Lysander stood with one leg resting on a fallen log. Bent at the waist, he rested one forearm on his knee and looked over his shoulder at the man madly thrusting into him from behind. Thanos had his eyes closed and a look of utter ecstasy on his face. Lysander grinned. The younger man was entirely too repressed.

Thanos was his shield mate, but the man didn’t generally relieve his sexual urges with either Lysander or Calix. Thanos had been grown in a different pod, and had only recently joined Lysander and Calix. Their own pod and shield mate had been killed and meeting Thanos had filled a gaping hole. Apparently, Thanos’s podmates had been much like Thanos was. Genetically similar to a true Spartan, but reeducated enough during growth to try to repress their nature.

It had been several weeks since they’d been out of the Badlands long enough to find a soothing bar or any kind of willing female for him to sate his lust with. Now, Thanos was feeling the discomfort every man felt when he was unable to release built-up tension after battle.

Thanos pounded his cock inside Lysander’s ass with abandon. Face contorted with pleasure, muscles bunched and strained, and body coated with sweat, Thanos gripped Lysander’s hips tightly as he thrust with almost punishing force. Lysander stroked his own cock lazily. He wasn’t usually in this position, being the most aggressive of the three, but if it was what Thanos needed, he was gladly willing to provide.

Lounging with eyes closed to slits, Calix watched them, his own dick resting against one thigh. Occasionally it would twitch with interest, but Calix wouldn’t join them until Thanos was finished. It made Thanos uncomfortable, and Calix respected Thanos enough to keep to himself.

It didn’t stop Lysander from wishing Thanos would embrace their natural attraction to each other. It was ingrained into their genetic make up. Spartans had traditionally taken their pleasure with one another while away from their women. Lysander and Calix understood that and accepted that part of their personality. Thanos had just enough genetic alteration to fight what was natural. He and Calix didn’t condemn him for it; they simply tried to support him when he needed it.

Like now.

“Feel good?” Lysander asked his question in a gruff voice, his own pleasure heady enough to affect him greatly.

“Yeah. You’re wrapped around me so tight…”

“That’s it, Thanos. Take what you need.”

“Aries’ balls, I’m coming!”

Thanos thrust like mad. The pounding Lysander was taking only fueled his own lust, and he stroked his cock with more vigor. The slight discomfort mingled with the pleasure to create a heady and intense sensation that always excited him.

A couple more thrusts, and Thanos roared his climax. Sweat poured from Thanos in the thick jungle heat as he rested his head on Lysander’s shoulder. It took him a moment to regain his composure, but until he did, Lysander let him take any comfort he needed. He knew from experience Thanos wouldn’t seek either of them out again for several weeks, and only then if he hadn’t found a willing woman to sate his lust with.

“I’m tired of this, Ly.” Thanos’s voice was soft and breathy. “I need…”

“I know, Than. I just wish you’d realize we’re in this together. Cal and I realize you need a woman, but we can all three ease our bodies until we find the right woman. It would be much more satisfying.”

Thanos was breathing hard, but he pushed himself away from Lysander and nodded to his friend and partner. “Just give me some time.” He looked to Calix then. The other man didn’t touch his cock, as Lysander still did, but it jumped in time with his heartbeat as he watched the other two men. “Both of you. My podmates weren’t like you.”

At the mention of his podmates, Thanos’s face hardened. Lysander and Calix had yet to get the younger man to tell them what had happened for him to lose his brothers, but they knew the pain was still fresh. They’d found him with their bloodied corpses in the grips of a killing rage unlike any other Badland Warrior could ever experience. Such was the Spartan nature. Shield mates were as close as any family. They might not share the same parents, but they were as close as brothers because each depended on the other for his life.

Lysander straightened, letting go of his cock. He turned toward Thanos and gripped his shoulder. “There’s no right or wrong in this, Than. You feel what you feel. Sex is a release of pent-up emotion. It helps keep you focused before battle so you make better decisions and put yourself in a good position during battle. You’ll make peace with this side of your nature. Until you do, just know we’re here for you.”

“We’re your shield mates.” Calix spoke then, still sitting with his back against the log. “We’ll fight at your side, even if the enemy is within yourself.”

Thanos nodded once before turning toward a nearby stream. No doubt he wanted to wash the sweat and sex from his body. And think.

He had been with Lysander and Calix for a little over three months, and Thanos was only now beginning to trust them. Trust was essential if they were to go back into battle. Thanos had intentionally kept them in a known “clean zone” of the Badlands. This kept them away from mutants as well as the World Council of Government Affairs. As he had served away from home base year after year, Lysander had seen things that had planted a seed of distrust about the WCGA. Thanos’s situation only strengthened that suspicion. Once they were able to coax the details from the younger man, he and Calix would be better able to decide what to do. For now, Thanos needed to heal. His mind was still fragile and, for a Spartan, that was the ultimate shame.

So they camped out of danger in the guise of being assigned this section to patrol and keep it free of mutants. Lysander and Calix were willing to continue the farce as long as it took. Thanos was a good man and a cunning warrior. Most Spartans would have tossed him away, but Lysander and Thanos went their own way, and that didn’t include abandoning a brother when he simply needed time to come to terms with the loss of his family.

He grows stronger every day. His mind almost reached out to us during his coupling with you. Calix stood and approached Lysander quietly, his voice a mere thread of sound in Lysander’s head. They had learned the trick right after their own podmate had been killed. In their grief, they had looked to each other for comfort, and the bond had been formed. It was still difficult to maintain, though.

I know, Calix sighed. He needs the woman. I dream of her nightly now. I know you do too. Than hasn’t projected his dreams yet, but I’m betting he dreams of her too.

You think she is what prompted his lust today? Calix raised an eyebrow.

I know. I just hope we find her soon. We can’t stay here forever. If Thanos figures out what we’re doing, he’ll leave us. The shame of it will devastate him.

Lysander sighed heavily and sat on the ground. All interest in sex was gone now. He worried for his shield mates at all times, but Thanos most especially. Not only was he younger and not as experienced a warrior, but until he faced his fears and worked through them, he was a danger to them all.

He’s more Spartan than we are in some ways, but so Aries-damned different in others it boggles the mind how he was ever created.

Calix snorted in disgust. We’re all an abomination. A DNA Frankenstein creation by the WCGA. We’re just as much freaks as the mutants we’re supposed to be protecting the civilized populace from.

You’re such an ass, Cal. We are what we choose to be. Right now, I choose to be protector for that young man. If that means we protect him from himself, so be it.

The two fell silent then. When they heard Thanos leave the stream, they went to bathe, but entered the water downstream from Thanos. The last thing either of them wanted was for him to become uncomfortable and raise defenses they’d worked so hard to get him to drop.

Lysander ducked beneath the water and let the crisp, cold liquid close over him, soothing his body and mind. He stayed under until his lungs burned before he surfaced. Sunlight streamed between the trees, and the wind rustled the leaves softly. Truly, there was no place on earth quite as beautiful as the Badlands. The name was an oxymoron if ever there was one. Lysander found himself wondering what it would be like to build a house and raise a family in the very spot where they had been camping. They were guaranteed not to be bothered. Mutants avoided the area for fear of the warriors, and WCGA officials didn’t dare cross the barrier into the Badlands for any reason. That’s what the warriors had been created for.

Obviously reading his thoughts, Calix moved beside him in the water and found Lysander’s cock with one hand. “And what would a warrior do with a family to care for? We were built to fight. Not be all domestic and tame.” Calix squeezed Lysander’s cock in a firm grip and Lysander groaned under his touch. “Besides, do you think this woman will accept all three of us? If not, do you think any of us will be willing to give her to the man she chooses? If she chooses me or Thanos, will you be able to leave not only her, but one of us as well?”

Good questions all. It was the ultimate irony. They would find the one woman they had ever felt a mental connection with only to have her make a choice. One of them would be her mate. Asking any woman to accept three Spartan warriors as her mates was just too much to ask.

“Do you really want to talk about this now?” Lysander knew he had to distract Calix. This wasn’t something he wanted to deal with just yet. Once they found her, he’d figure it out. Now, he simply wanted Calix. Needed the release only his podmate could provide.

“Not really, no.”

Calix knew just the right amount of pressure to use. Lysander’s cock was quickly hard as stone, and his lust was soon driven to a fever pitch. He fisted his hand in Calix’s hair and pulled the other man to him, thrusting his tongue in Calix’s mouth in a searing kiss. Lysander’s cock throbbed almost painfully. That was Calix. The man knew just how to turn him on. He seemed to know exactly what Lysander needed at any given time. It was what made them such good shield mates.

And thorough lovers. Neither ever left the other’s arms less than satisfied.

Calix took his time kissing Lysander. His tongue danced in Lysander’s mouth, licking and swirling as he went. With each stroke, Lysander’s excitement built. His cock pulsed in Calix’s hand.

Finally, Calix raised one leg around Lysander’s hip and guided Lysander inside his ass. Lysander was about to protest — because water was not an effective lubricant, and as much as he wanted Calix he didn’t want to hurt him — when the head of his cock slipped inside Calix. He felt cool, slick fluid surround him and knew Calix had prepared himself well. Cunning man.

Without another moment’s hesitation, Lysander pulled Calix close and began a hard, driving rhythm. Calix’s dick was mashed between them, throbbing and pulsing with each stroke Lysander made.

Great Aries! The man felt good! Even with their awkward position, Lysander was able to find great satisfaction in the other man’s body. Calix gripped him with each stroke, each thrust. The cool water sloshed around them, white-capping in the turbulence.

It took Lysander less than two minutes to come to completion. He muffled his shouts in Calix’s mouth and unloaded inside Calix’s body. A couple of moments later, he felt the warm splash of Calix’s cum against his body in the cool water.

They stood there, holding each other for a few moments before moving apart and finishing their bath. Lysander had a moment to wonder if they would ever again have that camaraderie they’d shared before their shield mate had been killed. He wondered if he’d ever break through to Thanos’s fractured spirit to the man within. Though Lysander did his best to make sure their encounters with battle were kept to a minimum, the danger was still there, though more controlled in their present location. Besides that, Thanos had begun to keep a little distance between them.

Things just weren’t the same. Might never be the same.

Lysander knew their serene life couldn’t stay that way. Besides needing to report to their WCGA commanders, it wasn’t in their nature to avoid battle. As Spartans, they embraced it.

He just hoped they could get everything straightened out before they had to leave their haven. Lysander had a feeling they were going to need all their cunning and skill sooner rather than later. And unless he missed his guess, the dark-haired beauty in his dreams would be at the very center of their conflict.

But just whom they’d be fighting was as yet unclear. Aries hadn’t revealed that to him yet. He hoped it wouldn’t be each other, or, worse, the woman. One thing was for sure, though — their lives were about to get complicated. He just hoped they’d be ready.