pressing his lips to hers.

That made her head spin.

Her immediate reaction was to think they couldn't possibly say such things to each other yet. But if they were talking about moving to the mortal world, living as husband as wife, raising a child together, why the hell not?

It wasn't like she didn't feel it herself.

When he allowed her to come up for air, she said, "I love you too." Then kissed his thin, hard lips a hundred thousand times.

"You better not leave me," he said.

She laughed her fool head off.

Whether he was mocking her and her family or not, she couldn't have said. Didn't even care. It was so perfectly timed. The very last thing she expected him to say. And yet, the very thing he must have expected her to say.

"I'm a better man, since I've met you," he went on, apparently without irony. As if they'd known each other for longer than twenty-four hours. "Everything seems so clear now. I know who I am, and who I'm not. Who I want to be. Because of you."

Patty didn't know what to say to that.

But no response seemed to be required. They just stared into each other's eyes for a few moments, completely still. Then Mike started pumping his thick cock in and out of her little hole again. Her walls retreated before him, and every stroke brought her new pleasures. His thrusts were sharp, but intermittent. Each and every one made her shudder violently.

He smelled like ash and fire and smoke. His glittering silver eyes and scaly green hide were unlike anything she'd ever seen. The lack of hair, right down to the relatively smooth skin where his eyebrows should have been, took some getting used to. Patty couldn't wrap her legs around her brother's waist because of the spines running down his back. If she caressed his arms or shoulders the wrong way, it felt awkward.

But he was the best lover she'd ever had.

Nick and Eric were both more conventionally attractive and more skilled. In a matter of months, they'd mastered a number of breathtaking techniques.

They didn't love her though. Not the way Mike did. They'd done wonderful things for her. Would do those same things again, if called upon to do so. But she was always going to be their kid sister. Someone to look after.

"Oh, god," Mike panted.

Patty hadn't even realized how relentlessly she'd been massaging his penis with her insides. How she'd been gradually ramping up his sensitivity. Now that she thought to scan his Libido, she saw that he was on the very brink of orgasm.

She wasn't far away herself. So she eased up on his Libido a little and amplified her own sensitivity just a little. Then, with a few more quick pumps, her brother brought the two of them to climax simultaneously.

"Fuck, YES!" Patty screamed.

Her brother's cum sprayed her womb, warm droplets splashing against every corner. She felt the fluid pooling inside her, warming her. Emptying her Libido, she poured everything she had, everything she was, into bringing a new life into being.

Patty had never felt anything like it. She couldn't have been more exhausted. Yet, she also felt incredibly powerful. Infinite possibilities stirred within her womb.

She drifted off to sleep, happy as could be.

#

Feeling numb, Nick leaned back against a wet stone and reached out to his sister.

His other sister.

The one who had him feeling as though he were walking on clouds had gone back to the Hardt family castle. For the time being, he had to put her out of his mind. Had to stop thinking about the incredible time they'd spent together back in the playground.

Thirty-six hours had slipped by so fast that he couldn't even remember what they'd done. Not just at the moment. Snippets and fleeting impressions swam across his mind, but, for the most part, all that remained with him was the emotional residue. The incredible feeling of euphoria and the sense that all was once again right with the world.

Part of him wanted to go back home and take her in his arms once again. To smell her hair and taste her lips and be inside her. When his family asked him what had happened with Annie, he could just tell them that she hadn't answered his summons.

But, no. He'd be with Veronica again soon enough. And his mother and grandmother had impressed upon him the importance of figuring out what the king was up to. So he did what he'd come there to do.

It only took a moment for him to locate her.

Nick had never been as close with Annie as his other sisters. The feel of her Libido was less clear in his mind than either Veronica's or even Patty's, but it was easy enough to discern from the others in the royal palace. In the months since his grandmother had first taught him to track this way, he'd gotten much better at this.

And, after many failed attempts and equally many headaches, he'd learned to go a few steps further once he'd located an individual Libido.

If he so chose, he could talk to Annie. Communicate with her telepathically. But that might freak her out. Give her the impression he could read her thoughts, even though that would have been the equivalent of your television set knowing where your eyes were focused at any given moment. For some reason, everyone was really concerned that he could get inside their heads. Best to take a more subtle approach.

Ever so delicately, he stroked her Libido. The touch wasn't forceful enough to induce genuine arousal. Just to pique her interest. To make her think of him. It would seem organic enough to her, as though he'd popped into her head on some whim of her subconscious. She'd have no reason to think that thoughts of her brother had sprung to mind because he was tickling her Libido from miles away.

He waited a moment to confirm that the message had gotten through. Though he had no idea what she was thinking, he sensed the change in her Libido. The frustration, sorrow, self-pity, and hint of anger that had swam across her Libido a moment before made room for curiosity, surprise, and something warmer, though not strong enough to be called desire.

That part was easy enough, these days. Complicated, but not overly so. The next part, however, was going to be harder. Just a few weeks ago, Nick wouldn't have been able to do what he did next. Not even if he'd been in the room with his sister.

With great effort, he carefully shaped the flow of energy he poured into her from across the island. His sister should feel a yearning to go down to the shore, where she could watch sun's dying rays light up both the sky and the sea.

It would not just be a vague, wistful recollection of how beautiful previous sunsets that she'd watched from the beach had been. Nor would she be content to bid the day farewell while standing at her window in their father's palace. An intense, almost compulsive, desire would be stirring within her. Annie would need to see the sun disappear into the water, and feel the white sand beneath her feet as she did.

At first, he thought he'd failed. But a minute or so later, her Libido jump across the island. Not to where he'd been waiting, but that was only to be expected. Nick had issued his summons from a place where no one would be likely to happen upon him, smack dab in the middle of the least inviting stretch of shoreline. Slick stones jutted out from the sea all around him, waiting to be swallowed up again come high tide. His sister had chosen, unsurprisingly, the south shore of the island. The part that belonged on post cards.

When he felt a sense of awe stir in Annie's Libido, he went to her.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" he asked, looking out across the sea.

Annie gave a start. "What are you doing here?" she asked. The awe faded instantly, and the dark emotions she'd felt when he'd found her returned.

If only through sheer serendipity, he'd caught her at a good time. Their father had done something to upset her. Though it wasn't anger he'd felt within her when he'd first sought out her Libido, he knew that his sister was feeling sad and lonely.

A better man would not have been relieved to see that. Would not have considered it fortunate. A better man would be sad to see that look on his sister's face.

But his father would have reacted exactly as Nick had.

"Wanted to speak to you," he said.

His sister's over-plucked brows crept neared to one another. The black silk robe she'd wrapped about her body whistled as the wind tugged at it.

Nick put a hand on her shoulder.

Annie twitched as if to pull away, but then a measure of the tension in her thin body drained away. She let out a weary sigh and leaned back against his chest.

She smelled clean. Her natural scent was almost hard to pick out beneath the shampoo and soap. She'd just gotten out of the shower. Or perhaps a bubble bath.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Oh, nothing," she replied. "Besides, didn't you just say you had something you wanted to talk to me about?"

"It can wait," he said, planting a kiss on the top of her head.

Annie cooed softly.

"Why do men have to be such jerks?" she asked.

Nick grinned to himself. Like all of his sisters, she seemed to think he didn't count as one, not enough to mentally tack on the "present company excluded" that she'd forgotten to add herself, at least. It had been years since Veronica had asked him that though. He was no longer exempt in her eyes. Even Patty had stopped asking him for the inside scoop on the warped male mind, though that had been a more recent development in her case. To Annie, though, he was still someone who had the right parts to know how actual men thought, but not man enough himself to be lumped in with the jerks.

"There's a very rigorous screening process," he said.

Annie dug an elbow into his ribs.

"What did Dad do?"

"Nothing," she said.

"Annie." Nick wrapped his arms tighter around his sister's little waist. "You and I both know that's not true." He gave her Libido a little nudge. Not much of one. Hopefully not even enough for her to notice. Just to make sure that she felt it stirring. Felt some pull towards him. "You can tell me."

"You're gonna think I'm being silly," she replied.

"Doubtful."

"Or you going to overreact and say this proves I never should have trusted him."

"Fair point," he said. "I promise I'll keep it to myself even if that's what comes to mind."

"It's not hearing you saying it that worries me," Annie said, a bit exasperated. "I don't want you going back and telling Mom she was right about him. Don't want her and Grams thinking they need to rescue me."

His back went stiff. "Do we?"

"No!"

"Sorry," he said. "Of course not." He kissed her cheek. "You're a grown woman. We trust your judgment."

Annie scoffed. "Sure you do."

"I won't say anything to them."

"He doesn't trust me," she said almost without hesitation. Like she'd been having trouble keeping to herself and had only needed the merest facsimile of reassurance that it was okay to tell him before the floodgates would burst open. "Only that sister of his."

All the responses that came immediately to mind would have fallen on deaf ears, so Nick held his tongue. She wasn't looking for anything but a sympathetic ear anyway.

She went to explain that their father had given her the impression that he was willing to confide in her as he never could or would his sister, despite the fact that he was keeping Annie in the dark about his plan to have the First Court of Summer take up sun worship.

"Sun worship?" Nick asked.

"Oh, yeah. That. Fucking crazy," she replied.

His sister then detailed the arrangement their father had made with the Eternal Garden. The temple that would open any day now, with their Aunt Zoey as High Priestess.

Precisely what he'd come for.

Not a word about Daphne or Lady Winter. But then, there was no reason to expect there to be. He'd cast his lot with a different court.

Whether that was good news or bad, Nick had no idea. But Grandma Flori would be glad he'd found out, either way.

"Doesn't that seem like something he should have told me?" Annie asked.

"Yeah," Nick agreed.

"Damn right, it is," she replied.

"Maybe he's afraid you'll run and tell someone like me," Nick said.

"Well boy did that backfire!"

He snickered.

"Why would he want to keep that from you guys anyway?" Annie rushed to add. "You make it sound like he's got some nefarious plot underway." The way she said it, you'd think that it was the most ridiculous thing anyone could think. "He's not the bad guy, Nick."

"Didn't say he was," Nick said. "I was just trying to say that you shouldn't read too much into it. He knows that this can be a dangerous game, and that Grams isn't his biggest fan. Aunt Nina's not about to tell House Hardt anything he'd prefer to be kept secret. Doesn't mean he cares about her any more than he does you."

Annie slumped back against him again. "I know. It just sucks."

"Doesn't mean anything."

"You really think so?"

Nick thought that over for a moment. Having acquired the information he came to acquire, there was no reason he couldn't stop pretending to be the concerned older brother, in hopes that she'd open up, and actually be concerned.

"I do," he said at last.

He hoped he wouldn't come to regret that. But, in all fairness, he really didn't see any reason for her to get so worked up. Nick wasn't sure he understood why she trusted their father as much as she did in the first place, but she had to have her reasons. And the question before him was only whether she should question their father's devotion to her in light of the discovery that he didn't share all his political machinations with her.

Annie didn't reply at first. But, eventually, she said, "Thanks."

Nick kissed the side of her head. "Anytime."

"I'd say that maybe I should start coming to visit after all," she said, "except that apparently that would only convince Dad that I'm a spy or something."

"You do wear a lot of black."

Annie snickered.

They watched the sky change colors in silence for a time.

"You're okay, you know that?" his sister said.

"Thanks. For the record, you don't smell nearly as bad as everyone says you do."

Another elbow in the ribs.

This time, he fought back, though.

Nick slipped his hands up under his sister's arms. Ever since she was little, Annie had hated being tickled. She squirmed and squirmed, forcing his hands out of her pits.

A moment later, they were rolling around on the sand, kissing each other.

#

"So," her father asked, the moment Annie appeared on the rooftop terrace, "how is our boy Nick?" He closed his eyes and drew in a deep breath before adding, "Very good, eh?"

Adrenaline flooded her system.

The rooftop terrace was as beautiful, peaceful, and soothing a place as could be found in Summer. During the day, with the sun shining bright and warm, she generally preferred the garden or the pool. But come nighttime, there was no better place than up there. She'd sprawl out on the couch, light a fire, and throw on her headphones. Maybe watch a movie on her laptop, or simply gaze up at the stars and lose herself in thought.

But she hadn't been expecting that this time.

She'd known he'd be waiting for her.

If she'd really wanted to avoid seeing him, she'd have teleported back to her quarters. For all that he'd casually admitted to being a liar just a little earlier that day, he'd meant it when he'd said that could use that space to get some privacy. Not once since she'd moved in with him had her father entered her room without permission.

"He's fine," she said, pretending not to catch the double entendre.

"Uh huh," her father said with a knowing grin.

Annie blushed but didn't bother to disabuse him of the notion he'd apparently gotten into his head. Nick was a little tame for her tastes, but she'd been in the mood for that. And she'd wondered for some time what he it would be like to hook up with him with his heart actually in it. She probably still hadn't seen his A game, and likely never would, but she had a better sense now of why her sisters were so impressed with him.

"You know," he continue, wagging a finger at her, "it's not so much that you answered his call that bothers me."

"What call?" she asked. "I just went down to-"

He didn't let her finish. "Nor that you undoubtedly told him everything he came to hear. You probably didn't even realize you were doing it."

Annie tried to protest, but stopped herself short.

Her brother had said he'd come to ask her a question, after all. She'd almost forgotten about that, especially since, Whatever it was, he'd never gotten around to asking it. She'd whined about their father for a while, then they'd played a game that didn't involve too much talking. But how could she refute her father's charge that she'd inadvertently told Nick whatever he'd wanted to know?

"No, what's got me all tense and worked up," her father said, "is that, earlier, you almost convinced me to tell you everything. And then you go and this. Imagine if you actually knew something that I wanted kept secret from the Hardts?"

That was what he called tense?

He'd been lounging on her favorite couch, arms spread out and feet propped up on the nearest flowerpot. Since his little tirade began, he'd dropped his feet back to the floor and leaned forward. But that was it. His voice was calm as could be. He wasn't speaking any faster or louder than usual, and his inflection was as devoid of emotion as ever.