Quaranteam: Damaged Goods

This is a story set in the Quaranteam Universe created by CorruptingPower. You're going to need to read the earlier chapters before this, and know the universe before that.

My thanks to CorruptingPower for letting me play in his pool, and to the rest of the QT writers room for their input. Particularly AgathonWrites who has donated way too much of his time

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++++ Thurs 22nd Oct 2020 ++++

It's been two weeks since my third partner, Sin, arrived. Dealing with her strange reaction to the serum has meant another delay in getting the fourth partner the protocol says I need. When she did arrive today I was in the shower, but then I take a lot of showers these days. Val signed the paperwork and I came downstairs to find them all sitting on the sofa talking. Leila Bastani was a thirty two year old, five foot four, Iranian born woman from North Wales. Her face was a beautiful example of her Persian heritage; long sharp features contrasting soft almond eyes with heavy eyebrows. She wore a casual looking blouse and skirt that showed off a curvaceous figure and wide hips. Her long straight hair was dark, almost black, but her olive complexion looked oddly pale. That could be what you get for living in sunny Wales, but I remember thinking that she looked a little unwell. Her accent was an alternating mix of singsong Welsh and monotone Persian, with both the liquid Welsh L's and the rolling Persian R's.

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"I grew up near Shiraz in Iran but moved to Porthmadog to be with my husband when I was nineteen," one of the girls must have asked the obvious question just as I was on the stairs. "I lost him a year ago, but I'm British now so I'm not going anywhere."

"Hey studmuffin," Pixie called to me as I came in, surprising the new arrival who jumped to her feet and turned to face me. She looked nervous but I suppose I would be too in her shoes. "This is Leila, our latest special delivery. Leila, this is Steve, but obviously you know that."

"Hi," I said, taking her hand. "Lovely to meet you. I see you've already met the girls; Not too much of an inquisition I hope?"

"No, no. They were all just singing your praises," she smiled but she stood with her arms held in close and her gaze flitted all over the room.

"Oh great," I said, "now I've got false advertising to live up to."

"Eighty four percent match, hot pants," Val slapped me on the arse as she went out to the kitchen without waiting for my response. "How do you like that tea Leila?" She called out.

"White, no sugar please," Leila called back. She took my cue to sit back down.

"I guess that answers the next question I had for you," I wasn't sure what to say after basic pleasantries. "So... err... did you have the NDA in place for work too or have they finally started going further afield for their targets?" I automatically tried to sit on the sofa across from her, but Sin and Pixie unsubtly took those seats and pushed me over to sit beside Leila.

"My late husband was a virologist and at least one of his old friends is now at Averna. I spoke to her recently and I think she must have submitted my name for early access but couldn't tell me because of her NDA. For work I'm a freelance editor, mostly for fiction publishers, but I've done plenty of proofs for scientific journals over the years. I suppose if they needed an excuse then I'm probably on some lists of contributors next to the actual scientists."

"I overheard you mention your husband as I came in. I'm so sorry for your loss." With half the country dead or dying I should really learn something better to say to people who've lost loved ones.

"Thank you. I can't say that I'm over it, but I have had time to come to terms with it. It was an aneurysm; one moment he was there the next he was gone." She took a deep breath but didn't look like she would cry.

We talked and we asked all the questions that I'm sure she's sick of hearing about the contrast between Iran and Wales. I wanted to make sure that she got to know the girls a bit, she hadn't chosen them from a biography like she had me, but she would still have to share her life with them. Fortunately, they seemed to get along well. I couldn't help but notice something off about her behaviour though. It was more nervous twitches than horny discomfort, but I was still concerned about the serum.

"Are you feeling ok?" I asked. "You seem a little... uneasy?"

"Oh. I'm sorry," she sat on her hands to stop herself fidgeting. "I was hoping I'd have it under control but, if I'm honest, I'm right on the edge," now there was a nervous laugh in her voice.

"How long since you got the shot?" Pixie had the same thought I did. She had been more badly affected when she arrived. "I thought they weren't doing it now until you were practically here?"

"It's not that, although it probably doesn't help," Leila paused and closed her eyes a moment trying to centre herself. "I have some anxiety problems. It took all the strength I could muster and quite a lot of medication to get me out to be vaccinated today. As nice as you all seem, this is already way more social contact than I've had this whole year so far. I confess, I'm a bit overwhelmed," she was trembling a little now. "I had a minor panic attack when they gave me the injection, they had to stop the bus."

"Is there anything we can do to help?" Val was always quick to the defence of others. "Would it be better or worse if we reduced this to just you and Steve?"

"Or you're welcome to lie down in a quiet bedroom for a while if that would help?" Sin had the right idea.

"That... does sound good. I have a few mental exercises that help me sometimes, a little alone time might be helpful." Leila was hesitant, struggling with the social awkwardness of any option she could take, but solitude was irresistible. "If you really don't mind?"

"Of course not," I said standing up to show her upstairs. "If you decide to stay then this will be your home too. You take all the time you want. You need to be comfortable with your choice." She followed me up to the spare bedroom and I left her there to get some peace. While she did, the rest of us talked about her behind her back. It doesn't count as being rude because we all had very positive opinions to share.

She came down after about an hour and she was visibly calmer. Pixie and Val had made themselves scarce to reduce the pressure. Sin and I were watching TV together, being pointedly relaxed. Perhaps a little too relaxed, my hand had found its way under her top to idly play with her nipple. Caught like teenagers as Leila got to the bottom of the stairs, I tried not to be too obvious about pulling my hand back.

"How do you feel?" I asked her as she sat on the other sofa.

"A little better, thanks. Meditation tricks help sometimes, but I still feel off," she still looked like she was considering running out the door.

"That could be the vaccine," Sin suggested. "It can really mess your head up, trust me, I've become an expert on that if nothing else."

"Is there anything else you'd like to ask us?" I couldn't think of a way to both avoid pressuring her and encourage her to mentally commit to this before the serum took the decision away from her.

"If you're ok with it, I think I'd just like to... you know... do... err... finish..." There was no way to ask a relative stranger for sex that wasn't going to send her into a full on panic, so I kissed Sin on the cheek, hopped up and went over to take Leila's hand before she ran out of steam.

"I'd like that. The algorithm hasn't let me down yet," I smiled as I led her back upstairs to the main bedroom. As I closed the door she kicked off her shoes and started hurriedly stripping off her clothes. The serum's agitation combined with her desire to get imprinted before she lost her nerve had her down to her underwear before she suddenly froze, staring at the bed.

"Wow! That is an enormous bed!"

"I know. I'm getting used to it now, but you should have seen us getting it up the stairs." Humour was a mistake, I'd badly misinterpreted her response.

"You all... sleep... together here? Every night?" Her mind was racing, and I could tell I wasn't coming out of this looking good. "I'm not sure what I was expecting, but I don't know..."

"It's ok," I took her hand again. "It is actually about sleeping, not a big bi-sexual foursome every night. After each of the others imprinted they said they wanted to stay close to me and I wanted them close too. So, yeah, we all sleep here most nights. It's true that having regular sex with multiple partners in the same house does seem to blur a few boundaries and lower social inhibitions a bit, but we still find our personal time as mostly couples. If you prefer, you could claim the other room you were just in? We've got plans to reorganise things soon but you should have as much personal space as you want." I pulled my shirt over my head and went to put my arms around her, but I was too late.

Thrown off balance by the surprise, she began to panic. Before I knew it she was hyperventilating and only my hands on her shoulders were stopping her curling up into a ball on the floor. Half carrying her the last few steps, I sat her on the bed, put my arms around her and did my best to project stillness and calm. After a minute she hugged me back. Experienced in dealing with her own issues, she closed her eyes and focused on her breathing as I held her. Gradually she started to come back to herself but I could feel her heart still racing where her chest pressed against me.

"Why don't you come and sit here with me?" I said as I rearranged some pillows and got her to sit beside me leaning back against the headboard. "I would hope you already know this, but I'll say it anyway. You don't have to do anything you don't want to do. I will

never

push you or try to force you beyond what you're comfortable with. It's getting late but, if you want to go, I'll drive you myself to wherever your next match lives." Deep down she knew the vaccination wasn't going to make that option very practical but it seemed to help to remind her that she had it.

So we talked. For hours we talked about personal things. Likes and dislikes. Food, movies and books. She leaned against me and I put my arm around her. She told me how much she enjoyed her work but that what she really wanted was to be an author herself. She was quite keen to tell me she had done copyediting on an upcoming Blake Conrad book. I pretended I knew who that was and tried not to bore her to sleep talking about my own work. She absentmindedly ran her hand along the skin of my stomach. I slid my hand from her shoulder to caress her side from her hips to her ribs, trying to encourage her without making a big deal out of it.

I asked her to tell me about the book she wanted to write and she gushed excitedly about the characters and scenes she had been cooking up in her head. Having someone to talk to about her passion project was like an aphrodisiac all by itself and she began unconsciously fidgeting and shifting around as the serum made its presence felt. She was still telling me about the decision to set her book in Iran or not and I don't think she realised that her hand had come to rest on my lap, gently kneading my bulge with her fingertips. Her other hand was between her own legs constantly readjusting her knickers. As she talked, I could almost see the moments where I went from being a stranger to a friend and then from just a friend to a friend she was sitting in bed with in her lacy underwear. It was getting late in the evening and, just as I was getting worried that the girls might disturb us to come to bed, she looked up at me and softly kissed me.

"Thank you," she said with a smile. "I think I've made the right choice," she unbuttoned my jeans and slid her hand inside.

"How do you feel?" I asked her as she pulled my hardening dick out and began to gently stroke me.

"Hot," she said distractedly, her attention was on my lap. "Underdressed. You should get those jeans off, make it a bit fairer."

"That sounds like a plan." I lifted my backside up and pulled the offending jeans down, kicking them off while she continued to massage my shaft. She held me by the back of my neck and pulled me in to kiss me with more and more passion each time.

"I need you," she murmured into my mouth. "Now. I need you now."

Getting up onto my knees I kissed my way down her neck and across her chest. She moaned and held me in place over her nipple, so I bit down gently but firmly enough to get hold of her sensitive nub through the fabric of her bra. Her breathing sped up but she released me and I kept going. Kissing across her belly and along her thigh, she was forced to let go of my cock as it went beyond her reach and I moved down the bed past her feet. Sitting back on my haunches I took a hold of her ankles and pulled. With a girly squeal she slid down the bed, away from the headboard, coming to rest on her back with her head on the pillow she had been sitting on a moment before and one leg either side of me. Lifting both her ankles straight up into the air and over one of my shoulders, I kissed down her curvy leg from calf to hip, took her knickers and pulled them off. Kissing her legs again, I let them fall to either side of me as she took her bra off. I got my first look at her naked body. Some extra flesh on her frame gave her truly lovely curves. She had thick thighs and big soft breasts with large areolas that filled my head with thoughts of them being squeezed around my cock.

Filing that mental image for another time, I bent to grab her hips and kiss her belly. I ran my lips up along her body, between her breasts, over her throat and up to her lips, she had a scent that reminded me of dark chocolate. She smiled into my kiss but I moved my mouth back to her tits, maybe it was that scent or maybe it was the hours we'd been sitting talking and waiting for this but I was suddenly afraid that I was drooling. I caught her nipple between my teeth and she hissed but arched her back pushing her breast harder against my mouth. I reached down for her legs, sat back and pushed her knees up to her chest, folding her almost in half. Shifting forwards until my thighs met her arse cheeks, I rubbed the head of my dick along her wet slit a few times. She started to tremble and twitch and I saw that I was smearing my pre-cum onto her skin. I leaned forward again, lining myself up with her opening but keeping her knees held up so she couldn't move and my next stroke slid inside of her instead.

"Unnh!" she gave an inarticulate grunt as I stretched her open and the angle pushed my tip across her g-spot. Then the serum took over. She threw her arms around me as far as she could reach, gave another long wordless shout and sank her nails into my back. I think any man will tell you that you don't have to be into pain to appreciate the sting that comes with that, and the sensation put my lizard brain firmly in control. I started fucking her, fast and hard.

"Oh yes!" she gasped. I paused long enough to slide my knees forward and lift her up so her arse was resting on the tops of my thighs. Sitting up again I released her knees and took hold of her hips. Her hands reached for my arse cheeks and she dug her nails in there too. Her ankles were on my shoulders, I could see her toes curling out of the corners of my eyes as my dick pressed hard on that sensitive g-spot.

"Good?" I growled. "You like it like that?"

"Oh God, that's so deep! So full! Keep going, keep going!" She had her eyes closed and bit her bottom lip as I did my best, her fleshy tits bounced back and forth slightly out of time with the rest of her body as I pounded into her again and again. I couldn't resist reaching out to pinch one of her nipples and press my other thumb onto her exposed clit. I didn't need to move my hands because her whole body moved under me with each thrust. Shrieking with pleasure she let go of my arse and gripped my wrists trying to make me rub her harder or faster, whatever she could do to get to the orgasm she couldn't have because of the vaccine.

"Don't you stop! Don't stop now!" part begging, part insisting, she started pulling at my hips again. Damn, I love a woman who knows what she wants from me. Whether she's asking for it, demanding it or just taking it, that is always going to get me going. I shot her full of the cum she wanted and hung on as she got her own climax at last. Her convulsing tunnel gripped and squeezed at my dick as those nails scratched at my arse. Her legs clamped shut on my hand and she accidentally kicked me in both ears forcing me to let go and pull out. As I pushed her legs to one side and fell beside her to hold her from behind, she slipped into unconsciousness mumbling quietly.

++++ Fri 23rd Oct 2020 ++++

Leila had a normal imprinting rest, although she woke late because we had finished late. We talked about sleeping arrangements in a calmer atmosphere and, to my delight, she decided she would try to join us in the main bedroom. Although she did add a caveat that she wasn't a very sound sleeper and might still move into the other room if she had issues. She clung to me a little to begin with but, as we got her officially moved in, the other girls took turns spending one-on-one time with her. Welcoming her without overloading her. Sin helped her unpack her case and get everything stowed away, Val took her out on a late food shopping run to make sure we had what she liked, and Pixie helped her get set up to work remotely from the house.

Pixie is up to a full week without a dose now. She says she's feeling very uncomfortable but nothing like the pain and distress that Sin went through, so that's very promising. She wants to push it longer and see how it progresses, I'm not sure how I feel about that. We spoke to the Averna doctors again and the latest blood samples we sent them from Sin are showing definite improvement. Whatever it was that she had too much of, she has less of it now. With the blackouts stopped, it's reasonable to assume that she's not suffering any further damage and hope that whatever's going on between her brain and the serum is going to improve. The lab guys are guessing that she'll always experience the itch as some form of withdrawal, but they're optimistic that her dosage interval will slowly extend until it's more in line with the other girls. Right now she says that she's beginning to feel "low level horny" a matter of hours after a dose, which is still troubling, but she thinks she can learn to live with it. The doctors reckon that if we wanted to pursue getting her completely "fixed", they might try to induce a coma for a while so she can go cold turkey. To my relief, Sin instantly vetoed the whole thing and just asked them to let us know if any new options came along. I don't like the idea of her being a literal cum-addict, but it's her call, and I'm glad she chose the option that doesn't involve a bloody coma.

Hearing Leila and Pixie talking about working remotely got me worried about Sin for all new reasons. Pixie and I spend most days in the home office swearing at computers. Val has taken to occupying the big dining table with a laptop and carefully avoiding swearing at people on her phone and it looks like Leila will do much the same when she's not busy with a manuscript. Sin, though, has little to occupy her time and is officially unemployed. She hasn't mentioned it, but I think she's feeling self-conscious about not making a visible contribution to the team. She's doing a lot of cleaning and laundry while we work but she's not our maid and it bothers me to treat her like one. They say that "two can live cheaper than one" and it turns out that applies even better for five, money won't be an issue for us for the foreseeable future. I went to talk to her about it to make sure she knew we didn't expect her to be a housekeeper or to magically find a paying job during lockdown. Predictably, I found her in the laundry room as she was turning on the washing machine.